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At least 271 records · Page 15Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

Comments on "Let there be life; thermodynamic reflections on biogenesis and evolution" by Avshalom C. Elitzur.

This comment is in response to a paper previously published in the Journal entitled "Let there be life", by A. C. Elitzur. Elitzur ascribes to Eigen the proposal that life began with the appearance of an autocatalytic (self-replicating) molecule. This was discussed by biologists and philosophers in the nineteenth century. Eigen's proposal is moot: there never was a primeval soup. The absence of evidence is evidence of absence. Elitzur also confuses thermodynamics with statistical mechanics. The statistical equation of Boltzmann and Planck for entropy appears in discussions of statistical mechanics, not in discussions of classical thermodynamics. Elitzur calls the Second Law of Thermodynamics an explanation of evolution. On the contrary, his mentor Eigen wrote: "In physics we know of principles which cannot be reduced to any more fundamental laws. As axioms, they are abstracted from experience, their predictions being consistent with the consequences that can be subjected to experimental test. "Typical examples are the first and second law of thermodynamics. Darwin's principle of natural selection does not fall into the category of first principles." The reader is invited to compare the material in Elitzur's paper with the discussion in Yockey's (1992) book, Information Theory and Molecular Biology, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

A comment on the preparation of liposomes from and on the beta in equilibrium alpha acyl chain melting behaviour of rough mutant lipopolysaccharide.

We would like to comment on the investigations of Vaara, M., Plachy, W.Z. and Nikaido, H. (Vaara, M. et al. (1990) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1024, 152-158) on the partitioning of hydrophobic probes in lipopolysaccharide bilayers. These authors reported that they did not succeed in preparing closed vesicles (liposomes) from rough mutant lipopolysaccharide. We describe the conditions under which lipopolysaccharide liposomes are formed most readily. We, furthermore, summarize data which strongly support the existence of thermotropic phase transitions of lipopolysaccharides (with transition temperatures lying in the range of 30-36 degrees C) contradictory to Vaara et al. who argue that such transitions are artefacts. Exemplary measurements of the beta in equilibrium alpha acyl chain melting for lipopolysaccharide from Escherichia coli deep rough mutant (strain F515) as compared to synthetic and natural phospholipids are presented using fluorescence spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. These results unequivocally prove the necessity to perform experiments at 37 degrees C for a determination of the outer membrane permeability under physiological conditions.

Hot Temperature↗
PubMed1993

Commentary: the cognitivist oversell and comments on symposium contributions.

During the 1980s the behavior therapy movement was infiltrated by cognitivists, people who believe that all maladaptive fears are based on wrong beliefs and all can be overcome by cognitive correction. This article asserts and defends the following propositions: (1) There are numerous maladaptive fears demonstrably immune to cognitive correction but removable by deconditioning. (2) These conditioning based fears constitute the majority, but there are also some based on mistaken beliefs. (3) Proponents of the cognitivist viewpoint have overrated the outcomes of cognitive therapy, because they have not realized the fact that conditioned anxiety is often inadvertently weakened by simultaneous competing emotions (nonspecific therapeutic effects). (4) This overrating led to the fiction that cognitive-behavior therapy is behavior therapy's best resource to overcome non-psychotic depression, a fiction that was exposed by cognitive-behavior therapy's inferior performance in the National Institute of Mental Health's Collaborative Research Project. (5) There is data to suggest that use of the full resources of behavior therapy would have produced notably superior results. The commentary concludes with comments on the other contributions to the symposium, From Behavior Theory to Behavior Therapy.

Anxiety Disorders↗
PubMed1996

Reading unspaced text is not easy: comments on the implications of Epelboim et al.'s (1994) study for models of eye movement control in reading.

Epelboim, Booth, and Steinman [1994 Vision Research, 34, 1735-1766] recently published an article in this journal in which they argued that "unspaced text is relatively easy to read" (p. 1760). From this they concluded that the spaces between words "are relatively unimportant for guiding reading eye movements" (p. 1760). We have serious reservations concerning these conclusions. In this letter we argue that (1) reading unspaced text is not easy for most readers and (2) there are more diagnostic ways to examine the role of spacing. We also comment on the implications for models of eye movements in reading.

