Recovered memories, satanic abuse, Dissociative Identity Disorder and false memories in the UK: a survey of Clinical Psychologists and Hypnotherapists

An online survey was conducted to examine psychological therapists’ experiences of, and beliefs about, cases of recovered memory, satanic / ritualistic abuse, Multiple Personality Disorder / Dissociative Identity Disorder, and false memory. Chartered Clinical Psychologists (n=183) and Hypnotherapists (n=119) responded. In terms of their experiences, Chartered Clinical Psychologists reported seeing more cases of satanic / ritualistic abuse compared to Hypnotherapists who, in turn, reported encountering more cases of childhood sexual abuse recovered for the first time in therapy, and more cases of suspected false memory. Chartered Clinical Psychologists were more likely to rate the essential accuracy of reports of satanic / ritualistic abuse as higher than Hypnotherapists. Belief in the accuracy of satanic / ritualistic abuse and Multiple Personality Disorder / Dissociative Identity Disorder reports correlated negatively with the belief that false memories were possible

Limonoids from the Fijian medicinal plant “Dabi” (Xylocarpus sp.)

Two new limonoids, xyloccensin I (1) and xyloccensin J (2), have been isolated from the Fijian medicinal plants Xylocarpus granatum and X. moluccensis. The structures of these were proposed after extensive 2D NMR analyses. All proton and carbon resonances of 1 and 2 have been assigned. Corrections are reported for the NMR data of important known compounds related to 1 and 2 which include xyloccensin F (3) and swietenine (4). Unfortunately, compounds 1 and 2 failed to show positive bioactivity in a variety of primary screens

Erros na classificação de touros, vacas e touros jovens geneticamente superiores avaliados na presença de heterogeneidade Errors in ranking of bulls, cows and young bulls evaluated in the presence of heterogeneity

Foram simuladas quatro estruturas de dados com diferentes padrões de heterogeneidade entre rebanhos e com diferentes graus de conexidade genética. As estruturas simuladas diferiam quanto aos parâmetros heterogêneos entre rebanhos: 1) heterogeneidade para todos os parâmetros; 2) médias genéticas homogêneas e demais parâmetros heterogêneos; 3) heterogeneidade para parâmetros fenotípicos; e 4) rebanhos sem heterogeneidade. Após a predição dos valores genéticos, calculou-se a porcentagem de animais comuns entre dois grupos de classificação para os animais geneticamente superiores: grupo 1 - classificação com base nos valores genéticos verdadeiros e grupo 2 - classificação com base nos valores genéticos preditos. Para dados com heterogeneidade para todos os parâmetros e 0% de conexidade genética, a porcentagem de touros comuns aos dois grupos de classificação foi baixa e houve grandes erros na classificação dos touros geneticamente superiores. Quando os rebanhos possuíam 100% de conexidade genética, esta porcentagem foi superior a 73% e os erros na classificação dos touros foram menores. Para vacas e touros jovens, mesmo para dados com 100% de conexidade genética entre rebanhos, a predição dos valores genéticos foi muito afetada pela presença da heterogeneidade para todos os parâmetros. Para as estruturas sem heterogeneidade para média genética, as porcentagens de animais comuns entre os grupos de classificação foram altas e os erros na classificação dos animais geneticamente superiores foram pequenos, mesmo havendo heterogeneidade para outros parâmetros. Esses resultados sugerem que a heterogeneidade entre rebanhos para médias genéticas teve grande efeito sobre a acurácia da predição dos valores genéticos dos animais. Contudo, quando a heterogeneidade entre os rebanhos ocorreu para outros parâmetros como variância genética, média fenotípica e variância fenotípica, os resultados das avaliações genéticas dos animais foram próximos aos obtidos para dados sem heterogeneidade entre rebanhos.<br>Four structures of data with different degree of genetic connectness and heterogeneity of parameters among herds: 1) heterogeneity of all parameters; 2) genetic means homogeneous and other parameters heterogeneous; 3) heterogeneity of phenotypic parameters and 4) no heterogeneity for herds, were simulated. After prediction of breeding values, the percentage of top animals common to group 1 (animals ranked by the true breeding values) and group 2 (animals ranked by the predicted breeding values) was calculated. For data with heterogeneity of all parameters and 0% of genetic connectness, the percentage of bulls common to the two groups was low and large errors were observed in ranking of top bulls. For 100% of genetic connectness that percentage was larger than 73% and errors in ranking of top bulls were low. For cows and young bulls, even for data with 100% of genetic connectness among herds, the prediction of breeding values was strongly affected by the heterogeneity of all parameters. For the structures with homogeneous genetic means, the percentages of common animals between groups were high and the errors in ranking of top animals were low, even under heterogeneity of the other parameters. These results suggest that heterogeneity of genetic means among herds strongly affects the accuracy of prediction of animals breeding values. However, results from genetic evaluations in the presence of heterogeneity among herds for genetic variance, phenotypic mean and variance were similar to those obtained for data without heterogeneity for these parameters

Structure-activity and high-content imaging analyses of novel tubulysins

The synthesis and biological evaluation of three tubulysin analogs provides the first structure-activity relationship in this family of potent cytotoxic myxobacteria metabolites. Most importantly, the labile N,O-acetal at N 14 is not essential for biological activity. Further, structural simplifications are possible without abolishing biological activities. The N-terminal amino acid can be replaced with N-methylsarcosine, and the configuration at the acetoxy-bearing stereocenter at C11 is important but not critical for almost all aspects of the biological profile. Our data encourage further development of these compounds as potential therapeutic agents in cancer treatment. © 2007 The Authors

Teen-aged mothers in contemporary Britain

Abstract BACKGROUND: This paper describes the circumstances of contemporary young mothers and their children from a nationally representative sample, and compares them to the circumstances of mothers who delayed childbearing beyond age 20. METHODS: The participants are members of the Environmental Risk (E-risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, which follows an epidemiological sample of 1,116 women who became mothers in England and Wales in 1994-95, and their children, and contains an over-sample of young mothers. Home visits were conducted when the children were aged 5 years. Data were collected from mothers via interviews, from children via experimental tasks and observations, and from teachers via postal questionnaires. RESULTS: Young mothers encountered more socio-economic deprivation, had significantly less human and social capital, and experienced more mental health difficulties. Their partners were less reliable and supportive, both economically and emotionally, and were more antisocial and abusive. The children of young mothers showed reduced educational attainment, were rated by multiple informants as having more emotional and behavioural problems, were at increased risk of maltreatment or harm, and showed higher rates of illnesses, accidents, and injuries. CONCLUSIONS: Young mothers today face difficulties known to have long-lasting effects for women and their children. Preventions that target young mothers may reduce harm to the physical health, mental health, and social status of future generations