Propriétés chitinolytiques du liquide exuvial du ver à soie (Bombyx mori L.)

Summary The authors add further confirmation to the hypothesis of the role played by a chitinase during the process of moulting. By ligaturingBombyx mori-larvae between head and thorax, accumulation of moulting fluid takes place between the larval and nymphal cuticles, swallowing of this fluid being prevented. The chitinolytic properties of this moulting fluid are demonstratedin vitro. The activity of chitinase at different pH is investigated: the optimum pH lying at about 5.4.     

Etude du métabolisme d'une substance affectant la coagulation sanguine par la méthode des indicateurs radioactifs

Summary Radioactive 2-bromo-3-hydroxy-1:4-naphtoquinone has been used for the exploration of the metabolism of substances which influence the course of blood-clotting. It has been found that this substance diffuses very rapidly into the blood, and that the liver is not characterized by any elective fixation-power.     

L'action du chlorure de lithium et du sulfocyanure de sodium sur la viscosité de la nucléohistone et des extraits d'embryons d'Amphibiens

Summary (1) LiCl increases the viscosity and decreases the rigidity of nucleohistone; NaSCN has opposite effects.(2) The effects of LiCl and NaSCN on the viscosity of amphibian embryo extracts, as observed byRanzi and his coworkers, seem to be due to the action of these salts on nucleohistone.     

Contribution à l'étude d'une propriété répétitive du cerveau

Summary While pursuing the study of cortical functioning by the EEG. and after-image methods, we have come to believe that every stimulation evokes in the corresponding area of the cortex not only a simultaneous excitation but also acontinued action, i.e. after stimulation, several successive excitations of progressively diminishing intensity appear in the same area of the cortex.We have investigated the continued groups appearing on corticographical tracings taken from different cortical areas of the experimental animal (the rabbit) after various forms of stimulation (auditory, electrical, and visual). By comparing them with the after-images seen by human subjects in EEG. experiments, we have been led to identify the two phenomena.In order to carry this study further, we have undertaken two series of corticographical experiments, recording tracings takensimultaneously from the parietal and striate areas of the rabbit. The first series was intended to study the effects on the tracings of visual stimuli. The second was concerned with the effects on the same tracings of weak electrical stimuli.

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Nous avons consacré à cette propriété répétitive du cerveau une note parue dans les Comptesrendus de l'Académie des Sciences, Juillet 1955, Paris — dont le présent article constitue le développement.     

Etude préliminaire des Halos Pléochroïques de quelques Roches métamorphiques et éruptives du St-Gothard

Zusammenfassung Die Untersuchung der pleochroitischen Höfe der Biotite in Orthogneisen, Paragneisen und Bündnerschiefern des südlichen Gotthardmassives ergab durchwegs ein ähnliches Alter, nämlich < 60 Millionen Jahre. Es bedeutet dies, dass eventuell vorhandene vortertiäre Höfe in prätriadischen Biotiten der Gneise während der alpinen Metamorphose fast oder ganz durch Rekristallisation zerstört worden sind.     

Analyses immunoélectrophorétiques des fractions protéiques du sérum humain séparées par électrophorèse en gel d'amidon

Summary Human plasma components, separated by starch gel electrophoresis, are eluted and concentrated by lyophilisation. Immuno-electrophoretic analysis shows that certain of these fractions are immunologically heterogenous. The authors point out that this immunological criterium should be used before employing an eluted fraction, even if it appears electrophoretically homogenous.      

Létalité et anomalies du développement embryonnaire dans la descendance des femelles triploïdes de l'Amphibien UrodèlePleurodeles waltlii Michah

Summary A comparison is made between aneuploid off-springs of triploid females mated with diploid or triploid males ofPleurodeles waltlii. In the latter case, embryonic lethality is raised, and abnormalities are more severe. The disturbances affect morphogenesis, embryonic growth and physiological differentiation. At the cellular level, nuclear and nucleolar degenerative changes are conspicuous.     

Influences des modifications simultanées de la concentration en ions K et Ca du liquide céphalorachidien sur le système vasomoteur

Summary In dogs anæsthetized with morphine-chloralosane, the cerebral ventricles are perfused with artificial solutions. After having been warmed up to body temperature, these solutions are allowed to flow into a lateral ventricle by a needle inserted laterally through the skull, the outflow taking place through a second needle placed suboccipitally in the cisterna. An excess of potassium in the cerebral ventricles increases the vasomotor tonus and the vasomotor responses produced by faradization of the central end of the vagus in the neck and by changing the pressure in the isolated carotid sinuses. An excess of calcium depresses the tonus of the vasomotor center and its reflex responses. An excess of calcium may be neutralized by an excess of potassium. Perfusion with a solution containing no calcium increases the tonus and the responses of the vasomotor center, while the absence of potassium does not seem to have any influence on the vasomotor system. A solution without potassium and calcium produces an increase of the tonus and the responses of the vasomotor center, these effects being due to the absence of calcium.     

Etude des halos pléochroïques dans le granite de Medel (Massif du St-Gothard)

Zusammenfassung Es wird ein vorläufiger Maximalwert (60 Millionen Jahre) für das Alter der pleochroitischen Höfe des alpinmetamorphen Medelser-Granites (Gotthardmassiv) mitgeteilt. Das so bestimmte Alter dürfte demjenigen der alpinen Metamorphose entsprechen, welche die Biotite (mit ihren pleochroitischen Höfen) des wohl herzynischen Granites rekristallisieren liess.     

