The anti-tobacco campaign of the Nazis: a little known aspect of public health in Germany, 1933-45.

Historians and epidemiologists have only recently begun to explore the Nazi anti-tobacco movement. Germany had the world''s strongest antismoking movement in the 1930s and early 1940s, encompassing bans on smoking in public spaces, bans on advertising, restrictions on tobacco rations for women, and the world''s most refined tobacco epidemiology, linking tobacco use with the already evident epidemic of lung cancer. The anti-tobacco campaign must be understood against the backdrop of the Nazi quest for racial and bodily purity, which also motivated many other public health efforts of the era.     

Nitrogen fixation by achromobacter spp.

Summary Several strains of Achromobacter spp. have been shown to fix nitrogen under aerobic conditions. One strain isolated by Jensen fixes anaerobically as well as aerobically. Apparently the process requires the synthesis of at least one inducible enzyme—a requirement that has been demonstrated previously for the system in Aerobacter aerogenes. Additional similarities to the nitrogen fixing system in other biological systems include the necessity for iron, and probably molybdenum, and the presence of a hydrogenase.     

Litterfall Mass,Chemistry, and Nutrient Retranslocation in a Monodominant Forest on Maracá Island,Roraima, Brazil1

Maracá Island is on the boundary of the Amazon rain forest and the Rio Branco-Rupunini savanna. The annual rainfall is ca. 1800 mm, with a dry season from October-March and a wet season from April-September. A forest type dominated by Peltogyne gracilipes (Caesalpiniaceae) occurs on parts of the island and the adjacent mainland, the least species-rich (for trees > 10 cm DBH) of any recorded in Brazilian Amazonia. The goal of this study was to test the hypothesis that the dominance by Peltogyne is associated with an unusual litterfall mass, nutrient concentrations, or retranslocation. Three plots (50 × 50 m) were set up in each of three forest types: (1) Peltogyne-rich forest (PRFa), dominated by Peltogyne gracilipes; (2) Peltogyne-poor forest (PPF), with a sparse occurrence of Peltogyne; and (3) forest without Peltogyne (FWPa). Litterfall was collected for 360 d at ca 15-d intervals in 11 randomly positioned traps (0.32 m²) per plot. Mature Peltogyne leaves were collected at random from three randomly selected understory Peltogyne trees in each of the three PRFa plots during the early dry and early wet season. Additionally, young Peltogyne leaves were collected during the early wet season. Chemical analyses were made on bulked (on a 2-mo basis) litterfall samples and young and mature Peltogyne leaves. The estimated annual litterfall was similar among PRFa (7.9 t/ha), PPF (9.1 t/ha) and FWPa (8.6 t/ha); however, PRFa was distinguished by its litterfall seasonality, because of the deciduous Peltogyne, and its higher concentrations of Ca (9.3 compared to 6.5 mg/g in FWPa) and Mg (3.2 compared to 1.9mg/g in FWPa). About 40–50 percent of N and P, 25–41 percenr of K, and 2–13 percent of Mg were rerranslocated from Peltogyne leaves.     

FUM9 Is Required for C-5 Hydroxylation of Fumonisins and Complements the Meitotically Defined Fum3 Locus in Gibberella moniliformis

Deletion of the Gibberella moniliformis FUM9 gene resulted in mutants that produce only fumonisins that lack a C-5 hydroxyl group. This phenotype is identical to that of previously described mutants with defective alleles at the meiotically defined Fum3 locus. Transformation with a wild-type FUM9 gene into a Fum3-defective mutant restored wild-type fumonisin production. These results indicate that the FUM9 protein catalyzes the C-5 hydroxylation of fumonisins and that FUM9 and the Fum3 locus are the same gene.     

Leaf Litter Decomposition and Monodominance in the Peltogyne Forest of Marací Island, Brazil1

The forest type dominated by Peltogyne gracilipes (Caesalpiniaceae) on the riverine Marací Island is the least speciesrich of any recorded for Brazilian Amazonia. Because the forest has high soil and foliar Mg concentrations, and Mg is known to be toxic to plant growth at high concentrations, this study tested the hypothesis that dominance by Peltogyne is related to Mg leaf litter amounts and decomposition. We predicted that decomposition of Peltogyne leaves would differ from that of other species, and that their decomposition would result in a pulse of Mg release. Three plots (50 × 50 m) were established in each of three forest types: Peltogyne‐rich forest (PRF; dominated by P. gracilipes),Peltogyne‐poor forest (PPF), and forest without Peltogyne (FWP). Three leaf litter decomposition experiments tested if decomposition of mixed leaf litter in coarse‐ mesh (CM) litterbags differed among forests (experiment 1); whether or not decomposition and nutrient release of Ecclinusa guianensis, Lueheopsis duckeana, and Peltogyne in CM litterbags differed among forests and species (experiment 2); and using fine‐mesh (FM) litterbags, investigated the differences in the influence of fauna! activity on Ecclinusa and Peltogyne decomposition (experiment 3). Decomposition was independent of the presence and dominance of Peltogyne, since decomposition rates in both PRF and FWP were in general lower than in PPF. These differences appeared to be related to fauna] activity. The decomposition of Peltogyne leaves was lower than that of the other species tested and was more affected by microbial and physical action. It is possible that the monodominance of Peltogyne is related to its deciduousness and faster decomposition in the dry season, which coincides with a large leaf fall. Magnesium was lost quickly from the Peltogyne leaves and the resultant pulses of Mg into the soil during the heavy rains at the beginning of the wet season may be deleterious for other species that are not adapted to high solution Mg concentrations. Results obtained were consistent with the hypothesis that Peltogyne dominance is related to the pattern of its leaf decomposition and the seasonal pulses of toxic Mg.     

Quantitative analysis of protein interaction network dynamics in yeast

Many cellular functions are mediated by protein–protein interaction networks, which are environment dependent. However, systematic measurement of interactions in diverse environments is required to better understand the relative importance of different mechanisms underlying network dynamics. To investigate environment‐dependent protein complex dynamics, we used a DNA‐barcode‐based multiplexed protein interaction assay in Saccharomyces cerevisiae to measure in vivo abundance of 1,379 binary protein complexes under 14 environments. Many binary complexes (55%) were environment dependent, especially those involving transmembrane transporters. We observed many concerted changes around highly connected proteins, and overall network dynamics suggested that “concerted” protein‐centered changes are prevalent. Under a diauxic shift in carbon source from glucose to ethanol, a mass‐action‐based model using relative mRNA levels explained an estimated 47% of the observed variance in binary complex abundance and predicted the direction of concerted binary complex changes with 88% accuracy. Thus, we provide a resource of yeast protein interaction measurements across diverse environments and illustrate the value of this resource in revealing mechanisms of network dynamics.