Broad Smile Research Articles

John Arthur Luetscher, Jr (1913–2005)

Dr John Luetscher was born in Baltimore, Md, the son of a practicing physician. After attending Princeton University, he entered Johns Hopkins Medical School to follow his father’s footsteps as a physician. He was attracted to the intellectual stimulation and challenge of academic medicine by the Hopkins environment and pursued a research fellowship in physical chemistry at Harvard University after completing his internship. During his fellowship, he was exposed to the rigorous and critical approach to science that was to characterize his entire scientific career. His fellowship work focused on plasma proteins and their participation in salt and water metabolism. He returned to Hopkins to complete his clinical training and in 1942 was offered a faculty position in the Department of Medicine there. In 1948, he left Hopkins to become Associate Professor of Medicine at the fledgling Stanford University Medical School, based at that time in San Francisco, where he joined Dr Thomas Addis, a well-known expert in renal disease. John’s interest in salt and water metabolism was enhanced by the discovery of an adrenal principle, “electrocortin,” which had been shown to influence sodium and potassium excretion. This steroid subsequently was named aldosterone, and John, in conjunction with his research associates, Quentin “Chip” Deming and Ben Johnson, was able to isolate aldosterone from the urine of humans with nephrotic syndrome and congestive heart failure.1,2 He is acknowledged to share the identification of aldosterone with the Taits, Jim and Sylvia Simpson, with whom he also shared the prestigious CIBA (now Novartis) Award of the American Heart Association Council for High …

Untaken steps and untold stories.

I'm not really sure when I first noticed him, proudly sitting on his porch with a broad smile on his weathered face. It was a comforting, peaceful sighthe in his twisted metal chair next to a tatte...

The work of D. Eugene Strandness, Jr., MD

D. Eugene Strandness, Jr., MD, died on January 7, 2002. At this 10th Congress of the WFUMB, it is appropriate to reflect on the many contributions Dr. Strandness made to the field of medical ultrasound. His initial work was based on the use of strain gauge plethysmography for the evaluation of arterial and venous disease, and it established physiologic testing as a valid and important clinical tool. The use of Doppler ultrasound for the transcutaneous assessment of vascular disease was pioneered by Dr. Strandness at the University of Washington in the 1960s. Based on this early work, the noninvasive vascular laboratory gradually became established as an indispensable resource for patient care and research. In the 1970s, Dr. Strandness and the bioengineering group at the University of Washington investigated the use of real-time B-mode scanning in the evaluation of the carotid artery bifurcation. An early case in which the internal carotid appeared patent on the B-mode image but occluded by arteriography led to the “duplex” concept of combining B-mode imaging and Doppler flow detection in a single instrument. The prototype duplex scanner built at the University of Washington gave rise to modern commercial duplex systems. Dr. Strandness also participated in the early efforts to credential vascular technologists and accredit vascular laboratories, which continue today. On the personal side, Dr. Strandness was both inspiring and challenging. He seemed to have an unlimited supply of enthusiasm and ideas. Those who worked closely with him will remember him as a strong friend and advocate, with a broad smile and a generous sense of humor. At the end of his life, Dr. Strandness was still actively engaged in his work and looking toward the future. Ongoing projects in his laboratory included the development of 3-dimensional ultrasound imaging, refining methods for vein graft surveillance, and the natural history of venous thromboembolism. In this era of large multicenter trials and program projects, it is exceedingly rare for one person to make a real difference in a medical field. Dr. Strandness is one of these rare people. His work will be remembered, and his presence among us will be missed.

Someday Everyone Will Be a Chemist

Mark Burns' Perspective “Everyone's a (future) chemist” (7 June, p. [1818][1]) brought back memories of a morning when I was a TA in Linus Pauling's freshman chemistry class at Caltech. With a broad smile and that defining twinkle in his eye, he began the lecture with “Some day, when everybody

Different types of smiles and laughter in preschool children.

