Problems in the Psychology of Activity

My purpose today is to sum up a number of the postulates concerning activity as it is used in psychology, without introducing any new ones; and I shall do this with the following in mind. Until now I have used a system of concepts I proposed earlier with respect to an analysis of activity; of course, I should like to work out a position, first and foremost my own, on this system, and to reexamine it. On the other hand, I should like to pose a number of questions, such as: Is this system of concepts of any significance, i.e., is it able to work in psychology? Obviously, this system must be developed, which essentially has not been done in recent years. This system of concepts is frozen, without any movement. I personally was quite alone in this respect. All movement takes place with regard to various problems contiguous with the problem of activity, some more, some less; but in my opinion, the concept of activity has been developed highly unsatisfactorily. That is why I thought I should try, today, to sum up very briefly what I think is important.     

Problems of the Psychology of Memory in the Works of P. I. Zinchenko (On His 75th Birthday)

1978 marked the 75th birthday of Petr Ivanovich Zinchenko, well known to Soviet and foreign psychologists as an outstanding scientist who has made a major contribution to theoretical and practical research on the psychology of memory. He has published more than a hundred works pertaining to studies of various aspects of memory processes in man.     

Major Problems in Developmental and Educational Psychology at the Present Stage of Development of Education

In our country we have created a broad network of preschool institutions, the transition to universal mandatory secondary education is being brought to completion, and the role of non-school institutions in the upbringing of children is being considerably broadened. From all these developments is emerging a unified system of social education and upbringing of coming generations, and interaction of this system with the family is creating favorable conditions for shaping a new man, a worthy builder of communism. The present state of Soviet developmental and educational psychology as a scientific discipline is inextricably tied in with the requirements and prospects of the system of social education.     

What and How to Teach Future Teachers about Psychology: (A Few Principles and Problems of Psychology Instruction in Pedagogical Institutes)

The question of the content and methods to be used in a psychology course for future teachers must be decided in conjunction with what we take to be the main element in all our pedagogical work in the schools. The basic tasks in the field of national education have been posed by the new Program of the CPSU, and were given further concrete elaboration by the Central Committee Plenum of the CPSU in June of 1963; they can be successfully fulfilled only in the event that the main element of all our pedagogical efforts becomes the unity of upbringing [vospitanie] and instruction [obuchenie]. (1) The basic principle of Soviet pedagogy has always been that of upbringing. The job of upbringing remains important now primarily because communist consciousness is one of the most important conditions for the existence of the communist society. At the moment, however, the principle of upbringing has acquired a special, specific significance.     

Some Problems of Research in Social Psychology

The field of social psychology is the center of an extremely complex and ideology-laden controversy among Soviet psychologists. The complexity arises chiefly from the fact that in the era approximately bounded by 1930 and 1960 there was no research carried out in the USSR labeled "social psychology." All such research had ceased in the very early 1930s, replaced by the Marxist-Leninist theory of historical materialism that was said to make social psychology superfluous, if not harmful.     

The Development of the Brachiopod Crania (Neocrania) anomala (O. F. Müller)and its Phylogenetic Significance

The freely spawned eggs of Crania go through radial cleavage, embolic gastrulation, and the posteroventral part of the archenteron forms mesoderm through modified enterocoely. The blastopore closes in the posterior end of the larva. The ciliated, lecithotrophic larva has four pairs of coelomic pouches and three pairs of dorsal setal bundles. At metamorphosis, the larva curls ventrally by contraction of a pair of midventral muscles, which are extensions of the first pair of coelomic sacs; the larva attaches by the epithelium just behind the closed blastopore. The brachial valve is secreted by the middle part of the dorsal epithelium and the pedicle valve is secreted by the attachment epithelium. The second pair of coelomic sacs develop small attachment areas at the edge of the dorsal valve and become the lophophore coelom (mesocoel); the third pair of coelomic sacs become the body coelom (metacoel) with the adductor muscles. The posterior position of the closing blastopore is characteristic of deuterostomes. The ventral curving of the settling larva and the formation of both valves from dorsal epithelial areas indicate that the brachiopods have a very short ventral side as opposed to the phoronids. It is concluded that both groups have originated from a creeping ancestor with a straight gut.     

O(2) affinity of cross-linked hemoglobins modifies O(2) metabolism in proximal tubules.

