Subtle neurological deficits and psychopathological findings in substance-abusing homeless and non-homeless veterans

PROBLEM: In vitro studies have demonstrated microfractures in resected roots after root end cavity preparation with ultrasonic tips. Such microfractures are of concern; however, they may be artifacts. OBJECTIVES: To assess the incidence of microfractures after ultrasonic root end cavity preparation in situ. STUDY DESIGN: Fifty-two roots in two cadavers were endodontically treated, the soft tissues excised, and the root ends exposed and resected. The resected root surfaces were replicated with polyvinylsiloxane impressions. Root end cavities were prepared with ultrasonic tips, then impressed a second time. The roots were retrieved; 25 were processed for direct SEM examination as were both the impressions of each root. The specimens were examined by stereomicroscope and scanning electron microscope. RESULTS: In the impressions, the resected and prepared surfaces appeared irregular, but none demonstrated microfractures. In contrast, 15 retrieved roots showed microfractures. CONCLUSIONS: Ultrasonic root end cavity preparation in situ did not cause root microfractures, and the impression technique could be clinically usable with minor modifications.     

Decline in serum follicle-stimulating hormone concentrations alters key intrafollicular growth factors involved in selection of the dominant follicle in heifers

Declining FSH after a transient rise coincides with selection of a dominant follicle (DF) and atresia of the remaining cohort follicles (subordinates) in cattle. The objectives of this study were to determine 1) whether intrafollicular amounts of inhibins, activin-A, insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I), and IGF-I-binding proteins (IGFBP) are altered during selection of the first-wave dominant follicle (DF1) and 2) whether these biochemical markers are FSH dependent. Beef heifers received six or eight 6-h injections of saline (controls) or eight 6-h injections of recombinant bovine FSH (1 mg/injection) at 38 to 42 h after estrus (Day 0). Daily ultrasound scanning was used to define selection of DF1. Controls (n = 6 per group) were ovariectomized 1) on Day 3 of the estrous cycle before DF1 selection (preselection follicles) and 2) after DF1 selection on Day 4.8 +/- 0.5. In controls, FSH declined between Days 2 and 3 and selection of DF1 occurred between Days 3 and 5. During this interval, intrafollicular estradiol concentrations increased > 5-fold in DF1, yet declined 4-fold in subordinates (p < 0.05). In DF1, total IGF-I increased 1.3-fold (p < 0.05), whereas the amounts of the 40- to 47-kDa and the 35-kDa IGFBP (ligand hybridization) decreased 2.4- and 2.5-fold, respectively (p < 0.05), compared to values in preselection follicles on Day 3; total dimeric inhibin-A decreased 1.8-fold (p < 0.05). In contrast, amounts of the 30- to 32-kDa IGFBP increased 12.4-fold (p < 0.05) in subordinates on Day 4.8 compared with preselection follicles on Day 3, while the amount of inhibins > 34 kDa decreased 4- to 9-fold (p < 0.05). In FSH-treated heifers, both selection of DF1 and atresia of subordinates were delayed by 2.2 days. Preselection follicles recovered on Day 4.9 +/- 0.1 from FSH-treated heifers were similar (p > 0.05) in almost all biochemical parameters to preselection follicles from control heifers; however, they differed markedly from both DF1 and subordinate follicles recovered from control heifers on Day 4.8 +/- 0.5. In conclusion, the decline in FSH beginning after Day 2 of the heifer estrous cycle causes differential alterations in FSH-dependent growth factors and hormones within the cohort of preselection follicles, simultaneously inducing growth and enhanced estradiol-producing capacity of the DF and atresia of subordinate follicles.     

Dental materials: 1996 literature review. Part 2

This critical review of the published literature on dental materials for the year 1996 has been compiled by the Dental Materials Panel of the UK. It continues the series of annual reviews started in 1973 and published in the Journal of Dentistry. Emphasis has been placed upon publications which report upon the materials science or clinical performance of the materials. The review has been divided by accepted materials classifications (fissure sealants, glass polyalkenoate cements, dentine bonding, dental amalgam, endodontic materials, casting alloys, resin-bonded bridges and ceramo-metallic restorations, ceramics, denture base resins and soft lining materials, impression materials, implants materials, orthodontic materials, biomechanics and image processing, resin composites and casting investment materials and waxes). Three hundred and thirteen articles have been reviewed.     

Language style matching in writing: Synchrony in essays, correspondence, and poetry.

Each relationship has its own personality. Almost immediately after a social interaction begins, verbal and nonverbal behaviors become synchronized. Even in asocial contexts, individuals tend to produce utterances that match the grammatical structure of sentences they have recently heard or read. Three projects explore language style matching (LSM) in everyday writing tasks and professional writing. LSM is the relative use of 9 function word categories (e.g., articles, personal pronouns) between any 2 texts. In the first project, 2 samples totaling 1,744 college students answered 4 essay questions written in very different styles. Students automatically matched the language style of the target questions. Overall, the LSM metric was internally consistent and reliable across writing tasks. Women, participants of higher socioeconomic status, and students who earned higher test grades matched with targets more than others did. In the second project, 74 participants completed cliffhanger excerpts from popular fiction. Judges' ratings of excerpt–response similarity were related to content matching but not function word matching, as indexed by LSM. Further, participants were not able to intentionally increase style or content matching. In the final project, an archival study tracked the professional writing and personal correspondence of 3 pairs of famous writers across their relationships. Language matching in poetry and letters reflected fluctuations in the relationships of 3 couples: Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, and Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. Implications for using LSM as an implicit marker of social engagement and influence are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Low numbers of ovarian follicles ≥3 mm in diameter are associated with low fertility in dairy cows

