Mechanical Method of Inoculating Plates for Antibiotic Sensitivity Testing

A mechanical method of inoculating culture plates for antibiotic sensitivity testing is described. This method, which involves the use of a modified laboratory centrifuge, is rapid and provides a homogeneous distribution of organisms.     

Transformation of Murine Cells by Two “Slow Viruses,” Visna Virus and Progressive Pneumonia Virus

Visna and progressive pneumonia virus (PPV), two antigenically related, non-oncogenic "slow viruses" which have ribonucleic acid (RNA)-dependent deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) polymerase activity, were examined for their ability to transform cells. Murine cells which had been exposed to either visna or PPV developed foci of altered, spindle-shaped cells 3 to 4 weeks after infection. Visna and PPV transformed lines were established from these cultures. There was no evidence that other oncogenic DNA or RNA viruses were involved in the observed transformation. Visna or PPV could be "rescued" from all transformed lines by co-cultivation with normal sheep testis cells. "Rescued" virus was identified as visna or PPV, and they retained the capacity to transform mouse cells. These experiments may have important implications in the understanding of both viral carcinogenesis and "slow" viral infections.     

LONG-TERM ORGAN CULTURE OF THE SALAMANDER HEART

Beating salamander hearts were maintained in tissue culture for periods ranging from 1 to 6 months. After 1, 3, or 6 months of culture, six hearts, along with six control hearts, were fixed for electron microscopy. In control tissue, the sarcoplasmic reticulum usually demonstrated the normal pattern of paired, linearly arranged membranes, although in some cases, the reticulum showed a variation from these membranes to a series of small vesicles. There was no evidence of a T-system of tubules in any of the material examined. Desmosome-Z band complexes were observed in almost all sections of both control and experimental material. A possible role of these complexes in the excitation-contraction mechanism is discussed. In 3 month cultured material, alterations in normal myofibrillar pattern occurred. Small segments of myofibrils branched from one Z band to join the Z band of an adjacent myofibril, or appeared to be fraying out into the sarcoplasm. In 6 month cultured material, myofibrils were fragmented into short segments from which myofilaments frayed out into the sarcoplasm. This filamentous material may be remnants of myofilaments. Despite the morphological changes in myofibrils, the heart pulsation rate, established at the beginning, was maintained throughout the culture period. It is suggested that the alterations, observed in the experimental material, occurred in elements not essential for heart beat maintenance, or that these alterations have not yet progressed to a critical point of affecting the heart beat.     

Fine Structure Mapping in Yeast with Sunlamp Radiation

The X-ray mapping procedure of Manney and Mortimer (1964) is the most widely applicable and convenient method for fine structure analysis in yeast, but suffers the disadvantage that suitable X-ray machines or gamma ray sources are very expensive. Although many other recombinogens are known, none gives a linear dose-response like X-rays and few are as convenient or give as reproducible results. Experiments with Saccharomyces cerevisiae reported in this paper show, however, that the near-ultraviolet radiation emitted by fluorescent sunlamps gives linear dose-response relations, as reproducible results as ionizing radiations, and map distances which correlate highly with those obtained by using (60)Co gamma rays. It is suggested that this convenient recombinogen may be a suitable low-cost substitute for ionizing radiations in fine structure mapping.     

Leonhardi Euleri's “Principia pro motu sanguinis per arterias determinando”

The purpose of this publication as a pedagogical contribution is to illustrate the uniqueness of the method Euler used to determine the unsteady flow of blood in the circulatory system. In his presentation, he accounts for the tapering of the vessels and their elastic behavior. The limitations of this study are based upon the extent of the development of the mathematics of his era. This work may be the first mathematical treatment of circulatory physiology and haemodynamics. Euler perhaps could very well be called the Father of Haemodynamics.The Determination of the Principals of the Motion of Blood through the Arteries.Supported in part by a grant from the American Heart Association (No. 62F4EG).This work was done during the tenure of an Established Investigatorship of the American Heart Association.     

