Performance characteristics of postacute traumatic brain injury patients on the WAIS-III and WMS-III.

Publication of the third editions of the Wechsler intelligence and memory batteries in 1997 created a need for research identifying Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition/Wechsler Memory Scale-Third Edition (WAIS-III/WMS-III) profile patterns associated with neuropathology. The WAIS-III/WMS-III Technical Manual offers data on various diagnostic groups, including traumatic brain injury (TBI). Hawkins (1998) employed Technical Manual data to propose certain diagnostic guidelines. In order to validate the conclusions put forth by Hawkins as they apply to brain injury, we examined WAIS-III and WMS-III profiles in an independent sample of 46 TBI cases. As expected, the WAIS-III Processing Speed Index (PSI) was more sensitive to brain injury than other WAIS-III composites; and specific WAIS-III scores were stronger than certain WMS-III scores. On the other hand, the predicted relationship for WMS-III auditory and visual indexes was not found. The lack of specificity for TBI of the proposed index comparisons confirms the need to validate such hypotheses in independent samples.

A new photosystem II electron transfer inhibitor from Sorghum bicolor.

Our study of the mechanism(s) by which sorgoleone (1) acts as a photosystem II (PS II) inhibitor led to the isolation of a new benzoquinone derivative, 2-hydroxy-5-ethoxy-3-[(Z,Z)-8',11', 14'-pentadecatriene]-rho-benzoquinone (2), from the root exudate of sorghum. The structure of 2, which is being given the name 5-ethoxy-sorgoleone, was determined by spectroscopic means. A methoxy derivative (3) of 1 was also prepared. Both 2 and 3 caused a reduction in oxygen evolution by thylakoid membranes and induced variable chlorophyll fluorescence. These compounds, however, were less active inhibitors of PS II than 1.