Temperature and salinity relationships in marine bottom invertebrates

Zusammenfassung Das Ausmass des Temperaturbereiches mariner Arten ist in erster Linie durch erbliche zellphysiologische Eigenschaften bedingt. An isolierten Gewebestücken mariner Bodenevertebraten aus kaltem Tiefenwasser und aus wärmeren oberflächlichen Schichten lässt sich dementsprechend zeigen, dass ihr genotypischer thermischer Resistenz-und Leistungsbereich quantitativ verschieden ist und bei stenothermen Arten auch nicht individuell phänotypisch verändert werden kann.Der Umfang des Salzgehaltsbereiches stenohaliner und euryhaliner Arten ist ebenfalls in erster Linie zellulär genetisch bedingt. Jedoch beruhen thermische und osmotische Resistenz auf verschiedenen zellphysiologischen Mechanismen. Nur bei euryhalinen Formen lösen Veränderungen der Salzkonzentration des Aussenmediums individuelle zelluläre Resistenz- und Leistungsverschiebungen aus.Niedere Temperaturen begünstigen innerhalb des artspezifischen thermischen Resistenzbereiches Anpassung an extrem niedrige und hohe Salzkonzentrationen.Die starke Einwanderung mariner Arten in tropische Brackwässer kann nicht durch die Annahme erklärt werden, dass die Osmoregulation in der Wärme leichter ist.

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Presented at the Internat. Oceanographic Congress, New York 1959.     

Rudiments of an ability for time measurement in the cavernicolous fishAnoptichthys jordani hubbs and innes (pisces characidae)

Summary Rudiments of an ability for endogenous time-measuring are indicated a) by bimodal activity in the dark phase of LD-cycles of 1616 or 2424 h and b) by damped activity oscillations frequently follwoing a transition from LD to constant conditions. These oscillations always have the same period length as the applied LD.     

Epistemic divergence and the publicity of scientific methods

Epistemic divergence occurs when different investigators give different answers to the same question using evidence-collecting methods that are not public. Without following the principle that scientific methods must be public, scientific communities risk epistemic divergence. I explicate the notion of public method and argue that, to avoid the risk of epistemic divergence, scientific communities should (and do) apply only methods that are public.     

Correlation between acidic phospholipids and serotonin and between lysolecithin and dopamine in ganglia of the marine mussel,Mytilus edulis

Summary These studies have demonstrated a positive correlation between the acidic phospholipids and the serotonin content and between the lysolecithin and the dopamine content in the cerebral, pedal and visceral ganglia ofMytilus edulis. These relationships were further supported by experiments utilizing 6-hydroxydopamine and 5,6-dihydroxytryptamine.This study was partially supported by USPHS grant NS 10845 to Dr E. Aiello of Fordham University.Presently at Medgar Evers College of C.U.N.Y., Brooklyn, N.Y. 11225.     

Cytoimmunological study of the corticotrophic and corticomelanotrophic cells in the adenohypophysis of Boops salpa L. (marine teleost) in different experimental conditions (variation of salinity and of background color)]

The cytoimmunological study of the adenohypophysis of Boops salpa (marine Teleost), in different experimental conditions confirmed that the MacConaill's hematoxyline-positive cells contain: 1. ACTH (Corticotrophic Hormone) in the pars distalis, 2. MSH (Melanocyte-Stimulating Hormone) and ACTH in the pars intermedia.     

Distinct but parallel evolutionary patterns between alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenases: addition of fish/human betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase divergence

Alcohol dehydrogenases (ADHs) of the MDR type (medium-chain dehydrogenases/reductases) have diverged into two evolutionary groups in eukaryotes: a set of 'constant' enzymes (class III) typical of basal enzymes, and a set of 'variable' enzymes (remaining classes) suggesting 'evolving' forms. The variable set has larger overall variability, different segment variability, and variability also in functional segments. Using a major aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) from cod liver and fish ALDHs deduced from the draft genome sequence of Fugu rubripes (Japanese puffer fish), we found that ALDHs form more complex patterns than the ADHs. Nevertheless, ALDHs also group into 'constant' and 'variable' sets, have separate segment variabilities, and distinct functions. Betaine ALDH (class 9 ALDH) is 'constant,' has three segments of variability, all non-functional, and a limited fish/human divergence, reminiscent of the ADH class III pattern. Enzymatic properties of fish betaine ALDH were also determined. Although all ALDH patterns are still not known, overall patterns are related to those of ADH, and group separations may be distinguished. The results can be interpreted functionally, support ALDH isozyme distinctions, and assign properties to the multiplicities of the ADH and ALDH enzymes.     

