Antibodies against calcium-regulating hormones in infectious-allergic forms of bronchial asthma

Antibodies to calcitonin, parathyroid hormone and cortisol are detected in acute stage of infection-caused bronchial asthma. The appearance of antibodies is paralleled by marked hypercalcaemia. The antibodies may bind excessive hormones in the blood, preventing further hormonal imbalance. Ten-day treatment with glucocorticoids decreased the amount of antibodies possibly due to normalization of hormonal secretion and restoration of their balance. As a result, calcium blood levels returned to normal.     

Characterization of staphylococci

A total of 158 Staphylococcus strains from various sources were characterized by biochemical, physiological, and morphological tests. Numerical taxonomy was applied by using these features. Taxonomic analysis was done with programs run under the MVS-TSO system of the IBM 370 complex and PDP-10 system of the National Institutes of Health. DNA-DNA hybridization with nitrocellulose filters was done to compare selected atypical cultures with American Type Culture Collection reference strains. We found that the use of the nomenclature of Bergey's Manual (8th edition) to identify these strains by species was not adequate. DNA homology values supported the formation of Staphylococcus hyicus subsp. hyicus separate from Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, and Staphylococcus saprophyticus. The three tests that best separated these strains into four species were (i) tube coagulase (6-h or 24-h porcine plasma or 24-h Difco rabbit plasma), (ii) production of acetoin or acid aerobically from ribose, maltose, or trehalose, and (iii) growth in the presence of novobiocin. Four strains of S. hyicus subsp. hyicus (VII76, VII113, VII131, and VA519) gave typical enterotoxigenic responses in monkey-feeding tests but were negative for enterotoxins A through E, suggesting the presence of one or more new enterotoxins. Two coagulase-negative, heat-stable DNase-positive strains (D143 and ARM) could not be classified by either DNA-DNA hybridization or numerical taxonomy, and D143 was enterotoxigenic as measured by the monkey-feeding bioassay. DNA homology showed that strain FRI-698M was more closely related to S. epidermidis than to S. aureus, yet it produced enterotoxin D. These data suggest the occurrence of coagulase-negative enterotoxigenic strains that are not S. aureus; nonetheless, a positive tube coagulase test and heat-stable DNase test should together be useful for routine screening of most potentially enterotoxigenic staphylococci in foods.     

Comparison of the effects of smooth and skeletal tropomyosin on skeletal actomyosin subfragment 1 ATPase

Chicken gizzard tropomyosin, like rabbit skeletal tropomyosin, inhibits and activates skeletal actomyosin subfragment 1 ATPase at low and high [subfragment 1], respectively, showing that both smooth and skeletal tropomyosin qualitatively produce similar cooperative effects on activity. For gizzard tropomyosin, however, the extent of the inhibition was less, and the activation curve rose more sharply at lower [subfragment 1]. In terms of a two-state cooperative activity model for the actin-tropomyosin filament (Hill, T. L., Eisenberg, E., and Chalovich, J. (1981) Biophys. J. 35, 99-112), these results qualitatively suggest that, for the gizzard tropomyosin system, more units are initially in the active state (in the absence of subfragment 1) and that the switching of units to the active state is more cooperative. The greater cooperativity indicated for the gizzard system may be a consequence of the greater rigidity of gizzard tropomyosin indicated from conformational studies.     

Biosynthesis of ferredoxin in Chlamydomonas reinhardii

The selective action of the antibiotics chloramphenicol and cycloheximide on the synthesis of ferredoxin in liquid cultures of Chlamydomonas reinhardii was studied. Highly specific antibodies raised against Chlamydomonas ferredoxin were used to determine the in vivo synthesis of apoferredoxin and conversion into native protein. The results indicate that 80S ribosomes are involved in the synthesis. Chlamydomonas cells growing in the absence of iron did not synthesize immunologically detectable amounts of ferredoxin. We suggest that this is based upon feed-back inhibition of apoferredoxin synthesis at the translational level.Abbreviations CAP chloramphenicol - CHI cycloheximide - IgG Immunoglobulin G - PBS 140.4 mM NaCl. 9 mM Na₂HPO₄, 1.3 mM NaH₂PO₄ (pH 74) - SDS sodium dodecvl sulphate - Fd Ferredoxin - apoFd Apoferredoxin - CM-Fd Scarboxymethylated Fd - TCA-Fd Fd treated with trichloroacetic acid