Drexel University

About: Drexel University is a education organization based out in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 26770 authors who have published 51438 publications receiving 1949443 citations. The organization is also known as: Drexel & Drexel Institute.

Global marital satisfaction versus marital adjustment: An empirical comparison of three measures.

Abstract: Two measures of marital satisfaction, the Quality of Marriage Index (R. Norton, 1983) and the Relationship Satisfaction Questionnaire (D. D. Burns & S. L. Sayers, 1992) were compared to a measure of marital adjustment, the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (G. B. Spanier, 1976). The measures showed excellent convergent validity (high correlations among each other and with other measures of marital functioning) and discriminant validity (low or nonsignificant correlations with psychopathology subscales). However, spouses' ratings of frequency of disagreements differed significantly from their ratings of satisfaction in the same areas. Formulas for converting scores among the measures are given, and the measures were found to have modest classification powers. The relative advantages and disadvantages of adjustment and satisfaction measures are discussed, and recommendations are made for when to use each type of measure

Capacitive Energy Storage from −50 to 100 °C Using an Ionic Liquid Electrolyte

Abstract: Relying on redox reactions, most batteries are limited in their ability to operate at very low or very high temperatures. While performance of electrochemical capacitors is less dependent on the temperature, present-day devices still cannot cover the entire range needed for automotive and electronics applications under a variety of environmental conditions. We show that the right combination of the exohedral nanostructured carbon (nanotubes and onions) electrode and a eutectic mixture of ionic liquids can dramatically extend the temperature range of electrical energy storage, thus defying the conventional wisdom that ionic liquids can only be used as electrolytes above room temperature. We demonstrate electrical double layer capacitors able to operate from -50 to 100 °C over a wide voltage window (up to 3.7 V) and at very high charge/discharge rates of up to 20 V/s.

Pharmacological regulation of calmodulin

Abstract: A number of psychotropic drugs, particularly the phenothiazines and related antipsychotic compounds, inhibit a variety of calmodulin-dependent enzymes. The mechanism by which these compounds inhibit the activity of calmodulin is through a selective calcium-dependent binding to this protein. With the notable exception of certain stereoisomers, compounds that are clinically effective antipsychotic agents showed the greatest degree of binding to calmodulin. Other classes of pharmacological agents, including aminergic agonists and antagonists, and nonspecific central nervous system depressants and stimulants, showed little or no binding to calmodulin. In fact, the specificity with which antipsychotic drugs bind to calmodulin suggests the possibility of screening for new and clinically more effective antipsychotic agents based on their selective binding to calmodulin. Certain neuropeptides that produce behavioral effects in animals also were found to inhibit the activity of calmodulin, suggesting that there may be endogenous psychotogens or antipsychotic peptides that interact with calmodulin. Although under ordinary conditions the binding of antipsychotics to calmodulin is reversible, the binding of phenothiazine antipsychotics to calmodulin can be made irreversible either photochemically by ultraviolet irradiation, or enzymatically by a hydrogen peroxide-peroxidase system. Such a labeling technique should prove to be a useful tool to study the localization and turnover of calmodulin. These results indicate that several of the diverse biochemical actions of antipsychotic agents can be explained by a common mechanism, namely, by their binding to and inhibition of calmodulin, and raise the possibility that calmodulin may serve as one of the cellular receptors for certain antipsychotic compounds. However, further studies must be completed before we can state with any degree of certainty that these in vitro biochemical findings can explain the pharmacological and clinical actions of the antipsychotics.