Imagery in the associative learning of schizophrenics

The present experiment is similar to Bower's (1970) study on imagery as a relational organizer in paired-associate (PA) learning with normals. Three groups of 20 schizophrenic patients learned three different lists of 30 word-word paired-associates, which used either interactive imagery, separation imagery, or rote repetition encoding. Ss were tested on stimulus recognition and paired-associate recall, given recognition. Differences in stimulus recognition and paired-associate recall were not significant across the three encoding methods. Results suggest that schizophrenics are unable to benefit from imaginal cues to facilitate learning in a manner similar to normals. These results are interpreted as providing additional support for the notion that the schizophrenics' cognitive deficit is associated with the relational organizing process of learning.

Psychological systems questionnaire: a decision-relevant patient screening test designed for on-line administration

Developments in the field of computerized psychological assessment are reviewed. It is pointed out that the on-line computer medium differs radically from the traditional paper-and-pencil medium for psychological testing. This new medium calls for new types of instruments that are psychometrically well designed. The construction of one such instrument, the Psychological Systems Questionnaire, is described. The advantages of this approach are discussed.

Life changes and menstrual discomfort

The present study addressed the relationship between the accumulation of life changes and problems with menstruation. Female college students completed a Life Experiences Survey, which assesses desirable and undesirable life changes, and a menstruation questionnaire, which contains items relevant to menstrual discomfort and irregularity. Correlational analyses showed that undersirable life changes were correlated with reports of number of symptoms of menstrual discomfort, but not irregularity. Separate analyses among oral contraceptive users and nonusers showed that the relationship between life changes and menstrual discomfort occurred only among nonusers. A regression of contraceptive use, desirable life changes, and undersirable life changes on factors derived from the menstruation questionnaire indicated that undesirable life changes was the strongest predictor of menstrual problems.

Orgotein in equine navicular disease: a double blind study

Fourteen horses (7 treated with orgotein and 7 treated with a placebo) with navicular disease were studied on a double blind basis. All 14 horses had clinical and radiographic evidence of navicular disease. Orgotein and the placebo were administered by juxtabursal injection. Of the 7 orgotein-treated horses, 3 responded but none of the 7 placebo-treated horses responded. The difference was statistically significant (P less than 0.05).

Life stress, organizational stress, and job satisfaction

The present study was designed to investigate the relationship between changes, experienced both within the personal lives of individuals and within the work environment, and job satisfaction. Results suggest that negative life changes experienced within one's personal life are related to lower levels of satisfaction while both positive and negative changes experienced within the work environment are correlated with satisfaction, positive changes being related to higher levels and negative changes being related to lower levels of satisfaction. The implications of these findings for assessing organizational stress and for the prediction of attrition from organizations are discussed.

Determination of human pancreatic cationic trypsinogen in serum by radioimmunoassay

A specific radioimmunoassay has been developed for human pancreatic cationic trypsin. The assay has been employed for the determination of immunoreactive forms of pancreatic cationic trypsin in blood. The trypsin employed as radioiodinated tracer in the assay was inactivated with tosyl-L-lysine chloromethyl ketone (TLCK) to prevent binding of the tracer to the serum inhibitors while maintaining its immunoreactivity. The average normal serum level determined was 26 ng/ml, with a range of 12--41 ng/ml. Eight of nine patients with acute pancreatic inflammation had at least a 15-fold elevation of total serum immunoreactive cationic trypsin. Cationic trypsinogen and cationic trypsin bound to alpha1-antitrypsin cross-react strongly in the radioimmunoassay. Thus it is possible to measure these potential molecular forms of cationic trypsin in serum. When normal human serum was fractionated on Sephadex G-200, all of the immunoreactive material eluted as a single peak of approximately 23,000 mol wt. No cationic trypsin could be detected in association with alpha1-antitrypsin or alpha2-macroglobulin. The 23,000-mol-wt peak was definitively shown to contain trypsinogen by affinity chromatography and by activation with human enteropeptidase. The identification of cationic trypsinogen in blood implies that the zymogen is secreted into the circulation by the pancreas rather than entering the bloodstream via absorption from the intestine.

Demonstration of human pancreatic anionic trypsinogen in normal serum by radioimmunoassay

A specific radioimmunoassay for human pancreatic anionic trypsin has been developed. The trypsin employed as radioiodinated tracer in the assay was inactivated with tosyl-L-lysine chloromethyl ketone in order to prevent binding of the tracer to the serum inhibitors alpha1-antitrypsin and alpha2-macroglobulin. A normal serum level of immunoreactive anionic trypsin of 5.45 ng/ml was determined. The results of experiments in which serum was fractionated by Sephadex G-200 gel filtration suggest that essentially all of the immunoreactive material in normal human serum is trypsinogen. This finding implies that a small fraction of the zymogens synthesized in the pancreas are released directly into the circulation.

Changes in the caecal flora associated with the onset of laminitis

Caecal fluid samples collected 8 and 24 hours after carbohydrate overload were quantitatively compared to control samples in terms of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. Concomitant increases in lactic acid-producing bacteria and decreases in Gram negative bacteria were substantiated during the onset of acute laminitis. Progressive decreases in caecal fluid pH were also quantitated. Although endotoxin assays of caecal fluid and blood were not done, the caecal flora changes suggest its presence during the onset of acute laminitis.

