Reasoning independently of prior belief and individual differences in actively open-minded thinking.

A sample of 349 college students completed an argument evaluation test (AET) in which they evaluated arguments concerning real-life situations. A separate regression analysis was conducted for each student predicting his or her evaluations of argument quality from an objective indicator of argument quality and the strength of his or her prior beliefs about the target propositions. The beta weight for objective argument quality was interpreted in this analysis as an indicator of the ability to evaluate objective argument quality independent of prior belief. Individual differences in this index were reliably linked to individual differences in cognitive ability and actively open-minded thinking dispositions. Further, actively openminded thinking predicted variance in AET performance even after individual differences in cognitive ability had been partialled out. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of race and information variance on disagreement between psychiatric emergency service and research diagnoses in first-episode psychosis

BACKGROUND: Previously, we reported that patient race was associated with disagreement between research and clinical diagnoses. To extend this work, we studied whether disagreement was specifically due to associations of patient race with information or criterion variance. METHOD: Ninety-nine patients consecutively admitted through the University of Cincinnati Psychiatric Emergency Service (PES) for a first hospitalization for psychosis were evaluated using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R. Diagnoses made in the PES were compared with those obtained from the structured interview. We examined the contributions of information variance and criterion variance to the association between race and diagnostic agreement of PES and research diagnoses. RESULTS: Agreement in PES and research diagnoses was present in only 42% of patients. Diagnostic agreement was less common in non-white patients than white patients, even after controlling for other sociodemographic and clinical variables. Information variance was the cause of diagnostic disagreement in 58% of cases and was associated with patient race. Criterion variance, occurring in 42% of cases, was not associated with race. CONCLUSION: Patient race may contribute to the diagnostic process in the psychiatric emergency service by influencing the information obtained from patients during clinical evaluations.     

The fabrication of Ga1-xAlxAs-GaAsheterojunction bipolar transistors for rapid material analysis

We report a procedure for fabricating Ga_1-xAl_x As-GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors with a single Al-Ge-Ni metallization step for rapid material analysis. Al-Ge-Ni produces an excellent ohmic contact to both n- and p-type GaAs, and eliminates the need for two metallization steps to produce the three transistor contacts. Complete transistor fabrication, which includes separate etching steps to the base and the subcollector, can be carried out in approximately four hours. We have used this rapid turnaround time to enhance wafer yield by minimizing the lag time between the onset of a growth problem or reactor hardware problem and subsequent growth runs     

Evaluation of patients with diabetes mellitus for coronary artery disease using dobutamine stress echocardiography

BACKGROUND: There is a high prevalence of coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients with diabetes mellitus. Detection of inducible ischaemia using treadmill exercise testing may be limited by the relatively poor inherent predictive accuracy of the test. The purpose of this study was to determine the value of dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) for the detection of CAD in patients with diabetes mellitus. METHODS: Patients with diabetes mellitus referred for cardiac assessment were considered eligible for study. DSE was performed in a standard fashion. Significant CAD was defined as a > 50% luminal diameter stenosis on coronary angiography. RESULTS: A total of 52 patients (mean age 59 years) with diabetes mellitus were studied prospectively using DSE. Risk factors for CAD included hypertension in 19, family history in 21, hypercholesterolaemia in 14, history of smoking in 38. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of DSE for detection of CAD were 82, 54, 84 and 50% respectively. CONCLUSION: The specificity of DSE for CAD in patients with diabetes mellitus is low. Whether this reflects an underdetection of small vessel disease by contrast coronary angiography or whether it relates to test performance is unclear.     

Microsurgical elimination of foot soft tissue defects with free vascularized flaps]

The results of 40 microsurgical transplantations of complex flaps in 37 patients with cicatricial-ulcerous foot deformations are analysed. The surgery was indicated in cicatricial soft tissues defects, unhealing trophic ulcers, inability to use local tissues for plastic surgery. The scapular flap was used in 34 cases, thoraco-dorsal flap in 5 cases, deltoid flap in 1 case. It was necessary to increase the square of the scapular flap in case of a vast cicatricial soft tissue defect of the talocrural joint and dorsal surface of the foot and the sole. A special expander was used for this purpose. The importance of ultrasound methods for evaluation of the vessels supplying the sole, as well as the state of the microvascular anastomoses in postoperative period is stressed. The long-term results were followed up for 1.5 to 5 years in 29 of 37 patients. The good results was noted in 18 patients, satisfactory in 7 patients, complications (unhealed trophic ulcers) in 4 patients. The complications were caused by calcanel tuber deformation with osteophyte, osteomyelitis, inradically removed scars.     