Evaluation of equilibrium constants by affinity chromatography

Theoretical expressions are derived for affinity chromatography of systems comprising an acceptor A with one binding site for attachment to a functional group X on the column matrix and one site for interaction with a small ligand B that specifically affects its elution. From a general relationship covering all possible interactions between A, B and X simpler expressions are derived for affinity systems in which only two equilibria operate. Methods are suggested whereby these simpler systems may be characterized in terms of the two pertinent equilibrium constants and the concentration of matrix-bound constituent. The means by which the theory may be adapted to affinity chromatography of acceptors with multiple binding sites for ligand is also illustrated. Results of partition experiments on the Sephadex G-100-lysozyme-d-glucose system in acetate-chloride buffer (I=0.17m), pH5.4, are used to demonstrate the feasibility of evaluating quantitatively affinity-chromatography interactions. Values of 30m(-1) and 1.2x10(6)m(-1) are obtained for the equilibrium constants for the reactions of lysozyme with glucose and Sephadex respectively, there being only an occasional binding site in the polysaccharide matrix (approximately 1 in 10(5) glucose residues). In a second experimental study the phytohaemagglutinin from Ricinus communis is subjected to frontal chromatography on Sepharose 4B in the presence of different concentrations of d-galactose, the results illustrating some of the difficulties and limitations that are likely to be encountered in quantitative studies of affinity-chromatographic systems.     

Mechanism of Prophylaxis by Silver Compounds against Infection of Burns

To clarify tthe mechanism by which local application of silver compounds protects burns against infection, an ion-specific electrode was used to measùre the concentration of silver ions in solutions. By this method it was shown that in burn dressings silver ions were reduced to a very low level by precipitation as silver chloride. The antibacterial effect was found to depend on the availability of silver ions from solution in contact with precipitate. Between 10^-5 and 10^-6 molar silver nitrate solution in water was rapidly bactericidal. The minimal amount of silver nitrate causing inhibition of respiration of skin in tissue culture was about 25 times the minimal concentration of silver nitrate that inhibited growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.     

ACTINOXYLON BANKSII GEN. ET SP. NOV.: A PROGYMNOSPERM FROM THE MIDDLE DEVONIAN OF NEW YORK

A new genus from a Middle Devonian locality near Cairo, N. Y., is described. Actinoxylon gen. nov. is based upon pyritic petrifactions. Three orders of branching are present: penultimate branch, ultimate branch, and leaf. The penultimate branch bears spirally arranged ultimate branches and leaves, the leaves apparently replacing the branches in the spiral. The ultimate branches bear opposite to subopposite and decussate leaves. The leaves are non-planated, unwebbed structures which show at least three dichotomies. Each segment of the leaf is terete as are all other axes. Internally the penultimate branch has a six-lobed actinostele with mesarch protoxylem areas, one or two per lobe. Secondary xylem is visible in the oldest parts of several specimens. The xylem has helical-reticulate, reticulate, scalariform and circular-pitted elements. The presumptive areas of phloem are occupied by cells with dark contents. The cortex is composed of a parenchymatous inner region and a sclerenchymatous outer region. The ultimate branch traces are at first three-lobed protosteles, later becoming four-lobed. Several ultimate branch traces also possess secondary xylem while within the cortex of the penultimate branch. The leaf traces are terete strands. Below each forking of a leaf segment there is a corresponding forking of the vascular strand. Actinoxylon is compared with the progymnosperms Actinopodium, Svalbardia, Archaeopteris, Siderella, and Tetraxylopteris. The anatomy of the penultimate branch of Actinoxylon is similar to that of Actinopodium, Archaeopteris macilenta, and Siderella. The ultimate branch traces of Archaeopteris and Actinoxylon are similar. The ultimate branch stele and pattern of trace formation in Actinoxylon is similar to the stelar configuration and trace formation in the r + 2 axes of Tetraxylopteris schmidtii. The unwebbed leaves are similar to those of Archaeopteris fissilis, Svalbardia, and the terminal units of the Aneurophytales.