Comparison of the oral lethality of lead acetate and lead carbonate to the rabbit

A significant difference (P = 0.025) was detected between the total amount of lead acetate and lead carbonate fed to rabbits before death occurred. Rabbits given lead carbonate were fed an average of 59% more lead before death occurred than rabbits given lead as a lead acetate.

Measurement of specific laryngeal muscle function by ultrasound

Ultrasonic dimension gauges were implanted in the crico-arytenoideus dorsalis muscle in a mature horse. Resting and contracted muscle length and average contraction rate were measured serially in the conscious state over a period of 25 days. Results suggest that specific laryngeal muscle function in the horse may be defined with this approach. Since man and horse are both known to suffer from laryngeal hemiplegia, this experimental preparation may help provide information of benefit to both species.

Human cationic trypsinogen. Purification, characterization, and characteristics of autoactivation

Human pancreatic cationic trypsinogen has been purified to homogenity from an acetone powder of pancreatic tissue. After an initial ion exchange chromatography step on sulfopropyl (SP)-Sephadex at pH 2.6, cationic trypsinogen was separated from the majority of trypsin activity by passage through an affinity column of lima bean trypsin inhibitor-agarose at high ionic strength. The zymogen was then further purified by affinity chromatography on the same material at low ionic strength. Highly purified trypsinogen was resolved from containing chymotrypsinogen by ion exchange chromatography on SP-Sephadex at pH 6.0. The purified zymogen was shown to be homogeneous by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis at pH 2.1 and at pH 4.3 as well as by discontinuous sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The autoactivation of human trypsinogen was investigated at pH 5.6 and at pH 8.0. The rate of autoactivation of the human zymogen is rapid at pH 5.6 and is maximal in approximately 1 mM Ca2+. These results are in marked contrast to those previously reported for autoactivation of bovine trypsinogen, which is extremely slow at pH 5.6 and which shows a dependence on at least 50 mM Ca2+ for maximum rate of activation (MacDonald, M. R., AND Kunitz, M. (1941) J. Gen. Physiol. 25, 53-73).

Structural basis for the specific activation of human enteropeptidase

Human cationic trypsinogen is activated by human enteropeptidase much more readily than bovine trypsinogen, the ratios kcat/Km being 330 and 11 mM-1S-1, respectively. Conversely, porcine enteropeptidase activates bovine trypsinogen much more rapidly (kcat/Km = 630 mM-1S-1) than human cationic trypsinogen (kcat/Km = 2.4 mM-1S-1). The primary structure of the activation region of human cationic trypsinogen has been investigated in an attempt to elucidate the basis for these findings. The sequence of the first 12 residues at the NH2-terminus of human cationic trypsinogen has been shown to be Asp-Lys-Ile-Val-Gly-Gly-Tyr-Asn-Cys-Glu-Glu-Asn. Furthermore, the activation peptide derived from human cationic trypsinogen has been isolated and shown to be the dipeptide Asp-Lys. This result is in contrast to the Val-(Asp)4-Lys activation peptide from bovine trypsinogen and demonstrates that human cationic trypsinogen does not contain the (Asp)4 sequence present in many other mammalian trypsinogens. It is proposed that the high degree of specificity for activation of human cationic trypsinogen by human enteropeptidase is due to the preferential recognition of the novel activation peptide sequence in the human zymogen. Thus, these two functionally related proteins, cationic trypsinogen and enteropeptidase, may have evolved in a parallel manner in the human lineage.

An exploratory study of the interaction between personality and psychopathology

Presented an exploratory study that focused on the relationship between personality and psychopathology. A sample of 389 male veterans was evaluation and diagnostically categorized into four mental illness categories and one nonmental illness group. Each S was tested with the MMPI and the Differential Personality Questionnaire. Several analyses were performed to test two of Zubin's (1967) hypotheses about possible interactions between personality and psychopathology. Results are seen as suggestive that personality is neither independent nor interactive with psychopathology.

Blockade of the preovulatory LH surge by methadone in rats

The effect of an ovulation-blocking methadone treatment (5mg/kg s.c. at 13:00, 14:00 and 15:00) on preovulatory LH release was studied in Wistar and Sprague-Dawley rats. Estrous cycles were followed by vaginal smears, and on the morning of proestrus a polyvinyl cannula was implanted in the right atrium via the external jugular vein so that blood samples could be collected without the use of anesthesia. Whole blood samples (50 microliter in duplicate) collected every 30 minutes from 13:00 to 18:00 that afternoon were assayed for LH by double antibody radioimmunoassay. Surges of LH release were seen significantly less often in the methadone-treated rats than in untreated or saline-injected controls, supporting the conclusion that methadone exerts its ovulation-blocking effect by preventing the CNS-controlled stimulation of pituitary LH release.

Anterior inferior cerebellar artery aneurysms. Case report

A 54-year-old man experienced a right occipital headache accompanied by a roaring sound, nausea, vomiting, right facial weakness, and stiff neck. Vertebral angiography revealed an aneurysm of the right anterior inferior cerebellar artery (AICA) at the internal acoustic meatus which was later excised with favorable results. The literature is reviewed; operations have been reported in eight other cases. Inconstant waxing and waning cerebellopontine angle symptoms and signs can be found when a history of subarachnoid hemorrhage is lacking.