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Purpose: Medical schools are being approached by direct-to-consumer genotyping companies about genotyping faculty or trainees as a method to “teach” them about the potential implications of genotyping. In thinking about the future incorporation of genotyping into a graduate level genetics course, the purpose of this study was 2-fold: first, to assess knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of students toward personal genomics as it related to themselves as both as customers and future physicians and as it related to consumers at large, and second, to determine the impact of the course (as taught without genotyping) on knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs.Methods: We surveyed first-year medical students and graduate students before and after a core genetics course.Results: After the course, students were less likely to believe that genotyping information would be useful to physicians, patients, or consumers; genotyping would provide information to improve their own personal health; or personal genomic testing services are diagnostic of medical conditions. They were more likely to answer knowledge questions accurately after the course but still had difficulty with clinical interpretation. Despite these changes, a slight majority of students were, and remained, interested in undergoing genotyping themselves. Of note, the number who believed genotyping “would help them understand genetic concepts better than someone else's data” decreased. General curiosity was the most commonly chosen reason for interest in undergoing genotyping, and approximately 50% of respondents expressed concern about confidentiality of results.Conclusions: In conclusion, even without the genotyping process, an educational program about genotyping increased knowledge, particularly about the clinical limitations of genotyping, but student interest in genotyping did not significantly change. Institutions thinking about offering genotyping to their students as part of a learning experience should consider the pros and cons of doing so.

SummaryWe carried out a study which involved DNA sequencing of a portion of the mitochondrial DNA COI-COII region of Africanized honey bees (AHB) from the USA. A total of 12 mitotypes were observed, of which seven have not been previously described. Of the 172 samples, two mitotypes, A1 and A1d, accounted for 77% of the observed mitotypes, while mitotypes A1a, A26c, A26d, A29a, and A30 were only observed once. A possible reason why these new mitotypes have not been described before is because previous studies on AHB in the new world have relied primarily on PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), which is less sensitive than DNA sequence data. Multiple mitotypes of ‘A’ lineage honey bees have previously been observed in South America and Mexico using PCR-RFLP and DNA sequence analysis. Our findings are consistent with previous studies of AHB genetic variation from central Mexico, Columbia, and northern Brazil, in that the A1 mitotype was more common than the A4. Maximum parsimony analysis revealed that all of the ‘A’ lineage Apis melliferamitotypes formed a distinct clade relative to representatives of the ‘M’, ‘C’, and ‘O’ lineages. Statistical analysis of the mitotype frequencies in the USA revealed an excess of low frequency mitotypes, indicating that the population size is expanding. The amount of genetic variation observed in Africanized honey bees in the USA therefore supports the idea that there have been multiple introductions of AHB into the country.

The rheological properties of dough and gluten are important for end-use quality of flour but there is a lack of knowledge of the relationships between fundamental and empirical tests and how they relate to flour composition and gluten quality. Dough and gluten from six breadmaking wheat qualities were subjected to a range of rheological tests. Fundamental (small-deformation) rheological characterizations (dynamic oscillatory shear and creep recovery) were performed on gluten to avoid the nonlinear influence of the starch component, whereas large deformation tests were conducted on both dough and gluten. A number of variables from the various curves were considered and subjected to a principal component analysis (PCA) to get an overview of relationships between the various variables. The first component represented variability in protein quality, associated with elasticity and tenacity in large deformation (large positive loadings for resistance to extension and initial slope of dough and gluten extension curves recorded by the SMS/Kieffer dough and gluten extensibility rig, and the tenacity and strain hardening index of dough measured by the Dobraszczyk/Roberts dough inflation system), the elastic character of the hydrated gluten proteins (large positive loading for elastic modulus [G'], large negative loadings for tan d and steady state compliance [Je0]), the presence of high molecular weight glutenin subunits (HMW-GS) 5+10 vs. 2+12, and a size distribution of glutenin polymers shifted toward the high-end range. The second principal component was associated with flour protein content. Certain rheological data were influenced by protein content in addition to protein quality (area under dough extension curves and dough inflation curves [W]). The approach made it possible to bridge the gap between fundamental rheological properties, empirical measurements of physical properties, protein composition, and size distribution. The interpretation of this study gave indications of the molecular basis for differences in breadmaking performance.

Baking performance of hearth bread and pan bread were investigated using 10 wheat varieties with variable protein quality. For most varieties, samples were selected at two protein levels, approximately 11 and 13% (d.m.). The effects of flour quality on loaf characteristics were different for hearth bread compared to pan bread, where both protein quality and protein content affect loaf volume positively in an optimised baking test. Hearth bread is more complex as both the form ratio and loaf volume are critical external characteristics. When using fixed proving time, the form ratio was positively affected by dough resistance and mixing peak time at high speed mixing, and negatively affected by dough extensibility. Dough resistance and mixing peak time correlated strongly to the HMW glutenin composition, whereas dough extensibility was related to protein content. In contrast to the form ratio, loaf volume was positively affected by dough extensibility, whereas protein quality had no significant effect. This was seen both for doughs produced at optimal mixing time at high speed mixing (126 rev/min) and for doughs produced at fixed mixing times at low speed mixing (63 rev/min). When proving time was optimised to achieve a defined form ratio, flours of strong protein quality should be proved longer than flours of week protein quality, resulting in higher loaf volume for flours of the strongest protein quality. With respect to protein content, the positive effect of protein content on loaf volume was counteracted due to reduced proving time when aiming for a defined form ratio.

