慢性乙型肝炎T细胞功能与HBV前C区变异的研究

通过研究慢性HBV感染者前C区变异及T细胞免疫功能与疾病的相关性,评估前C（preC）区变异及T细胞免疫功能对于慢性乙型肝炎（chronichepatitisB,CHB）预后的影响。分别采用实时荧光法、突变特异PCRmsPCR法及微粒酶免疫分析法对150例HBV-DNA阳性的CHB及50例健康体检者进行血清HBV-DN...     

Coordination tending towards an anti-phase relationship determines greater sway reduction during entrainment with a simulated partner

The increased risk of falls in the older aged population demands the development of assistive robotic devices capable of effective balance support. For the development and increased user acceptance of such devices, which provide balance support in a human-like way, it is important to understand the simultaneous occurrence of entrainment and sway reduction in human-human interaction. However, sway reduction has not been observed yet during a human touching an external, continuously moving reference, which rather increased human body sway. Therefore, we investigated in 15 healthy young adults (27.20±3.55 years, 6 females) how different simulated sway-responsive interaction partners with different coupling modes affect sway entrainment, sway reduction and relative interpersonal coordination, as well as how these human behaviours differ depending on the individual body schema accuracy. For this, participants were lightly touching a haptic device that either played back an average pre-recorded sway trajectory (“Playback”) or moved based on the sway trajectory simulated by a single-inverted pendulum model with either a positive (Attractor) or negative (Repulsor) coupling to participant's body sway. We found that body sway reduced not only during the Repulsor-interaction, but also during the Playback-interaction. These interactions also showed a relative interpersonal coordination tending more towards an anti-phase relationship, especially the Repulsor. Moreover, the Repulsor led to the strongest sway entrainment. Finally, a better body schema contributed to a reduced body sway in both the “reliable” Repulsor and the “less reliable” Attractor mode. Consequently, a relative interpersonal coordination tending more towards an anti-phase relationship and an accurate body schema are important to facilitate sway reduction.     

Mel Gibson’s Big Gamble: <Emphasis Type="Italic">The Passion of Christ</Emphasis>

Mel Gibsons film is a creative reworking of opportunities provided by migrating to Australia as a boy and a life-long desire to be reconciled to his father, Hutton Gibson. If the film is read as a study in psychology and biography, then biblical and theological critiques, along with contemporary politically correct stances towards what Gibson did, can be set temporarily aside in search of a larger trajectory of meaning implicit in the film. The embodied nature of the film, along with other violent films in which Gibson starred in the past three decades, points to wellsprings of power in the blood. Violence becomes an idiom of reconciliation with authority. Gibsons relationship to his father plays a major role in such a reading of the film. A continuous reconciliation with his father is evident not only in thematic continuities over the course of Mel Gibsons professional acting career and starring roles. It also structures the directors construction of Christs Passion. A desire not to be forsaken gives rise to this idiosyncratic and controversial film, itself a cinematic statement about Gibsons own personal spiritual torment.Richard A. Hutch is Director of Studies of the Faculty of Arts and Reader in Religion and Psychological Studies in the School of History, Philosophy, Religion, and Classics at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia 4072.     

Where is the History in Mel Gibson’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">The Passion of the Christ</Emphasis>?

Mel Gibson’s repeated claim for the accuracy of his powerful and popular film, The Passion of the Christ, inevitably raises the question: Where’s the history here? A close analysis leads to these conclusions: Gibson provides no context for understanding the brutality suffered by Jesus in this film, why anyone hated him or followed him. Gibson relies on medieval speculations and 19th century visions for most of the plot and many of the scenes. He whitewashes the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate and presents Pilate’s wife as a crypto-follower of Jesus. He demonizes most of the Jewish leaders, especially the high priest Caiaphas, makes Mary, Jesus’ mother, the unhistorical focus of very many scenes, and ignores the historical Jesus’ critical actions, prophetic social critique, and profound concern for the poor and marginal.     

