Effects of group size and procedural influence on consensual judgments of quantity: The examples of damage awards and mock civil juries.

Six-person mock civil juries awarded significantly larger amounts for damages than did 12-person juries, and individuals preferred even larger average awards. A reversal of the "deep-pockets bias" observed earlier, an explanation involving temporal fluctuation in normative standards, during the time interval between the studies, was supported by independent data showing temporal trends in actual civil trial awards. A computational model of consensus that assumed a strong majority of those members with the most similar (closest) personal preferences decided on the median of their preferences accurately predicted award magnitude. Computer simulations explored the effects of critical faction size (majority, etc.) and location within the group, features that might in turn depend on task environment, cultural dynamics, and social context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Inhibitory effect of glucocorticoids on depigmentation of melanosome in cultured embryonic chick pigment retina

A material of flies collected in two localities (altitude of 3900 and 4500 m) in the Barun Khola Valley (East Nepal) was studied, representing the early spring aspect of the species composition of flies. Of the total number of 2309 fly specimens 99.3% represented two species of the genus Paregle (P. aterrima, P. sp.); both are autochthonous high altitude hemisynanthrophic forms. The remainining 0.7% represent 9 species, most of which are more or less eurytopic species of palearctic or holoarctic distribution (Calliphora vicina, C. vomitoria, Meoneura flavifacies, Scatophaga stercoraria, Hydrotea hirticeps, Orthellia caesarian, Paregle danieli, Anthomyiidae g. sp. 1, g. sp. 2).     

Coagulase-negative staphylococci in conjunctivitis and blepharitis

Coagulase-negative staphylococcus (C-NS) are regarded as normal flora of the lids and conjunctiva. The ability of these organisms to cause conjunctivitis and blepharitis can be overlooked or disregarded. To elucidate the role of individual C-NS species in these eye diseases we compared Staphylococcus sp. isolated from the conjunctiva and lids of 50 healthy volunteers with 248 strains of Staphylococcus isolated from patients with staphylococcal conjunctivitis or blepharitis. S. epidermidis was the most frequent species isolated from the conjunctiva and lids of both groups. S. aureus was isolated only from infected patients. No individual C-NS species was found to be significantly associated with eye disease, but the colony count of C-NS after isolation was a useful indicator of conjunctivitis and blepharitis. The ability of Staphylococcus to ferment mannitol or mannose was associated with isolates only from infected patients.     

Synchronization of the factors critical for diabetic teratogenesis: an in vitro model

OBJECTIVE: Our goal was to determine the relationship between critical factors and conditions such as gestational age and exposure time to elevated glucose levels in diabetic embryopathy. STUDY DESIGN: A postimplantation rat embryo culture was used as a model for investigation. The effect of various factors on embryonic development was studied. Experiments were conducted with increasing glucose concentrations (150 to 905 mg/dl, n = 186), at various gestational ages (10 to 12 days, n = 169), and for varying durations of exposure (30 to 180 minutes, n = 169). Gross morphologic characteristics of the yolk sac and embryo were assessed. RESULTS: Embryopathy was induced by hyperglycemia in a dose-related fashion: a 20% rate at two times control glucose concentration, almost a 50% rate at four times control, and approximately a 100% abnormality rate at more than six times control. A critical window in gestational age, days 10 to 11, and a minimum exposure time to hyperglycemia of 2 hours were necessary to induce teratogenesis. CONCLUSIONS: Diabetic teratogenesis occurs in a dose-related fashion and requires a minimum exposure time and critical gestational age. Only synchronization of these critical conditions induces embryonic maldevelopment. Furthermore, nonsynchronized aberrant conditions may result in apparently normal embryonic development.     

Ethnicity, hypertension, coronary heart disease and renal diseases in South Africa

This paper reviews the impact of race and environment upon hypertension, coronary heart disease and renal diseases in South Africa. Inequalities of socioeconomic status, lifestyle, and access to South African health care have produced striking differences in the prevalence and complications of hypertension. Coronary heart disease is 'epidemic' in the white and Indian population and is still relatively uncommon in blacks. There are different histological patterns of glomerulonephritis among the racial groups, which may lead to end-stage renal disease. Hypertension is an important cause of end-stage renal disease in the black population whilst analgesic nephropathy is important in the white population. Efforts are now being made to comprehend these daunting realities and to minimize the inequalities.     

Two different reactions involved in the primer/template-independent polymerization of dATP and dTTP by Taq DNA polymerase

We previously isolated a 41-kDa early antigen of human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6), which exhibited nuclear localization and DNA-binding activity (Agulnick et al., 1993). In this study, we observed that a 110-kDa protein was coimmunoprecipitated with p41 from HHV-6-infected cells by an anti-p41 antibody. This 110-kDa protein was identified as the HHV-6 DNA polymerase (Pol-6) by an antibody raised against the N terminus of Pol-6. Reciprocal immunoprecipitation and Western blot analyses confirmed that p41 complexes with Pol-6 in HHV-6-infected cells. In addition, both p41 and Pol-6 were expressed in vitro and shown to form a specific complex. An in vitro DNA synthesis assay using primed M13 single-stranded DNA template demonstrated that p41 not only increased the DNA synthesis activity of Pol-6 but also allowed Pol-6 to synthesize DNA products corresponding to full-length M13 template (7249 nucleotides). By contrast, Pol-6 alone could only synthesize DNA of <100 nucleotides. The functional interaction between Pol-6 and p41 appears to be specific because they could not be physically or functionally substituted in vitro by their herpes simplex virus 1 homologues. Moreover, as revealed by mutational analysis, both the N and C termini of Pol-6 contribute to its binding to p41. In the case of p41, the N terminus is required for increasing DNA synthesis but not binding to Pol-6, whereas the C terminus is totally dispensable.     

A longitudinal study of AIDS conversations between mothers and adolescents

This paper presents the results of a study on the introduced, free-ranging patas monkey population of Southwestern Puerto Rico (SWPR). It describes information on the population size, social group composition, diet, daily ranging patterns, and patas home range during a 3 year period. The patas monkey population in the study area consisted of approximately 120 individuals in four heterosexual groups and several all-male bands. Within their home ranges (26.8 km2), the population density was 4.47 individuals/km2. Home range size among the population's four heterosexual groups varied from 3.72 km2 to 15.39 km2, and minimum daily distance traveled ranged from 0.8-2.0 km. In general, the social structure and mating system of this population parallels what has been described for African populations. However, habitat use, ranging behavior, and the quality of intergroup interactions suggests that patas of this population exhibit territorial behavior.