Operant conditioning of skin resistance tonic levels

The purpose of the current investigation was to determine whether increases and decreases in skin resistance tonic level could be controlled by individuals given discrete visual feedback of such activity. Thirty-six male undergraduate students served as subjects. They were assigned randomly in equal numbers to four groups; two of the groups received accurate feedback of skin resistance level changes and two received inaccurate feedback. The two accurate-feedback groups differed with respect to the order in which increases and decreases in skin resistance level were reinforced. Each noncontingent group was matched with one of the contingent groups in terms of reinforcement density. The results indicated that accurate feedback produced skin resistance level changes consistent with the type of reinforcement employed. However, operant control was not clearly sustained subsequent to a reversal in the type of tonic level change reinforced. Some problems related to the clinical application of skin resistance level training are discussed.Portions of this paper were presented at the meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, 1973.     

Pesticide-Induced Illness—Public Health Aspects of Diagnosis and Treatment

Over the past 25 years there has been a remarkable proliferation of new chemicals into our environment, among them the 57,000 different trade-named pesticide formulations now for sale in the United States. With them have come many new problems to physicians needing up-to-the minute toxocologic information, and also sizable problems in public health. Technology must be harnessed to bring to physicians, when they need it, help in the diagnosis and treatment of poisoning and other adverse effects from modern chemicals, for at present it is impossible for the practicing physician to keep up with what is known and unknown about the toxicology of all of these chemicals.     

Evo-Devo of the Human Vertebral Column: On Homeotic Transformations, Pathologies and Prenatal Selection

Homeotic transformations of vertebrae are particularly common in humans and tend to come associated with malformations in a wide variety of organ systems. In a dataset of 1,389 deceased human foetuses and infants a majority had cervical ribs and approximately half of these individuals also had missing twelfth ribs or lumbar ribs. In?~10?% of all cases there was an additional shift of the lumbo-sacral boundary and, hence, homeotic transformations resulted in shifts of at least three vertebral boundaries. We found a strong coupling between the abnormality of the vertebral patterns and the amount and strength of associated malformations, i.e., the longer the disturbance of the vertebral patterning has lasted, the more associated malformations have developed and the more organ systems are affected. The germ layer of origin of the malformations was not significantly associated with the frequency of vertebral patterns. In contrast, we find significant associations with the different developmental mechanisms that are involved in the causation of the malformations, that is, segmentation, neural crest development, left-right patterning, etc. Our results, thus, suggest that locally perceived developmental signals are more important for the developmental outcome than the origin of the cells. The low robustness of vertebral A-P patterning apparent from the large number of homeotic transformations is probably caused by the strong interactivity of developmental processes and the low redundancy of involved morphogens during early organogenesis. Additionally, the early irreversibility of the specification of the A-P identity of vertebrae probably adds to the vulnerability of the process by limiting the possibility for recovery from developmental disturbances. The low developmental robustness of vertebral A-P patterning contrasts with a high robustness of the A-P patterning of the vertebral regions. Not only the order is invariable, also the variation in the number of vertebrae per region is small. This robustness is in agreement with the evolutionary stability of vertebral regions in tetrapods. Finally, we propose a new hypothesis regarding the constancy of the presacral number of vertebrae in mammals.     

A Cladistic Analysis of the Genus Cyttaria (Fungi-Ascomycotina)*

Abstract—Cyttaria Berkeley (Cyttariaceae, Cyttariales, Class Discomycetes), is a genus of eleven species, seven from South America and four from Australasia (Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand). Cyttaria is a monophyletic genus defined by the following synapomorphies: fleshy to gelatinous stromata with endostromatic apothecia; and complete lack of fungal chitin in the cell walls, having instead β-1–3-glucan. All Cyttaria are exclusive parasites of Nothofagus species. A cladistic analysis of the genus was performed using 18 characters from macromorphology, micro-morphology, and phenology. Polarity of characters is based on the outgroup comparison method (using the Class Discomycetes as a whole) and on the ontogenetic criterion. A hypothetical outgroup was constructed using all plesiomorphic states. Two equally parsimonious cladograms were produced, each with 40 steps and a consistency index of 0.70. These differed in the position of the South American species C. hookeri and C. johowii. In one cladogram, C. hookeri is the sister group to the rest of the genus, and in the other, both species form a monophyletic group (ascospores ovoid) that is the sister group of the rest of the genus. Our analysis of the two characters causing this difference (position of apothecia on stroma, and shape of ascospores) supports the latter hypothesis. In both cladograms, all of the Australasian species form a monophyletic group (thick ectostroma), and, within that, two subgroups are defined: C. gunnii-C. pallida (papillae present), and C. nigra-C. septentrionalis (ectostroma with black incrustations). The Australasian species form a monophyletic group (spermatangia absent) with C. berteroi , and this last group forms a monophyletic group (conidia absent) with C. espinosae. Cytlaria darwimi and C. exigua form another monophyletic group (very thick ectostroma). Excluding C. hookeri and C. johowii, C. hariotii is the sister group to the remaining eight species.     

The interplay between inorganic phosphate and amino acids determines zinc solubility in brain slices

Inorganic phosphate (Pi) is an important polyanion needed for ATP synthesis and bone formation. As it is found at millimolar levels in plasma, it is usually incorporated as a constituent of artificial CSF formulations for maintaining brain slices. In this paper, we show that Pi limits the extracellular zinc concentration by inducing metal precipitation. We present data suggesting that amino acids like histidine may counteract the Pi-induced zinc precipitation by the formation of soluble zinc complexes. We propose that the interplay between Pi and amino acids in the extracellular space may influence the availability of metals for cellular uptake.     

The role of transferrin receptors and iron delivery in mouse embryonic morphogenesis

The iron-carrying serum protein transferrin is required for the proliferation and differentiation of embryonic tissues in culture. We studied the expression and role of transferrin receptors in two model systems using a monoclonal antibody against the transferrin receptor of mice. The addition of 20-100 micrograms/ml antibody to a chemically defined culture medium containing transferrin (10 micrograms/ml) inhibited morphogenesis and cell proliferation in kidneys and teeth. However, the antibody did not inhibit development when iron was delivered to the cells by a lipophilic iron chelator i.e., by-passing the receptor-mediated pathway. Hence, the binding of the receptor antibody to the receptor apparently did not affect cell proliferation, and the antibody was not toxic to the tissues. Our results suggest that the antibody to the transferrin receptor inhibits development by blocking the normal endocytotic route of iron delivery. Cells derived from embryonic kidneys and teeth expressed the transferrin receptor when cultured as monolayers. However, using immunofluorescent techniques, we were unable to detect the receptor in frozen tissue sections. It is possible that the seeding of cells in monolayer cultures affects the expression of the transferrin receptor, since it is known that all types of cells require transferrin for continued proliferation in culture. Organ-cultured kidney mesenchymal cells are not initially responsive to transferrin, but they acquire responsiveness as a consequence of an inductive tissue interaction. Although it remains unknown as to whether the acquisition of transferrin responsiveness is directly related to the expression of transferrin receptors, our results suggest that transferrin and its receptors play a role in embryonic morphogenesis.