The effect of ozonization on furniture dust: Microbial content and immunotoxicity in vitro

Moisture and mold problems in buildings contaminate also the furniture and other movable property. If cleaning of the contaminated furniture is neglected, it may continue to cause problems to the occupants even after the moisture-damage repairs. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of high-efficiency ozone treatment in cleaning of the furniture from moisture-damaged buildings. In addition, the effectiveness of two cleaning methods was compared. Samples were vacuumed from the padded areas before and after the treatment. The microbial flora and concentrations in the dust sample were determined by quantitative cultivation and QPCR-methods. The immunotoxic potential of the dust samples was analyzed by measuring effects on cell viability and production of inflammatory mediators in vitro. Concentrations of viable microbes decreased significantly in most of the samples after cleaning. Cleaning with combined steam wash and ozonisation was more effective method than ozonising alone, but the difference was not statistically significant. Detection of fungal species with PCR showed a slight but nonsignificant decrease in concentrations after the cleaning. The immunotoxic potential of the collected dust decreased significantly in most of the samples. However, in a small subgroup of samples, increased concentrations of microbes and immunotoxicological activity were detected. This study shows that a transportable cleaning unit with high-efficiency ozonising is in most cases effective in decreasing the concentrations of viable microbes and immunotoxicological activity of the furniture dust. However, the method does not destroy or remove all fungal material present in the dust, as detected with QPCR analysis, and in some cases the cleaning procedure may increase the microbial concentrations and immunotoxicity of the dust.     

Reciprocal models of child behavior and depressive symptoms in mothers and fathers in a sample of children at risk for early conduct problems.

Although much has been written about transactional models in the study of parenting practices, relatively few researchers have used this approach to examine how child behavior might be related to parental well-being. This study used latent growth curve modeling to test transactional models of age 2 child noncompliance, parental depressive symptoms, and age 4 internalizing and externalizing behaviors using a subsample of families in the Early Steps Multisite Study. In unconditional models, maternal depressive symptoms showed a linear decrease from child ages 2 to 4, whereas paternal depression did not show significant change. Observed child noncompliance at age 2 showed significant associations with concurrent reports of maternal depressive symptoms and trend-level associations with paternal depressive symptoms. For both parents, higher levels of initial depressive symptoms were related to increased age 4 child internalizing behaviors. The findings provide support for reciprocal process models of parental depression and child behavior, and this study is one of the first to present empirical evidence that fathers' depressive symptoms have bidirectional associations with their children's behavior in early childhood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personal hypothesis testing: The role of consistency and self-schema.

We report the results of two experiments that examined the way individuals test hypotheses about themselves. Both experiments were based on the work of Snyder (e.g., Snyder, 1981; Snyder & Skrypnek, 1981), which suggests that individuals have a confirmatory bias when testing hypotheses about others and about themselves. In Experiment 1, we examined the extent to which this bias toward confirmation persists when a negative (e.g., depression) or nonconsistent (not consistent with the individual's evaluation of him- or herself) personal hypothesis is tested. Results suggest that the negative or positive nature of a personal hypothesis does not directly influence the way individuals test their hypothesis. However, the way individuals tested personal hypotheses was influenced by hypothesis consistency. In Experiment 2, we examined the relation of a cognitive schematic variable (i.e., vulnerability for depression) and hypothesis testing. Results suggest that vulnerability is related to the way individuals test a personal hypothesis about depression. Vulnerable, low-depression participants were confirmatory when testing a depression hypothesis, whereas nonvulnerable, low-depression participants were disconfirmatory. We discuss implications for counseling and future directions for research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Too good to be bad: Favorable product expectations boost subjective usability ratings

In an experiment conducted to study the effects of product expectations on subjective usability ratings, participants (N = 36) read a positive or a negative product review for a novel mobile device before a usability test, while the control group read nothing. In the test, half of the users performed easy tasks, and the other half hard ones, with the device. A standard usability test procedure was utilized in which objective task performance measurements as well as subjective post-task and post-experiment usability questionnaires were deployed. The study revealed a surprisingly strong effect of positive expectations on subjective post-experiment ratings: the participants who had read the positive review gave the device significantly better post-experiment ratings than did the negative-prime and no-prime groups. This boosting effect of the positive prime held even in the hard task condition where the users failed in most of the tasks. This finding highlights the importance of understanding: (1) what kinds of product expectations participants bring with them to the test, (2) how well these expectations represent those of the intended user population, and (3) how the test situation itself influences and may bias these expectations.     

