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Development of creative language devices in signed and oral production.

The development of linguistic and cognitive flexibility was examined by evaluating nonliteral language use by 20 deaf and 20 hearing children aged 7;11 to 15;0 years. Each subject was videotaped telling stories on two experimenter-supplied themes. Deaf subjects' stories were translated and transcripts for both samples were scored for gesture, pantomime, linguistic modifications, and inventions as well as novel and frozen trope. Results indicated deaf children produced just as much figurative language in sign language as their matched hearing age-mates did in English. Deaf subjects exceeded their hearing peers in other types of creative productions. They also evidenced a "literal period" in language development, comparable to hearing children but delayed approximately 4 years. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding both language and cognitive flexibilities of deaf children.

Adolescent↗

Linguistic flexibility in signed and written language productions of deaf children.

Linguistic flexibility of deaf and hearing children was compared by examining the relative frequencies of their nonliteral constructions in stories written and signed (by the deaf) or written and spoken (by the hearing). Seven types of nonliteral constructions were considered: novel figurative language, frozen figurative language, gestures, pantomime, linguistic modifications, linguistic inventions, and lexical substitutions. Among the hearing 8- to 15-year-olds, oral and written stories contained comparable numbers of nonliteral constructions. Among their age-matched deaf peers, however, nonliteral constructions were significantly stories contained comparable numbers of nonliteral constructions. Among their age-matched deaf peers, however, nonliteral constructions were significantly more common in signed than written stories. Overall, hearing students used more nonliteral constructions in their written stories than did their deaf peers (who used very few), whereas deaf students used more nonliteral constructions in their signed stories than their hearing peers did in their spoken stories. The results suggest that deaf children are linguistically and cognitively more competent than is generally assumed on the basis of evaluations in English. Although inferior to hearing age-mates in written expression, they are comparable to, and in some ways better than those peers when evaluated using their primary mode of communication.

Adolescent↗

Crossed immunoelectrophoresis: qualitative and quantitative considerations.

Invented 20 years age, crossed immunoelectrophoresis (X-IEP) today is a technique of unusual power and myriad application. It combines very high resolution with exquisite specificity by alloying 2-dimensional electrophoresis with immunoprecipitation for symbiotic new potentialities. The consequent matchless quantitative/qualitative capabilities of X-IEP for analyzing antigens in complex mixtures, particularly by their idiomatic internal comparison, are still not widely recognized. Because of this and the supposed complications of its use and interpretation, X-IEP is more rarely used than it should be. This essay discusses contemporary X-IEP with the particular aims of demonstrating that it is not difficult to use and of explaining with selected examples why it is peculiarly powerful for analyzing antigen mixtures like the body fluids, tissue and cell extracts, and microbial homogenates.

Analysis of Variance↗

Recent advances in multiple antigen peptides.

The goals for the development of multiple antigen peptides (MAP) are to provide a rational and unambiguous system to multimerize different types of synthetic peptide antigens and to attach immunomodulating molecules for targeting and delivery. These goals have been largely realized and new designs of MAPs now permit a broad range of immune responses including CTLs and mucosal IgAs. Furthermore, significant advances by the inventiveness of many laboratories have led to applications of MAPs for serodiagnostic and other biochemical uses including those for drug discovery. An important aspect to accomplish various goals of MAPs is chemistry. New methodologies using unprotected peptides as building blocks have been developed to accommodate new and sophisticated design of MAPs. This review is written based on the personal perspective of my laboratory and will focus on the recent progress in MAPs, together with the chemistry to achieve their synthesis.

Animals↗

Adaptation of a prefabricated post to dentin.

The adaptation of an inventive prefabricated post and core to dentin is presented as part of a series of research reports. The authors suggest that the imaginative design of the split shaft and its telescoping or collapsible apex reduces stress and the finely threaded shaft improves retention.

Crowns↗

Two early dynamometers. An historical account of the earliest measurements to study human muscular strength.

An account of two of the earliest dynamometers is presented, together with results of the first experiments attained with them. The Graham--Desaguliers dynamometer was developed in London in 1763 to measure human muscular force, in such a way that synergistic muscles could not impart a false mechanical advantage to the test. The Regnier dynamometer was invented in Paris in 1798 to measure the traction properties of artillery-horses, but was desinged as an all-purpose instrument to measure specific human muscle groups as well. Dynamometers were developed to record human strength along a continuum, to remove the need for a dead-weight or biological standard, and to measure many different groups of muscles, not just those of lifting or pushing. The foundations of modern clinical dynamometry are described.

England↗

Word formation: new evidence from aphasia.

Three aphasic patients are described whose speech contains invented word-forms which are legal combinations of meaningful parts of real words, like "fratellismo" (brother + ness) instead of "fratellanza" (brother + hood), and from combinations of meaningless and meaningful parts, like "terness + ico" (where "ico" is a real adjectival ending). These phenomena are previously unreported. On the assumption that brain-damaged patients use residual rather than novel abilities, these forms, along with the patients' predominant use of real compound words, indicate that speakers have a procedure for composing polymorphemic words online, but this is employed just when trying to find a whole word fails.

