Cultural Methods and Mineral Content of Eggplant (Solanum melongena) Fruit

Mineral content in edible portions of vegetables may be affected by cultural methods. This study was conducted to determine if fertiliser rate and irrigation regime affected mineral (N, NO₂, NO₃, P, PO₄, K, SO₄, Ca, Fe, Na, Mg, and Mn) of eggplant ( Solanum melongena L, cv Black Bell) fruit. The experiment on a Bernow fine-loamy, siliceous, thermic Glossic Paleudalf soil at Lane (OK, USA) with three fertiliser rates and three irrigation regimes. The data were analysed as a split-plot with harvests as the sub-plot. All P was accounted for by PO₄. Levels of NO₂ and NO₃ comprised <0·001% of the N content. Harvest number affected only N, P, K, SO₄ and Mg levels in both years, and Na in one year. For many of the minerals the highest levels in fruit were not consistent over harvests in both years. When there was less precipitation, and fertiliser was applied at the recommended rate, fewer irrigations per week were necessary to increase levels of N, P and K in fruit. The interaction of irrigation and fertiliser can affect mineral content of fruit and should be considered when fertiliser recommendations are made.     

Diagnostic comorbidity in panic disorder: effect on treatment outcome and course of comorbid diagnoses following treatment

The impact and course of additional diagnoses was examined in 126 patients undergoing cognitive-behavioral treatment for panic disorder. With the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule--Revised, a high comorbidity rate (51%) was observed at pretreatment. Pretreatment comorbidity was not predictive of premature termination, nor did it have a substantial impact on short-term treatment outcome. However, patients with comorbidity at posttreatment were more likely to have sought additional treatment over the follow-up interval. Although a significant and dramatic decline in the overall comorbidity rate was found at posttreatment (17%), at 24-month follow-up this rate had increased to a level (30.2%) that was no longer significantly different from pretreatment. This was despite the fact that patients maintained or improved on treatment gains for panic disorder over this interval. The implications of these findings for the treatment, conceptualization, and classification of emotional disorders are discussed.     

Feasibility of an immunoassay for mevalonolactone

Trace eyeblink classical conditioning was assessed in patients with bilateral medial-temporal amnesia and matched control participants who had previously shown equivalent delay eyeblink conditioning (J. D. E. Gabrieli et al., 1995). The silent trace interval varied for durations of 500, 750, or 1,000 ms in successive sessions separated by at least 2 weeks; extinction trials followed each session. Patients with amnesia produced significantly fewer conditioned responses (CRs) than did control participants at all trace intervals. Both groups produced fewer CRs as the trace interval lengthened. Thus, the temporal lobe memory system in humans makes an essential contribution to normal acquisition in trace, but not delay, classical eyeblink conditioning.     

Wide-band characterization of current probes

The use of current probes for the injection of wide-band disturbance in electromagnetic compatibility applications requires their accurate characterization up to few gigahertz. While the representation of the current probe with a simple transformer is acceptable at low frequencies, the spectral content of fast signals requires models which are accurate even at gigahertz frequencies. This can be accomplished directly by measurements in the frequency domain (FD), making use of a S-matrix representation of the probe, or in the time domain (TD), recovering the transfer functions from the impulse responses measurement. Both techniques suffer limitations due to numerical and experimental problems; in particular, the FD approach leads to the solution of an inverse problem, with numerical instabilities in the high-frequency range, whereas the TD approach is not so accurate in the low-frequency range of the sought transfer function. The paper combines the two techniques to overcome these difficulties and achieve a better accuracy across the overall bandwidth. The characterization of a commercially available current probe allows comparison of numerical results with experimental measurements.     

Modeling of Programming and Read Performance in Phase-Change Memories—Part I: Cell Optimization and Scaling

One of the major concerns for the feasibility of phase-change memories is the reduction of the programming current. To this aim, several efforts have been dedicated both on cell geometry and on material engineering. This paper addresses programming-current minimization by the optimization of the cell geometry and materials, programming-current scaling, and the tradeoff between programming and readout performances of the cell. A general procedure to find the optimum-cell geometry is proposed and applied to a prototype vertical cell. Then, the evolution of program and read performances through technology nodes is analyzed by numerical simulations with the aid of an analytical model, for both the isotropic- and nonisotropic-scaling approaches. The two scaling approaches are discussed and compared in terms of program and read cell performances. Finally, material optimization is considered for further program-read improvement.     

Personality characteristics of the mothers of children with disruptive behavior disorders.

The biological mothers of 100 outpatient children aged 6–13 years completed the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). Mothers of children given DSM-III diagnoses of conduct disorder (CD; n?=?13) had significantly higher scores on MMPI scales associated with antisocial behavior (Psychopathic Deviate and Hypomania), histrionic behavior (Hypochondriasis and Hysteria), and disturbed adjustment (Schizophrenia). In contrast, the children"s diagnosis of attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADD/H; n?=?22) was not significantly associated with any maternal MMPI elevations, and the CD?×?ADD/H interactions were not significant for any MMPI scale. These results indicate that CD is linked to maternal personality disorder, but ADD/H is not. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Efficacy and safety of pravastatin in African Americans with primary hypercholesterolemia

BACKGROUND: Coronary artery disease strikes early and may prove particularly severe in persons of African-American descent. Therefore, we studied the lipid-lowering efficacy and safety of pravastatin sodium (20 mg/d), a 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitor, in 245 African-American patients with primary hypercholesterolemia. METHODS: After 4 weeks on an American Heart Association phase I low-fat diet, patients were randomized in a double-blind manner to either pravastatin or placebo in a 3:1 ratio. RESULTS: After 12 weeks of pravastatin treatment, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels declined 25.8%, total cholesterol levels 20.3%, and triglyceride levels 6.2%, while high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels remained essentially unchanged. Overall, 72% of pravastatin-treated patients achieved reductions in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level in excess of 20%, and 44% attained declines in excess of 30% (both P < .01 vs placebo). Pravastatin was generally well tolerated in this population, with one patient (0.5%) exhibiting a reversible myopathy with creatine kinase elevations to 10 times the upper limit of normal. No substantial elevations of aminotransferase levels of two to three times the upper limit of normal occurred in either the pravastatin or the placebo group. Drug compliance was high, exceeding 90%. CONCLUSION: Pravastatin appears to be an effective and safe lipid-lowering agent and is the first 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitor to be studied extensively in this underrepresented population.