Not only age but also tactile perception influences the preference for cosmetic creams applied to the forearm.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to examine whether and how age as well as tactile sensitivity and perception had an impact on how women liked richer and lighter creams. Furthermore, the question arose if age and tactile perception had an influence on the ability to distinguish between the creams and how the ability to distinguish between creams influenced the liking of these creams. METHODS: A total of 299 female participants were invited to rate how much they liked four different cosmetic creams applied to their forearms. The creams were based on the same base formula but differed with respect to the texture. In order to arouse the impression of more lightness (quasi-light) or more richness (quasi-rich), polyethylene particles of different sizes were added to the base formula. First of all, the participants were tested for their tactile sensitivity and perception. Tactile sensitivity was tested by Von Frey filaments, tactile spatial perception by the tactile Landolt ring test and the ability to discriminate surface structures by a sandpaper test. Furthermore, the participants rated the creams with respect to the acceptance, the subjective skin feeling after application and performed paired-comparison tests. Analyses of variance and regression analyses were applied to the data. RESULTS: In general, participants liked quasi-rich creams less than quasi-light creams. However, older women compared to younger women and women with lower tactile performance in comparison with women with higher tactile performance revealed a weaker influence of cream type-specific acceptance ratings. Further results revealed that young participants perceived the quasi-light creams (with particles of ~50 µm diameter) as soft and quasi-rich creams (with particles of ~100 µm and ~165 µm diameter), as coarse. In contrast, this subjective skin feeling after application in participants at age 50 and older did not differ much. CONCLUSION: Age and tactile perceptual abilities have additive effects on the acceptance of creams with different textures when applied to the forearm.

Comet kohoutek: ultraviolet images and spectrograms.

Emissions of atomic oxygen (1304 angstroms), atomic carbon (1657 angstroms), and atomic hydrogen (1216 angstroms) from Comet Kohoutek were observed with ultraviolet cameras carried on a sounding rocket on 8 January 1974. Analysis of the Lyman alpha halo at 1216 angstroms gave an atomic hydrogen production rate of 4.5 x 10(29) atoms per second.

Tri-iodothyronine inhibits multilayer formation of the osteoblastic cell line, MC3T3-E1, by promoting apoptosis.

Cell death through apoptosis is a well-known mechanism for maintaining homoeostasis in many developmental and pathological processes. We have recently presented evidence for the occurrence of apoptosis during the formation of bone-like tissue in vitro. MC3T3-E1 osteoblast-like cells in culture develop features of the osteoblastic phenotype and form many cell layers embedded in extracellular matrix which can mineralise. Tri-iodothyronine (T3), even though it enhances the expression of many osteoblastic features, attenuates the multilayer formation to about two layers. The aim of this study was to investigate how T3 prevents multilayer formation. MC3T3-E1 cells were seeded at different densities and cultured for up to 2 weeks. Thereafter we analysed proliferation rate and the distribution of the phases of the cell cycle and studied apoptosis. We found that T3 did not inhibit DNA synthesis. Analysis of the cell cycle phases showed an increase in the number of cells in G0/G1 with increasing cell density, but no significant effect of T3 treatment was found. Morphological investigations showed apoptotic features in both cell layers and culture supernatants. The cells exhibited typical plasma membrane blebbings, chromatin condensation, DNA fragmentation and phagocytosed apoptotic bodies. T3 treatment significantly increased the number of apoptotic cells. We conclude from our data that T3 inhibits multilayer formation of MC3T3-E1 cells by increasing the rate of apoptosis and not by inhibition of proliferation. Because apoptosis is a fundamental regulatory event during bone tissue differentiation, our findings emphasise the importance of thyroid hormones in bone maintenance and development.

Integrated watershed approach for combating drought in a semi-arid region of India: the case of Jhabua watershed.

The integrated watershed management approach for the semi-arid regions of India is considered to be very important due to the inadequate availability of water resources. The drought experienced in recent years has brought on an environmental and socio-economic crisis in these regions. The role of the watershed management has been crucial and development of alternative water resources has been critically important. To overcome the isolated sectoral development planning and implementation, as was done in many of the previous land based programs in India, an integrated concept of watershed development through participatory planning and actions has been followed for combating drought in Jhabua watershed in Madhya Pradesh state, India. This research paper will look into the successful watershed management experience of our on-going research project, and appropriate watershed strategies for the Jhabua watershed.

Products of strength times self-broadened half-widths of absorption lines in the upsilon(2) band of water vapor.

Products of the strengths times the self-broadened half-widths of eight lines in the upsilon(2) band of water vapor were obtained by the curve of growth method. The experimental conditions were room temperature (300 degrees K), low pressure (0.5-2.2 torr), long path length (1.98 cm x 10(4) cm), and an observed resolution of approximately 0.5 cm(-1). Corrections for the absorptance from overlapping of near lines, for the neglected wing absorptance of the main line, and for the absorptance due to wings of distant lines were made using the Lorentz profile and the results of previous theoretical calculations. The results are generally higher than those previously reported.

Measuring concave diffraction grating efficiencies at grazing incidence.

The efficiency of a concave diffraction grating in a given order is obtained by measuring the intensities of the diffracted and incident beams and taking their ratio. A valid measurement requires that both the incident and diffracted beams be collected, in their entirety, by the detector. At grazing incidence, however, the diffracted beam may spread beyond the detector due to aberrations. In addition, the diffracted beams of consecutive orders may overlap so that unambiguous efficiency measurements cannot be made. The effect of aberrations on efficiency measurements has been studied, using ray tracing, for the geometry of the measuring instrument in use at the Naval Research Laboratory. This instrument, a reflectometer wherein the detector rotates around the grating at a given distance, is attached to a VUV monochromator which furnishes a diverging beam. The main effect of aberrations for this instrument is a spread of the diffracted beam in the direction of dispersion. The width of the diffracted beam is wavelength dependent and is minimal at the horizontal focus, spreading to longer and shorter wavelengths. Reducing the divergence of the incident beam reduces the spread but, for small radius gratings, not always sufficiently so that the entire diffracted beam can be collected by the detector. The distance from the detector to the grating can also be adjusted to aid in collecting all the diffracted beam. Some results of the ray tracing studies will be presented, and the effect of the f-number of the incident beam and the detector distance will be discussed.

Kinetics and equilibria of condensation reactions between monosaccharide pairs catalyzed by Aspergillus niger glucoamylase.

Arabinose, fructose, galactose, myo-inositol, lyxose, mannose, ribose, and xylose were incubated individually and with glucose in the presence of Aspergillus niger glucoamylase at pH 4.5 and 45 degrees C. Glucoamylase condenses galactose, glucose, and mannose individually into disaccharides. It also produces mixed disaccharides when each of the eight carbohydrates is incubated with glucose. Many products were identified by gas chromatography of the derivatized reaction mixtures followed by mass spectroscopy of the individual chromatographic peaks. Galacto-, gluco-, or mannopyranosyl rings appear to be present at the nonreducing ends of all the disaccharides produced. Molecules linked through primary hydroxyl groups have the highest equilibrium constants of all products formed, since these bonds are thermodynamically favored. However, glucoamylase is capable of forming bonds with many available hydroxyl groups, as previously demonstrated when it was incubated with glucose alone. Formation rates of different bonds linking different residues vary widely. These results demonstrate that glucoamylase has a wide selectivity toward residues it will condense into disaccharides and toward bonds it will form between them.