The age-related decline in intestinal lipid uptake is associated with a reduced abundance of fatty acid-binding protein

Aging is associated with changes in the absorptive capacity of the small intestine. We tested the hypotheses that (i) aging is associated with a decline in lipid absorption, and that (ii) this decreased lipid absorption is due to a decline in the abundance of mRNA and/or the enterocyte cytosolic intestinal FA-binding protein (I-FABP), the liver FA-binding protein (L-FABP), and the ileal lipid-binding protein (ILBP). In vitro uptake studies were performed on Fischer 344 rats at ages 1, 9, and 24 mon. Northern blotting (L-FABP, ILBP) and immunohistochemistry (I-FABP, ILBP) were performed. Aging was associated with decreased animal weights, but the surface area of the intestine was not significantly altered with age. The rates of ileal uptake of 16∶0, 18∶0, 18∶1, and 18∶2 were reduced by greater than 50% with aging when expressed on the basis of mucosal weight. This decline was not associated with reduced expression of mRNA for L-FABP or ILBP but was associated with a 50% decrease in the abundance of I-FABP and a 40% decrease in the abundance of ILBP. Thus, the decrease with aging in the ileal uptake of some FA when rates were expressed on the basis of mucosal weight was associated with a reduced abundance of I-FABP and ILBP.     

Making the invisible visible: Fear and disclosure of sexual orientation at work.

Stigma theory was used to examine the fears underlying the disclosure of a gay identity at work. Using a national sample of 534 gay, lesbian, and bisexual employees, this study examined the antecedents that affect the degree of disclosure of a gay identity at work and, for those who had not disclosed, the factors that influence their fears about full disclosure. Employees reported less fear and more disclosure when they worked in a group that was perceived as supportive and sharing their stigma. Perceptions of past experience with sexual orientation discrimination were related to increased fears but to greater disclosure. For those who had not fully disclosed their stigma, the fears associated with disclosure predicted job attitudes, psychological strain, work environment, and career outcomes. However, actual disclosure was unrelated to these variables. The utility of fear of disclosure for understanding processes underlying the disclosure of gay and other invisible stigmatized identities in the workplace is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Construct Validation of the Dutch Version of the Impact of Event Scale.

The Impact of Event Scale (ES; M. J. Horowitz, N. Wilner, & W. Alvarez, 1979) is a worldwide-used self-report measure to assess the frequency of intrusive and avoidant phenomena after a variety of traumatic experiences. The purpose of this article is to assess the psychometric value of the Dutch version of the IES (D. Brom & R. J. Kleber, 1985) in several samples of individuals who had experienced various traumatic stressors. The reliability and structure of the IES were evaluated in 3 different samples (total N = 1.588). The reliability of the Dutch version of the IES was adequate across the various stressors. The construct validity was assessed by using confirmatory factor analyses. Outcomes revealed a robust structure over the various samples, generally supporting the composition of the original IES. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributions of mental illness and judgments about help seeking among Japanese-American and White American students.

Perceived causes of mental illness and help-seeking preferences among Japanese-American and White American college students (72 men and 72 women in each ethnic group) were compared in order to investigate the reported underuse of mental health services by Japanese Americans. Results of a 2 (ethnicity of S)?×?2(severity of disorder)?×?2(gender of person with disorder)?×?2(gender of S) multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed that Japanese-American students were more likely than White American students to attribute mental illness to social causes, to resolve problems on their own, and to seek help from family members or friends or both. Possible barriers to use of services by this sample of Japanese Americans include both a preference for informal resources and the stigmatization of mental illness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A unified approach to the surgical exposure of pancreatic and duodenal injuries

