Test of the phase model of psychotherapy in a training clinic.

Recent publications suggest that psychotherapy models generated in outpatient settings do not fully generalize to the training clinic. A possible explanation for these findings is that the nature in which change occurs during psychotherapy may actually differ according to setting. To examine this possibility, the phase model of psychotherapy was tested in an outpatient training clinic. Results partially support the phase model, suggesting that the nature of change during effective psychotherapy within the training clinic setting does not differ from that in other outpatient settings. That is, clients who completed effective courses of treatment in the training clinic environment generally experience an improvement in subjective well-being before evidencing a reduction in symptom distress. Obtaining success in role performances (i.e., work or school) appears to emerge last. Practitioners may enhance treatment outcomes by targeting interventions that are congruent with the phase of the individual client presenting for treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Daily repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) improves mood in depression

Converging evidence points to hypofunction of the left prefrontal cortex in depression. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) activates neurons near the surface of the brain. We questioned whether daily left prefrontal rTMS might improve mood in depressed subjects and report a pilot study of such treatment in six highly medication-resistant depressed inpatients. Depression scores significantly improved for the group as a whole (Hamilton Depression Scores decreased from 23.8 +/- 4.2 (s.d.) at baseline to 17.5 +/- 8.4 after treatment; t = 3.03, 5DF, p = 0.02, two-tailed paired t-test). Two subjects showed robust mood improvement which occurred progressively over the course of several weeks. In one subject, depression symptoms completely remitted for the first time in 3 years. Daily left prefrontal rTMS appears to be safe, well tolerated and may alleviate depression.     

Determination of ceftiofur and its desfuroylceftiofur-related metabolites in swine tissues by high-performance liquid chromatography

2- and 4-Nitrophenyl beta-D-xylopyranosides (4 and 5) were transformed, via dibutyltin oxidemediated acylation, into the corresponding 2,3-di-O-benzoyl derivatives 11 and 15. Xylobiose and xylotriose were easily isolated by charcoal column chromatography from a commercially available material and converted into the di- and trisaccharide methyl 1-thio-beta-glycosides 36 and 37. The 2-and 4-nitrophenyl beta-glycosides of the beta-(1-->4)-D-xylo-oligosaccharides of dp 2-4 were synthesized by N-iodosuccinimide-silver triflate-promoted condensation using 11 and 15 as the glycosyl acceptors and ethyl 1-thio-beta-D-xylopyranoside triacetate 16, 36, and 37 as the glycosyl donors. Also described are an improved preparation of 4 and 5, and the synthesis of 1-naphthyl beta-D-xylopyranoside, as well as an alternative approach to the 2- and 4-nitrophenyl beta-xylobiosides.     

Web-based issue tracking for large software projects

Many problems are found and fixed during the development of a software system. The Project Issue Tracking System toolkit, a Web-based issue-management tool, can be used to organize issue reports during development and to communicate with different project teams around the world. The Project Issue Tracking System (PITS) is a tool that supports the IV&V effort for two major NASA projects: the Earth Observation System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) and the Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). The EOSDIS IV&V effort teams several companies and organizations at several sites with Intermetrics, Inc, serving as the lead contractor. We examine the PITS Web-based mechanisms for tracking issue reports     

Constructing the procedure call multigraph

An algorithm for constructing a precise call multigraph for languages that permit procedure parameters, extending the method of B. Ryder (see ibid., vol.5, no.3, p.216-225 (1979)) for handling recursion, is presented. If it is assumed that there is a constant upper bound on the number of procedure parameters to any procedure in the program, then the algorithm is polynomial in the total number of procedures in the program     

Conversion of proparathyroid hormone to parathyroid hormone: studies in vitro with trypsin

The conversion of proparathyroid hormone to parathyroid hormone (PTH) was studied in vitro employing pancreatic trypsin as a prototype converting enzyme. Digestion of intact radiolabeled bovine prohormone with trypsin (0.1%) (w/w) resulted in release of a peptide comigrating with intact hormone marker in systems resolving both on the basis of charge (urea polyacrylamide gels, pH 4.4) and size (sodium dodecyl sulfate-urea polyacrylamide gels, pH 7.2). Tryptic digestions of a synthetic analogue of bovine prohormone, ProPTH-(-6 + 34), consisting of the prohormone hexapeptide covalently bonded to the NIH2 terminus of the active fragment of the hormone, released in high yield the hexapeptide and the intact active hormone fragment before any other smaller fragments. Analyses of digestions were by: (i) thin-layer chromatography and amino acid analysis of digestion products; (ii) comparison of the biological activity of the prophormone substrate and the products of digestion; and (iii) peptide end-group analysis by the Edman method during progressive tryptic hydrolysis over 22 h. The latter experiments demonstrated cleavage of more than 75% of the hexapeptide-hormone peptide bond before cleavage of other trypsin-sensitive sites within the molecule. It is concluded that the specificity of cleavage at the hexapeptide-hormone bond in the process of intracellular hydrolysis of proparathyroid hormone resides primarily in the sequence and/or conformation of the precursor molecule; inasmuch as conversion of prohormone to hormone can be efficiently accomplished by pancreatic trypsin in vitro, there is, therefore, no need to postulate the existence of an intracellular converting enzyme within the parathyroid cell that possesses unique hydrolytic specificity.     

Assessing the conversational behaviour of psychiatric patients: Reliability and validity of the Verbal Report Form (VRF).

Two studies investigated the reliability and validity of a new behavioral rating scale, the Verbal Report Form (VRF), which measures brief unstructured verbal interactions of chronic mental patients. In Study 1, 6 individuals familiar with the VRF rated 12 videotaped segments (differing in length) of chronic schizophrenic patients. Results indicate that a 2-min time segment was necessary to accurately assess conversational behavior (mean rater agreement = .76). In Study 2, 15 raters (5 psychologists, 5 psychiatric technicians, and 5 nonprofessionals) rated 15 2-min video-tapes of verbal behavior (5 hospitalized patients, 5 board and care residents, and 5 normals). Results of an analysis of variance suggest that the VRF could significantly discriminate among the 3 contrasting groups using the number of inappropriate responses rated. Results are discussed in terms of differences between raters and difference in the discriminability of the categories of the VRF. (1 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Uniaxial compressive strengths of concrete for temperatures reaching 1033 K

A series of tests was conducted to evaluate effects of sustained heating on the strengths of limestone aggregate concrete for the Clinch River Breeder Reactor Plant. Twenty-four 15.24-cm dia. by 30.48-cm long cylinders were divided into two groups subjected to either open-hot or closed-cold conditions. All specimens were heated for 14 days at soak temperatures of 450, 644, 839 and 1033 K. Unconfined compressive strengths were determined at these temperatures for the open-hot cylinders and after cooling for the closed-cold set. The results provided realistic upper and lower bounds for published strength data.