William Whiston, Isaac Newton and the crisis of publicity

William Whiston was one of the first British converts to Newtonian physics and his 1696 New theory of the earth is the first full-length popularization of the natural philosophy of the Principia. Impressed with his young protégé, Newton paved the way for Whiston to succeed him as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in 1702. Already a leading Newtonian natural philosopher, Whiston also came to espouse Newton’s heretical antitrinitarianism in the middle of the first decade of the eighteenth century. In all, Whiston enjoyed twenty years of contact with Newton dating from 1694. Although they shared so much ideologically, the two men fell out when Whiston began to proclaim openly the heresy that Newton strove to conceal from the prying eyes of the public. This paper provides a full account of this crisis of publicity by outlining Whiston’s efforts to make both Newton’s natural philosophy and heterodox theology public through popular texts, broadsheets and coffee house lectures. Whiston’s attempts to draw Newton out through published hints and innuendos, combined with his very public religious crusade, rendered the erstwhile disciple a dangerous liability to the great man and helps explain Newton’s eventual break with him, along with his refusal to support Whiston’s nomination to the Royal Society. This study not only traces Whiston’s successes in preaching the gospel of Newton’s physics and theology, but demonstrates the ways in which Whiston, who resolutely refused to accept Newton’s epistemic distinction between ‘open’ and ‘closed’ forms of knowledge, transformed Newton’s grand programme into a singularly exoteric system and drove it into the public sphere.     

Global analyses of crisis and stochastic bifurcation in the hardening Helmholtz-Duffing oscillator

Crisis and stochastic bifurcation of the hardening Helmholtz-Duffing oscillator are studied by means of the generalized cell mapping method using digraph. For the system subject to a single deterministic harmonic excitation, our study reveals that a series of crisis phenomena can occur when the system parameter passes through different critical values, including chaotic boundary crisis, regular boundary crisis and interior crisis. A chaotic boundary crisis due to the collision of regular attractor with chao...     

Biochemical polymorphism and the 2,3-diphosphoglycerate in the sheep red blood cells

Summary There was no significant difference in the level of 2,3-DPG in the red blood cells of sheep of different haemoglobin types (Hb A and Hb B) or potassium types (HK and LK). However, low glutathione (GSH^L) sheep had significantly higher (p<0.01) level of 2,3-DPG in their red blood cells than high glutathione (GSH^H) sheep. There was also significant effect of interactions between glutathione, haemoglobin and potassium types (p<0.05) and glutathione and haemoglobin types (p<0.01) on red cell 2,3-DPG levels.     

Biochemical dysfunction and memory loss: the case of Alzheimer's dementia

Among the different types of cognitive impairment that appear with increasing age, Alzheimer's disease (AD) is rated as the most frequent. Despite intensive research, key questions concerning AD aetiology remain elusive, but it appears that many biochemical events crucial for neuronal communication and synaptic plasticity fail during the course of the disease. The aim of this review is therefore to provide an overview of intracellular cascades involved in AD pathology. For almost all factors. it is a matter of controversy whether their contribution should be considered to be cause or effect. However, intracellular signalling may be crucial as it is in learning and memory mechanisms and malfunction of biochemical pathways may be a common denominator in neurodegenerative processes, thus providing new venues for treatment and therapeutic strategies.     

ERKs are the point of divergence of PKA and PKC activation by PTHrP in human skin fibroblasts

Parathyroid hormone-related peptide (PTHrP) receptors, coupled to trimeric G proteins, operate in most target cells through at least three different transduction routes: Gαs-mediated stimulation of adenylylcyclase (AC), Gαq-mediated activation of phospholipase Cβ (PLC) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation. In this study we investigated the relative role of different pathways in human skin fibroblast prolifera-tion. Using chemical inhibitors and activators of signal transduction, we demonstrated that: (i) AC/cAMP and PLC/1,4,5 inositol triphosphate/diacylglycerol second-messenger systems are simultaneously activated following PTHrP binding to its receptors; (ii) the mitogenic response to PTHrP derives from a balance between two counteracting pathways – an activating route mediated by protein kinase C (PKC) and an inhibitory route mediated by protein kinase A (PKA); (iii) PTHrP mitogenic effects are largely dependent on MAPKs, whose activity can be modulate d by both PKA and PKC. Our results indicate that MAPKs are common targets of both transduction routes and, at the same time, their point of divergence in mediating PTHrP dual and opposite mitogenic effects. Received 2 August 2002; received after revision 10 September 2002; accepted 18 October 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author.     

