How plants make light work of growth

Entry to medical schools; Harry Grenville

Nuffleld Advanced Biology

Environmental politics and policy

Grants for school nature areas

Biology in TVEI/CPVE courses - new handbook

New AV catalogue     

Art in the Making

Abstract

Jan Adkins, Letterbox: The Art and History of Letters, Walker: New York, 1981, 48 pages, $10.95.

Michael Kehoe, The Puzzle of Books, Carolrhoda Books, Minneapolis, 1982, unpaged, $6.95.

Linda Bourke, Handmade Abc: A Manual Alphabet, Addison-Wesley: Reading, Mass., 1981, unpaged, $6.95.

Linda Bourke, Signs of a Friend, Addison-Wesley: Reading, Mass., 1982, unpaged, $2.95 (paper).

Philip Newth, Roly Goes Exploring, Philomel Books: New York, 1981, unpaged, $12.95 (spiral bound).

Tomas Gonzales (text by J. R. Kesselman and F. Peterson), I CAN USE TOOLS, Elsevier/Nelson: New York, 1981, unpaged, $6.25 (boards).

Harvey Weiss, Hammer and Saw, Crowell: New York, 1981, 80 pages, $9.00.

Gail Gibbons, Tool Book, Holiday House: New York, 1982, unpaged, n.p.i.

Harvey Weiss, Model Building: And How to Make Them, Thomas Crowell: New York, 1979, 96 pages, $7.95.

Paul Berman, Make-Believe Empire: A How-to Book, Atheneum: New York, 1982, 88 pages, $8.95.

Evaline Ness, Four Rooms From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Scribners: New York, 1977, unpaged, $6.95.

Alan Rose, Build Your Own Taj Mahal, Perigee: New York, 1981, unpaged, $7.95.

Les Walker, Housebuilding for Children, The Overlook Press: New York, 1977, 175 pages, $10.00.

Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey (story by Natalie S. Carlson), Marie Louise and Christopher at The Carnival, Scribners: New York, 1981, unpaged, $11.95

Beverley Gooding (Kenneth Grahame), Wayfarers All from The Wind in the Willows, Scribners: New York, 1981, 32 pages, $11.95.

Shawn Rice (text by Paul Rice and Peter Mayle), AS DEAD AS A DODO, Godine: Boston, 1981, unpaged, $10.95.     

Web watch

Teachers' websites

Webwise Spinneret Biology websitehttp://web.ukonline.co.uk/webwise/spinnere:

Lesson Planet www.lessonplanet.com

Gourmet Curriculum Press www.gourmetcurriculumpress.com

Learn.co.ukwww.learn.co.uk

Just for Teacherswww.justforteachers.co.uk     

Film Reviews

Sources of Biological Films

The Assessment of Microbiology Films by Undergraduates

Appendix

Biology on Television     

News

Schools affiliation scheme

BES expedition grants

Fermenters for schools project; Jonathan Bach

Case studies in evolution     

Earth,Air, Fire,and Water: Elements of Art

Abstract

Shoshana Zuboff. In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power. New York: Basic Books, 1988, 468 pp. $11.95 paperback.

George Gilder. Microcosm: The Quantum Revolution in Economics and Technology. New York: Simon &; Schuster, 1989. 426 pp. $19.95 hardcover.

Loren Baritz. The Good Life. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1988. 361 pp. $19.95 hardcover.

Miles Orville. The Real Thing: Imitation and Authority in American Culture, 1880–1940. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989. 382 pp. $14.95 paperback.

Peter Shaw. The War Against the Intellect. Iowa City: The University of Iowa Press, 1989. 181 pp. $10.95 paperback.

Robert Alter. The Pleasures of Reading in an Ideological Age. New York: Simon &; Schuster, 1989. 250 pp. $18.95 hardcover.

Ian Crofton. A Dictionary of Art Quotations. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1989. $19.95 hardcover.     

