The in vivo expression of the globin genes of theβ cistron in γ-,δ-, andδβ-thalassemia heterozygotes

There is considerable evidence suggesting that the switch from to and chain production after birth is due, in part, to silencing of the genes by stage-specific factors which bind to their promoters and to the competition from the adult ( and ) genes for a common enhancer element located in the locus control region. As a consequence one can expect that the increased Hb F production in adults with hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin or -thalassemia is directed mainly by -globin genes in cis to the deletion(s) responsible for these conditions. Here we review data on heterozygotes with -, -, or -thalassemia, who also had an^AT mutation, in cis or in trans, which was used as a marker of gene expression. The results show that a deletion affecting adult genes favors the expression of genes in cis, while the deletion of a single gene does not affect the expression of the gene in cis but leads to a faster switch postnatally.     

Axillary 5α-androst-16-en-3-one in men and women: Relationships with olfactory acuity to odorous 16-androstenes

Summary Axillary 5-androst-16-en-3-one (5-androstenone) levels were found to be significantly higher in men than in women but do not vary between left and right axillae, are not related to age, handedness or degree of hirsutism (in women) nor to anosmia to this steroid. In men (but not in women), levels are related linearly to axillary cholesterol concentrations but not to squalene. Olfactory thresholds for 5-androstenone varied widely, the lowest recorded being 0.2 ppb, but there was no difference in thresholds between men and women. Women (70%) found the smell repellant but anosmia did not differ greatly between men and women (9–20%). Anosmia to the smell of 5-androst-16-en-3-ol was most marked in women (90%) rather than in men (45%). Axillary 5-androstenone values were generally consistent with the musky or strong smells of male axillary extracts, compared with the sweet smell of those from female subjects.Supported by the Herbert Dunhill Trust.     

Evidence for the extranuclear localization of thymosins in thymus

A new radioimmunoassay has been developed for thymosin ₄ by generating rabbit polyclonal antibodies against the synthetic N-terminal peptide fragment 1–15 coupled to KLH. The synthetic analogue [Tyr¹²]-thymosin ₄ (1–15) was used as tracer. This radioimmunoassay, with a useful range of 10–1000 pmoles, showed cross-reactivity with the second homologous -thymosin of man and rat (thymosin ₁₀) but not of calf (thymosin ₉). This radioimmunoassay, together with an improved radioimmunoassay for the N-terminus of parathymosin , was employed for the measurement of the levels of thymosin ₄ and parathymosin in nuclear and extranuclear extracts of calf thymus. The bulk of these polypeptides was found in the extranuclear material whereas only traces were observed in the nuclear environment, which indicates the extranuclear localisation of - and -thymosins.     

Unique occurrence of fenchol in the animal kingdom

Summary (–)--Fenchol, a compound occurring in plants but not heretofore reported to occur in an animal product, was isolated from volatiles released by adult male Mediterranean fruit flies,Ceratitis capitata Wiedemann, with the male's previously identified sex pheromones. It neither attracts females nor synergizes the pheromones, and its function remains unknown.The editors do not hold themselves responsible for the opinions expressed in the authors' brief reports. — Les auteurs sont seuls responsables des opinions exprimées dans ces brèves communications. — Für die Kurzmitteilungen ist ausschliesslich der Autor verantwortlich.—Per le brevi comunicazioni è responsabile solo l'autore. — . — Solo los autores son responsables de las opiniones expresadas en estas communicationes breves.Mention of a proprietary product in this paper does not constitute a recommendation or an endorsement of the product by the US Department of Agriculture.Acknowledgments. We thank C. Harding for assistance with extractions and fractionations, R.M. Waters for spectral analyses, M.S. Fujimoto and H. Higa for collecting the volatiles and conducting laboratory and cage bioassays, and T. Urago and S. Nakagawa for conducting the field tests.     

