Psychological test usage patterns in five professional settings.

Compared psychological test usage in 5 settings surveyed in 1982 by the 1st 3 authors (see record 1985-05592-001) to establish a more useful basis for subsequent comparisons than that which is available in their composite. The 1982 questionnaire containing the 30 most frequently used tests in the 1969 survey (the 1st author et al, 1971) was sent to groups of psychologists in 5 settings: psychiatric hospitals, community mental health centers and community clinics, centers for the developmentally disabled and mentally retarded, counseling centers, and Veteran's Administration medical centers. Data on the frequency of use of each of the 30 psychological tests for the 5-sample composite and for each of the 5 samples are presented. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Surgical repair of urethral circumcision injuries

PURPOSE: The 2 types of urethral injury that can occur during circumcision are urethrocutaneous fistula and urethral distortion secondary to partial glans amputation. We report the surgical repair of these rare injuries. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In 8 patients urethrocutaneous fistulas located on the distal penile shaft or at the coronal margin were managed by splitting the glans and using a Mathieu style skin flap in 4 or vascularized penile skin flap in 4 to bridge the urethral defect. Three patients underwent repair of a hypospadiac deviated urethra secondary to partial glans amputation by 1 cm. of urethral mobilization and repositioning the meatus into a terminal position within the remaining glans tissue. RESULTS: The 8 patients with urethrocutaneous fistulas voided via a terminal meatus without fistula recurrence at a mean followup of 3.2 years (range 1 to 6). The 3 patients with partial glans amputation and urethral deviation repaired by short urethral advancement had functionally acceptable results, defined as a normal urinary stream, although 1 required meatal dilation postoperatively. CONCLUSIONS: The 2 types of urethral injuries that can occur during circumcision are a subcoronal urethrocutaneous fistula and scarred abnormal urethra from partial glans amputation. The urethrocutaneous fistula can be successfully repaired by splitting the glans and forming a neourethra from a vascularized pedicle flap of penile skin. The abnormal urethra after partial glans amputation is more difficult to repair but repositioning the urethra in a more cosmetic location has restored function.     

The association between maternal cocaine use and placenta previa

We compared various diagnostic tests for their abilities to detect Mycobacterium ulcerans infection in specimens from patients with clinically active disease. Specimens from 10 patients from the area of Zangnanado (Department of Zou, Benin) with advanced, ulcerated active M. ulcerans infections were studied by direct smear, histopathology, culture, PCR, and oligonucleotide-specific capture plate hybridization (OSCPH). A total of 27 specimens, including 12 swabs of exudate collected before debridement and 15 fragments of tissue obtained during debridement, were submitted to bacteriologic and histopathologic analysis. The histopathologic evaluation of tissues from all six patients so tested revealed changes typical of those caused by M. ulcerans infection. Five specimens were contaminated, and M. ulcerans was cultivated on L?wenstein-Jensen medium from 12 of the remaining 22 (54.5%) specimens. Detection of mycobacteria was performed by PCR, and M. ulcerans was detected by OSCPH with a new probe (5'-CACGGGATTCATGTCCTGT-3') reacting with M. ulcerans and Mycobacterium marinum. In 10 of 22 (45.5%) specimens, M. ulcerans was identified by PCR-OSCPH. There was no statistically significant difference between the detection of M. ulcerans by culture and by PCR-OSCPH (P > 0.05). This is the first demonstration of an amplification system (PCR-OSCPH) with a sensitivity similar to that of culture for the direct and rapid recognition of M. ulcerans in clinical specimens. This system is capable of identifying M. ulcerans, even in paucibacillary lesions. Our findings suggest that PCR-OSCPH should be used in the quest for the elusive environmental reservoir(s) of M. ulcerans.     

Morphology of protein-protein interfaces

This study investigated the usefulness of collagen plugging with VasoSeal in patients after PTCA compared to a control group having identical sheath dwell times and therefore comparable levels of anticoagulation. A total of 150 patients were enrolled in this prospective and randomized study. Sheaths were pulled at exactly 5 h after arterial puncture. Time to hemostasis and local complications were determined. There were no statistical differences in baseline characteristics. The mean time to hemostasis in the collagen group was significantly shorter (3 +/- 3 min) than that of the control group (17.4 +/- 7 min). At 24 h, 23% of the collagen group patients had a small, 1% a medium and 4% a large hematoma. In the control group, 32% had a small, 4% a medium sized, but no patient a large hematoma. After collagen, one patient developed a pseudoaneurysm needing vascular surgery. In the control group, no major complication occurred. Compared to patients with manual compression at an identical sheath dwell time and an identical level of anticoagulation, there was a significant reduction in time to hemostasis but no statistical difference regarding local complications. Although the incidence of medium or large hematoma was low, the trend towards a decreased risk of smaller hematomas seemed to be counterbalanced by an increased risk of larger hematomas.     