Eye Movements↗
PubMed2004

Comment on "An alternative Avrami equation to evaluate kinetic parameters of the interaction of Hg(II) with thin chitosan membranes," by E.C.N. Lopes, F.S.C. dos Anjos, E.F.S. Vieira, and A.R. Cestari.

A history of using and applying Ho's pseudo-second-order kinetic expression for adsorption systems is presented. A reference section in a paper is important to researchers interested in the paper's statement and in following the study or finding useful information from the paper. This section is as important as the core of a paper. This comment offers information on citing the original idea of pseudo-second-order kinetic expression.

Chitin↗
PubMed2004

Comment on "Removal of copper from aqueous solution by aminated and protonated mesoporous aluminas: kinetics and equilibrium," by S. Rengaraj, Y. Kim, C.K. Joo, and J. Yi.

This study presents a literature review concerning the precision of over 80 publications which originally cited Ho's pseudo-second-order kinetic expression for solute sorption on various sorbents. This model applies to a range of solid-liquid systems such as metal ions, dyestuffs, herbicides, oil, and organic substances in aqueous systems onto various sorbents. A reference section in a paper plays a key role to researchers who are interested in the paper's statement and following study or finding useful information from the paper. This section is as important as the core of a paper; however, it is easily ignored by the author. This comment offers information citing the original presentation of a pseudo-second-order kinetic expression. It is also suggested that an author not only must be creative but also must be careful while writing in order to publish more valuable and papers more worthy of reading.

Comment↗
PubMed2005

Comment on "Adsorption of naphthalene on zeolite from aqueous solution" by C.F. Chang, C.Y. Chang, K.H. Chen, W.T. Tsai, J.L. Shie, Y.H. Chen.

A paper contributes not only by its originality and creativity, but also by its continuity and development toward subsequent research. Referencing and quotation accuracy are an important part of a scientific article. This study presents a literature review concerning the precision of 50 first authors' publications, which originally cited Ho's pseudo-second-order kinetic expression paper in kinetics model for solute sorption on various sorbents. This model applies to a range of solid-liquid systems such as metal ions, dyestuffs, herbicides, oil, and organic substances in aqueous systems onto various sorbents. In addition, citations of Lagergren and Elovich rate equations are also discussed. This comment offers information for citing the original idea of Ho's pseudo-second-order kinetic expression and Lagergren's pseudo-first-order kinetic equation. It is also suggested that the cited paper should be accurately quoted.

Adsorption↗
PubMed2006

Comment on "Electrorheological behavior of copper phthalocyanine-doped mesoporous TiO2 suspensions".

We comment on the electrorheological (ER) behavior of copper phthalocyanine (CuPC)-doped mesoporous TiO(2) suspensions. Our Cole-Cole plot not only fits the dielectric spectra of the two CuPC-doped mesoporous TiO(2) templated ER fluids with CuPC/cetyltrimethylammonium (CTAB) molar ratios of 0.10 and 0.15, respectively, but also provides a better explanation of their polarizability by differentiating their ER performance.

Comment↗
PubMed2006

Comment on "Factors influencing the removal of fluoride from aqueous solution by calcined Mg-Al-CO3 layered double hydroxides".

Lv et al. [L. Lv, J. He, M. Wei, D.G. Evans, X. Duan, Factors influencing the removal of fluoride from aqueous solution by calcined Mg-Al-CO3 layered double hydroxides, J. Hazard. Mater. B 133 (2006) 119-128] previously investigated the fluoride removal using calcined Mg-Al-CO3 layered double hydroxides (CLDH) as the sorbents. The present comment further discusses the mechanism of fluoride adsorption onto CLDH.

Adsorption↗
PubMed2006

In defense of the lexical-competition account of picture-word interference: a comment on Finkbeiner and Caramazza (2006).

On the basis of two empirical observations, Finkbeiner and Caramazza (2006) take issue with the generally accepted interpretation of semantic interference in the picture-word interference task in terms of lexical competition. As an alternative, they propose a response-selection account, in which semantic interference is attributed to the time needed to remove the inappropriate (word-reading) response from an output buffer. In this comment we argue that the empirical work discussed provides an interesting challenge for current models of language production, but that the authors' alternative account is at variance with at least three robust empirical findings in the language production literature.

