Malingering, and its study, is a topic in clinical neuropsychology that has generated a lot of controversy from testing the IQ of convicted murderers to litigation trails where plaintiffs demand compensation for mental or physical traumas incurred in their workplace. Tests such as these play a crucial role in a clinicians overall evaluation of a test subject.  A poor test may result in a failure to detect  cases of memory deficit malingering or detect malingering in genuine cases of memory deficits. The current review compares each test on the dimensions of sensitivity and specificity, the two vital dimensions of a test’s detection capability.

Many anthropological and biological studies detail indigenous people’s use of stingless bee honey to treat various ailments, such as bacterial infections, sore throats, and digestive diseases. The purpose of this study was to examine the optimum storage method of stingless bee honey produced by Meliponula bocandei and Meliponula ferruginea in Central Ghana, near Kakum National Park. Additionally, another of the study’s goals was to determine whether increased shelf-time would affect the honey’s antimicrobial properties during a series of bioassays against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an infectious bacterial species showing increasing resistance to man-made antibiotics.

Despite the many applications of Faraday Rotation (FR)  in optics and communications, the significance of this magneto-optic effect in chemical analysis has not been fully explored.  This study seeks to assess the effectiveness of FR inlearning about the principles of chemical equilibrium and reaction kinetics.  The dependence of the Verdet constant on the concentration of FeCl3 in aqueous solution was investigated at 633 nm using Alternating Current (AC) FR.  The AC technique, which has been used in several other studies, utilizes lock-in detection which allows for the reliable determination of exceedingly small rotation angles, which in turn can be used to determine the Verdet constant of a given sample.

Ocean acidification is the process by which the world’s oceans absorb carbon dioxide and results in the formation of carbonic acid, which decreases the level of pH.  This process increases the acidity of the water and threatens many different calcifying organisms such as corals, sea urchins, whelks, crabs, and oysters. This study evaluated: (i) the difference between specimens of Crassostrea virginica (whole organism mass and length and tissue mass) in two natural pH conditions consisting of an area considered to be polluted and the other not, with respect to tissue mass and whole organism mass and pH of the location (ii) the effect of altered pH level in decreasing increments on half shell mass and length of C. virginica in a laboratory setting.

Cleavage of influenza A virus hemagglutinin (HA) via host cell proteases is required for entry into the host cell. The serine protease, TMPRSS2, has been implicated as having an important role in HA cleavage and activation. To better understand the role of TMPRSS2 for avian, human and swine influenza virus infection, a lentivirus was constructed containing a doxycycline-inducible small hairpin ribonucleic acid (shRNA) to inhibit the TMPRSS2 gene via RNA interference (RNAi).

Several studies have shown that there is a correlation between energy band gaps of crystalline binary oxides, and the electronegativity of atoms that make up each particular crystal.  Many attempts model energy band gap as a function of Pauling electronegativity – empirically obtained in molecular-gas phase; but we hypothesize that by using a different scape of electronegativity, called optical electronegativity, one can obtain much better predictions for band gaps of new oxides. 

Neurotheology encompasses areas of research that investigate the neurological factors involved in religious conviction and sensations (religiosity). Since the 1970s case studies of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy have offered insights into religiosity and have sparked interest in the pursuit of neurological correlates for religiosity. Following the theory that the temporal lobes play important roles in religiosity, attempts were made to induce religious sensations by stimulating these areas of the brain, however the results proved unreliable. More recent research has focused on the usage of neuroimaging equipment to identify areas of the brain that presumably mediate feelings of religiosity.

1 in 6 children and 1 in 3 adults in the United States are obese. Estimated costs in 2010 relating to obesity exceed $300 billion. Although the etiology of obesity may be well characterized, the advent of the epigenome has increased the complexity of pinpointing causes of obesity.

Gaucher’s disease is a pathology associated with intracellular accumulation of glucosylceramide due to glucocerebrosidase dysfuntion. Gaucher’s disease, type I in particular,  does not usually present with neurologic components; however, researchers and physicians have recently noted an increased incidence of Parkinsonism in patients with type I Gaucher’s. This review aims to highlight the previously unknown mechanism of Gaucher-linked Parkinsonism and to shed light on the future direction of linking and treating similar pathologies

The optical properties of metal nanoparticles have garnered researchers’ interests, since 1800s, owing to their strong extinction efficiency in the visible spectrum. With increasing interest in basic and applied nanosciences, the use of metal nanoparticles spans various fields like data storage, therapeutic purposes, biological sensors etc. This article describes a study, using numerical simulation, of the optical properties of nanoparticles as a function of their shape and size.

This paper describes the mathematics of the Enigma electromechanical rotor ciphers used by Germany during WWII. The research is focused on the contributions made by the Polish Cipher Bureau and presents their incentives for breaking Enigma encryptions. German operational procedure is included to show how redundancy measures allowed frequency analysis to be enabled, easing Polish efforts. Also included are the calculations for the strength of encryption granted by each component.