The relationship among morphologically different forms of smiling and laughter was examined. The participants were 19 Brazilian preschool children. Each child was observed a total of 60 min. in three 10-min. sessions on the playground and three 10-min. sessions in the classroom. Analysis suggests that the various forms of smiling do not simply express different intensities of a single emotion. A two-dimensional structure was indicated by factorial analysis. The first dimension, which could be called playfulness-mock aggression, consisted of a broad smile and laughter. The second dimension, which could be called friendliness-appeasement, consisted of a closed and upper smile. The pattern of correlation found between expressive behaviors and both teacher's and peers' evaluations gives further support to the interpretation that smiling is an heterogeneous category.

William Edward Caswell

William Edward Caswell

Defying the odds

One morning in 1997, during an outpatient clinic in Slavonski Brod in Croatia, a middle aged man came in and greeted the doctor with a broad smile. When the doctor addressed him by name I remembered the newspaper articles about a former drug addict who had suffered from cerebral palsy from early childhood and became a supermarathon runner. This was the same man, Tadija Opacak. He came for regular checkups. After this checkup I invited him for a cup of coffee and he gladly accepted. I heard his life story. He was born as a healthy twin in 1960 in Derventa, Bosnia and Herzegovina. While his twin brother grew up normally, Tadija became ill with cerebral palsy when he was 6 months old. “I learnt to walk without assistance at the age of 4 and even then it was with a heavy dragging of the left leg and the left arm was good for nothing,” he grinned. There were seven more children in his family and they were poor. In 1962 they moved to Slavonski Brod, hoping for a better life. “I started school and was a pretty good pupil in the first four grades. The problems started when my father went abroad looking for employment.” At that time, many fathers, who were usually the breadwinners …

The Excruciating History of Dentistry: Toothsome Tales and Oral Oddities from Babylon to Braces By James Wynbrandt (review)

in strict chronological order, but follows his life fairly well from beginning to end, mentioning many of his scientific interests. There is some attempt to understand why such a capable scientist is not more highly recognized today for his many contributions to our knowledge base. This book is well worth reading—especially if you wish to be a posthumously recognized biologist. Francis H. Straus, II University of Chicago The Excruciating History ofDentistry: Toothsome Tales and Oral Odditiesfrom Babylon to Braces. By James Wynbrandt. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998. Pp. 248. $24. As a practicing dentist for close to 20 years, I had definite concern when asked to review The Excrudating History ofDentistry. As a medical colleague dropped the book off at my office, he had that broad smile and departed with a smirk. Such gestures often come with each patient, as they bring their stories or tales of woes and or about experiences from another lifetime. This book reflects that smirk; it is comprised of anecdotal stories mixed throughout dentistry's history. The subtide "Toothsome Tales of Oral Oddities from Babylon to Braces" is a little less harsh to my palate and truly describes this text. James Wynbrandt has done his homework. He begins with dentistry in the Ancient world, and follows through the past eight to 10 centuries of cures and treatments for dental maladies. We start with physicians smoking worms out of teeth in 2250 BC and proceed along a variety of pre-medieval remedies. These include bloodletting (as our medical colleagues practiced similarly); theJapanese practice of cauterizing tissues by igniting a moxa plant; and numerous remedies for toothache, including the use of wads of cotton and wool, or the remedy of arsenic pills or various pastes placed in the opposite nostril. Yes—I'm thinking dentistry has made a few improvements over the last thousand years. As we proceed, the book is full of accurate stories about numerous historical figures and their relationship with the field of dentistry. Aristotle and Hippocrates thought men had more teeth than women, and Avicenna, a leader in the medical field, supported the toothworm theory. The big breakthrough in dentistry occurred in 1729, when patients were asked by a Dr. Fauchard to sit in a chair rather than on the floor. Dr. Fauchard advanced dentistry with new instruments: the pincers, the gum lancet, the punch, the lever, the pelican, and similar instruments are used today, witìi a few alterations. He too had special concoctions, which utilized many ingredients from the poisonous pyrethrum root to various opiates (the opiates were essential in that time period) . A significant portion of this book is devoted to the time period from 1700 to 1900, and stories are both numerous and humorous. Take the famed Paul Revere, a rider in evening and a dentist during the day. George Washington had so many dental problems that he had a choice of his favorite dentists—and you have to read this book to find out the common African animals utilized in our first president's dentition. Would a trip to the local tooth drawer be complete without leeches placed on one's inflamed gums? (This practice continued through the early part 144 Book Reviews of this century.) Painless Parker the advent of commercialism, and quackery are all apart of the glorious past of this profession. Given that the history of dentistry may not be on anyone's Top 10 list, Wynbrandt creatively writes a book that provides details about the history of the profession mixed widi anecdotes that allow the reader to whimsically browse through the pages. The evolution of dentistry is presented, and the reader gets a picture of the creativity and the crudeness of dentists, craftsman, tooth-drawers, barber-surgeons, and all others mentioned in this text. Topics such as mercury (silver fillings) and its health implications dating back hundreds of years or the first uses of implantology or transplantology may surprise the reader. Subchapters discussing fluoride, bacteria, X rays, cosmetic dentistry, and other current "hot" topics are all included, and they provide the reader with a basic, understanding of these areas. The historical presentation in Wynbrandt's text allows the reader to understand...

