5-Benzylidene-4-Oxazolidinones Are Synergistic with Antibiotics for the Treatment of Staphylococcus aureus Biofilms

The failure of frontline antibiotics in the clinic is one of the most serious threats to human health and requires a multitude of novel therapeutics and innovative approaches to treatment so as to curtail the growing crisis. In addition to traditional resistance mechanisms resulting in the lack of efficacy of many antibiotics, most chronic and recurring infections are further made tolerant to antibiotic action by the presence of biofilms. Herein, we report an expanded set of 5-benzylidene-4-oxazolidinones that are able to inhibit the formation of Staphylococcus aureus biofilms, disperse preformed biofilms, and, in combination with common antibiotics, are able to significantly reduce the bacterial load in a robust collagen-matrix model of biofilm infection.     

Building Bridges to Material Properties in General Chemistry Laboratories: A Model for Integration Across Disciplines

Many engineering students enter and exit general chemistry courses with little appreciation of chemistry's relevance to other fields. At WPI many of these students go on to take introductory materials science and arrive with poor attitudes about chemistry and little retention of key concepts, but then become more engaged as they discover connections to engineering applications. Consequently, instructors in chemistry and mechanical engineering collaborated to augment general chemistry laboratories with explicit “bridges” to material properties and applications. Evaluation results showed that while students' attitudes toward chemistry were unaffected by bridging, particular aspects of the students' lab experience were enhanced to a statistically significant degree. Similar cross‐disciplinary collaborations might be considered elsewhere as a means of helping students find meaning and integrate subject matter, in a manner that is more feasible than large‐scale course or curriculum restructuring.     

Maltreated children's memory: Accuracy, suggestibility, and psychopathology.

Memory, suggestibility, stress arousal, and trauma-related psychopathology were examined in 328 3- to 16-year-olds involved in forensic investigations of abuse and neglect. Children's memory and suggestibility were assessed for a medical examination and venipuncture. Being older and scoring higher in cognitive functioning were related to fewer inaccuracies. In addition, cortisol level and trauma symptoms in children who reported more dissociative tendencies were associated with increased memory error, whereas cortisol level and trauma symptoms were not associated with increased error for children who reported fewer dissociative tendencies. Sexual and/or physical abuse predicted greater accuracy. The study contributes important new information to scientific understanding of maltreatment, psychopathology, and eyewitness memory in children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of leaf-spring with aircushion trailer suspensions in the transport environment

Packaging engineers need to be able to accurately determine the forces present in the shipping environment in order to protect packaged goods. The purpose of this study was to determine the vertical vibration levels measured in three separate truck-trailer suspension systems; conventional leaf-spring, conventional air-ride and damaged air-ride. The main conclusion reached in this study is that the air-ride suspension when maintained gives lower power density (PD) levels on all road surfaces studied. A damaged air-ride suspension and leaf-spring suspension are very similar in response frequencies, although the damaged air-ride produces higher vibration levels at lower frequencies.     

Working memory in mild Alzheimer's disease and early Parkinson's disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD) impair working memory (WM). It is unclear, however, whether the deficits seen early in the course of these diseases are similar. To address this issue, the authors compared the performance of 22 patients with mild AD, 20 patients with early PD and without dementia, and 112 control participants on tests of inhibition, short-term memory, and 2 commonly administered tests of WM. The results suggest that although mild AD and early PD both impair WM, the deficits may be related to the interruption of different processes that contribute to WM performance. Early PD disrupted inhibitory processes, whereas mild AD did not. The WM deficits seen in patients with AD may be secondary to deficits in other cognitive capacities, including semantic memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Normality and impairment following profound early institutional deprivation: A longitudinal follow-up into early adolescence.

Longitudinal analyses on normal versus impaired functioning across 7 domains were conducted in children who had experienced profound institutional deprivation up to the age of 42 months and were adopted from Romania into U.K. families. Comparisons were made with noninstitutionalized children adopted from Romania and with nondeprived within-U.K. adoptees placed before the age of 6 months. Specifically, the validity of the assessment, the degree of continuity and change in levels of functioning from 6 to 11 years, and the factors in the pre- and postadoption environment accounting for heterogeneity in outcome were examined. Pervasive impairment was significantly raised in children experiencing institutional deprivation for ≥6 months of life, with a minority within this group showing no impairment. There was no additional significant effect of duration of deprivation beyond the 6-month cutoff, and few other predictors explained outcome. The pattern of normality/impairment was mainly established by 6 years of age, with considerable continuity at the individual level between 6 and 11 years. The findings are discussed in terms of the possibility of a sensitive period for development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Peer-tutoring: Applied behavior analysis working in the classroom.

Schools often use peer-tutoring as a corrective program for students who are experiencing difficulties academically. Given appropriate behavioral structure, peer-tutoring can become a powerful classwide instructional intervention. An historical perspective on the use of students as teachers for their peers is given in this selective literature review. Also, information on the efficacy of considering behavioral function and structure and data addressing ecobehavioral variables to establish a productive learning environment are provided. The authors emphasize infusing peer-tutoring programs with applied behavior analysis techniques to increase the academic success of large numbers of students cost effectively. Peer-tutoring programs are considered to be a way for applied behavior analysts to gain greater access to American school learning environments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)