Scrotal circumference measurements in 764 beef bulls.

A total of 764 breeding soundness examinations was conducted on beef bulls utilizing the method of examination and criteria for classifying bulls of the Society for Theriogenology. In addition to this examination each bull was subjected to scrotal circumference measurement and to weighing. Classification of the bulls according to breeding soundness potentials was as follows: 88% of the bulls were satisfactory potential breeders, 8% of the bulls were questionable potential breeders and 4% of the bulls were unsatisfactory potential breeders. The proportions of bulls in each classification; satisfactory, questionable, or unsatisfactory; were not different among the four breeds evaluated. The majority of bulls evaluated in this study were between 14 and 36 months of age and weighed between 900 and 1500 pounds. For the ages and weights evaluated, scrotal circumference measurement variances were not closely related to age and weight differences. There was a tendency shown for “Questionable” and “Unsatisfactory Potential Breeders” to have smaller scrotal circumference measurements. The study indicates that Angus, Charolais, Horned Hereford and Polled Hereford bulls of breeding ages and weights should have scrotal circumference measurements of at least 32 centimeters in order to be classified as “Satisfactory Potential Breeders”.     

Osmotic regulation of transcription: induction of the proU betaine transport gene is dependent on accumulation of intracellular potassium

The proU locus, which encodes a high-affinity betaine transport system, and the kdp operon, which encodes a potassium transport system, are the principal osmoresponsive genes in Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium. The kdp operon is known to be induced in response to changes in cell turgor. We have investigated the control of proU expression and shown that it differs from that of kdp in a number of fundamental ways. Rather than responding to changes in turgor, proU expression is principally determined by the intracellular accumulation of potassium ions. Potassium and betaine were shown to play distinct osmoprotective roles. Potassium serves as the principal osmoprotectant and is accumulated in response to low-level osmotic stress to restore turgor. As external osmolarity is increased to a level at which the corresponding increase in internal potassium concentrations is potentially deleterious to enzyme function, betaine (when available) is accumulated in preference to potassium. The different mechanisms of proU and kdp regulation reflect the different physiological roles of these two osmoprotectants.     

Unusual presentations of inflammatory conditions in cerebrospinal fluid

Unusual inflammatory reactions in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in five patients were explicable by the type of intracranial injury or surgical intervention that they had received or by their basic disease process. Lumbar puncture fluid from a 64-year-old man with multiple facial fractures contained neutrophils, bacteria, Candida sp. and ciliated columnar cells, findings consistent with a basilar skull fracture allowing paranasal sinus contents to enter the subarachnoid space. A 59-year-old man with angioimmunoblastic lymphadenopathy developed meningitis and suffered a respiratory arrest; a ventricular fluid contained acute inflammatory cells as well as numerous corpora amylacea. Lumbar CSF obtained during surgery from a 26-year-old man with a pontine glioma contained numerous histiocytes clustered around polarizable filaments, probably strands of gauze introduced during surgery. A specimen of CSF obtained intraoperatively from a 54-year-old man with an acoustic neuroma undergoing a second craniotomy contained multinucleated giant cells bearing suture material. A 19-year-old girl with systemic sarcoidosis had noncaseating granulomas in the right temporal lobe and multinucleated giant cells in her CSF.     

Inability of diethylstilbestrol to induce 6-thioguanine-resistant mutants and to inhibit metabolic cooperation of V79 Chinese hamster cells

The mutagenicity of diethylstilbestrol (DES) in V79 Chinese hamster cells was examined under a variety of conditions. DES over a concentration range 0.01–10 μg/ml failed to induce any increase above the spontaneous frequency of 6-thioguanine-resistant V79 cells. The effect of varying the expression time after treatment in the mutation assay from 3 to 9 days was studied and DES was nonmutagenic at all time points, while N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine was highly mutagenic with a peak response after a 5–7 day expression time. The mutagenicity of benzo[a]pyrene and DES, both of which induce morphological and neoplastic transformation of Syrian hamster embryo (SHE) cells, was tested by cocultivating V79 cells with SHE cells for possible metabolic activation of the chemicals. Neither compound was mutagenic to V79 cells in the absence of SHE cells. Benzo[a]pyrene, but not DES, was mutagenic to V79 cells cocultivated with SHE cells. These results support the observation that DES can induce cell transformation under conditions that do not result in any measurable gene mutations. Moreover, the ability of DES to enhance the recovery of 6-thioguanine-resistant mutations was studied by determining the ability of DES to inhibit metabolic cooperation of V79 cells. Unlike the tumor promoter 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate, DES was a weak or inactive inhibitor of metabolic cooperation.     

Kinetics and mechanism of catalysis by proteolytic enzymes: The kinetics of hydrolysis of derivatives of l-lysine and S-(beta-aminoethyl)-l-cysteine(thialysine)by bovine trypsin

1. Several esters of the α-N-toluene-p-sulphonyl and N-benzoyl derivatives of l-lysine and S-(β-aminoethyl)-l-cysteine have been synthesized. 2. The kinetics of hydrolysis of the esters by bovine trypsin have been compared. Values of k₀ are similar for corresponding derivatives of the isosteric amino acids and deacylation of an acyl-enzyme appears to be rate-determining in each case. There are, however, some quantitative kinetic differences between the various series of substrates.     

