CREDIBILITY, PEER REVIEW, AND NATURE, 1945-1990.

This paper examines the refereeing procedures at the scientific weekly Nature during and after World War II. In 1939 former editorial assistants L. J. F. Brimble and A. J. V. Gale assumed a joint editorship of Nature. The Brimble-Gale era is now most famous for the editors' unsystematic approach to external refereeing. Although Brimble and Gale did sometimes consult external referees, papers submitted or recommended by scientists whom the pair trusted were often not sent out for further review. Their successor, John Maddox, would also print papers he admired without external refereeing. It was not until 1973 that editor David Davies made external peer review a requirement for publication in Nature. Nature's example shows that as late as the 1960s a journal could be considered scientifically respectable even if its editors were known to eschew systematic external peer review.

Fungal-Mediated Biotransformation of the Plant Growth Regulator Forchlorfenuron by Cunninghamella elegans.

The synthetic cytokinin forchlorfenuron (FCF), while seemingly presenting relatively low toxicity for mammalian organisms, has been the subject of renewed scrutiny in the past few years due to its increasing use in fruit crops and potential for bioaccumulation. Despite many toxicological properties of FCF being known, little research has been conducted on the toxicological effects of its secondary metabolites. Given this critical gap in the existing literature, understanding the formation of relevant FCF secondary metabolites and their association with mammalian metabolism is essential. To investigate the formation of FCF metabolites in sufficient quantities for toxicological studies, a panel of four fungi were screened for their ability to catalyze the biotransformation of FCF. Of the organisms screened, Cunninghamella elegans (ATCC 9245), a filamentous fungus, was found to convert FCF to 4-hydroxyphenyl-forchlorfenuron, the major FCF secondary metabolite identified in mammals, after 26 days. Following the optimization of biotransformation conditions using a solid support system, media screening, and inoculation with a solid pre-formed fungal mass of C. elegans, this conversion time was significantly reduced to 7 days-representing a 73% reduction in total reaction time as deduced from the biotransformation products and confirmed by LC-MS, NMR spectroscopic data, as well as a comparison with synthetically prepared metabolites. Our study provides the first report of the metabolism of FCF by C. elegans. These findings suggest that C. elegans can produce FCF secondary metabolites consistent with those produced via mammalian metabolism and could be used as a more efficient, cost-effective, and ethical alternative for producing those metabolites in useful quantities for toxicological studies.

'Where are your intelligent mothers to come from?': marriage and family in the scientific career of Dame Kathleen Lonsdale FRS (1903-71).

Although she was one of the most successful female scientists in twentieth-century Britain, the X-ray crystallographer Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale (1903-71) has received relatively little attention from historians of science. This paper, based on material from the recently opened Dame Kathleen Lonsdale Papers, argues that Lonsdale's scientific career was shaped in particular ways by her identity not just as a woman, but as a married woman and a mother. When interacting with her scientific colleagues, Lonsdale frequently had to confront the assumption that married women should not pursue scientific careers, an attitude shaped by British concerns about reasserting traditional gender roles after the World Wars I and II. Furthermore, although Lonsdale's husband, Thomas, was an ardent supporter of her career, in the early 1930s Lonsdale left research temporarily to care for her small children. Her desire to work from home during this period led her to pursue one of her most significant scientific projects: the creation of crystallographic reference tables. Lonsdale's own experiences, and those of her female students, led her to focus on issues of marriage and family when she began speaking and writing about women in science during the late 1960s.

A perspective from the history of scientific journals.

In their articles for this special issue on digital humanities, Jeremy Burman (2018) and Ivan Flis and Nees Jan van Eck (Flis & van Eck, 2018) examine how psychology journals can be used as sources for large-scale data sets that might illuminate the development of psychology as a research discipline. In my commentary, I seek to situate these two articles in a broader history of scientific publishing and offer further thoughts on the possibilities and pitfalls of data-based methods for the history of scientific publishing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Alpha-helix formation in melittin and beta-lactoglobulin A induced by fluorinated dialcohols.

Extensive study of the effect of fluorinated alcohols on protein conformations, notably the induction of alpha-helix formation, is important because of its wide range of applications. Circular dichroism (CD) was used to show that the enhancement of helix induction in beta-lactoglobulin A and melittin by the fluorinated diols 2,2,3,3-tetrafluoro-1,4-butanediol (TFBD), 2,2,3,3,4,4-hexafluoro-1,6-pentanediol (HFPD), and 2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5-octafluoro-1,6-hexanediol (OFHD) increases in the order TFBD < HFPD < OFHD. For fluorinated diols and monoalcohols the effectiveness of helix induction was found to increase exponentially with increasing number of fluorine atoms per alcohol molecule, and OFHD was found to be more effective than any previously reported fluorinated alcohol. Formation of standard micelles was ruled out as the cause of the enhanced helix induction by the fluorinated diols. The negligible red-edge excitation shift in the fluorescence of melittin indicated that the fluorinated diol/water solvent shell surrounding the tryptophan chromophore is less immobilized than are molecules in a lamellar vesicle.