Reading a smiling face: messages conveyed by various forms of smiling.

This study investigated the effect of various forms of smiling (closed smile, upper smile, or broad smile) on person perception. Brazilian undergraduates (N = 330) judged a photograph of a male or female stimulus person in three age ranges (young, middle-aged, and old) and smiling or not. 7-point scales were used to measure respondents' perception of the stimulus persons on various attributes (attractiveness, happiness, extroversion, sympathy, kindness, submission, ambition, and intelligence). We found that a smile enhanced attractiveness and kindness ratings independently of its form, whereas the influence of the various forms on ratings of happiness was additive. As the neutral face changed to a closed smile and the closed smile became a broad smile, target stimuli were attributed greater rated happiness. We also found a contribution of perceivers' gender to the judgements of extroversion and sympathy, indicating a slightly greater discrimination of facial expressions among women than among men.

The effect of smiling and of head tilting on person perception.

This study investigated the effect of smiling and of head tilting on person perception. Brazilian undergraduates (N = 322) judged a slide of a male or female stimulus person, smiling or not, and with the head tilted or not. The independent variables were (a) subject's gender, (b) stimulus person's gender; (c) head posture (tilted vs. upright), and (d) facial expression (no smile, closed smile, upper smile, or broad smile). The dependent variables were 12 adjective pairs for judging personality traits on a 7-point semantic differential scale. Adding a smile resulted generally in more favorable perceptions of the stimulus persons. Head posture had a weaker effect than smiling. Smiling produced generally positive evaluations, whereas head tilting led to negative evaluations on several traits.

Childhood precursors of affective vs. social deficits in adolescents at risk for schizophrenia.

Childhood attentional and neuromotor precursors of social competence and affective deficits in adolescents at risk for schizophrenia, adolescents at risk for affective disorder, and matched comparison adolescents were examined. The subjects were offspring of parents with schizophrenia or affective disorder and of normal parents matched on age, sex, and socioeconomic status from the New York High-Risk Project (Sample B). On the basis of interviews conducted when the subjects were children and adolescents, social competence was rated from child reports and parent reports, affective deficits were assessed by affective flattening ratings, and smiling was assessed by counting broad smiles. Adolescents at risk for schizophrenia had significantly greater social and affective deficits than adolescents at risk for affective disorder and comparison adolescents. In subjects at risk for schizophrenia, childhood neuromotor dysfunction predicted adolescent affective flattening, and childhood attentional dysfunction predicted adolescent social deficits. The results suggest that affective and social deficits in schizophrenia have different childhood precursors.