Phylogeny of Greya (Lepidoptera: Prodoxidae), based on nucleotide sequence variation in mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I and II: congruence with morphological data

The phylogeny of Greya Busck (Lepidoptera: Prodoxidae) was inferred from nucleotide sequence variation across a 765-bp region in the cytochrome oxidase I and II genes of the mitochondrial genome. Most parsimonious relationships of 25 haplotypes from 16 Greya species and two outgroup genera (Tetragma and Prodoxus) showed substantial congruence with the species relationships indicated by morphological variation. Differences between mitochondrial and morphological trees were found primarily in the positions of two species, G. variabilis and G. pectinifera, and in the branching order of the three major species groups in the genus. Conflicts between the data sets were examined by comparing levels of homoplasy in characters supporting alternative hypotheses. The phylogeny of Greya species suggests that host-plant association at the family level and larval feeding mode are conservative characters. Transition/transversion ratios estimated by reconstruction of nucleotide substitutions on the phylogeny had a range of 2.0-9.3, when different subsets of the phylogeny were used. The decline of this ratio with the increase in maximum sequence divergence among taxa indicates that transitions are masked by transversions along deeper internodes or long branches of the phylogeny. Among transitions, substitutions of A-->G and T-->C outnumbered their reciprocal substitutions by 2-6 times, presumably because of the approximately 4:1 (77%) A+T-bias in nucleotide base composition. Of all transversions, 73%-80% were A<-->T substitutions, 85% of which occurred at third positions of codons; these estimates did not decrease with an increase in maximum sequence divergence of taxa included in the analysis. The high frequency of A<-->T substitutions is either a reflection or an explanation of the 92% A+T bias at third codon positions.      

Proposal for adoption of the base of the Undulograptus austrodentatus Biozone as a global Ordovician stage and series boundary level

The base of the Undulograptus austrodentatus Biozone appears to be a synchronous event that is widely recognizable within graptolitic facies around the world. It occurs within an interval in which graptolite species ranges are now well known and in which there is a rapid turnover in the composition of graptolite faunas. This turnover reflects the rapid evolutionary radiation of the Diplograptacea simultaneously with the appearance of several distinctive pseudisograptid and glossograptid species. These events provide the basis for the recognition of two thin but widely applicable subzones; a lower Arienigraptus zhejiangensis Subzone and an upper U. sinicus Subzone. The occurrence of the lower boundary of the U. austrodentatus Biozone within a succession of first appearances also permits accurate and reliable identification of the boundary as well as assessment of stratigraphic completeness across the boundary interval in correlated sections. Diverse graptolite faunas of late Yapeenian and early Darriwilian age occur in association with the Histiodella altifrons Biozone of the North American midcontinent conodont zonation and the Paroistodus originalis and Microzarkodina parva biozones of the North Atlantic conodont zonation. They also occur in association with the shelly-fossil zonations developed for several different continents. These features of the base of the U. austrodentatus Biozone make it a suitable level for use as the boundary level for a global stage. Its stratigraphic position within the Ordovician System relative to other likely global stages as well as its coincidence with one of the major events in graptolite evolutionary history suggest that this level also may be a suitable level for the base of a global Middle Ordovician Series.Ordovician System, Ordovician stages, graptolite zonation, chronostratigraphy, international correlation. Charles E. Mitchell and Jörg Maletz, Department of Geology, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York 14260-1550, USA; 13th July, 1994; revised 22nd May, 1995.     

Effects of Glyphosate on Metabolism of Phenolic Compounds: V. l-alpha-AMINOOXY-beta-PHENYLPROPIONIC ACID AND GLYPHOSATE EFFECTS ON PHENYLALANINE AMMONIA-LYASE IN SOYBEAN SEEDLINGS

The phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) inhibitor l-alpha-aminooxy-beta-phenylpropionic acid (AOPP) was root-fed to light-exposed soybean seedlings alone or with glyphosate [N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine] to test further the hypothesis that PAL activity is involved in the mode of action of glyphosate. Extractable PAL activity was increased by 0.01 and 0.1 millimolar AOPP. AOPP reduced total soluble hydroxyphenolic compound levels and increased phenylalanine and tyrosine levels, indicating that in vivo PAL activity was inhibited by AOPP. The increase in extractable PAL caused by AOPP may be a result of decreased feedback inhibition of PAL synthesis by cinnamic acid and/or its derivatives. AOPP alone had no effect on growth (fresh weight and elongation) at either concentration, but at 0.1 millimolar it slightly alleviated growth (fresh weight) inhibition caused by 0.5 millimolar glyphosate after 4 days. Reduction of the free pool of phenylalanine by glyphosate was reversed by AOPP. These results indicate that glyphosate exerts some of its effects through reduction of aromatic amino acid pools through increases in PAL activity and that not all growth effects of glyphosate are due to reductions of aromatic amino acids.     

Absorption of Escherichiacoli endotoxin from the small intestines of mature non-pregnant gilts

The small intestines of 31 mature crossbred gilts were infused with $\text{Escherichia}$$\text{coli}$ endotoxin through permanent jejunostomies. A total of 86 infusions were done. The endotoxin was absorbed after 4 infusions. Evidence of absorption included variations in body temperatures, decline in white blood cell counts, detection of the endotoxin in circulating blood plasma samples by a limulus amebocyte lysate gelation test, and abnormal clinical signs. $\text{E.}$$\text{coli}$ endotoxin placed in the small intestines of normal, healthy, mature gilts does not readily cause illness.