Tolerance induction by the peroral administration of protein antigens

The possibility of inducing systemic tolerance in animals by feeding them with ovalbumin and human serum was studied on mice, rats and rabbits. Antibodies to ovalbumin, human serum albumin and immunoglobulins (IgG, IgA, IgM) were determined by the passive hemagglutination test in the sera of the test and control animals after the second immunization made through a parenteral route. Tolerance to all the antigens under study was obtained in mice and rats, while in rabbits such feeding was found to produce the priming effect. The degree of tolerance was the greater, the more was the dose of the antigen and the longer was the period of feeding. Different proteins showed varying tolerogenic activity; the same degree of tolerance in mice was obtained by feeding them with IgG in a dose of 0.3-0.5 mg and with ovalbumin or human serum albumin in a dose of 6-12 mg (per gram of body weight). Tolerance was determined on day 3 after the course of feeding was over; in 3 weeks tolerance essentially decreased, and in 1.5-2 months it was replaced by normal reactiveness. Tolerance induced by the oral administration of antigens proved to be immunologically specific.     

Population Changes of Heterodera glycines and Soybean Yields Resulting from Soil Treatment with Alachlor,Fenamiphos, and Ethoprop

The population dynamics of Heterodera glycines as influenced by alachlor, fenamiphos, and ethoprop alone and in herbicide-nematicide combinations were studied in the field. Numbers of H. glycines juveniles and eggs were higher at midseason and harvest where nematicides were applied. Fenamiphos alone or in combination with alachlor provided better control of H. glycines and greater seed yields than treatments with ethoprop. Numbers of H. glycines eggs at harvest in 1980 were positively correlated with numbers of juveniles at planting in 1981 and negatively related to seed yield in 1981.     

Parity violation and the origins of biomolecular handedness

The violation of parity by the weak interactions ensures that enantiomeric chiral molecules have inequivalent energies, one being inherently stabilized with respect to the other. These parity-violating energy differences have been calculated for a number of fundamental biomolecules including a series of alpha-amino acids, polypeptide structures, and a representative of the sugar series together with its variation over a possible prebiotic reaction path leading to alpha-amino acids. In each case the natural enantiomer found in terrestrial biochemistry was shown to be intrinsically stabilized and preferred over its unnatural enantiomer. The significance of these results in accounting for the prebiotic origins of the terrestrial biomolecular homochirality is discussed and the possible consequences of parity-violating energy differences in mineral catalysts during the prebiotic era considered.     

The Coccidian Genus Calyptospora n. g. and Family Calyptosporidae n. fam. (Apicomplexa), with Members Infecting Primarily Fishes1

Calyptospora n. g. was erected for Eimeria funduli because the sporocyst of that species lacks Stieda and sub-Stieda bodies, has a veil supported by sporopodia, and has an anterior apical opening. A suture may be present, but it does not completely divide the sporocyst into two valves. Because C. funduli has an obligatory invertebrate intermediate host, we established Calyptosporidae n. fam. to accommodate Calyptospora and tentatively to accept Goussia. A new subgenus, Plagula, is erected for species of Goussia with a sporocystic veil not supported by sporopodia. We consider the family more primitive than Eimeriidae, Sarcocystidae, and possibly Lankesterellidae.     

Some dermatoglyphic traits in breast carcinoma

The finger and palmar prints of 60 women with breast carcinoma were studied. The results were compared with two groups of healthy women, the first consisted of old women and the second of young women. The dermatoglyphics seem to be of little use in the diagnosis of cancers of ectodermic origin. Supported by M.P.I. 60%, 1983     

Température fluctuante et hétérosis chez Drosophila melanogaster

Under the hypothesis that heterosis may be due to a greater flexibility of heterozygotes, we have measured in a Drosophila melanogaster strain, polymorphic at the sepia locus, female productivity of the homozygotes and heterozygotes for this locus, in constant as well as in fluctuating temperature conditions. It was expected that the heterozygotes, being more flexible, would be better adapted to a fluctuating temperature than to a constant one. At none of the three temperature regimes (18°C; 28°C; 18–28°C) heterosis or rather overdominance was evident. However, fluctuating temperature results reveal a greater performance of all genotypes than constant-temperature ones do.