'Keeping in the race': physics, publication speed and national publishing strategies in Nature, 1895-1939.

By the onset of the Second World War, the British scientific periodical Nature--specifically, Nature's 'Letters to the editor' column--had become a major publication venue for scientists who wished to publish short communications about their latest experimental findings. This paper argues that the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Ernest Rutherford was instrumental in establishing this use of the 'Letters to the editor' column in the early twentieth century. Rutherford's contributions set Nature apart from its fellow scientific weeklies in Britain and helped construct a defining feature of Nature's influence in the twentieth century. Rutherford's participation in the journal influenced his students and colleagues in the field of radioactivity physics and drew physicists like the German Otto Hahn and the American Bertram Borden Boltwood to submit their work to Nature as well, and Nature came to play a major role in spreading news of the latest research in the science of radioactivity. Rutherford and his colleagues established a pattern of submissions to the 'Letters to the editor' that would eventually be adopted by scientists from diverse fields and from laboratories around the world.

Adolescent and parent experiences with a primary care/Internet-based depression prevention intervention (CATCH-IT).

This article describes a mixed-methods approach to understand the experience of adolescents involved in the Internet-based intervention for depression, Competent Adulthood Transition with Cognitive Behavioral Humanistic and Interpersonal Training (CATCH-IT), as well as the experiences of their parents while they were involved. Qualitative analysis was done with grounded theory-based categorization of interview comments and typed program responses (adolescents only) into themes. Quantitative analysis was done with self-report surveys. The article describes the nine themes reflecting the adolescent experience and the three themes reflecting the parent experience. The article also describes the results of the quantitative surveys of helpfulness and attitudes change, which were favorable of the Internet-based intervention. Separate models explaining the psychological transformation of the adolescents and the experience of the parents are proposed. The positive experience of the adolescents and parents involved in CATCH-IT is discussed in the context of growing interest in how best to utilize Internet-based interventions for mental illness, and suggestions are made for future investigation.

Randomized clinical trial of an Internet-based depression prevention program for adolescents (Project CATCH-IT) in primary care: 12-week outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: The authors sought to evaluate 2 approaches with varying time and complexity in engaging adolescents with an Internet-based preventive intervention for depression in primary care. The authors conducted a randomized controlled trial comparing primary care physician motivational interview (MI, 5-10 minutes) + Internet program versus brief advice (BA, 1-2 minutes) + Internet program. SETTING: Adolescent primary care patients in the United States, aged 14 to 21 years. PARTICIPANTS: Eighty-four individuals (40% non-white) at increased risk for depressive disorders (subthreshold depressed mood >3-4 weeks) were randomly assigned to either the MI group (n = 43) or the BA group (n = 40). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Patient Health Questionnaire-Adolescent and Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). RESULTS: Both groups substantially engaged the Internet site (MI, 90.7% vs BA 77.5%). For both groups, CES-D-10 scores declined (MI, 24.0 to 17.0, p < .001; BA, 25.2 to 15.5, p < .001). The percentage of those with clinically significant depression symptoms based on CES-D-10 scores declined in both groups from baseline to 12 weeks, (MI, 52% to 12%, p < .001; BA, 50% to 15%, p < .001). The MI group demonstrated declines in self-harm thoughts and hopelessness and was significantly less likely than the BA group to experience a depressive episode (4.65% vs 22.5%, p = .023) or to report hopelessness (MI group of 2% vs 15% for the BA group, p = .044) by 12 weeks. CONCLUSIONS: An Internet-based prevention program in primary care is associated with declines in depressed mood and the likelihood of having clinical depression symptom levels in both groups. Motivational interviewing in combination with an Internet behavior change program may reduce the likelihood of experiencing a depressive episode and hopelessness.

Integrative internet-based depression prevention for adolescents: a randomized clinical trial in primary care for vulnerability and protective factors.

BACKGROUND: Adolescent depression is both a major public health and clinical problem, yet primary care physicians have limited intervention options. We developed two versions of an Internet-based behavioral intervention to prevent the onset of major depression and compared them in a randomized clinical trial in 13 US primary care practices. METHODS: We enrolled 84 adolescents at risk for developing major depression and randomly assigned them to two groups: brief advice (BA; 1-2 minutes) + Internet program versus motivational interview (MI; 5-15 minutes) + Internet program. We compared pre/post changes and between group differences for protective and vulnerability factors (individual, family, school and peer). RESULTS: Compared with pre-study values, both groups demonstrated declines in depressed mood; [MI: 21.2 to 16.74 (p < 0.01), BA: 23.34 to 16.92 (p < 0.001)]. Similarly, both groups demonstrated increases in social support by peers [MI: 8.6 to 12.1 (p = 0.002), BA: 7.10 to 12.5 (p < 0.001)] and reductions in depression related impairment in school [MI: 2.26 to 1.76 (p = 0.06), BA: 2.16 to 1.93 (p = 0.07)]. CONCLUSIONS: Two forms of a primary care/Internet-based behavioral intervention to prevent adolescent depression may lower depressed mood and strengthen some protective factors for depression.