Cerebral dominance in musicians and nonmusicians.

Musically experienced listeners recognize simple melodies better in the right ear than the left, while the reverse is true for naive listeners. Hence, contrary to previous reports, music perception supports the hypothesis that the left hemisphere is dominant for analytic processing and the right hemisphere for holistic processing.

Lattice location of trace elements within minerals and at their surfaces with X-ray standing waves.

The x-ray standing waves generated by dynamical Bragg diffraction were used to directly measure lattice locations of trace elements within and at the surface of a mineral single crystal. These high-precision measurements were made on natural Iceland spar calcite cleaved along the (1014) plane and reacted with a dilute aqueous lead solution. Within the bulk crystal, naturally occurring trace manganese was found within (1014) planes, consistent with its substitution for calcium. At the crystal surface, sorbed lead was found to be highly ordered and mostly within (1014) planes. This demonstrates a powerful application of synchrotron radiation in the earth and environmental sciences.

The use of psychostimulants in general psychiatry. A reconsideration.

A half century after the introduction of amphetamine sulfate (benzedrine), there remains active interest in the use of the major psychostimulants (ie, methylphenidate hydrochloride and pemoline) for the treatment of psychiatric disorders. In the absence of any recent review of the literature on the clinical uses of psychostimulants, we assessed the existing data on the adult psychiatric indications for these agents. Generally, the existing studies are old and inadequate. However, there is some evidence to support the judicious use of psychostimulants in selected clinical instances of several adult psychiatric syndromes.

The benzodiazepines as drugs of abuse.

Benzodiazepines are rarely used as "party" or "good time" drugs. Recent studies of drug abuse liability have found that benzodiazepines are minor euphoriants: they are neither sought nor valued on the same level as cocaine, methaqualone, or even alcohol. Although they do have mild to moderate euphoriant effects in recreational drug users, detoxified chronic alcoholics and, at very high dosages, detoxified sedative "addicts", only a small proportion of patients entering drug abuse treatment programs cite benzodiazepine use as their primary drug problem. However, it is difficult to estimate the extent to which benzodiazepines are primary drugs of abuse, i.e. the extent of their ability to induce euphoria with psychic dependence and active drug-seeking behavior. This may be due in part to inconsistent or ambiguous reporting terminology and reliance on laboratory studies without comparisons with actual street use. In addition, it is unclear if patients admitted to emergency rooms for non-medical use of benzodiazepines are typical of all patients who abuse these drugs. This article will examine the current data available on benzodiazepine abuse and will assess the extent to which benzodiazepines are used as primary drugs of abuse.

A new scale for assessing patients' psychosocial adjustment to medical illness.

The Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale (PAIS) was administered to 37 Hodgkin's disease patients and 38 parents of children with Hodgkin's disease or solid tumour, and the scores were analysed for inter-rater reliability as well as construct and criterion validity. A significant inter-rater reliability coefficient was obtained for the total scale score, and also for 6 of the 7 subscale scores. The 7 subscale scores were shown to be relatively independent of each other, with 5 contributing strongly to the total score. Subscales analysed for criterion validity were shown to correlate significantly with independent assessments of their domains of adjustment. Results indicate that the PAIS can be administered by a diverse group of interviewers with an acceptable degree of reliability and with initial confidence in its validity.

Rapid automated synthesis via diisopropyl phosphoramidite in situ activation. Chemical synthesis and cloning of a calmodulin gene.

A gene coding for a calmodulin was synthesized and cloned. The chemical synthesis of the gene, coding for 149 amino acids, was achieved by the enzymatic ligation of 61 chemically synthesized DNA fragments. The DNA fragments were synthesized using a solid support with a diisopropyl phosphoramidite intermediate and in situ activation. The automated standard cycle time was 10 min/addition. The synthesizer was designed and constructed from inexpensive, readily available parts and controlled by a Commodore 64 computer. The gene possesses 27 unique, regularly spaced, restriction endonuclease cleavage sites to facilitate gene mutagenesis.

Chemical synthesis and expression of a calmodulin gene designed for site-specific mutagenesis.

A gene coding for a calmodulin was synthesized and expressed in Escherichia coli. The gene was produced by the enzymatic ligation of 61 chemically synthesized DNA fragments. The gene possesses 27 unique, regularly spaced, restriction endonuclease cleavage sites to facilitate gene mutagenesis by the replacement of specific gene segments with synthetic double-stranded DNA. An expression vector containing the calmodulin gene was used to transform E. coli. Purification and characterization of calmodulin (VU-1 calmodulin) expressed by these transformants showed that it lacks two posttranslational modifications: an amino-terminal blocking group and N epsilon, N epsilon, N epsilon-trimethyllysine at position 115. The cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase activator properties of VU-1, higher plant, and vertebrate calmodulins were not statistically different. However, VU-1 calmodulin was found to activate nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) kinase to a maximal level that was at least 3-fold higher than that found with higher plant and vertebrate calmodulins. This higher level of activation is also characteristic of calmodulins from Dictyostelium discoideum and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii [Roberts, D. M., Burgess, W. H., & Watterson, D. M. (1984) Plant Physiol. 75, 796-798; Marshak, D. R., Clarke, M., Roberts, D. M., & Watterson, D. M. (1984) Biochemistry 23, 2891-2899]. The only common feature among Dictyostelium, Chlamydomonas, and VU-1 calmodulins not found in higher plant and vertebrate calmodulins is an unmethylated lysine at position 115. The results indicate that the lack of methylation of lysine-115 may contribute to the maximal level of NAD kinase activation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)