Behavioral effects of centrally administered arginine vasopressin in the rat fetus.

Arginine–8 vasopressin (AVP) was administered to rat fetuses on Embryonic Day 20 via intracisternal (IC), intrahemispheric (IH), or intrathecal (IT) injection. The IC administration of AVP promoted a 4-fold increase in motor activity, including the uncommon patterns of mouthing, licking, and facial wiping. The IH injection of AVP had little effect on fetal behavior, but IT injection resulted in pronounced increases in fetal activity, including mouthing, licking, and wiping. The IT administration of a V? antagonist blocked AVP effects, whereas IH injection potentiated AVP-induced changes in fetal behavior. The IC blockade of V? receptors suppressed facial wiping to a chemosensory fluid (lemon) and reduced oral grasping of an artificial nipple, whereas IH injection of the V? antagonist promoted facial wiping responses and increased grasping of the nipple. These data suggest that AVP may play a role in the development of responsiveness to stimuli encountered in the context of suckling. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral effects of milk in the rat fetus.

Intraoral infusion of milk to the rat fetus promoted changes in behavior (mouth and rearlimb movements), reduced responsiveness to perioral cutaneous stimulation, and resulted in expression of a fetal stretch response. Milk also altered the temporal organization of fetal movements over periods up to 30 min. The orosensory characteristics of milk, in the absence of ingestion, was sufficient to evoke these behavioral effects. Reduced responsiveness to a perioral stimulus had a rapid onset (     

Anesthesia practice and infectious diseases: meeting the challenges of a changing practice environment

The safety and pharmacokinetics of L-627, a new injectable carbapenem antibiotic, were evaluated in healthy volunteers. In single-dose studies, 20, 40, 80, 150, 300 and 600 mg of L-627 were administered by i.v. infusions over 1 hour. Plasma concentration-time profiles were well described with a two-compartment open model. The half-life of elimination from plasma was 1.3 +/- 0.8 (mean +/- SD) hour, and the Cmax and AUC paralleled the doses given. The mean urinary recovery of unchanged L-627 within the first 12 hours was 63.1 +/- 2.7% of the dose. In the multiple-dose studies, 300 mg of L-627 (i.v. over 1 hour) was administered every 12 hours, 11 times in total and 600 mg of L-627 was administered every 12 hours, 9 times in total. No discernible accumulation of the drug in plasma was observed. There were no subjective or objective abnormal findings definitely attributable to the drug except that one subject in one of the multiple-dose regimens (300 mg b.i.d.) showed only a slight elevation of transaminase value, although the elevated value promptly recovered after completion of dosing. No abnormality was observed in the other multiple-dose regimen (600 mg b.i.d.). From these results, L-627 was concluded to be safe and well tolerated.     

Homozygous parent affected sib pair method for detecting disease predisposing variants: application to insulin dependent diabetes mellitus

For complex genetic diseases involving incomplete penetrance, genetic heterogeneity, and multiple disease genes, it is often difficult to determine the molecular variant(s) responsible for the disease pathogenesis. Linkage and association studies may help identify genetic regions and molecular variants suspected of being directly responsible for disease predisposition or protection, but, especially for complex diseases, they are less useful for determining when a predisposing molecular variant has been identified. In this paper, we expand upon the simple concept that if a genetic factor predisposing to disease has been fully identified, then a parent homozygous for this factor should transmit either of his/her copies at random to any affected children. Closely linked markers are used to determine identity by descent values in affected sib pairs from a parent homozygous for a putative disease predisposing factor. The expected deviation of haplotype sharing from 50%, when not all haplotypes carrying this factor are in fact equally predisposing, has been algebraically determined for a single locus general disease model. Equations to determine expected sharing for multiple disease alleles or multiple disease locus models have been formulated. The recessive case is in practice limiting and therefore can be used to estimate the maximum proportion of putative susceptibility haplotypes which are in fact predisposing to disease when the mode of inheritance of a disease is unknown. This method has been applied to 27 DR3/DR3 parents and 50 DR4/DR4 parents who have at least 2 children affected with insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). The transmission of both DR3 and DR4 haplotypes is statistically different from 50% (P < 0.05 and P < 0.001, respectively). An upper estimate for the proportion of DR3 haplotypes associated with a high IDDM susceptibility is 49%, and for DR4 haplotypes 38%. Our results show that the joint presence of non-Asp at DQ beta position 57 and Arg at DQ alpha position 52, which has been proposed as a strong IDDM predisposing factor, is insufficient to explain the HLA component of IDDM predisposition.     

Women Engineers: A Study of Educational Preparation and Professional Success

In an effort to better understand the educational experiences and professional issues facing women in these fields, a survey of women alumnae was conducted. Respondents seemed fairly pleased with the education they received and were heavily influenced by personal aspects of the campus. Relationships with faculty members were described as their most beneficial and detrimental experiences. They particularly liked opportunities to apply their technical knowledge but did not believe there were enough opportunities for application. The need for more female role models and importance of involvement in student organizations were cited by many of the respondents. Self-confidence and good communication skills were rated as the most important qualities for professional success and advancement. Alumnae have pursued training experiences since graduation, but would like to see more opportunities to enhance communication and personal management skills and apply theoretical knowledge built into the undergraduate experience. The findings are discussed in relationship to previous research studies and recommendations are made to improve the technically oriented college environment.     

Constructing inferences during narrative text comprehension.

Describes a constructionist theory that accounts for the knowledge-based inferences that are constructed when readers comprehend narrative text. Readers potentially generate a rich variety of inferences when they construct a referential situation model of what the text is about. The proposed constructionist theory specifies that some, but not all, of this information is constructed under most conditions of comprehension. The distinctive assumptions of the constructionist theory embrace a principle of search (or effort) after meaning. According to this principle, readers attempt to construct a meaning representation that addresses the reader's goals, that is coherent at both local and global levels, and that explains why actions, events, and states are mentioned in the text. This study reviews empirical evidence that addresses this theory and contrasts it with alternative theoretical frameworks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Knowing Good From Bad: The Paradox of Neuroticism, Negative Affect, and Evaluative Processing.

There are pragmatic benefits to trait-consistent mood states, especially when people are evaluating new objects within the environment (M. Tamir, M. D. Robinson, & G. L. Clore, 2002). The present studies, involving both naturally occurring (Studies 1 and 2) and manipulated (Study 3) mood states, demonstrated such trait-consistent interactions within the context of neuroticism and negative mood states. Individuals high in neuroticism were faster to make evaluations when in a negative mood state like sadness. By contrast, individuals low in neuroticism were faster to make evaluations when in a neutral mood state. The present studies demonstrate that although negative mood states are hedonically unpleasant, they can be beneficial in some ways for individuals high in neuroticism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

A survey of CSCW systems

Over the last decade, computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) has emerged as an identifiable research area that focuses on the role of the computer in group work. CSCW is a generic term which combines the understanding of the nature of group working with the enabling technologies of computer networking, systems support and applications. The paper examines the classes of system which have emerged to support cooperative working. A framework for characterising and describing CSCW systems is presented and four major classes of cooperative system identified. Each of these classes of cooperative system are examined highlighting their general characteristics and applicability to CSCW.