Glass formation and dormancy in bacterial spores

Summary Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques were used to obtain evidence whether a glassy state exists within fully hydrated dormant Bacillus subtilis spores. DSC thermograms of hydrated dormant spores contained two major transitions; one at ∼60 °C assigned to be associated with the initial 'activation' stage for germination, and the other at ∼120 °C assigned to be associated with the 'inactivation' process (i.e. killing of the spores). The peak at ∼60 °C had characteristics which were all consistent with at least some region of the compartmentalised structure of fully hydrated dormant spores being in a glassy state. Solid (CPMAS) and liquid state (SPMAS) mobility resolved ¹³C NMR spectroscopy studies on the calcium dipicolinic acid (CaDPA) resonances, which are only present in the central protoplast of bacterial spores, showed it to be present in an amorphous solid-like environment. The DSC and NMR results were both found to be consistent with the hypothesis that the dormancy of bacterial spores is due to at least the central protoplast region being maintained in a low moisture content glassy state.     

Nanocrystalline diamond coating of fusion plasma facing components

Nanocrystalline diamond layers were deposited by hot-filament CVD on several substrates including molybdenum tiles and foils, graphite blocks and silicon wafers. The structural characterisation of the deposited layers, achieved by SEM, AFM, Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies, showed the typical features of nanocrystalline diamond.A nanocrystalline diamond coated molybdenum tile was exposed to a fusion grade deuterium plasma in the MAST tokamak, with a plasma current of 700 kA, core electron temperature of about 0.6 keV, and total exposure time of about 1 s. The diamond coating showed good resistance to the extremely harsh conditions of the fusion plasma edge.     

Administrative crisis consultation after 9/11: A university's systems response.

This case study involves application of program-centered and consultee-centered administrative consultation as an emergency mental health intervention to enhance the response of an eastern seaboard university to the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. The university had provisions for many forms of emergency in its action plan, but not for the provision of psychological first aid in response to wide spread trauma. Key components of the administrative consultation were the need to rapidly scan the organization, to engage key personnel as consultees, and to support the creation of an effective action plan. Major problems encountered in the consultation included resistance through psychological reactance, and managing differences in expectation and coping needs between students, faculty, and administrators. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ideas to Minimize Exam Anxiety

The debilitation score from the Alpert‐Haber Anxiety Achievement Test was used to identify students suffering from exam anxiety. Principal component Analysis was then used to show that the debilitation score was strongly related to short‐term and long‐term anxiety and self‐image and not, as expected, to study skills, problem‐solving skills, or avoidance to engage in solving difficult problems. Required workshops to help students address low self‐image and high short‐term and long‐term anxiety were introduced, but they had modest short‐term success. However, significant improvement in student performance occurred when faculty included measures of student performance other than the final exam (such as term work, projects, and self‐assessment) and when students contracted for the weighting that the final exam would contribute to their final grade. The use of self‐assessment was effective for all students regardless of their level of exam anxiety.     

Preparing and writing a failure analysis report

Afailure analysis report is the summation of all of the tests and analyses performed during the course of an investigation. The report coalesces the results and presents them in a concise and logical format that describes the particulars of the subject being studied, conveys pertinent information gathered from testing and analysis, and logically and accurately interprets and explains the data and results.     

Selective attention: A reevaluation of the implications of negative priming.

The notion that inhibitory processes play a critical role in selective attention has gained wide support. Much of this support derives from studies of negative priming. The authors note that the attribution of negative priming to an inhibitory mechanism of attention draws its support from a common assumption underlying priming procedures, together with the procedure that has been used to measure negative priming. The results from a series of experiments demonstrate that selection between 2 competing prime items is not required to observe negative priming. This result is demonstrated across several experiments in which participants named 1 of 2 items in a second display following presentation of a single-item prime. The implications of these results for existing theories of negative priming are discussed, and a theoretical framework for interpreting negative priming and several related phenomena is forwarded. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The parabrachial nucleus is essential for acquisition of a conditioned odor aversion in rats.

Rats with bilateral ibotenic acid lesions of the gustatory zone of the parabrachial nuclei (PBN) failed to acquire a conditioned taste aversion (CTA) in Exp 1. They also failed to acquire a conditioned odor aversion (COA) when the olfactory cue was presented on an odor disk in Exp 2 or when it was presented in water in Exp 3. The failure to acquire the COA was not due to an inability to detect or use olfactory stimuli because the lesioned rats displayed neophobia to a novel odor in Exp 3 and used an olfactory cue to predict the availability of an aversive capsaicin solution in Exp 4. Together, the results demonstrate that, as with CTA learning, PBN cell bodies are essential for the establishment of a specific association between an olfactory conditioned stimulus and a lithium chloride unconditioned stimulus. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A homoserine lactone autoinducer regulates virulence of an insect-pathogenic bacterium, Xenorhabdus nematophilus (Enterobacteriaceae)

N-beta-Hydroxybutanoyl homoserine lactone (HBHL), the autoinducer of the luminescent system of Vibrio harveyi, has been identified as the first small compound to restore virulence to avirulent mutants of Xenorhabdus nematophilus. HBHL stimulated the level of lipase activity excreted by avirulent X. nematophilus and lowered the phenoloxidase activity in the hemolymph of insects infected with X. nematophilus, parameters that are both associated with insect pathogenesis. Moreover, mortality of the insects infected with avirulent X. nematophilus was restored upon injection with HBHL. Chloroform extraction of medium conditioned with wild-type but not avirulent X. nematophilus led to the isolation of a compound with the same chromatographic mobility as HBHL as well as the ability to stimulate the luminescence of a dim autoinducer-dependent mutant of V. harveyi. Transfer of the V. harveyi lux operon into avirulent and wild-type X. nematophilus generated dim and bright luminescent strains, respectively, which responded to HBHL and an agonist and antagonist in a manner analogous to their effects on the luminescence of dim autoinducer-deficient and bright wild-type strains of V. harveyi, indicating that similar HBHL-dependent regulatory systems exist in these two bacterial species.     

Two-year behavior outcomes of project towards no tobacco use.

Presents a 2-year follow-up data from a school-based tobacco use prevention project designed to test the effectiveness of 3 primary components in social influence programs. The components either teach refusal skills, awareness of social value misperceptions, or physical consequences. Curricula were tested with a randomized experiment involving 48 junior high schools. Data suggested that a physical-consequences curriculum is successful at attenuating increases in adolescent smokeless tobacco use, cigarette experimentation may be attenuated by various approaches, and a comprehensive program with all 3 components was necessary to attenuate increases in weekly use of both forms of tobacco. These results also indicate that school-based tobacco use interventions can be effective at least 2 years postprogram, after students make their transition to high school. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Special stainless steels for the process industry

The requirements for and properties of steels to resist corrosion in many industrial applications are discussed. The economic aspects are also briefly considered.