Non-destructive techniques for analysis of components of a sample are very beneficial and indeed essential (Nuevo and Sa´nchez 2011). X-ray fluorescence (XRF) is among the most cited analytical methods in literature dealing with the investigation of metals, crystals, and ceramics. It is also used frequently for research in environmental science, forensic science, and archaeology. However, XRF does not provide the ability to detect light elements (Z < 11) and compounds. This study aims to illustrate how quantitative and qualitative analysis can be performed on XRF data to extract information about compounds, overcoming the limitation of the XRF spectrometer in recognizing them.

The Nuclear Pore Complex (NPC) is a protein channel that communicates and transports molecules between the cytoplasm and the nucleoplasm. It has a complex structure composed of many structural proteins, mainly nucleoporins and transporter proteins, and its biosynthesis is an extremely regulated and cell cycle phase dependent process. Moreover, in the present review, it will be shown that this structure could play a decisive role in gene expression and in the pathogenesis of several diseases.

The college lifestyle is associated with both a high-fat diet and alcohol consumption. While the isolated effects of diet and alcohol consumption on cognition and behavior are well studied, there is little known about the effect of  both together. In this study, we created a mouse model of the college lifestyle in order to better understand the potential combined effects of a high-fat diet and alcohol consumption on cognition and behavior. Adult C57BL/6J female mice were exposed to either regular food or high-fat food and daily injections of either saline or ethanol. The Porsolt forced swim test (FST), open field, and novel object recognition test measured depression-like behavior, anxiety-like behavior and locomotion, and memory, respectively.

Colorectal cancer (CRC), commonly called colon cancer, is a cancer of the colon or rectum. Although colon cancer is highly treatable, the National Cancer Institute of Canada (NCIC) acknowledges it as the third most common cancer and the second most common cause of cancer-related deaths among Canadians. Scientific studies have shown that colon cancer is caused, in part, by the overproduction of a molecule called Interleukin-8 (IL-8), which is released from the surface of tumor cells. Once generated, IL-8 binds to specialized proteins, called CXCR2 receptors, on the surface of nearby cancer cells. Binding of IL-8 to CXCR2 produces signals within tumor cells that activate molecules called transcription factors. The activation of various transcription factors, including NF-kB and AP-1, via the Akt and MAPK signaling pathways, ultimately causes the growth and survival of colon cancer cells. Hence, reducing the expression of IL-8 by cancer cells may have therapeutic implications for patients suffering from colon cancer. Although various treatment methods have been developed to inhibit the production of IL-8, most techniques pose a safety risk to patients because they may interact with the human immune system in unpredictable ways. This review suggests that the safest treatment method to target IL-8 is the use of nano-particles, specifically quantum dots (QDs), to transport small interfering RNA (siRNA) into colon cancer cells. Once delivered, siRNA can silence IL-8 expression, reducing the risk of cancerous growth.

Short-term memory is an extensively researched topic in cognitive psychology, which has shown the impact of different covariates such as age, gender and time of the day, among others. However, the relation of different covariates have not been studied together, nor are there many studies conducted in which all or most of these confounding factors have been catered for. The current study was conducted to find out whether a definite pattern for the diurnal variation of visual short-term memory exists, if there are any gender based differences in these patterns, and whether the pattern of subjective alertness varies in an inverse relation to the pattern of visual short-term memory.

Flybys have been utilized in interplanetary spaceflight since the 1970’s. However, despite the experience and expertise regarding their use, the source of anomalous tracking data for multiple spacecraft as they flew by the Earth in the 1990’s and 2000’s, known as the flyby anomaly, remains unknown. This paper proposes some foundational techniques of setting up planetocentric reference frames to analyze the relative orbital motion of celestial bodies and flyby maneuvers of spacecraft, which could better examine the source of the flyby anomaly. Beginning with a geometric description of two orbits in the barycentric (center of mass) reference frame of the solar system, we performed two transformations to create the planetocentric reference frame: translating the coordinate frame onto the planet in circular orbit and then setting the coordinate frame to rotate with the angular revolution of velocity of the planet about the center of mass.

Rows of trees bordering agricultural fields, commonly called windbreaks, primarily serve to protect livestock and crops. However, they may also increase biodiversity and serve as foci for regeneration in agricultural landscapes. The effects of windbreak design on restoration potential and conservation have yet to be examined. This study focuses on the differences in understory plant diversity of windbreaks composed of native trees versus exotic trees on a farm in Monteverde, Costa Rica. The following questions are being addressed in this study: Is understory plant diversity greater in exotic or native windbreaks? Is there a difference in soil quality and composition between native and non-native windbreaks, and if so, could this be affecting understory plant diversity? What are the implications of these differences in plant diversity, if any, for biodiversity and forest regeneration?