Tumor necrosis factor α in the pathogenesis of cerebral malaria

Physiologically in the brain, cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TN) are released by the immune system and can modulate neurological responses. Conversely, the central nervous system (CNS) is also able to modulate cytokine production. In the case of CNS disorders, cytokine release may be modified. Cerebral malaria (CM) is a complication of Plasmodium falciparum infection in humans and is characterized by a reversible encephalopathy with seizures and loss of consciousness. Central clinical signs are partly due to sequestration of parasitized red blood cells in the brain microvasculature due to interactions between parasite proteins and adhesion molecules. TNF is produced and released by host cells following exposure to various malarial antigens. The increase of TNF release is responsible for the overexpression of adhesion molecules. This article reviews the involvement of TNF in cerebral malaria and the relation with all the processes involved in this pathology. It shows that (i) TNF levels are increased in plasma and brain but with no clear correlation between TNF levels and occurrence and severity of CM; (ii) TNF is responsible for intercellular adhesion molecule-1 upregulation in CM, the relation being less clear for other adhesion molecules; (iii) TNF receptors are upregulated in CM, with TNF receptor 2 (TNFR2) showing a higher upregulation than TNFR1 in vivo; (iv) in murine CM, low doses of TNF seem to protect from CM, whereas excess TNF induces CM and anti-TNF therapies (antibodies, pentoxifylline) did not show any efficiency in protection from CM. Moreover, the involvement of lymphotoxin a, which shares with TNF the same receptors with similar affinity, appears to be an interesting target for further investigation.Received 4 December 2002; received after revision 7 February 2003; accepted 14 February 2003     

On the host-symbiont-cycle of a leafhopper (Euscelis plebejus) endosymbiosis

Summary In the host-symbiont-cycle ofEuscelis plebejus and its bacterial symbionts each of both symbionts (a and t) appears in an infection form during the intraovarial transmission (adult female) as well as during the entrance into the mycetocytes (embryo) and in a vegetative form during the remaining time of the cycle.This work was supported in part by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft to ProfessorK. Sander, whom I thank for helpful discussions.     

Real-time models of morphogenetic processes

Summary Morphological transformations are often describable by simple series kinetic models,AB, ABC, etc., which allow assessment of the rates of interconversion of the distinguishable shapes or forms present and their probabilities of occurrence at various points in time, thus providing a means for kinetic comparisons with biochemical measurements of the molecular-level reactions that cause the transformations. When changes in cell morphology are followed turbidimetrically, the real-time progress curves can be simulated by fitting the data to a form of Beer's law for scattering by mixtures in which the species concentrations change with time in accordance with the chosen kinetic scheme. Because many even relatively large cells are mostly water, classical light scattering theory can be used to interpret the turbidimetric data in terms of simple geometrical models ofaverage cell size and shape suggested by microscopic examination. Two examples are briefly considered, the stimulus-induced changes in blood platelet shape and apparent size and their correlation with cytosolic-free calcium, and apparent swimming motion exhibited by neutrophils in suspension.What do you know about this business? the King said to Alice. Nothing, said Alice. Nothing whatever? persisted the King. Nothing whatever, said Alice. That's very important, the King said. Lewis Carroll (1865), in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland     

Evaluation of monoaminergic receptors in the genetically epilepsy prone rat

Summary The intensity of sound-induced convulsions in the genetically epilepsy-prone rat (GEPR) was reduced in a dose related fashion by intracerebroventricular administration of dobutamine, (₁ agonist), terbutaline (₂ agonist) or phenylephrine (₁ agonist). BHT-920 (₂ agonist) did not cause a dose-related decrease in sound-induced convulsion intensity. Binding studies showed that whole brain and receptor densities (B_max) were normal while the K_d was increased for the ligand in GEPR brain.Acknowledgment. We are most grateful to Boehringer Ingelheim for generously supplying BHT 920. We are also indebted to Ciba-Geigy Corporation for the gift of terbutaline hydrochloride and phentolamine hydrochloride. The work was supported in part by NIH grant NS 16829.     

