Factors Influencing the Onset of Chronic Respiratory Disease

To investigate the effect of different environmental and personal factors on ventilatory function 10,971 children resident and going to school in four areas of Kent were examined. Details of past respiratory illnesses were obtained by a questionary completed by the parents; the examination included measurement of height, weight, and peak expiratory flow.Area of residence, social class, family size, and a past history of pneumonia, bronchitis, or asthma were found to be associated with differing levels of peak expiratory flow. These four factors acted independently, and the effects were additive. It is suggested that environment in the early years of life can produce adverse changes which may exist throughout life and contribute to the development of chronic respiratory disease.     

Intra- and extraganglionic peripheral cholinergic neurons in the urogenital organs of the cat

Summary The distribution of cholinergic neurons in the urinary tract and male genital organs of the cat was studied by a histochemical method for acetylcholinesterase. In addition to cell clusters in autonomic ganglia (intraganglionic cells), isolated extraganglionic cholinergic cells were found within the innervated tissues, usually in association with nerve trunks and blood vessels. Smaller neural cells with multiple axonal processes, identical to Cajal's interstitial cells, were found in the meshes of the terminal nerve plexus in smooth muscle, lamina propria and vascular wall.It is concluded that peripheral cholinergic neurons, like their adrenergic analogues, are arranged as a short intraganglionic, a shorter extraganglionic, and a terminal system of neurons.Supported in part by grants 10465 and 11285 from the USPHS and the Henry C. Buswell Urology Research Fund.     

Freeze-drying characteristics ofSaccharomyces cerevisiae andSaccharomyces carlsbergensis

The dispersal of yeast clumps to the unicellular state by certain sugars, does not increase the percentage survival after freeze-drying. Neither are those changes in cell-wall composition which occur upon ageing of the cell, and which are detectable by means of snail-gut enzymes, related to this cellular property. However, pre-treatment, with -mercaptoethanol, of a strain ofSaccharomyces carisbergensis increased the survival rate. This may be due to the reduction of certain sites in the cell wall. The oxygen consumption of yeast cultures before and after freeze-drying, agree with the hypothesis that low viabilities can arise from localized cellular damage which prevents cell reproduction by budding.     

Computed Action Potentials for Purkinje Fiber Membranes with Resistance and Capacitance in Series

The Hodgkin-Huxley equations, as modified by Noble for computation of Purkinje fiber action potentials, have been solved numerically for a membrane whose equivalent circuit contains a constant resistance in series with part of the capacitance. The rates of depolarization and repolarization of the computed action potential have thereby been brought into agreement with measured values. Possible explanations of the frequently observed pre-plateau notch and of fibrillatory activity arise. The effects of a time-dependent K conductance dependent on the second power of the parameter n, instead of the fourth, have also been considered.     

The metabolism of the isomeric decalones

1. The metabolism of (+/-)-cis-1-, (+/-)-trans-1-, (+/-)-cis-2- and (+/-)-trans-2-decalone in the rabbit has been investigated. 2. (+/-)-cis-2- and (+/-)-trans-2-Decalone were both reduced to racemic secondary alcohols, conformationally related to the ketones administered, and possessing an equatorial hydroxyl group. These alcohols were excreted in the urine as glucuronides in amounts equal to about half the dose administered. The glucuronides were isolated both as triacetyl methyl esters and as sodium salts. The ester obtained after feeding with (+/-)-cis-2-decalone proved to be methyl (cis-cis-2-decalyl tri-O-acetyl-beta-d-glucosid)uronate, whereas (+/-)-trans-2-decalone yielded methyl (trans-cis-2-decalyl tri-O-acetyl-beta-d-glucosid)uronate. The sodium salts were shown to be sodium (cis-cis-2-decalyl glucosid)uronate and sodium (trans-cis-2-decalyl glucosid)uronate. 3. Enzyme hydrolysis of the sodium salts and acid hydrolysis of the esters derived from (+/-)-cis-2-decalone yielded (+/-)-cis-cis-2-decalol, and of those from (+/-)-trans-2-decalone yielded (+/-)-trans-cis-2-decalol. 4. (+/-)-cis-1-Decalone was reduced mainly to (-)-cis-cis-1-decalol and excreted as [(-)-cis-cis-1-decalyl glucosid]-uronic acid. A small amount of the corresponding (+)-isomer was produced, yielding [(+)-cis-cis-1-decalyl glucosid]uronic acid on isolation. Enzyme hydrolysis of these compounds gave the corresponding aglycones; both alcohols possessed an equatorial hydroxyl group. 5. (+/-)-trans-1-Decalone was reduced to (+)-trans-trans-1-decalol, with an equatorial hydroxyl group, and in smaller amount to (+)-trans-cis-1-decalol possessing an axial group. The former alcohol was excreted as [(+)-trans-cis-1-decalyl glucosid]uronic acid, and the latter as [(+)-trans-cis-1-decalyl glucosid]uronic acid. 6. From a knowledge of the conformations, and in some cases the absolute configurations, of the compounds administered and excreted, and by making the assumption that the coenzyme concerned in the reductions is NADH (or NADPH), an explanation of the above findings in terms of steric hindrance and thermodynamic stability is given.     

LYSOSOMES IN THE RAT SCIATIC NERVE FOLLOWING CRUSH

Peripheral nerves undergoing degeneration are favorable material for studying the types, origins, and functions of lysosomes. The following lysosomes are described: (a) Autophagic vacuoles in altered Schwann cells. Within these vacuoles the myelin and much of the axoplasm which it encloses in the normal nerve are degraded (Wallerian degeneration). The delimiting membranes of the vacuoles apparently form from myelin lamellae. Considered as possible sources of their acid phosphatase are Golgi vesicles (primary lysosomes), lysosomes of the dense body type, and the endoplasmic reticulum which lies close to the vacuoles. (b) Membranous bodies that accumulate focally in myelinated fibers in a zone extending 2 to 3 mm distal to the crush. These appear to arise from the endoplasmic reticulum in which demonstrable acid phosphatase activity increases markedly within 2 hours after the nerve is crushed. (c) Autophagic vacuoles in the axoplasm of fibers proximal to the crush. The breakdown of organelles within these vacuoles may have significance for the reorganization of the axoplasm preparatory to regeneration. (d) Phagocytic vacuoles of altered Schwann cells. As myelin degeneration begins, some axoplasm is exposed. This is apparently engulfed by the filopodia of the Schwann cells, and degraded within the phagocytic vacuoles thus formed. (e) Multivesicular bodies in the axoplasm of myelinated fibers. These are generally seen near the nodes of Ranvier.