Hormonal facilitation in the release of sperm from the spermatheca of the red-spotted newt

Several neurotransmitters and hormones with potential to trigger a simultaneous contraction of the oviducts and the spermathecal myoepithelium were examined. Saline (0.05 ml), or 0.05 ml saline plus acetylcholine (9 mg), norepinephrine (50 micrograms), arginine-vasotocin (25 units), prostaglandin F2 alpha (3 micrograms) were injected into the spermathecal region of female newts (n = 24 per group). The numbers of sperm present in the cloacae of prostaglandin-injected animals (107 +/- 30 SEM) were significantly greater than the numbers detected in saline (27 +/- 5 SEM) and in uninjected (14 +/- 3 SEM) controls. Smaller and less consistent increases in the numbers of sperm were detected in the vasotocin- and norepinephrine-injected groups. Study of sections from ovulating female newts failed to produce evidence that pressure from the passage of ova through the posterior portion of the oviduct forced sperm from the spermatheca. Observations indicate an active role for the spermathecal myoepithelium in the discharge of stored sperm and of a role for prostaglandin F2 alpha in triggering that discharge.     

The role of the adrenal gland in the control of intestinal absorption of macromolecules by the young rat

Résumé L'absorption de¹²⁵I polyvinyl pyrrolidone K. 60 par l'intestin grêle a été mesurée dans des rats dont les capsules surrénales avaient été enlevées à 3, 14, 16, 18 et 23 jours après la mise bas. Des animaux témoins ont été opérés sans ablation des capsules surrénales et ils n'ont plus absorbé le PVP 20 à 21 jours après la mise bas, mais lorsque les capsules surrénales furent enlevées avant 23 jours après la mise bas, le PVP a été absorbé environs 4 jours au-delà des délais témons.     

Projections of bulbar reticular nuclei and raphe nuclei to lobules VI and VII of cat cerebellar cortex]

Injections of horseradish peroxidase were made in lobules VI and VII of the cerebellar vermis (in the Cat). Serial frontal sections of the brain stem reveal that the lateral and paramedian nuclei were essentially projected onto lobule VI, and the projections from the raphe nuclei onto lobule VII.     

Plasma lipid-bound sialic acid alterations in neoplastic diseases

Summary Plasma lipid-bound sialic acid (LSA) was assayed in normal volunteers, patients with non-malignant diseases, and a variety of cancer patients. Mean plasma LSA in 50 normal volunteers, 16 patients with non-malignant diseases, 54 breast cancer, 17 lung cancer, 15 colon cancer, 7 ovarian cancer, 5 prostate cancer, 4 leukemia, 4 gastrointestinal, 3 thyroid cancer, 3 pancreas cancer and 2 adrenal cancer patients were 17.7, 23.2, 58, 85, 56.7, 46.2, 56.7, 53.3, 31.1, 33.2 and 119.5 mg/dl, respectively. None of the normal volunteers had elevated plasma LSA values. Plasma LSA level was not significantly different in male and female volunteers. Two patients with rheumatic arthritis had LSA values slightly elevated over the mean + 2 SD for the normal volunteers. Two out of 114 different cancer patients had plasma LSA levels within normal range exhibiting 98.2% sensitivity of the assay. Plasma LSA, which is relatively simple to assay, may be used as a tumor marker in wide variety of neoplastic diseases.     

Magnetic-field-induced charge-stripe order in the high-temperature superconductor YBa2Cu3Oy

Electronic charges introduced in copper-oxide (CuO(2)) planes generate high-transition-temperature (T(c)) superconductivity but, under special circumstances, they can also order into filaments called stripes. Whether an underlying tendency towards charge order is present in all copper oxides and whether this has any relationship with superconductivity are, however, two highly controversial issues. To uncover underlying electronic order, magnetic fields strong enough to destabilize superconductivity can be used. Such experiments, including quantum oscillations in YBa(2)Cu(3)O(y) (an extremely clean copper oxide in which charge order has not until now been observed) have suggested that superconductivity competes with spin, rather than charge, order. Here we report nuclear magnetic resonance measurements showing that high magnetic fields actually induce charge order, without spin order, in the CuO(2) planes of YBa(2)Cu(3)O(y). The observed static, unidirectional, modulation of the charge density breaks translational symmetry, thus explaining quantum oscillation results, and we argue that it is most probably the same 4a-periodic modulation as in stripe-ordered copper oxides. That it develops only when superconductivity fades away and near the same 1/8 hole doping as in La(2-x)Ba(x)CuO(4) (ref.?1) suggests that charge order, although visibly pinned by CuO chains in YBa(2)Cu(3)O(y), is an intrinsic propensity of the superconducting planes of high-T(c) copper oxides.