Anthropological perspective of ethnobotany in the Greater Southwest

During the formative period of ethnobotanical studies in the Southwest, Edward Palmer established a standard for reporting useful plants that continues today and Frank. H. Cushing wrote a classic ethnobotany from an anthropological perspective,Z uni Breadstuff. Since these beginnings single tribal studies and, more recently, archaeobotanical investigations have received emphasis. Linguistic studies of plant names and their classification have lagged and synthetic summaries and interpretative explanations of plant use are still demanded. Anthropology’s unique contribution to Southwestern ethnobotany is relating socially shared plant taxonomies and cultural rules for behaving with plants to explain why certain plants are used and others are ignored.     

Core antigen and antibody in woodchucks after infection with woodchuck hepatitis virus

The woodchuck hepatitis virus is a naturally occurring hepatitis B-like virus that infects the eastern woodchuck. Direct immunofluorescence staining for woodchuck hepatitis virus core antigen in liver biopsies demonstrated the presence of this antigen in 14 of 17 chronically infected woodchucks, and in 8 of 10 woodchucks undergoing acute infections. Fluorescent localization of woodchuck hepatitis virus core antigen was typically cytoplasmic, and this was confirmed further by electron microscopy. Experimental infection with woodchuck hepatitis virus was achieved in four of four woodchucks inoculated with serum from chronic carrier woodchucks. All infected animals developed a self-limited disease characterized by seroconversion to antibodies against the major viral antigens (core and surface antigens); naturally acquired acute infection demonstrated a similar course. A chimpanzee seronegative for all markers of hepatitis B virus developed a subclinical infection after inoculation with woodchuck hepatitis virus.     

Effect of lung volume on breath holding

The mechanism by which large lung volume lessens the discomfort of breath holding and prolongs breath-hold time was studied by analyzing the pressure waves made by diaphragm contractions during breath holds at various lung volumes. Subjects rebreathed a mixture of 8% CO2-92% O2 and commenced breath holding after reaching an alveolar plateau. At all volumes, regular rhythmic contractions of inspiratory muscles, followed by means of gastric and pleural pressures, increased in amplitude and frequency until the breakpoint. Expiratory muscle activity was more prominent in some subjects than others, and increased through each breath hold. Increasing lung volume caused a delay in onset and a decrease in frequency of contractions with no consistent change in duty cycle and a decline in magnitude of esophageal pressure swings that could be accounted for by force-length and geometric properties. The effect of lung volume on the timing of contractions most resembled that of a chest wall reflex and is consistent with the hypothesis that the contractions are a major source of dyspnea in breath holding.     

Host defense deficiency in newborn nonhuman primate lungs

We have investigated two major aspects of the pulmonary host defense mechanism--alveolar macrophage function as a "first line of bacterial defense" and induced neutrophil migration into the lung as a "back-up defense." Chemotactic and phagocytic/killing assays revealed a functional deficiency in the alveolar macrophages of newborn primates. Serial bronchoalveolar lavage investigations revealed diminished neutrophil migration into the newborn primate lung. The overall pulmonary host defense capability in newborn primates was deficient. The results of this investigation may have direct clinical relevance to the susceptibility of newborns to infections and pneumonia.     

THE KINETICS OF LYMPHOCYTE RECIRCULATION WITHIN THE RAT SPLEEN

The migration of lymphocytes from the blood into the splenic pulp and the release of lymphocytes from the spleen into the blood was studied by isolating the rat spleen and perfusing it with 15 ml of recirculating, oxygenated blood. When thoracic duct lymphocytes labelled with tritiated uridine were added to the initial perfusate the concentration of these cells fell exponentially for 2–3 hr and then rose to a flat secondary peak. From this pattern it was inferred that small lymphocytes entered the spleen at a rate proportional to their instantaneous concentration in the perfusate, traversed the splenic pulp and re-entered the perfusate with a minimum transit time of 2–3 hr. The rate of release of small lymphocytes from the spleen was not influenced by the prevailing concentration of small lymphocytes in the perfusate but probably reflected the rate of migration into the spleen over a period earlier than 2 hr before. The rate of exchange of small lymphocytes between the blood and the intact spleen in vivo was estimated to be about 84 × 10⁶ cells/hr. The size of the intrasplenic pool of recirculating small lymphocytes was probably 400–500 × 10⁶ cells. The rate of migration of small lymphocytes into the spleen was not affected by prior irradiation of the spleen donor. When either of two antigenic materials were added to the perfusate no inhibition of lymphocyte migration into the spleen was noted although the release of lymphocytes from the spleen was diminished by the addition of a large dose of sheep erythrocytes.     

The artificial feeding of phosphamidon to Myzus persicae: I. Intraspecific differences exhibited by this aphid on feeding through a parafilm membrane

Three strains of the aphid Myzus persicae are described which show constant differences in their ability to feed through parafilm membranes. Two of these strains fed fairly readily through the membranes, but the third fed very little. Of the two strains which fed through the membranes, one was more sensitive to the addition of neutral red and phosphamidon to the diet than the other. This sensitivity was shown by a reduction in liquid uptake which partly accounted for the high LC₅₀ found for this strain.On the basis of the uptake methods used, sucrose was found to be phagostimulatory. An attempt at using the susceptibility of the aphids to phosphamidon as a measure of diet acceptability had a limited success.

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Résumé Trois souches du puceron Myzus persicae sont décrites, qui montrent de constantes différences dans leur aptitude à se nourrir au travers de fines membranes plastiques transparentes (appelées parafilm membranes). Deux de ces souches se nourrissent assez aisément au travers des membranes, mais la troisième souche ne se nourrit que très peu. Des deux souches qui se nourrissent au travers des membranes, l'une se montra plus sensible que l'autre à l'addition à son régime de rouge neutre et de phosphamidon.Cette sensibilité fut montrée par une réduction du liquide absorbé qui, en partie, comptait pour le LC₅₀ élevé trouvé pour cette souche.En se basant sur les méthodes d'absorption utilisées, on trouva que le saccharose était phagostimulant. Une tentative d'utiliser la sensibilité au phosphamidon des pucerons, comme mesure d'acceptation du régime, eut un succès limité.