The effects of color reversal on the maze performance of learning disabled and normal children

Recent studies examining the performance of braininjured children (specifically, cerebral palsied children) reported improvement of perceptual-motor abilities on graphic tests with figure-ground reversals (Uhlin & Dickinson, 1970; May, 1978). A pilot study was done to ascertain whether this facilitative effect of color manipulation would be demonstrated with hyperactive children also classified as perceptually impaired. A significant difference in performance was found between the white background/black figure manipulation and the black background/white figure manipulation by age (5-10 year olds). Normal children did not demonstrate this facilitative effect. It was postulated that this effect would generalize to learning disabled children. In the present study, twenty-four children between the ages of 9 and 12 years served as subjects. Twelve children made up the control group of normals and twelve children, diagnosed as learning disabled, comprised the experimental group. A three factor Latin square design was utilized. WISC-R mazes were used to measure performance. It was hypothesized that learning disabled children would perform better when presented with a task on the black background and that there would be no difference in the performance of normal children on either background. Homogeneity of variance was not satisfied so subsequent results were viewed with caution. Two findings of significance were noted as hypothesized, normal Color Reversal 2 and learning disabled children did not exhibit performance differences on the black background. In addition, a significant difference between performance on the black background versus white background was found for both groups when the black background was presented on the second trial

Integrated Proteomic and Metabolomic Analysis of an Artificial Microbial Community for Two-Step Production of Vitamin C

An artificial microbial community consisted of Ketogulonicigenium vulgare and Bacillus megaterium has been used in industry to produce 2-keto-gulonic acid (2-KGA), the precursor of vitamin C. During the mix culture fermentation process, sporulation and cell lysis of B. megaterium can be observed. In order to investigate how these phenomena correlate with 2-KGA production, and to explore how two species interact with each other during the fermentation process, an integrated time-series proteomic and metabolomic analysis was applied to the system. The study quantitatively identified approximate 100 metabolites and 258 proteins. Principal Component Analysis of all the metabolites identified showed that glutamic acid, 5-oxo-proline, L-sorbose, 2-KGA, 2, 6-dipicolinic acid and tyrosine were potential biomarkers to distinguish the different time-series samples. Interestingly, most of these metabolites were closely correlated with the sporulation process of B. megaterium. Together with several sporulation-relevant proteins identified, the results pointed to the possibility that Bacillus sporulation process might be important part of the microbial interaction. After sporulation, cell lysis of B. megaterium was observed in the co-culture system. The proteomic results showed that proteins combating against intracellular reactive oxygen stress (ROS), and proteins involved in pentose phosphate pathway, L-sorbose pathway, tricarboxylic acid cycle and amino acids metabolism were up-regulated when the cell lysis of B. megaterium occurred. The cell lysis might supply purine substrates needed for K. vulgare growth. These discoveries showed B. megaterium provided key elements necessary for K. vulgare to grow better and produce more 2-KGA. The study represents the first attempt to decipher 2-KGA-producing microbial communities using quantitative systems biology analysis

OPTICAL DENSITY OF THE ENDOSPORE OF BACILLUS CEREUS AND ITS RELATION TO GERMINATION AND RESISTANCE

In recent years the bacterial endospore has be-come a popular object for investigation, and much has been learned about its structure, its chemical composition, the cytological processes and physiological factors involved in its forma-tion and germination, and its resistance to various physical and chemical agents. Unfortunately, fundamental investigations on physiology, com-position, and resistance have been handicapped by inadequate information on the state of the spores investigated. Are they all similar? If not, is their dissimilarity inherent or acquired because of environmental influences? Finally, if acquired, what is the nature of the variation, and under what conditions may the spores be kept withou