The development of culturally-sensitive measures for research on ageing

Attempts to import existing measures developed in other countries when constructing research instruments for use with older people can result in several problems including inappropriate wording, unsuitable response sets, and insufficient attention to cultural nuances. This paper addresses such problems by discussing a mixed methods approach to measurement development (i.e. both qualitative and quantitative) that incorporates input from the aging adults for whom the measure is intended. To test this approach, a step-by step process to the development of a culturally-grounded measure for older Thai people is described. Using focus groups and in-depth interviews, the process begins with an identification of the culturally meaningful domains of the construct under study. Next, input is gathered from other studies; a preliminary quantitative measure is developed; the measure is reviewed by a panel of experts; and then it is pilot-tested. Cognitive interviews are utilized when pilot-testing of the items detects problems with measurement construction or interview methods. When these problems are remedied, the measure is incorporated into a large-scale survey and tested for its psychometric qualities. In addition to providing a template for culturally-sensitive measurement development in gerontology, this paper also highlights issues that researchers should consider when attempting to develop measures and provides suggestions for how to address such issues.     

Sialic acid, electrophoretic mobility and transmembrane potentials of the Amphiuma red cell

Red cells from the giant salamander Amphiuma means are shown to contain sialic acid. The amount removed by the action of neuraminidase is equal to that released by acid hydrolysis, indicating that all of the sialic acid is present on the outer surface of the plasma membrane. These cells have a negative electrophoretic mobility and 100% enzymatic removal of sialic acid results in a 40% reduction in the mobility, suggesting that either a fraction of the sialic acid carboxyl groups are unavailable to the action of external electric fields, or other negatively charged groups contribute to the surface charge. A further reduction in mobility of normal and sialic acid-free cells is caused by an increased extracellular calcium concentration. The negative groups affected by calcium are most likely to be phosphate groups, since the isoelectric point of the cells is found to lie between the pK values for H₂PO₄⁻ groups and the carboxyl groups of sialic acid. Membrane potentials of single cells, from which 80% or more of the total sialic acid had been removed, were identical to those measured in normal cells, confirming that sialic acid plays little, if any, direct role in the maintenance of membrane potentials and ionic permeabilities.     

Vitellogenesis in the milkweed bug,Oncopeltus fasciatus Dallas (Hemiptera). A light and electron microscopic investigation

Histochemical and electron microscopic methods have revealed that there are four types of cell inclusions in the late vitellogenic oocytes of Oncopeltus. (a) Type 1 is a vacuole which seems to be contributed from the tropharium via the nutritive tubes. It is suggested that this type consists partly at least of nucleolus-like material (ribonucleoprotein) emitted from the nuclei of the Zone III trophocytes. (b) Type 2 is lipid yolk which in early stage oocytes seems to be produced in the “Balbiani body.” In the vitellogenic oocytes these lipid spheres are apparently imported by the oocyte from the haemolymph either through the follicle cells, or through the extracellular space in the follicular epithelium. (c) Type 3 is carbohydrate/protein yolk where at least part of the protein (“vitellogenic protein”) is taken up from the haemolymph, transported through the extracellular space in the follicular epithelium, and deposited into the oocyte by pinocytosis. (d) Glycogen is deposited from the early phases of vitellogenesis. The tropharium may contribute, besides Type 1 vacuoles, ribosomes, mitochondria, stacks of annulated lamellae, and “food vacuoles” to the oocytes. Specialized cells which line the tropharium and send projections toward the trophic core have been called “peripheral trophocytes.” Contrary to the regular trophocytes, they contain glycogen and an abundance of Golgi complexes.     

Properties of a murine monocytic tumor cell line J-774 in vitro. II. Enzyme activities.

Lysosomal enzyme activities, collagen degrading activity and sensitivity to bacterial infection were tested in a murine monocytic cell line, J-774, during cultivation with or without fetal calf serum (FCS) or endotoxin, and compared with the same parameters in normal murine peritoneal macrophages. The basic intracellular level of two out of three lysosomal enzyme activities tested (acid phosphatase and β-glucuronidase) and their extracellular release were higher in the J-774 cells than in normal macrophages, indicating that the tumor cells were more “activated”. This was further supported by the moderate increase in intracellular enzyme activities after FCS and endotoxin stimulation of the J-774 cells. Normal macrophages showed a much more impressive rise in these parameters after stimulation. Collagen-degrading activity was found at the same magnitude, or lower, in tumor cell cultures, compared to normal macrophage cultures. However, the activity in the tumor cultures was enhanced by endotoxin stimulation. The J-774 cells showed a higher sensitivity to bacterial contamination, tested after E. coli addition to the cultures, than normal macrophages. This high sensitivity could be prevented by pretreatment of the tumor cells with endotoxin.     

Investigations of the Therapeutig and Prophylactic Effects of Disc Evacuation in Cases of Thoraco-Lumbar Herniated Discs in Dogs

The author describes a method for the fenestration and evacuation of degenerated discs in the thoraco-lumbar region of the dog using a lateral approach. This lateral approach makes it possible to reach the entire area of the nucleus pulposus. With the method described, all of the discs in the region of T9/T10—L5/L6 can be evacuated at the same time. The author presents 88 operated cases which showed light or moderate signs of thoraco-lumbar disc herniation, i.e. dogs which displayed pain and/or varying grades of paresis, but retained the ability to walk on their hind legs. The author compares the results of this surgical treatment with the results of the conservative treatment of 128 cases. No significant difference in respect to the mean recovery time was seen between the 2 groups, but the progression of the attack into paraplegia did not occur in the surgically treated material, while such a progression was seen in 4 cases in the conservative material. The greatest value of the disc evacuation, according to the author's investigations, seems to be its prophylactic effect against recurrence. If all of the radiologically degenerated discs in the affected area are evacuated, it appears that one achieves almost complete prophylaxis for some years.     

Alkaloid chemotaxonomy of Nordic Papaver sect. Scapiflora (Papaveraceae)

A chemotaxonomic study of the Nordic Papaver species belonging to the Scapiflora group has been carried out by means of gas chromatography (GC), mass spectro-graphy (MS), and thin layer chromatography (TLC). The data obtained were analysed by the aid of hard and fuzzy clustering. Of the alkaloids identified, protopine and allocryptopine were found in all species investigated (i.e. Papaver radicaium - including all subspecies - P. dahlianum, P. lapponicum , and P. laesiadianum ). Protopine and allocryptopine were the only alkaloids found in P. dahlianum, P. lapponicum , and P. laesiadianum . In addition O -methylthalisopavine was found in all investigated subspecies of P. radicatum; reframine in P. radicatum sspp. ovatilobum, gjaerevollii, groevudalense, intermedium, oeksendalense, radicatum, relictum , and subglobosum; reframidine in ssp. hyperboreum; cryptopine in sspp. ovatilobum, gjaerevollii, groevudalense, relictum, subglobosum, macrostigma , and hyperboreum; muramine in sspp. macrostigma and hyperboreum; and amurine in sspp. relictum and subglobosum .
These chemotaxonomic results confirm the systematics of the Nordic Papavers of the sect. Scapiflora introduced by Knaben who based the taxonomy on morphological and cytological characteristics. Moreover, the content of alkaloids in the different isolated Nordic Papaver populations may be of plant geographical importance. There are, for instance, a marked chemical difference between all the South Norwegian subspecies of P. radicatum and the North Norwegian P. radicatum ssp. subglobosum on one hand and the rest of the North Norwegian subspecies on the other.