Significant personality variables involved in noetic problems

The purpose of the study reported here is to examine further the nature of noogenic neurosis, and to attempt to determine what personality variables might be related to it and its development. This will be done by administering the PIL and a number of personality scales to samples of male college students and inpatient neurotics. From the resulting data it will be possible to teat the following hypotheses: (1) that the male college students will have a significantly higher mean PIL score than the inpatient neurotics; and (2) that significant correlat­ions will appear among the relationships between PIL scores and measures of personality variables

A Self-Assembling Lanthanide Molecular Nanoparticle for Optical Imaging

Chromophores that incorporate f-block elements have considerable potential for use in bioimaging applications because of their advantageous photophysical properties compared to organic dye, which are currently widely used. We are developing new classes of lanthanide-based self-assembling molecular nanoparticles as reporters for imaging and as multi-functional nanoprobes or nanosensors for use with biological samples. One class of these materials, which we call lanthanide "nano-drums", are homogeneous 4d-4f clusters approximately 25 to 30 angstrom in diameter. These are capable of emitting from the visible to near-infrared wavelengths. Here, we present the synthesis, crystal structure, photophysical properties and comparative cytotoxicity data for a 32 metal Eu-Cd nano-drum [Eu8Cd24L12(OAc)(48)] (1). We also explored the imaging capabilities of this nano-drum using epifluorescence, TIRF, and two-photon microscopy platforms.Welch Foundation F-816, F-1018, F1515Ministry of High Education (MOHE), Malaysia under High Impact Research (HIR) - MOHE project UM.C/625/1/HIR/MoE/CHAN/13/6 H-50001-00-A000034NIH/NIAID 1U01AI078008-3Centre for Blast Injury Study at Imperial College LondonCPRIT R1003NIH-NCI CA68682National Institutes of HealthNational Science FoundationCancer Prevention Research Institute of TexasNational Science Foundation CHE-0741973Chemistr

Diethylstilboestrol exposure does not reduce testosterone production in human fetal testis xenografts

In rodents, in utero exposure to exogenous estrogens including diethylstilboestrol (DES) results in major suppression of steroidogenesis in fetal testes. Whether similar effects occur in the human fetal testis is equivocal. Based on the results of the rodent studies, we hypothesised that exposure of human fetal testes to DES would result in a reduction in testosterone production. We show, using a xenograft approach, that testosterone production is not reduced in human fetal testis following DES exposure. Human fetal testes (15-19 weeks' gestation, n = 6) were xenografted into castrate male nude mice which were then treated for 35 days with vehicle or 100 µg/kg DES three times a week. For comparison, similar treatment was applied to pregnant rats from e13.5-e20.5 and effects on fetal testes evaluated at e21.5. Xenograft testosterone production was assessed by measuring host seminal vesicle (SV) weights as an indirect measure over the entire grafting period, and single measurement of serum testosterone at termination. Human fetal testis xenografts showed similar survival in DES and vehicle-exposed hosts. SV weight (44.3 v 26.6 mg, p = 0.01) was significantly increased in DES compared to vehicle-exposed hosts, respectively, indicating an overall increase in xenograft testosterone production over the grafting period, whilst serum testosterone at termination was unchanged. In contrast intra-testicular testosterone levels were reduced by 89%, in fetal rats exposed to DES. In rats, DES effects are mediated via Estrogen Receptor α (ESR1). We determined ESR1 protein and mRNA expression in human and rat fetal testis. ESR1 was expressed in rat, but not in human, fetal Leydig cells. We conclude that human fetal testis exposure to DES does not impair testosterone production as it does in rats, probably because ESR1 is not expressed in human fetal Leydig cells. This indicates that DES exposure is likely to pose minimal risk to masculinization of the human fetus

Touch-induced face conditioning is mediated by genetic variation in opioid but not oxytocin receptors

Soft touch possesses strong prosocial effects that facilitate social bonding and group cohesion in animals. Touch activates opioids (OP) and oxytocin (OXT), two neuromodulators involved in affiliative behaviors and social bonding. We examined whether touch serves as an unconditioned reward in affective conditioning of human faces, a basic process in social bonding, and whether this process is mediated by variation in mu-OP (OPRM1) and OXT (rs53576) receptor genes. Participants viewed affectively-neutral human faces, half of which were paired with a brief soft brushing on the forearm as an unconditioned stimulus (US). Paired and unpaired faces were rated for positive affective and sensory features of touch. Variation in OPRM1 but not rs53576 significantly modulated strength and development of conditioning, indicating that touch-induced mu-OP but not OXT activity provides rewarding properties of a US in conditioning. Implications for touch-induced mu-OP activity in normal and disordered conditioned social bonding are discussed.Publisher's Versio

The criminal profiling illusion:what's behind the smoke and mirrors?

There is a belief that criminal profilers can predict a criminal's characteristics from crime scene evidence. In this article, the authors argue that this belief may be an illusion and explain how people may have been misled into believing that criminal profiling (CP) works despite no sound theoretical grounding and no strong empirical support for this possibility. Potentially responsible for this illusory belief is the information that people acquire about CP, which is heavily influenced by anecdotes, repetition of the message that profiling works, the expert profiler label, and a disproportionate emphasis on correct predictions. Also potentially responsible are aspects of information processing such as reasoning errors, creating meaning out of ambiguous information, imitating good ideas, and inferring fact from fiction. The authors conclude that CP should not be used as an investigative tool because it lacks scientific support