Biologically Active Oligodeoxyribonucleotides. X. Anti-HIV-1 Activity and Stability of Modified Hexanucleotides Containing Glycerol-Skeleton§

Abstract

Deoxyribose-moieties of modified hexadeoxyribonucleotide 1, which exhibits anti-HIV-1 activity, were partially replaced with glycerol-moieties. Compound 7 with two glycerylguanines at its 3′-end showed more potent anti-HIV-1 activity and more stability against digestion by nucleases than the parent compound 1.

     

An Examination of Students' understanding of some Principles of Scientific Methods

Sources of Biological Films

Firms which Supply Films

Films for Universities. Pp. 292. British Universities Film Council, London, 1968. 35s.     

The influence of parent body colouration and nesting habitat on bird nest predation

ABSTRACT

Capsule: Parent body colouration and nesting habitat may influence nest predation risk and, therefore, influence parental decisions on offspring care.

Aims: To investigate the adaptiveness of bird colouration under two different habitat and light conditions.

Methods: We used painted polyurethane dummies to simulate parental presence near nests, where some dummies were red, and others were cryptic brown. We placed artificial nests on trees in open and forested areas, along with two quail eggs and parental dummies.

Results: The results showed major predation on nests of the open area, however, we found no significant effect of parent colour on nest predation.

Conclusion: We suggest that the costs involved with nest site selection may overcome the costs of colouration in species that occur in these environments.     

Assessment of the MANTA closure device in transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve replacement: a single-centre observational study

Objectives

The present study aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the MANTA vascular closure device (VCD) (Teleflex, Morrisville, NC, USA) in transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TF-TAVR).

Background

To close the femoral artery in TF-TAVR a VCD is the treatment of choice. Data involving suture-based VCDs have been extensive. Although scarce, results on the MANTA device are promising. There is no consensus yet as to whether the MANTA device is associated with fewer access-site-related vascular/bleeding complications when compared to suture-based VCDs.

Methods

In this prospective single-arm study, performed at a single centre, a total of 73 patients eligible for TF-TAVR were included and consecutively treated with the MANTA device.

Results

Access-site-related vascular complications were seen in 13.7% of patients treated with the MANTA device. In this group of patients only minor vascular complications were observed. Access-site-related bleeding complications were rare (6.8%), and device failure was seen in 13.7% of the patients.

Conclusions

This single-centre study confirms that use of the MANTA device in TF-TAVR is feasible with an acceptable rate of access-site-related complications and no major vascular complications.

     

In this issue

Make your own transpiring tree

Difficulties in teaching cell division

Students' attitudes to biotechnology processes

Understanding ecosystem concepts     

Books and the Child

Abstract

Marion Endicott, Emily Carr: The Story of an Artist, Women's Educational Press: Toronto, Canada, 1981, 64 pages, n.p.i. (paperback)

Jean Lipman with Margaret Aspin-wall, Alexander Calder and his Magic Mobiles, Hudson Hills Press: New York, 1981, 96 pages, $15.00

M. B. Goffstein, Lives of the Artists, Farrar, Straus & Giroux: New York, 1982, unpaged, $8.95

Trina Schart Hyman, Self-Portrait, Addison-Wesley: Reading, Massachusetts, 1981, unpaged, $8.95

Andrew Glass, Jackson Makes his Move, Warne: New York, 1982, unpaged, $9.95

Tom Seidmann-Freud, The Magic Boat, Greenwillow: New York, 1981, unpaged, $5.95

Ernest Nister, Magic Windows, Philomel Books: New York, 1980, unpaged, $6.95

Lothar Meggendorfer, The City Park, Viking: New York, 1981, unpaged, $10.95

J. F. Schreiber (verses by Anthea Bell), The Great Menagerie, Viking: New York, 1980, unpaged, $7.95

Lothar Meggendorfer, International Circus, Viking: New York, 1980, unpaged, $7.95

Eric Hill, Spot's First Walk, G. P. Putnam's Sons: New York, 1981, unpaged, $7.95

Robert Crowther and lames R. Diaz (paper engineer), The Most Amazing Hide-and-Seek Counting Book, Viking: New, York, 1981, 14 pages, $8.95

Demi, Where is Willie Worm? Random House: New York, 1981, unpaged, $3.50

John Goodall and Tor Lokvig (paper engineer), PADDY FINDS A JOB, Atheneum: New York, 1981, unpaged, $6.95

Eric Carle, The Honeybee and the Robber, Philomel: New York, 1981, 15 pages, $10.95     

Health-related quality of life following ambulatory surgery procedures: assessment by RAND-36

Background

Increasing numbers of elective surgical procedures are performed as day-cases. The impact of ambulatory surgery on health-related quality of life in the recovery period has seldom been described.

