A fatal poisoning from an amatoxin containing Lepiota

The mushroom Lepiota josserandii Bon and Boif. has been identified as the cause of an unintentional, fatal intoxication in New York. The course of the symptoms, beginning with a 9 h latent period, was similar to what would be expected in a case of Amanita phalloides-type intoxication. Despite supportive medical care the victim expired 110 h after ingestion. Thin layer chromatography detected the presence of alpha- and gamma-amanitin and radioimmunoassay confirmed a level of 3.5 mg/gm dry weight of amatoxins in mushrooms from the same location.Published as New York State Museum Journal Series No. 440.     

Holding effects on coliform enumeration in drinking water samples

Standard procedures for analyzing drinking water stress the need to adhere to the time and temperature conditions recommended for holding samples collected for microbiological testing. The National Drinking Water Laboratory Certification Program requires compliance with these holding limits, but some investigators have reported difficulties in meeting them. Research was conducted by standard analytical methods to determine if changes occurred when samples were held at 5 and 22 degrees C and analyzed at 0, 24, 30, and 48 h. Samples were analyzed for coliforms by the membrane filter and fermentation-tube procedures and for heterotrophs by the pour plate method. A total of 17 treated water samples were collected from a large municipal distribution system from August to December 1981, and 12 samples were collected from January to May 1983. The samples were dosed with coliforms previously isolated from the water system, Enterobacter cloacae in 1981 and Citrobacter freundii in 1983. The coliform counts declined linearly over time, and the rates of decline were significant at both 5 and 22 degrees C. Within 24 h at 22 degrees C, levels of E. cloacae and C. freundii decreased by 47 and 26%, respectively, and at 5 degrees C, E. cloacae numbers declined by 23%. Results from these representative laboratory-grown coliforms reinforced those previously obtained with naturally occurring coliforms under the same experimental conditions. Significantly, some samples with initially unacceptable counts (greater than 4/100 ml) met the safe drinking water limits after storage at 24 h at 5 and 22 degrees C and would have been classified as satisfactory.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Extracellular release of photosynthetic products by freshwater phytoplankton populations, with special reference to the algal species involved

SUMMARY. Over three successive years, depth profiles of C-fixation and excretion, chlorophyll- a concentrations, phytoplankton species composition and bacterial numbers were determined in Lake Vechten, a slightly eutrophic lake in The Netherlands. Special attention was given to the method used to measure extracellular release.
Excretion of dissolved organic ¹⁴C depended largely upon the photo-synthetic activity of the phytoplankton, ranging from 0–2.5 mg m^-1 h^-1, representing a percentage extracellular release (PER) of 0–25%.
During a period in August, however, a subsurface chlorophyll- a maximum at 5–7 m depth coincided with high excretion rates of up to 10 mg Cm^-3 h^-1 (PER = 55%). Phytoplankton analysis revealed a stratification in numbers of Mallomonas caudata with a maximum at 5–7 m depth.
The results suggest that in these water layers bacterial populations grew at the expense of the dissolved organic carbon compounds excreted by Mallomonas caudata. This means that extracellular release can temporarily function as an important nutrient source for the heterotrophie community in addition to the more or less constant dissolved organic carbon pool.     

Localization of juvenile, but not late-infantile, neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis on chromosome 16.

The neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (NCL) are a group of progressive neurodegenerative disorders characterized by the deposition of autofluorescent proteinaceous fingerprint or curvilinear bodies. We have found that CLN3, the gene underlying the juvenile form of NCL, is very tightly linked to the dinucleotide repeat marker D16S285 on chromosome 16. Integration of D16S285 into the genetic map of chromosome 16 by using the Centre d'Etude du Polymorphisme Humain panel of reference pedigrees yielded a favored marker order in the CLN3 region of qtel-D16S150-.08-D16S285-.04-D16S148-.02-D16S 67-ptel. The most likely location of the disease gene, near D16S285 in the D16S150-D16S148 interval, was favored by odds of greater than 10(4):1 over the adjacent D16S148-D16S67 interval, which was recently reported as the minimum candidate region. Analysis of D16S285 in pedigrees with late-infantile NCL virtually excluded the CLN3 region, suggesting that these two forms of NCL are genetically distinct.     

Fluid compartmentation in skeletal muscle and carcass of Mus musculus acclimated to water scarcity

1. Total water (TW), and extracellular water (ECW) (as sodium and chloride space) were determined in skeletal muscle and carcass of Mus musculus acclimated to long-term water shortage. 2. The presence of fat in control mice and those in early stages of acclimation resulted in an apparent increase in TW and ECW as acclimation proceeded. 3. In contrast, fluid volumes per fat-free weight were either unchanged from controls or reduced. 4. Sodium space exceeded chloride space. 5. Muscle and carcass had essentially the same pattern of fluid shifts. 6. We conclude that ECW maintenance is a preeminent component of the acclimation process in this species.     

Low molecular weight GTP-binding proteins in human neutrophil granule membranes

Degranulation of neutrophils involves the differential regulation of the exocytosis of at least two populations of granules. Low molecular weight GTP-binding proteins (LMW-GBPs) have been implicated in the regulation of vesicular traffic in the secretory pathways of several types of cells. In the present study we identify distinct subsets of LMW-GBPs associated with the membranes of neutrophil-specific and azurophilic granules. Ninety-four percent of total [35S]guanosine 5'-(3-O-thio)triphosphate (GTP gamma S) binding activity was equally distributed between the plasma membrane and cytosol with the remaining 6% localized in the granules. In contrast, the cytosol contained only 10% of the total GTPase activity while the specific granules accounted for 13%. [alpha-32P]GTP binding to proteins transferred to nitrocellulose revealed LMW-GBPs in all fractions except the azurophilic granules. The specific granules contained three out of four bands which were found in the plasma membrane; these ranged from 20 to 23 kDa and all were resistant to alkaline extraction. Photoaffinity labeling with [alpha-32P]8-azido-GTP in the presence of micromolar Al3+ identified proteins of 25 and 26 kDa unique to azurophilic granules; these could not be labeled with [alpha-32P]8-azido-ATP and could be extracted by acidic but not alkaline pH. Botulinum C3-mediated [32P]ADP-ribosylation identified proteins of 16, 20, and 24 kDa both in plasma membranes and those of specific granules. An anti-ras monoclonal antibody, 142-24E5, recognized a 20-kDa protein localized to the plasma and specific granule membranes which could not be extracted by alkaline pH, was not a substrate for botulinum C3 ADP-ribosyltransferase, and was translocated from specific granules to plasma membrane after exposure of neutrophils to phorbol myristate acetate. We conclude that neutrophil-specific and azurophilic granules contain distinct subsets of LMW-GBPs which are uniquely situated to regulate the differential exocytosis of these two compartments.