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The article focuses on variability in perceptual dimensions. The present study is an investigation of the differential variability of four dimensions of perception: discrimination, apprehension, comprehension and interpretation. The background for the problem is found in the different ways of investigating personality through perception. Researcher Else Frenkel-Brunswik has described the main alternatives as the "perception-centered" and the "personality-centered" approaches. Briefly, the perception-centered studies seek to describe relationships between perceiving and antecedent conditions. Alternatively, the personality-centered investigations describe relationships between personality traits and perceiving. The former search for the general laws, the latter for the kinds of individual differences in perception. Alternatively, however, the two approaches may be combined. To achieve such a synthesis, the first step is to establish the independent dimensions of perception. The second step is to investigate the kinds of variation in these dimensions as antecedent conditions were varied.

Platelets in patients with storage pool disease are markedly deficient in a nonmetabolic (storage) pool of ADP that is important in platelet aggregation. They are also deficient in ATP, although to a lesser degree. In seven patients with this disorder, including one with albinism, platelet 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) levels were reduced in proportion to the reduction in ATP (r = 0.94). Their platelets show diminished capacity to absorb [(14)C]5-HT, and the type of defect was similar to that produced in normal platelets by reserpine, a drug known to inhibit the uptake of 5-HT by the platelet dense granules. Storage pool-deficient platelets also converted more [(3)H]5-HT to [(3)H]5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid than did normal platelets, and the platelets in one of two patients studied contained increased amounts of 5-HT metabolites. The above findings, together with those reported previously, support the conclusion that the capacity of the dense granules (which may be either diminished or functionally abnormal) for storing 5-HT is decreased in storage pool disease; as a result, the 5-HT that enters the platelet may be more exposed to monoamine oxidases present on mitochondrial membranes. This diminished storage capacity (for 5-HT) may also explain why preincubating platelet-rich plasma with 5-HT for 45 min without stirring inhibits subsequent platelet aggregation by 5-HT to a greater degree in patients with storage pool disease than in normal subjects. The latter finding is also consistent with the theory that the aggregation of platelets by 5-HT is mediated by the same receptors on the plasma membrane that are involved in its uptake. The diminished release of platelet-bound [(14)C]5-HT by collagen that we found in these patients, as well as findings in previous studies, suggests that the release reaction may also be abnormal in storage pool disease.

A double-blind trial with pyrithioxine (Encephabol) was made witn 22 pairs of visually handicapped subjects who were equal in IQ scores and in chronological age. Although an improvement of abstraction ability was noticed, the over-all results were not in concurrence with the general tendency in relevant literature. A follow-up cross-over study is suggested.

1. Body weight was measured through forty consecutive illnesses in seventeen patients with oedema in association with chronic bronchitis and hypoxia. All patients were taking diuretic drugs at the time. 2. Body weight increased little as peripheral oedema and a raised jugular venous pressure appeared. The subsequent weight-loss during treatment was usually greater than the pre-treatment weight-gain. Body weight increased slowly in convalescence to equal or exceed hospital admission weight without a deterioration of general health or reappearance of oedema. 3. Total body water, exchangeable sodium and exchangeable potassium were measured in patients after treatment of the acute illness and clearance of oedema and again in six patients of the group 2-3 months later in convalescence. Total exchangeable sodium was normal or slightly reduced after treatment of oedema and in convalescence between recurrent acute illnesses. Even when gross oedema was present exchangeable sodium was substantially increased in only one of three patients studied at this stage. Total exchangeable potassium was invariably severely depressed. 4. Large changes of body tissue weight without comparable change in exchangeable sodium support previous evidence that oedema in hypoxic bronchitis is not simply a further form of congestive cardiac failure. 5. It is suggested that at least some of the tissue loss in acute exacerbations is a direct result of hypoxaemia and similar to that observed at high altitude. Part of the oedema fluid is thought to be derived from intracellular water released during dissolution of tissue matrix.

Duboisia samples were analyzed for scopolamine and hyoscyamine using GLC, by a slope ratio method, and by methods employing homatropine, tetraphenylethylene, and phenylacetyltropine as internal standards. Limits of precision were determined by the inverse prediction method. Phenylacetyltropine was the preferred internal standard. The alkaloids were silanized with either hexamethyldisilazane or N,O-bis(trimethylsily)acetamide to prevent dehydration to the apo forms. Samples from a commercial bale of Duboisia myoporoides were assayed. The alkaloid content varied considerably, depending on the sample position within the bale.