Compact formats for seismic data storage

Seismic data are usually stored using a 32-bit floating-point format for each data sample after conversion of the field tapes to whatever internal format is used by the processing system. This procedure ensures that there is no possible loss of dynamic range as field data are always recorded with less than 32 significant bits, and also minimizes the amount of work that the central processing unit (CPU) has to do, as data may be transferred without conversion from the mass storage device. However, the increasing power of modern CPUs offers the possibility of using a compact format of less than 32 bits per sample in the mass storage medium, and using the CPU to expand the data to 32-bit floating-point format once it has been read in. This procedure reduces the input/output (I/O) load at the cost of increasing the CPU load, which is not unreasonable as CPU costs are at present decreasing much faster than I/O costs. Compact storage has a number of operational benefits: if more data can be fitted on to each tape, the number of tape changes per shift is reduced proportionately, and smaller tape libraries are required. Disc capacity is almost invariably a scarce resource, and any increase in seismic data storage capacity at zero capital cost will be met with broad smiles from the system manager. A further benefit accrues to processing centres which do not have operators on duty for 24 hours per day to mount and dismount tapes. The amount of work which can be done during the unattended period is often limited by the amount of data which can be stored on disc. Tape drives are often a bottleneck in system productivity and they are seldom used at their maximum speed. If processing can be done from disc, the tapes are used as spooling devices and can operate much closer to their maximum capacity. The actual increase in storage capacity will be smaller for tapes than for disc, as most internal tape formats are unblocked; they have an end-of-record gap consisting of half an inch of blank tape between each data trace. For a high density, 6250-bpi, 9-track tape, the data samples of a 1500-sample trace using 32 bits per sample will only occupy 1 inch of tape, so that each trace requires 1.5 inches of tape. Using a 16-bit format for the data samples would reduce the amount of tape needed to 1 inch, thus raising the number of traces fitting on to a reel by 50%. For disc, the storage capacity would be nearly doubled by using 16-bit data storage.

The Transaction

I'mgonnagetmyselfaboyfriend—Iwill." She laughed. Sharon nodded, chewing the lastbite of herhotdog, "Sure you can. ' The two girls had given up pretending not to listen. Margaret turned back to me again. "He wentthrough alloursavings. Icamehome one day and he had backed, a truck into the barn. He aimed to steal my horses! Right out of the barn! I was mad—I yelled and screamed at that bastard—excuse my language," she acknowledged the presence ofthe youngerwomen and seemed to forget them in the same breath, "—you know my language is just the pits anymore , I mean I can't find enough four letter words to use lately. I'll have to learn some new ones, you know what I mean? I didn't know that just calling him a 'bastard' couldsaysomuch."Shewashalf giggling, half smiling, turning her head back and forth as if attempting to cross a busy intersection. "Am I making any sense?" Sharon excused herself to get another hot dog. I thought I heard her laugh under her breath, "The two of you." "Yeah, you're making perfectly good sense." "lam? I wish I felt like it." The lines around her mouth went lax. "I feel like such a fool. A fool." She would have spelt it in big black letters; that's the way she pronounced it. Her eyes stopped smiling. "You wouldn't believe the things he's done to me lately." I knew she had a list. "He can't even decide what he wants now—the twenty year old or me—but eitherwayhethinks heowns thehouse and the farm. Well, he's finding outhe doesn't own me anymore. I can't believe I've lived with that man this long. God, he's neurotic I swear." "Has he threatened sucide yet?" I asked. Margaret looked at me. "How did you guess? How could you know?" "Luckyguess."Sharon returnedasifshe hadn't left. "How didyoutake it?"Iwantedtoknow. "I laughed at the SOB. I told him he didn'thave the guts!" She laughed all over again. Then, quietly, her eyes lookedpast me, beyond the two girls, looked at something way off, somewhere else. "What I really don't understand is . . ." Margaret pursed her lips, then her whole face, 'what made him think he had the right to treat me like he did all these years?" I heardmyselfasking, "Did you evertell him he didn't?" Margaret looked right into my eyes. She didn't seem to hearme. "Whatdidyou say?" 'Didyouevertellhimhedidn'thavethe right? Has anyone ever told him he didn't have the right?" "Did I . . . " she began, then paused and looked at Sharon. "Does she . . . how could she . . ." Sharon slowly nodded her head up and down, smiling. Grasping her meaning, Margaret asked, "Do you mean to tell me she'sbeen through this? The same thing?'' Margaret looked at me but talked to Sharon. "I'll bet she gets good grades." A broad smile. "This means I'll survive, too, won't I?" The Transaction In a long white gown I veiled my life and took my vows. When I removed my veil, you were the tax commissioner assessing my worth, billing me for sums I could not pay. You borrow the sheriff's badge and come to collect. Each day I apportion you a share of myself; the next, your arrival is as certain as the noonday whistle. —Shirley R. Chafin 23 ...

