To broaden the measurement of intolerance of uncertainty (IU) beyond self-report methods, recent research has examined the Beads Task as a behavioral measure of IU. In the present study, we enhanced this task to increase its ecological validity by maximizing decisional uncertainty and the importance of a correct response. Undergraduate participants (n=102) completed the Beads Task with instruct...

Previous experiments showed that the physiologic IgG anti-F(ab')2 antibody suppresses the response of human autoreactive B cells. In the present study, we analyzed the IgG anti-F(ab')2 antibody in 293 patients with cold agglutination (CA). Their average IgG anti-F(ab')2 titer was not much different (211 +/- 8.3) from that of 279 healthy persons (195 +/- 6.7). However, CA patients with high anti...

This report describes the isolation and characterization of second-site suppressors of a cold-sensitive (cs) external scaffolding protein, gpD, of bacteriophage phi X174. Seven genetically distinct suppressors were isolated. Six of them are located in gene F which encodes the major coat protein of the virus. The seventh is located in gene J which encodes the DNA-binding protein. A subset of the...

Frederick W. Alt Don L. Anderson Michael Ashburner Stephen J. Benkovic David E. Bloom Floyd E. Bloom Piet Borst Henry R. Bourne Michael S. Brown James J. Bull Kathryn Calame C. Thomas Caskey Dennis W. Choi John M. Coffin F. Fleming Crim Paul J. Crutzen James E. Dahlberg Robert Desimone Bruce F. Eldridge Paul T. Englund Richard G. Fairbanks Douglas T. Fearon Harry A. Fozzard Klaus Friedrich Theo...

QUESTION Many of my pregnant patients inquire as to what medication they can use when they experience symptoms of the common cold, such as cough, congestion, sneezing, and fever. I am hesitant to recommend over-the-counter cold remedies because I have heard conflicting information regarding the safety of these products. What is known about the safety of cold medications during pregnancy? ANSW...

The outcome of any interaction between a virus and host is determined by genetic and environmental factors and is manifest as either susceptibility to or chronicity of infection or severity of disease [1]. This interplay between host genetics and viral strain genomic sequence has been well defined in murine models of different viral infections, such as murine cytomegalovirus, retroviruses (Frie...

The daily TV advertisements endorsing various ways to prevent, abort, or cure the common cold produce little ripple in the scientific community. Even when "4 out of 5 doctors" chose the method, or a famous football player or movie actress swears by it, or a "controlled field trial" is cited, the ripple does not significantly enlarge. But when a world known and respected biochemist, a two time N...

An elegant recent study by Thomas Dufresne and Matthias Gromeier suggests that a causative agent of the common cold, coxsackievirus A21 (CAV21), is potentially neurovirulent and could, under the right circumstances, cause a poliomyelitis-like illness. CAV21 and poliovirus are members of the enterovirus genus (family Picornaviridae) and show remarkable genetic similarity. However, CAV21 causes u...

The development of a “cold-like illness” (CLI) usually requires infection with an upper respiratory virus such as rhinovirus, influenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenza virus, coronavirus or adenovirus, among others, and the development of sufficient signs, symptoms and pathophysiologies to qualify as being ill based on personal and cultural definitions. A viral upper respirato...