Evidence for autosomal recessive inheritance of a major gene for bovine dilated cardiomyopathy

Gamma-Aminobutyric acid(GABA) has been established as a major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. GABAA receptors are coupled to benzodiazepine receptors and barbiturate binding site. They are ligand-gated Cl- channels that consist of a heteromeric mixture of protein subunits forming a pentameric structure. On the other hand, GABAC receptors appear to be relatively simple ligand-gated Cl- channels with a distinctive pharmacology, in that they are not blocked by bicuculline and not modulated by barbiturates, benzodiazepines or neuroactive steroids. Therefore, it is suggested that these multiple GABA receptors generate various inhibitory functions and the pharmacology of these novel subtypes of GABA receptors may yield important therapeutic agents.     

Relationship between college teachers' use of humor in the classroom and students' evaluations of their teachers.

In a field study, 70 college students unobtrusively tape-recorded 1 class presentation and evaluated the teacher as to appeal, competence, delivery, and teaching effectiveness. The presentations were content analyzed to identify key features relating to humor usage. Following a factor analysis of aspects of evaluation, correlation coefficients were computed between the teachers' frequency of use of the various types of humor and students' evaluations of their professors. Results indicate that for male teachers, usage of humor was generally positively related to appeal, delivery, and teaching effectiveness. For female teachers, only the use of hostile humor was associated with enhanced appeal. In contrast, female teachers' usage of some nonhostile forms of humor was associated with loss of appeal. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Selective exposure to and acquisition of information from educational television programs as a function of appeal and tempo of background music.

In Exp I with 30 1st and 2nd graders, an educational program that contained no background music, appealing music of fast tempo, or unappealing music of slow tempo competed against 2 other programs. Appealing music of fast tempo produced exposure time significantly above the levels associated with the no-music control and the program with unappealing background music of slow tempo. Exposure time of the latter 2 programs did not differ appreciably. Exp II with 50 Ss determined the effect of background music on visual attention and information acquisition. Background music of slow tempo, regardless of its appeal, had negligible effects on attention and information acquisition. Rhythmic, fast-tempo background music, especially when appealing, significantly reduced visual attention to the educational program. This type of music significantly impaired information acquisition. Music appeal proved to be of little consequence for this measure. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of erotica on retaliatory behavior as a function of level of prior provocation.

72 male undergraduates were mildly or severely provoked by the experiments; exposed to nonerotic, suggestive, or explicitly erotic stimuli; and then provided with an opportunity to treat their provoker in a hostile manner. The effect of exposure to suggestive erotica interacted with degree of provocation. Exposure to such erotica significantly reduced hostile behavior under conditions of mild provocation, but it had no appreciable effect under conditions of severe provocation. In contrast, exposure to explicit erotica significantly increased hostile behavior, and this effect did not reliably interact with degree of provocation. There was some indication, however, that the hostility-enhancing effect of exposure to explicit erotica was strongest under conditions of severe provocation. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the power-dependent spectral shift of photoluminescence from ensembles of silicon nanocrystals

ABSTRACT: Nanocrystals are widely studied for their tunable optical properties, most importantly increased luminescence efficiency and emission energy. Quantum confinement effects are found for many different types of nanocrystals and these introduce a relation between the emission wavelength and size of nanocrystals. When ensembles of nanocrystals with a distribution of sizes are studied, this can have profound effects on their luminescence spectra. Here we show how photoluminescence spectra of ensembles of silicon nanocrystals can shift under different excitation conditions, resulting from differences in absorption cross section of the individual nanocrystals sizes. This effect, together with the fact that after a pulsed excitation a silicon nanocrystal can only emit a single photon, determines how the distribution of excited nanocrystals changes and leads to the spectral shift for different excitation powers. Next to this effect, also the influence of different radiative rates in such ensembles are addressed. These notions are important for interpretation of photoluminescence data for silicon nanocrystals, but can be extended to any nanoparticle system comprising size-distributed ensembles.     

Effects of an opposite-gender companion's affect to horror on distress, delight, and attraction.

Exposed 36 male and 36 female undergraduates to a horror movie in the presence of a same-age, opposite-gender companion of low or high initial appeal who expressed mastery, affective indifference, or distress. Measures were obtained for the Ss' affective reactions to the movie, the companion's physical appeal, the companion's personality traits, the companion's desirability as a working partner, and the Ss' tendency to acquiesce to erroneous contentions on the part of the companion. We found that men enjoyed the movie most in the company of a distressed woman and least in the company of a mastering woman. Women, in contrast, enjoyed the movie most in the company of a mastering man and least in the company of a distressed man. Mastery did not enhance the female companions' physical appeal. However, it significantly enhanced that of the low-appeal male companion. The display of distress in response to horror reduced the desirability of both male and female companions as working mates. In working together, female Ss showed a clear tendency to acquiesce to assertions by their male companions who had shown mastery of horror. Findings are consistent with predictions from a gender-role socialization model of affect. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Study of the electrolyte-insulator-semiconductor field-effect transistor (EISFET) with applications in biosensor design

This paper presents a comprehensive review of the ion-sensitive field-effect transistor (ISFET) and its applications in biomolecular sensing and characterization of electrochemical interfaces. An introduction to the physics of field-effect transistors is presented, followed by a study of the properties of electrolytic solutions and electrolyte interface surface effects. Full modeling of the ion-sensitive transistor is given, followed by a survey of the different uses of the ISFET in biomedical and environmental applications. Particular attention is given to the use of the ion-sensitive transistors as replacements for microarrays in DNA gene expression analysis.     

Children's Sex-Stereotyped Self-Socialization Through Selective Exposure to Entertainment: Cross-Cultural Experiments in Germany, China, and the United States

Chinese, German, and U.S. American 4- to 6-year-old boys and girls were asked to select videos of children stories that they would most like to see. Choices were either between pairs of story videos presenting aggressive versus peaceful, nurturing content, with male or female sex of story protagonists held constant, or between pairs of videos featuring male versus female protagonists, with aggressive or peaceful story content held constant. Across countries/cultures, boys showed a strong preference for aggressive stories; girls for peaceful, nurturing ones. Again across countries/cultures, both sexes favored stories featuring protagonists of their own sex. However, the preference for same-sex story protagonists was particularly strong in American and Chinese girls. In comparison, American and Chinese boys showed only a moderate preference for male characters.