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AbstractThis pilot study aimed to examine the feasibility and effectiveness of a 6-months multi-component exercise program combined with twice daily consumption of either rice (RicePro) or whey-based (WheyPro) protein supplements (2 × 20 g of protein) on gait speed, grip strength and physical performance in community-dwelling pre-frail and frail older adults. Secondary outcomes included: frailty score, muscle mass, quality of life, nutritional intake, cognitive performance, depression and physical activity levels. A total of 70 participants (mean age 73.34 ± 6.85 years) were randomly allocated to either RicePro (n = 36) or WheyPro (n = 34). No adverse events were reported in regards to the exercise, however, several gastrointestinal symptoms were noted with the whey protein causing two-fold more symptoms compared to the rice protein. No differences were found between the groups (p > 0.05), except the total consumed energy (kJ) (p = 0.014) and fat (g) (p = 0.012) which was significantly lower in WheyPro. The results indicate that the quality of protein may not be as important as long as a sufficient amount is consumed.

MOTIVATION IN THE CRIME NOVEL has suffered a sea change in recent decades, with the decline of respectability. George Eliot declared that respectability was 'the only religion possible to the [...]

ONE THING THAT IS ALWAYS TRUE ABOUT MY PLOTS is that they come like Yeats' peace on the Lake Isle of Innisfree, 'dropping slow.' I have never been able to [...]

My old LP of Joan Sutherland's first recording of the Mad Scene from 'Lucia' ought to remind me of her first night in that role (I am one of a [...]

If you are thinking of coming to Leeds as a tourist, you should realize that you'll be on your own. In banks, you will not find a cluster of fellow [...]

As noted in last winter's Masthead, NCEW's 1995 president Tommy Denton appointed a committee to screen and showcase examples of excellence in opinion-writing. A few submissions dribbled in, and some [...]

THE SHOOTING PARTY by Anton Chekhov translated by Ronald Wilks Penguin, 7.99 £, pp. 240, ISBN 0140448985 A crime novel by Chekhov? Professor John Sutherland positively chortles in the introduction […]

Philosophical theorizing about truth manifests a desire to conform to the ordinary or folk notion of truth. This practice often involves attempts to accommodate some form of correspondence. We discuss this accommodation project in light of two empirical projects intended to describe the content of the ordinary conception of truth. One, due to Arne Naess, claims that the ordinary conception of truth is not correspondence. Our more recent study is consistent with Naess’ result. Our findings suggest that contextual factors and respondent gender affect whether the folk accept that correspondence is sufficient for truth. These findings seem to show that the project of accommodating the ordinary notion of truth is more difficult than philosophers had anticipated because it is fragmentary.

Fish passage barriers at road–stream crossings are widely recognized as salmon Oncorhynchusspp. habitat restoration priorities in Washington State and throughout the Pacific Northwest of the USA. More than 3,500 fish passage barriers (mostly culverts) have been repaired in Washington streams since 1999, costing more than US$139 million. We evaluated fish passage at 77 randomly selected culverts (new and repaired) that were issued permits during three time periods (1998, 2003, and 2007). This sample represents approximately 85% of the fish passage culverts permitted in the Puget Sound region of Washington State during the last 10 years. All study culverts were permitted for fish passage under the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's (WDFW) hydraulic project approval (HPA) permitting process and evaluated using physical criteria in the WDFW's fish passage barrier standard. Our results indicate that 30% of culverts (23 of 77) permitted under the HPA process for fish passage were, in fact, barriers. Culverts permitted as no-slope (one of the most common design types) or as an unknown design type were barriers in 45% of cases. Most culvert failures were due to noncompliance with permit provisions, particularly culvert slope, and a lack of critical evaluation of proposed plans in the context of site conditions by permitting biologists. We found no relationship between barrier status and permit date, experience of permitting biologists, quality of permit, or project sponsor type (private, public, or restoration entity). These results indicate the need for mechanisms to ensure better compliance from project sponsors and an improved process to critically evaluate the adequacy of proposed plans in the context of project site conditions.

The article discusses the norms of the net generation (N-Gen) and how companies can attract, retain, and engage these employees in an increasingly competitive environment. Freedom, one of the N-Gen norms, is best exemplified in cellular phones and search engines, which represent physical and intellectual freedom, respectively. Chief information officers can use freedom as a reward by offering flexible work schedules or sabbaticals. File sharing through Napster and other services has revolutionized the distribution of several means of communication, fostering an openness among N-Geners. Therefore, it is important for these workers to understand and feel understood by the people who employ them.

