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Summary This article reviews the literature on the psychological impact of terrorism on children and families in the United States. It includes studies of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York City and the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, as well as the September 11 attacks. These studies explore the impact of various forms and degrees of exposure to terrorism on children across the development spectrum and on the relationships between parental and child reactions. The article concludes with a framework for future research on children's adaptation following mass trauma.

Protective antigen (PA) is a central virulence factor of Bacillus anthracis and a key component in anthrax vaccines. PA binds to target cell receptors, is cleaved by the furin protease, self-aggregates to heptamers, and finally internalizes as a complex with either lethal or edema factors. Under mild room temp. storage conditions, PA cytotoxicity decreased (t1/2 ≈ 7 days) concomitant with the generation of new acidic isoforms, probably through deamidation of Asn residues. Ranking all 68 Asn residues in PA based on their predicted deamidation rates revealed five residues with half-lives of \textless60 days, and these residues were further analyzed: Asn10 in the 20-kDa region, Asn162 at P6 vicinal to the furin cleavage site, Asn306 in the pro-pore translocation loop, and both Asn713 and Asn719 in the receptor-binding domain. We found that PA underwent spontaneous deamidation at Asn162 upon storage concomitant with decreased susceptibility to furin. A panel of model synthetic furin substrates was used to demonstrate that Asn162 deamidation led to a 20-fold decrease in the bimol. rate const. (kcat/Km) of proteolysis due to the new neg. charged residue at P6 in the furin recognition sequence. Furthermore, reduced PA cytotoxicity correlated with a decrease in PA cell binding and also with deamidation of Asn713 and Asn719. On the other hand, neither deamidation of Asn10 or Asn306 nor impairment of heptamerization could be obsd. upon prolonged PA storage. We suggest that PA inactivation during storage is assocd. with susceptible deamidation sites, which are intimately involved in both mechanisms of PA cleavage by furin and PA-receptor binding. [on SciFinder(R)]

Cationic polysaccharides were synthesized by conjugation of various monoquaternary (MQ) ammonium oligoamines to oxidized dextran by reductive amination and tested for gene transfection. Polycations of dextran grafted with MQ ammonium oligoamines of two to four amino groups were investigated for their ability to cause pCMV-GFP encoding for green fluorescence protein and beta-Gal encoding for beta-galactosidase protein transfection on EPC and HEK-293 cell lines. These polycations were expected to strongly complex DNA due to increased surface cationic charge of the carrier, which may result in a higher transfection yield. However, the transfection yields were much lower compared to the parent vector, dextran-spermine conjugate, which was highly effective both in vitro and in vivo.

A spatial rainfall model was applied to radar data of air mass thunderstorms to yield a rainstorm representation as a set of convective rain cells. The modeled rainfall was used as input into hydrological model, instead of the standard radar-grid data. This approach allows a comprehensive linkage between runoff responses and rainfall structures

In our present study, a model Maillard furfural/cysteine reaction was chosen for exploring and understanding the different aspects that control the reactivity in five-component fully dilutable U-type food-grade oil/water (O/W) microemulsions of R(+)-limonene/ethanol/water/propylene glycol/Tween 60. It was found that these self-assembled nanosized structured systems are capable of enhancing the rate of Maillard reactions in which the selectivity and the reactivity are controlled by the compn. of the interface and its curvature. The sulfur-contg. flavor formation is very efficient if carried out in those O/W microemulsions (modified oil-swollen nanoreactors) and the reaction yields high amts. of key aroma compds. The proposed Tween 60-based O/W systems show strong preference for the formation of 2-(2-furanyl)-thiazolidine (the main product). The O/W reaction medium enhances furfural-cysteine reaction rate (microemulsion catalysis) in comparison to the water-based reaction. It was found that the initial reaction rate (V0) is affected by the solubilized aq. phase content. The furfural-cysteine reaction is affected also by the process conditions (temp., pH, time of reaction). These results suggest that O/W microemulsions are a promising choice for generation of flavors and food products. [on SciFinder(R)]

Seeking advice is a basic practice in making real life decisions. Until recently, however, little attention has been given to it in either empirical studies or theories of decision making. The studies reported here investigate the influence of advice on judgment and the consequences of advice use for judgment accuracy. Respondents were asked to provide final judgments on the basis of their initial opinions and advice presented to them. The respondents' weighting policies were inferred. Analysis of the these policies show that (a) the respondents tended to place a higher weight on their own opinion than on the advisor's opinion (the self/other effect); (b) more knowledgeable individuals discounted the advice more; (c) the weight of advice decreased as its distance from the initial opinion increased; and (d) the use of advice improved accuracy significantly, though not optimally. A theoretical framework is introduced which draws in part on insights from the study of attitude change to explain the influence of advice. Finally the usefulness of advice for improving judgment accuracy is considered.