Stability Improvement of a Liquid Enzyme Product

The shelf-life of a previously developed two-part liquid–liquid enzyme ceruminolytic product was improved maintaining the same final reconstituted composition and re-formulating the liquid enzyme portion as a drug granulate by a double wet granulation process. The critical steps for the preparation of the granulate were studied (mixing/granulating times and drying) determining the proteolytic activity, the residual ethanol, and the moisture content of the granulates. The original liquid–liquid formulation had been proven effective as a ceruminolytic agent, but only had stability of greater than 75% enzyme activity for up to 18 months and up to 1 day at room temperature after combining the two parts. The resulting improved product was proven to be stable for up to 24 months at 30°C, and up to 3 days at room temperature after combining the two parts. Therefore, maintaining the enzyme in a granulated form until reconstitution afforded an improvement in stability compared with the original two-part liquid–liquid formulation.     

Widespread absence of outer dynein arms in the spermatozoids of lower plants

Transverse sections of flagellar axonemes from a variety of lower plant spermatozoids were examined by electron microscopy. Motile sperm of four ferns (Marsilea, Pteridium, Lygodium and Aneimia), a horsetail (Equisetum) and a liverwort (Marchantia) were fixed in the presence of tannic acid to visualise the dynein arms. In all cases the inner dynein arms were clearly resolved but the outer arms were absent. Absence of outer arms therefore appears to be a common feature of the archegoniate plants. The implications of these findings to our understanding of the evolution of the land plants and the role of the dynein arms in flagellar beating is discussed.     

Enriched Environment Experience Overcomes Learning Deficits and Depressive-Like Behavior Induced by Juvenile Stress

Mood disorders affect the lives and functioning of millions each year. Epidemiological studies indicate that childhood trauma is predominantly associated with higher rates of both mood and anxiety disorders. Exposure of rats to stress during juvenility (JS) (27–29 days of age) has comparable effects and was suggested as a model of induced predisposition for these disorders. The importance of the environment in the regulation of brain, behavior and physiology has long been recognized in biological, social and medical sciences. Here, we studied the effects of JS on emotional and cognitive aspects of depressive-like behavior in adulthood, on Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis reactivity and on the expression of cell adhesion molecule L1 (L1-CAM). Furthermore, we combined it with the examination of potential reversibility by enriched environment (EE) of JS – induced disturbances of emotional and cognitive aspects of behavior in adulthood. Three groups were tested: Juvenile Stress –subjected to Juvenile stress; Enriched Environment – subjected to Juvenile stress and then, from day 30 on to EE; and Naïves. In adulthood, coping and stress responses were examined using the elevated plus-maze, open field, novel setting exploration and two way shuttle avoidance learning. We found that, JS rats showed anxiety- and depressive-like behaviors in adulthood, altered HPA axis activity and altered L1-CAM expression. Increased expression of L1-CAM was evident among JS rats in the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and Thalamus (TL). Furthermore, we found that EE could reverse most of the effects of Juvenile stress, both at the behavioral, endocrine and at the biochemical levels. The interaction between JS and EE resulted in an increased expression of L1-CAM in dorsal cornu ammonis (CA) area 1 (dCA1).     

Identification of histone H1 in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Acid extracts of nuclei of the unicellular algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii were analysed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and revealed a series of bands, the mobility of which indicates that histones are present. The H₁-histone was further identified according to its solubility in 0.74 M perchloric acid and in 0.4 M NaCl as well as its response to a H₁ specific antibody. These results are discussed in relation with the general organization of the chromatin in the lower eukaryotes.     

Effect of gamma-irradiation on microtubule assembly in vitro

Microtubular protein was exposed to gamma-radiation from 500 to 1000 Gy, Within that dose range its polymerization ability was decreased by 20-60 per cent when samples were irradiated in assembled state, and by 40-75 per cent when irradiated in unassembled state. Microtubules assembled from irradiated subunits were shorter and of more uniform lengths than control microtubules. For the dose of 1000 Gy the mean length and its standard deviation were reduced to about one-half of the values of the control.     

Variation in the incidence of congenital malformations in spontaneous abortions,stillbirths and artificially interrupted pregnancies

Summary The study describes the nation wide rate of stillbirths and the incidence of mal-development in a series of spontaneous and induced abortions in Great Britain. Special reference is made to CNS malformations. Comparative study of these various types of births revealed that the incidence of maldevelopment is higher in induced abortion and in spontaneous abortion than in total or in stillbirths respectively. CNS malformations showed a higher frequency in stillbirths than in that of spontaneous abortions.

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Zusammenfassung Dies Arbeit betrifft die Rate von Totgeburten in ganz England und die Mißbildungshäufigkeit in einer englischen Serie von spontanen und induzierten Aborten. Auf die Mißbildungen des Zentralnervensystems wird besonders Bezug genommen. Ein Vergleich der verschiedenen Arten von Geburten hat ergeben, daß die Häufigkeit von Mißbildungen bei induzierten Aborten und bei Spontanaborten höher ist als insgesamt bzw. bei Totgeburten. Mißbildungen des Zentralnervensystems waren bei Totgeburten häufiger als bei Spontanaborten.