Composition,export, and import of drift vegetation on a tropical,plant-dominated,fringing-reef platform (Caribbean Panama)

For 15 months, the composition and abundance of drift vegetation were determined from a plantdominated fringing reef at Galeta Point, Caribbean Panama. Five nets located downstream of the reef platform continuously sampled 1.0–1.3 ha of reef flat which included 137–202 m of fore reef. Time series and multiple correlation analysis were done to evaluate the dependence of drift biomass on selected physical and biological factors. Export and import rates and turnover times were derived and compared between the dominant species. Floating leaves, branches, and seeds of higher plants were the major components of imported drift with 52% of the dry weight mass, followed by algae and seagrass each with 19%, the water hyacinth Eichhornia with 2%, and floating tar with 8%. Exported biomass from the reef platform was higher in the dry-season (late November–March) than in the wet-season (April-early November). Within the 1.0–1.3 ha sampling area, export estimates ranged from 37–294 kg mo^-1 for the seagrass Thalassia, 3–171 kg mo^-1 for the alga Laurencia, and 3–74 kg mo^-1 for the alga Acanthophora. Multiple correlation models indicated that meteorological and hydrographic conditions explained between 31 to 65% of the variance in the drift biomass and that the best predictors of exported biomass were tidal elevation and wind speed (3 week lag). Export rates increased with high tides and strong winds and decreased with elevated water temperatures. Autocorrelations of drift biomass were generally highest at 2 week intervals, suggesting that the quantity of drift removed from the platform was, in part, related to spring and neap tide cycles. Export rates were also affected by the morphology of the vegetation, development of uprights, and location on the reef platform. Import rates of terrestrial-plant debris, the hyacinth Eichhornia, the seagrass Syringodium, and the brown alga Sargassum did not exhibit pronounced seasonal patterns in abundance and averaged 60.2, 1.9, 1.1, and 2.7 g d^-1m^-1, respectively. Wind speed was negatively correlated with Sargassum abundance, suggesting that strong winds depleted it from nearshore waters. Floating tar averaged about 10 g d^-1m^-1, the highest reported in the Caribbean. The plant-dominated fringing reef at Galeta Point is shown to be a major source, as well as a recipient, of drift vegetation.     

Neural induction and regionalisation in the chick embryo.

Induction and regionalisation of the chick nervous system were investigated by transplanting Hensen's node into the extra-embryonic region (area opaca margin) of a host embryo. Chick/quail chimaeras were used to determine the contributions of host and donor tissue to the supernumerary axis, and three molecular markers, Engrailed, neurofilaments (antibody 3A10) and XlHbox1/Hox3.3 were used to aid the identification of particular regions of the ectopic axis. We find that the age of the node determines the regions of the nervous system that form: young nodes (stages 2-4) induced both anterior and posterior nervous system, while older nodes (stages 5-6) have reduced inducing ability and generate only posterior nervous system. By varying the age of the host embryo, we show that the competence of the epiblast to respond to neural induction declines after stage 4. We conclude that during normal development, the initial steps of neural induction take place before stage 4 and that anteroposterior regionalisation of the nervous system may be a later process, perhaps associated with the differentiating notochord. We also speculate that the mechanisms responsible for induction of head CNS differ from those that generate the spinal cord: the trunk CNS could arise by homeogenetic induction by anterior CNS or by elongation of neural primordia that are induced very early.     

Organization of tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive neurons in the di-and mesencephalon of the American bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) during metamorphosis

