Limnology of a desertic terminal lake,Walker Lake,Nevada, U.S.A.

Walker Lake, a large terminal lake in west-central Nevada, is rapidly desiccating and becoming more saline. From 1937 to 1977, total dissolved solids increased from 5 650 to 10 650 mg l^–1. Ionically, the lake is a chlorocarbonate one; however, as desiccation continues it should eventually have about equal amounts of chloride, sulfate and carbonate. With regard to algal nutrients, the lake appears to be nitrogen limited. The phytoplankton is currently dominated by Nodularia spumigena; at times this produces noxious blooms. The zooplankton community is depauperate and composed of three species. The fish fauna is limited to three endemic fishes, with tui chub, Gila bicolor, dominant. Lahontan cutthroat trout, Salmo clarki henshawi, is restricted during summer to a narrow mid-water zone low enough in temperature and high enough in dissolved oxygen to meet physiological requirements.Dr. Koch passed away in October 1983.     

Establishment,maintenance, and behavior of free-ranging chimpanzees on Ossabaw Island,Georgia, U.S.A.

A small number of adult chimpanzees were released on Ossabaw Island, Georgia, in order to evaluate the feasibility of establishing a free-ranging reproductive colony of chimpanzees in a semitropical North American climate. First, three females and one male were released in June 1972. Following the unexpected deaths of two of these females, four more females were added. Except for one newborn that was removed from the colony, the chimpanzee colony remained intact, and was still in existence as of February 1975. Preparation for and maintenance of the chimpanzees is described. Behavioral adaptations to the environment, and some aspects of chimpanzee social behavior are reported. The potential importance of colonies such as this, for reducing over-exploitation of naturally occurring primate populations is discussed. The financial support of Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, and The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Poultry Science, University Park, Pennsylvania, permitted us to make these observations. Funding for planning and construction of the island facilities, and relocation and maintenance of the chimpanzees was provided by a National Institutes of Health grant toGeoffery Bourne, Director of the Center.     

Patterns of intraspecific variation inAntennaria alborosea,A. corymbosa,A. marginata,A. microphylla,A. parvifolia,andA. umbrinella (Asteraceae:Inuleae)

Patterns of intraspecific variation were examined inAntennaria alborosea A. E. Porsild,A. corymbosa E. Nels,A. marginata Greene,A. microphylla Rydb.,A. parvifolia Nutt., andA. umbrinella Rydb. AlthoughA. alborosea was initially considered arctic in distribution, it became apparent that a southern montane element also exists. Our results suggest that morphological differences between arctic and southern montane specimens represent clinal variation. The additional morphological data for specimens that occur more than 1,500 km south of the species' range as it was initially described result in a better understanding of this once presumed arctic taxon. Morphological variation in the dioecious speciesA. corymbosa, A. marginata, A. microphylla, A. parvifolia, andA. umbrinella was greater between the genders than was geographic variation within each gender. These results demonstrate that both pistillate and staminate specimens must be examined in dioecious species ofAntennaria if morphological variation in the respective species is to be fully understood. Character size or number of broadly distributed species (A. microphylla andA. parvifolia) generally decreased with increasing longitude, whereas characters of species with more restricted distributions (A. alborosea, A. corymbosa, andA. marginata) generally increased in size or number with increasing latitude or longitude.Antennaria umbrinella was an exception in this respect.     

The historical dendroarchaeology of the Green Hotel,Cave Spring,Georgia, U.S.A.

The lands including Cave Spring and most of northwest Georgia were held by the Cherokee until Cherokee removal in 1838. In 2010, a two-story pine structure that was encased inside the Green Hotel in downtown Cave Spring, Georgia, was revealed during renovation. Local Cave Spring historians insist the log structure was built by Avery Vann in 1810, making it a Cherokee structure. However, the Gold Lottery maps of 1832 show no structure on lot 871, which today contains the Green Hotel. A construction date also cannot be verified by historical documents, maps, or artifacts discovered around the Green Hotel. The purpose of this research was to determine the construction date of the Green Hotel log structure. Archaeological dating of the window glass thickness of the hotel gave dates of 1810 or 1823. However, the dendroarchaeological dating of the wood indicates cutting dates during the late spring/early summer of 1839. This would indicate that the log structure inside the Green Hotel was not built by Avery Vann or any Cherokee, but by later Euro-American settlers.     