Methods

We assessed health-related quality of life in 143 adult outpatients scheduled for arthroscopic procedures of the knee and shoulder joints, laparoscopic cholecystectomy and inguinal hernia repair using the RAND 36-Item Health Survey preoperatively and one week after patients had returned to work or comparable normal daily routines.

Results

Postoperatively all patient groups reported significant improvements in bodily pain and vitality. Physical functioning improved significantly in orthopedic and inguinal hernia patients. However, in the orthopedic groups, postoperative scores for physical health were still relatively lower compared to the general population reference values.

Conclusions

Ambulatory surgery has a positive impact on health-related quality of life. Assessment of the recovery process is necessary for recognition of potential areas of improvement in care and postoperative rehabilitation.

     

Tape-recorded Lectures with Slide Synchronization A Description of the Method

DNA: Blueprint of Life. 1969 (16 mm, colour, sound, 17 minutes). Film Library, John Wiley &; Sons Ltd., Baffins Lane, Chichester, Sussex.

About Abortion 16 mm, sound, colour, 22 minutes. Produced by the Northern Sound Services (Films) Ltd for the Abortion Law Reform Association.

Mikrops Colour Slides

Latest Catalogues     

Combined effects of engineered tendon matrix and GDF-6 on bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell-based tendon regeneration

Objectives

To examine whether an engineered tendon matrix (ETM) environment and growth and differentiation factor-6 (GDF-6) have synergistic effects on the tenogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and the quality of tendon repair.

Results

ETM and GDF-6 promote tenogenic differentiation of BMSCs in vitro. Implantation of GDF-6-incorporated ETM containing BMSCs into a tendon injury model significantly improved the histological and mechanical properties of the repaired tendon.

Conclusions

GDF-6-incorporated ETM containing BMSCs represents a promising strategy for tendon injury repair.

     

Extracellular esterase activity as an indicator of endoplasmic reticulum calcium depletion

Abstract

Context: Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) calcium depletion is associated with diverse diseases, including cardiac, hepatic, and neurologic diseases.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to identify and characterize an endogenous protein that could be used to monitor ER calcium depletion comparably to a previously described exogenous reporter protein.

Materials and methods: The use of a selective esterase-fluorescein diester pair allowed for carboxylesterase activity in extracellular fluid to be measured using a fluorescent readout. Cell culture media from three different cell lines, rat plasma, and human serum all possess quantifiable amounts of esterase activity.

Results: Fluorescence produced by the interaction of carboxylesterases with a fluorescein diester substrate tracks with pharmacological and physiological inducers of ER calcium depletion. The fluorescence measured for in vitro and in vivo samples were consistent with ER calcium depletion being the trigger for increased esterase activity.

Discussion: Decreased luminal ER calcium causes ER resident esterases to be released from the cell, and, when assessed concurrently with other disease biomarkers, these esterases may provide insight into the role of ER calcium homeostasis in human diseases.

Conclusion: Our results indicate that carboxylesterases are putative markers of ER calcium dysfunction.     

Masculinity and nationalism: gender and sexuality in the making of nations

Richard G. Fox (ed.), NATIONALIST IDEOLOGIES AND THE PRODUCTION OF NATIONAL CULTURE, Washington: American Anthropological Association, 1990, 177 pp., $17.00.

Michael Watson (ed.), CONTEMPORARY MINORITY NATIONALISM, London: Routledge, 1990, 277 pp., £35.00.

Christie Davies, ETHNIC HUMOR AROUND THE WORLD, A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS, Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1990, 404 pp., $39.95.

Elizabeth Fox‐Genovese, WITHIN THE PLANTATION HOUSEHOLD: BLACK AND WHITE WOMEN OF THE OLD SOUTH, Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1988, 544 pp., $34.95 and $12.95 (paper).