Adult↗

The neurobiology of human consciousness: an evolutionary approach.

Human brains are basically primate in design, but in addition have representational mechanisms that give human consciousness a special character. The evolution in hominids of new kinds of representational skill--both nonverbal and verbal--produced our capacity for skilled rehearsal and explicit memory retrieval, and allowed the invention of conventional, or public representations, including languages and external symbols. The latter have created demands at the cultural level that greatly influence the deployment of cerebral resources. The spiralling interaction of brain and culture in evolution has resulted in a unique quasi-modular architecture at the highest levels of human cerebral integration.

Animals↗

An instrument for measuring root canal length and apex location. A rapid technique.

The invention of a new instrument (the Apexfinder) for measuring the root length and apex location is reported. This instrument is an accurate and reliable tool for the apex determination. The application method is based on the insertion of a plastic, fine-tapered barbed shaft through a beveled tube into the root canal. When resistance to withdrawal is felt, which indicates that one of the barbs has engaged the apical margin, the shaft is marked at the level of the cusp tip. The distance between the mark and the barbs which caused the resistance is measured. These barbs will show apical inclination, which would be opposite to the direction of the rest of the barbs. The practitioner can rely on this technique in the majority of cases provided that a full range of plastic shafts, with different dimensions, is available for use with the outer tube.

Dental Pulp Cavity↗

O2 concentrations in dense primitive atmospheres: commentary

Now that astronomers are, I understand, on the verge of detecting extrasolar planets, the question of whether such planets might be inhabited is beginning to be discussed in serious scientific circles. Specifically, astronomers such as Rosenqvist and Chassefiére (see the preceding article) are interested in whether spectroscopic measurements of free O2 in a planet's atmosphere might be used as evidence for life. As such, they have attempted to place constraints on the amount of O2 that might be found in the atmosphere of a lifeless planet or, more specifically, on a planet where oxygenic photosynthesis has not yet been invented. This question can be addressed by photochemical modeling, if one is careful about how one goes about it. The calculations presented here suggest an upper limit of approximately 10 mbar on the O2 partial pressure in a dominantly CO2 atmosphere.

Atmosphere↗

Radiography of the eye and orbit: a historical overview.

The history of radiography and orbital imaging begins in 1895 with Wilhelm Roentgen's discovery of x-rays. Over the next three quarters of a century, radiographic pioneers like Dr. William Sweet, who developed the Sweet method, and Dr. George E. Pfahler, who made the first successful pictures of a brain tumor, helped to bring radiography into the 20th century. With each new radiologic innovation producing a forward surge followed by a period of refinement, new methods were invented and utilized to their diagnostic limits. But perhaps none of the radiologic innovations of this century--the Coolidge tube, the Potter-Bucky diaphragm, tomography and angiography-will have more impact than computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging.

Europe↗

Remembrance of Hans Goldmann, 1899-1991.

Professor Hans Goldmann died in Bern on November 19th, 1991 at the age of 92 years. His outstanding intellectual capacity was discovered at an early age and demonstrated throughout his life. He was appointed as teaching assistant of the famous A. Cermak von Seysenegg, Chairman of the Institute of Physiology of the German Charles University in Prague. During his stay at the University of Prague, he was influenced by the famous people of his time, such as Einstein (physicist), Mach (physicist and psychophysicist), Lorenz (behavioral scientist), Popper (philosopher), Schlick (physicist and philosopher), Hering (physiologist), and others. Goldmann absorbed the essence of these disciplines to a very large extent. This, together with his remarkable intellect, enabled him to produce outstanding research work within a large spectrum of sciences more or less directly related to ophthalmology. Goldmann became known in particular for his exceptional and fundamental work on perimetry and glaucoma and he managed to cast his basic insight into practical, easy-to-operate, high-precision diagnostic instruments which, several decades after their invention, are still used by every ophthalmologist. He will enter history as one of the very great pioneers in ophthalmology.

Czechoslovakia↗

Monocular dot-density cues in random-dot stereograms.

In the original random-dot stereograms (RDSs) invented by Julesz, binocular disparity could only take on values that were integral multiples of dot width. The other common method for constructing RDSs (the projection method) relaxes this restriction. However, the projection method can introduce dot-density cues into the monocular images. When polar projection is employed, density variation is introduced as an expression of perspective cues; when parallel projection is employed, there are no perspective cues, but density variation is nonetheless introduced whenever disparity varies as a function of horizontal position. de Vries, Kappers, and Koenderink [(1994) Vision Research, 34, 2409-2423] proposed to minimize the density cues by selecting half of the random dots from a uniform random distribution in the right-eye image, projecting them onto the cyclopean surface, and then projecting them back to the left eye image and vice versa. In this paper the precise nature of the density cues introduced by the projection method, and by de Vries et al.'s modification of that method, are derived. It is also shown that the projection method and its modification have very similar density cues near the medial sagittal plane when polar projection is employed, and that they have identical density cues over the entire random-dot field when parallel projection is employed.

