Psychological sequelae of hate-crime victimization among lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults.

Questionnaire data about criminal victimization experiences were collected from 2,259 Sacramento-area lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals (N?=?1,170 women and 1,089 men). Approximately 1/5 of the women and 1/4 of the men had experienced victimization because of their adult sexual orientation. Hate crimes were less likely than nonbias crimes to have been reported to police. Compared with other recent crime victims, lesbian and gay hate-crime survivors manifested significantly more symptoms of depression, anger, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress. They also displayed significantly more crime-related fears and beliefs, lower sense of mastery, and more attributions of their personal setbacks to sexual prejudice than did nonbias crime victims and nonvictims. Comparable differences were not observed among bisexuals. The findings highlight the importance of recognizing hate-crime survivors' special needs in clinical settings and in public policy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An Improved Greenspan Acoustic Viscometer

An improved Greenspan acoustic viscometer (double Helmholtz resonator) was used to measure the viscosity of gases at temperatures from 250 to 400 K and at pressures up to 3.4 MPa. The improvements include a vibration damping suspension and the relocation of the fill duct. The fill duct, which is needed to supply gas to the resonator, was connected to the center of the resonator to eliminate acoustic coupling between the resonator and the manifold. In anticipation of handling corrosive gases, all surfaces of the apparatus that are exposed to the test gas are made of metal. The viscometer was tested with argon, helium, xenon, nitrogen, and methane. Isothermal measurements were carried out at 298.15 and 348.15 K and at pressures up to 3.2 MPa. Without calibration, the results differed from published viscosity data by –0.8% to +0.3% (0.47% r.m.s.). These results are significantly better than previous results from Greenspan viscometers. The measurements also yielded the speed of sound, which differed from literature data by +0.16% to +0.20% (0.18% r.m.s.). Adding empirical effective-area and effective-volume corrections to the data analysis decreased the r.m.s. deviations to 0.12% for the viscosity and to 0.006% for the speed of sound. No unusual phenomena were encountered when the viscometer was tested with a helium-xenon mixture between 250 and 375 K.     

Nutrient inadequacy in obese and non-obese youth.

PURPOSE: In this study, the Dietary Reference Intake standards were used to evaluate the prevalence of inadequate intakes of micronutrients in obese and non-obese youth. METHODS: Dietary intake was analyzed with a dietary history taken by a registered dietitian. The obese group (n=156) had a body mass index (BMI) above the 95th percentile for age and sex. The non-obese group (n=90) was between the tenth and 85th BMI percentiles. RESULTS: In the obese subjects, the prevalence of inadequate intakes was 81% for vitamin E and 27% for magnesium; the proportions with intakes below the Adequate Intakes (AIs) for calcium and vitamin D were 55% and 46%, respectively. The obese children consumed 124% of estimated need for energy, 32% of which came from fat. The non-obese had a similar prevalence of inadequate intakes (vitamin E, 93%; magnesium, 29%; calcium, 51%; vitamin D, 44%). They consumed 107% of estimated need for energy, and 31% of energy came from fat. For both groups, all other nutrient intakes were adequate. CONCLUSIONS: Even though children may consume an excess of energy, they may not be meeting all of their micronutrient needs.     

Magnetic resonance susceptibility contrast induced by capillaries: a numerical comparison of two models

Monte-Carlo computer simulations have proven to be very powerful tools for the analysis of the magnetization decay induced by susceptibility gradients, as well for contrast agent characterization, as for the BOLD effect allowing fMRI. A recent vasculature model containing capillaries and venules uses homogeneous magnetized cylinders as models for the vessels. This modeling is questioned by comparing results obtained from simulation results based on two different models, one using homogeneous cylinders and another taking into account the existence of red blood cells, treated as homogeneous magnetized spheres. The results show the nonequivalence of both models, with the modeling by cylinders systematically overestimating the transverse relaxation rates, and the difference increasing with the adopted value of the diffusion coefficient. The discrepancy is attributed to the dominating role, regarding relaxation, of the local magnetic field in the immediate vicinity of the capillaries, which results in the suggestion of elaborating a “mixed modeling”: the analytical expressions corresponding to the homogeneous cylinder model could be used except when the spin packets are wandering in the immediate vicinity of the capillaries, where accounting for the existence of individual red blood cells (whose motion may be neglected) seems unavoidable.     

Bending strength of silica glass

Tensile and bending tests are useful to characterize the mechanical behavior of ceramics. Theoretical comparisons between results of both tests are usually done based on Weibull statistics. In previous experiments on borosilicate glass, no agreement was found between experimental and theoretical values of the ratio of the maximum bending and tensile stresses at 50 percent probability of fracture. In this investigation, additional experiments in bending have been performed, to measure the distribution of fracture initiation points. Good agreement with theory is found. The previous disagreement could be attributed to fatigue effects.     

Control of negative inotropic vagal preganglionic neurons in the dog: synaptic interactions with substance P afferent terminals in the nucleus ambiguus?

Previous research from this laboratory has shown that substance P-immunoreactive (SP) terminals synapse upon negative chronotropic vagal preganglionic neurons (VPNs), but not upon negative dromotropic VPNs, of the ventrolateral nucleus ambiguus (NA-VL). Moreover, SP agonists injected into NA-VL cause bradycardia without decreasing AV conduction. In the current study, we have: (1) defined the electron microscopic characteristics of the SP neurons of NA-VL in dog; and (2) tested the hypothesis that SP nerve terminals synapse upon negative inotropic VPNs of NA-VL, retrogradely labeled from the cranial medial ventricular (CMV) ganglion. Numerous SP terminals and a few SP neurons were observed in the vicinity of retrogradely labeled neurons. SP terminals were observed forming synapses with unlabeled dendrites and with SP dendrites, but never with the retrogradely labeled neurons. Together, these results and earlier findings suggest that SP agonists may be able to induce bradycardia without decreasing AV conduction or ventricular contractility.     

RDA and RDH retention surveys. CDA's Council on Education and Professional Relations

This article presents the results of a survey of dental auxiliaries conducted by the California Dental Association's Council on Education and Professional Relations. The survey found that a surprisingly high number of dental assistants (56 percent) and hygienists (42 percent) are considering whether to remain in the dental health care field, stated reasons for this include lack of paid benefits and little opportunity for career growth. The results also suggest, however, that if the perceived deficiencies in these areas were addressed, RDAs and RDHs might remain in the profession.