Public grid computing participation: An exploratory study of determinants

Using the Internet, “public” computing grids can be assembled using “volunteered” PCs. To achieve this, volunteers download and install a software application capable of sensing periods of low local processor activity. During such times, this program on the local PC downloads and processes a subset of the project's data. At the completion of processing, the results are uploaded to the project and the cycle repeats.     

Behavioral and subjective effects of D-amphetamine and modafinil in healthy adults.

Modafinil is indicated for the management of excessive daytime sleepiness; however, recent studies have examined a broad range of potential uses. Given that clinical uses of modafinil may be expanding, this study compared modafinil and d-amphetamine effects on subjective and performance measures. Across 11 sessions, 11 healthy adults were tested after oral doses of placebo (5 sessions), modafinil (1.75 mg/kg, 3.50 mg/kg, or 7.00 mg/kg), and d-amphetamine (0.035 mg/kg, 0.070 mg/kg, 0.140 mg/kg) under double-blind, randomized conditions. Assessments of cognitive performance and subjective effects were completed before drug administration, 30 min after drug administration, and at hourly intervals after drug administration for 5 hr. Modafinil increased ratings on the Amphetamine and Morphine Benzedrine Group scales of the Addiction Research Center Inventory (ARCI) and increased ratings on the Vigor and Total Positive scales of the Profile of Mood States. d-Amphetamine increased visual analog ratings of feeling stimulated and liking the drug and increased ratings on the Morphine Benzedrine Group scale of the ARCI. Both medications significantly reduced visual analog scale ratings of feeling sleepy, and modafinil decreased ratings on the ARCI Pentobarbital-Chlorpromazine-Alcohol Group scale. Both medications sustained performance that deteriorated across time on the Sternberg Number Recognition Test. Modafinil also enhanced performance rate on the Digit-Symbol Substitution Task above baseline levels and increased response rate on the Repeated Acquisition of Response Sequences Task. These results suggest that modafinil engenders alerting effects and increases performance in healthy non-sleep-deprived individuals comparable with that of d-amphetamine. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived self-efficacy and pain control: Opioid and nonopioid mechanisms.

In this experiment, we tested for opioid and nonopioid mechanisms of pain control through cognitive means and the relation of opioid involvement to perceived coping efficacy. Subjects were taught cognitive methods of pain control, were administered a placebo, or received no intervention. Their pain tolerance was then measured at periodic intervals after they were administered either a saline solution or naloxone, an opiate antagonist that blocks the effects of endogenous opiates. Training in cognitive control strengthened perceived self-efficacy both to withstand and to reduce pain; placebo medication enhanced perceived efficacy to withstand pain but not reductive efficacy; and neither form of perceived self-efficacy changed without any intervention. Regardless of condition, the stronger the perceived self-efficacy to withstand pain, the longer subjects endured mounting pain stimulation. The findings provide evidence that attenuation of the impact of pain stimulation through cognitive control is mediated by both opioid and nonopioid mechanisms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Movement sequencing disorders in Parkinson's disease

Ten PD patients and ten age-matched normal controls learned a sequence of 3 or 4 different hand movements to a criterion of 5 consecutive correct trials. They also performed a control sequence of 3 or 4 movements which involved the repetition of the same hand posture. Trials to reach criterion, errors, total response time and its components, response time for each movement and inter-response time were examined. There were no group differences in trials to criterion or errors. Total movement time as well as response and inter-response times were significantly longer for the PD patients, however, but only for sequences involving different hand movements not for the repetitive sequences. The relative timing of the responses was also different with the PD patients spending proportionately more time on each response and the controls spending more time between responses. The implications of these findings for understanding the movement sequencing impairments in PD are discussed.     

Blood donor centres can effectively publicise cancer screening

We studied 100 healthy children looking for lactose malabsortion. We performed in all of them the lactose breath test. We found a 10% with lactose malabsortion. There was no correlation between lactose breath test and fecal reducing substances.     

Opiate users and the first years after treatment: outcome analysis of the proportion of follow up time spent in abstinence

This second report on a follow-up study of drug users focuses on changes that occurred on a number of variables between intake and follow-up and during the follow-up period. The length of abstinence from opiates was considered as a proportion of the total follow-up period. Overall there was a reduction in opiate use, in injecting and sharing equipment at follow-up. There had been, however, a high level of these risky activities during the follow-up period. Sustained abstinence from opiates was associated with increased employment, enhanced social stability and mental health. Intake drug use was strongly related to follow-up drug status. In particular, those who were injectors of multiple drugs at intake were far less likely to be long term opiate abstainers at follow-up than those who were not injectors at intake or injectors of opiates only.     

Discussion of “an interpretation of the carbon redistribution process during aging of high-carbon martensite”

Y. OHMORI and I. TAMURA:Metall. Trans. A, 1992, vol. 23A,     

Use of acetabular models in planning complex acetabular reconstructions

The number of patients requiring revision total hip arthroplasty continues to increase each year. Accurate preoperative planning is a key factor in obtaining a good result. Radiographs provide little information concerning the actual extent of the acetabular defects. Computed tomography-generated models of the acetabulum can provide the surgeon with accurate information concerning the size and location of the defects. Evaluation of radiographs and models in 24 cases showed that radiographs alone failed to detect all 13 anterior wall defects (P < .001), 8 of 18 posterior wall defects (44.4%, P < .001), and 8 of 19 segmental central defects (42%, P < .001), all of which were easily identified with the models. This study showed that preoperative planning based on the foam models accurately predicted the actual implant used in 22 of 24 cases (92%).