On the Content of Social Psychology

1. Attitude to the Discussion: A discussion of social psychology was opened in the pages of Voprosy psikhologii. [Translated in this journal, 1963, 1 (3), 32-38. — Ed.] This event has both a good and bad side. The good side is that, finally, the central organ of Soviet psychology has begun to speak about social psychology. Soviet psychologists will at last state their positive word about social psychology. The discussion will permit a more profound definition of the content of social psychology and will attract the attention of the Soviet public to the phenomena of social psychology. The bad side is that while much is said about the content of social psychology, the most urgent problems for Soviet social psychology is not so much one of its content as of the development of concrete methods and concrete investigations. A. V. Baranov's article [5] presents an incorrect understanding of the history and contemporary state of social psychology in the USSR.     

Editor's Note

This issue of Soviet Psychology — Vol. V, No. 1 — marks a new point in the development of English translations of Soviet psychology and psychiatry. Our original journal, published in Volumes I-IV as Soviet Psychology and Psychiatry, has given birth to two new journals: Soviet Psychology and Soviet Psychiatry. This will give International Arts and Sciences Press the opportunity to publish twice as much material from the fund of Soviet theory and research in the study of human behavior. The increased space in this new journal will allow for a broader coverage of Soviet work in psychology, as outlined in our last issue, the special Handbook of Soviet Psychology.     

Purine Nucleoside 3′,5′-Cyclic Monophosphates as Hormonal Modulators of Cellular Proliferation,Metastases and Lymphocyte Response

Abstract

A review of the potential role of cAMP and cGMP as hormonal regulators of tumor cell proliferation, metastases and lymphocyte activation reveals that several synthetic purine nucleoside 3′,5′-cyclic monophosphates are more potent and more selective in modulating certain specific responses than the parent natural cyclic nucleotides. cAMP derivatives have been prepared which will temporarily restore transformed cells to the normal phenotype. cAMP analogs may well be found which will selectively inhibit tumor metastases. Certain cGMP analogs could selectively stimulate the lymphocyte response toward the destruction of tumor cells. The synthesis of new cyclic nucleotides should provide unique nontoxic agents that could combat neoplasia on a hormonal basis.     

Directory of Soviet Scientists Engaged in Psychological and Psychophysiological Research

For purposes of space, and because the International Congress deals primarily with problems of psychology and psychophysiology, we have not included in this listing scientists engaged in purely psychiatric research. (Such a listing will appear in the next issue of this Journal.) The list includes all authors of relevant articles published in 1964 and 1965 in the journals Voprosy psikhologii (designated as V), Zhurnal vysshey nervnoy deyatel'nosti im. I. P. Pavlova (P), and Zhurnal nevropatologii i psikhiatrii im. S. S. Korsakova (K), and in all past issues of Soviet Psychology and Psychiatry (S) (1962-1965). Also included are authors of relevant books published in the period 1962-1965. The list has been augmented by information provided by members of the Advisory Board of this Journal, and by the trip reports listed in "Reviews in English of Recent Soviet Psychology: A Bibliography" (this issue). As we stated in regard to the Directory of Institutions, above, no doubt this compendium contains gaps and inaccuracies, for which we beg the indulgence of our readers and our Soviet colleagues. We have done the best we could with the material available to us.     

A high-affinity iron transport system of Rhizobium meliloti may be required for efficient nitrogen fixation in planta

We have analyzed the ability of single site insertion mutants of Rhizobium meliloti 1021 defective in various components of a high-affinity iron transport system to produce nodules, fix nitogen and promote plant growth. Our results indicate that a high-affinity iron transport system may significantly increase the ability of the differentiated form of the bacterium to fix nitrogen and induce an increase in plant growth.Abbreviations EDDA ethylenediamine-N,N-bis(2-hydroxyphenylacetic acid) - CAS chrome azurol S     

Mastery of Systematic Arrangement of External Properties of Things by Preschool Children

This article presents a concrete example of a technique designed to increase the information-processing capacity of children. Such techniques are part of a large program of research directed by A. V. Zaporozhets. For more work of this kind, see the next issue of Soviet Psychology, which will be dedicated to Venger's research.     

