Rolf Bernander (1956–2014): pioneer of the archaeal cell cycle

On 19 January 2014 Rolf (‘Roffe’) Bernander passed away unexpectedly. Rolf was a dedicated scientist; his research aimed at unravelling the cell biology of the archaeal domain of life, especially cell cycle‐related questions, but he also made important contributions in other areas of microbiology. Rolf had a professor position in the Molecular Evolution programme at Uppsala University, Sweden for about 8 years, and in January 2013 he became chair professor at the Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner‐Gren Institute at Stockholm University in Sweden. Rolf was an exceptional colleague and will be deeply missed by his family and friends, and the colleagues and co‐workers that he leaves behind in the scientific community. He will be remembered for his endless enthusiasm for science, his analytical mind, and his quirky sense of humour.     

The Philosophical Origins of Mitchell's Chemiosmotic Concepts

Mitchell's formulation of the chemiosmotic theory of oxidative phosphorylation in 1961 lacked any experimental support for its three central postulates. The path by which Mitchell reached this theory is explored. A major factor was the role of Mitchell's philosophical system conceived in his student days at Cambridge. This system appears to have become a tacit influence on his work in the sense that Polanyi understood all knowledge to be generated by an interaction between tacit and explicit knowing. Early in his life Mitchell had evolved a simple philosophy based on fluctoids, fluctids and statids which was developed in a thesis submitted for the z at the University of Cambridge, England. This aspect of his work was rejected by the examiners and became a tacit element in his intellectual development. It is argued from his various publications that this philosophy can be traced as an underlying theme behind much of Mitchell's theoretical writing in the 50's leading, through his notion of vectorial metabolism, to the formulation and amplification of the chemiosmotic theory in the sixties. This philosophy formed the basis for Mitchell of his understanding of biological systems and gave him his unique approach to cell biology. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Medicine or Science—A Study of Career Decisions

A study of the career decisions of all students in a single matriculation cohort was undertaken in 1965 at the University of British Columbia. Studied were 64 premedical students, 112 ex-premedical students and 87 science students who had completed at least their second year. It was found by means of a questionnaire that medicine remained the career of high prestige for the three groups of students. In general the values and needs of the ex-premedical student were more similar to those of the science student than the premedical student. The loyalists to medicine were found to be more committed, self-assured, and orientated towards people and service. In addition, the premedical student was more concerned about his academic achievement but was also more confident of his progress. He emerged at the end of his training as the committed student who had chosen medicine at an early age and had remained loyal to his chosen career goal.     

Bradycardiac Angina: Haemodynamic Aspects and Treatment

A patient with a sinus bradycardia and angina is described who was unable to increase his heart rate on vigorous exercise by more than a few beats. His severe angina was attributed to the bradycardia. Atrial pacing of his heart abolished his angina and increased his exercise tolerance. Circulatory changes at rest, on exertion, and with atrial pacing are described. The cause of angina in this patient is discussed.     

From Darkness to Light

Not so long ago I happened to treat a Jewish eighth-grade gymnasium student brought to Petrograd from a province. It was fall and the following spring he was to take his qualifying examinations. The young man, who belonged to a prosperous family, had brilliant abilities and graduated from each class with excellent grades—what would you think his illness was? He suffered—in his own words—from the throes of creative writing. Days and nights he poured over a notebook with his compositions in search of the best form to express his thoughts. Only after applying incredible efforts could one tear him away from his note-books and send him to bed at five or six o'clock in the morning, and this happened on a daily basis. With each day his mental health grew worse. It was clear that the young man undermined his health by overstudying, and that he had reached the point where he needed to worry about his health, not his studies, because a serious mental illness was descending upon him. The young man was well liked by everyone in his high-school. The teachers considered him the best student, and having learned about his illness, they promised to petition to grant him the right to graduate from school without the final examination and with a certificate of excellent. But none of that helped. The young man could not relax, spending days and nights over his compositions and constantly tormenting himself with his "throes of creative writing."     