The recent landmark report by the National Academy of Sciences reviewed the science on which the Kyoto Protocol was based. NAS concluded that the policy choices and the mandatory reductions in greenhouse gases by the developed nations were based on incomplete science with significant uncertainties. In view of these uncertainties the NAS report developed a comprehensive strategic 10-year research program to address the basic issue of whether human activity that results in environmental changes is responsible for climate changes. The report provides a new framework for consideration of global warming issues. The UN International Panel on Climate Change (the UN science advisor) in its 1997 report to the Kyoto parties pointed out the confusing difference between scientific usage of the term “climate change” that distinguishes human from natural causes of change and the official usage that combines natural and human causes of changes in climate. The conclusion of the UN panel on human causes is equivocal. The 1999 report of the U.S. Global Science Research Committee also reached an equivocal conclusion on human causes and announced a 10-year research program to be developed in consultation with NAS. The precautionary measures provided in the 1992 UN Framework Convention differ from the ill-defined “precautionary principle” based on fear of uncertainty, and are consistent with the objectives of the NAS proposed research program. These developments together with the third report of the UN Intergovernmental Science Panel on developments in climate science due in 2001 merit consideration by the convention of the parties under the Kyoto Protocol.

Focuses on Trodenheim, Norway. Background information; Sights to see including museums and art galleries; Norwegian's lack of clothing fashion; Christianity in Norway; Architecture. INSET: Getting to Know Trondheim.

LEAD: To trave, as we did, from Venice direct to Florence is to experience the Time Machine at its most devastating. Venice, still recognizably the city of Canaletto and Guardi, [...]

LEAD: MOST NATIONS AND REGIONS HAVE BIG public rites that serve to define their identities: the Sienese have the Palio, the Venetians have the Regatta, the French have Bastille Day [...]

Features the town of Harrogate in Yorkshire, England as a travel destination. Influence of Victorianism on the town's architecture; Tourist attractions; Accommodations at the Royal Baths Assembly Rooms. INSETS: Harrogate hospitality (hotels in Harrogate).;Waters and gardens (tourists spots in Harrogate)..

I consider the importance of scientific risk assessment as optimal basis for socially sound risk management decisions. The health professional has both risk assessment and risk management responsibilities; the functions are conceptually separate and governed by separate criteria: scientific for risk assessment and social for risk management. The history of the development of regulating risk assessment methodology with particular reference to potential carcinogens is discussed. The scientific basis for possible improvements in risk assessment methodology for potential carcinogens is identified and the significance of the potential improvements is considered with special reference to the health professional.

The quantitative feedback theory (QFT) developed by I. M. Horowitz is of recent widespread interest. An extension of traditional feedback principles, QFT provides design methods in the frequency domain yielding prescribed hard constraints on the amplitudes of tracking errors in the time domain. These methods prove significantly more effective than those of the more modern LQ, H2, and H∞ theories. Inherent in QFT, however, are several adverse features, in particular, a frequency and time relationship that is partially heuristic, a design process that is highly graphic, and a treatment of SISO, MIMO, linear, and non-linear systems that is somewhat case-dependent. An alternative QFT circumventing these features is the focus of this paper. An alternative deriving from a general formulation in the time domain alone, providing a unified set of amplitude- and computer-oriented design criteria, and yielding prescribed, fully analytic constraints on tracking errors is considered. Specifically, we formulate system stability, design criteria, and tracking constraints in terms of fixed-point conditions in a combined time-domain and L∞ setting. These conditions are established by the techniques of homotopic invariance and tailored to the tracking dynamics of feedback systems.

Summary: From a crude streptomyces griseus “animal protein factor” feed supplement in which a corticotropin had been found, an acid eluate of charcoal adsorbate was prepared. In 2 milligram oral daily doses this eluate not only reversed the myeloplastic and cholinergic effects of aminopterin poisoning in weanling rats, but evoked accelerated growth and hemopoiesis in the face of aminopterin administration. It is concluded that the original fermentation broth contained an erythropoietin and a somatotropin in addition to the corticotropin. Since intestinal commensal organisms including those classified among the enterobacteriacae have been shown to be a source of corticotropin, it is postulated that microbial sources, including the intestinal flora can engender somatotropic and erythropoietic factors similar to those, or precursors to those produced by the adenohypophysis. It is further postulated that pituitary erythropoietin precursor arises from the intestinal flora, is a transient constituent of intestinal mucosa and liver and reaches the anterior pituitary where it is modified to its final elaborate; erythropoietic hormone, EPH.

