Salubrious Effect Research Articles

Risks of species introduced for biological control

Numerous biological control introductions have adversely affected non-target native species. Although many of these problems occurred in the early days of biological control, some are recent. Because of how little monitoring is done on species, communities, and ecosystems that might be affected by biological control agents, it is quite possible that known problems are the tip of an iceberg. Regulations for officially sanctioned releases for biological control are insufficient, and there are also freelance unregulated releases undertaken by private citizens. Cost-benefit analyses for conservation issues, including those associated with biological control, are exceedingly difficult because it is hard to assign values to the loss of species or ecosystem functions. Risk assessment for biological control is difficult because of how hard it is to predict community- and ecosystem-wide impacts of introduced species and because introduced species disperse and evolve. Nevertheless, cost-benefit analyses and risk assessments for biological control introductions would have the salubrious effect of forcing consideration of myriad factors that now often receive cursory attention and of broadening public understanding of the issues.

The challenge of managing journal collections

I have the bad luck of writing on a topic that requires me to begin with a confession of a certain degree of failure. It is not a confession in which I stand alone, but a corporate confession on behalf of our profession. We have not exactly managed our journal collections well, if by manage we mean to have maintained some larger understanding of what has been going on with journal publications and by virtue of that understanding to have influenced those publications in a way which served the best interests of scholarship, libraries, and educational institutions. We have, rather, been late in our analysis and understanding and correspondingly marginal in our efforts to have a salubrious effect on journal publishing, particularly the publishing of journals by commercial agencies and the generally perceived declining quality of journal articles brought about by intense pressures for faculty members to publish. We are, I am pleased to say, rectifying the matter of inadequate understanding of the larger situation surrounding journal publications. We have many individual libraries and librarians to thank for that as well as our various library associations and their subgroups. I call your attention to one of the latest analyses of the problem. This is an excellent study conducted by the Association of Research Libraries entitled Report of the ARL Serials Prices Project (ARL: Washington, D.C., May 1989). The heart of that report is two studies, one being “A Study of Trends in Average Prices and Costs of Certain Serials over Time” conducted by an independent corporation, Economic Consulting Services, Inc., and the other being an exceedingly perceptive study of the many complex factors that have given rise to the current situation with regard to journal and other serial prices. I commend this report to you. Our growing understanding aside, there are some things that we simply do not manage. Journals have become and are presently the key medium in the advance of science and technology. We have been made acutely aware of the increasing rapidity of the advance of human knowledge in these areas. Even if we were to cure the problems of quality control, multiple

Silicone Gel Appears Inexplicably to Flatten, Lighten Hypertrophic Scars From Burns

THE SNUG PRESSURE suits worn by burn patients to prevent hypertophic scarring are hot, scratchy and uncomfortable, and frequently have to be worn for more than 6 months. There may be a better alternative. The same silicone used for breast implants, when applied as a topical gel, flattens and lightens hypertrophic scars, according to a presentation at the recent annual meeting of the American Burn Association in New Orleans, La. Treatment with silicone gel also seems to improve the elasticity of the tough, fibrous scar tissue. New Zealand Observation Thomas Mustoe, MD, an assistant professor of surgery, Sang Tae Ahn, MD, a surgical fellow, and William Monafo, MD, a professor of surgery, all of Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Mo, performed the study. Mustoe says the initial observation that a simple silicone gel dressing had a salubrious effect on hypertrophic scars came from New Zealand in about 1981.

Cyniclomyces guttulatus (Saccharomycopsis guttulata)--culture, ultrastructure and physiology.

Organisms that form an essential extra inner lining of selected areas of the stomach mucosa occur in mice, rats and some other animals. The yeast Cyniclomyces guttulatus (Saccharomycopsis guttulata) was shown in this study to line the stomach of domestic and feral rabbits, guinea pigs, and chinchillas. The layer of yeast cells formed a loose barrier between lumen contents and mucosal surface. A rapid rate of multiplication in the stomach provided yeast cells that blended in with stomach lumen contents, passed through the gut, and were finally excreted in large numbers in fecal pellets. Ascospore formation occurred during passage through the large intestine. The layer of yeast cells lining the stomach had no evident salubrious nor deleterious effect on the animal. C. guttulatus grew rapidly from stomach contents or single fecal pellets in a new enriched semisolid medium. Growth was good at pH 1 through 8 on the solidified enriched medium. A very unusual characteristic of C. guttulatus is optimal growth at 38 degrees C, and growth at 42 degrees C, with failure to grow below 30 degrees C. TEM demonstrated a very thick, laminated cell wall which had a thick, filamentous external coating. There were mitochondria, polyribosomes, lipid droplets, and an unusually large central nucleus. The developing spore nucleus became extremely electron dense and encapsulated, along with condensed mitochondria, ribosomes, short membrane sections and other organelles, in a dense lamellar covering.

