The Fine Structure of Some Retinal Photoreceptors

An electron microscope study has been made of octopus and amphibian photoreceptors, after fixing with KMnO₄ and embedding in araldite. What has previously been seen as a single dense stratum bounding the tubular compartments (octopus) or the double membrane discs (rods and cones), now shows a double structure. We interpret this as showing that these tubules and discs have similar bounding surfaces, which are probably directly related to the cell membrane. This is confirmed by the finding that the tubules and discs are (at least occasionally) continuous with the cell membrane.     

The Influence of Morphology on Prognosis in Acute Leukemia

The presence of definite cytoplasmic granulation in at least some of the malignant cells was used as the sole criterion to separate 156 patients with acute leukemia into two groups: 110 with myeloblastic (AML), and 46 with lymphoblastic or stem cell leukemia (ALL). The median survival from the onset of symptoms in patients with AML was 20 weeks, and those with ALL 37 weeks. The difference in survival in these two groups is much greater for patients under the age of 25 than for those over the age of 25.     

Effect of induced alkalosis on perception of exertion during intermittent exercise

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of metabolic alkalosis on differentiated ratings of perceived exertion during intermittent high-intensity exercise. Six endurance-trained females participated as subjects in this investigation. Each subject underwent three separate experimental trials in which NaHCO3 was ingested in either a single (0.3 g NaHCO3/kg body wt) or periodic schedule (0.12 g NaHCO3/kg body wt initially, with 0.18 g/kg body wt distributed in equal doses before each 5-min exercise bout). Calcium carbonate served as a placebo control. An intermittent exercise protocol was used in which each subject rode a cycle ergometer at 90% maximum O2 consumption for 5 min. Within each acid-base condition, the exercise protocol was repeated three times with 10-min rest periods interspersed. Differentiated ratings of perceived exertion for the legs (RPE-L), chest (RPE-C), and overall body (RPE-O) were attenuated under alkalotic treatment relative to placebo control regardless of pattern of NaHCO3 administration. RPE-L, RPE-C, and RPE-O were negatively correlated to the bicarbonate concentration of venous blood. This investigation suggests that perception of effort during high-intensity intermittent exercise can be related to buffering capacity of the blood.     

Fractal modeling of pulmonary blood flow heterogeneity

The heterogeneity of pulmonary blood flow is not adequately described by gravitational forces alone. We investigated the flow distributions predicted by two fractally branching vascular models to determine how well such networks could explain the observed heterogeneity. The distribution of flow was modeled with a dichotomously branching tree in which the fraction of blood flow from the parent to the daughter branches was gamma and 1-gamma repeatedly at each generation. In one model gamma was held constant throughout the network, and in the other model gamma varied about a mean of 0.5 with a standard deviation of sigma. Both gamma and sigma were optimized in each model for the best fit to pulmonary blood flow data from experimental animals. The predicted relative dispersion of flow from the two model fractal networks produced an excellent fit to the observed data. These fractally branching models relate structure and function of the pulmonary vascular tree and provide a mechanism to describe the spatially correlated distribution of flow and the gravity-independent heterogeneity of blood flow.     

Applications of fractal analysis to physiology

This review describes approaches to the analysis of fractal properties of physiological observations. Fractals are useful to describe the natural irregularity of physiological systems because their irregularity is not truly random and can be demonstrated to have spatial or temporal correlation. The concepts of fractal analysis are introduced from intuitive, visual, and mathematical perspectives. The regional heterogeneities of pulmonary and myocardial flows are discussed as applications of spatial fractal analysis, and methods for estimating a fractal dimension from physiological data are presented. Although the methods used for fractal analyses of physiological data are still under development and will require additional validation, they appear to have great potential for the study of physiology at scales of resolution ranging from the microcirculation to the intact organism.     

Analysis of the proteinases of Trypanosoma brucei

A method comprising enzyme separation by SDS-PAGE and subsequent use of peptidyl aminomethylcoumarins as substrates has been used to study proteinases of the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma brucei. The application of this method has allowed investigation of the substrate specificities of individual proteinases in cell lysates without the need for enzyme purification. The results show that T. brucei contains a group of cysteine proteinases, probably four in number, with substrate and inhibitor specificities similar to those of cathepsin L. A second group of proteinases, larger enzymes with significantly different substrate specificities and sensitivity to inhibitors, was also detected. Peptidyl diazomethanes inhibited the cysteine proteinases and also parasite growth, offering promise that peculiarities in the substrate specificity of trypanosomal cysteine proteinases could be exploited by compounds of this type.