Species 29. Cisticola Carruthersi. Pl. XIV. fig. 59. Cisticola carruthersi O.-Grant, Bull. B. O. C. xxiii. 1909, p. 94: typ. loc. Mokia, L. George, Uganda.

The B. O. C. Ruwenzori expedition of 1906 brought home a single immature female of this species, obtained in a papyrus swamp near Lake George, and to Ogilvie-Grant's discrimination we owe the recognition of its specific distinction from galactotes , the species it so closely resembles in coloration, and which is certainly carruthersi s nearest ally.     

Revisione delle specie: Actinomyces albus,A. chromogenus,A. odorifer,A. thermophylus,A. viridis,A. viridochromogenes,A. hominis,A. innominatus

Riassunto Lo studio comprende una revisione critico-sperimentale della specie Actinomyces albus, della quale vengono considerati come sinonimi circa 30 nomi speeifici, fra i quale A. chromogenus, A. odorifer, A. thermophylus p.p.; della specie é data una diagnosi ed una particolareggiata descrizione.Sono inoltre studiate le specie A. viridis, (= A. viridochromogenus) e A. innominatus, n. nomen. Quest'ultima é preceduta da una breve discussione sulla specie A. homini.

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Summary Twenty-six strains of Actinomyces albus are studied redescribed from morphological, cultural and biochemical standpoints. Many biological activities of A. chromogenus, A. odorifer and A. thermophilus are in common with other species of the same genus, so that they may be considered for sub-specific, (not specific) differentiation. A discussion on A. farcinicus, A. albidoflavus and A. aureus has been originated from mislabeling as A. albus; the group including the two last named species (flavus group) must be revised. A few strains classified A. farcinicus are in no doubt true A. albus, but this real specific entity remains to be revised from Nocard's strain. A. viridis, for the first time described by Lombardo-Pellegrino, has been redescribed three times as a new species under the same binomial, and the fourth as A. viridochromogenes. A. hominis Bostroem is an uncorrect determination for the species originally described by Waksmann and Curtiss, and it is renamed A. innominatus, the binomial A. (Streptothrix) hominis Auct. being a nomen ambiguum. In conclusion, 30 bionmial are appended in sinonimy to A. albus, including Cladothrix dichotoma Macé (1888) non Cohn, G. invulnerabilis Acosta et G. Rossi, C. odorifera Rullm. Actinomyces chromogenus Gasp., A. thermophilus Auct., p.p., A. (Streptothrix) Sanninii (Cif.) Westerd., A. Almquisti Duché, A. Gougeroti Duché, and so on.

     

Wheeler, E.A. and Manchester, S.R. Woods of the Eocene nut beds flora, Clarno Formation, Oregon, USA. IAWA Journal, Supplement 3

IAWA (International Asso ciation of Wood Anato mists) publishesa high quality journal in four parts, comprising about 500 pagesa year. Every so often they publish supplements that are muchlonger and more comprehensive than traditional scientific papers.The first two were Bibliography of systematic wood anatomy ofdicotyledons (265 pages) by Mary Gregory (1994) and Wood anatomyof Sapindaceae (214 pages) by René Klaasen (1999). Thisthird supplement is on a fossil flora which has many well-preservedwoods that have now been studied in detail. The only minor criticismI have is that the title of     

Managed care. Origins,principles, and evolution.