Three wheat cultivars, Bastian, Polkka, and Tjalve, were grown in growth chambers at 9, 12, 15, 18, and 21°C during grain filling in 1994, 1995, and 1996. The wheat samples were analyzed for protein content and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) sedimentation volume. The mixing properties of sifted flours were determined by mixograph, and the flour protein composition was determined by size-exclusion fast protein liquid chromatography (SE-FPLC). The protein content, sedimentation volume, and mixogram parameters were affected by the temperature during grain filling. The protein content increased as the temperature increased. The sedimentation volumes and the mixograph data showed temperature effects that could not be explained by variation in protein content. The proportion of the polymeric flour proteins increased with increasing temperature. Positive correlations were found between the proportion of polymeric proteins and SDS sedimentation volume and, within each year, between the proportion of polymeric proteins and mixograph peak time. Negative correlations were found between the proportion of low molecular weight flour proteins (proportion of fraction IV) and sedimentation volume. The differences in these quality parameters among cultivars exceeded the effect of temperature during grain filling.

Sifted oat flour was processed at 25.0, 27.5, and 30.0% moisture content in a twin-screw extruder at screw speed 300 rpm. The preset temperatures of the extruder barrel were 120, 150, or 180°C. Raw material and extrudates were analyzed for the content of diethyl ether-extractable lipids, with and without hydrolysis, and the content of chloroformmethanol-water saturated butanol (C/M/WSB) extractable lipids. The lipid extracts were analyzed for fatty acid (FA) composition. Percentage distribution of palmitic, oleic, and linoleic acids were significantly different in the different lipid extracts. Extrusion processing influenced the amounts of extractable lipids, while FA composition was not affected.

The authors describe a nursing informatics experience for first-level graduate students in nursing. Three content areas were included in the course 1) achieving mastery of basic computer competencies; 2) evaluating emerging patterns and trends in electronic information processing; and 3) establishing electronic connection.

1. The effects of rat plasma and chicken pancreas have been appraised concerning their role in releasing bound folate from rat liver and spleen slices in vitro. Net changes in folate concentration of the bathing solution have been determined by bacteriologic assay employing L. casei as the test organism. 2. Both rat plasma and chicken pancreas extract enhance the release of folate from liver slices in comparison with saline controls. Rat plasma was as effective in liberating bound folate from liver as a 1:25 dilution of conventionally-prepared chicken pancreas extract. The evidence suggests that a considerable portion of liver folate exists in an insoluble form which is bound to cellular structures. 3. Mature red cells appeared to be impermeable to high concentrations of natural folate released from liver. 4. Spleen slices released folate to the supernatant fluid when incubated with chicken pancreas extract, although at levels approximately one-tenth as great as liver slices. When spleen slices were incubated for short periods with plasma, evidence was obtained favoring a flux of folate into surviving cells.

Owing to the marked vasoconstriction in the tail of rats during stress, it may be impossible to obtain blood samples from this source. During anesthesia there is minimal difference in the total white cell count in blood obtained from the tail and from the heart of rats. When vasoconstriction occurs there is an accumulation of white blood cells peripherically as shown by Quimley & Gofl(1952).The overall effect of stress on the white blood picture in the rat is a decrease in lymphocytes and eosinophils and in increase in polymorphonuclear leucocytes. The neutrocytosis is unspecific in the sense that it does not reflect the corticotrophin titer in the blood (Dougherty & White, 1944, Allison, 1955). The stress induced lymphophenia and eosinopenia is a »factor« of the function of the adrenal cortex (Dougherty & White, 1944, Lavenda et al., 1956) Jacobsen & Hortling(1954) have shown that adrenalectomy gives a

Bleisch & Robbins(1952) have reported 4 cases (collected from autopsy records) of cryptogenetic granulomatous involvement of the hypophysis, two of which were associated with hypophyseal deficiency syndromes. Of these cases, 3 were associated with a sarcoid-like systemic disease; one appeared to be confined to the hypophysis only.In the literature they found a further 50 cases of giant-cell granuloma without any evident cause, involving the hypophysis. Of these 16 were associated with hypopituitarism and in 23 the condition had apparently caused diabetes insipidus. They stated that these 54 cases probably included some cases of noncaseating tuberculosis of a healed or chronic miliary type, some cases of sarcoidosis, and possibly a case of healed syphilis and one of reaction to trauma.