Respiratory metabolism of Hydromedion sparsutum and Perimylops antarcticus (Col., Perimylopidae) from South Georgia

Summary Metabolic rates were studied in adults and larvae of the two phytophagous beetles Hydromedion sparsutum and Perimylops antarcticus (Col., Perimylopidae) indigenous to the Sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia. From the regression lines for log₁₀ metabolic rate on temperature no difference in oxygen consumption was found between adults and larvae of Hydromedion or adults of Perimylops from lower sites near sea level and upper sites at about 200 m. Elevated rates of metabolism, however, was found in larvae of Perimylops from upper sites. The slopes of the regression lines of corresponding upper and lower sites adults or larvae were similar in all cases. The metabolic rates were of the same level in adults of both species and in the larvae, but generally higher in adults than in larvae. The activation energies, calculated from Arrhenius plots, varied from 6.7 to 13.6 kcal.mol^–1 in larvae and from 10.7 to 11.3 kcal.mol^–1 in adults. The low values may be interpreted as an expression of cold adapted metabolism. Compared with published data on phytophagous beetles, the metabolic rates of the two species from South Georgia are comparable to two alpine species, but lower than the rates of an Arctic species.     

Dissociation of human interferon-gamma-like activity from migration-inhibition factor

Supernatants harvested from concanavalin A-stimulated human peripheral mononuclear cells after 24 hr of incubation contain one interferon species similar to human interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) with a pI of 4.6–5.3 (first day pH 5 IFN-γ). In contrast, during the subsequent 24 hr of incubation two species with properties of IFN-γ are produced with pI of 3.6–4.0 (second day pH 4 IFN-γ) and 4.6–5.6 (second day pH 5 IFN-γ), respectively. First day pH 5 IFN-γ and second day pH 5 IFN-γ have been found to differ on the basis of trypsin sensitivity. This pattern of polymorphism is similar to the pattern previously described for human migration-inhibitory factor (MIF) which can be separated into first day pH 5 MIF, second day pH 3 MIF, and second day pH 5 MIF. However, IFN-γ-like species can be differentiated from MIF biochemically and antigenically. Fractions with second day pH 4 IFN-γ have no MIF activity and fractions with second day pH 3 MIF contain no IFN activity. In addition, first and second day pH 5 MIF, which also contain IFN-γ activity, can be separated from the latter by precipitation as well as neutralization with polyclonal and monoclonal anti-human MIF antibodies.     

Cellular Mechanisms of Entrainment

This review summarizes our current understanding of the signal transduction cascade by which light causes phase shifts of the circadian oscillators found in the eye of Bulla and Aplysia. The isolated retina of these marine mollusks contains a circadian oscillator, a photoreceptor, and a light transduction pathway sufficient for entrainment. This preparation offers unique advantages for the cellular analysis of entrainment and the generation of circadian oscillations. There is evidence that similar cellular mechanisms may underlie mammalian and molluskan circadian oscillations. Thus, the models developed to explain entrainment in the molluskan retina are likely to have utility in exploring the mammalian supra-chiasmatic nucleus.     

Environmental Contaminants in the Botanical Dietary Supplement Ginseng and Potential Human Risk

Botanical dietary supplements have a long history of use in Europe and Asia, but the use of these products is becoming increasing popular in the United States. Because these products are classified as dietary supplements, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not routinely monitor them for environmental contaminants. Ginseng served as a model botanical dietary supplement and was purchased from suppliers in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Samples were analyzed for metals (e.g., cadmium, nickel) and chlorinated pesticides (e.g., PCNB, DDT, and metabolites). Flame and furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometry were utilized for analysis of metals, while gas chromatography (GC) and GC-mass spectrophotometry were utilized for analysis of chlorinated pesticides. Because no formalized guidelines exist to determine risk of botanical dietary supplements, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidelines for protection of human health were used. Metals and chlorinated organics were found in Ginseng samples, but the concentrations posed no noncarcinogenic hazard; however, a 1000?mg/d dose for 350?d/yr resulted in 1 × 10^?6 carcinogenic risk in 19% of the Ginseng samples analyzed. At a lower usage rate (42?d/yr), no samples exceeded 1 × 10^?6 risk. Chlorinated organics, such as aldrin and heptachlor epoxide, accounted for the carcinogenic risk (1 X 10-6) in the Ginseng samples.     

Behaviour of a sharptail mola in the Gulf of Mexico

A sharptail mola Masturus lanceolatus was tagged and released with a pop-up satellite archival tag in the Gulf of Mexico and tracked for 61 days. The fish travelled a horizontal distance of 594 km while generally staying in water <200 m depth and >20° C. Occasionally the sharptail mola dived to depths >700 m and experienced water colder than 6° C.     

Use of measurement of liver cytochrome P 450 as a water toxicity test]

The authors describe a new approach to determine the toxicity of water samples. The level of liver hydroxylating cytochrome in mice injected with water samples is assayed. This assay is used to test the toxicity of waters containing an earth extract (humic and fulvic acids). The water samples showed various toxicities desinfected with chlorine or ozone.     

Evidence of an evolutionary precursor to human language affixation in a non-human primate

Human language, and grammatical competence in particular, relies on a set of computational operations that, in its entirety, is not observed in other animals. Such uniqueness leaves open the possibility that components of our linguistic competence are shared with other animals, having evolved for non-linguistic functions. Here, we explore this problem from a comparative perspective, asking whether cotton-top tamarin monkeys (Saguinus oedipus) can spontaneously (no training) acquire an affixation rule that shares important properties with our inflectional morphology (e.g. the rule that adds –ed to create the past tense, as in the transformation of walk into walk-ed). Using playback experiments, we show that tamarins discriminate between bisyllabic items that start with a specific ‘prefix’ syllable and those that end with the same syllable as a ‘suffix’. These results suggest that some of the computational mechanisms subserving affixation in a diversity of languages are shared with other animals, relying on basic perceptual or memory primitives that evolved for non-linguistic functions.