The relationship between students' sense of their school as a community and their involvement in problem behaviors.

OBJECTIVES: There has been relatively little research on the contributions of school context to developmental outcomes. This study examined relationships between students' sense of the school as a community and their involvement in problem behaviors. METHODS: Participants were an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse sample of 1434 fifth and sixth grade students from 24 elementary schools around the United States. Data were analyzed by hierarchical linear regression. RESULTS: The major finding was that, with several relevant student- and school-level characteristics controlled, schools with higher average sense-of-community scores had significantly lower average student drug use and delinquency. Caution is warranted in inferring causality, however, owing to the cross-sectional design. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that school context may moderate relationships between individual risk and protective factors and developmental outcomes, and that schools that are experienced as communities may enhance students' resiliency.

Premature gestures: a speculative dialogue on Asian Pacific Islander lesbian and gay writing.

A collaborative exploration of the political realities and implications faced by self-identified Asian Pacific Islander lesbian and gay writers. Mixed-genre piece combining the essay and dialogue form, it contains sections co-written as well as individual pieces by the authors. The issues touched upon through this discussion are: available community-based and mainstream publishing venues, development of community-based writing, relation between grassroots political organizing and writing, API and lesbian/gay identity issues, internalized racism and homophobia, and other barriers for API lesbian and gay writers.

Effects of estradiol and progesterone on seizure sensitivity in oophorectomized DBA/2J mice and C57/EL hybrid mice.

We investigated the effects of 17 beta-estradiol (E2) and progesterone (PG) on seizure sensitivity in two genetically epilepsy-prone strains, the DBA/2J and the C57/EL hybrid. In the DBA/2J, subject to audiogenic seizures when juvenile, oophorectomy produced a marked decrease in seizure sensitivity, both with and without E2 or PG replacement. In the C57/EL, subject to vestibular seizures, E2 significantly reduced seizure frequency and increased lag time to seizure onset. PG did not affect these variables. Both E2 and PG significantly prolonged seizure duration. These results support a role of ovarian hormones in regulating paroxysmal activity in collicular and tegmental regions associated with audiogenic seizures in the DBA/2J and in temporal structures associated with vestibular seizures in the C57/EL.

Clinical effects of naltrexone on autistic behavior.

Eight young adults who were diagnosed with autism were given the opiate antagonist naltrexone to control self-injurious behavior and maladaptive idiosyncratic mannerisms. The drug and placebo were administered in a double-blind crossover design over 17 weeks. Although one subject appeared to have partial decreases in maladaptive behaviors associated with naltrexone use, the drugs, as administered in this study, did not reduce the self-injurious and other maladaptive behaviors of the subjects.

[Interpretation of early radiological changes in the diagnosis of pneumoconiosis among coal miners]. / Interpretacja wczesnych zmian radiologicznych w diagnostyce pylicy górników kopaln wegla kamiennego.

Apart from certain changes which are typical for pneumoconiosis, the radiological picture of the lungs of sigma coal miners does frequently show some irregular small opacities of s, t and u types. The role and specificity of these changes in the early diagnosis of pneumoconiosis has not been too well defined by now. A 10-year study (conducted at 2 or 3 year intervals) was carried out among 150 miners from 2 mines characterized by different dust loading. Some irregular changes in the miners' lungs were observed. The control group derived from the same mines comprised 115 miners with no radiological changes found in their lungs. The evolution of radiological changes took place in 55.3% of the miners and was more intensive in the heavily dusted mine. Radiological changes were revealed in 38.3% of the controls. It was indicated that pneumoconiosis results much more frequently (38.6%) from the evolution of the irregular changes rather than directly from the proper radiological picture of the lungs (5.3%). In 44.7% of the subjects the changes of s, t and u type did not undergo any evolution, which may be due to their non-specific characteristics. The evolution of irregular opacities is dominating in the patients with bronchitis and emphysema. No significant correlation between smoking and the progress of irregular opacities was found. The observation of the further exposure to the dusts did not produce any clear results. The progress of the changes of s, t and u type was observed more frequently in those still working under ground, but more cases of pneumoconiosis were found in the miners who stopped working. This fact indicates that the further exposure affects the s, t and u type changes and confirms the observations by other authors concerning the manifestation of pneumoconiosis after the break of exposure. The results of the 10-year study prove that the miners with this sort of changes are exposed to a higher risk of pneumoconiosis, although the answer concerning specificity of irregular changes in the radiological picture has not yet been found.

