It started with a dream: Paul's dream (Acts 16,9?10) and Aeneas as a biblical example of dreams as intercultural legitimation strategy.

Dreams are often used to promote religion, or to propagate an interpretation of religion, or to bring political ideas to the fore. A dream can be used as an indication of divine help and thus it is a perfect tool for promoting ideas. Dreams figure in religious propaganda in Christian, Jewish, and Muslim traditions (e.g., in Osama bin Laden's tapes). In classical literature, we find many kings, emperors, or generals who had visions or dreams, especially in association with their accession to power. It is the thesis of this article that in the encounter between Jewish (-Christian) cultures and the Hellenistic world dreams were shared as possible means of divine communication. An important example is the dream in Acts 16,9?10, the most Hellenistic dream of the New Testament. This dream is part of a larger unit, Paul's new move from Asia to Europe. I will try to show that the author of Acts combines here the story of Aeneas (e.g., as told by Virgil) and the story of Jesus, an interesting merging of two cultures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Detection of Staphylococcal Enterotoxin A,B, and C in Milk By an Elisa Procedure

Enterotoxigenic reference strains of Staphylococcus aureus were cultivated in sterile whole and skim milk for 18 h at 37°G. Staphylococcal enterotoxin A, B, and C were detected directly in the milk by an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), sensitive down to 1 ng/ml. Enterotoxins in the range of 1 ng–20 µg/ml milk were detected without any concentration or extraction. Skim and whole milk were almost identical as medium for enterotoxin production.     

Can transposable element copy number distribution parameters be estimated from natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster?

The copy frequency distribution of a transposable element family in a Drosophila melanogaster natural population is generally characterised by the values of the Charlesworths' model parameters α and β (Charlesworth & Charlesworth, 1983). The estimation of these parameters is made using the observed distribution of the occupied sites in a population sample. Several results have been interpreted as due either to the influence of stochastic factors or to deterministic factors (transposition, excision, selection…). The accuracy of this method was tested by estimations performed on samples from simulated populations. The results show that with the sample size usually used for natural population studies, the confidence intervals are too large to reasonably deduce either the element copy number distribution or the values of transposition and excision rate and selective coefficients.     

Characterization of Met-139 as the photolabeled amino acid residue in the steroid binding site of sex hormone binding globulin using delta 6 derivatives of either testosterone or estradiol as unsubstituted photoaffinity labeling reagents.

Immunopurified human sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) was photoinactivated and photolabeled by radioinert and radioactive photoaffinity labeling steroids delta 6-testosterone (delta 6-T) and delta 6-estradiol (delta 6-E2). The maximal levels of specific incorporation of these two reagents were 0.50 and 0.33 mol of label/mol of SHBG, respectively. Covalently labeled SHBG fractions were citraconylated, reduced, carboxymethylated, and cleaved by trypsin. Separation of tryptic digests by reverse-phase liquid chromatography gave single radioactive peaks at the same retention times with both steroid reagents. However, the two labeled peptidic fractions could be distinguished by capillary electrophoresis and immunodetection with anti-steroid antibodies, whereas the covalent attachment of radioactivity was confirmed by thin-layer chromatography on silica gel. Edman degradation of the two labeled peptides showed a single sequence His-Pro-Ile-([3H]X)-Arg corresponding to the pentapeptide His-Pro-Ile-Met-Arg 136-140 of SHBG sequence. The coincidence, in both cases, of the absence of an identifiable amino acid residue and of the elution of the most intense peak of radioactivity at the fourth cycle of Edman degradation suggests that the same Met-139 residue was labeled by delta 6-[1,2-3H2]T or by delta 6-[17 alpha-3H]E2. Liquid secondary ion mass spectrometry of the two peptides showed [M+H]+ ions at m/z 939.8 or 923.8, corresponding respectively to the addition of delta 6-T or delta 6-E2 to the pentapeptide. The presence of the steroid molecule in the delta 6-[3H]T-pentapeptide conjugate was confirmed by the difference of 2 mass units with the [M+H]+ peak of the delta 6-[4-14C]T-pentapeptide conjugate.     

