Comportamiento adaptativo de las personas con limitación funcional: la adaptación funcional de la vivienda en España

Introduction

Most elderly people or those with disabilities wish to stay in their own home rather than any other residential option, even when long-term care is required. The functional adaptation of homes is one of the key factors in doing this with safety and quality of life. This paper investigates whether people with disabilities (arising mainly from their advanced age) develop adaptive behaviours aimed at compensating for their functional loss through improvements in their home and environment, as well as knowing the covariables that explain it.

Fractionnement et analyse des complexes organo-mineraux de sols bruns et de chernozems

Résumé Les auteurs définissent plusieurs formes de matières organiques et procèdent à leur inventaire dans des sols bruns et des chernozems. Ils effectuent un premier fractionnement par tamisage destiné à quantifier la matière végétale figurée et à séparer les complexes organo-minéraux. Ils procèdent ensuite sur ces derniers, à des extractions chimiques en vue de déterminer les complexes organométalliques et les complexes organo-argilliques. Les résultats démontrent que les sols bruns étudiés sont formés d'agrégats de consistance très lâche, caractérisés par un fort taux de complexes organométalliques à base d'acides fulviques à turn-over très rapide. Ces propriétés contrastent beaucoup avec celles des chernozems qui sont constitués d'agrégats très compacts renfermant un fort taux d'acides humiques très polycondensés, liés à un taux élevé de complexes organo-argilliques, ces deux types de produits apparaissant très résistants aux dégradations microbiennes.     

Marqueurs Á spin construits directement sur le squelette carboné de sucres

Treatment of aldehydo-sugars with 2,3-bis(hydroxyamino)-2,3-dimethylbutane gave the corresponding 1,3-dihydroxyimidazolidines. Oxidation of these compounds gave, successively, unstable, free radicals having a 3-hydroxyimidazolidine 1-oxyl structure, then stable, free radicals having a 2-glycosyl-2-imidazoline 3-oxide 1-oxyl structure, which were reduced to stable 2-glycosyl-2-imidazoline 1-oxyl compounds. The orientation of the two last-named series of compounds around the σ bond between carbohydrate and heterocyclic residues that bears the radical centre is indicated by the value of the hyperfine coupling aH of the carbohydrate proton nearest to the nitrogenous heterocyclic residue. The study of numerous compounds of both series shows that the value of the hyperfine coupling depends greatly on the structure of the carbohydrate residue. A general explanation based on the preponderance of eclipsed forms and on the primary influence of steric hindrance due to the substituents of the carbohydrate residue is proposed. This study also gives some indirect information on the conformation of diamagnetic compounds that show little sterical difference, and about which ¹H-n.m.r. spectroscopy does not provide useful information.     

Diurnal variations of plasma testosterone in men

Plasma testosterone (T) levels were assayed by a Competitive Protein Binding (CPB) technique in a group of 31 healthy males. In 22 subjects a single blood sample was taken between 8:00 and 9:00 A.M. and the mean T concentration was 6.84 ± 2.11 ng/ml. In the other 9 normal men, blood samples were taken every 4 hours. The existence of temporal variations for testosterone was confirmed by finding the highest mean plasma levels at 4:00 A.M. (9.28 ± 1.17 ng/ml) and lowest mean levels at 8:00 P.M. (2.66 ± 0.52 ng/ml).     

Introduction to fish imagery in art

Synopsis Fish have been the subject of works of art for at least 14000 years and appeared in primitive art from many cultures. In ancient civilizations of the West, fishes were a constant, if infrequent, motif. Fish designs in ancient Egypt were common and showed little change for 1500 years. Decorative fish designs of the Greeks and Romans (often with mythological significance) were adopted by early Christians as religious symbols. With the development of printing, the non-religious depiction of fish became more widespread and realistic paintings of fish, especially still lifes, appeared during the Renaissance. This still life tradition reached a peak in 17th century Netherlands. After 1750, fish images appeared in many different contexts. Realistic painters showed the agony of newly-caught fish, dramatic marine scenes with fish, and occasionally freshwater fishes in their habitats. In the twentieth century, fish were painted by many modern artists, including Matisse, Picasso, Klee, Masson, Beckman, Soutine, Magritte, and Thiebaud. Some of these artists' fish images are pleasing, others are violent or ambiguously symbolic. In contrast, contemporary nature artists tend to paint live fish in idealized settings, a style with roots in 17th century still lifes and oriental brush paintings. In Japan and China, fish have been an important theme in art and their use has been highly symbolic. A survey of fish images in art shows that artists, like scientists, create mainly in the context of historical precedents.     

Michael Heidelberger as a Carbohydrate Chemist

The deoxyaldaric acids corresponding in structure to the 3-deoxy-2-C-(hydroxymethyl)aldonic (isosaccharinic) acids have been identified as products of treatment of various carbohydrates with alkali and oxygen-alkali. The structures of the acids were determined from the mass spectra of their Me₃Si derivatives on the basis of previously known, specific fragmentation reactions. The g.l.c.-m.s. technique was used, and g.l.c. retention data are given. The identified species are 2-deoxy-3-C-(hydroxymethyl)tetraric, 3-deoxy-2-C-hydroxymethyl-erythro-pentaric, 3-deoxy-2-C-hydroxymethyl-threo-pentaric, 2-methyltartronic, 2-(2-hydroxyethyl)tartronic, and 2-(2,3-dihydroxypropyl)tartronic acids. Their formation from 4-O-substituted uronic and ulosonic acids is briefly discussed.