L'Analyse chimique des végétaux: Le cas du quinquina

In 1820, J. Pelletier and J.-B. Caventou, two French pharmacist-chemists working at the Ecole de Pharmacie of Paris, extracted quinine, a new substance, from cinchona bark. We use this example to illustrate the processes which lead from a crude natural product through the isolation of an active principle to the production of a pure manufactured drug. This allows us to discuss the development of chemical analysis in relation to pharmacy, natural history, medicine and the early pharmaceutical industry. The dynamics of the disciplines involved here show how organic chemistry, which was developing rapidly during these crucial years, expanded and became autonomous. Theoretical aspects (and in particular atomic theory) and practical innovations are relevant to the scientific methods developed by the first generation of those who integrated the new chemistry into their daily work. Beyond these historical issues, this paper aims to show how a holistic approach can contribute to the debate on discovery and invention in a science that is often considered empirical.     

Etude de la glucose-6-phosphatase dans la membrane chorioallantoïdienne traitée par des microsomes du foie

Summary In order to test the possibility for microsomes to multiply like viruses, microsomes of chick liver were inoculated on chorioallantoïc membranes. The glucose-6-phosphatase activity, an enzyme located in the liver microsomes, was determined in the treated membranes. The activity decreased during the first 24 h after inoculation. It reached, after 48 h, from two to six times the value attained after 24 h.A suspension of heated granules, or of heatedTétrahymèna géléii, though producing the same lesions of the membrane, did not increase the phosphatase activity of the microsome fraction after 48 h.The present results are compatible with the idea that liver microsomes multiply by autoduplication.     

Mesure des âges géologiques par les halos pléochroïques

Summary In this preliminary work, the possibility of dating crystalline rocks by pleochroic haloes has been studied.Halo-microphotometry has been combined with measurement of the alpha-activity of the inclusions by the photographic method.Standard thin sections of well dated granites have been used for calibration purposes. The reciprocity law is shown to be valid within the limit of error. The resolving power of this method depends essentially on the age ratio. Tertiary and primary rocks are easily separated.     

Apparition précoce d'une globuline anormale dans la rate du rat nourri au DAB

Summary An abnormal globulin has been detected in the spleen of Fisher inbred rats fed with a DAB containing basic diet. This abnormal globulin appears in the spleen on the sixth week after the initiation of the diet.

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Travail subventionné conjointement par le Ministère de la Santé de la Province de Québec et l'Institut du Cancer du Canada.     

L'électrophorèse sur papier des protéines hydrosolubles du cristallin

Summary By using paper electrophoresis, the authors succeeded in demonstrating different protein fractions in human and animal lenses.Qualitative and quantitative differences were noted in different animals, between the cortical and the nuclear areas of the lens, and also according to age.

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Chargé de Recherches du Fonds national de la Recherche scientifique.     

Age des halos pléochroïques de la granodiorite de Lausitz

Summary By a quantitative study of pleochroic haloes in biotite, the haloe age of the Lausitz granodiorite, in comparison with the granite age of the Elba Isle, was estimated to 280±150 M.Y. The granodiorite is either caledonian or hercynian.

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Attachée à l'Institut Interuniversitaire des Sciences Nucléaires.     

Relations entre les taux cétoniques du plasma et des organes

Summary Ketone levels in the rat's organs (liver, muscle, lung, kidney, brain) do not seem to be correlated with the ketone level in the blood plasma. On the other hand, there are significant and high correlations between the ketone levels of different organs. These findings are not inconsistent with the generally accepted theory according to which blood distributes hepatic ketone bodies to the periphery. But ketone levels of the organs seem to be regulated not by variations of the plasma ketones, but by another common factor. At present, it is impossible to say how this regulation is effected.     

Relations du « métabolisme respiratoire » des bactéries et du type de bactériophage avec l'activité de substances antiphages

Summary Quantitative determination of bacteriolysis with different T_1–7-phages confirms earlier observations that with substances inhibiting the action of T₁-phage the normal respiratory metabolism of the protected bacteria is quantitatively restored in every detail.With T₂-phage, showing a different respiratory course of bacteriolysis, no effect is obtained with the same substance, either on the respiration of the bacteria or on the typical course of respiration during bacteriolysis. The action of the phage inhibiting substance against T₁-phage is therefore an effect of definite specificity.     

Recherches sur la pseudo-cholinestérase du sérum et la cholinestérase vraie des globules rouges

Summary By means of a technic published in this journal (2, 66 [1946]), it has been observed that the activity of the pseudo-choline esterase of the serum is highest in presence of high concentrations of acetylcholine.The true choline esterase of the red corpuscules has her optimal activity at concentrations of 200 mg % acetylcholine. This high activity of these choline esterase is only going on during 3 to 5 minutes; after this period an inhibition occurs. At lower substrate concentrations (50 mg % acetylcholine) the difference in activity in the first and second phase is becoming less pronounced and the curve of the choline esterase activity becomes a straight line. At the small substrate concentration (4 mg % acetylcholine) again a primary higher choline esterase activity has been observed.Choline inhibitsin vitro the activity of the choline esterase. Prostigmine inhibits alsoin vivo andin vitro, the choline esterase of serum and globules.