Understanding how transport choices are affected by the environment and health: views expressed in a study on the use of carbon calculators.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the influence that the provision of environmental information might be able to make on personal travel behaviour through analysis of the views of members of the public expressed in a study for the UK Department for Transport on attitudes towards carbon calculator tools. STUDY DESIGN: A three-stage qualitative survey taking an ideographic approach to analysing public attitudes to the use of carbon calculator tools in relation to making transport decisions. METHODS: Interviews and discussion groups with stakeholders, non-users and users providing extensive data that were analysed using the British Market Research Bureau's matrix mapping methodology. RESULTS: Despite considerable awareness of climate change as an issue, personal carbon emissions were not found to have much influence on personal transport choice, which could be seen as being dominated by issues of cost (both in time and money), comfort and convenience. CONCLUSIONS: The spatial and temporal dislocation of the cause and effects of climate change make it difficult to link the impacts of personal travel behaviour with specific activities. If environmental- and health-based information is to be provided as a lever to change travel behaviour, it may be necessary to provide information on issues such as local air pollution and personal health impacts in order to link wider benefits with a travel user's self-interest.

Transgenic mice with OIP-1/hSca overexpression targeted to the osteoclast lineage develop an osteopetrosis bone phenotype.

Regulatory mechanisms operative in bone-resorbing osteoclasts are complex. We previously defined the Ly-6 gene family member OIP-1/hSca as an inhibitor of osteoclastogenesis in vitro; however, a role in skeletal development is unknown. In this study, we developed transgenic mice with OIP-1/hSca expression targeted to the osteoclast lineage that develop an osteopetrotic bone phenotype. Humeri from OIP-1 mice showed a significant increase in bone mineral density and bone mineral content. microCT analysis showed increased trabecular thickness and bone volume. OIP-1 mice have dense sclerotic cortical bone with absence of spongiosa and inadequate formation of marrow spaces compared to wild-type mice. Moreover, complete inhibition of osteoclasts and marrow cavities in calvaria suggests defective bone resorption in these mice. OIP-1 mouse bone marrow cultures demonstrated a significant decrease (41%) in osteoclast progenitors and inhibition (39%) of osteoclast differentiation/bone resorption. Western blot analysis further demonstrated suppression of TRAF-2, c-Fos, p-c-Jun, and NFATc1 levels in RANKL-stimulated osteoclast precursors derived from OIP-1 mice. Therefore, OIP-1 is an important physiological inhibitor of osteoclastogenesis and may have therapeutic value against bone loss in vivo.

Transparency of three communication symbol systems.

This investigation studied the transparency or guessability of communication symbols from three widely used systems-Blissymbols, Picsyms, and Rebus. Symbol transparency was assessed across four age groups through a forced-choice identification task which contained Word, Phrase, and Sentence subtests. Significant differences were found in both Word subtest and Total test scores for the variables of symbol system and chronological age. Subjects across all age groups performed similarly in response to the Picsyms and Rebus symbol items but significantly more poorly when identifying Blissymbols. In addition, there appeared to be a developmental progression for the Picsym and Rebus symbol tests, but the same trend did not emerge for the Blissymbol test. The feature of symbol transparency, as measured through a forced-choice identification task, discriminated among symbol systems. Significantly fewer symbols from the Bliss system were found to be transparent when compared with Picsym and Rebus systems.

A communicative interaction analysis system for language-disordered children.

Nine language-disordered children were videotaped in counterbalanced dyads (pairs) during a directed play session. A communicative analysis system was used in which communicative interactions were scored for each dyad, then classified as either successful or unsuccessful. Subject dyads varied considerably in both interaction measures. More importantly, some subjects appeared to facilitate communicative interactions while others seemed to impede interactions. The percent of successful interactions correlated with three of four receptive and expressive language measures obtained, whereas number of interactions did not correlate significantly with any ot these measures. The results suggest that communicative interaction analysis is a reliable and potentially useful procedure to aid in understanding language-disordered children.