A comparison of fast-rate, slow-rate, and silent previewing interventions on reading performance

Researchers investigated the effects of three different previewing interventions on the oral reading rates of 12 junior and senior high school students with learning disabilities. Under fast-rate listening previewing (FRLP), students were instructed to follow silently as experimenters read from a text at an average rate that was 77.7% faster than the students' current oral reading rate. During slow-rate listening previewing (SRLP), students followed along as experimenters read at an average rate that was 22.5% faster than the students' reading rate. Students were instructed to read passages silently under silent previewing (SP). Immediately following each previewing intervention, students read the same passage aloud. The number of words read correctly per minute and the number of errors per minute served as dependent variables. The results showed statistically significant decreases in error rates under SRLP and SP. The results also showed that SRLP resulted in statistically significantly fewer errors per minute than FRLP. These results suggest that orally reading while students follow along at a rate much higher than their current reading rates may not be as beneficial as reading aloud at slower rates.     

Dynamic wires: An alanog VLSI model for object-based processing

The dynamic-wire methodology provides dedicated lines of communication among groups of pixels of an image which share common properties. In simple applications, object regions can be grouped together to compute the area or the center of mass of each object. Alternatively, object boundaries may be used to compute curvature or contour length. These measurements are useful for higher-level tasks such as object recognition or structural saliency. The dynamic-wire methodology is efficiently implemented in fast, low-power analog hardware. Switches create a true electrical connection among selected pixels, dynamically configuring wires or resistive networks on the fly. Dynamic wires provide a model for object-based processing. This approach is different from present early vision chips which are limited to pixel-based or image-based operations. Using this methodology, we have successfully designed and demonstrated a custom analog VLSI chip which computes contour length.     

Choroidal metastasis from primary mucinous cystadenocarcinoma of the ovary

Central nervous system metastases are uncommon in epithelial carcinoma of the ovary; and metastases to the eye are even more rare. This article describes what is believed to be only the third case reported of epithelial carcinoma of the ovary metastatic to the eye.     

Hepatic Doppler perfusion index: measurement in nine healthy volunteers

Nine healthy volunteers were studied to validate the reproducibility of the Doppler perfusion index--the ratio of hepatic arterial to total liver blood flow--and to evaluate the method of its derivation and the influence of the variable parameters necessary for its calculation. Wide intraobserver variability was observed, and Doppler perfusion index values were consistently outside the previously reported normal range.     

Evidence that GABA transmission mediates context-specific extinction of learned fear

Recent evidence has suggested that molecular chaperones participate in the conformational change between the normal cellular prion protein (PrPC) and its scrapie isoform (PrPSc). To study a role of PrPC in the regulation of expression of heat shock proteins (HSPs), a group of molecular chaperones, heat-induced expression of major HSPs (HSP105, HSP90alpha, HSP72, HSC70, HSP60, and HSP25) was investigated in cultured skin fibroblasts isolated from the mice homogeneous for a disrupted PrP gene (PrP-/- mice) by Western blot analysis and immunocytochemistry. Two lines of fibroblasts were established and designated SFK derived from the PrP-/- mice and SFH derived from the PrP+/+ mice, respectively. In both SFK and SFH cells, HSP105, HSP72, and HSP25 were expressed at low levels under unstressed conditions but they were induced markedly following exposure to heat stress (43 degreesC/20 min) at 3-72 h postrecovery. In both cell types, HSC70 and HSP60 were expressed at high levels under unstressed conditions and their levels remained unchanged after heat shock treatment. HSP90alpha was undetectable in both cell types under any conditions examined. The pattern of expression, induction, and subcellular location of HSP105, HSP72, HSC70, HSP60, and HSP25 was not significantly different between SFK and SFH cells under unstressed and heat-stressed conditions. Furthermore, the levels of constitutive expression of HSP105, HSC70, HSP60, and HSP25 were similar between the brain tissues isolated from the PrP-/- and PrP+/+ mice. These results indicate that HSP induction is not affected by either the existence or the absence of PrPC in the cells.     

Characterization of microsatellite loci in a pelagic spawner: the bluehead wrasse, Thalassoma bifasciatum

Securing informed consent, though vital to any defense, will not shield a practitioner from a malpractice claim. That is because courts generally hold that patients cannot consent to negligent treatment.     

Gastric mucosal lesions after burn injury: relationship to H+ back-diffusion and the microcirculation

Rats were subjected to a 30% body surface area full-thickness burn. Two hours after injury, 93% of animals had gastric mucosal erosions. At 5 hours this increased to 100%, but at 24 and 72 hours, lesions were fewer and less severe. Histologic study suggested that lesions noted at 24 and 72 hours represented erosions formed earlier. No mucosal abnormalities were noted in control rats. A causal relationship between mucosal ischemia and the development of erosions is suggested by the presence of A-V shunts at 2 and 5 hours only. Significant increases in H+ back-diffusion and protein leakage into the gastric lumen at 2 and 5 hours also implicated changed mucosal permeability in the etiology of erosions. The return of H+ back-diffusion to control values at 24 and 72 hours, when lesions were still present, appears to contradict the theory that permeability changes are secondary to erosion formation.     

Effect of tachistoscopic stimulation of subconscious oedipal wishes on competitive performance: A failure to replicate.

Studied the effects of subconscious oedipal wishes on the dart-throwing performance of 72 18–29 yr old undergraduate males. The research was designed (a) to replicate the study by L. H. Silverman et al (1978), who found that Ss' dart-throwing performance improved after they viewed the subliminal stimulus "beating dad is ok" and worsened after they viewed "beating dad is wrong"; (b) to see if dart-throwing behavior is also affected by supraliminal oedipal stimulation; and (c) to investigate the influence of priming (i.e., preexperimental arousal of oedipal wishes) on the effect of tachistoscopic stimulation. Previous results were not replicated despite close adherence to the Silverman et al methodology, nor were other significant effects found. Questions are raised about the ability to have an impact on subconscious oedipal wishes in a behaviorally observable way using this paradigm. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The equilibrium distribution of wool-grease components and contaminants between the solvents hexane and aqueous isopropanol

A strategy has been developed that enables the equilibrium distribution of wool-grease components and contaminants to be specified in a form suitable for the design of a solvent extraction process. Experimentally determined equilibrium phase compositions for carefully selected model components were fitted by multi-variable least-squares regression to an empirical model to provide a convenient mathematical specification. The specification accounts for the dependency of distribution coefficient on concentration and also for the effects of component interactions.