Previous experiments using cross-linked tetrameric hemoglobins (XLHb) to perfuse isolated rat kidneys showed that high-O2-affinity XLHb improved proximal tubule function more effectively than low-O2-affinity XLHb. To determine how function was improved, proximal tubule fragments were incubated with albumin, Hb34 [half-saturation point (P50) 34 Torr], or Hb13 (P50 13 Torr) with Po2 values ranging from 22 to 147 Torr. ATP content reflected O2 delivery to mitochondria. Both XLHb increased ATP, Hb34 with Po2 >or= 47 Torr and Hb13 with Po2 相似文献   

Some Prospective Problems of Soviet Psychology

Soviet psychology meets the fiftieth anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution with outstanding achievements. It is sufficient to recall its success in dealing with such fundamental problems as those of the sociohistorical character of the human mind, of activity, and of consciousness. Moreover, new prospects, emanating from the profound changes of recent years, have opened up before psychology. These changes have involved a considerable broadening in the range of problems dealt with, an expansion of its connections with practice, a more intensive development of borderline investigations, and a revision of its methodological arsenal, consisting of the inclusion of mathematical methods and the wide use of electrophysiological and other objective indicators.     

Redesigning the substrate specificity of human O(6)-alkylguanine-DNA alkyltransferase. Mutants with enhanced repair of O(4)-methylthymine.

Human O(6)-alkylguanine-DNA alkyltransferase (MGMT) repairs potentially cytotoxic and mutagenic alkylation damage at the O(6)-position of guanine and the O(4)-position of thymine in DNA. We have used random sequence mutagenesis and functional complementation to obtain human MGMT mutants that are resistant to the MGMT inhibitor, O(6)-benzylguanine [Encell, L. P., Coates, M. M., and Loeb, L. A. (1998) Cancer Res. 58, 1013-1020]. Here we describe screening of O(6)-benzylguanine-resistant mutants for altered substrate specificity, i.e., for an increased level of utilization of O(4)-methylthymine (m(4)T) relative to that of O(6)-methylguanine (m(6)G). One mutant identified by the screen, 56-8, containing eight substitutions near the active site (C150Y, S152R, A154S, V155G, N157T, V164M, E166Q, and A170T), was purified and characterized kinetically. The second-order rate constant for repair of m(4)T by the mutant was up to 11.5-fold greater than that of WT MGMT, and the relative m(4)T specificity, k(m(4)T)/k(m(6)G), was as much as 75-fold greater. In competition experiments with both substrates present, the mutant was 277-fold more sensitive to inhibition by m(4)T than WT MGMT. This mutant, and others like it, could help elucidate the complex relationship between adduction at specific sites in DNA and the cytotoxicity and mutagenicity of alkylating agents.     

Characterization of O(6)-methylguanine-DNA-methyltransferase (O(6)-MGMT) activity in Xiphophorus fishes

We utilized a custom-synthesized double-strand oligonucleotide containing a single O(6)-methylguanine (O(6)-MG) residue within a restriction endonuclease recognition site to determine O(6)-methylguanine-DNA-methyltransferase (O(6)-MGMT) activity in various tissue extracts prepared from Xiphophorus fish. The results suggest Xiphophorus fish O(6)-MGMT activity has many of the same characteristics as Escherichia coli and mammalian O(6)-MGMT's including rapid reaction kinetics consistent with stoichiometric removal of methyl groups, but exhibits a temperature optimum of 23 degrees C.Results from protein extract activity assays indicate O(6)-MGMT activity patterns among four Xiphophorus tissues followed the order: brain> or =testes>gill> or =liver. In mammals, O(6)-MGMT activity is high in liver, while activity in brain is minimal (i.e. approximately 9% of liver); however, we report that in the Xiphophorus fishes examined, brain tissue extracts exhibited much higher (approximately six-fold) O(6)-MGMT activity levels than liver. Comparison of O(6)-MGMT activity between Xiphophorus species employed in tumor induction experiments did not indicate significant differences in ability to clear the pre-mutagenic O(6)-MG from the oligonucleotide substrate.     

The Problem of Development in Psychology

1. The problem of development in psychology hinges on the problem of the subject matter of psychology. This dependency is discernible in the old psychology and in its contemporary trends as well. Accordingly, the definition of the subject matter of psychology expressed by the formula "man as an active agent in the environment" will lead to a specific understanding of psychological development.     

Variation in the intersetular distance on filter setae of Simocephalus vetulus (O. F. Miiiler) (Crustacea-Cladocera)

SUMMARY. 1. The intersetular distance (filter mesh-size) of adult Simocephalus showed a two-fold seasonal variation in each of two ponds. In one pond the maximum intersetular distance was found in March, while in the other pond the maximum intersetular distance was found in September.
2. These seasonal changes in intersetular distances was positively correlated with changes in phytoplankton biomass (estimated by chlorophyll a). As food concentration increased (estimated by chlorophyll a) the mean intersetular distance of adull Simocephalus also increased.
3. The intersetular distances on fillcring setae also vary with the size of animals. There is a linear relation between body length and intersetular distance.
4. Variation in the intersetular dimension with body size may decrease competition tor food between adults and young.     

First Leningrad Conference on Problems of Engineering Psychology

The First Leningrad Conference on Problems of Engineering Psychology took place on June 23-24, 1964. It was organized by the Leningrad Section of the Society of Psychologists in the Leningrad Palace of Scientific-Technical Propaganda.