Studies of dotted,a regulatory element in maize

Summary Dotted (Dt) is the regulatory element of a two-unit controlling system in maize. Dt causes the inherited change from the recessive a (colorless) to its dominant allele, A (anthocyanin production), during the development of the stalk, leaves, and endosperm. The mutation events are observed as sectors of color in an anthocyaninless background.Since its discovery over 40 years ago, Dt has always been found in the terminal knob of the short arm of chromosome 9. This is puzzling because controlling and regulatory elements in general are not located permanently, but change positions (transpose) within the chromosomal complement. To resolve this seeming discrepancy, transpositions were looked for in a homozygous a Dt stock. Because the frequency of aleurone mutations is exponentially related to Dt dosage, a Dt transposition would result in a greatly increased number of dots if the egg or sperm nucleus contained both the transposed Dt and the Dt remaining on chromosome 9. A total of 6 transposed Dt's (Dt-T) were recovered in this manner. Dt-TA was found linked to the gene Y (yellow endosperm) of chromosome 6. Dt-TB no longer showed linkage with yg2 of chromosome 9, but remains unlocated (the original Dt in this stock is separated from yg2 by 6 or 7 cross-over units.). The remaining transpositions (C-F) assorted independently of Dt on chromosome 9.The transposed Dt's had the same effect as Dt on the frequency and timing of aleurone mutations. An increase in transposition frequency and losses of Dt-T's was characteristic of several of the transposed Dt's. Dt-T's B-F transposed so frequently that testcross ratios of 71 (three Dt' s) and 15 1 (four Dt' s) were observed. No secondary transpositions or losses of Dt-TA were detected. Thus, Dt-TA resembles the original Dt with regard to its transposition frequency and stability.Journal Paper No. J-8333 of the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station, Ames, Iowa. Project No. 1880.     

Acetone-butanol-isopropanol production byClostridium beijerinckii (synonym,Clostridium butylicum)

Isopropanol is a product of the organism formerly known as Clostridium butylicum, which is now included in the speciesClostridium beijerinckii. We tested 52 strains ofC.beijerinckii for their ability to produce acetone,n-butanol, and isopropanol. The 32 butanol-producing strains may be divided into two groups based on whether isopropanol was produced. Isopropanol-producing cultures accumulated acetone only transiently.     

A Reinvestigation of the Synthesis of 4-Thio-Pentofuranosides for Further Nucleosidic Synthesis

Abstract

We demonstrate that the procedure of Huang and Hui⁽⁴⁾, applied to the D-ribose and involving Ph₃P/I₂/Imidazole reagent system do not lead to the desired 4-thio-D-ribofuranoside derivative but gives its diastereoisomer 4-thio-L-lyxofuranoside derivative 4      

Ligand-induced sequestering of branchpoint sequence allows conditional control of splicing

Background  

Despite tremendous progress in understanding the mechanisms of constitutive and alternative splicing, an important and widespread step along the gene expression pathway, our ability to deliberately regulate gene expression at this step remains rudimentary. The present study was performed to investigate whether a theophylline-dependent "splice switch" that sequesters the branchpoint sequence (BPS) within RNA-theophylline complex can regulate alternative splicing.     