Traditional quantitative risk assessment based on conservative generic assumptions led to an upper-bound risk value with minimum or no consideration of costs and benefits. There is a growing consensus for a new approach to risk assessment based on a combination of scientific risk assessment and economic cost–benefit analysis. Scientific evaluation would be improved to support the economic cost–benefit analysis. The objective is to demonstrate whether the benefits justify the costs. The move in the new direction is shown by Executive Order 12866 and the Office of Management and Budget implementing document, the proposed regulatory reform legislation in Congress, the draft report of the Risk Assessment and Risk Management Commission, and the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996 that enacted the new approach combining scientific and economic assessment of risk. This Commentary discusses these developments with particular reference to contemplated changes in scientific risk assessment to support a parallel economic risk–benefit analysis.

Women, knowledge, and realityTruth: a primer by Frederick SchmittConsidered judgment by Catherine Z. ElginEngenderings: constructions of knowledge, authority and privilege by Naomi Scheman

The 1993 Executive Order 12866 as implemented by the 1996 OMB document proposes a new paradigm for the evaluation of risks, benefits, and costs. The new regulatory plan would replace the current methodology in two ways. In place of the current methodology for risk assessment based on conservative generic default assumptions that provide an upper-bound risk value that is treated as the “benefit,” the new regulatory plan establishes a state of the art guidance for the economic evaluation of risks, benefits, and costs. Second, the new plan requires changes in risk assessment to provide the necessary foundation for the new economic evaluation of risks, benefits, and costs. The advantages and disadvantages of the new regulatory plan are discussed.

Barnard et al.(1954) using in vitromethods demonstrated the potent anti-hyaluronidase property of the water soluble chlorophyllins (cupridihydroporphyrins). Although the in vivoutilization of chlorophyll as a potentiating agent for gonadotrophin has been described (Breneman, 1939; Leatham & Westphal, 1940), the results were equivocal inasmuch as one group could not fully confirm the data presented by the other. This discrepancy was probably due to the ill-defined properties of the chlorophyll preparations available and to the inability to reproduce such preparations.Previous studies have described the effectiveness of antihyaluronidase anti-proteolytic agents in potentiating the effect of corticotrophin upon adrenal ascorbic acid, adrenal weights and thymus weights (Cohen et al., 1953, 1954; Hamburger, 1952). It was therefore decided to evaluate the now more homogeneous chlorophyllin preparations as agents for potentiating the effectiveness of exogenous corticotrophin.

The potentiometric method was applied to the study of the influence of cyanide and of hydroxyl ion on methemoglobin. Both of these ions appear to combine with the iron of the methemoglobin molecule and reduce its oxidant activity. From the magnitude of the effect produced by cyanide and by variation in pH on the oxidation-reduction potential of the methemoglobin-hemoglobin system, it is concluded that cyanmethemoglobin and alkaline methemoglobin are undissociated ferric compounds, the first with cyanide and the second with hydroxyl. Electronic formulas, based on the electrical properties of the hemoglobin derivatives, are suggested.

Waddell1first reported the pilocarpine mydriasis in the rat and attributed it to peripheral parasympathetic depression. Koppanyi and Sun2ascribed the paradoxical response to a ganglion paralysant action. Barnard, Tyllas and Mizock3could not relate the anomalous pilocarpine response to corneal anesthesia but they noticed and failed to report that acetylcholine gave the same response. Both pilocarpine and acetylcholine would provoke the secretion of “bloody tears” in a certain number of rats, particularly younger ones. Cytologic examination of the tears failed to show erythrocytes and sections of the harderian gland excised at the height of the response showed neither the expected hyperemia nor rhexis. Repeated pilocarpine administrations over a period of weeks appeared to exhaust the mechanism and this was attributed to a traumatic fibrosis but here again histologic examination of the gland failed to bear out the assumption.The discovery of the fluorescence of this structure4and of the porphyrin nature of the staining material on the snouts of rats with vitamin B complex component deficiencies5and that the harderian gland was a porphyrin excreting organ6and the source of the staining material7redirected attention to the phenomenon of reddish tears during cholinergesis in the rat particulary since Hodge and Goldstein8reported as “bloody tears”the secretion observed after toxic doses of choline. A reexamination of the lacrymal secretion of rats poisoned by choline, by acetylcholine, by pilocarpione, and by cyanamide, revealed no other pigment than neutral amorphous protoporphrin.During the course of the study with the last named drug, the nature of the paradoxical mydriasis was elicited. In doses of from 200 to 400 mg per kilo, cyanamide evokes a para-sympatheticomimetic response in the rat, much more protracted in its course than that of pilocarpine, the animal surviving for several hours in coma.