Darlene Clark Hine, BLACK WOMEN IN WHITE: RACIAL CONFLICT AND COOPERATION IN THE NURSING PROFESSION, 1890–1950, Btoomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1989, 264 pp., $35.00 and $12.95 (paper).

Pnina Werbner, THE MIGRATION PROCESS, Oxford: Berg, 1989, 391 pp., $56.00.

Elaine Pinderhughes, UNDERSTANDING RACE, ETHNICITY AND POWER: THE KEY TO EFFICACY IN CLINICAL PRACTICE, New York: The Free Press; London: Collier Macmillan, 1989, 269 pp., £20.00.

Paul B. Pedersen, Juris G. Draguns, Walter J. Lonner, Joseph E. Trimble, COUNSELLING ACROSS CULTURES, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1989, (third edition), xii + 402 pp., £14.35 (paper).

Roland Littlewood and Morris Lipsedge, ALIENS AND ALIENISTS: ETHNIC MINORITIES AND PSYCHIATRY, London: Unwin Hyman, 1989, (second edition), xvii + 334 pp., £32.00 and £10.95 (paper).

H. Russell Bernard and Jesús Salinas Pedraza, NATIVE ETHNOGRAPHY; A MEXICAN INDIAN DESCRIBES HIS CULTURE, London: Sage Publications, 1989, 648 pp., £62.00 (Illustrated).     

Fermented soybean meal extract improves oxidative stress factors in the lung of inflammation/infection animal model

Context

Fermented soybean products have been used in various ways, and more research is being conducted on them to reveal their benefit.

Objective

The objective of this study was to evaluate the antioxidative activity of fermented soybean meal extract by Lactobacillus plantarum in vitro and in vivo tests.

Materials and methods

A Lactobacillus plantarum strain RM10 was selected through plate and fermentation experiment, which increased the degree of protein hydrolysis (1.015 μg/mL) and antioxidant activity in soybean meal fermented by selected bacteria (FSBM). In vivo study was done on septic rats as an inflammation/infection model, and then the trial groups were treated with different concentrations of fermented soybean meal extracts (FSBM, 5, 10, and 20%).

Results

DPPH radical-scavenging and ferrozine ion-chelating activity enhanced (P < 0.05) after fermentation of soybean meal compared to control group. Reduced (P < 0.05) expression of inflammatory genes and enzymes was detected in the lungs of rats treated with fermented soybean meal extract.

Discussion and conclusions

These results demonstrated that a diet containing fermented soybean meal extract improved extreme inflammatory response in an infectious disease like sepsis by reducing inflammatory factors.

     

Effects of radiotagging on the weight gain and survival of Curlew Numenius arquata chicks

CapsuleNo detrimental effects on weight gain or survival to fledging stage were found.

Aims To assess the effects of radiotagging on the weight gain and survival of Curlew chicks.

Methods Small (≤ 1.5 g) radiotags were attached to Curlew chicks at hatching, during studies in four different areas of the UK. Tagged chicks were recaptured regularly and their weight gain and survival compared to non-tagged chicks using within and between-brood comparisons.

Results Radiotagging did not affect weight gain. While there was no evidence of reduced survival of tagged chicks, comparisons were based on small samples.

Conclusions Small radiotags can be invaluable in determining the survival and causes of mortality of the chicks of waders and other precocial birds.     

Indications for stenting of coarctation of the aorta in children under 3 months of age

Introduction

Coarctation of the aorta in children under 3 months of age is usually treated surgically. However, there are clinical scenarios in which stenting of native or recurrent coarctation may become necessary in this age group.

Case reports

Four cases illustrate possible indications: left ventricular dysfunction increasing the operative risk, thrombus formation after coarctation surgery, patient size (i.e. in premature babies), and retrograde arch obstruction after hybrid palliation of hypoplastic left heart syndrome. In all babies, coarctation stenting was carried out successfully without complications.

Conclusion

Coarctation stenting can be carried out safely in small children. Usually, the stent has to be removed or redilated later. Results are encouraging.