The total number of ovarian follicles ≥ 3mm in diameter (antral follicle count, AFC) during follicular waves varies among cattle of similar age, but AFC is highly repeatable within individuals. We hypothesized that lower AFC could be associated with reduced fertility in cattle. The AFC was assessed by ultrasonography for 2 d consecutively during the first wave of follicular growth of the estrous cycle, 4.6±1.43 d (mean ± SD) after estrus, in 306 Holstein-Friesian dairy cows approximately 70 d postpartum. Cows were classified into 3 groups based on AFC: low (AFC ≤15), intermediate (AFC=16 to 24), and high (AFC ≥25). During the cycle in which AFC was assessed and in subsequent cycles, cows were artificially inseminated (AI) following detection of estrus, and pregnancy status was assessed using ultrasonography. Cows with high AFC had 3.34 times greater odds of being pregnant at the end of the breeding season compared with cows with low AFC; the odds of a successful pregnancy at first service were 1.75 times greater in the intermediate compared with the low group. The predicted probability of a successful pregnancy by the end of the breeding period (length of breeding season was 86±16.3 d) was 94, 88, and 84% for the high, intermediate, and low AFC groups, respectively. No difference was evident among groups in 21-d submission rate (proportion of all cows detected in estrus and submitted for AI in the first 21 d of the breeding season), but the interval from calving to conception was shorter in the high (109.5±5.1 d) versus low (117.1±4 d) group, and animals with intermediate AFC received fewer services during the breeding season (2.3±0.1) compared with animals with low AFC (2.7±0.1). Lactating cows with ≤15 ovarian follicles have lower reproductive performance compared with cows with higher numbers of follicles, but the existence of a positive association between high numbers of ovarian follicles and fertility is yet to be established.     

Packaged AlGaAs waveguide modulator array at 830 nm wavelength

We report a fully packaged AlGaAs waveguide modulator array with four individually addressable elements operating at approximately 830 nm wavelength and a clock speed of 1 GHz. The modulators rely largely on the linear electro-optic effect for operation, and have been packaged with an E/D MESFET driver with complementary 3.5 V outputs, and a thick-film ceramic bias network. The device is compact, using multimode interference devices for on-chip splitters and combiners and has a 4 mm electrode length. Extinction ratios in excess of 10 dB have been demonstrated over a temperature range from room temperature to 143°C. The modulator array has been packaged with a remote high power (100 mW) diode laser using stable single mode input coupling, while the modulator output is packaged with a multimode fiber array of 52.5 μm core diameter     

Technology development of a high-density 32-channel 16-Gb/s opticaldata link for optical interconnection applications for theoptoelectronic technology consortium (OETC)

A parallel, 32-channel, high density (140 μm pitch), 500 Mb/s NRZ, point-to-point, optical data link has been fabricated using existing GaAs IC, silicon optical bench (SiOB), and multichip module (MCM-D) technologies. The main components of the transmitter and the receiver modules are a GaAs-based vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) array at 850 mn with its IC driver array chip and an integrated metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) receiver (photodetector and signal processing circuits) array at 850 nm. The package module uses a modified 164 I/O JEDEC premolded plastic quad flat pack (PQFP) in combination with a polymer film integrated circuit (POLYFIC) chip carrier. The electrical input and output are 500 Mb/s NRZ binary signals. The optical I/O in both modules consists of a directly-connectorized (nonpigtail) fiber array block that plugs into the 32×1 optical fiber ribbon directly on one side and accepts 32 optical signals from the SEL array or delivers them to the MSM receiver array via a gold-coated 45° polished fiber array mirror. The MACII-32 ribbon cable is an enhanced version of the standard MACII connector ribbon cable. This paper characterizes key components of the optical data link, describes its package design, and discusses preliminary component and optical data link test results     

Conducting research through a community mental health center: A research team's experiences.

Shares the professional and personal experiences of a diverse research team in conducting research over a 5-yr period. The team consisted of center staff, university professors, and graduate students. In addition to meeting the research and evaluation requirements of the center, the team successfully conducted projects that resulted in a continuing series of publications, convention presentation, and several dissertations and theses. The problems and rewards of this endeavor are discussed from the perspectives of the team members. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluation and treatment of uncompensated unilateral vestibular disease

Polar auxin transport plays a key role in the regulation of plant growth and development. To identify genes involved in this process, we have developed a genetic procedure to screen for mutants of Arabidopsis that are altered in their response to auxin transport inhibitors. We recovered a total of 16 independent mutants that defined seven genes, called TRANSPORT INHIBITOR RESPONSE (TIR) genes. Recessive mutations in one of these genes, TIR3, result in altered responses to transport inhibitors, a reduction in polar auxin transport, and a variety of morphological defects that can be ascribed to changes in indole-3-acetic acid distribution. Most dramatically, tir3 seedlings are strongly deficient in lateral root production, a process that is known to depend on polar auxin transport from the shoot into the root. In addition, tir3 plants display a reduction in apical dominance as well as decreased elongation of siliques, pedicels, roots, and the inflorescence. Biochemical studies indicate that tir3 plants have a reduced number of N-1-naphthylphthalamic (NPA) binding sites, suggesting that the TIR3 gene is required for expression, localization, or stabilization of the NPA binding protein (NBP). Alternatively, the TIR3 gene may encode the NBP. Because the tir3 mutants have a substantial defect in NPA binding, their phenotype provides genetic evidence for a role for the NBP in plant growth and development.