Assault injury rates,social capital,and fear of neighborhood crime

This study develops an explanatory framework for fear of neighborhood crime based on respondents' social context and local rates of assault injuries. Rates of assault injuries within zip codes are based on hospital discharge records. We find that only four variables have a significant unique contribution to fear of crime: respondent's sex, perceptions of neighborhood social capital, and the rates of struck by/against assault injuries for the 10–24 and 50+ age groups. We also find that the perception of neighborhood social capital moderates the impact of assault injury rates on fear of crime; those who perceive a high level of neighborhood social capital exhibit less sensitivity to assault injury rates. We include a map of assault injury rates and fear of crime by ZIP Code and describe the community context related to our results. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comm Psychol 35: 483–498, 2007.     

Colour and brightness signals of parvocellular lateral geniculate neurons

Summary We recorded from single neurons in the parvocellular layers of the lateral geniculate body of anesthetized monkeys. Spectral response curves of parvocellular neurons depended on the luminance ratio between the chromatic stimuli and achromatic background. From response/intensity curves, we determined the relative luminance between a coloured and an achromatic (white) light at which a given cell became non-responsive (critical luminance ratio, CLR). The spectral dependence of the CLRs of narrow (N) and wide band (W) cells with opponent receptor input showed characteristic differences. The activity of W-cells increased with luminance increase of a white light and of a coloured light in the specific spectral region of the cell (yellow-red for the long wave length sensitive WL-, and yellow-green-blue for the short wave length sensitive WS-cells), while N-cells were activated by their specific spectral light (blue for NS-cells, red for NL-cells) and by a luminance decrease of achromatic white. N-cells discriminate best between their characteristic colour and white at luminance ratios below their respective CLR, while W-cells distinguish best between a light of their characteristic colour and white at chromatic/ achromatic luminance ratios above their respective CLR. Yellow sensitive W-cells with a narrow spectral sensitivity peaking around 570 nm and with only a small or no response to white light, could enable distinction between white and yellow of similar luminance. The findings are consistent with the opponency model of spectrally sensitive cells in the LGB. We discuss their implications for colour coding by parvocellular cells. N- and W-cells appear to behave complementary with respect to luminance information (N-cells may be compared to the cat's off-cells, W-cells to on-cells). S- and L-cells are complementary with respect to colour. The yellow sensitive WM-cells are critical for the discrimination of yellow and white, while cells with excitatory cone input from blue and red cones (W-SL-cells) may aid the perception of purple. The fact that, at different relative luminance ratios between a chromatic stimulus and a white background, the whole family of parvocellular cells is involved differently in coding for colour, may explain the different appearance of colours against a white background at different luminance ratios and the perception of induced colours.This work was supported by a NATO collaborative research grant to Dr. Arne Valberg (650/83)     

Recurrent infections and chronic colonization by an Escherichia coli clone in the respiratory tract of a patient with severe cystic bronchiectasis

A 39-year-old woman with cystic bronchiectasis had repeated pulmonary infections from 1996 to 1999, and 6 of a total of 28 isolates of Escherichia coli from sputum specimens were studied. Their identical antibiotype and randomly amplified polymorphic DNA patterns indicated a single clone of E. coli, which persistently colonized the respiratory tract, causing recurrent infections.     

Determination of Copy Number of rRNA Genes in Pneumocystis carinii f. sp. hominis

Differential PCR was performed to determine the copy number of rRNA genes in Pneumocystis carinii f. sp. hominis. Two different reference genes, thymidylate synthase (TS) and beta-tubulin (BTU) genes, were used. Primers for the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of nuclear rRNA genes and either the TS or BTU gene were mixed together to perform PCR on seven different bronchoalveolar lavage specimens from patients with P. carinii pneumonia. The radioactivity derived from the incorporated radioactive nucleotides of each PCR product band was then used to calculate the copy number of the ITS relative to that of the TS or BTU gene. The copy number ratio between the ITS and the TS gene was determined to be 0.8, and that between the ITS and the BTU gene was also 0.8. These results suggest that the ITS has the same copy number as the TS or BTU gene. Since the copy number of the TS or BTU gene is presumed to be 1, the results also suggest that P. carinii f. sp. hominis has only one copy of the ITS and thus one copy of the nuclear rRNA genes. Therefore, two types of ITS sequences derived from a specimen would indicate that the patient is infected by two types of P. carinii f. sp. hominis.     

Immunologic Memory Induced by a Glycoconjugate Vaccine in a Murine Adoptive Lymphocyte Transfer Model

We have developed an adoptive cell transfer model in mice to study the ability of a glycoprotein conjugate vaccine to induce immunologic memory for the polysaccharide moiety. We used type III capsular polysaccharide from the clinically relevant pathogen group B streptococci conjugated to tetanus toxoid (GBSIII-TT) as our model vaccine. GBS are a major cause of neonatal infections in humans, and type-specific antibodies to the capsular polysaccharide protect against invasive disease. Adoptive transfer of splenocytes from mice immunized with the GBSIII-TT conjugate vaccine conferred anti-polysaccharide immunologic memory to naive recipient mice. The transfer of memory occurred in a dose-dependent manner. The observed anamnestic immune response was characterized by (i) more rapid kinetics, (ii) isotype switching from immunoglobulin M (IgM) to IgG, and (iii) 10-fold-higher levels of type III-specific IgG antibody than for the primary response in animals with cells transferred from placebo-immunized mice. The adoptive cell transfer model described in this paper can be used for at least two purposes: (i) to evaluate conjugate vaccines with different physicochemical properties for their ability to induce immunologic memory and (ii) to study the cellular interactions required for an immune response to these molecules.     

Distinct roles of type I bone morphogenetic protein receptors in the formation and differentiation of cartilage

The bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), TGFβ superfamily members, play diverse roles in embryogenesis, but how the BMPs exert their action is unclear and how different BMP receptors (BMPRs) contribute to this process is not known. Here we demonstrate that the two type I BMPRs, BMPR-IA and BMPR-IB, regulate distinct processes during chick limb development. BmpR-IB expression in the embryonic limb prefigures the future cartilage primordium, and its activity is necessary for the initial steps of chondrogenesis. During later chondrogenesis, BmpR-IA is specifically expressed in prehypertrophic chondrocytes. BMPR-IA regulates chondrocyte differentiation, serving as a downstream mediator of Indian Hedgehog (IHH) function in both a local signaling loop and a longer-range relay system to PTHrP. BMPR-IB also regulates apoptosis: Expression of activated BMPR-IB results in increased cell death, and we showed previously that dominant-negative BMPR-IB inhibits apoptosis. Our studies indicate that in TGFβ signaling systems, different type I receptor isoforms are dedicated to specific functions during embryogenesis.     

Extralobar pulmonary sequestration with an associated cyst of mixed bronchogenic and esophageal type--a case report.

We report an unusual case of extralobar pulmonary sequestration (ELS) with an associated cyst of mixed bronchogenic and esophageal type. A 58-year-old woman was incidentally found to have a 6 x 6 x 5 cm sized mass in the right superior mediastinum. The mass consisted of sequestrated pulmonary tissue and an unilocular cyst with a direct communication. The cyst could not be easily classified because it was lined by squamous or respiratory epithelium with two distinct muscle layers and bronchial glands. Bronchial cartilage was present in close proximity to the ELS. This unusual combination of ELS with a foregut cyst might be a part of bronchopulmonary foregut malformation, attributed to a common embryologic pathogenesis.