Problems of value in medicine and the humanities, or will the real doctor please stand up?

After a general discussion of the need for physicians to concern themselves with questions of human ethics, this paper considers genetics, the population explosion, abortion, curing patients of psychological problems which are perfectly normal (such as masturbation), and behavior modification. The population explosion is the outgrowth of the understandable desire to reduce disease and death. Now births must be reduced immediately or the world will eliminate starvation among infants only to have starvation among adults. The 2nd problem is preventing births. Contraception is not caught up in moral problems but abortion pits 1 set of ethics against another. Here, again, the physician must have a broad world view. The humanist theory holds that procedures that enhance human freedom are both natural and desirable while procedures that suppress it are unnatural and undesirable. This also applies to medical procedures. An understanding of the humanist point of view is important to the physician in his work.     

Distribution of calmodulin in pea seedlings: Immunocytochemical localization in plumules and root apices

Immunofluorescence techniques have been used to study the distribution of calmodulin in several tissues in young etiolated pea (Pisum sativum L.) seedlings. A fairly uniform staining was seen in the nucleoplasm and background cytoplasm of most cell types. Cell walls and nucleoli were not stained. In addition, patterned staining reactions were seen in many cells. In cells of the plumule, punctate staining of the cytoplasm was common, and in part this stain appeared to be associated with the plastids. A very distinctive staining of amyloplasts was seen in the columella of the root cap. Staining associated with cytoskeletal elements could be shown in division stages. By metaphase, staining of the spindle region was quite evident. In epidermal cells of the stem and along the underside of the leaf there was an intense staining of the vacuolar contents. Guard cells lacked this vacuolar stain. Vacuolar staining was sometimes seen in cells of the stele, but the most distinctive pattern in the stele was associated with young conducting cells of the xylem. These staining patterns are consistent with the idea that the interactions of plastids and the cytoskeletal system may be one of the Ca²⁺-mediated steps in the response of plants to environmental stimuli. Nuclear functions may also be controlled, at least in part, by Ca²⁺.