Casein kinase 2 phosphorylation of recombinant rat osteopontin enhances adhesion of osteoclasts but not osteoblasts

We have analysed the function of a gene of Bacillus subtilis, the product of which shows significant homology with eukaryotic SMC proteins essential for chromosome condensation and segregation. Two mutant strains were constructed; in one, the expression was under the control of the inducible spac promoter (conditional null) and, in the other, the gene was disrupted by insertion (disrupted null). Both could form colonies at 23 degree C but not at 37 degree C in the absence of the expression of the Smc protein, indicating that the B. subtilis smc gene was essential for cell growth at higher temperatures. Microscopic examination revealed the formation of anucleate and elongated cells and diffusion of nucleoids within the elongated cells in the disrupted null mutant grown at 23 degree C and in the conditional null mutant grown in low concentrations of IPTG at 37 degree C. In addition, immunofluorescence microscopy showed that subcellular localization of the SpoOJ partition protein was irregular in the smc disrupted null mutant, compared with bipolar localization in wild-type cells. These results indicate that the B. subtilis smc gene is essential for chromosome partition. The role of B. subtilis Smc protein in chromosome partition is discussed.     

Phase 1 trial of transforming growth factor beta 2 in chronic progressive MS

Transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta2 is a pleiotropic cytokine associated with remissions in multiple sclerosis (MS) and amelioration of allergic encephalomyelitis. We assessed the safety of TGF-beta2 in an open-label trial of 11 patients with secondary progressive (SP) MS. Five patients had a reversible decline in the glomerular filtration rate. There was no change in expanded disability status scale or MRI lesions during treatment. Systemic TGF-beta2 may be associated with reversible nephrotoxicity, and further investigation of its therapeutic potential in MS should be performed with caution.     

EEG-based communication: improved accuracy by response verification

We used (+)[11C]dihydrotetrabenazine, a new ligand for the type 2 vesicular monoamine transporter, with positron emission tomography to study striatal monoaminergic presynaptic terminals in 7 male severe chronic alcoholic subjects without Wernicke-Korsakoff disease compared with 7 male normal controls of similar ages. We found reduced specific binding in the caudate nucleus and putamen in the alcoholic group, and the difference reached significance in the putamen. Specific binding was not decreased in the thalamus, which was examined as a reference structure. We also detected deficits in blood-to-brain transfer rate, K1, in the same regions of the alcoholic group, with a significant difference in the putamen. K1 was unchanged in the thalamus. The finding of reduced striatal VMAT2 in severe chronic alcoholic patients suggests that nigrostriatal monoaminergic terminals are reduced, with or without loss of neurons from the substantia nigra. The findings suggest that the damaging effects of severe chronic alcoholism on the central nervous system are more extensive than previously considered.     

A self-care assessment tool (SCAT) for persons with a spinal cord injury: an expanded abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop a reliable and valid tool that assesses the cognitive and functional skills needed for self-care in persons with spinal cord injury (SCI). The Self-Care Assessment Tool (SCAT) assesses cognitive and functional skills in eight self-care areas: bathing/grooming, nutritional management, medications, mobility/transfers/safety, skin management, bladder management, bowel management and dressing. The tool was carefully developed and has demonstrated content validity. Using two samples of veterans seen in the SCI clinics of two Southern Veterans Affairs Medical Centers, n = 13 and n = 15, interrater reliabilities computed by Pearson product moment correlations for the cognitive, functional and total scores ranged from .69 to .94. Test-retest reliabilities using Pearson product moment correlations for the cognitive, functional and total scores of two groups (n = 14 and n = 15) ranged from -.06 to .86. Regarding predictive validity, R2 was found to be .61 to .90 for the cognitive, functional and total scores. Although continued reliability and validity studies are needed, the SCAT has potential to measure patient rehabilitation outcomes, to evaluate nursing care approaches and to serve as a quality assurance indicator for nursing care.     

Reciprocal relation between attitudes and behavior recall: Committing people to newly formed attitudes.

Reports 3 studies that used a total of 195 male and female undergraduates. Exp I showed that shifts in attitude were accompanied by shifts in the recall of the more qualitative rather than quantitative aspects of past behaviors. Exps II and III assessed the effects of recall on Ss' commitment to newly formed attitudes. On the premise that behavior recall is biased so as to be consistent with salient attitudes, it was hypothesized that recall would serve to increase Ss' commitment to their attitudes. In Exp II it was assumed that degree of commitment to an attitude would be reflected in the persistence of the attitude, behavioral intention, and actual behavior. As anticipated, Ss' intentions were more consistent with their attitudes when they had been prompted to recall attitudinally relevant behaviors. However, recall did not affect attitude persistence or actual behavior. In Exp III, commitment was measured by resistance to an attack on an attitude. Ss were more likely to maintain an attitude in the face of an attack if they had been induced to recall attitudinally relevant behaviors. The data support the hypothesis that attitudes can affect recall, which in turn affects commitment to the attitudes. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Detecting friendly,flirtatious, awkward,and assertive speech in speed-dates

Automatically detecting human social intentions and attitudes from spoken conversation is an important task for speech processing and social computing. We describe a system for detecting interpersonal stance: whether a speaker is flirtatious, friendly, awkward, or assertive. We make use of a new spoken corpus of over 1000 4-min speed-dates. Participants rated themselves and their interlocutors for these interpersonal stances, allowing us to build detectors for style both as interpreted by the speaker and as perceived by the hearer. We use lexical, prosodic, and dialog features in an SVM classifier to detect very clear styles (the strongest 10% in each stance) with up to 75% accuracy on previously seen speakers (50% baseline) and up to 59% accuracy on new speakers (48% baseline). A feature analysis suggests that flirtation is marked by joint focus on the woman as a target of the conversation, awkwardness by decreased speaker involvement, and friendliness by a conversational style including other-directed laughter and appreciations. Our work has implications for our understanding of interpersonal stance, their linguistic expression, and their automatic extraction.