Transcuticular solute movement in parasitic nematodes: relationship between non-polar solute transport and partition coefficient

The rate constants (K) for steroid transport across the isolated cuticle of Ascaris suum were, linearly related to partition coefficients (P) of steroids in model solvents. The slope of log P vs log K for an isolated cuticle was closest to unity for the more polar solvents, octanol and ether, suggesting that the barrier to steroid movement across the cuticle has partition properties similar to these solvents. The transcuticular movement of steroids into intact adult A. suum and infective larvae of Haemonchus contortus was predicted by the P in model solvents suggesting that the same barriers for transcuticular solute movement may exist in intact worms as in isolated cuticles.     

Phase plane modeling of leg motion

Phase plane analysis of dynamical systems, in which variables are plotted against their time derivatives, has been recently emphasized as a general method for reconstructing system dynamics from data. The purpose of this experiment was to develop a model of leg movement in a stepping task using the phase plane approach. In this model, the leg is represented as a three-body linkage and the motion of the leg is assumed to be planar with four degrees of freedom. Experimental data was collected on one subject stepping six times, using a two dimensional videomotion analysis system with reflective markers placed on the lower limb joints. A computer program able to solve the equations of motion and compute the state of the system for a given task was implemented. This computer program was written to generate the motion of the leg for a given task using inverse kinematics and a preplanned foot path. Foot trajectories with cycloidal, constant acceleration/deceleration and sinusoidal velocity profiles were studied. From the results, an attempt was made to identify the variables which are measured and to determine the motion characteristics during stepping. The preliminary results support the concept of a hierarchical control structure with openloop control during normal operation. During routine activity there is no direct intervention of the Central Nervous System (CNS). The results support the existence of preprogramming and provide a starting point for the study of the development of control in multiarticulate movements.     

Local population differences in emergence of cabbage root flies from south-west Lancashire: implications for pest forecasting and population divergence

ABSTRACT.

• 1 Emergence of cabbage root fly, Delia radicum (L.), from overwintering populations of puparia collected from twenty-one sites in south-west Lancashire, was extremely variable.
• 2 The patterns of emergence indicated that there were two extreme biotypes, one with early- and the other with late-emerging flies. There was also evidence of an intermediate biotype, tending more to early than to late emergence.
• 3 This gradient of biotypes, or clinal divergence, was maintained by populations breeding at different times and by females mating close to their sites of emergence. Non-dispersive females then perpetuated their genotype within their own locality.
• 4 The time of emergence was not obviously associated with the type of host-crop on which larvae had developed.
• 5 The late-emerging biotype was most prevalent around Halsall. The minimum distance between populations of the late- and the early-emerging biotypes was 16 km. 20 km south-east from Halsall only half of the fly population was early-emerging, possibly a result of a displacement of the Halsall biotype by the prevailing NW wind.
• 6 Regional-based forecasts will need to take into account the emergence characteristics of the populations to predict the peak periods of cabbage root fly activity adequately in south-west Lancashire and other areas where emergence patterns differ.

     

8q24.12 Interstitial deletion in trichorhinophalangeal syndrome type I

Summary In the present report we present the first example of a small interstitial 8q24.12 deletion in a patient with trichorhinophalangeal syndrome type I.     

Antigens associated with various cytotoxic activities of murine peripheral macrophages

BCG- or glucan-elicited murine peripheral macrophages released a cytotoxin in the presence of loach egg lectin, whereas proteose peptone-, glycogen-, or thioglycollate-elicited or resident macrophages did not. The macrophages that released cytotoxin coincided with those that showed lectin-dependent macrophage-mediated cytolysis (LDMC) in response to loach egg lectin. The cytotoxin released by BCG-elicited macrophages in response to loach egg lectin had a molecular weight of 55 K daltons. The macrophages that released cytotoxin and other cytotoxic macrophages such as those that showed LDMC- and antibody-dependent macrophage-mediated cytolysis (ADMC) were examined by using several antibodies to surface antigens of macrophages. The results showed that murine peripheral macrophages could be divided into three types. Resident macrophages (Type I) which had common macrophage antigens (Mac-1 and B12) showed only LDMC in response to wheat germ agglutinin. Some elicited macrophages (Type II) were asialo GM1-positive and showed both ADMC and LDMC in response to wheat germ agglutinin. Activated macrophages (Type III) showed LDMC in response to loach egg lectin and cytotoxin-release, but had no antigen detectable with monoclonal anti-macrophage antibody (C14). These three types of macrophages were clearly distinguished diagrammatically by their roof-shaped, rocket-shaped and irregular-shaped profiles of activities and antigens. These data suggest that several selected surface antigens of macrophages are associated with distinct cytotoxic stages of peripheral macrophages.     

Differential expression of metastasis-associated cell surface glycoproteins and mRNA in a murine large cell lymphoma

A metastatic variant cell subline of the Abelson virus-transformed murine large lymphoma/lymphosarcoma RAW117 has been selected in vivo ten times for liver colonization. Highly metastatic subline RAW117-H10 forms greater than 200 times as many gross surface liver tumor nodules as the parental line RAW117-P. Analysis of cellular proteins and glycoproteins indicates reduced expression of murine Moloney leukemia virus-associated p15, p30, and gp70, and increased expression of a sialoglycoprotein, gp150, in the highly metastatic H10 cells. Northern analyses of oncogene expression suggested that mRNA of various oncogenes was expressed equally or not expressed in the RAW117 cells of differing metastatic potential. Differential gene expression was examined using a cDNA library of 17,600 clones established from poly A+ mRNA isolated from H10 cells. The cDNA library was screened by the colony hybridization technique using probes made from both RAW117-P and -H10 cells. Approximately 99.5% of these cDNA clones were expressed identically in P and H10 cells. Of the few differentially expressed cDNA clones (approx. 150/17,600), one-half of these were identified as Moloney leukemia virus sequences in a separate probing with a radiolabeled Moloney leukemia virus probe. The remainder of the differentially expressed mRNA detected by colony hybridization of the cDNA library were expressed at higher levels (approx. 1/6) or lower levels (approx. 1/3) in the highly metastatic H10 cells.     

Biosynthetic controls that determine the branching and microheterogeneity of protein-bound oligosaccharides

Detailed studies on the enzyme machinery responsible for the biosynthesis of protein-bound oligosaccharides of the Asn-GlcNAc and Ser(Thr)-GalNAc linkage types have allowed the formulation of some general rules which explain, at least in part, the branching patterns and microheterogeneity of these structures. These rules are discussed under the following headings: competition of two or more enzymes for a common substrate; controls at the level of enzyme substrate specificity (e.g., critical sugar residues which turn enzyme activity on or off, branch specificity, and the role of the polypeptide in the glycoprotein substrate); substrate availability.