Psychopathology in pediatric complex partial and primary generalized epilepsy

Structured psychiatric interviews were administered to 60 children with complex partial seizure disorder (CPS), 40 children with primary generalized epilepsy with absences (PGE), and 48 control children, aged 5 to 16 years. Significantly more patients with epilepsy had psychiatric diagnoses compared with the control children. There were no statistically significant differences, however, in the number of patients with CPS and PGE with psychiatric diagnoses. Other than a schizophrenia-like psychosis found only in the patients with CPS, the two groups of patients had similar psychiatric diagnoses. The presence of psychopathology was related to significantly lower IQ scores and socioeconomic status, but not to seizure-related factors. These findings suggest that the psychopathology of children with CPS and PGE reflects different subtle neuropsychological deficits.     

The contamination of nickel surfaces during oxidation in fused silica reaction vessels

In many experiments involving the high temperature oxidation of nickel in fused silica reaction vessels the final oxidation products have been found to include silica as -cristobalite. Prior to oxidation the nickel was decarburized by exposure to oxygen followed by hydrogen reduction of the remaining oxide film. The silicon of the silica was transferred from the vessel walls to the specimen as silicon monoxide formed by the reduction of the silica by the carbon monoxide produced during the decarburization step. The silicon monoxide was reduced at the metal specimen by residual carbon to form silicon which then dissolved in the nickel. Detectable contamination of the surface took place during subsequent oxidation when the silicon was preferentially oxidized at the surface. The reaction of carbon monoxide with the silica tube was enhanced by devitrification caused by previous high temperature (> 700° C) treatment. Contamination could be avoided if the tube was never heated above 700° C and was minimized at 900° C by more complete decarburization of the specimen.     

Fire fatality study

Over a six-year period, 530 fire fatalities resulting from 398 fires were studied in the State of Maryland. The study had two major objectives: (1) to determine the specific cause of death by a detailed autopsy stud of fire victims, and (2) to determine the specific cause of fatality-producing fire by an on-the-scene fire investigation. The fire fatality study was limited to residential fires and to fatalities that occurred within 6 h of the fire. The results of the toxicological analysis show that (1) 60% of the victims had a carboxyhemoglobin value greater than or equal to 50% carbon monoxide saturation, (2) an additional 20% had elevated carboxyhemoglobin with preexisting cardiovascular disease, (3) 11% of the victims had severe burns, (4) 9% were unexplained and (5) 40% of the victims had positive blood alcohol levels with 30% of these meeting the legal definition of intoxication (blood alcohol ≥0.1%). The fire investigations confirmed that the predominant fatal scenario is the cigarette ignition of upholstered furniture or bedding. This scenario accounted for 47% of the fires and 44% of the victims. Alcohol also appears to be significant factor in this scenario.     

Temperature-sensitive mutants of influenza A virus. XIV. Production and evaluation of influenza A/Georgia/74-ts-1[E] recombinant viruses in human adults

The two temperature-sensitive (ts) lesions present in influenza A/Hong Kong/68-ts-1[E] (H3N2 68) virus were transferred via genetic reassortment to influenza A/Georgia/74 (H3N2 74) wild-type virus. A recombinant clone possessing both ts lesions and the shutoff temperature of 38 C of the Hong Kong/68 ts donor and the two surface antigens of the Georgia/74 wild-type virus was administered to 32 seronegative adult volunteers. Thirty-one volunteers were infected, of whom only five experienced mild afebrile upper respiratory tract illness. The wild-type recipient virus was a cloned population that induced illness in five of six infected volunteers. Therfore, the attenuation exhibited by the Georgia/74-ts-1[E] virus could reasonably be assumed to be due to the acquisition of the two ts-1[E] lesions by the Georgia/74 wild-type virus. The serum and nasal wash antibody responses of the ts-1[E] vaccinees were equivalent to those of the volunteers who received wild-type virus. The two ts lesions present in the Hong Kong/68-ts-1[E] virus have now been transferred three times to a wild-type virus bearing a new hemagglutinin, and in each instance the new ts recombination exhibited a similar, satisfactory level of attenuation and antigenicity for adults. It seems likely that the transfer of the ts-1[E] lesions to any new influenza virus will regularly result in attenuation of a recombinat virus possessing the new surface antigens.     

Microfluidic purification and preconcentration of mRNA by flow-through polymeric monolith

Efficient and rapid isolation of mRNA is important in the field of genomics as well as in the clinical and pharmaceutical arena. We have developed UV-initiated methacrylate-based porous polymer monoliths (PPM) for microfluidic trapping and concentration of eukaryotic mRNA. PPM are cast-to-shape and are tunable for functionalization using a variety of amine-terminated molecules. Efficient isolation of eukaryotic mRNA from total RNA was first mathematically modeled and then achieved using PPM in capillaries. Purification protocols using oligo dT's, locked nucleic acid substituted dT's, and tetramethylammonium chloride salts were characterized. mRNA yield and purity were compared with mRNA isolated by commercial kits with statistically equivalent yields and purities (determined by qPCR ratio of 18s rRNA and Gusb mRNA markers). Even after extracting 16 microg of mRNA from 315 microg of total RNA, the 0.4-microL volume monolith showed no signs of saturation. Elution volumes were below 20 microL with concentrations up to 1 microg/microL. In addition, the polymeric material exhibited exceptional stability in a range of conditions (pH, temperature, dryness) and was stable for a period of months. All of these characteristics make porous polymer monoliths good candidates for potential microfluidic sample preconcentrators and purifiers.     

Effects of age, speed of processing, and working memory on comprehension of sentences with relative clauses.

Two hundred participants, 50 in each of four age ranges (19–29, 30–49, 50–69, 70–90) were tested for working memory, speed of processing, and the processing of sentences with relative clauses. In Experiment 1, participants read four sentence types (cleft subject, cleft object, subject-subject, subject-object) in a word-by-word, non-cumulative, self-paced reading task and made speeded plausibility judgments about them. In Experiment 2, participants read two types of sentences, one of which contained a doubly center embedded relative clause. Older participants' comprehension was less accurate and there was age-related slowing of online processing times in all but the simplest sentences, which increased in syntactically complex sentences in Experiment 1. This pattern suggests an age-related decrease in the efficiency of parsing and interpretation. Slower speed of processing and lower working memory were associated with longer online processing times only in Experiment 2, suggesting that task-related operations are related to general speed of processing and working memory. Lower working memory was not associated with longer reading times in more complex sentences, consistent with the view that general working memory is not critically involved in online syntactic processing. Longer online processing at the most demanding point in the most demanding sentence was associated with better comprehension, indicating that it reflects effective processing under some certain circumstances. However, the poorer comprehension performance of older individuals indicates that their slower online processing reflects inefficient processing even at these points. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)