Biochemical and immunochemical evidence for the origin of the spermatophore material inGlossina morsitans morsitans Westwood

Summary Protein patterns in secretions from fully differentiated male accessory reproductive glands (ARG), spermatophore (Sp) and testes (Te) of the tsetse,Glossina morsitans morsitans Westwood, were determined by isoelectrofocusing. Isoelectrofocusing patterns of total ARG proteins and those of Sp were remarkably similar. At least 27 bands were detected in ARG and Sp. Out of these, 13 were major protein bands and isoelectrofocused in the pl range of 4 and 6.55. About 10 of these 13 were found to be acidic. Ouchterlony immunodiffusion and straight line immunoelectrophoresis showed that male accessory reproductive gland secretory proteins and spermatophore share common immunological characteristics which are different from those of the testes.     

The distribution,navigation and orientation by the sun ofdelphinus delphis L. in the western Mediterranean

Zusammenfassung Nach Erfahrungen aus 2 Expeditionen wird die Existenz eines Territoriums fürDelphinus delphis im westlichen Mittelmeer angenommen. Die grenzbestimmenden physikalischen Faktoren des Territoriums werden diskutiert. Zahlreiche Beobachtungen sprechen dafür, dassD. delphis sich zur Navigation mit Hilfe der Sonne orientiert. Es besteht also neben dem Sonar (Echolot) noch eine Orientierung nach Sonnenkompass.

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Contributions to Cetacea: XXX. — Carried out under the sponsorship of the Swiss National Fund for the promotion of scientific research (grant No. 4606) and the C.N.R.S., Paris.     

Biochemical events associated with rapid cellular damage during the oxygen- and calcium-paradoxes of the mammalian heart

The O2- and Ca2(+)-paradoxes have a number of features in common and it is suggested that release of cytosolic proteins in both paradoxes is initiated by the activation of a sarcolemma NAD(P)H dehydrogenase which can generate a transmembrane flow of H+ and e- and also oxygen radicals or redox cycling which damage ion channels and membrane proteins (phase I). Entry of Ca2+ through the damaged ion channels then exacerbates the damage by further activating this system, either directly or indirectly, and the redox cycling and/or oxygen radicals cause further damage to integral and cytoskeletal proteins of the sarcolemma resulting in microdamage to the integrity of the membrane (phase II) and the consequent release or exocytosis of cytoplasmic proteins and, under specialised conditions, the blebbing of the sarcolemma. The system may be primed either by removal of extracellular Ca2+ or by raising [Ca2+]i by a variety of measures, these two actions being synergistic. The system is initially activated in the Ca2(+)-paradox by the membrane perturbation associated with removal of extracellular Ca2+; prolonged anoxia in the metabolically active cardiac muscle causes a depletion of the ATP supply, particularly in the absence of glucose, and hence a rise in [Ca2+]i in phase I of the oxygen paradox with the consequent activation of the NAD(P)H oxidase at the sarcolemma. Oxygen radicals are probably generated in both paradoxes and may have a partial role in the genesis of damage, but are not essential in the Ca2(+)-paradox which continues under anoxia. Massive entry of Ca2+ also activates an intracellularly localised dehydrogenase (probably at the SR) which produces myofilament damage by redox cycling.     

Biochemical,biophysical and molecular dynamics studies on the proteoglycan-like domain of carbonic anhydrase IX

Human carbonic anhydrase IX (hCA IX) is a tumour-associated enzyme present in a limited number of normal tissues, but overexpressed in several malignant human tumours. It is a transmembrane protein, where the extracellular region consists of a greatly investigated catalytic CA domain and a much less investigated proteoglycan-like (PG) domain. Considering its important role in tumour biology, here, we report for the first time the full characterization of the PG domain, providing insights into its structural and functional features. In particular, this domain has been produced at high yields in bacterial cells and characterized by means of biochemical, biophysical and molecular dynamics studies. Results show that it belongs to the family of intrinsically disordered proteins, being globally unfolded with only some local residual polyproline II secondary structure. The observed conformational flexibility may have several important roles in tumour progression, facilitating interactions of hCA IX with partner proteins assisting tumour spreading and progression.     

Isolation and amino acid compositions of geographutoxin I and II from the marine snail Conus geographus

The peptide toxins having inhibitory effects on the contractile response of the mouse diaphragm to direct stimulation, geographutoxin I and II, have been isolated from Conus geographus, and their amino acid compositions have been determined.