Summary We examined the immunocytochemical distribution of tyrosine hydroxylase, the rate-limiting enzyme in catecholamine synthesis, in the di-and mesencephalon of developing bullfrog tadpoles. Special attention was given to catecholaminergic innervation of the median eminence and pituitary. In premetamorphic tadpoles, tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive neurons were visualized in the suprachiasmatic and infundibular hypothalamus, the ventral thalamus, and midbrain tegmentum by Taylor-Kollros stage V. The number of labeled neurons in all these areas increased as metamorphosis progressed. By mid-prometamorphosis, labeled neurons appeared in the preoptic recess organ as well as in the posterior thalamic nucleus. The majority of cells in the preoptic recess organ, as well as occasional neurons in the suprachiasmatic nucleus, exhibited labeled processes which projected through the ependymal lining of the preoptic recess to contact cerebrospinal fluid. The modified CSF-contacting neurons of the nucleus of the periventricular organ were devoid of specific staining. By late prometamorphosis, labeled fibers from the suprachiasmatic nucleus were observed projecting caudally to enter the hypothalamo-hypophysial-tract en route to innervating the median eminence and pituitary. Labeled fibers arising from the dorsal infundibular nucleus projected ventrolaterally to contribute to catecholaminergic innervation of the median eminence and pituitary. Immunoperoxidase staining of tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive fibers and terminal arborizations in the median eminence were restricted to non-ependymal layers, while labeled fibers in the pituitary were observed in the pars intermedia and pars nervosa. Staining of tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive fibers in the median eminence and pituitary was sparse or absent in premetamorphic tadpoles, but became increasingly more intense as metamorphosis progressed.     

Osteogenesis imperfecta due to recurrent point mutations at CpG dinucleotides in the COL1A1 gene of type I collagen

Summary Most individuals with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) are heterozygous for dominant mutations in one of the genes that encode the chains of type I collagen. Each of the more than 30 mutations characterized to date has been unique to the affected member (s) of the family. We have determined that two individuals with a progressive deforming variety of OI, OI type III, have the same new dominant mutation [1(I)gly154 to arg] and that two unrelated infants with perinatal lethal OI, OI type II, share a second new dominant muation [1(I)gly1003 to ser]. These mutations occurred at CpG dinucleotides, in a manner consistent with deamination of a methylated cytosine residue, and raise the possibility that CpG dinucleotides are common sites of recurrent mutations in collagen genes. Further, these findings confirm that the OI type-III phenotype, previously thought to be inherited in an autosomal recessive manner, can result from new dominant mutations in the COL1A1 gene of type-I collagen.     

Enhanced glycosylation of a 50 kD protein during development of thermotolerance in CHO cells

During the development of thermotolerance, Chinese hamster ovary cells not only synthesized classical heat shock proteins, but also incorporated [3H]D-glucose or mannose into a glycoprotein with a Mr of approximately 50 kD. The glycosylation of the 50 kD protein correlated with the expression of thermotolerance under conditions when tolerance was induced either by acute or chronic heat conditioning. A phosphoprotein with the same molecular weight as the 50 kD glycoprotein was dephosphorylated immediately after heat conditioning. Both phosphate and glucose label in the ion front were enhanced immediately after heating, and may represent elevated levels of sugar phosphates. However, the composition of the ion front material remains to be determined. The data are consistent with a hypothesis that attributes increased heat resistance of thermotolerant cells to the glycosylation of specific heat-sensitive cellular sites.     

Cryptic chemotactic activity of fibronectin for human monocytes resides in the 120-kDa fibroblastic cell-binding fragment

