Fatty Acid Composition of Newer Seed Oils

In the course of our search for new sources of oil, fatty acid compositions of the seed oils of 18 species belonging to three families are reported. Five species from Sterculiaceae, one species from Cucurbitaceae and twelve species from Sapindaceae were analysed. Linoleic acid predominated (43.4–76.2%) in the component fatty acids of all the oils followed by oleic (9.7–23.3%) and palmitic (8.4–14.7%) acids.     

The ecology of echo

Echo is a generic ecosystem model in which evolving agents are situated in a resource-limited environment. The Echo model is described, and the behavior of Echo is evaluated on two well-studied measures of ecological diversity: relative species abundance and the species-area scaling relation. In simulation experiments, these measures are used to compare the behavior of Echo with that of a neutral model, in which selection on agent genotypes is random. These simulations show that the evolutionary component of Echo makes a significant contribution to its behavior and that Echo shows good qualitative agreement with naturally occurring species abundance distributions and species-area scaling relations.     

Assessing the Validity of Implicit Egotism: A Reply to Gallucci (2003).

B. W. Pelham, M. C. Mirenberg, and J. T. Jones (see record 2002-12744-001) argued that most people prefer stimuli that are associated with the self, a preference they called implicit egotism. In support of implicit egotism, Pelham et al presented evidence from 10 archival studies showing that people gravitate toward careers and places of residence that resemble their names or birthday numbers. M. Gallucci (see record 2003-09138-001) argued that alternate analyses of the same data provide strong evidence against implicit egotism. Whereas Gallucci was correct that Pelham et al's original analyses were flawed, their results remain significant even when more conservative tests are used. The authors also present new data in support of implicit egotism, including exhaustive studies of (a) common surnames and US city names and (b) common surnames and street names. The new studies also revealed that as sample sizes grow larger, studies are more likely to produce evidence of implicit egotism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differentiating dementia from "pseudodementia" early in the clinical course: Utility of neuropsychological tests.

Performed neurological evaluations of 37 patients (aged 45+ yrs) with early and subtle changes in memory to investigate the utility of several neuropsychological tests in the distinction between dementia and pseudodementia. All Ss were re-evaluated at least 6 mo later. There were significant associations between defective temporal orientation, visuoconstruction, and visual memory at Time 1, and the subsequent development of dementia. There were significant correlations between clinical outcome and Time 1 performances on a temporal orientation questionnaire, the Revised Visual Retention Test, and the Block Design subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Revised (WAIS—R). Appropriate weighting of these measures in neuropsychological judgment may assist in the differential diagnosis of dementia vs pseudodementia. Novelty and the multidimensional nature of the discriminating tasks may account for this effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The cognitive mediation of obsessive-compulsive handwashing

The potential mediating roles of danger expectancies, responsibility, perfectionism, anticipated anxiety and self-efficacy on obsessive-compulsive handwashing were examined. Ratings were obtained from 27 obsessive-compulsive patients before and during a behavioural avoidance test involving a compound stimulus of potting soil, animal hair, food scraps and raw meat. Correlation and partial correlation analyses were conducted to examine the relationships between the cognitive predictor variables and anxiety, urge to wash, time in task and duration of post-test washing. Large and significant relationships between danger expectancies and the dependent measures were obtained, even when alternative mediators were held constant. No other variable remained significantly related to any of the dependent measures when severity of disease ratings were held constant. Results suggest that of the cognitive variables examined, danger expectancies are the most likely mediator of washing-related behaviour in obsessive-compulsive disorder.     

Pharmacokinetics and safety of tobramycin after once-daily administration in patients with cystic fibrosis

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Tobramycin is commonly used to treat respiratory tract infections in patients with cystic fibrosis. We designed a study to determine the pharmacokinetics and safety of once-daily dosing of tobramycin in this population. DESIGN: Multiple blood samples were collected from each patient, and serum concentrations of tobramycin were determined by a fluorescence polarization immunoassay. Blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine levels were measured every 2 to 3 days, and audiometric evaluations were performed at the start and end of therapy. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Eighteen patients (mean age, 24.6 years) received tobramycin at doses of 7 to 15 mg/kg/d as a single-dose infusion over 20 min. The maximum serum concentration of tobramycin ranged from 40.1 to 64.6 mg/L. A mean dose of 11.9+/-1.9 mg/kg was needed to obtain a theoretical mean peak serum concentration of 42.4+/-4.5 mg/L. The mean total body clearance, apparent volume of distribution, and elimination half-life was 1.7+/-0.4 mL/min/kg, 0.27+/-0.06 L/kg, and 1.8+/-0.3 h, respectively. The period of time that the serum concentration exceeded eight times the theoretical minimum inhibitory concentration of 1 mg/L ranged from 2.1 to 4.4 h, which was nearly five times longer compared with the use of divided daily doses in the same patients during previous hospitalizations. No nephrotoxicity, ototoxicity, or adverse effects occurred in any patient. CONCLUSION: Based on our data, tobramycin may be used safely in once-daily doses to treat exacerbations of respiratory tract infections in patients with cystic fibrosis.     

Comparative studies of the mitogenic effects of epidermal growth factor and transforming growth factor-alpha and the expression of various growth factors in neoplastic and non-neoplastic prostatic cell lines

Murine acute myeloid leukemia is characterized by chromosome 2 aberrations, and genesis of the marker chromosome 2 by radiation is suspected to be an initiating event of radiation leukemogenesis. A detailed analysis of the type and frequency of chromosome 2 aberrations in murine bone marrow cells at an early stage after irradiation is provided here. A total of 40 male C3H/He mice was exposed to 137Cs gamma-ray at a dose of 1, 2 or 3 Gy, and sacrificed 24 hours after irradiation. Metaphase samples prepared from bone marrow cells were Q-banded for karyotyping or painted with DNA probes specific to chromosome 2. In 5 mice analyzed by karyotyping, one mouse showed high frequency of the marker aberrations as well as other chromosome 2 aberrations. Chromosome painting analysis for the rest of the mice also detected 3 animals showing significantly high frequencies of chromosome 2 aberrations. Dose-dependence of the frequencies was observed even among those mice that tended to be sensitive. The results indicated that there was a subgroup of mice carrying hypersensitive chromosome 2. The subgroup could be leukemia-sensitive if radiation-induced chromosome aberrations are responsible for an early change in myeloid leukemogenesis.     

Mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule-1 (MAdCAM-1). Its binding motif for alpha 4 beta 7 and role in experimental colitis

The integrin alpha 4 beta 7 and mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule-1 (MAdCAM-1) are molecules involved in the normal recirculation of lymphocytes between the blood and the gastrointestinal tract. These molecules may play a complementary and significant role in animal models of colitis. We have investigated the structural interaction between alpha 4 beta 7 and MAdCAM-1. Site-directed mutagenesis studies of the MAdCAM-1 molecule has led to the identification of the amino acid residue (LDT) in the loop between beta strands C and D of the Ig-superfamily-like folds being involved in the adhesive and cell activation functions of MAdCAM-1 with alpha 4 beta 7.