Fate of the upper urinary tract in multiple sclerosis

The Staphylococcus aureus 8325-4 hyaluronate lyase gene (hysA) was identified after detecting hyaluronate lyase activity expressed by phages from a genomic library. The hysA open reading frame, capable of encoding a protein of 91 980 Da, was identified by Tn5 mutagenesis and nucleotide sequencing. HysA shares 35 and 36% amino acid sequence identity with group B streptococcal hyaluronate lyase and pneumococcal hyaluronidase, respectively. A 94-kDa protein was expressed in Escherichia coli minicells, a result consistent with the coding capacity of hysA. Identification of the S. aureus 8325-4 hyaluronate lyase gene will allow the regulation of this putative virulence determinant to be studied.     

Flow cytometry and cell sorting of heterogeneous microbial populations: the importance of single-cell analyses

The most fundamental questions such as whether a cell is alive, in the sense of being able to divide or to form a colony, may sometimes be very hard to answer, since even axenic microbial cultures are extremely heterogeneous. Analyses that seek to correlate such things as viability, which is a property of an individual cell, with macroscopic measurements of culture variables such as ATP content, respiratory activity, and so on, must inevitably fail. It is therefore necessary to make physiological measurements on individual cells. Flow cytometry is such a technique, which allows one to analyze cells rapidly and individually and permits the quantitative analysis of microbial heterogeneity. It therefore offers many advantages over conventional measurements for both routine and more exploratory analyses of microbial properties. While the technique has been widely applied to the study of mammalian cells, is use in microbiology has until recently been much more limited, largely because of the smaller size of microbes and the consequently smaller optical signals obtainable from them. Since these technical barriers no longer hold, flow cytometry with appropriate stains has been used for the rapid discrimination and identification of microbial cells, for the rapid assessment of viability and of the heterogeneous distributions of a wealth of other more detailed physiological properties, for the analysis of antimicrobial drug-cell interactions, and for the isolation of high-yielding strains of biotechnological interest. Flow cytometric analyses provide an abundance of multivariate data, and special methods have been devised to exploit these. Ongoing advances mean that modern flow cytometers may now be used by nonspecialists to effect a renaissance in our understanding of microbial heterogeneity.     

Specific detection and quantification of palmitoyl-stearoyl-phosphatidylserine in human blood using normal-phase liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray mass spectrometry

We have made an immunohistochemical study of the vomeronasal (VN) complex of 12-day-old rats to characterize the innervation of its blood vessels. The VN complex can be subdivided into rostral, middle and caudal segments, each one with a particular vascularization pattern. Several small vessels were associated with the rostral segment, whereas a large venous sinus ran along the middle and caudal segments. Immunostaining for alpha-smooth muscle actin demonstrated that the muscular sheath was asymmetric, with more cells layers in its lateral than in its medial walls. Nerves were demonstrated with antisera against protein gene product 9.5 (PGP), and against several molecules associated with specific classes of nerve fibers: the C-terminal peptide of neuropeptide Y (CPON), calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), substance P (SP), galanin (GAL), vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) and neuronal nitric oxide synthase (NOS). The latter, was also studied with NADPH-diaphorase. Vascular associated fibers exhibited NOS-, CPON-, GAL-, CGRP-, SP- and VIP-immunoreactivity. Only the vessels of the rostral segment showed VIP-immunoreactive fibers. Each wall of the venous sinus exhibited different types of nerve fibers. CPON-, GAL-, CGRP- and SP-immunoreactive fibers concentrated in the medial wall, whereas NOS-immunoreactive ones concentrated in the lateral wall. This distribution of vascular fibers, plus the presence of sensory fibers exhibiting CGRP-, SP- and GAL-immunoreactivity within the pseudostratified epithelium of the VN tube, would be relevant to understand the operation of the pumping mechanism regulating influx and efflux from the VN tube.     

Updating accounts following a correction of misinformation

The research examined whether corrected misinformation influences anaphoric inferences people make during subsequent reading. Participants read a set of corrected-misinformation and no-misinformation stories and made judgments about probe words that were either appropriate or inappropriate anaphoric referents. At a short delay, the results showed less activation for appropriate referents that were corrections of misinformation. At longer delays, the activation of appropriate referents showed no significant difference, but misinformation probes were more quickly recognized than were inappropriate referents that were incidentally mentioned in control story versions. In all conditions, appropriate referents showed more activation than inappropriate ones. The results suggest that corrected misinformation can continue to influence on-line reading processes.