I. P. Pavlov's teacher of physiology I. F. Tsion (1842-1912)]

In 1866, at the C. Ludwig's laboratory, E. F. Cyon discovered n. depressor, and after C. Bernard's presentation he was awarded with the Montion Prize of the Paris Academy of Sciences. In 1867, together with his brother M. Cyon, he discovered nn. accelerantes of heart, which increase the heart rate when being stimulated. From 1868 to 1874 he was a privatdocent an professor of physiology at Saint-Petersburg University, where under his guidance I.P. Pavlov mastered the brilliant technique of vivisection experiment and accomplished his first works on the physiology of circulation and digestion. From 1872 to 1874 E. F. Cyon was physiology professor at Saint-Petersburg Medical-Surgical Academy. He published "Course of Physiology" in 2 volumes, the official speech "Heart and Brain" and others, proposed an original theory of inhibition, improved the reflex theory. He published 197 works, including 151 in German and French. I. P. Pavlov paid a worthy tribute to his teacher and continued the main direction of his investigations.     

Thomas Hunt Morgan as an Embryologist: The View from Bryn Mawr

Thomas Hunt Morgan taught at Bryn Mawr College from 1891 until1904. During his years there he concentrated his research interestson embryology; he included regeneration as an integral partof development. This article maintains that Morgan did not abandonhis interest in embryology when he became a geneticist at Columbia,but it deals mainly with his teaching and research while atBryn Mawr. He worked on the development of a great diversityof organisms, plant and animal, he used widely differing experimentalmethods to investigate them, and he concerned himself with manydifferent general and special problems. He strove to investigateproblems that were directly soluble by experimental intervention,and was highly critical, in the best possible way, of the experimentsand interpretations made by his contemporaries, who regardedhim as a leader. He exerted his influence on developmental biologynot only through his research, but also through a number offine textbooks, and by his teaching. During his Bryn Mawr yearshe encouraged his students, undergraduate and graduate, to carryout independent research. He sometimes published with them asco-author, but dozens of articles by his students were publishedwithout carrying Morgan's name as co-author.     

Treatment with a dietary fat substitute decreased Arochlor 1254 contamination in an obese diabetic male

A case manifesting symptoms due to organochlorine toxicity was treated with the fat substitute olestra in his diet. Before treatment, the patient was obese, with severe type 2 diabetes mellitus and mixed hyperlipidemia, chloracne, frequent headaches, and numbness and paraesthesias of his trunk and lower limbs. Earlier attempts at weight loss had been unsuccessful due to worsening of his symptoms. After inclusion of olestra in his diet for 2 years, weight loss was successful without aggravation of his symptoms, and the patient reverted to normoglycemia and normolipidemia. Olestra may have assisted weight loss and amelioration of his diabetes by increasing fecal elimination of organochlorines, rather than by preventing the partitioning of these pollutants into tissues, where they have been reported to exert antimetabolic effects on substrate oxidation.     

Behavioral changes of a juvenile gorilla after a transfer to a more naturalistic environment

Play behavior and stress-associated behavior of a captive juvenile gorilla were observed before and after his transfer to a larger and more natural environment. The gorilla was observed for 4 months after the transfer and at 1 and 4 years after the transfer. Throughout his first month in the new environment play decreased dramatically. Although play subsequently increased again 2 months and 1 year after the transfer, it never reached the levels of play in the old environment. Four years after the move his play had decreased again to the low level of his first month in the new environment. Two of his stress-associated behaviors, coprophagy and regurgitation/reingestion, decreased after the transfer. Self-clasping behavior increased initially in the new environment and remained at high levels 1 year after the move. Four years after the move his self-clasping behavior was significantly less than at 1 year after the move; however, it continued to be significantly greater than in the old environment. These findings suggest that larger and more natural environments do not necessarily result in more play activity or a reduction in all stress-associated behavior.     

