Use of current situational information and causal inference: Do dysphoric individuals make “unwarranted” causal inferences?

According to Beck's original theory, depressives make unwarranted negatively biased personal inferences. Specifically, Beck suggested that depressives ignore current positive situational information and are unduly influenced by current negative situational information in making inferences. To test Beck's theory, we used Kelley's normative model of causal inference to examine the utilization of causally relevant situational information by dysphoric, nondepressed, and very nondepressed subjects in making causal attributions for personal success and failure. We used Stevens and Jones' classic method from social psychology and embedded the relevant causal information in the natural flow of events. Results showed that dysphoric, nondepressed, and very nondepressed subjects did, to an equal degree, use such information to make causal attributions. Although dysphoric and both groups of nondepressed subjects used current situational information consistently with Kelley's model, clear-cut baseline differences in the content of their causal attributions existed. Thus, the results supported the reformulations of Beck's theory that emphasize content, rather than process, differences between depressive and nondepressive cognition for dysphoria.Preparation of this article was supported by a Vilas Award, a University of Wisconsin Graduate School Grant, a Romnes Fellowship, a Biomedical Grant, and NIMH Grant R01MH43866 to Lyn Y. Abramson.     

Laparoscopic bilateral nephrectomy for renin-mediated hypertension

Hypertension arising from retained native kidneys complicates the management of recipients of renal transplants. Reluctance to administer angiontensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) drugs to patients taking cyclosporine has reopened the question of performing native nephrectomies for poorly controlled, renin-dependent hypertension. We report the first published cases of simultaneous bilateral laparoscopic nephrectomies in 2 patients: 1 in preparation for living-related donor transplantation and the other ten months following cadaver transplantation in a patient whose end-stage renal disease was from malignant nephrosclerosis. Both had very severe hypertension resistant to multiple drugs and both became normotensive with little or no antihypertensive medication following nephrectomies. A bilateral nephrectomy is currently feasible using a laparoscopic approach.     

Phase I trial of piroxicam in 62 dogs bearing naturally occurring tumors

Summary Piroxicam, a nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug, was given to 62 dogs bearing naturally occurring tumors in a phase I clinical trial. Dose escalation was performed, with oral doses ranging from 0.5 mg/kg every 48 h (q48h) to 1.5 mg/kg q48h being tested. Dose-limiting gastromestinal irritation/ulceration occurred in all four animals that received 1.5 mg/kg q48h. The maximum tolerated dose was 1 mg/kg q48h. Subclinical renal papillary necrosis occurred in two dogs (initial dosages, 1 and 1.5 mg/kg q48h, respectively). Following dose escalation, an additional group of dogs was treated with 0.3 mg/kg piroxicam q24h per os, the accepted canine dosage prior to this trial. Inclusion of this treatment group enabled evaluation of the toxicity of and tumor response to a daily dosage regimen. No complete remissions occurred in this trial. Partial remission was documented in three of ten dogs exhibiting transitional-cell carcinoma, in three of five animals bearing squamous-cell carcinoma, in one of three dogs displaying mammary adenocarcinoma, and in the one dog that exhibited a transmissible venereal tumor. The results of this study support the additional evaluation of piroxicam in a phase II clinical trial in dogs bearing naturally occurring tumors.This investigation was supported by Pfizer Inc.     

测量大脑

事物的本质人类的智力是虚幻的,是难以受到约束的。甚至难以给它一个定义。智力可以用能力来解释吗?和记忆力有关吗?它和语言有关吗?还是数学?还是和上面的都有关系呢?只要你说你只是不能衡量智力,许多人会离去。为了使一个人     

The Remittive Effects of Alefacept

The duration of response to treatment with alefacept has been assessed in patients with moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis who responded to alefacept therapy in phase 2 and phase 3 clinical studies. In a phase 2 trial, duration of response was based on time to retreatment with alefacept. In two phase 3 studies, the more objective measure of maintenance of a ≥50% reduction from baseline Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI 50) was used. Two patient subsets were analyzed: (1) those who achieved a PASI 75 at any time during the trials and (2) those who achieved a Physician Global Assessment of “clear” or “almost clear” at any time during the trials. Regardless of the criterion used or the route of alefacept administration (intravenous or intramuscular), the median duration of response to alefacept therapy ranged from 7 to 10 months across the three studies. Alefacept is a remittive therapy for psoriasis.     

Conformation of Replicated Segments of Chromosome Fibres in Human S-phase Nucleus

Recent statistical analysis of the folding of G0/G1 chromosomes using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) allowed development of a random walk/giant loop model of chromosome structure. According to this model there are two levels of organization of G0/G1 chromosome fibres. On the first level, the fibres are arranged in giant loops several Mbp in size, and within each loop the fibres are randomly folded. On the second level, the loop attachment sites form a chromosome backbone that also shows random folding. Newly replicated segments of mammalian chromosomes may be directly visualized at high resolution in S-phase nuclei using immunofluorescent methods and appear as worm-like fibres. In our earlier study, we analysed conformation of the fibres in human cells blocked for 16 h at the G1/S boundary with 5- fluorodeoxyuridine (FdU) and then released into S-phase by the addition of a DNA prec ursor. However, long treatment of cells with FdU induces very short replicons and may promote apoptosis. In this study we analysed conformation of the fibres in normally proliferating human cells that had not been blocked with FdU for a long time. It has been found that replicated chromosome fibres visualized just after 2 h of incubation of the cells with a non-radioactively labelled DNA precursor behave as flexible polymer chains without major constraints, and that their local conformation in the range of several microns of their contour length may be considered as random. Confocal analysis of human X chromosomes visualized in HeLa cells using FISH with a specific painting probe shows that in S-phase the chromosomes occupy distinct nuclear territories and their apparent size does not differ from that in non-S-phase cells. This observation indicates that the second level of chromosome organization also exists in S-phase chromosomes. It appears, theref ore, that the random walk/giant loop model developed earlier for G0/G1 chromosomes is also valid for S-phase chromosomes.