Oral estrogen treatment induces a decrease in expression of sialyl Lewis x on {alpha}1 glycoprotein in females and male-to-female transsexuals

The effect of estrogen on the glycosylation of     

LETHAL SYNTHESIS IN CYNODON DACTYLON GROWING IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

Badenhuizen , N. P. (U. Toronto, Ont., Can.), and E. N. Lawson . Lethal synthesis in Cynodon dactylon growing in southern Africa. Amer. Jour. Bot. 49 (2) : 158–167. Illus. 1962.—Both cultivated and wild forms of Cynodon dactylon are characterized in southern Africa by the random production of chlorotic shoots. Some properties of these shoots were typical of chlorotic shoots in general: increase in water and soluble nitrogen content, and inhibition of protein synthesis, chloroplast development and catalase activity. Others, such as sterility and enhanced respiratory activity, were more characteristic of plants treated with streptomycin or amitrol. Allantoin could be demonstrated in the chlorotic shoots and was found to produce chlorosis after being applied to Cynodon plants. Additional characteristics included decreased total and “active” iron content, accompanied by an increase in citric acid. So far, the weight of evidence, including the ultrastructure of the plastids, is not in favor of a mutation, a virus, a fungus, or iron deficiency as the ultimate cause of chlorosis in Cynodon. There appears to be a tendency towards the production of allantoin which may be triggered off more frequently under certain conditions of environment, until a concentration is reached when it irreversibly inhibits stages in the development of the chloroplasts.     

Male-male interactions with dead infants inMacaca sylvanus

Infants ofMacaca sylvanus are often involved in male-male interactions. Very similar interactions occur also with dead infants. The present paper describes male-male interactions with dead infants and emphasizes similarities and differences between these and those involving live infants. Causation is also briefly discussed.     

Altered cyclic-AMP receptor activity and morphogenesis in a chemosensory mutant of Dictyostelium discoideum

Abstract. The functional properties of the cell-surface cyclic-AMP receptor that controls chemotaxis were found to be altered in an aggregation mutant of Dictyostelium discoideum. The mutant aggregated without stream formation and had a tenfold increased cell-density requirement for the initiation of aggregation. After aggregation, mounds formed multiple tips and subsequently subdivided to give multiple fruits that were small and abnormally proportioned. Cyclic-AMP-induced light-scattering changes in cell suspensions indicated that the mutant had a diminished response to external cyclic-AMP signals. Associated with these altered functional responses was a physical change in the cyclic-AMP sensory system. Cyclic-AMP-binding studies showed that the parent had two classes of cyclic-AMP binding sites, i.e., Kd = 32 and 110 nM. In contrast, the mutant had two- to threefold or more high-affinity sites (Kd = 25n M ) and altered low-affinity sites (Kd < 3μ M ). These results indicate that both affinity classes of binding site are independently mutable. This observation suggests that the two affinity classes can be interconverted by mutation, or the mutation alters a single molecular species and its equilibrium between binding sites with different affinities for cyclic AMP, as postulated in receptor cycling models.     

Release of xenotropic type C RNA virus in response to lipopolysaccharide: acitivity of lipid-A portion upon B lymphocytes.

The present studies demonstrate that lipopolysaccharide (LPS) causes the release of endogenous xenotropic type-C RNA virus from BALB/c spleen cells. The evidence suggests that virus release is stimulated by the lipid-A portion of LPS and primarily involves an action of LPS on B lymphocytes. LPS had little or no effect on virus release by T lymphocytes, macrophages, or fibroblasts. These results indicate that the differentiated state of the cell plays an important role in the regulation of endogenous virus release.