Electrophysiological dissociation of recency and recognition memory

Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded during the test phases of two experiments. In experiment 1, subjects first studied two consecutively presented word lists. At test, they were presented with pairs of words, and were required to judge which word had been presented most recently. The test pairs were composed of two previously studied words, one drawn from each list, (Old+Old pairs), one previously studied and one new word (Old+New pairs), or two unstudied words (New+New pairs). At temporo-parietal electrodes, ERPs to Old+Old and Old+New pairs were both reliably more positive-going than those to New+New pairs. At electrode sites overlying prefrontal cortex, ERPs to Old+Old pairs attracting correct recency judgements were more positive, from around 300 ms onwards, than those elicited by the other classes of item, which did not differ from one another. In experiment 2, the test task was changed to one that required discrimination between Old+New items on the one hand, and Old+Old and New+New pairs on the other. ERPs to Old+Old and Old+New pairs once again differed from those to New+New pairs at temporo-parietal sites, but no differences were evident between the ERPs from frontal electrode sites. In line with the evidence from lesion studies, these findings suggest that judgements of relative recency depend upon processes, supported by the prefrontal cortex, additional to those that are necessary for recognition memory. They further suggest that these processes are activated rapidly and selectively in response to pairs of studied items when these must be discriminated on the basis of their relative recency of occurrence.     

The role of DnaJ-like proteins in glucocorticoid receptor.hsp90 heterocomplex assembly by the reconstituted hsp90.p60.hsp70 foldosome complex

The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) is recovered from hormone-free cells in a heterocomplex with the molecular chaperone hsp90, which is required to produce the proper folding state for steroid binding. GR.hsp90 heterocomplexes are formed by a multiprotein system that appears to exist in all eukaryotic cells. Recently, we have reconstituted a receptor.hsp90 heterocomplex assembly system with purified rabbit hsp90 and hsp70 and bacterially expressed human p23 and p60. We have shown that hsp90, p60, and hsp70 form an hsp90.p60. hsp70 complex that converts the GR from a non-steroid binding to a steroid binding form (Dittmar, K. D., and Pratt, W. B. (1997) J. Biol. Chem. 272, 13047-13054). The resulting GR.hsp90 heterocomplex rapidly disassembles unless p23 is present to bind to the ATP-dependent conformation of hsp90 and stabilize its association with the receptor (Dittmar, K. D., Demady, D. R., Stancato, L. F., Krishna, P., and Pratt, W. B. (1997) J. Biol. Chem. 272, 21213-21220). In the current work, we show that the purified rabbit hsp70 utilized in prior studies is contaminated with a small amount of the rabbit DnaJ homolog hsp40. Elimination of the hsp40 from the purified GR.hsp90 assembly system reduces assembly activity, and the activity is restored by addition of the purified yeast DnaJ homolog YDJ-1. hsp40 is a component of the hsp90.p60.hsp70 foldosome complex isolated from reticulocyte lysate with antibody against p60. Under conditions that promote binding of p23 to hsp90 (elevated temperature, ATP, Nonidet P-40, molybdate), a five-membered (p23. hsp90.p60.hsp70.hsp40) complex of chaperone proteins is formed in reticulocyte lysate or from purified proteins. The hsp40-free, purified assembly system has a modest level of assembly activity that is maximally potentiated by YDJ-1 when it is present at about one-twentieth the concentration of hsp70. Although hsp40 is not in the final GR.hsp90 heterocomplex isolated from L cell cytosol, it is in the GR.hsp90 heterocomplex assembled in reticulocyte lysate. We conclude that hsp40 is a component of the multiprotein hsp90-based chaperone system where it potentiates GR.hsp90 heterocomplex assembly.     

Temperature and modulation characteristics of resonant-cavitylight-emitting diodes

Resonant-cavity light-emitting diodes (RCLED) are novel, high-efficiency light-emitting diodes which employ optical microcavities. These diodes have higher intensities and higher spectral purity as compared to conventional LEDs. Analytical formulas are derived for the enhancement of the spontaneous emission along the optical axis of the cavity. The design rules for high-efficiency operation of RCLEDs are established. The temperature dependence of the emission intensity is analyzed in the range 20-80° and it is described by an exponential dependence with a characteristic temperature of 112 K. The modulation characteristics of RCLEDs exhibit 3 dB frequencies of 580 MHz. Eye diagrams at transmission rates of 622 Mb/s are wide open indicating the suitability of RCLEDs for high-speed data transmission     

