Anomalous conductance in electrolyte solutions: a potentiometric and conductometric study of the dissociation of moderately strong acids.

Properties of the associated forms of five moderately strong acids in aqueous solution (trichloro-, trifluoro-, chlorodifluoro-, and dichloroacetic acids) and sulfamic acid are studied by potentiometric and conductometric methods. Conductometric estimates of the acidity constants for the haloacetic acids are substantially different from the pH potentiometric values. However, the conductometric and pH potentiometric estimates of the acidity constants for sulfamic acid are in agreement.

Asthma, oxidant stress, and diet.

It has been suggested that the increased prevalence of atopy and asthma observed in many developed countries over the past 30 y is in part the result of a decrease in the incidence and severity of early childhood infections. The immunologic consequence of this phenomenon has been the expansion of T-lymphocyte populations away from the T-helper 1 (Th1) subset and in the direction of the Th2 subset. This leads to the creation of a cytokine-mediated propensity for the development of an intense inflammatory response in the airways, resulting in oxidative stress, airway tissue injury, and the development of atopy and asthmatic symptomatology.

English language proficiency among older Hispanics in the United States.

Hispanics will constitute a growing part of the older population well into the 21st century. Accompanying this growth, we can expect that challenges associated with a large bilingual and non-English speaking older population may become more pronounced. The purpose of this research was to examine the level and determinants of English proficiency among older Hispanics in the United States.

Gender differences in learning style of Alzheimer family caregivers.

Caregiver gender is an important variable in studies of family caregiving. The findings in this study showed that gender differences were evident in the learning style of caregivers. The implications of these findings for the teaching and learning needs of Alzheimer family caregivers in the home health setting are discussed.

Evaluating therapist competency and adherence to behavioral family management with bipolar patients.

The present study assessed fidelity to the behavioral family management (BFM) model for treating bipolar disorder patients and their families. The BFM Therapist Competency/Adherence Scale (BFM-TCAS) was developed to evaluate clinicians' competency and adherence to BFM, as outlined by Miklowitz' (1989) BFM Manual for use with bipolar patients. Therapist competency and treatment adherence was also evaluated with regard to two family characteristics: overall level of family difficulty and family expressed emotion (EE) status.

Weight, weight-related aspects of body image, and depression in early adolescent girls.

This investigation assessed the hypothesis that early adolescent girls with more negative weight-related body images would report higher levels of depressive symptoms. The Beck Depression Inventory was administered, and measures of objective weight and four dimensions of weight-related body image were obtained: self-reported weight, subjective classification of weight from very underweight to very overweight, satisfaction with weight, and concerns about weight. The results indicated that the more subjective and personal measures of weight-related body image discontent--weight dissatisfaction and weight concerns--were associated with increased depressive symptoms, even controlling for objective weight status.

An investigation of attention and affect in children with autism and Down syndrome.

Longitudinal videotape recordings of six young children with autism and six age- and language-matched children with Down syndrome in structured play with their mothers at home were coded for the focus of the child's visual attention for four bimonthly visits and for facial affect for two of the four visits. The main finding was that the children with autism showed reduced expression of positive affect in a familiar social context. The autistic group attended to the mother's face and the researchers only about half as much as the Down syndrome group, but these differences did not reach statistical significance.

A comparison of kinematic recording instruments.

Kinematics, the study of motion, is employed in numerous biomechanics and human performance investigations. The types of instrumentation used in these studies vary at fundamental technical levels, making it difficult to relate results from studies carried out at different laboratories using different instrumentation. A project was designed to compare two commonly used types of kinematic recording techniques, i.

Sex differences in sensory and motor branches of the pudendal nerve of the rat.

The morphology of the pudendal nerve was quantified in adult male and female rats. The sensory branch of the pudendal nerve was about three times as large in cross section in males as in females, and the motor branch was about five times as large. Electron microscopy was used to determine the ultrastructural bases of these gross size differences.

Similarities in genetic mental retardation and neuroteratogenic syndromes.

Principles and mechanisms of neurobehavioral teratogenesis are used to show commonalities between manifestations of abnormal development consequent to genetic abnormality or teratogenic exposure. A comparison and contrast of both the neuropathological and neuropsychological characteristics of children with early embryonic exposure to isotretinoin (Accutane) or with selected mental retardation syndromes is presented. Putative mechanisms of retinoid teratogenesis through the disruption of normal retinoid-triggered embryogenesis and the alteration of homeobox gene expression are discussed.

The redesign of the National Health Interview Survey.

Starting in 1997, on its 40th anniversary, the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) will begin collecting data in a radically redesigned form. The redesign was undertaken because interviews were too long; new or different kinds of information were needed, including better measures of health status and chronic conditions: and the ability to analyze family-level data was limited. A shortened annual core survey will be supplemented with a rotating set of questions designed to provide more detail than the current NHIS with respect to health status, utilization of health care services, and health promotion and disease prevention.

Early olfactory experience, novelty, and choice of sexual partner by male rats.

After rearing by citral-scented or unscented dams, adult male rats were given simultaneous choices of citral-scented or unscented female partners in approach, contact, and sexual behavior tests. There was no evidence that mate choice had been affected by the early rearing experience. In Experiment 1, both citral and control males approached citral-scented females in a T-apparatus at slightly above chance levels and exhibited no differences in copulatory behavior during successive pairings.

