Young men's ambivalence toward alcohol

There is widespread concern about the health and social consequences of excessive alcohol consumption among young men. Interventions to reduce alcohol-related harm will be affected by ambivalence toward alcohol, because ambivalent attitudes are worse predictors of behaviour than are homogeneous attitudes. It is therefore important to identify aspects of alcohol consumption about which young men are not ambivalent. In-depth interviews were conducted with a socioeconomically diverse sample of 31 men, aged 18–21 living in London, UK. Ambivalence toward alcohol was widespread. None of the drinkers who were interviewed had uncomplicated positive evaluations of drinking: all mentioned compelling reasons not to drink. Most motives for drinking were also identified as reasons for not drinking if consumption became excessive. However, three motives for not drinking were not also motives for drinking: violence, alcoholism, and cost. These findings should be considered during the design of interventions to reduce the health and social consequences of excessive alcohol consumption amongst young men

Is there a propeller neutron star in γ\gamma Cas?

$\gamma$ Cas is the prototype of a small population of B0-B1.5 III-V classical Be (cBe) stars that emit anomalous and hard X-rays with a unique array of properties. $\gamma$ Cas is known to host, like other cBe stars, a decretion disk and also a low mass companion. Recently Postnov et al. have posited that this companion is a magnetized rapidly spinning neutron star that deflects direct gravitational accretion from a stellar/disk wind via the "propeller mechanism." These authors state that the key X-ray observations are "remarkably well produced" in this scenario. We reexamine this mechanism in detail and conclude that there are a number of fatal objections in its application to the $\gamma$ Cas case. Among other considerations these issues include the prediction under the propeller scenario of a much smaller population of $\gamma$ Cas stars than is observed and the lack of allowance for observed correlations of X-ray and UV and/or optical properties over a variety of timescales.Comment: 9 page

ApuA, a multifunctional x-glucan-degrading enzyme of Streptococcus suis, mediates adhesion to porcine epithelium and mucus

We have identified apuA in Streptococcus suis, which encodes a bifunctional amylopullulanase with conserved -amylase and pullulanase substrate-binding domains and catalytic motifs. ApuA exhibited properties typical of a Gram-positive surface protein, with a putative signal sequence and LPKTGE cell-wall-anchoring motif. A recombinant protein containing the predicted N-terminal -amylase domain of ApuA was shown to have -(1,4) glycosidic activity. Additionally, an apuA mutant of S. suis lacked the pullulanase -(1,6) glycosidic activity detected in a cell-surface protein extract of wild-type S. suis. ApuA was required for normal growth in complex medium containing pullulan as the major carbon source, suggesting that this enzyme plays a role in nutrient acquisition in vivo via the degradation of glycogen and food-derived starch in the nasopharyngeal and oral cavities. ApuA was shown to promote adhesion to porcine epithelium and mucus in vitro, highlighting a link between carbohydrate utilization and the ability of S. suis to colonize and infect the host