The limitation of a positivistic approach to psychoanalytic history: A reply to Naso's commentary.

Replies that a close examination of R. C. Naso's (see record 1993-22647-001) commentary on E. A. Loewenstein's (see record 1992-28313-001) article on psychoanalytic life histories reveals contradictions that point to Naso's lack of a clear philosophical commitment. While Naso's statements appear to be informed by a relativistic perspective, his argument is constrained by an unarticulated positivistic viewpoint. Naso's criticism of Loewenstein's style, which he describes as metaphoric and evocative, is examined. Contrary to Naso's claim, scientific style does not possess a privileged access to psychoanalytic life history. Moreover, the meanings and affective valences of historical events are not fixed and static, as Naso implies, but contextual and dynamic. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mispredicting and misremembering: Patients with renal failure overestimate improvements in quality of life after a kidney transplant.

Objective: People tend to overestimate the impact that future events will have on their quality of life. In the case of a medical treatment like kidney transplant, this should result in biased predictions--overestimates of how much the transplant will benefit quality of life. The authors surveyed kidney transplant patients, both before and after transplant, to test whether they would overestimate the benefits of a successful transplant for their quality of life. Design: The authors interviewed 307 patients on a waiting list for cadaveric renal or renal-pancreatic transplant, and 195 patients one year after a successful transplant. A sub sample of patients were interviewed both before and after transplant. Main Outcome Measures: The survey included measures of quality of life, both in terms of an overall estimate (0-100), and across sub domains, including health, employment, and travel. Results: Cross-sectional results suggested that overall quality of life improved after transplant, but the predictions of pretransplant patients overestimated the magnitude of the improvement (p     

Cutting the cornea with a waterjet keratome

BACKGROUND: Waterjet cutting is an advanced technology. It consists of a cutting tool that uses a very thin stream of ultra-high-pressure water forced at high velocity through a very small nozzle, creating a very sharp knife. We report on the first experimental use of waterjet technology to reshape the cornea. METHODS: The system was used in vitro on 10 bovine eyes, and in vivo on 10 albino rabbit eyes. Using the waterjet keratome (Lipshitz-Bass knife, LBK) lamellar corneal incisions were performed. Histological examinations were performed. RESULTS: A waterjet stream was found to be capable of incising corneas at relatively low energy levels (4000 PSI). Good surface quality could be obtained, and there was no collateral damage to the remaining portion of the cornea, lens, or retina. In the in vivo experiments, the epithelium healed within 48 hours. CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary experiments suggest that waterjet technology can be an effective instrument for reshaping the cornea.     

Preferences for sequences of outcomes.

Existing models of intertemporal choice normally assume that people are impatient, preferring valuable outcomes sooner rather than later, and that preferences satisfy the formal condition of independence, or separability, which states that the value of a sequence of outcomes equals the sum of the values of its component parts. The authors present empirical results that show both of these assumptions to be false when choices are framed as being explicitly defined sequences of outcomes. Without a proper sequential context, people may discount isolated outcomes in the conventional manner, but when the sequence context is highlighted, they claim to prefer utility levels that improve over time. The observed violations of additive separability follow, at least in part, from a desire to spread good outcomes evenly over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Identification of a novel cell attachment domain in the HIV-1 Tat protein and its 90-kDa cell surface binding protein

The HIV-1 transactivator protein Tat is essential for viral gene expression and replication. Tat is taken up by cells and transactivates the HIV-LTR promoter in the cell nucleus. The present studies show that cells adhere to both synthetic and recombinant Tat, and, using synthetic peptides, we localize the binding site to a region spanning amino acid residues 49-57 (peptide Tat49-57). Tat49-57 also inhibited cell attachment to solid phase full-length Tat peptide and to recombinant Tat protein. Using Tat peptide affinity chromatography, we identified a 90-kDa cell surface protein that binds to Tat. The 90-kDa protein could be eluted from the Tat column using the Tat49-57 peptide. A 90-kDa cell surface Tat binding protein was also identified by coprecipitation with Tat after incubation with radiolabeled cell membrane preparations. Co-precipitation of the 90-kDa protein was inhibited by competition with a Tat49-65 peptide, but not with Tat55-86. Our findings suggest that cellular attachment to Tat is mediated through a 90-kDa cell surface protein that binds to a Tat domain between amino acids 49 and 57.