Vibrotactile masking experiments reveal accelerated somatosensory processing in congenitally blind braille readers.

Braille reading is a demanding task that requires the identification of rapidly varying tactile patterns. During proficient reading, neighboring characters impact the fingertip at ∼100 ms intervals, and adjacent raised dots within a character at 50 ms intervals. Because the brain requires time to interpret afferent sensorineural activity, among other reasons, tactile stimuli separated by such short temporal intervals pose a challenge to perception.

Transformation of inorganic and organic arsenic by Alkaliphilus oremlandii sp. nov. strain OhILAs.

Alkaliphilus oremlandii sp. nov. strain OhILAs is a mesophilic, spore-forming, motile, low mole%GC gram positive.

Assessing the occupational performance priorities of people who are homeless.

SUMMARY This study examined retrospective data for 65 participants enrolled in an occupational therapy supportive employment program. The Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) was used to identify self-perceived occupational performance problems specific to this population. Over half of the identified problems fell in the self-care domain (59%), about one-third (31%) were in the productivity domain and the final 10% were in the leisure domain.

The respiratory arsenate reductase from Bacillus selenitireducens strain MLS10.

The respiratory arsenate reductase from the Gram-positive, haloalkaliphile, Bacillus selenitireducens strain MLS10 was purified and characterized. It is a membrane bound heterodimer (150 kDa) composed of two subunits ArrA (110 kDa) and ArrB (34 kDa), with an apparent K(m) for arsenate of 34 microM and V(max) of 2.5 micromol min(-1) mg(-1).

Dissimilatory arsenate reductase activity and arsenate-respiring bacteria in bovine rumen fluid, hamster feces, and the termite hindgut.

Abstract Bovine rumen fluid and slurried hamster feces completely reduced millimolar levels of arsenate to arsenite upon incubation under anoxic conditions. This activity was strongly inhibited by autoclaving or aerobic conditions, and partially inhibited by tungstate or chloramphenicol. The rate of arsenate reduction was faster in feces from a population of arsenate-watered (100 ppm) hamsters compared to a control group watered without arsenate.