The role of stimulus ambiguity and movement in spatial navigation: a multiple memory systems analysis of location discrimination

This paper reviews recent findings about how rats navigate by learning to discriminate among locations. The assumption underlying the experiments and their interpretation is that the information required to do this is learned by three independent, parallel memory systems. One system processes cognitive information (or "knowledge"), a second system processes reinforced stimulus-response associations and a third processes Pavlovian conditioned responses in the form of stimulus-affect associations. The information stored in each system produces behavior that, in some cases, results in a location discrimination. The present experiments focus on three factors that influence what each system learns and whether the resulting memory produces behavior that results in a location discrimination. One factor is whether the locations to be discriminated can be identified by unique, unambiguous stimuli or whether they are ambiguously associated with the same stimuli. The second factor is whether the stimuli are observed passively or whether the rats move among them, voluntarily or involuntarily. The third factor is whether or not the rats perform specific reinforced responses in the presence of the stimuli. Instances of co-operative behavioral outputs from memory systems that facilitate location discriminations and of competitive outputs that impede discriminations are described.     

Six Years in the Cognitive and Metacognitive Life of 71 Families

Seventy-one families from a low socio-economic background, each with a son at risk of developing psychosocial problems at the onset of the study, were observed three times over a six-year period while solving a combinatorial task presented on a microcomputer. The permutations task was used to gather information with regard to cognitive functioning and cognitive self-regulation of the families, which were observed as a developmental unit. Cognitive functioning was assessed according to three variables: cognitive strategies, performance, and completion of the task. Six self-regulatory activities were assessed: task definition, planning, supervision, evaluation, parental support, and sharing of responsibilities. Although inefficient strategies were mainly used across the six years, the cognitive level of functioning improved over the years. Cognitive self-regulatory activities most often used across time were supervision and parental support. Differences were observed in the three time periods for supervision, task definition, parental support, and individual involvement. Results indicated a link between cognitive strategies used by the families to solve the task and their self-regulatory activities. Results are interpreted within both the Piagetian and Vygotskian perspectives. Families' cognitive self-regulatory activities observed in this study are an example of parental disengagement and children's growing involvement in a joint activity.     

Effects of delta 9-THC on marijuana smoking, dose choice, and verbal report of drug liking.

The effects of delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol content of marijuana on cigarette smoking, dose choice, and verbal report of drug "liking" by adult males living in a residential laboratory were investigated. Marijuana cigarettes were available during programmed intervals while subjects were engaged in recreational activities. The tetrahydrocannabinol content of the cigarettes remained constant each day, but was changed across days. Subjects provided written ratings of drug liking at the end of each day. In the first study, placebo or active (2.3% delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol) marijuana cigarettes were available for 1-, 2-, or 3-day intervals at varying times of day. The number of cigarettes smoked was unrelated to tetrahydrocannabinol content, although verbal reports of drug liking were consistently higher when marijuana cigarettes containing tetrahydrocannabinol were smoked. In a second study, a choice procedure, consisting of four 3-day blocks of 2 sample days and 1 choice day, was used. On sampling days, subjects smoked cigarettes varying in tetrahydrocannabinol content (0.0, 2.0, and 3.5%, w/w); on choice days they were allowed to choose between the two previously sampled doses. The number of cigarettes was not consistently related to tetrahydrocannabinol content. Ratings of drug liking were increased when marijuana cigarettes contained tetrahydrocannabinol, but ratings of marijuana containing 2.0% and 3.5% of the compound were similar. In contrast, subjects consistently chose the 3.5% dose over either the 0.0% or 2.0% dose. Dose choice was more sensitive to tetrahydrocannabinol content than either reports of drug liking or numbers of cigarettes smoked.     

Residual ability to use grapheme-phoneme conversion rules in phonological dyslexia

A case of acquired phonological dyslexia is described (P.M.). The patient was encouraged to read nonwords by analogy with real words, i.e., by changing phonemes in real words to produce pronounceable nonwords. P.M. was able to perform this task suggesting that he retained some ability to use grapheme-phoneme conversion rules. On the basis of P.M.'s performance an additional connection in Morton's logogen model is postulated.     

Speeded recognition of ungrammaticality: Double violations

A model of sentence comprehension postulating that Subject-Verb-Object relations are specified prior to Noun-Adjective relations received support from a study of the speed at which sentences with various kinds of violations could be rejected. Compatible with the sequential model was the finding that Noun-Verb and Adjective-Noun double violations did not result in shorter RTs than Noun-Verb single violations — even though sentences with double violations were judged to be less acceptable.