Summary: Ingestion of 2 mg. per kilo per day of water-soluble cupri-chlorophyllins (Chloresium) protected weanling rats on a milk diet from aminopterin toxicity in each of seven experimental series. Similar protection was observed in one series of rats on a standard laboratory diet and in one series on laboratory diet supplemented with fresh greens. In a single screening series, some protection of aminopterin-poisoned rats on a milk diet was forthcoming from administration of terramycin at 2 mg. per kilo per day, from Renshaw’s mammalian intestinal mucosa extract and from the parenteral administration of human plasma cholinesterase. Coprogen did not prolong survival under present experimental conditions. Availability of iron for hemoglobin synthesis from ferri-dihydroporphyrin (ferri-chlorophyllin) where the iron is chelated, in aminopterin-poisoned weanling rats on a milk diet, was not demonstrated. The mechanism of chlorophyllin abrogation of aminopterin toxicity is analyzed. It is concluded that this does not result from chemical inactivation of aminopterin in vitro or in vivo. It may act as a formyl donor. However, chlorophyllin may also act by reversion of the fecal flora of ingesting animals in the same way as do other APF substances (mycin antibiotics, 11-oxysteroids and unidentified factors found in streptomyces fermentation residues). The findings are presented because of the serious toxicity limitations of folic-acids in neoplastic disease. While their clinical use is probably on the wane, as long as they are so used, any knowledge of their counteraction is of clinical interest.

The preparation of a porcine parotid mucoprotein fraction which selectively agglutinates human Rh positive erythrocytes, is described. Solutions of the extract parallel the effect of antiserums of human sources.

The fact that the pneumococcus, when grown on media containing blood pigment, produces a greenish disintegration product of hemoglobin, has long been utilized as one of the means of identifying this organism. Jensen1states, “Pneumococci and certain streptococci produce a green pigment when grown in blood agar, and this pigment is termed methemoglobin in all text books on bacteriology. Unfortunately the literature of blood pigments is in a state far from clarified. Many European investigators do not attempt to name the particular form of blood pigment, but refer to it simply as 'a green discoloration'.”Since the work of Conant2and Conant and Feiser3methemoglobin has been characterized as oxidized or monodelectronated reduced hemoglobin. It differs from hemoglobin only in having its iron in ferric form. Its color is definitely brownish without any element of green, and in that manner differs from the color of green hemolysis. Because of this discrepancy, an investigation was undertaken to determine the exact status of the green pigment.Experimental. The green portions produced in pneumococcus cultures on blood agar were excised and tested for methemoglobin spectroscopically, by ammonium hydroxide, and by sodium cyanide. The differences in the effect produced by the green pigment and by methemoglobin are tabulated:It appears therefore that the green pigment differs radically from methemoglobin. Although Neill and Hastings4studied the formation of methemoglobin from hemoglobin by the action of soluble extracts of pneumococcus, this does not seem to be a feature of their growth in culture.

In discussing the reactions of nitrite with blood pigment, Gamgee1claimed priority on the discovery of the class of ferrihemoglobin derivatives typified by the cyanmethemoglobin of Kobert.2Smith and Wolf3discovered the azide and Haurewitz,4the fluoride derivatives.On the basis of its potentiometric behavior, Barnard5characterized alkaline ferrihemoglobin as the hydroxide of this class and predicted the ability of ferrihemoglobin to form polar valent compounds with many anions. Keilin6described the hydrosulfide of ferrihemoglobin and in 1937, Barnard7designated the class of derivatives as “hemo-ferrides” to emphasize their binary nature, i.e., they were salts of hydro-acids, exclusively. On the basis of the demonstration of the nitrile oxide structure of fulminic acid and the fulminates by Pauling and Hendricks,8Barnard and Neitzel9prepared a fulminate-ferrihemoglobin compound. Hydrogen selenide derivatives of ferrihemoglobin and ferriheme were also prepared.10Combinations between thiocyanate and ferrihemoglobin and between cyanate and ferrihemoglobin were shown to exist by Jung11and Hecht12respectively. Thiocyanic and cyanic acids are now known to be hydroacids.13A cyanamide derivative of ferriheme14and ferrihemoglobin15have also been prepared. In the description of the cyanamide compounds, the terms ferride-heme (in place of hemoferride), ferridehemo-chromogen and ferridehemoglobin were introduced in order to adapt to these substances, the system of nomenclature proposed by Pauling and Coryell16for the blood pigment derivatives.It is assumed that the ferridehemoglobin engendering combination between ferrihemoglobin and hydro-acid anions is conditioned by the comparatively small ionic diameter of the latter. Of the relatively limited class of acids which are not oxy-acids, the majority do combine with ferrihemoglobin. Potentiality for this type of combination seems to be restricted to the smaller members of the class; the halides with the exception of the smallest, fluoride, do not so combine.