Managed care has entered the lexicon of healthcare reform, but confusion and ignorance surround its meaning and purpose. It seeks to cut the costs of health care while maintaining its quality, but the evidence that it is able to achieve these aims is mixed. As well as raising awareness and understanding of the issues surrounding managed care, this series considers whether managed care is desirable for the NHS. Developed in the United States as a response to spiralling healthcare costs and dysfunctional fragmented services, managed care is not a discrete activity but a spectrum of activities carried out in a range of organisational settings. Due to its constantly changing nature, managed care is a slippery concept--but all its permutations have in common an attempt to influence and modify the behaviour and practice of doctors and other health professionals towards cost effective care. Whatever potential managed care may hold in this regard, careful appraisal of its implications is essential.     

Histones of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Synthesis, acetylation, and methylation.

Histones of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii were prepared by a new method and fractionated by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. Acid-urea-Triton gel analysis and tritiated acetate labeling demonstrated high levels of steady-state acetylation for the single histone H3 protein, in contrast to low levels on histones H4 and H2B. Twenty percent of histone H3 is subject to dynamic acetylation with, on average, three acetylated lysine residues per protein molecule. Histone synthesis in light-dark-synchronized cultures was biphasic with pattern differences between two histone H1 variants, between two H2A variants, and between H2B and ubiquitinated H2B. Automated protein sequence analysis of histone H3 demonstrated a site-specific pattern of steady-state acetylation between 7 and 17% at five of the six amino-terminal lysines and of monomethylation between 5 and 81% at five of the eight amino-terminal lysines in a pattern that may limit dynamic acetylation. An algal histone H3 sequence was confirmed by protein sequencing with a single threonine as residue 28 instead of the serine28-alanine29 sequence, present in all other known plant and animal H3 histones.     

Socioeconomic determinants of health. Children,inequalities, and health.

This article describes a growing body of evidence showing the adverse effects of the widening income gap on the health and welfare of children and young people. The effects of this go well beyond morbidity and mortality and can also be seen in the areas of crime, violence, and educational attainment. There is a need for evidence based policy in this area, but meanwhile there is scope for intervention in pregnancy and the early years, and good evidence that this is effective. A number of well evaluated interventions not necessarily directly related to health, such as early learning programmes and social support for parents, promise to have beneficial health effects.     

Human heparanase. Purification, characterization, cloning, and expression.

Heparan sulfate and heparan sulfate proteoglycans are present in the extracellular matrix as well as on the external cell surface. They bind various molecules such as growth factors and cytokines and modulate the biological functions of binding proteins. Heparan sulfate proteoglycans are also important structural components of the basement membrane. Heparanase is an endo-beta-D-glucuronidase capable of cleaving heparan sulfate and has been implicated in inflammation and tumor angiogenesis and metastasis. In this study, we report the purification of a human heparanase from an SV40-transformed embryonic fibroblast cell line WI38/VA13 by four sequential column chromatographies. The activity was measured by high speed gel permeation chromatography of the degradation products of fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled heparan sulfate. The enzyme was purified to homogeneity, yielding a peptide with an apparent molecular mass of 50 kDa when analyzed by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Using the amino acid sequences of the N-terminal and internal heparanase peptides, a cDNA coding for human heparanase was cloned. NIH3T3 and COS-7 cells stably transfected with pBK-CMV expression vectors containing the heparanase cDNA showed high heparanase activities. The homology search revealed that no homologous protein had been reported.     

Phylogeny of the Cardiidae (Mollusca, Bivalvia): Protocardiinae, Laevicardiinae, Lahilliinae, Tulongocardiinae subfam. n. and Pleuriocardiinae subfam. n.

In a preliminary cladistic analysis of the bivalve family Cardiidae (Schneider 1992), members of the subfamilies Protocardiinae, Lahilliinae, and Laevicardiinae, plus the genus Nemocardium , were found to be the least derived taxa of cardiids. A cladistic analysis is undertaken of the genera and subgenera of these cardiid taxa, plus several Mesozoic taxa which have never been assigned to any subfamily. The Late Triassic Tulongocardium , which is placed in Tulongocardiinae subfam. n., is the sister taxon to all other cardiids. Protocardiinae is restricted to the genus Protocardia. Most other Mesozoic taxa which have been placed in the Protocardiinae are found to be members of the Lahilliinae. Nemocardium is placed in the Laevicardiinae. Incacardium, Pleuriocardia , and Dochmocardia form a monophyletic group, Pleuriocardiinae subfam. n. Pleuriocardiinae, Laevicardiinae, and the remaining members of the Cardiidae (herein informally termed "cucardiids") form a monophyletic group.     