Choice Behavior↗
PubMed2000

Minding the facts: a comment on Thompson-Schill et al.'s "A neural basis for category and modality specificity of semantic knowledge".

In this comment on a recent paper by Thompson-Schill et al. (1999) I argue that the authors failed to consider important empirical facts that are at variance with their favored theory of the causes of semantic category-specific deficits. I also argue that the predictions they make about fusiform gyrus activation on the basis of the interactive modality-specific hypothesis of semantic organization do not obviously follow from that model. I point out that simulations are needed in order to derive predictions from the model. Finally, I argue that the fMRI results they obtained are not obviously relevant to our understanding of the causes of semantic category-specific deficits.

Auditory Perception↗
PubMed1998

Unilateral spatial neglect in dissociable frames of reference: a comment on Farah, Brunn, Wong, Wallace, and Carpenter (1990)

We comment on a paper by Farah et al. in which it is claimed that averaged performance on a letter naming task by a group of patients with left unilateral spatial neglect (USN) provides evidence that spatial allocation of attention is defined by environment-centered and viewer-centred coordinates, but not by object-centred coordinates. We re-analyze the raw data from that paper, and present statistical analyses of the data from individual subjects which show dissociations in the coordinate frames used by the individual subjects with USN. The data from individual cases demonstrate that object-centered USN occurs alone (without evidence of USN in other reference frames) in some cases, and in association with USN in other reference frames other cases. In contrast to the conclusions drawn from the group performance, results from individual subjects provide evidence for the role of dissociable frames of reference, including an object-centred coordinate frame, in the spatial allocation of attention.

Attention↗
PubMed2002

Defining the value of a statistical life: a comment.

In a recent paper [J. Hlth. Econom. 20 (2001) 131] Per-Olov Johansson claims to demonstrate that a commonly used intuitive definition of the value of a statistical life (VSL) is wrong, and that empirical estimates of VSLs are biased estimators of what he defines as the theoretically correct concept of the value of saving a life. In this comment I first argue in favor of a theoretically correct concept that is different from Johansson's because it incorporates the risk of death into the individual's lifetime budget constraint. I then show that the common intuitive definition of a VSL in fact is consistent with the theoretically correct concept and thus, provides an appropriate empirical basis for estimating the value to society of mortality-reducing projects.

Data Interpretation, Statistical↗
PubMed1998

The physician as perfect agent: a comment.

This comment is focused on the nature of the agency relationship between the physician and the patient. Beyond the discussion of the relative merits of the empowered physician versus empowered patient model. it is argued here that two features need to be integrated for an adequate account of this complex interaction: the two stages of the physician's action (the diagnosis and the treatment) and the physician's double agency (to the patient and to the representative of the collective interest).

Decision Making↗
PubMed2005

Effect of Italian referendum on global IVF: a comment from Turkey.

The recent referendum results on the Italian law on assisted conception have created an intense debate among IVF researchers. Since controversy can exist regarding scientific, ethical and moral issues, as well as how things can be perceived differently in different countries, and as the authors practise IVF in a secular country where approximately 95% of the population is Muslim, this paper aims to discuss and comment on this issue as a response to the article by Manna and Nardo.

Catholicism↗
PubMed2005

Some problems of research on the association between blood types and suicide mortality: comment on Lester (2004).

This is a comment on the ecological finding of a negative association of national suicide rate and national proportion of people with Type O blood (Lester, 2004). Current knowledge on this topic is reviewed and several problems, limitations, and discrepancies within this research line are noted. Specifically, it is suggested that (1) this association appears to have been subject to attenuation recently; (2) available ecological evidence on this association is contradictory to both individual-level findings on the same topic and similar ecological-level findings pertaining to personality-related risk factors and antecedents of suicide; (3) a negative association of one of the four ABO phenotypes with suicide mortality does not help single out phenotypes with possibly increased suicide risk; and (4) genetic suicide risk factors may well be associated with other ABO phenotypes than Type O and may further coincide with other blood polymorphisms than the ABO system.

ABO Blood-Group System↗