Parental bonding and mental health in adolescence

Attachment between parent and child plays a crucial role in the healthy development of the child. Accordingly disturbances in parental bonding will be linked with the development of mental disorders later in life. The present study examines the relationship between parental bonding and mental health in healthy adolescents. Participants were 847 Israeli high school students who completed the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), the General Well-Being (GWB), the Perceived Social Support (PSS), and the Social Desirability scale (SDS). In general, Israeli adolescents reported more parental care and less control than did Australian adolescents and adults. Female subjects reported more maternal care than did males. Subjects who reported high care and low control (optimal bonding) reported less distress, better general well-being and better social support that did all other groups. In contrast, those who reported low care and high control (affectionless control bonding) had the highest BSI scores and the lowest GWB and PSS scores. These results are in line with Bowlby's theory of attachment. They also show that specific configuration of parental bonding are linked with distress and isolation in adolescents.     

Trust-based authentication scheme with user rating for low-resource devices in smart environments

In smart environments, pervasive computing contributes in improving daily life activities for dependent people by providing personalized services. Nevertheless, those environments do not guarantee a satisfactory level for protecting the user privacy and ensuring the trust between communicating entities. In this study, we propose a trust evaluation model based on user past and present behavior. This model is associated with a lightweight authentication key agreement protocol (Elliptic Curve-based Simple Authentication Key Agreement). The aim is to enable the communicating entities to establish a level of trust and then succeed in a mutual authentication using a scheme suitable for low-resource devices in smart environments. An innovation in our trust model is that it uses an accurate approach to calculate trust in different situations and includes a human-based feature for trust feedback, which is user rating. Finally, we tested and implemented our scheme on Android mobile phones in a smart environment dedicated for handicapped people.     

Broadband Microwave Measurements of Overdoped Y0.9Ca0.1Ba2Cu3O7−δ Films Using Corbino Geometry

The surface impedance of Y_0.9Ca_0.1Ba₂Cu₃O_7?δ thin films was measured using the Corbino spectroscopy method. This special geometry, in which the sample dimensions are well defined by a ring pattern, is ideal for broadband high frequency reflection measurements. Using the complex reflected signal, S ₁₁, measured by a vector network analyzer, one can find the surface impedance of the thin film, from which the complex conductivity can be deduced. In the current work we present the three-standard approach for calibration of the Corbino method and demonstrate the benefits of this approach in measuring superconducting Y_0.9Ca_0.1Ba₂Cu₃O_7?δ thin films up to 20 GHz and down to 6 K. For the data analysis the well-known generalized two-fluid model was implemented, taking into account a film thickness which is much smaller than the normal state skin depth and superconducting penetration depth.     

Experimental Study of Classical and Quantum Internal Friction in Solid 4He

We measured the dissipation resulting from internal friction in hcp solid ⁴He at temperatures between 0.8 K and 2.5 K. Solid ⁴He is contained inside an annular metal cell forming a part of a torsional oscillator. An oscillatory motion of the cell walls applies shear stress on the solid ⁴He. The resulting shear strain within the solid ⁴He generates dissipation because of the internal friction. The experimental sensitivity was high enough to detect dissipation caused by internal friction associated with elementary excitations of the solid. At temperatures below 1.6 K, internal friction is associated with diffusion of single point defects responsible for the climb of dislocations. At higher temperatures, the main mechanism of internal friction appears to be associated with phonon exchange between parts of the solid moving relative to each other under the applied shear stress. This particular dissipative mechanism was called “quantum phonon friction” [Popov in Phys. Rev. Lett. 83:1632–1635, 1999]. The physical mechanism associated with this type of friction involves an irreversible transfer of momentum from the phonons to the lattice via an Umklapp process. Our data are in a very good agreement with this model.

     

The Non-Erythropoietic EPO Analogue Cibinetide Inhibits Osteoclastogenesis In Vitro and Increases Bone Mineral Density in Mice

The two erythropoietin (EPO) receptor forms mediate different cellular responses to erythropoietin. While hematopoiesis is mediated via the homodimeric EPO receptor (EPOR), tissue protection is conferred via a heteromer composed of EPOR and CD131. In the skeletal system, EPO stimulates osteoclast precursors and induces bone loss. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms are still elusive. Here, we evaluated the role of the heteromeric complex in bone metabolism in vivo and in vitro by using Cibinetide (CIB), a non-erythropoietic EPO analogue that exclusively binds the heteromeric receptor. CIB is administered either alone or in combination with EPO. One month of CIB treatment significantly increased the cortical (~5.8%) and trabecular (~5.2%) bone mineral density in C57BL/6J WT female mice. Similarly, administration of CIB for five consecutive days to female mice that concurrently received EPO on days one and four, reduced the number of osteoclast progenitors, defined by flow cytometry as Lin⁻CD11b⁻Ly6C^hi CD115⁺, by 42.8% compared to treatment with EPO alone. In addition, CIB alone or in combination with EPO inhibited osteoclastogenesis in vitro. Our findings introduce CIB either as a stand-alone treatment, or in combination with EPO, as an appealing candidate for the treatment of the bone loss that accompanies EPO treatment.     