Forest communities of the northern whitefish range, rocky mountains, Montana, U.S.A.

The montane and subalpine forests of a mountain range in northwestern Montana were investigated using phytosociological and numerical methods. Twelve associations and two subassociations were identified, of which eight are described here for the first time. The forest vegetation of valleys and lower slopes is strongly affected by repeated fire and is placed in the new orderCalamagrostio-Pseudotsugetalia glaucae, which includes temperate, low elevation forests in inland regions of northwestern North America. These forests bear only weak resemblance to forests traditionally assigned to the classVaccinio-Piceetea, and occupy the habitats filled by broad-leaved forests elsewhere at temperate latitudes. Montane and subalpine forest vegetation is moister and has longer snow duration and a shorter growing season. Upper montane vegetation more closely resembles that of other temperate montane forests of the classVaccinio-Piceetea.     

Fungal fimbriae. I. Structure, origin, and synthesis.

Fine hair-like appendages on the cell walls of the another smut Ustilago violacea are described. These hairs are termed fimbriae because of their close similarity to the fimbriae (pili) found on certain Gram-negative bacteria. Cells of U. violacea may carry more than 200 fimbriae varying in length from about 0.5 mum to over 10 mum, and having a diameter of about 60-70 A. Some fimbriae produce knobs similar to those found on bacterial sex fimbriae. Log-phase cells are the most densely fimbriated, while stationary phase cells are devoid of fimbriae. The cells can be defimbriated by sonication, high-speed agitation, or centrifugation through a 40% sucrose solution. The fimbriae can regenerate in these defimbriated cells in about 1 h. This regeneration is inhibited by both cycloheximide and rifampin, but not by chloramphenicol and therefore appears to depend on de novo protein synthesis on cytoplasmic ribosomes. Similar long fimbriae are found on U. maydis and Leucosporidium (Candida) scottii. Short fimbriae, about 0.5 mum long, were found on all the other species of yeast-like fungi examined (Rhodotorula, Saccharomyces, Schizosaccharomyces, Hansenula, Lipomyces, Nadsonia, and Torulopsis spp.).     

Metals,trace elements,and organochlorine compounds in bottom sediment of Tuttle Creek Lake,Kansas, U.S.A.

Bottom-sediment cores were used to investigate the occurrence of 44 metals and trace elements, and 15 organochlorine compounds in Tuttle Creek Lake, a reservoir with an agricultural basin in northeast Kansas, U.S.A. On the basis of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sediment-quality guidelines, concentrations of Ag, As, Cr, Cu, Ni, and Zn frequently or typically exceeded the threshold-effects levels for toxic biological effects. Organochlorine compounds either were not detected or were detected at concentrations generally below the threshold-effects levels. Statistically significant positive depositional trends were determined for several elements. However, because the vertical profiles of element concentrations typically indicated a bimodal distribution and much of the variability could be attributable to analytical variance, the statistical trends may not represent actual trends. DDE concentrations reflected the history of DDT use. Substantial increases in grain corn and soybean production, irrigated land, and hog production in the basin have not had a discernible effect on sediment quality in the reservoir. Future research focused on small impoundments throughout the basin may enhance understanding of the effects of human activity on sediment quality within the Tuttle Creek Lake system and elsewhere.     

Death certification. Purposes,procedures, and pitfalls.

Completing a death certificate properly and promptly is an important duty for physicians, who must understand how the death certificate is used and be able to recognize and employ the concepts of immediate, underlying, and contributing causes of death. Accurate, concise terminology should be used to give in a logical order a sequence of events leading to death. Avoiding mistakes in death certification helps reduce potential medicolegal problems and provides more meaningful statistics for health care personnel.     