A 16-Kbit Θ-search associative memory

The design of a high-capacity Θ-search associative memory (Θ∈{<,>,⩽,⩾,=≠}) is presented. PSPICE simulation and layouts show that the proposed Θ-search associative memory chip consisting of 256 words, each 64-b long, can fit on a 13.5-mm×9.5-mm chip. It can perform maskable Θ-search operations over its contents in 110 ns     

Psychopharmacotherapy for addictive and comorbid disorders: current studies

Proper diagnosis of comorbid disorders is crucial in treatment planning for the dually diagnosed. Since psychoactive substance use can obfuscate the diagnosis, special care must be taken to exclude organically based syndromes. Adequate periods of abstinence should first be achieved and subsequently the patient re-examined for residual symptoms compatible with a nonaddictive, nonsubstance-induced psychiatric disorder. The integration of concurrent treatment of both the mental and the addictive disorders appears to be the best approach for treatment of comorbid psychiatric and addictive disorders. An abstinence-based model that typically utilizes a 12-step group therapy is often employed for the addictive illnesses. Other forms of psychosocial therapies such as case managers are being used as well. Presently, physicians' prescribing practices for comorbid addicted patients are based on traditional approaches to use of medications in psychiatric patients, and their attitudes towards addictive disorders may play a significant role in determining the overall success of treatment.     

Superior mesenteric artery syndrome presenting with acute massive gastric dilatation

A 14-year-old girl presenting with acute massive gastric dilatation secondary to duodenal obstruction by the superior mesenteric artery is described. The diagnosis was facilitated by contrast-enhanced abdominal computerized tomography. She was successfully treated by gastrostomy and subsequent duodenal derotation. This unique presentation of the superior mesenteric artery syndrome is discussed.     

A Maximum Entropy Approach for Collaborative Filtering

Collaborative filtering (CF) involves predicting the preferences of a user for a set of items given partial knowledge of the user's preferences for other items, while leveraging a database of profiles for other users. CF has applications e.g. in predicting Web sites a person will visit and in recommending products. Fundamentally, CF is a pattern recognition task, but a formidable one, often involving a huge feature space, a large data set, and many missing features. Even more daunting is the fact that a CF inference engine must be capable of predicting any (user-selected) items, given any available set of partial knowledge on the user's other preferences. In other words, the model must be designed to solve any of a huge (combinatoric) set of possible inference tasks. CF techniques include memory-based, classification-based, and statistical modelling approaches. Among these, modelling approaches scale best with large data sets and are the most adept at handling missing features. The disadvantage of these methods lies in the statistical assumptions (e.g. feature independence), which may be unjustified. To address this shortcoming we propose a new model-based CF method, based on the maximum entropy principle. For the MS Web application, the new method is demonstrated to outperform a number of CF approaches, including naive Bayes and latent variable (cluster) models, support vector machines (SVMs), and the (Pearson) correlation method.     

The distribution of palladium in a Pd-modified 4130 steel

The addition of palladium to a 4130 steel reduces its sensitivity to stress corrosion cracking and to hydrogen-induced cracking. The atom probe field-ion microscope has been used to study the microstructure and microchemistry of these palladium-modified 4130 steels with particular emphasis on the distribution of palladium between the various phases and internal interfaces. The palladium was found to segregate to the ferrite-ferrite lath boundaries to form a mono-atomically thick adsorbate layer. Palladium-manganese precipitates both at the lath boundaries and in the ferrite matrix were also detected. Most of the palladium was found to remain in solution in the ferrite.     

Growth and characterization of GaAs films deposited on Ge/Si composite substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

We report the results of studies which have been made on heteroepitaxial layers of GaAs and AlGaAs grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition on composite substrates that consist of four different types of heteroepitaxial layered structures of Ge and Ge-Si grown by molecular beam epitaxy on (100)-oriented Si substrates. It is found that of the four structures studied, the preferred composite substrate is a single layer of Ge ∼1 μm thick grown directly on a Si buffer layer. The double-crystal X-ray rocking curves of 2 μm thick GaAs films grown on such substrates have FWHM values as small as 168 arc sec. Transmission electron micrographs of these Ge/Si composite substrates has shown that the number of dislocations in the Ge heteroepitaxial layer can be greatly reduced by an anneal at about 750° C for 30 min which is simultaneously carried out during the growth of the GaAs layer. The quality of the GaAs layers grown on these composite substrates can be greatly improved by the use of a five-period GaAs-GaAsP strained-layer superlattice (SLS). Using the results of these studies, low-threshold optically pumped AlGaAs-GaAs DH laser structures have been grown by MOCVD on MBE Ge/Si composite substrates.