Letters.Is phonics the answer? That six college students in London should require more brain activity than Italian students in decoding words ("Readers' brains go native," SN: 1/22/00, p. 58) is consistent with the use of whole-language methods favored in London classrooms when these respondents were young. For people not trained in phonics, word decoding is more difficult. A more complete study would include students from Scotland, where phonics instruction was more likely. Kevin C. Killion Kenilworth, Ill. NO news? Not quite As stated in the article "NO news" (SN: 1/29/00, p. 78), nitric oxide nitric oxide or nitrogen monoxide, a colorless gas formed by the combustion of nitrogen and oxygen as given by the reaction: energy + N2 + O2 → 2NO; m.p. −163.6°C;; b.p. −151.8°C;. is a recognized and commonly monitored pollutant. It would be of interest to see the incidence of sicklecell disease plotted against NO pollution levels for similar populations. Sufficient data are probably already available. Ken Martwick Fall Creek Fall Creek is the name of several places in the United States:
Pump up the research Your article on microbial-efflux-pump research ("Keeping bugs from pumping drugs," SN: 2/12/00, p. 110) immediately caused me to relate the phenominum to immune system immune system Cells, cell products, organs, and structures of the body involved in the detection and destruction of foreign invaders, such as bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells. Immunity is based on the system's ability to launch a defense against such invaders. response. Have the researchers considered the possibility of such a response triggering the formation of efflux efflux Medtalk That which flows outward pumps, either specific to the triggering "foreign" body or to a group of bodies similar to the cow pox-small pox pox (poks) any eruptive or pustular disease, especially one caused by a virus, e.g., chickenpox, cowpox, etc. pox n. 1. link? Robert E. Hubbard Winter Haven Winter Haven, resort city (1990 pop. 24,725), Polk co., central Fla; settled 1883. It is a marketing, processing, and shipping center for one of the state's chief citrus-fruit regions, with fruit-canning plants and packing houses. , Fla. The subject is a good one for future research, says Paul M. Tulkens of the Catholic University of Louvan in Brussels, Belgium. He is unaware of any current research on the topic, although last year researchers showed that antibodies could inhibit an efflux pump found in cancer cells cells once believed to be peculiar to cancers, but now know to be epithelial cells differing in no respect from those found elsewhere in the body, and distinguished only by peculiarity of location and grouping. See also: Cancer that have multidrug resistance multidrug resistance, n the adaptation of tumor cells or infectious agents to resist chemotherapeutic agents. . -- D. Christensen Take the short view, too "As globe warms, atmosphere keeps its cool" (SN: 1/22/00, p. 53) fails to point out interesting aspects of the land and ocean temperature data shown in the article. During the period from about 1918 until 1943, land and ocean temperatures rose at a rate of about 18 [degrees] C per millennium. From 1943 until about 1975, the temperature was constant or declined slightly. A period of constant or slightly declining temperature also occurred prior to 1918. A theory of global temperature change should account for both the long-term trend in the data (about 6 [degrees] C per millennium) and the short-term trends. Joe De Maio Mountain View, Calif. A fair assessment I'm glad to see that other mathematicians are working on the fair-division problem ("A fair deal for housemates," SN: 2/26/00, p. 141). The challenge is not so much with the optimizing-allocating procedures or algorithms but with how to explain the process and results in a way that is satisfying, understandable, and binding to the participants without seeming to benefit some distant party, like the landlord or the market. Mike Chambreau Los Altos, Calif. |
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