TIME-INTENSITY PROPERTIES OF SWEET AND BITTER STIMULI: IMPLICATIONS FOR SWEET AND BITTER TASTE CHEMORECEPTION

Interindividual differences in sweet and bitter taste sensitivity were investigated using time-intensity (TI) measurements and multivariate statistics. TI profiles were obtained in triplicate from 25 subjects for 23 sweet and/or bitter stimuli first matched to be approximately equi-intense to 200 mM NaCl. Sweet stimuli, except for the larger sweeteners, were less persistent, and required less time to reach maximum intensity than bitter stimuli. The results of principal component (PCA) and cluster (CA) analyses of the stimuli X subjects matrices for maximum intensity (Imax), time to maximum intensity (Tmax), total duration (Tdur), and area under the curve (Area) suggest that sweet and bitter stimuli do not share common receptors; and that there are at least two receptor mechanisms each for sweet taste (one for sugars and other small compounds, and the other for large sweeteners) and bitter taste (one for PTC/PROP and one for other bitter compounds).     

ON THE GENERATION OF FORM BY THE CONTINUOUS INTERACTIONS BETWEEN CELLS AND THEIR EXTRACELLULAR MATRIX

The central issue of this essay is the problem of how multicellular organisms develop and maintain the complex architecture and intricate shape of tissues and organs. The concepts pattern formation, morphogenesis and differentiation are defined and discussed suggesting a distinction between processes that underlie uniformity (e.g. basic body plans) and those underlying inter- and intra-species variation. The initial stage of limb bone development--the formation of the mesenchymal condensation--is described in detail. On the basis of these data and many additional example from other developmental systems, the central role of continuous cell-ECM interactions in the generation of form is deduced. Evidence is provided as to the leading role of the mesenchymal-fibroblast-like cells in sculpturing tissue and organ architecture. It is proposed that a group of cells within their ECM, rather than the single cell, is the functional unit relevant to the generation of form. The continuous cell-ECM interactions lead to the generation of form not by a detailed obligate pathway, but rather by a process of 'selective stabilization' (Kirschner & Mitchison, 1986), i.e. a gradual organization into more stable structures, where existing structural configuration serve to increase the likelihood of certain configurations and reduce that of others. Data are quoted to support the notion that even cell division does not erase all the structural information imprinted in the cell. The role of the metazoan genome in morphogenesis is discussed in the light of the process of selective stabilization.     

镉、铅及其相互作用对小白菜生理生化特性的影响

本文研究了溶液培养条件下小白菜对镉,铅的吸收积累规律的镉,铅及其相互作用小白菜生理生化特性的影响,结果表明：植物体内镉,铅含量与培养中镉,铅浓度呈正相关性,镉可降低植物对铅的吸收;镉超过一定浓度后,对叶绿素起破坏作用,并促进抗坏血酸分解,使游离脯氨酸累,抑制硝酸还原酶活性。含镉的培养液中,由于铅的加入,加强了镉对植物的毒害作用。     

金属离子及CTAB对酵母细胞介电行为的影响——相互作用的模型化解析

利用介电谱方法详细研究了Cu2＋、Zn2＋、Cd2＋、Pb2＋、Al3＋、Ni2＋等金属离子以及阳离子表面活性剂CTAB：十六烷基三甲基溴化铵）对典型的真核细胞——酵母细胞介电性质的影响。在时间变化和浓度变化的情况下,对上述体系在40HZ～110MHz宽频范围进行了介电测量,Cole-Cole拟合确定了介电参数,定性讨论了不同试剂的时间和浓度的各种作用效果。通过无作用的对照细胞和有离子作用的作用组细胞10小时内的介电谱图比较发现,Cu2＋、Pb2＋及CTAB对酵母细胞介电行为的影响是以孵化时间依赖的方式发生;对有时间作用的三者选用不同的浓度进行作用,结果发现Cu2＋及CTAB对酵母细胞的作用同样是以浓度依赖的方式进行,而不同浓度的Pb”的作用效果接近。进一步,根据酵母细胞的结构特点采用双壳介电模型,理论计算了相参数,并结合细胞生理学知识对细胞受金属离子或特殊试剂作用后的相参数变化原因给予了解释;给出了金属离子,特别是Cu2＋以及CTAB与酵母细胞作用的可能机制。此外,模拟了实验条件下细胞悬浮液中各组成相参数对介电谱的依存关系,给出了一些有益的暗示：介电增量主要受细胞膜介电常数和细胞体积分数影响;特征频率尼与液泡膜介电常数以及细胞质的电导率等物理参数有关;而液泡内电导率支配高频的弛豫行为。这些模拟将对酵母细胞介电实时监测技术的实现提供基础参考。     

