Psychophysiological effects of progressive relaxation in anxiety neurotic patients and of progressive relaxation and alpha feedback in nonpatients.

Gave 10 anxiety neurotic patients 4 sessions of individual instruction in progressive relaxation; 10 patients served as waiting list controls. 10 nonpatients were assigned to each of the same conditions, and an additional 10 nonpatients were given 4 sessions of alpha feedback. Nonpatients showed more psychophysiological habituation over sessions than patients in response to hearing 5 very loud tones and to a reaction time task. Patients, however, showed greater physiological response to relaxation than did nonpatients. After relaxation, the autonomic responses of the patients resembled those of the nonpatients. The effects of relaxation were more pronounced in measures of physiological reactivity than in measures of physiological activity. Defensive reflexes yielded to orienting reflexes more readily in nonpatients than in patients. There was also a tendency for progressive relaxation to generalize to autonomic functions more than alpha feedback. (56 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mass spectral studies on prostaglandins. IV--Prostaglandin F2alpha

The mass spectroscopic behaviour of prostaglandin F2alpha and its methyl ester has been studied. Mechanisms are suggested for the formation of the prominent ions in the spectra of these compounds. The proposed fragmentation pathways have been confirmed with the aid of low electron voltage spectra, measurements on metastable ion decompositions, high resolution mass measurements and deuterium labelling.     

Contraction and endothelium dependent relaxation via alpha adrenoceptors are variable in various pig arteries

OBJECTIVE: The aim was to examine differences in the vascular response to alpha adrenoceptor stimulation on both smooth muscle and endothelium among large arteries perfusing various organs. METHODS: In ring preparations of coronary, carotid, iliac, mesenteric, and renal arteries from pigs (n = 24), the magnitudes of contraction to noradrenaline (with beta blocker), with or without endothelium, and endothelium dependent relaxation to noradrenaline (with alpha 1 and beta blocker) were compared in vitro. RESULTS: In both endothelium-intact and denuded groups, the contractions to noradrenaline were significantly smaller in coronary and carotid arteries than in iliac, mesenteric, and renal arteries. The presence of endothelium significantly suppressed the contractions in coronary and carotid arteries, but did not affect the contractions in iliac, mesenteric, and renal arteries. The endothelium dependent relaxations to noradrenaline, which were abolished by LNMMA, were more prominent in coronary and carotid arteries than in iliac, mesenteric, and renal arteries. CONCLUSIONS: The contractions via alpha adrenoceptors were small, and endothelium dependent relaxations via alpha 2 adrenoceptors were large, in the coronary and carotid arteries, which perfuse the vital organs (heart and brain), as compared with those in iliac, mesenteric, and renal arteries. These results suggest that in the state of activation of the sympathetic nervous system, arterial tone in response to alpha adrenoceptor stimulation may be regulated not only by alpha adrenoceptors on vascular smooth muscle but also by those on endothelium, through release of endothelium derived relaxing factor (EDRF) via alpha 2 adrenoceptors.     

Modeling the alpha IIb beta 3 integrin solution conformation

The alpha IIb beta 3 platelet integrin is the prototypical member of a widely distributed class of transmembrane receptors formed by the noncovalent association of alpha and beta subunits. Electron microscopic (EM) images of the alpha IIb beta 3 complex show an asymmetric particle with a globular domain from which two extended regions protrude to contact the lipid bilayer. Distance constraints provided by disulfide bond patterns, epitope mapping, and ligand mimetic cross-linking studies rather suggest a somewhat more compact conformation for the alpha IIb beta 3 complex. We have studied the shape of detergent-solubilized alpha IIb beta 3 by employing a low-resolution modeling procedure in which each polypeptide has been represented as an array of interconnected, nonoverlapping spheres (beads) of various sizes. The number, size, and three-dimensional relationships among the beads were defined either solely by dimensions obtained from published EM images of integrin receptors (EM models, 21 beads), or solely by interdomain constraints derived from published biochemical data (biochemical model, 37 beads). Interestingly, although no EM data were employed in its construction, the resulting overall shape of the biochemical model was still compatible with the EM data. Both kinds of models were then evaluated for their calculated solution properties. The more elongated EM models have diffusion and sedimentation coefficients that differ, at best, by +2% and -18% from the experimental values, determined, respectively, in octyl glucoside and Triton X-100. On the other hand, the parameters calculated for the more compact biochemical model showed a more consistent agreement with experimental values, differing by -7% (octyl glucoside) to -6% (Triton X-100). Thus, it appears that using the biochemical constraints as a starting point has resulted in not only a more detailed model of the detergent-solubilized alpha IIb beta 3 complex, where the relative spatial location of specific domains the size of 5-10 kDa can be tentatively mapped, but in a model that can also reconcile the electron microscopy with the biochemical and the solution data.     

Stress relaxation and solid solution hardening of cubic ZrO2 single crystals

Solid solution hardening in cubic ZrO₂ single crystals of varying Y₂O₃ contents (12.7, 15.2, 17.7, and 20.5 mol %) oriented for easy 100 〈011〉 slip has been studied at 1400°C. Strain rate cycling and stress relaxation experiments have been performed to characterize the thermally-activated deformation processes. The strain rate sensitivity is very low at small strains but increases with increasing strain; the values measured by stress relaxation are greater than those derived from the strain rate cycling experiments, and the relaxation curves show “inverse” curvature at small strains. The athermal component of the flow stress originating from long-range dislocation interactions was estimated from dislocation densities obtained from etch pit micrographs. The dislocation density increases with increasing Y₂O₃ concentration, but the densities are too small to cause the appreciable athermal component of the flow stress; we believe that significant recovery must have occurred during cooling. The stress relaxation data can be interpreted by assuming that the deformation itself is mainly athermal, but that thermally-activated recovery takes place during the deformation; the Y₂O₃ solute may cause hardening by decreasing the diffusion kinetics. Alternatively, it is possible that the flow stress is controlled by the intrinsic lattice resistance of secondary slip systems.