Habits make smartphone use more pervasive

Examining several sources of data on smartphone use, this paper presents evidence for the popular conjecture that mobile devices are “habit-forming.” The form of habits we identified is called a checking habit: brief, repetitive inspection of dynamic content quickly accessible on the device. We describe findings on kinds and frequencies of checking behaviors in three studies. We found that checking habits occasionally spur users to do other things with the device and may increase usage overall. Data from a controlled field experiment show that checking behaviors emerge and are reinforced by informational “rewards” that are very quickly accessible. Qualitative data suggest that although repetitive habitual use is frequent, it is experienced more as an annoyance than an addiction. We conclude that supporting habit-formation is an opportunity for making smartphones more “personal” and “pervasive.”     

"Mother's child" and "father's child" among twins. A longitudinal twin study from pregnancy to 21 years age, with special reference to development and psychiatric disorders

234 pairs of twins were studied from pregnancy up to 21 years of age on the basis of records from maternity hospitals, neonatal wards and children's health centres and questionnaires filled in by the parents when the twins were aged 2-10 and 12-21 years, and by the twins themselves at age 12-21. 74 twins were personally interviewed about human relationships in their families and with the Present State Examination (PSE) at age 15-21. When the evaluation of parental preference was made by the parents, the mother's favourites had learned to speak earlier and were more often the psychic leader of the pair, but they more often had sleeping difficulties and other psychosomatic symptoms in adolescence. They were most often scored in class 2-3, non-specific neurotic symptoms in the PSE, but none of them was placed in the higher classes of possible or probable psychiatric disorder. Mothers seem to develop a tighter affectionate bond towards their favourites than do fathers, thus inducing a good basic trust and faster language acquisition in childhood, but probably also transient non-specific neurotic symptoms in adolescence in face of the developmental task of entering autonomous adulthood. The father's favorites were more often the physical leaders of the pair, showed less accident proneness and most often reported tendencies towards autonomy from their co-twins, thus indicating that the fathers' attitudes may be more encouraging towards independence. As the least psychosomatic symptoms were seen in twins in the intermediate position regarding parental preference, it seems reasonable that the division of twins between parents on the grounds of favouritism should not be strict.     

Fatigue softening and hardening in mild steel detected from Barkhausen noise

The measurement of Barkhausen noise is used to follow the fatigue process in a mild steel. The variation in the root-mean-square (rms) value of the noise with bending stress during single-strain cycles and in unloaded samples is determined at several stages of fatigue life. The fatigue softening and hardening are found to be sensitively revealed by specific changes in the shape and area of the noise versus stress loops and also in the variation in the noise in unloaded samples, corresponding to changes in the residual stress state. The high sensitivity of the magnetic measurement technique is emphasized.     

益生菌对特应性湿疹的抑制作用

背景:近20年来,工业国家的过敏性疾病发病率显著增加,因此迫切需要研制开发新的治疗方法.目的:经随机双盲安慰剂对照试验证实,益生素在早期炎症反应有潜在的控制作用.方法:27名平均年龄4.6个月的婴儿(母乳喂养,未曾接触过其他婴儿或其他配方奶粉)确诊患有特应性湿疹.患儿停止母乳喂养后分组,分别服用含益生菌双歧杆菌(Bb-12)或乳酸杆菌LGG(ATCC 53103)或不含益生菌的完全水解乳清配方奶粉.本实验分别检测了炎症范围和程度,婴儿生长和营养情况,循环细胞因子/趋化因子浓度,血清中可溶性细胞表面粘附分子,甲基组胺和尿嗜酸粒细胞蛋白-X.结果:特应性皮炎评分标准(SCORAD评分)可显示特应性湿疹的范围和严重程度,母乳喂养期,SCORAD指数为16(7-15),中位数(四分位差).同服用未添加益生菌配方奶的患儿相比,两个月后,服用添加益生菌配方奶的患儿有明显好转;X<'2>=12.27.P=0.002.添加双歧杆菌Bb-12组的患儿SCORAD评分降至0(0～3.8),乳酸杆菌组的SCORAD降至1(0.1～8.7),与未添加组评分形成对比--13.4(4.5～18.2),中位数(四分位差).同时检测发现可溶性CD4的血清浓度和尿嗜酸性粒细胞蛋白X均降低.结论:本实验首次证明特异益生菌种对过敏炎症反应的帮助.数据进一步说明益生菌可能抵抗炎症反应的肠道环境.当宿主体内新产生的抗体敏感性不强时,这些益生菌株联合作用,可帮助婴儿度过断奶期.因此益生菌为过敏治疗和预防提供了食物治疗的新方向.