Monetary significance of the affiliative smile: A case for reciprocal altruism

Whether smiling could accrue monetary returns was tested. Two degrees of smiling to single men and women (N = 96) by a waitress in a cocktail lounge was evaluated in terms of number of drinks ordered, size of tip, and whether the customers smiled upon departure. A broad smile reaped more money than a minimal smile and more from men than from women patrons. The results are discussed in terms of reciprocal altruism.

Individualized instruction—who needs it?

From an elementary principal's point of view, few changes in education have created as many joys or headaches as the contemporary implementation of individualized instruction. It is easy to spot an elementary school principal who has recently inaugurated an individualized-instruction program. In all probability, he is slightly paranoid; his professional life is a delirious mixture of smiles and heartaches. At the same moment that he is basking in success, he is sweating out accountability. The broad smile on his face is tempered by welts of criticism. Academically, he patterns himself like a David: armed with the research of Piaget, Gagne, and Bruner, he daily encounters the Goliath of traditional educational practices. He does what he does because he honestly believes that his school exists for the kids.

Carl R. Eklund (1909-1962)

Dr. Carl Robert Eklund, posthumous Fellow of the Arctic Institute of North America, prominent in arctic and antarctic research, Chief of the Polar and Arctic Branch of the U.S. Army Research Office, died on November 3, 1962 at the age of 53. His gregarious friendly nature, good humour and knack of story-telling made him a cherished friend of all who knew him. For 23 years he was a leading American specialist in ornithology and geographic research in both the north and south polar regions. His U.S. Government service in the Department of the Interior and the Department of the Army was approaching 29 years. Carl was born in Tomahawk, Wisconsin on January 27, 1909. ... With solid training and experience he answered the lure of the polar regions. From 1939-41 he served as ornithologist at the East Base of the U.S. Antarctic Service. This was the first modern U.S. Government-sponsored expedition to Antarctica, and the third of Rear Admiral Richard E. Bird's Antarctic commands. In addition to his collection of animal life for the Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Carl made one of the longest antarctic dog sled journeys accompanying Finn Ronne in a landward encirclement of Alexander I Island from the Palmer Peninsula Station on Stonington Island. Islands sighted near the turning point of this journey were named the Eklund Islands in his honour by the Board of Geographical Names. From 1941 to 43 he returned to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as research biologist in charge of game conservation and education on Indian reservations at Minneapolis, Minnesota. During World War II he served as commissioned officer, advancing to Major in the U.S. Army Air Force. He served in the Arctic Section of the Arctic Desert Tropic Information Center. ... The call of the polar regions drew him south again. His skill and experience were needed by the IGY organizers of the National Academy of Sciences. He was appointed as the first Scientific Station Leader of the Wilkes Station, Antarctica. His field leadership was outstanding, and he vigorously pursued his own program of biological and ornithological research. His bird banding program became international in scope around the entire continent. His field studies provided a basis for his doctoral thesis on the south-polar skua. He received his Ph.D. in zoology and geography from the University of Maryland in 1959. To maintain an intimate pursuit of polar research he accepted in 1958 the position of Chief of the Polar and Arctic Branch, Environmental Research Division of the U.S. Army Research Office, Washington, D.C. In this capacity he directed an extensive inter-disciplinary research program in the Arctic, necessitating frequent visits to Greenland and Alaska. Meanwhile, he served on the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Polar Research advising on research for Antarctica. His national and international reputation grew rapidly and his service as a lecturer and consultant on polar matters were in constant demand. His selection as the first president of the Antarctican Society of Washington, D.C. was a natural one. Dr. Eklund's publications during the last 20 years, mostly on zoological and ornithological topics, number close to 30. His first book, co-authored with Joan Beckman, "Antarctica, Land of Science", was in draft form at the time of his death. ... In spite of average build, his warm human kindliness, his mischievous humorous blue eyes, broad smile, short-cropped hair, and ready wit interspersed with clearly thought out serious observations made him a colourful figure in the polar world at its critical transition from the days of hard-fought polar discoveries to the modern research area.