Comparison of the relative sensitivity of human lymphocytes and mouse splenocytes to two spindle poisons

Aneugenic compounds act on non-DNA targets to exert genotoxicity via an indirect mechanism. In contrast to DNA-binding agents, these compounds are expected to possess threshold levels of activity. Therefore, the risk for adverse effects following human exposure to an aneugen could be minimal, if the threshold of activity has been clearly determined in vivo and in vitro and providing the human exposure level is below this threshold. Thus, the development of a single-cell model to allow comparisons between in vitro and in vivo threshold values for aneugenic compounds is of importance.The in vivo micronucleus test is one of the main assays used in genetic toxicology, and is often performed in the mouse. Thus, an extensive database is available in the literature. However, there are only few data concerning the in vitro micronucleus assay using mouse cells, as the majority of in vitro micronucleus assays have been performed using human lymphocytes. In addition, there is a lack of data concerning thresholds for any compound using this model.First, we evaluated whether the use of mouse splenocytes would be an acceptable alternative to that of human lymphocytes to identify aneugens. To allow valid comparisons, the two protocols were first harmonized. Thus, phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and concanavalin A were used as specific mitogens for human lymphocytes and mouse splenocytes, respectively, in order to achieve similar cell-proliferation rates. To achieve similar and sufficient numbers of binucleated cells, cytochalasin B was added 44 and 56 h after culture initiation of the human and mouse cells, respectively.Second, we compared the sensitivity of the mouse protocol with that of the human protocol by exposing the cells to the aneugens nocodazole and paclitaxel.There was good reproducibility of the cytotoxic/genotoxic responses of the two cell models following exposure to the aneugens. The sensitivity of the mouse splenocytes to paclitaxel was higher than that of the human lymphocytes. The two cell types were equally sensitive to nocodazole.     

Potentiation of the antagonistic effect of ACTH11-24 on steroidogenesis by synthesis of covalent dimeric conjugates

Covalent dimerization of the adrenocorticotropin fragment ACTH11-24 increases its antagonistic potency on the ACTH-induced steroidogenesis in isolated bovine fasciculata/reticularis cells by 3 orders of magnitude when the C-termini are linked via a 10 A long spacer. This strong potentiation, probably mediated by cross-linking of the receptors, was shown to be dependent on the point of attachment of the monomeric fragment to the spacer, thus providing information about the position of the binding site in the hormonal segment and about the distance of the receptors on the cell surface.     

Staff Nurses’ Perceptions and Experiences about Structural Empowerment: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study

The aim of the study reported in this article was to investigate staff nurses’ perceptions and experiences about structural empowerment and perceptions regarding the extent to which structural empowerment supports safe quality patient care. To address the complex needs of patients, staff nurse involvement in clinical and organizational decision-making processes within interdisciplinary care settings is crucial. A qualitative study was conducted using individual semi-structured interviews of 11 staff nurses assigned to medical or surgical units in a 600-bed university hospital in Belgium. During the study period, the hospital was going through an organizational transformation process to move from a classic hierarchical and departmental organizational structure to one that was flat and interdisciplinary. Staff nurses reported experiencing structural empowerment and they were willing to be involved in decision-making processes primarily about patient care within the context of their practice unit. However, participants were not always fully aware of the challenges and the effect of empowerment on their daily practice, the quality of care and patient safety. Ongoing hospital change initiatives supported staff nurses’ involvement in decision-making processes for certain matters but for some decisions, a classic hierarchical and departmental process still remained. Nurses perceived relatively high work demands and at times viewed empowerment as presenting additional. Staff nurses recognized the opportunities structural empowerment provided within their daily practice. Nurse managers and unit climate were seen as crucial for success while lack of time and perceived work demands were viewed as barriers to empowerment.