电刺激杏仁复合体诱发心律失常及其下行神经通路的初步探讨

电刺激杏仁复合体能诱发心律失常。心律失常的类型为心动过缓伴室性或结性期外收缩。刺激杏仁复合体不同亚核均能诱发心律失常,不同类型的心律失常在核内具有相应的代表点。心律失常发作与杏仁局部区域诱发的爆发性后放电有关。推测杏仁复合体内神经元过度激活可能通过杏仁-迷走神经运动背核及杏仁-下丘脑外侧区等通路下行,使心率减慢、房室传导阻滞而导致心律失常。     

环境、基因型及其互作对小麦主要品质性状的影响

  为了解环境(E)、基因型(G)及其互作(G×E)对小麦(Triticum aestivum)主要品质性状的影响效应, 连续两年进行了2组不同试验: 试验1在河南省5个不同纬度点分别种植强筋、中筋和弱筋6个小麦品种, 其品质性状的基因型差异相对较大; 试验2采用9个品种(多为中筋类型), 分别种植于我国主产麦区的8个省份, 其环境差异相对较大。研究结果表明, 2组试验中所有品质性状的基因型差异均达5%或1%的显著水平。试验2中所有品质性状的地点变异均达1%的极显著水平, 而试验1中仅蛋白质含量、湿面筋含量、沉降值、吸水率和延伸性的地点变异显著, 其多数加工品质性状的地点变异不显著。试验1中所以品质性状的地点×基因型互作均不显著; 而试验2中籽粒硬度、灰分、吸水率、形成时间、稳定时间和最大抗延伸阻力存在显著的地点×基因型互作。2组试验结果给我们的启示是: 1)基因型对多数品质性状的影响是第一位的, 因此生产中品种选择对获得理想的加工品质至关重要。2)地点对多数品质性状影响明显, 但其效应大小与试验的环境差异性有关。3)基因型与环境的互作效应明显小于基因型或环境主效应, 且受试验材料(基因型)与环境差异的影响。4)年际间多数品质性状有显著差异, 主要与灌浆期降雨、光照及温度条件有关; 过多降雨、较少日照时数及较低日均温对强筋小麦品质形成不利。     

ANTIBACTERIAL SUBSTANCES IN SEED COATS AND THEIR ROLE IN THE INFECTION OF SWEET PEAS BY CORYNEBACTERIUM FASCIANS (TILFORD) DOWSON

Antibacterial substances active against Corynebacterium fascians have been shown to be present in the coats of various seeds. There were considerable differences in activity between the seeds of different genera and species and between individual seeds of a single species.
C. fascians also showed strain variation in sensitivity to the antibacterial substances of the seeds of any one species. An inverse relationship was demonstrated between the sensitivity of a strain to the sweet-pea seed substances and its ability to infect sweet-pea seedlings under laboratory conditions.     

THE EVOLUTION OF PARASITISM IN RED ALGAE: CELLULAR INTERACTIONS OF ADELPHOPARASITES AND THEIR HOSTS1

In the initial stages of cell–cell interactions (spore germination and host penetration), the adelphoparasites Gardneriella tuberifera Kyl. and Gracilariophila oryzoides Setch. & Wilson form infection rhizoids that fuse directly with underlying host epidermal or cortical cells. In so doing, parasite nuclei and other organelles enter the cytoplasm of the host. The resulting heterokaryon may fuse with adjacent host cells either directly, via secondary pit connections, or by the dissolution or dislodgment of pit plugs from existing pit connections. The cell fusion events result in a heterokaryotic syncytium in which parasite nuclei replicate. In Gardneriella, formation of the syncytium induces surrounding host tissues to divide to form a photosynthetic callus. The internalized syncytium forms conjunctor and rhizoidal cells that fuse with host callus, eventually transforming the host callus into cells containing parasite nuclei. Gracilariophila does not induce surrounding host tissue to divide. Rather, division of the initial heterokaryotic tissue gives rise to the colorless mantle that protrudes from the host and forms reproductive structures. The heterokaryotic tissue also fuses with underlying host cells, thereby spreading parasite nuclei throughout adjacent host cells. In both these adelphoparasites, transformation of host cells by parasite nuclear invasion results in plastid dedifferentiation, an increase in mitochondria, autolysis of organelles, and accumulation of large amounts of floridean starch. The development and physiology of these parasites is similar to normal post-fertilization processes in the hosts that give rise to carposporophytes and suggests that these adelphoparasites may have originated from perturbations of developmental pathways involved in their host's post-fertilization development.     

