Insect behavior at the leaf surface and learning as aspects of host plant selection

Summary Direct observations on the feeding behavior of insect herbivores are uncommon, but important. The important aspects of host-plant selection by phytophagous insects that have been revealed by such observations are the role of chemicals in the leaf surface, and learning. There are few detailed reports of behavior at the leaf surface, but these indicate that many, if not all, insects exhibit behavior pattenrs that can be interpreted as an examination of the quality of the surface and acceptance or rejection may follow without further testing. A number of experiments show that chemicals from the leaf surface commonly contribute to the acceptability or otherwise of a plant and in most cases so far the active chemicals are of widespread occurrence, not having a specific association with the host plant. Some experiments show that the association between surface chemicals and plant palatability is learned, but in other cases there is evidence of an innate response. Habituation to deterrent chemicals has been demonstrated in the laboratory, but not in the field. Food aversion learning also occurs and may be important in dietary switching by polyphagous insects.     

Ultrastructural localisation of substance P and choline acetyltransferase in endothelial cells of rat coronary artery and release of substance P and acetylcholine during hypoxia

Substance P and choline acetyltransferase have been localised in a small proportion of endothelial cells of rat coronary arteries using electron microscopic immunocytochemistry. During a hypoxic period of 1 min, coronary vasodilatation was produced in the Langendorff heart preparation and increased levels of substance P and acetylcholine were released into the perfusate. The possibility that these substances are released from endothelial cells during hypoxia and contribute to the hyperaemic response is discussed.     

Rp-diastereomer of adenosine cyclic 3',5'-phosphorothioate as an antagonist of the stimulatory action of cyclic AMP on the ouabain-insensitive Na efflux in single barnacle muscle fibers

Single muscle fibers of the barnacle Balanus nubilus have been used as a preparation to test the possibility that the Rp-diastereomer of adenosine cyclic 3',5'-phosphorothioate, which is the first available analog of cAMP that acts as an antagonist of cAMP, may reduce the magnitude of cAMP-mediated stimulation of the resting ouabain-insensitive Na efflux. The results obtained show that this antagonist is, in fact, able to reduce stimulation of the Na efflux by injected cAMP in a dose-dependent manner.     

Effect of L-carnitine and stimulated lipolysis on muscle substrates in the exercising rat

To test the effect of L-carnitine on glycogen sparing when fat oxidation is increased, 100 mg/kg/d were given to rats orally for 3 days, resulting in 1.8-fold higher muscle carnitine levels. Even when FFA were raised by heparin-stimulated lipolysis, the rate of glycogen degradation was not reduced during exercise.     

Rough sets bankruptcy prediction models versus auditor signalling rates

Both international and US auditing standards require auditors to evaluate the risk of bankruptcy when planning an audit and to modify their audit report if the bankruptcy risk remains high at the conclusion of the audit. Bankruptcy prediction is a problematic issue for auditors as the development of a cause–effect relationship between attributes that may cause or be related to bankruptcy and the actual occurrence of bankruptcy is difficult. Recent research indicates that auditors only signal bankruptcy in about 50% of the cases where companies subsequently declare bankruptcy. Rough sets theory is a new approach for dealing with the problem of apparent indiscernibility between objects in a set that has had a reported bankruptcy prediction accuracy ranging from 76% to 88% in two recent studies. These accuracy levels appear to be superior to auditor signalling rates, however, the two prior rough sets studies made no direct comparisons to auditor signalling rates and either employed small sample sizes or non‐current data. This study advances research in this area by comparing rough set prediction capability with actual auditor signalling rates for a large sample of United States companies from the 1991 to 1997 time period. Prior bankruptcy prediction research was carefully reviewed to identify 11 possible predictive factors which had both significant theoretical support and were present in multiple studies. These factors were expressed as variables and data for 11 variables was then obtained for 146 bankrupt United States public companies during the years 1991–1997. This sample was then matched in terms of size and industry to 145 non‐bankrupt companies from the same time period. The overall sample of 291 companies was divided into development and validation subsamples. Rough sets theory was then used to develop two different bankruptcy prediction models, each containing four variables from the 11 possible predictive variables. The rough sets theory based models achieved 61% and 68% classification accuracy on the validation sample using a progressive classification procedure involving three classification strategies. By comparison, auditors directly signalled going concern problems via opinion modifications for only 54% of the bankrupt companies. However, the auditor signalling rate for bankrupt companies increased to 66% when other opinion modifications related to going concern issues were included. In contrast with prior rough sets theory research which suggested that rough sets theory offered significant bankruptcy predictive improvements for auditors, the rough sets models developed in this research did not provide any significant comparative advantage with regard to prediction accuracy over the actual auditors' methodologies. The current research results should be fairly robust since this rough sets theory based research employed (1) a comparison of the rough sets model results to actual auditor decisions for the same companies, (2) recent data, (3) a relatively large sample size, (4) real world bankruptcy/non‐bankruptcy frequencies to develop the variable classifications, and (5) a wide range of industries and company sizes. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

PAX6 haploinsufficiency causes cerebral malformation and olfactory dysfunction in humans.

PAX6 is widely expressed in the central nervous system. Heterozygous PAX6 mutations in human aniridia cause defects that would seem to be confined to the eye. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and smell testing reveal the absence or hypoplasia of the anterior commissure and reduced olfaction in a large proportion of aniridia cases, which shows that PAX6 haploinsuffiency causes more widespread human neuro developmental anomalies.     

Binding of iron by rat placental tissues

Zusammenfassung Nachweis, dass das Eisenbindungsvermögen der Dottersackplacenta bedeutend grösser ist als bei der chorioallantoiden Placenta und dass diese auch unter der Einwirkung von den Stoffwechsel beeinflussenden Stoffen ein verschiedenes Verhalten zeigt.

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This work was supported by U.S. Public Health Service Grant No. HD05016 and Predoctoral Fellowship Grant No. FO1-DE41063 to R.J.B.G.     

Polymeric collagen isolated from squid (Loligo peallii) connective tissue

Résumé On a isolé du collagène naturel et polymère du tissu du manteau du calmarLoligo peallii par la méthode de Nishihara, les fibres présentant au microscope électronique une périodicité de 680 Å. Le collagène a une composition typique d'amino acides et contient l'hydrate de carbone dans une proportion restreinte; principalement sous forme de glucose et de galactose.     

Early incorporation of labelled palmitate into mouse lung

Résumé Le taux d'incorporation de l'acide palmitique marqué à l'hydrogène 3 dans les cellules des bronchioles terminales et des alvéoles du poumon de la souris, suggère que le surfactan pulmonaire est sécrété par les cellules deClara dans les bronchioles terminales.