Humor in psychiatric healing.

The oft-quoted aphorism that "laughter is the best medicine" is examined. Specifically, three big drops in the shower of claims regarding the benefits of humor in treating physical and mental disorders are evaluated. First, studies of the effects of mirth and laughter on the physiology of the body reveal both good and bad news. The meager evidence of the salutary effects of positive emotions on the cardiovascular, respiratory, immune and neuroendocrine systems, though apparently supportable on more or less scientific, rational and subjective grounds, needs much better verification from more extensive, replicable, and empirical research. Second, despite numerous claims, in the context of behavioral or psychosomatic medicine, that a joyful, optimistic, or humorous attitude can render a salubrious effect, almost to the extent of preventing illness and curing physical disease, the jury is still out and issuing dire warnings regarding too ready acceptance of this largely anecdotal evidence. Much careful "clinical trial" research needs to be mounted to determine the conditions under which humor works best, if at all. The type of patient, the kind of humor, the type and severity of illness, the psychosocial contexts-all of these factors should be considered. Third, the infusion of humor into psychotherapy is great news for some therapists and awful news for others. A number of more balanced approaches point up the probability that when mirth is incorporated into therapy judiciously, appropriately, and meaningfully it can be of value.

Coronary Heart Disease and the Treatment of Hypertension. Impact of Diuretics on Serum Lipids and Glucose

In summary, diuretic-based antihypertensive therapy causes glucose intolerance and raises glycohemoglobin concentrations as well as blood cholesterol and triglycerides. Various indices of glucose intolerance correlate with alterations in lipid concentrations. The correlations suggest that these metabolic disturbances are linked or have a common mechanism. When the three CHD risk factors of glucose, cholesterol and SBP are considered together, the net change during diuretic-based treatment may not be uniformly favorable. Other antihypertensive regimens might produce a move salubrious effect on the risk factors. Once identified, such regimens will need to be tested against diuretic regimens to ascertain whether the theoretical advantage suggested by risk factor analysis translates into a reduction in real-life coronary events.

Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension of the Neonate (Persistent Fetal Circulation Syndrome)

This 15-year-old disease has been clearly described anatomically. Some understanding of possible in utero predisposing conditions has emerged from clinical and animal studies. However, we have very little understanding of the cellular processes that trigger and/or prolong the abnormal medial smooth muscle hypertrophy underlying the condition. Empiric observation has resulted in the development of hyperventilation as a fairly successful treatment modality, although the underlying mechanism of this salubrious effect is unknown. Drugs, a major focus of clinical and laboratory investigations, sometimes are marginally successful (and sometimes are utter failures). Translated into the neonatal intensive care unit, the disease is more frequently accurately diagnosed than in the past, but it remains frustratingly difficult to manage, and thus far is impossible to prevent. The research foundations laid in the past decade provide impetus for accelerated search into the fundamental cellular and biochemical derangements that cause persistent pulmonary hypertension. It is to be hoped that the next decade will yield major advances in both mechanistic understanding and in treatment.

Drift or Mastery? A Corporatist Synthesis for American Diplomatic History

The state of modern American diplomatic history somehow mirrors its subject matter: Camelot to crisis to conundrum-and then the ennui of the new brown decade. What once imparted vitality and verve, excitement and expectancy to the field was the dynamic impact of left-revisionism. Its great virtue was to rescue historians from the sterile political science debate over realism versus idealism. The result was a new debate that was more honest and fervent, and conceptually more challenging and sophisticated. Revisionism, for friends and opponents alike, became the great intellectual multiplier. William Appleman Williams alone, in an incredible tour de force, not only stimulated and/or outraged, but probably made more careers than any historian since Charles A. Beard. Attacking or footnoting his basic thesis became a leading cottage industry. That salubrious spread effect began to slow even before Jimmy Carter proclaimed our national malaise. The writing (or at least the publication) of revisionist-oriented diplomatic history fell from 25-30 percent of the whole in

A Guide to Ems: With an Account of Its Thermal Waters.

Somebody put into my hands this guide to the thermal waters of Ems, fifth edition, issued in 1883. It called to mind the more leisurely days of the last century and the interesting problems of therapy at a time when there were few specifics, but many spas. The spas were exploited widely. No doubt in many instances there was real therapeutic benefit. Some years ago I reviewed the rise and fall of the great water-cure and healing-spring cult in Virginia where the salubrious effect of leading people out of the regions where malaria and yellow fever prevailed was a real benefit. In part, no doubt, the rest-cure, the marriage mart for the elite, and the change of scene were tonic for the spirit and for the body. The placebo effect of pouring noisome sulfurous waters down the gullet revived in some the residual heroism felt as children eating strange medicines