Biology and war--American biology and international science

The German-born American scientist Jacques Loeb (1859-1924) was one of the most important promoters of experimental biology around 1900. He was best known for his physico-chemical explanations of psychological processes and his biotechnological approach to artificial parthenogenesis. At the start of the First World War, Loeb was deeply troubled by the deterioration of the international scientific community and the growing alienation of his German and American colleagues. The aim of this paper is to examine Jacques Loeb's activities aimed at advancing scientific internationalism before, during, and after the war. Loeb, for example, tried to negotiate the publication of German authors in American journals during the war, at a time when this was categorically rejected by publishers. Immediately after the war, he tried to create a specific system aimed at disseminating scientific literature and funding selected European colleagues, in order to overcome what he considered reactionary and hegemonic forces within German scientific institutions. His correspondence with eminent scientists from all over the world (amongst them Albert Einstein, Richard Goldschmidt, Otto Meyerhof, Otto Warburg, Paul Ehrlich, Wolfgang Ostwald, Wilhelm Roux, and Ross Harrison) will serve as a source for the analysis. Special emphasis will be placed on the question how Jacques Loeb integrated epistemology, his particular world view, and his social commitment into the workings of his own life and how he tried to extend his scientific goal of controlling biological systems to the sphere of international science.     

Abraham Flexner and the development of the Yale School of Medicine

Abraham Flexner first toured the Yale University School of Medicine in preparation for his report of 1910, but it was just the beginning of his relationship with the school. While his review of Yale in his report was generally favorable, he mentioned several shortfalls that needed to be improved to make the school acceptable. Throughout the next twenty-five years, Flexner worked with Deans George Blumer and Milton C. Winternitz to improve the school's finances, infrastructure, and quality of education through his work with the Carnegie Foundation and General Education Board Flexner has been given great accolades for his work on medical education for the country, but little mention is made of him at Yale, even though he was one of the most influential figures in the development of Yale in the last century.     

Abraham Flexner and the development of the Yale School of Medicine. 1999

Abraham Flexner first toured the Yale University School of Medicine in preparation for his report of 1910, but it was just the beginning of his relationship with the school. While his review of Yale in his report was generally favorable, he mentioned several shortfalls that needed to be improved to make the school acceptable. Throughout the next twenty-five years, Flexner worked with Deans George Blumer and Milton C. Winternitz to improve the school's finances, infrastructure, and quality of education through his work with the Carnegie Foundation and General Education Board. Flexner has been given great accolades for his work on medical education for the country, but little mention is made of him at Yale, even though he was one of the most influential figures in the development of Yale in the last century.     

Steering with the head. the visual strategy of a racing driver

We studied the eye movements of a racing driver during high-speed practice to see whether he took in visual information in a different way from a normal driver on a winding road [1, 2]. We found that, when cornering, he spent most of the time looking close to, but not exactly at, the tangent points on the inside edges of the bends. Each bend was treated slightly differently, and there was a highly repeatable pattern to the way the track edge was viewed throughout each bend. We also found a very close relationship between the driver's head direction and the rate of rotation of the car 1 s later. We interpret these observations as indicating that the driver's gaze is not driven directly by tangent point location, as it is in ordinary driving. Instead, we propose that his head direction is driven by the same information that he uses to control steering and speed, namely his knowledge of the track and his racing line round it. If he directs his head at an angle proportional to his estimate of car rotation speed, this will automatically bring his head roughly into line with the tangent points of the bends. From this standardized position, he can use the expected movements of the tangent points in his field of view to verify, and if necessary modify, his racing line during the following second.     

Interactions among adult males and females before and after the death of the alpha male in a free-ranging troop of Japanese macaques

This report documents the social interactions among adult Japanese macaques in a free-ranging troop before and after the death of the alpha male, who died at 28 years of age after occupying his rank position for 17 years. The alpha male’s physical condition had deteriorated due to his extreme age for several months before his death. However, he maintained his alpha position. When he was attacked by the second-ranking adult male, he was rescued by the alpha female. Thereafter, whenever the second-ranking male approached him, the alpha male screamed for the alpha female’s support. The number of adult females to whom the alpha male maintained proximity during his last four months was similar to that during the same period of the previous year. Prior to his death, the alpha male was observed in close proximity to the alpha female much more frequently than was the second-ranking male. These results indicate that the alpha male maintained his position by depending on female support and particularly that of the alpha female.     