Expression of E-cadherin in primary and metastatic prostate cancer

Immunohistochemical studies have suggested that E-cadherin may be a useful prognostic marker in prostate cancer. Previous studies have depended on cryostat sections of tissues selected grossly. Many prostate cancers, even when extensive, are not visible grossly; many others cannot be demarcated sharply grossly. The wide applicability of prognostic markers after total prostatectomy will depend upon methods that can be applied to tissue selected based upon the histopathological examination of the entire prostate. Our purpose was to investigate the possibility that E-cadherin could be demonstrated in paraffin-embedded whole prostates and metastatic prostate cancer. Microwaving in citrate buffer was the best of five methods tested for the demonstration of E-cadherin in paraffin-embedded prostate and was used to investigate 53 primary prostate cancers from 44 patients and lymph node metastases from 14 patients. Metastases of prostate cancer to lymph nodes expressed less (P = 0.008) E-cadherin than primary prostate cancers. The expression of E-cadherin correlated with the histopathological differentiation (Gleason grade) of primary prostate cancers (P = 0.03, Ptrend = 0.003). The use of monoclonal anti-human E-cadherin (HECD-1) with microwaving in citrate buffer followed by immunoperoxidase staining with heavy metal enhancement for the demonstration of E-cadherin in paraffin-embedded tissue will, for the first time, allow the use of archival tissue for prognostic studies of E-cadherin in prostate cancer and other tissue. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that aggressive prostate cancers exhibit decreased expression of E-cadherin and demonstrate the feasibility of long-term prognostic studies of this molecule in the usually multiple prostate cancers found in whole, formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded resected prostates.     

Adult age differences in regional cerebral blood flow during visual world identification: evidence from H215O PET

We used H215O PET to investigate adult age differences in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) during the performance of a visual word identification task. The study participants were 20 healthy, right-handed men: 10 young adults between 18 and 27 years of age, and 10 older adults between 63 and 75 years of age. The word identification task comprised six blocks of test trials representing four task conditions; subjects responded manually. The task conditions varied with regard to whether semantic retrieval was required (e.g., word/nonword discrimination vs simple response to each stimulus) and with regard to the difficulty of visual encoding (e.g., words presented normally vs words with asterisks inserted between adjacent letters). Each subject performed all six trial blocks, concurrently with each of six H215O PET scans. Analyses of quantitative CBF data obtained from the arterial time-activity curve demonstrated a significant age-related decline in global CBF rate. Analyses of the changes in rCBF between task conditions indicated that retrieval of semantic information sufficient to distinguish words from nonwords is mediated by a ventral occipitotemporal cortical pathway. Specific areas within this pathway were also associated with visual encoding processes. Several rCBF activations were significantly greater for young adults than for older adults, indicating an age-related decline in processing efficiency within this ventral occipitotemporal pathway. Although the performance data demonstrated a greater age-related slowing for visual encoding than for semantic retrieval, these age-related performance changes were not associated with corresponding changes in rCBF activation.     

Serum deprivation, but not inhibition of growth per se, induces a hypermutable state in Chinese hamster G12 cells

Spontaneous mutagenesis is thought to play a crucial role in spontaneous carcinogenesis. We recently described a new mathematical model for estimation of the spontaneous mutation rate (mutation/gene/generations) based on the assumption that mutations are fixed in the S-phase of the cell cycle. With this definition, the spontaneous mutation rate should be independent of the growth rate. In the present study, we tested this hypothesis, using cell line G12, a transgenic Chinese hamster V79 derivative, which contains a single copy of the Escherichia coli gpt gene as a target for mutagenesis. The growth rate was modulated by varying the serum concentration or the seeding density, or by addition of suramin, transforming growth factor beta, or dichlorobenzimidazole riboside to the medium. Significant increases in the spontaneous mutation rate occurred when cell proliferation was blocked by serum deprivation. Density-dependent inhibition of growth and inhibition of growth by suramin, transforming growth factor beta, or dichlorobenzimidazole riboside did not result in significant increases in spontaneous mutation rates. The level of oxidants in cells cultivated in the presence of low concentrations of serum was higher compared to control cells, suggesting that the increases in the spontaneous mutation rates under low serum conditions may be partly a result of oxidative stress due to a lack of serum antioxidants. This was shown to be the case, because spontaneous mutation rates were significantly reduced in serum-depleted cells when antioxidants were added to the medium. We suggest that during carcinogenesis, when tumors are in a prevascularized state, the spontaneous mutation rate may be elevated, and this process may contribute to the genetic instability of the tumor cells.