Combined Therapeutic Effect of Dietary Selenium and Vitamin Ε on Manifested Vesd Syndrome in Weaned Pigs

By using a therapeutic dietary supplementation in pigs, which had developed the vitamin Ε and selenium deficiency (VESD) syndrome, the same amounts of α-tocopheryl acetate and selenium were found to be effective as under prophylactic conditions. The experiment thus supported the conclusions that the addition of 5 mg DL-α-tocopheryl acetate/kg and 135 μg selenium/kg to a diet, which contained only traces of vitamin Ε and selenium, represents a level of minimal requirement. Glutathione peroxidase activity in blood serum was used to evaluate the selenium status in pigs. A modified method for determination of tocopherol in fat tissue was described. The addition of 15 mg α-tocopheryl acetate/kg diet was demonstrated to be sufficient to maintain the tocopherol stores in body fat at an unchanged level.     

Calcium influx following fertilization of Urechis caupo eggs.

Measurements of ⁴⁵Ca flux into and out of Urechis eggs indicate that, during the first 10 min after insemination, the eggs take up 0.24 pmole of Ca/egg. Total egg Ca measured by atomic absorption (AA) spectroscopy increased by 0.23 pmole of Ca/egg (0.56, 0.79, and 0.76 pmole of Ca/egg for unfertilized, 10-min fertilized, and 60-min fertilized eggs, respectively). Thus, the total change in egg Ca is accounted for by the influx even though the rate of efflux, measured as a release of ⁴⁵Ca from preloaded eggs, increases to twice the unfertilized rate by 15 min. The fertilization influx follows saturation kinetics (K_a = 1.3 mM). It is competitively inhibited by procaine, but is not inhibited by dinitrophenol, mersalyl acid, or ruthenium red. Ten percent of the total Ca influx has occurred by 10 sec, and it is, therefore, the most rapid response to fertilization yet known in these eggs. The influx is also observed in eggs partially activated by insemination in pH 7 seawater (SW); the other fertilization responses, except sperm penetration, do not occur in pH 7 SW. Although Ca influx alone is insufficient to activate the eggs, it may be a prerequisite for cytoplasmic activation and development, inducing other secondary responses which are prevented by low external pH.     

The induction of acetylcholine synthesis in primary cultures of dissociated rat sympathetic neurons : II. Developmental aspects

Dissociated sympathetic neurons from the neonatal rat, grown in cell culture in the virtual absence of other cell types, can develop many of the properties expected of differentiated adrenergic neurons including the ability to synthesize and accumulate catecholamines (CA)². However, in the presence of high concentrations of appropriately conditioned medium (CM), the cultures develop the ability to synthesize and accumulate acetylcholine (ACh); correspondingly, their ability to synthesize CA decreases. In this paper several developmental aspects of the CM effect are described. The time course of development of cultures grown with or without CM was followed using synthesis and accumulation of [³H]CA from [³H]tyrosine and production of [³H]ACh from [³H]choline as assays for adrenergic and cholinergic differentiation. The ability to produce CA or ACh developed along parallel time courses in the two sets of cultures, rising primarily during the second week in vitro and reaching a plateau during the fourth week. When CM was used as a cholinergic developmental signal, the sympathetic neurons showed a decreasing response to addition of CM as they matured adrenergically; addition of CM during the third or fourth 10 days in vitro was not as effective in inducing ACh production as addition during the first or second 10 days. Similarly, removal of CM at various times from cultures previously grown in CM showed that the cholinergic induction caused by CM was not easily reversible in older cultures. Thus, as with the adrenergic decision, the cholinergic decision becomes less reversible as the phenotype becomes fully expressed.     

Découverte de microfaunes de l'Albienmoyen et supérieur dans la vallée de Joux (Jura Vaudois,Suisse)

The discovery of Foraminifera and Ostracodesin the dark green, sandy-glauconitic marl clay in the Joux Valley (in the Vaudois Jura) suggests to date these sediments Middle and Upper Albian. The Ostracode associations are similar to those found in the Paris Basin, but different from those which characterize the subalpine region.     

Echinodermes (Homalozoa: Cornuta et Mitrata) nouveaux pour l'Ordovicien du Massif Armoricain et conséquences paléogéographiques

Two specific genera of Bohemian Llanvirn(Sarka Formation), Reticulocarpos and Lagynocystis have been recognized in Traveusot, le Pissot and Pierre Melière Formations (Llanvirn and Llandeilo of the Armorican Massif). Though three species are new (R. pissotensis, R. sp., Lagynocystis sp.) this discovery once more underlines the relationships between Bohemia and Armorican Massif during this period.     

Chronostratigraphie de la fin de la derniere glaciation,a la lumiere des resultats de l'etude lithostratigraphique et palynologique du site de Maisieres-Canal (Belgique)

The upper part of the palaeoclimatic sequence of Maisières-Canal shows a succession of four mild episodes at thetransition between the Pleniglacial and the Late-Glacial. Those four mild fluctuations are respectively correlated with Langerie, Lascaux, Angles-sur-l'Anglin and Pré-Bölling oscillations.     

Retention deficit for avoidance training in hypophysectomized rats: Time-dependent enhancement of retention performance with post-training ACTH injections

These experiments examined the effects of hypophysectomy on retention of avoidance training. In addition, the experiments examined the effects, on retention, of post-training ACTH injections administered to hypophysectomized rats. Rats were trained in a visual discriminated avoidance Y maze. Each rat received six training trials followed by six retraining trials the next day. Retention was measured by the number of correct choices during the retraining trials. When trained with a low-footshock intensity (0.8 mA), hypophysectomized rats showed retention performance which was significantly poorer than that of intact animals. There was no significant difference in performance when the animals were trained with a higher footshock intensity (1.4 mA), in part because of poorer retention performance of intact animals under these training conditions. Under both footshock conditions, a single post-training injection of ACTH enhanced later retention performance of hypophysectomized rats. This effect on memory was timedependent; injections delayed 2 or 6 hr after training did not significantly enhance retention. These findings are consistent with the view that hormonal responses to training may modulate later retention of the training experience.