Robert Alexander Falla K.B.E., C.M.G., M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S.N.Z.

Abstract

On 23 February 1979 Sir Robert Falla collapsed and died at his home in Eastbourne. He was 77. His sudden death came as a great shock to his multitude of friends and colleagues, many of whom were still sharing with Sir Robert a deep sense of loss at the death on 31 May 1978, shortly after the couple's golden wedding anniversary, of his charming wife Molly.     

Development of a congenitally malformed Japanese monkey in a free-ranging group during the first four years of life

A malformed male Japanese monkey completely lacking both hands was observed in a free-ranging situation to four years of age. He developed a locomotor pattern appropriate to his deformity, namely, bipedal walking on hind legs. He maintained a stronger bond with his mother than did normal same-aged male monkeys and retained the same high dominance ranking order as his mother. He did not show peripheralization as did normal juvenile monkeys. No social disadvantages based on his physical deficiencies were observed at least until the end of his fourth year of life.     

The genius of Wilhelm Hofmeister: the origin of causal-analytical research in plant development

Friederich Wilhelm Benedikt Hofmeister (1824-1877) stands as one of the true giants in the history of biology and belongs in the same pantheon as Darwin and Mendel. Yet by comparison, he is virtually unknown. If he is known at all, it is for his early work on flowering plant embryology and his ground-breaking discovery of the alternation of generations in plants, which he published at age 27 in 1851. Remarkable as the latter study was, it was but a prelude to the more fundamental contributions he was to make in the study of plant growth and development expressed in his books on plant cell biology (Die Lehre von der Pfanzenzelle, 1867) and plant morphology (Allgemeine Morphologie der Gewächse, 1868). In this article we review his remarkable life and career, highlighting the fact that his scientific accomplishments were based largely on self-education in all areas of biology, physics, and chemistry. We describe his research accomplishments, including his early embryological studies and their influence on Mendel's genetic studies as well as his elucidation of the alternation of generations, and we review in detail his cell biology and morphology books. It is in the latter two works that Hofmeister the experimentalist and biophysicist is most manifest. Not only did Hofmeister explore the mechanisms of cytoplasmic streaming, plant morphogenesis, and the effects of gravity and light on their development, but in each instance he developed a biophysical model to integrate and interpret his wealth of observational and experimental data. Because of the lack of attention to the cell and morphology books, Hofmeister's true genius has not been recognized. After studying several evaluations of Hofmeister by contemporary and later workers, we conclude that his reputation became eclipsed because he was so far ahead of his contemporaries that no one could understand or appreciate his work. In addition, his basically organismic framework was out of step with the more reductionistic cytogenetic work that later came in vogue. We suggest that the translation of the cell and morphology books in English would help re-establish him as one of the most notable scientists in the history of plant biology.     

Q & A. [interview

Joel Rosenbaum was born and grew up in Massena, New York state, on the St Lawrence River border with Ontario, Canada. He received his undergraduate and PhD degrees from Syracuse University, and a Masters Degree in high school biology teaching at St Lawrence University. His PhD work was done with the protozoologist, George Holz Jr, and his post doctoral research on cilia and flagella was at the University Of Chicago with Frank Child and Hewson Swift. He has been at Yale University for 37 years where he has taught Cell Biology. His research has been on the synthesis and assembly of the proteins of cilia and flagella, showing that the flagellar axoneme assembles at the distal tip and that detachment of the flagella upregulates the genes for flagellar proteins. More recently his group has shown that this tip assembly process is facilitated by a rapid kinesin and cytoplasmic dynein-mediated motility underneath the flagellar membrane called ‘intraflagellar transport’. He is a runner with more than 20 marathons under his belt.