Monocytes and lymphocytes form a second wave of infiltrating blood leukocytes in areas of tissue injury. The mechanisms for monocyte accumulation at these sites are not completely understood. Recently, however, fragments from extracellular matrix proteins including collagen, elastin, and fibronectin have been shown to induce monocyte chemotaxis. In this report we demonstrate that chemotactic activity for human monocytes is expressed when a 120-kDa fragment containing the RGDS cell-binding peptide is released from intact fibronectin or from larger fibronectin fragments. Monocytes, either from mononuclear cell Ficoll-Hypaque preparations (10-20% monocytes, 89-90% lymphocytes) or from elutriation preparations (95% monocytes, 5% lymphocytes), but not lymphocytes, migrated toward 120-kDa fragment preparations (10(-7) M) in blind-end chambers when the cells were separated from the chemoattractant by a 5-micron pore polycarbonate filter either alone or overlying a 0.45-micron pore nitrocellulose filter. Neutrophils migrated toward zymosan-activated serum but not toward 10(-5)-10(-8) M concentrations of the 120-kDa fragment. Intact fibronectin had no chemotactic activity for human monocytes. Fibronectin was isolated from citrated human plasma by sequential gelatin-Sepharose affinity and DEAE ion-exchange chromatography in the presence of buffers containing 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride to prevent fragmentation. Controlled enzymatic digestion with thermolysin cleaved fibronectin into 30 kDa fibrin, 45 kDa collagen, and 150/160-kDa cell and heparin domains. Upon prolonged digestion, purified 150/160-kDa fragments were cleaved into 120-kDa cell and 30/40-kDa heparin-binding fragments. Even though the intact fibronectin molecule, the 150/160-kDa fragments, and the 120-kDa fragment, have cell binding activity for Chinese hamster ovary fibroblasts, only the 120-kDa fragment expressed chemotactic activity for human monocytes. Thus, the 120-kDa fibroblastic cell-binding fragment contains a cryptic site for monocyte chemotaxis which is expressed upon enzymatic cleavage of fibronectin.     

Biofeedback,voluntary control,and human potential

This paper examines some of the philosophical and scientific relationships involving self-control, voluntary control, and psychophysiologic self-regulation. The role of biofeedback in mediating conscious and unconscious processes is explored. Demonstrations of superior voluntary control and its relationship to belief, confidence, and expectation are examined. Biofeedback demonstrates the potential of control to oneself, creating confidence in one's ability to establish enhanced and peak performance in athletics, education, and psychophysiologic therapy. Emphasis is placed on the power of images in all human functioning, and in enhancing human potential.Presidential address presented at the meetings of the Biofeedback Society of America, March 23, 1986, San Francisco.     

Comparison of glucokinase in C3H/He and C58 mice that differ in their hepatic activity

Partially purified preparations of the hepatic glucokinase from C3H/He and C58 inbred mice have been used to explore the molecular basis for the observed twofold difference in activity between the strains. The single codominant gene that appears to regulate activity, the alleles of which are designated Gk^a and Gk^b, respectively, for the two strains, could represent a structural gene change. This now seems unlikely because the mouse enzyme, although showing small differences from rat glucokinase, appeared to be identical in the two strains with respect to thermal stability, electrophoretic mobility in agarose gels, and kinetic properties such as the apparent K _m values for MgATP^2– and glucose and the unique cooperative interaction with the latter substrate. The enzymes also reacted identically in a range of immunological tests (double-diffusion, immunoelectrophoresis, immune precipitation and immune inhibition assays) and ELISA immune inhibition assays indicated that the twofold difference in activity was due to a similar difference in antigenically active enzyme. Genetic control over the physiologically significant regulation of enzyme amount is therefore probable.This work has been supported in part by a grant from the British Diabetic Association and a Training Studentship to PAJ from the Medical Research Council (U.K.).     

In vitro histamine H2-antagonist activity of the novel compound HUK 978

Histamine stimulated adenylate cyclase from guinea-pig fundic mucosa and 3H-tiotidine binding in guinea-pig cerebral cortex were used to assess the in-vitro histamine H2-activity of the novel H2-antagonist HUK 978. The results showed that HUK 978 was a more potent H2-antagonist than either cimetidine or ranitidine. HUK 978 was also shown to be devoid of activity at the histamine H1-receptor, the muscarinic receptor and the alpha and beta-adrenergic receptors.     

c-Ha-ras-1 proto-oncogene amplification and overexpression during the limited replicative life span of normal human fibroblasts

The cellular proto-oncogene c-Ha-ras-1 undergoes up to 4-fold amplification during the limited replicative life span of normal human diploid fibroblasts in vitro. Levels of c-Ha-ras-1 messenger RNA and its p21 protein product are correspondingly elevated. Cellular proto-oncogene amplification and overexpression, although frequently associated with tumorigenesis, may thus occur during normal cellular growth.