Normative Systems and their Revision: An Algebraic Approach

The paper discusses normative systems and their revision within an algebraic framework. If a system is logically well-formed, certain norms, called connecting norms, determine the system as a whole. It is maintained that, if the system is well-formed, a relation “at least as low as” determines a lattice or quasi-lattice of its connecting norms. The ideas are presented mainly in the form of comments on a legal example concerning acquisition of movable property by extinction of another person's previous rights.     

Prenatal androgens and gender-typed behavior: A study of girls with mild and severe forms of congenital adrenal hyperplasia.

Gender-typed behaviors and interests were investigated in 26 girls, aged 2-10 years, affected with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) and in 26 unaffected girls matched for age. Girls with CAH were more interested in masculine toys and less interested in feminine toys and were more likely to report having male playmates and to wish for masculine careers. Parents of girls with CAH rated their daughters' behaviors as more boylike than did parents of unaffected girls. A relation was found between disease severity and behavior indicating that more severely affected CAH girls were more interested in masculine toys and careers. No parental influence could be demonstrated on play behavior, nor did the comparison of parents' ratings of wished for behavior versus perceived behavior in their daughters indicate an effect of parental expectations. The results are interpreted as supporting a biological contribution to differences in play behavior between girls with and without CAH. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Degradation of the light-stress protein is mediated by an ATP-independent, serine-type protease under low-light conditions

Green plants respond to light stress by induction of the light-stress proteins (ELIPs). These proteins are stable as long as the light stress persists but are very rapidly degraded during subsequent low light conditions. Here we report that the degradation of ELIPs is mediated by an extrinsic, thylakoid-associated protease which is already present in the membranes during light stress conditions. Partial purification of the protease by perfusion chromatography indicates that this proteolytic activity may be represented by a protein with an apparent molecular mass of 65 kDa. The ELIP-directed protease is localized in the stroma lamellae of the thylakoid membranes and does not require ATP or additional stromal factors for proteolysis. The protease has an optimum activity at pH 7.5-9.5 and requires Mg2+ for its activity. The ELIP-degrading protease show an unusual temperature sensitivity and becomes reversibly inactivated at temperatures below 20 degree C and above 30 degree C. Studies with protease inhibitors indicate that this enzyme belongs to the serine class of proteases. The enhanced degradation of ELIP in isolated thylakoid membranes after addition of the ionophore nigericin suggests that a trans-thylakoid delta pH or changes in ionic strength may be involved in the mechanism of protease activation.     

Reported food intake and distribution of body fat: a repeated cross-sectional study

Background  

Body mass, as well as distribution of body fat, are predictors of both diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In Northern Sweden, despite a marked increase in average body mass, prevalence of diabetes was stagnant and myocardial infarctions decreased. A more favourable distribution of body fat is a possible contributing factor.     

A new set distance and its application to shape registration

We propose a new distance measure, called Complement weighted sum of minimal distances, between finite sets in ${\mathbb Z }^n$ and evaluate its usefulness for shape registration and matching. In this set distance the contribution of each point of each set is weighted according to its distance to the complement of the set. In this way, outliers and noise contribute less to the new similarity measure. We evaluate the performance of the new set distance for registration of shapes in binary images and compare it to a number of often used set distances found in the literature. The most extensive evaluation uses a set of synthetic 2D images. We also show three examples of real problems: registering a set of 2D images extracted from synchrotron radiation micro-computed tomography (SR $\upmu $ CT) volumes depicting bone implants; the difficult multi-modal registration task of finding the exact location of a 2D slice of a bone implant, as imaged by a light microscope, within a 3D SR $\upmu $ CT volume of the same implant; and finally recognition of handwritten characters. The evaluation shows that our new set distance performs well for all tasks and outperforms the other observed distance measures in most cases. It is therefore useful in many image registration and shape comparison tasks.     

Behavior of the western pine beetle during host colonization

After living ponderosa pines were baited with either female-infested bolts or synthetic pheromones,Dendroctonus brevicomis were caught on sticky screens throughout trapping periods of 15–46 days; however, large numbers of beetles were trapped during only a small portion (5–10 days) of these trapping periods. The most attractive portions of trees attacked contained 3–6 beetles dm², in galleries ca. 2 cm long. Catch increased following addition of males to female-infested bolts, supporting the hypothesis that male-produced frontalin is an attractive pheromone of the western pine beetle. Catch at bolts removed from trees under attack was strongly dependent upon levels of boring activity. We found no evidence of interruption of the response to attractants during host colonization.Coleoptera: Scolytidae. Trade names and commercial enterprises or products are mentioned solely for information and do not constitute endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture or University of California.     

Protein profiling of low-density lipoprotein from obese subjects

Although obesity and high levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) are well-known risk factors for cardiovascular disease, the precise role(s) of different LDL constituents in obesity has not been explored. In the present study, we compared the LDL proteome of healthy control adults (body mass index<25) and obese subjects (body mass index>30). LDL was isolated by density-gradient ultracentrifugation and proteins were separated with 2-D PAGE, quantified, and identified by peptide mass fingerprinting using MALDI-TOF MS. A new LDL-associated protein was identified as transthyretin and found to be significantly more abundant in LDL from the obese subjects. In addition, LDL from the obese subjects contained relatively more α(1) -antitrypsin, apo J, apo C-II, than LDL from controls, and also more of an acidic isoform (pI/Mr; 5.2/23 100) of apo A-I. On the other hand, the relative amounts of apo A-IV and the major isoform of apo A-I (pI/Mr; 5.3/23 100) were significantly less in LDL from the obese subjects. Apo E was less and non-sialylated apo C-III more abundant in LDL from obese men than control men, while there were no such differences between LDL from obese and control women. These findings illustrate that obesity is not only associated with increased LDL-cholesterol levels but also with alterations in the LDL protein composition. The presence of transthyretin in LDL from obese subjects may reflect over-nutrition and affect the lipid metabolism in obesity.