Inhibition of cultured cell growth by tungstate and molybdate

The growth of suspension cultured cells of Nicotiana tabacum (tobacco) was inhibited completely by 100 M tungstate. Even though molybdate reversed the tungstate inactivation of nitrate reductase activity, the growth inhibition was not reversed. The growth inhibition of N. tabacum, Daucus carota, Glycine max and Solanum tuberosum suspension cultured cells by tungstate was similar in media with or without amino acids as a source of reduced nitrogen. Only in the case of G. max was a slight reversal caused by the amino acids. Tungstate was slightly less inhibitory to the growth of a nitrate reductase-lacking mutant N. tabacum line (nia-63) than to the line with nitrate reductase. These results indicate that tungstate must inhibit the cell growth of the four species used, predominantly, in some way other than by inhibiting nitrate reductase activity. Similar studies with molybdate, a sulfate analog which apparently competes with sulfate at the ATP sulfury-lase enzyme, showed that 1 mM concentrations were completely inhibitory to cell growth. The addition of sulfate or cysteine, as a source of reduced sulfur, and amino acids, as a source of reduced nitrogen, in most cases did not reverse the molybdate inhibition appreciably. Some reversal was seen only by sulfate with D. carota cells and by cysteine plus amino acids with D. carota and G. max. These results indicate that selection for tungstate or molybdate resistance will in general not select for higher levels or other alterations in the activity of nitrate reductase or ATP sulfurylase, respectively, since these ions do not inhibit growth by primarily affecting these enzymatic steps in cultured cells of the four species studied.     

Antisense Knockdown of PKC-α Using LNA-Oligos

Abstract

Full-length and 4 nucleotides truncated Locked Nucleic Acid (LNA) modifications of ISIS 3521 were compared for antisense properties in a cellular assay. ISIS 3521 is a 20-mer phosphorothioate designed to hybridise to human protein kinase C-α (PKC-α) mRNA and is currently submitted to clinical trials against cancer. We report that LNA can potentate this antisense oligo and retain the antisense potential with shorter oligos.     

Backbone 1H, 15N, and 13C resonance assignments and secondary structure of the tollip CUE domain

The Toll-interacting protein (Tollip) is a negative regulator of the Toll-like receptor (TLR)-mediated inflammation response. Tollip is a modular protein that contains an Nterminal Tom1-binding domain (TBD), a central conserved domain 2 (C2), and a C-terminal coupling of ubiquitin to endoplasmic reticulum degradation (CUE) domain. Here, we report the sequence-specific backbone ¹H, ¹⁵N, and ¹³C assignments of the human Tollip CUE domain. The CUE domain was found to be a stable dimer as determined by size-exclusion chromatography and molecular crosslinking studies. Analysis of the backbone chemical shift data indicated that the CUE domain exhibits three helical elements corresponding to 52% of the protein backbone. Circular dichroism spectrum analysis confirmed the helical nature of this domain. Comparison of the location of these helical regions with those reported for yeast CUE domains suggest differences in length for all helical elements. We expect the structural analysis presented here will be the foundation for future studies on the biological significance of the Tollip CUE domain, its molecular interactions, and the mechanisms that modulate its function during the inflammatory response.     

Polymerization of amino acids containing nucleotide bases

Summary We have prepared the nucleoamino acids 1-(3-amino, 3-carboxypropyl)uracil (3) and 9-(3-amino, 3-carboxypropyl)adenine (4) as (l)-enantiomers and as racemic mixtures. When3 or4 is suspended in water and treated with N,N-carbonyldiimidazole, peptides are formed in good yield. The products formed from the (l)-enantiomers are hydrolyzed to the monomeric amino acids by pronase.Attempts to improve the efficiency of these oligomerizations by including a polyuridylate template in the reaction mixture were not successful. Similarly, oligomers derived from the (l)-enantiomer of3 did not act as templates to facilitate the oligomerization of4.     

Stochastic scheduling for multiclass applications with availability requirements in heterogeneous clusters

High availability plays an important role in heterogeneous clusters, where processors operate at different speeds and are not continuously available for processing. Existing scheduling algorithms designed for heterogeneous clusters do not factor in availability. We address in this paper the stochastic scheduling problem for heterogeneous clusters with availability constraints. Each node in a heterogeneous cluster is modeled by its speed and availability, and different classes of tasks submitted to the cluster are characterized by their execution times and availability requirements. To incorporate availability and heterogeneity into stochastic scheduling, we introduce metrics to quantify availability and heterogeneity in the context of multiclass tasks. A stochastic scheduling algorithm SSAC (stochastic scheduling with availability constraints) is then proposed to improve availability of heterogeneous clusters while reducing average response time of tasks. Experimental results show that our algorithm achieves a good trade-off between availability and responsiveness.