Psychotherapy--an active agent: assessing the effectiveness of psychotherapy and its curative factors

This study was designed to investigate the clinical role of specific IgG4 and IgE responses in patients during immunotherapy for seasonal allergy. The study included 109 patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis due to Japanese cedar pollens. They were divided into the control group and the immunotherapy group. Serum samples were obtained at the start of immunotherapy, before the pollen season and during the season, to determine serum specific IgE and IgG4. In the control group specific IgE was significantly increased, but specific IgG4 was not changed during the pollen season. In the immunotherapy group specific IgE was not significantly increased, but specific IgG4 was significantly increased during the season. In the patients having immunotherapy for 2 years or less, the seasonal increase in specific IgG4 related to the magnitude of the clinical effect. In the patients having immunotherapy for 3 years or more, the seasonal increase in specific IgE related to the magnitude of the clinical effect. In conclusion, the specific IgG4 response and specific IgE response during the pollen season make a significant contribution to the clinical effect of immunotherapy. However, modulation of specific IgE and IgG4 responses out of the pollen season was unlikely to be an important phenomenon related to the clinical effect of immunotherapy.     

CoWBP capping barrier layer for sub 90 nm Cu interconnects

Electroless cobalt films have been obtained by deposition using a plating bath containing two reducing agents: dimethylamineborane (DMAB) and sodium hypophosphite. This formulation allows spontaneous activation on copper followed by auto catalytic electroless plating. CoWBP and CoBP films are proposed as diffusion barriers and encapsulation layers, for copper lines and via contacts for ULSI interconnect applications. The crystalline structure, chemical composition and oxidation states of the elements were studied, as well as the electrical resistivity, topography and morphology of the films. The film composition was characterized as a function of the solution composition; the barrier properties of the films were tested and an oxidation resistance study was conducted. The films were characterized and the results show that they can be applied as capping layers for ULSI copper metallization.     

Molecularly imprinted Au nanoparticles composites on Au surfaces for the surface plasmon resonance detection of pentaerythritol tetranitrate, nitroglycerin, and ethylene glycol dinitrate

Molecularly imprinted Au nanoparticles (NPs) composites are generated on Au-coated glass surfaces. The imprinting process involves the electropolymerization of thioaniline-functionalized Au NPs (3.5 nm) on a thioaniline monolayer-modified Au surface in the presence of a carboxylic acid, acting as a template analogue for the respective explosive. The exclusion of the imprinting template from the Au NPs matrix yields the respective imprinted composites. The binding of the analyte explosives to the Au NPs matrixes is probed by surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy, SPR, where the electronic coupling between the localized plasmon of the Au NPs and the surface plasmon wave leads to the amplification of the SPR responses originating from the dielectric changes of the matrixes upon binding of the different explosive materials. The resulting imprinted matrixes reveal high affinities and selectivity toward the imprinted explosives. Using citric acid as an imprinting template, Au NPs matrixes for the specific analysis of pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) or of nitroglycerin (NG) were prepared, leading to detection limits of 200 fM and 20 pM, respectively. Similarly, using maleic acid or fumaric acid as imprinting templates, high-affinity sensing composites for ethylene glycol dinitrate (EGDN) were synthesized, leading to a detection limit of 400 fM for both matrixes.     

Lack of Long-Lasting Consequences of Starvation on Eating Pathology in Jewish Holocaust Survivors of Nazi Concentration Camps.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether Holocaust survivors will show the same eating pathologies that were found in other participants who had also undergone starvation. Fifty-five Holocaust survivors and 43 matched control participants answered a questionnaire designed to explore eating problems and pathologies described in the literature as lasting for decades after a period of severe food restriction. Confirmation of the survivors' reports was obtained from their children. No significant differences in current eating habits were found between the Holocaust survivors and their matched controls. Prolonged starvation in Holocaust survivors did not lead to disordered eating habits in the sample. These results conflict with the notion that severe starvation consistently leads to food preoccupation and disordered eating. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)