OBJECTIVE: It is necessary to have thorough knowledge of the survival of extreme low birth weight infants (ELBWI) in order to make it easier for obstetricians, neonatologists and the family to make a decision. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A revision of the 100 ELBWI in our service between 1988 and 1995, considering live births, those deceased in the same birthing room and those followed until their discharge from the hospital, was performed. The differences between the periods before and after the introduction of pulmonary surfactant in 1992 were analyzed. RESULTS: The total survival was 37% for those with a birth weight superior to 750 g or 26 weeks gestation. There were 44.2% males and 28.9% females. The total survival improved from 26.1% during 1988-1991 to 46.3% during the period of 1992-1995. During this period (1992-1995), the newborns weighing more than 750 g had a survival rate of 72.4% and for those of 26 weeks gestation it was 73.3%. Those born at 28 weeks gestation and those with 25 weeks of gestation and weighing more than 750 g, the total survival was 63% and the survival rate in the last four years was 75.9%. CONCLUSIONS: The mortality of the ELBWI descends in similar proportion to the remainder fo the ELBWI. In order to predict the prognosis, it would be necessary to carry out a correct ultrasound estimation of the gestational age and weight. It is necessary to offer a mother in the process of childbirth with a fetus of 28 weeks gestation or with 25 weeks gestation and a fetus with an ultrasound weight greater than 750 g, intrapartum fetal monitoring and to finish by Cesarean section in case of acute fetal distress, as well as intense and immediate neonatal attention as indicated by the index of survival reached in the group mentioned during the later years.     

Anomalous factor structure of the WISC—R for diabetic children.

The factor structure of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Revised (WISC—R) was analyzed with 95 diabetic children (aged 8–16 yrs), 97 regionally and demographically matched controls, and an age- and race-matched sample from the WISC—R standardization sample (n?=?1,405). Controls exhibited a 3-factor IQ structure, consistent with the standardization sample. Diabetic Ss exhibited a 4-factor structure, with the Perceptual Organization factor splitting in two. Picture Completion (PC) and Picture Arrangement (PA) formed a visual discrimination factor, and Block Design and Object Assembly created a spatial conceptual factor. Among the diabetic Ss, the PC and PA subtests did not act as traditional measures of nonverbal intelligence, and the performance of diabetic Ss on the visual discrimination factor may reflect mild visual atypicalities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of bubbly flow on boiling from a tube in a bundle

The forms of bubbly flow occurring within a tube bundle are discussed and the boiling process in the bundle is notionally divided into mechanisms due to liquid forced convection, sliding bubbles and nucleation. A novel experimental analysis of heat transfer from a tube in a bundle indicates the predominance of the sliding bubble part. There is a virtual absence of nucleation in a bundle except at the lowest tubes indicating that, once enough bubbles have been produced, the other mechanisms are sufficient to transfer the heat from the tubes.     

Visual discrimination by cats given lesions of visual cortex in one or two stages in infancy or in one stage in adulthood.

Sparing of visual function was studied in cats with bilateral cortical damage to Areas 17 and 18 and most of Area 19. Cats with lesions made in 2 stages, on Postnatal (P) Days 3 and 6, in 1 stage on P6, or in 1 stage in adulthood were compared with sham-operated controls on 10 visual discrimination tasks. On some tasks, both groups of cats that underwent surgery as infants showed considerable sparing of function compared with cats that had surgery as adults; the latter group showed a marked impairment. However, on several of the discriminations, 2-stage lesions permitted almost total sparing of pattern vision, whereas 1-stage lesions made neonatally were almost as debilitating as those incurred in adulthood. The findings suggest that differential behavioral consequences can follow physiological or anatomical changes, or both, that occur within a 4-day neonatal interoperative period. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A glycosylated Bence Jones protein and its autologous amyloid light chain containing potentially amyloidogenic residues

Amyloidosis is characterized by deposition of protein fibrils in various tissues. The wide variety of sequences of both amyloidogenic and non-amyloidogenic immunoglobulin light chains makes them a unique tool for addressing the importance of primary structure in the formation of insoluble fibrils. In this study, we have determined the primary structure of the kappa I immunoglobulin light chain from both the urinary Bence Jones protein and the deposited amyloid fibrils of a patient (MH) with primary amyloidosis. The sequence identity of urinary-excreted and tissue-deposited light chains excluded biclonality and somatic mutations and confirmed that the light chain existed in both a soluble and an insoluble form. Several residues have been previously reported to be significantly associated with amyloidogenic kappa chains. Many of these were found in the MH sequence, including Asp31, Asn45, Phe49, Gln55, His70, Asn/Gly93 and ProN/Val96, thereby supporting their potential role in fibrillogenesis. In addition, Asn20 and Pro60 of protein MH replaced the normally conserved Thr20 and Ser60. Asn20 was glycosylated in both the Bence Jones and the amyloid fibril protein MH. Cumulative effects of amyloid-associated residues and glycosylation might have rendered the immunoglobulin light chain MH prone to fibril formation.