The Theory of Set in the Light of Reflex Theory

It is well known to all those acquainted with D. N. Uznadze's theory of set [ustanovka] (1) that this theory was meant to answer the question of "the character and inner structure of human activity" [11; 79]. But, as A. T. Bochorishvili correctly noted, we do not yet have "clarity in basic concepts. … Soviet psychology cannot yet go so far as to speak of the content of the basic concept of the psychology of set, of the content of set itself" [5: 15]. As a panacea for overcoming these differences of opinion, Bochorishvili proposes that we "widely and actively develop investigations of the theoretical bases of the psychology of set as D. N. Uznadze understood if" (ibid.).     

Fluorocitrate inhibition of aconitase. Reversibility of the inactivation

Fluoride ion is released nearly stoichiometrically when (?)-erythro-fluorocitrate is incubated with aconitase. The release of F^? parallels the loss in activity and could arise from direct displacement of F^? by a base on the enzyme or from dehydration to fluoro-cis-aconitate and attack of an enzymic base to release F^?. Aconitase inactivated by ¹⁴C-fluorocitrate does not retain radioactivity when passed through G-50 Sephadex or precipitated by ammonium sulfate. Fullenzymicactivity can be regained after either of these treatments by activation by cysteine and ferrous salts. These data are consistent with the report of fluorocitrate being a competitive (and non-competitive) inhibitor of aconitase (Villafranca, J.J. (1972) Intra-Science Chem. Rept. 6 (4), 1–11) which rapidly inactivates the enzyme. This inactivated enzyme may be a very labile covalent complex, a very tight complex between enzyme and fluoro-cis-aconitate or a tight complex between a defluorinated deravitive of fluorocitrate.In the course of Peters (1957) extensive work on the toxic effects of fluoroacetate, he determined that fluoroacetate was metabolically converted to fluorocitrate. This finding and the fact that citrate levels rise soon after ingestion of fluoroacetate led to the suggestion that fluorocitrate inactivates aconitase (E.C. 4.2.1.2).Recently, conflicting reports concerning the site of inactivation in mitochondria by the inhibiting isomer of fluorocitrate, (?)-erythro-fluorocitrate (1R:2R, 1-fluoro-2-hydroxy-1,2,3-propanetricarboxylate) have appeared (Eanes et al. 1972; Brand et al, 1973). Eanes et al. (1972) contends that the tricarboxylate carrier is the site of inhibition, while Brand et al. (1973) has compelling evidence that aconitase is the site of inhibition. This controversy is a matter of intrepretation of the results and a greater knowledge of the inactivation of aconitase by fluorocitrate may be useful in these interpretations. The results reported herein are concerned with the mechanism of inactivation of purified mitochondrial aconitase by fluorocitrate and demonstrate that this reaction is readily reversible.     

Resistance of bacterial film to contamination during use as inoculum in repeated batch fermentation

Summary AnEscherichia coli strain constitutive for -galactosidase was immobilized onto cotton cloth. The resultingE.coli film was used as a resident inoculum in repeated batch fermentations for 30 days in the presence ofBrevibacterium ammoniagenes added as a contaminant. Analysis of -galactosidase production shows that contamination did not decrease the capacity of the film to generateE.coli cells, or decrease theE.coli population on the film.     

Characterization of two β-glucosidase genes fromClostridium thermocellum

Summary Two -glucosidase genes, designatedbglA andbglB, were isolated from a gene bank ofClostridium thermocellum DSM 1237. The coding sequences forbglA andbglB were located on non-homologous DNA fragments of 3.2– and 3.4-kb, respectively. Both genes direct inEscherichia coli the synthesis of cytoplasmic -glucosidases, which differ with respect to substrate specificity and temperature profile. The properties of thebglA-encoded -glucosidase A closely resemble that of a -glucosidase previously isolated fromC. thermocellum cultures.