The motion of the moon in the Romaka Siddhānta

Summary Formulae are fitted to the different sets of values, given by the translators, for the equation of centre for the motion of the moon according to the Romaka Siddhnta, as found in the Pañcasiddhntik of Varha Mihira.     

A postsynaptic α, 2-receptor: The alpha-adrenergic receptor of hamster white fat cells

Summary The effects of selected -agonists and -antagonists on theophylline-induced lipolysis were investigate in isolated hamster white fat cells ₂-Agonists (tramazoline, clonidine) inhibited theophylline-induced lipolysis while an ₂-agonist (methoxamine) was without any effect. The inhibitory effect of ₂-agonists was suppressed by yohimbine (₂-antagonist), whereas ₂-antagonists were inefficient. This result implies that the -adrenergic receptor of hamster fat cells is of the ₂-type, although located postsynaptically.Acknowledgments. This work was supported by grants from CNRS (ERA 412) and DGRST (grant No. 787 1078). We thank M. Dauzats for excellent technical assistance. We thank Prof. H. Schmitt for tramazoline and AR-C 239 and for helpful discussion.     

Defensive steroids from a carrion beetle (Silpha americana)

Summary The defensive anal effluent discharged bySilpha americana in response to disturbance contains a mixture of steroids stemming from a glandular annex of the rectum. The compounds have been characterized as 15-hydroxyprogesterone (1, principal component), 5-pregnan-15-ol-3, 20-dione (2), 5-pregnan-3, 15-diol-20-one (3), 5-pregnan-7, 15-diol-3,20-dione (4), 5-pregnan-3, 7, 15-triol-20-one (5), 5-pregnan-16-ol-3,20-dione (6), and 5-pregnan-3, 16-diol-20-one (7), none previously found in insects. Bioassays with jumping spiders showed compounds1 and6 to be feeding deterrents at the 1 g level.Paper No. 78 of the series: Defense Mechanisms of Arthropods. Study supported by NIH (Grants AI-02908, AI-12020). We thank Maura Malarcher and Maria Eisner for excellent technical help, and the Squibb Institute of Medical Research for samples of authentic reference compounds.     

Geminus and the concept of mean motion in Greco-Latin astronomy

Conclusion Geminus account of lunar motion in chapter 18 of hisIntroductio astronomiae is, in our view, an important contribution to Greco-Latin astronomy because, in attempting to reconstruct arithmetically (the parameters of) the Moon's motion in longitude, he undermines the task astronomers had hitherto set for themselves. This undermining of a commonly acknowledged view of the purpose of astronomy is articulated in a whole new set of questions concerning the nature and place of both observation and mathematical reasoning in the science of the heavens. Yet, one must not overlook the fact thatGeminus reconstruction also indicates resources for addressing these questions. Of these resources, the most powerful proved to be the idea that irregular motion could be quantified as a systematic departure from a mean motion, and the idea that observational data could be organized and structured by means of genetic arithmetical reconstructions.But, since we limit our attention to extant treatises and decline to speculate about works or parts of works that have not survived, we must say that it would takePtolemy to discern the new direction for astronomy thatGeminus opened up and to pursue it. In part, this involved straightening out the conflated conception of mean motion in chapter 18 — the qua arithmetic mean daily displacement can only be anapparent lunar motion in longitude and not one the Moonreally makes, but the same need not be true of the qua periodic mean daily displacement — and determining its proper relation to real and apparent planetary motion. Indeed,Ptolemy's genius lay, we think, in seeing that even though, in assimilating Babylonian astronomy, earlier and contemporary Greco-Latin writers betrayed a confused, inconsistent, and unsophisticated grasp of the proper role of arithmetic, geometry, and observation in astronomical argument [seeBowen 1994], the solution lay in a mathematical reconstruction of the observed celestial motions, in which mean motion played an essential role.     