The beta globin 3' enhancer element confers regulated expression on the human gamma globin gene in the human embryonic-fetal erythroleukemia cell line K562.

We have constructed fusion genes comprised of gamma and beta globin elements and globin sequences linked to neomycin resistance (neoR) genes to define the cis acting sequences responsible for developmental stage-specific expression and induction of fetal globin genes in embryonic-fetal erythroleukemia K562 cells. The results indicate that the gamma promoter is required for proper initiation of transcription. However, the accumulation of gamma globin transcripts in response to hemin induction requires the additional presence of either gamma intervening sequence 2 or the 3' enhancer element of the beta globin gene. Thus, the gamma promoter may provide the elements for developmental stage-specific gene expression during fetal life. By contrast, the beta 3' enhancer is erythroid-specific but not developmental stage- or gene-specific.

The regulation of gamma-globin gene expression.

In summary, our analysis indicates that important sequences for the proper initiation of fetal gene transcription in fetal cells are located in the gamma-globin [sequence: see text] promoter. These sequences are sufficient for tissue-specific expression but not induction in K562 cells. Sequences in the gamma-globin IVS-2 and the beta-globin 3' enhancer increase gamma beta and gamma-Neo transcripts when cells containing these genes undergo erythroid maturation as measured by induction with hemin. The mechanism by which these sequences exert their effect remains to be elucidated. [see text] Multiple protein factors bind to both the gamma promoter and the beta 3' enhancer. Both of these regions contain binding sites for the erythroid-specific factor NFE-1 and the octamer binding factor OTF-1. In the gamma upstream region, there may be a competition between OTF-1 binding and NFE-1 binding that affects gamma gene regulation. Our results indicate that the beta 3' enhancer interacts with the gamma gene promoter to permit increased gamma gene expression. We have developed a model for globin gene switching that takes into consideration the effect of cis-acting sequences on globin gene transcription. A similar model of hemoglobin switching in chickens has been proposed by Choi and Engel. In our model, competition for the beta-globin 3' enhancer is involved in stage-specific transcriptional activation of gamma-globin genes in fetal cells and beta-globin genes in adult cells. In adult cells the protein-protein interactions between adult cell-specific factors interacting with the beta-globin promoter and erythroid-specific factors interacting with the beta 3' enhancer would activate transcription of the beta-globin gene. In fetal cells protein-protein interactions between fetal cell-specific factors interacting with the gamma-globin promoter and erythroid-specific factors interacting with the beta 3' enhancer would activate the transcription of the gamma-globin genes.

Prevalence and prediction of psychotropic drug use in California developmental centers.

The extent of psychotropic drug use was evaluated in California's institutionalized developmentally disabled population (N = 6,450). Mean psychotropic drug use was 35.4% for the entire population (range = 13.7% to 63.6% across institutions), with antipsychotic drug use at 26.8% (range = 11.0% to 59.6%). Psychotropic drug use was positively associated with aggression, IQ, depression, and self-injurious behavior, ps less than .0001; it was inversely associated with cerebral palsy and epilepsy. When the influence of demographic and behavioral factors was controlled, significant institutional differences in drug use remained.

Estrogen alters the acquisition of seizures kindled by repeated amygdala stimulation or pentylenetetrazol administration in ovariectomized female rats.

Ovariectomized female rats received estradiol (E2) replacement by means of subcutaneous silastic capsules (10% E2 in cholesterol). E2-replaced rats required fewer daily amygdala stimulations to develop fully kindled seizures as compared with ovariectomized rats implanted with cholesterol-only capsules. Other rats were injected with pentylenetetrazol (PTZ), 40 mg/kg i.p., every 48 h. E2-replaced rats showed a progressive increase in convulsive severity from minimal responses after the first injection to tonic convulsions after eight injections. Most rats without E2 replacement failed to progress past clonic convulsive responses after 22 injections. The results support a marked influence of E2 on seizure processes as demonstrated in two different models of seizure acquisition.

Survival and Horizontal Movement of Infective Stage Neoaplectana carpocapsae in the Field.

Infective stage Neoaplectana carpocapsae were applied to a furrow of loam soil in the field. At regular intervals over a 7-week period, soil samples were taken at distances of 0, 10, 20, 30, and 40 cm on either side of the furrow. Live, infective nematodes were recovered from the soil at all sampling dates over the 7-week period, and nematodes slowly spread out from the original line of application, averaging a distance of 4.35 cm/day.