Cues↗

Analysis of platelet phospholipids by high performance liquid chromatography.

Analysis of platelet phospholipids was attempted by means of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In order to separate phosphatidic acid (PA) in addition to phosphatidylinositol (PI), phosphatidylserine (PS), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and phosphatidylcholine (PC), the mobile phase of Chen and Kou (J. Chromatogr., 227, 25-31, 1982) was modified. For the quantitative analysis, fluorescein was found to be a suitable internal standard. With these inventions, the amount of phospholipids could be determined within 30 min after lipid extraction and 10(7) platelets were required for one assay. Then, stimulus linked phospholipids breakdown was studied using HPLC and the results were compared with those by conventional 32P-thin layer chromatography (TLC) method. Similar results were obtained except that the amount of PA determined by TLC was much higher, probably due to active phosphorylation process. These observations suggest that the quantitative analysis of phospholipids could be achieved by our method with HPLC, which is advantageous over conventional methods in rapidity, no requirement of isotopes and determination of absolute amount of phospholipids.

Blood Platelets↗

Genetic analysis in vibrio.

Bacteria of the genus Vibrio are remarkably diverse, and until recently the methodology for genetic analysis consisted of a patchwork of different approaches, many of which were narrowly applicable to a single species. The invention of the recombinant DNA technology and the subsequent innovations in transposon mutagenesis and in transductive and conjugative gene transfer techniques have led to the development of very powerful and general strategies for genetic analysis of species of Vibrio. The striking synergy of combining recombinant DNA, transposon, and gene transfer methods is particularly evident in the construction of transposons which generate gene fusions and of broad host range plasmids which deliver transposons and mutated genes and which mobilize chromosomes. With such tools it should be possible to perform advanced genetic analysis on the many undomesticated species of Vibrio still to be explored.

Cloning, Molecular↗

Three-dimensional digitizer (neuronavigator): new equipment for computed tomography-guided stereotaxic surgery.

A new device was invented as an adjunct for computed tomography (CT)-guided stereotaxic or open neurosurgery. It is composed of a multijoint three-dimensional digitizer (sensor arm) and a microcomputer, which indicates the place of the sensor arm tip on preoperative CT images. Computed tomography scan is performed preoperatively with three markers placed on the nasion and ears. At surgery, after fixing the patient's head and the sensor arm, sampling of the standard points was done to translate the position of the tip of the sensor arm onto the CT images displayed on a computer screen. In this way positional data from conventional preoperative CT scan can be directly transferred into the surgical field. This system has the unique feature of introducing CT-guided stereotaxis into conventional open neurosurgery.

Brain Neoplasms↗

Progress in the management of patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: a single hospital review for 20 years. Part I: Younger patients.

BACKGROUND: This study was carried out to clarify if there has been any improvement in the outcome of patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage during the past 20 years. Because elderly patients have apparently poorer prognoses than younger patients, patients older than 70 years were analyzed separately in the following article. METHODS: Five hundred seventy-one patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage, under 70 years, who were consecutively admitted to Kagawa Prefectural Central Hospital from July 1972 to December 1992, were reviewed. These patients were divided into four groups according to the time of admission. The ultimate outcome was evaluated by means of Glasgow Outcome Scale 6 months after the ictus. RESULTS: Changes in treatment protocol in this period included the induction of early surgery and the invention of a variety of modalities for the treatment of cerebral vasospasm. This resulted in a distinct increase in patients who actually underwent direct aneurysm clipping. Outcome has been significantly improved during this period, especially in patients with Hunt and Kosnik grade III (p<0.05, chi2). Patients in good clinical condition at follow-up (Glasgow Outcome Scale: good recovery) increased from 8.7% to 60.7%. Mortality decreased from 28.7% to 10.7%. CONCLUSIONS: Current therapeutic modalities have significantly improved the outcome of patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. Rebleeding before early surgery remains as a major cause of unfavorable outcome and further progress on this subject is mandatory.

Aged↗

Using an ovarian monitor as an adjunct to natural family planning.

The need to identify a reliable ovulation predictor has received attention by the scientific community in recent years. For couples practicing natural family planning, a more precise identification of the fertile phase would be a welcome adjunct to their method. A home ovarian monitor invented by Professor J. B. Brown of Melbourne, Australia, enables couples to measure the principal urinary metabolite of ovarian estrogen and progesterone. The charted results reveal the hormonal pattern of the menstrual cycle and thus identify the beginning, peak, and end of the fertile period. A study involving 21 couples was conducted with the purpose of assessing overall acceptability, including ease of use, motivation, and client satisfaction. At the completion of the study, 12 couples indicated a high degree of motivation and satisfaction with the monitor. None reported difficulty with the test procedure. Increased confidence in natural family planning was cited as the most positive evaluation and the time required to perform the test, as the most negative.

Adult↗