“Special” puppet shows

SUMMARY: Much has been written about the motivational value of using puppets as an effective teaching aid with the mentally handicapped, whether it be for story-telling, language work, social skills or music. This, however, is an account of puppetry used as a performing art by a group of long-stay children attending Courtenay School at Stoke Lyne Hospital, Exmouth.     

OBSERVATIONS ON ASSESSMENT FOR MORE INDEPENDENT LIVING

The following events occurred during a recent two week period. Some changes have been made, condensing a number of separate discussions into the one reported but the sense of the discussions remains unaltered.     

Phosphorylation at Connexin43 Serine‐368 Is Necessary for Myocardial Conduction During Metabolic Stress

Connexin43 (Cx43) phosphorylation alters gap junction localization and function. In particular, phosphorylation at serine‐368 (S368) has been suggested to alter gap junctional conductance, but previous reports have shown inconsistent results for both timing and functional effects of S368 phosphorylation. The objective of this study was to determine the functional effects of isolated S368 phosphorylation. We evaluated wild‐type Cx43 (AdCx43) and mutations simulating permanent phosphorylation (Ad368E) or preventing phosphorylation (Ad368A) at S368. Function was assessed by optical mapping of electrical conduction in patterned cultures of neonatal rat ventricular myocytes, under baseline and metabolic stress (MS) conditions. Baseline conduction velocity (CV) was similar for all groups. In the AdCx43 and Ad368E groups, MS moderately decreased CV. Ad368A caused complete conduction block during MS. Triton‐X solubility assessment showed no change in Cx43 location during conduction impairment. Western blot analysis showed that Cx43‐S368 phosphorylation was present at baseline, and that it decreased during MS. Our data indicate that phosphorylation at S368 does not affect CV under baseline conditions, and that preventing S368 phosphorylation makes Cx43 hypersensitive to MS. These results show the critical role of S368 phosphorylation during stress conditions.     

COPING WITH THE OCCUPATIONAL STRESSORS OF POLICE WORK: A STUDY OF SCOTTISH OFFICERS

The Coping Scale of the Occupational Stress Indicator (OSI)¹⁶ was administered to a group of serving Scottish police officers (N=699) in order to examine the coping skills they might employ in dealing with routine police work. Differences in coping style according to age, gender and rank were observed. Overall, a preference for more problem-focused, direct action coping strategies was apparent. In particular, officers displayed a preference for balancing the demands of work and home as a means of coping with the self-perceived stressors of routine police work. No significant correlation was found between the OSI coping scales and psychological distress as measured by the GHQ-28; however, some small effects were apparent in relation to rank, gender and age. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

JOB INSECURITY AND HEALTH: THE MODERATING ROLE OF WORKPLACE CONTROL

Based on data from 187 black South African gold miners, we examine the relationships between job insecurity, workplace control and personal outcomes (psychosomatic symptoms, negative mood, blood pressure) and organizational outcomes (turnover intentions, organizational commitment). Job insecurity was positively related to turnover intentions and negative mood. Perceptions of workplace control (ie the ability to protect oneself from negative events at work) were negatively related to both turnover intentions and negative mood, and positively related to organizational commitment. Perceived control moderated the relationship between somatic symptoms and blood pressure on the one hand, and job insecurity. Job insecurity was positively associated with somatic symptoms and blood pressure when perceived workplace control was low, but unrelated to these outcomes when perceived workplace control was high. Implications of these results for interventions are discussed.     

DETECTION OF p53 IN HODGKIN'S DISEASE USING THE MONOCLONAL ANTIBODY PAb248

The recent demonstration that the murine anti-p53 monoclonal antibody PAb248 can identify human p53 in a variety of normal tissues proves that immunohistochemical detection does not necessarily indicate the presence of mutations. PAb248 can detect p53 protein in a cytoplasmic-perinuclear localization, not previously described. The present study presents the expression of this antibody in a series of 34 cases of Hodgkin's disease, comparing it with the antibodies CM1, PAb1801, and PAb240. In all cases, PAb248 showed uniform cytoplasmic-perinuclear staining in small and medium-sized lymphocytes, while it was constantly negative in Hodgkin, Reed–Sternberg (R–S/H) cells, and variants. This pattern of staining was the opposite to that observed with the antibodies CM1, PAb1801, and PAb240, where the staining was nuclear and restricted to the R–S/H cells, with the small lymphocytes being negative. p53 can be found in different conformations and localizations, with the cytoplasmic-perinuclear localization mainly, although not exclusively, being found in normal and reactive tissues and the nuclear localization being mainly expressed by neoplastic cells. These results give further support to the theory that the R–S/H cells are the neoplastic population in Hodgkin's disease, while the surrounding lymphocytes are reactive.     

Imaging of Myocardial Perfusion with SonoVue™ in Patients with a Prior Myocardial Infarction

Myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) is an evolving noninvasive imaging technique that can be used to assess regional myocardial perfusion. MCE relies upon the detection of nonlinear ultrasound signal from gas-filled microbubbles during their microvascular transit, resulting in tissue opacification. Provided that the relation between myocardial microbubble concentration and video intensity (VI) is within the linear range, VI measured from any myocardial region reflects the relative tissue concentration of microbubbles, which is influenced by three factors: (1) microbubble concentration in blood; (2) the myocardial blood volume fraction; and (3) microbubble destruction that occurs within the ultrasound beam. In this article, we discuss how these three factors may influence myocardial perfusion information provided by MCE and highlight the importance of image processing. In order to illustrate these concepts, we examine data obtained during perfusion imaging in patients with prior myocardial infarction using intermittent harmonic imaging at various ultrasound pulsing intervals (PIs) during bolus and continuous venous infusions of a second-generation microbubble agent (SonoVue™). Our results suggest that evaluation of resting perfusion is most accurate when both myocardial blood volume and blood velocity are assessed. This information is provided only with continuous infusions of microbubbles during imaging protocols that vary the ultrasound PI.     

ALPRAZOLAM HYDROXYLATION BY MOUSE LIVER MICROSOMES IN VITRO: THE EFFECT OF AGE AND PHENOBARBITAL INDUCTION

The effects of age on hepatic microsomal enzyme induction were studied in male CD-1 mice. Six week old and 1 year old animals were treated with either phenobarbital (80 mg kg⁻¹) or saline once daily for 3 d. Twenty-four hours after the last treatment, animals were sacrificed and livers were harvested. Hepatic microsomal fractions were isolated and incubated with alprazolam, a triazolobenzodiazepine metabolized by cytochrome P-450-3A isoforms in humans. Metabolites were identified and quantitated by HPLC. All microsomal preparations produced two principal metabolites (α-OH- and 4-OH-alprazolam) while microsomes from phenobarbital-treated animals also produced a third metabolite (α, 4-dihydroxyalprazolam). V_max , K_m , and intrinsic clearance (V_max/K_m ratio) for both α-OH- and 4-OH-alprazolam in the saline-treated control animals were not significantly different between age groups. V_max and intrinsic clearance for both metabolites were more than three times greater in phenobarbital-treated animals than in the control mice (p <0·001). Age did not influence the extent of induction, and both pathways were induced to approximately an equal extent. Thus the present in vitro study of liver microsomal preparations from male CD-1 mice does not delineate a mechanism for impaired alprazolam clearance in aging organisms in vivo. There is no evidence that age alters susceptibility to induction by phenobarbital. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.