PHOTOSYNTHESIS AND CELL DIVISION BY ANTARCTIC MICROALGAE: COMPARISON OF BENTHIC,PLANKTONIC AND ICE ALGAE1

Irradiance-dependent rates of photosynthesis and cell division of six species of microalgae isolated from the benthos, plankton and sea ice microbial community in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica were compared. Microalgae isolated from different photic environments had distinct photosynthetic and growth characteristics. For benthic and ice algae, photosynthesis saturated at 6 to 20 μE.m^?2.s^?1 and was photoinhibited at 10 to 80 μE.m^?2.s^?1 while for the planktonic algae, saturation irradiances were up to 13 times higher and photoinhibition was not detected. The slope of the light-limited portion of the P-I relationship was up to 50 times greater for the benthic algae than for either the ice or planktonic algae suggesting that benthic algae used the low irradiances more efficiently for carbon uptake. Cell division was dependent on the incubation irradiance for all but one microalga examined. The dependence of division rates on irradiance was however much smaller than for carbon uptake, suggesting that cell division buffers the influence of short term variations of irradiance on cellular metabolism.     

PERPETUAL LAMENT: KAVA-DRINKING, CHRISTIANITY AND SENSATIONS OF HISTORICAL DECLINE IN FIJI

Themes of historical decline are common cross-culturally, but in certain contexts they may transcend nostalgia and become the motivation for political action. This article examines the ways in which themes of historical decline are made intelligible and palpable for indigenous Fijians in the Tavuki Bay area of Kadavu Island. After addressing the roles of colonial subjugation and Christianization in generating people's senses of powerful pasts and weakened presents, I describe one particular ritual site in rural Fiji, that of evening kava-drinking sessions, arguing that such sessions are key sites in which people come to understand and feel that Fijian society has lost power. By drinking kava in communal sessions and describing excessive kava-drinking as a sign of decline, people come to know the theme of decline intellectually and to feel it in their bodies. This theme, having come to seem a natural fact, can then help to inspire political action.     

INTERACTIONS BETWEEN IRON, LIGHT, AMMONIUM, AND NITRATE: INSIGHTS FROM THE CONSTRUCTION OF A DYNAMIC MODEL OF ALGAL PHYSIOLOGY

A dynamic mechanistic mathematical model (FeLANIM) is described, capable of simulating the major documented interactions between iron, light, ammonium, and nitrate in phytoplankton. There are various points in the model where species- or group-specific (e.g. eukaryote vs. prokaryote) details may be altered. Cellular Fe-containing processes accounted for in the model are photosynthesis, oxidative phosphorylation, and nitrate assimilation; synthesis of photosystems and nitrate and nitrite reductase (NNiR) are functions of the surplus Fe quota (i.e. total Fe quota minus Fe in functional components). Model simulations were run using a range of different physiological parameters for Fe-dependent processes and contrasting ammonium–nitrate interaction scenarios. Model output indicated the following interactions. Because the proportion of Fe in photosystems varies with irradiance, it is not possible to have a single Fe cost for nitrate assimilation. Fe stress can affect the relationship between ammonium and nitrate assimilations (the f-ratio), with a more rapid depression of nitrate use at lower concentrations of ammonium. However, depending on the degree of the repression of nitrate assimilation at high N:C, such a result may not be universal, and further experimental studies are required to clarify this issue. Fe refeeding results in a rapid recovery of growth rate accompanied by a proportionately greater increase in the amount of chl a within 24– 48 h. Estimates of enhanced production in iron fertilization experiments based only on increases in pigment may thus be exaggerated. Stimulation of NNiR activity on Fe refeeding appears indirect, through enhancement of photosynthesis rather than relief of nitrate stress. During Fe refeeding at high light, N nutrient transport increases proportionately more in nitrate-fed cells than in ammonium-fed cells. Changing the N source supplied to simulated Fe-stressed cells from nitrate to ammonium results in a rapid increase in growth rate and iron use efficiency with an increase in pigment content as NNiR content declines. When nitrate replaces ammonium, acclimation is slower because of the redirection of Fe formerly associated in photosystems to NNiR. Manipulation of the model may prove useful as an indicator for new research, by revealing elements of physiology that may be most significantin determining competitive advantage between species.