Keilin1reported the formation of a compound between hydrogen sulfide and ferrihemoglobin which appears to come into the category of a class of ferrihemoglobin compounds, the existence of which was predicted by Gamgee2and termed “hemoferrides” by Barnard.3Because of the close chemical, physical and toxicologic similarities of hydrogen sulfide to hydrogen selenide, we have studied the effects of the latter on various hemoglobin derivatives. The analogy between the two gases appears to extend to their behavior toward hemoglobin solutions, thus, treatment of ferrihemoglobin solutions with hydrogen selenide results in the formation of a compound which is spectroscopically similar to hydrogen sulfide ferrihemoglobin whereas the ferrihemochromogens are reduced by hydrogen selenide to the corresponding ferrohemochromogens.Experimental. I. Preparation of Solutions.1. Ferrihemoglobin.Fresh erythrocyte suspensions (rat, dog, and human) of known oxygen capacity were hemolyzed with ether-saturated water and diluted to a concentration of 0.1 millimolar in terms of iron molarity. An equivalent of potassium ferricyanide was added and the solution kept at room temperature for an hour before use. Complete oxidation to ferrihemoglobin was confirmed by spectroscopic examination.2. Ferrrihemochromogens.63 mg of crystalline ferriheme chloride was dissolved in each of the following solvents: (a) 5% aqueous pyridine to form pyridine ferrihemochromogen hydroxide.(b) 26% ammonia water to form ammonia, ferrihemochromogen hydroxide. (c) 2% sodium cyanide to form cyano-ferrihemochromogen cyanide.3. Ferrihemes.63 mg of crystalline ferriheme chloride was dissolved in (a) 1% sodium carbonate to give sodium ferriheme hydroxideand (b) 3% triethanolamine to form treithanolamine ferriheme hydroxidesolution. All ferrihemochromogen and ferriheme solutions were 0.2 millimolar, a concentration that is well suited for spectroscopic work.

Several letters to the editor are presented including rural counselor, passion for counseling, and links between intuition and counseling.

Barnard and Gowen1reported that the addition of hydrogen peroxide to methemoglobin solutions resulted in the formation of oxyhemoglobin. This change was considered to be in harmony with that deduced from the relative redox potentials of the hydrogen peroxide-oxygen system and the methemoglobin-oxyhemoglobin system.Keilin and Hartree2subsequently showed that the addition of hydrogen peroxide to methemoglobin solutions led to the formation of a substance which they characterize as a methemoglobin peroxide compound.Because of the discrepancy between the results of Barnard and Gowen and those of Keilin and Hartree the question was reinvesti-gated. It was found that the observations of the latter investigators could be confirmed when the methemoglobin used was prepared by the oxidation of hemoglobin with ferricyanide. However when methemoglobin is prepared by the oxidation of hemoglobin with quinhydrone the addition to it of hydrogen peroxide results in the formation of oxyhemoglobin. That this latter compound was actually oxyhemoglobin and not a substance with similar absorption bands was demonstrated by treatment with carbon monoxide when CO-hemoglobin resulted.In a typical experiment, a sample of a 0.5 millimolar oxyhemoglobin solution (molarity in this case refers to iron molarity) is divided into two portions. Each of these portions is placed in the chamber of a double spectrophotometer vessel at the collimator of a Hillger spectrophotometer. The telescope slit of the spectrophotometer is opened to its maximum extent. The photometer is adjusted so that these two solutions cast spectra of corresponding intensities, one above the other—the absorption bands are of course identical since they emanate from identical solutions.To the contents of the upper chamber, a small quantity of powdered quinhydrone is added, sufficient to change the upper spectrum to that of methemoglobin (about 3 milligrams suffices for the usual contents of one chamber).

To the Editor:—Following the report of the use of urethane in a patient with anaplastic carcinoma by Drs. M. J. Goodman and H. P. Lewis (J. A. M. A., Correspondence, 132:1105 [Dec. 28] 1946) a justifiable opportunity for therapeutic trial of this material presented itself in a similar case. A man aged 34, who had served without medical incident throughout the North African, Sicilian and Italian campaigns and whose past history was otherwise noncontributory, was hospitalized for progressive anorexia with loss of weight and unremitting fever. A rectosigmoid peritoneal shelf was palpated, and examination after a barium enema revealed an apparently extrinsic constricting mass in this area. Because of the clinical diagnosis of carcinoma originating in the ailmentary tract with extensive peritoneal metastasis, a laparotomy was foregone. However, biopsy of a "nova" right supraclavicular gland showed infiltration by a distinctly anaplastic epithelium, which the pathologist could not reconcile