Electrophoretic and immunologic characterization of proteins of merozoites of Eimeria acervulina, E. maxima, E. necatrix, and E. tenella.

Merozoites of Eimeria acervulina, Eimeria maxima, Eimeria necatrix, and Eimeria tenella were compared by gel electrophoresis, western-blotting with chicken antiserum, indirect fluorescent antibody reactions, and antiserum neutralization. Merozoites from the 4 species had dissimilar patterns of proteins and antigens in soluble and membrane fractions. Coomassie blue staining of SDS-PAGE gels revealed 16-22 protein bands depending on the species of merozoite but only 3 bands per species in the membrane fractions. Homologous and heterologous antisera recognized 5-12 soluble fraction bands and 3-7 membrane fraction bands on immunoperoxidase-stained western blots, depending on the species. When antisera from infected chickens were used in an indirect fluorescent antibody reaction, the merozoites of E. tenella and E. necatrix had a strong reaction with homologous and heterologous antisera. Merozoites of E. acervulina and E. maxima reacted with homologous antisera but had a weak or no reaction with heterologous antisera. Chicken antiserum against E. tenella had no effect on the viability of E. tenella merozoites when they were inoculated into chicken embryos.     

Retraction: Citius,Altius, Fortius. J. Lange,G. Vriend. Proteins: Structure,Function, and Bioinformatics. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1002/prot.12345

The above article, published online on 12 June 2020 in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com ), has been retracted by agreement between the authors, the journal's Editor-in-Chief Dr. Nikolay Dokholyan, and John Wiley & Sons, Inc. The above article is a humorous editorial contribution surrounding a specialized topic, and was not intended for full online publication as part of the journal's scholarly content. Due to an editorial mistake, the above article was published online in Early View. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. takes full responsibility for the erroneous publication of this article.     

Beta-glucuronidase of rat preputial gland. Crystallization, properties, carbohydrate composition, and subunits.

Rat preputial gland beta-glucuronidase [ED 3.2.1.31] was purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation, ethanol fractionation, gel filtration on Sephadex G-200 and crystallization. The purified enzyme appeared homogeneous on electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gel, and on analytical ultracentrifugation and had a molecular weight of approximately 320,000, and a sedimentation coefficient of 12S. SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis indicated that the enzyme consisted of subunits with molecular weight of 79,000, so the native enzyme appeared to be a tetramer. The Km with p-nitrophenyl beta-D-glucosiduronic acid as substrate was about 0.53 mM. The enzyme had a single pH optimum at 4.5. The enzyme had a very low content of sulphur-containing amino acid and contained 5.7 per cent carbohydrate, consisting of mannose, glucose, fucose, galactose, and glucosamine in a ratio of 44;9;6;2;41. Sialic acid was not detected in the crystallized enzyme.     

Iron-binding compounds of Mycobacterium avium, M. intracellulare, M. scrofulaceum, and mycobactin-dependent M. paratuberculosis and M. avium.

In Aspergillus nidulans, chlorate strongly inhibited net nitrate uptake, a process separate and distinct from, but dependent upon, the nitrate reductase reaction. Uptake was inhibited by uncouplers, indicating that a proton gradient across the plasma membrane is required. Cyanide, azide, and N-ethylmaleimide were also potent inhibitors of uptake, but these compounds also inhibited nitrate reductase. The net uptake kinetics were problematic, presumably due to the presence of more than one uptake system and the dependence on nitrate reduction, but an apparent Km of 200 microM was estimated. In uptake assays, the crnA1 mutation reduced nitrate uptake severalfold in conidiospores and young mycelia but had no effect in older mycelia. Several growth tests also indicate that crnA1 reduces nitrate uptake. crnA expression was subject to control by the positive-acting regulatory gene areA, mediating nitrogen metabolite repression, but was not under the control of the positive-acting regulatory gene nirA, mediating nitrate induction.