Ontogenesis of monoamine oxidase in the thyroid gland of rats

Summary During postnatal development, MAO activity in the thyroid gland of male rats increases until day 16, when adult values are reached.     

Specific stimulation of mycobacteria phagocytosis by substances liberated during the cultivation of lymph node cells from tuberculin hypersensitive rabbits with the specific antigen

Zusammenfassung Es wurde festgestellt, dass die Mediatoren der Überempfindlichkeit des verzögerten Types die Fähigkeit besitzen, die Phagocytose der Mykobakterien durch normale Makrophagen zu unterstützen. Die Wirkung hat sich als immunologisch spezifisch bewiesen.     

Demonstration of specific induction of erythrocytes phagocytosis by macrophages from normal,non-sensitized rabbits by a factor released from lymph node cells of immunized rabbits

Zusammenfassung Mit In-vitro-Experimenten wird gezeigt, dass in Anwesenheit von sensibilisierten Kaninchen-Lymphozyten Schaferythrozyten spezifisch an normale Kaninchen-Makrophagen adsorbieren und von diesen dann phagozytiert werden.     

A photosynthetic alveolate closely related to apicomplexan parasites

Many parasitic Apicomplexa, such as Plasmodium falciparum, contain an unpigmented chloroplast remnant termed the apicoplast, which is a target for malaria treatment. However, no close relative of apicomplexans with a functional photosynthetic plastid has yet been described. Here we describe a newly cultured organism that has ultrastructural features typical for alveolates, is phylogenetically related to apicomplexans, and contains a photosynthetic plastid. The plastid is surrounded by four membranes, is pigmented by chlorophyll a, and uses the codon UGA to encode tryptophan in the psbA gene. This genetic feature has been found only in coccidian apicoplasts and various mitochondria. The UGA-Trp codon and phylogenies of plastid and nuclear ribosomal RNA genes indicate that the organism is the closest known photosynthetic relative to apicomplexan parasites and that its plastid shares an origin with the apicoplasts. The discovery of this organism provides a powerful model with which to study the evolution of parasitism in Apicomplexa.     

An asteroid breakup 160 Myr ago as the probable source of the K/T impactor

The terrestrial and lunar cratering rate is often assumed to have been nearly constant over the past 3 Gyr. Different lines of evidence, however, suggest that the impact flux from kilometre-sized bodies increased by at least a factor of two over the long-term average during the past approximately 100 Myr. Here we argue that this apparent surge was triggered by the catastrophic disruption of the parent body of the asteroid Baptistina, which we infer was a approximately 170-km-diameter body (carbonaceous-chondrite-like) that broke up 160(-20)+30Myr ago in the inner main asteroid belt. Fragments produced by the collision were slowly delivered by dynamical processes to orbits where they could strike the terrestrial planets. We find that this asteroid shower is the most likely source (>90 per cent probability) of the Chicxulub impactor that produced the Cretaceous/Tertiary (K/T) mass extinction event 65 Myr ago.     

A late Miocene dust shower from the break-up of an asteroid in the main belt

Throughout the history of the Solar System, Earth has been bombarded by interplanetary dust particles (IDPs), which are asteroid and comet fragments of diameter approximately 1-1,000 microm. The IDP flux is believed to be in quasi-steady state: particles created by episodic main belt collisions or cometary fragmentation replace those removed by comminution, dynamical ejection, and planetary or solar impact. Because IDPs are rich in 3He, seafloor sediment 3He concentrations provide a unique means of probing the major events that have affected the IDP flux and its source bodies over geological timescales. Here we report that collisional disruption of the >150-km-diameter asteroid that created the Veritas family 8.3 +/- 0.5 Myr ago also produced a transient increase in the flux of interplanetary dust-derived 3He. The increase began at 8.2 +/- 0.1 Myr ago, reached a maximum of approximately 4 times pre-event levels, and dissipated over approximately 1.5 Myr. The terrestrial IDP accretion rate was overwhelmingly dominated by Veritas family fragments during the late Miocene. No other event of this magnitude over the past approximately 10(8) yr has been deduced from main belt asteroid orbits. One remarkably similar event is present in the 3He record 35 Myr ago, but its origin by comet shower or asteroid collision remains uncertain.     

Photographic observations of Neuschwanstein,a second meteorite from the orbit of the Príbram chondrite

Photographic observations of meteoroids passing through the atmosphere provide information about the population of interplanetary bodies in the Earth's vicinity in the size range from 0.1 m to several metres. It is extremely rare that any of these meteoroids survives atmospheric entry to be recovered as a meteorite on the ground. Príbram was the first meteorite (an ordinary chondrite) with a photographically determined orbit; it fell on 7 April 1959 (ref. 1). Here we report the fourth meteorite fall to be captured by camera networks. We determined the atmospheric trajectory and pre-atmospheric orbit of the object from the photographic records. One 1.75-kg meteorite--named Neuschwanstein and classified as an enstatite chondrite--was recovered within the predicted impact area. The bolide's heliocentric orbit is exceptional as it is almost identical to the orbit of Príbram, suggesting that we have discovered a 'stream' of meteoritic objects in an Earth-crossing orbit. The chemical classifications and cosmic-ray exposure ages of the two meteorites are quite different, however, which implies a heterogeneous stream.     

Antiviral treatment is more effective than smallpox vaccination upon lethal monkeypox virus infection

There is concern that variola virus, the aetiological agent of smallpox, may be used as a biological weapon. For this reason several countries are now stockpiling (vaccinia virus-based) smallpox vaccine. Although the preventive use of smallpox vaccination has been well documented, little is known about its efficacy when used after exposure to the virus. Here we compare the effectiveness of (1) post-exposure smallpox vaccination and (2) antiviral treatment with either cidofovir (also called HPMPC or Vistide) or with a related acyclic nucleoside phosphonate analogue (HPMPO-DAPy) after lethal intratracheal infection of cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) with monkeypox virus (MPXV). MPXV causes a disease similar to human smallpox and this animal model can be used to measure differences in the protective efficacies of classical and new-generation candidate smallpox vaccines. We show that initiation of antiviral treatment 24 h after lethal intratracheal MPXV infection, using either of the antiviral agents and applying various systemic treatment regimens, resulted in significantly reduced mortality and reduced numbers of cutaneous monkeypox lesions. In contrast, when monkeys were vaccinated 24 h after MPXV infection, using a standard human dose of a currently recommended smallpox vaccine (Elstree-RIVM), no significant reduction in mortality was observed. When antiviral therapy was terminated 13 days after infection, all surviving animals had virus-specific serum antibodies and antiviral T lymphocytes. These data show that adequate preparedness for a biological threat involving smallpox should include the possibility of treating exposed individuals with antiviral compounds such as cidofovir or other selective anti-poxvirus drugs.