Factors in the cycle of violence: gender rigidity and emotional constriction.

A sample of 595 men were administered self-report assessments of childhood sexual and physical abuse, perpetration history, gender rigidity and emotional constriction. Including noncontact forms of sexual abuse, 11% of the men reported sexual abuse alone, 17% reported physical abuse alone, and 17% reported both sexual and physical abuse. Of the 257 men in the sample who reported some form of childhood abuse, 38% reported some form of perpetration themselves, either sexual or physical; of the 126 perpetrators, 70% reported having been abused in childhood.

The occupational health status of African-American women health care workers.

Race, ethnicity, and gender are significant indicators of occupational status, general health status, and thus, occupational health status. Although African-American women constitute only 6.8% of the total U.

Psychiatric rehabilitation: a breath of fresh air in a turbulent health-care environment.

1. Some of the new factors influencing our practice are managed care, outcome measures, financial incentives, consumer empowerment, civil liberties, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). 2.

Is the CvaA protein, encoded within the colicin V export gene cvaA, required for colicin V transport?

The antibacterial peptide toxin colicin V is exported from Escherichia coli cells by a signal sequence-independent, ABC export system. Export requires at least three proteins-membrane fusion protein CvaA, ABC export protein CvaB, and outer membrane protein TolC. The cvaA gene also encodes a second protein, CvaA, initiated from an in-frame translational re-start within the cvaA coding sequence.

Psychological, interpersonal, and behavioral correlates of chronic self-destructiveness: an exploratory study.

In this study, we selected individuals high and low on a measure of chronic self-destructiveness--the tendency to perform behaviors that later reduce positive consequences and increase the probability of experiencing negative ones--and attempted to differentiate high and low scorers based on a set of hypothesized antecedent and concurrent psychological, interpersonal, and behavioral correlates. Men and women were equally represented in high- and low-scoring groups. High scorers reported experiencing more interpersonal exploitation, greater depression, lower self-esteem, more externalizing attitudes, and less control in relationships than low scorers.

Topology analysis of the colicin V export protein CvaA in Escherichia coli.

The antibacterial protein toxin colicin V is secreted from Escherichia coli cells by a dedicated export system that is a member of the multicomponent ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter family. At least three proteins, CvaA, CvaB, and TolC, are required for secretion via this signal sequence-independent pathway. In this study, the subcellular location and transmembrane organization of membrane fusion protein CvaA were investigated.

Asthma and oxidant stress: nutritional, environmental, and genetic risk factors.

A considerable body of evidence suggests that oxidant stress results in inflammation and tissue damage in the respiratory system, and later in immune damage, and that individuals with lowered cellular reducing capacity are at increased risk to develop asthma. Reducing capacity in the erythrocyte is generated through the pentose phosphate pathway and this pathway also generates a major portion of the reducing capacity in all cells of the body. Therefore, dietary, environmental, and genetic factors which diminish cellular reducing capacity will increase tissue vulnerability to oxidant stress and are likely to increase asthma risk.

The role of reluctance to give up life in the measurement of the values of health states.

Questions that involve willingness to risk or give up life often are used to measure the values of health states. In the Boston Health Study, interviews with 291 patients who had AIDS included questions about health status and current desire for resuscitation, and a series of hypothetical questions about desire for life-extending efforts if the patients found themselves in undesirable states, such as being chronically nauseous or blind. An index, "reluctance to give up life" was made from five such questions.

"Equivalent retirement ages" and their implications for Social Security and Medicare financing.

The projected implications of population aging, especially the attendant costs of income support and health care, are based on a definition of normal retirement age as age 65, although the retirement age for full Social Security benefits will be raised gradually to age 67 by the year 2027. Should the retirement age be increased beyond what is now scheduled in the 1983 law? This article discusses the concept of "equivalent retirement ages" as a method for determining an appropriate age for normal retirement, and points out the usefulness and limitations of raising normal retirement age as a policy instrument.

Educational, occupational, and relationship histories of men who were sexually and/or physically abused as children.

Ninety men (mean age 26) at an urban Northeastern university were administered a self-report assessment of their early sexual and physical abuse experiences, and their educational, occupational, relationship, and substance abuse histories. Subjects were classified as sexually abused according to criteria used by Wyatt (1985) and Finkelhor (1979). Sixteen men (17.

Adaptive computing for people with disabilities.

Adaptive computing is a relatively new area, and little has been written in the nursing literature on the topic. "Adaptive computing" refers to the professional services and the technology (both hardware and software) that make computing technology accessible for persons with disabilities. Nurses in many settings such as schools, industry, rehabilitation facilities, and the community, can use knowledge of adaptive computing as they counsel, advise, and advocate for people with disabilities.

Effects of cognitive-behavioral strategies on pain in cancer patients.

The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the effects of a combination of cognitive and behavioral nursing interventions on pain perception, pain control, and mood in metastatic breast cancer patients who were experiencing physical pain. A pretest-posttest experimental research design was utilized in this pilot study. Twenty-four patients with metastatic breast cancer who were experiencing physical pain were randomly assigned to a control group, to a treatment group who received relaxation and visualization training, or to a treatment group who received relaxation, visualization, and cognitive coping skills training.