Sexual behavior without adult morphogenesis inLocusta migratoria

Summary Injection of azadirachtin into young Vth (=last) instarLocusta hoppers inhibits molt and a considerable portion of the animals survice for more than 40 days as over-aged nymphs; in contrast, the duration of the Vth instar is 8–10 days in normal controls. Males of over-aged nymphs exhibit adult sexual behavior, and injection of juvenile hormone intensifies this behavior. The results demonstrate that the terminal molt leading to morphogenetic adult differentiation is not necessary for an adult behavioral pattern to develop, and/or to become overt, in a hemimetabolous insect.We thank Prof. H. Rembold for a generous gift of azadirachtin and Mr Y. Toren for keeping the locust culture.     

Digestive enzymes in the gut and salivary gland of the larvae ofChilo auricilius Ddgn.

Summary Amylase, - and -glucosidase, - and -galactosidase, -fructosidase, trypsin, aminotripeptidase, leucine-aminopeptidase, prolinase, prolidase glycyl-L-leucine dipeptidase and glycylglycine dipeptidase are present in the 3rd instar larvae ofChilo auricilius.Dr Kishan Singh, Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research, Lucknow, is gratefully acknowledged for providing necessary facilities.     

High-affinity binding ofβ-alanine to cerebral synaptosomes might involve glycine-receptors

Summary High-affinity, Na⁺-independent binding of -alanine to a synaptosomal fraction of rat brain was potently inhibited by glycine and by some other -amino acids, but not by taurine or GABA. This binding mechanism, which was also sensitive to both bicuculline and strychnine, might involve synaptic receptors for both -alanine and glycine.This study was supported in part by Centro Ramón y Cajal and Fundacion Juan March.     

Uptake of D-glucose anomers by rat retina

Summary Uptake ofd-glucose anomers by isolated rat retina was studied. After 3 min incubation at 37°C in the presence of or anomer (750 g/ml), a significantly greater uptake (1.32 mg/g wet tissue) of -anomer was observed compared with that of -d-glucose (1.11 mg/g wet tissue). This result and other data suggest that the carrier ford-glucose transport in the retina prefers the -anomer stereospecifically.Acknowledgment. The authors are grateful to Mr S. Suzuki for his technical assistance.     

Interdependence between locomotor activity and duration of wakefulness in humans during isolation

Summary Locomotor activity was recorded in 14 subjects who lived singly in an isolation unit for 16 to 88 days. Their free-running circadian rhythms had a mean period of 25.9 h, with individual means in the duration of wakefulness () ranging from 12.1 to 22.9 h. Intraindividually, the hourly means of activity were negatively correlated with to such a degree that the total amount of activity per day remained constant irrespective of large variations in .     

Further morphological and biochemical studies on normal and hybrid embryos of sea urchins

Zusammenfassung (1) Es wurde bei den SeeigelartenParacentrotus ,Arbacia undSphaerechinus sowie den drei BastardenPar ×Arb ,Arb ×Par undPar ×Sphaer für eine Reihe von Entwicklungsstadien die Anzahl der Kerne pro Keim bestimmt (Tabelle). Der morphogenetischen Hemmung der Bastarde entsprechen herabgesetzte Kernzahlen und parallel eine Herabsetzung der DNS-Synthese. (2) Es wurde bei den genannten reinen Arten und den Bastarden derUmsatz der RNS bestimmt. Er geht in allen Fällen, bei den reinen Arten wie bei den Bastarden, der DNS- Synthese parallel.

---

---

Our work was supported by a grant from the Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung. We express our sincere thanks to the Nationalfonds and also to the authorities at the Zoological Station at Naples for generous help and supply of materials and facilities. — This paper is thankfully dedicated byF. Baltzer toF. E. Lehmann for his kind hospitality in the Bernese Institute.     

The ‘Spitzenkörper’, centre of the reducing power in the growing hyphal apices of two septomycetous fungi

Summary Redox dyes, such as methylene blue and neutral red, are stably reduced to their leucobase in the Spritzenkörper of the growing hyphal tips ofNeurospora crassa andMonilia fructigena.We acknowledge the support of the Fonds National Suisse de la Recherche Scientifique and thank both Mrs Ton-That for her electron micrograph and Miss E. Herz for her technical help.