Optical coherence microscopy for the evaluation of a tissue-engineered artificial cornea

A transparent artificial cornea derived from biological material is the ultimate goal of corneal research. Attempts at artificial corneal constructs produced from synthetic polymers have proved unsuccessful due to lack of biocompatibility and ability to integrate into the tissue. We have designed a corneal model derived from collagenous biological materials that has several advantages: it has low antigenicity and therefore small chance of eliciting an immune reaction, it can be broken down by the body’s own cells and gradually replaced over time by natural materials, and it may contain signaling information for native cells, thereby inducing normal phenotype and behavior. In addition, a transparent corneal model has the potential to be used for testing of novel ophthalmic drugs or gene therapy approaches, eliminating the need for animal testing. We have used an optical coherence microscope (OCM) to evaluate both the structure of our tissue constructs over time in culture and the optical properties of the tissue itself. This imaging technique promises to be an important diagnostic tool in our efforts to understand the influence of mechanical forces, cell phenotype, and soluble factors on the transparency of corneal tissue. From the 26th Annual International Conference of the IEEE-Engineering-in-Medicine-and-Biology-Society [September 01-05, 2004, San Francisco, CA] IEEE Engn Med & Biol Soc, Whitaker Fdn, Cyberonics, NIH, NIBIB, NIDOCD, NINDS ISBN: 0-7803-8439-

Correction to: Age Patterns in Risk Taking Across the World

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Puberty Predicts Approach But Not Avoidance on the Iowa Gambling Task in a Multinational Sample

According to the dual systems model of adolescent risk taking, sensation seeking and impulse control follow different developmental trajectories across adolescence and are governed by two different brain systems. The authors tested whether different underlying processes also drive age differences in reward approach and cost avoidance. Using a modified Iowa Gambling Task in a multinational, cross‐sectional sample of 3,234 adolescents (ages 9–17; M = 12.87, SD = 2.36), pubertal maturation, but not age, predicted reward approach, mediated through higher sensation seeking. In contrast, age, but not pubertal maturation, predicted increased cost avoidance, mediated through greater impulse control. These findings add to evidence that adolescent behavior is best understood as the product of two interacting, but independently developing, brain systems

Age Patterns in Risk Taking Across the World

Epidemiological data indicate that risk behaviors are among the leading causes of adolescent morbidity and mortality worldwide. Consistent with this, laboratory-based studies of age differences in risk behavior allude to a peak in adolescence, suggesting that adolescents demonstrate a heightened propensity, or inherent inclination, to take risks. Unlike epidemiological reports, studies of risk taking propensity have been limited to Western samples, leaving questions about the extent to which heightened risk taking propensity is an inherent or culturally constructed aspect of adolescence. In the present study, age patterns in risk-taking propensity (using two laboratory tasks: the Stoplight and the BART) and real-world risk taking (using self-reports of health and antisocial risk taking) were examined in a sample of 5227 individuals (50.7% female) ages 10–30 (M = 17.05 years, SD = 5.91) from 11 Western and non-Western countries (China, Colombia, Cyprus, India, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the US). Two hypotheses were tested: (1) risk taking follows an inverted-U pattern across age groups, peaking earlier on measures of risk taking propensity than on measures of real-world risk taking, and (2) age patterns in risk taking propensity are more consistent across countries than age patterns in real-world risk taking. Overall, risk taking followed the hypothesized inverted-U pattern across age groups, with health risk taking evincing the latest peak. Age patterns in risk taking propensity were more consistent across countries than age patterns in real-world risk taking. Results suggest that although the association between age and risk taking is sensitive to measurement and culture, around the world, risk taking is generally highest among late adolescents

Capacity of Minors to Be Chargeable with Negligence and Their Standard of Care

I. Introduction II. Minors and Negligence … A. Minors’ Capacity to Be Chargeable with Negligence … B. Minor’s Standard of Care … C. Adult Activities … D. Interface with Other Tort Doctrines III. Nebraska Law … A. Standard of Care of Minors … B. Capacity of Children to Be Chargeable with Negligence … C. Sole Proximate Cause and the Adult Standard … D. Assumption of Risk and Negligence Per Se … E. The Guest Senate … F. Attractive Nuisance … G. Adult Activities IV. Conclusion and Commentar

The Impact of Defining Beneficial Use upon Nebraska Water Appropriation Law: L.B. 149, 85th Leg., 1st Sess. (1977)

Legislative Bill 149 would define the types of beneficial uses for which Nebraska stream water may be appropriated. The bill is brief, provides no scheme of preferences among the categories of beneficial uses, is mainly intended to focus legislative discussion on the uses to which remaining unappropriated Nebraska stream water should be put, specifically recognizes as beneficial uses several uses heretofore unrecognized in Nebraska statue and case law, and proposes recognition of such uses as fish and wildlife, recreation, and navigation, which at least raises the possibility of in-stream appropriation of water. The bill may be the subject of some debate. Adoption of L.B. 149 would set the stage for the next, and even more competitive, step in updating Nebraska\u27s appropriation law: Determining preferences among various beneficial uses for times when water is in short supply. I. Introduction II. The Beneficial Use Concept in Nebraska III. L.B. 149’s New Dimension IV. Diversion or In-Stream Appropriation V. Conclusio