Effect of parathyroid extract on renal cyclic AMP excretion in patients with normocalciuric nephrolithiasis.

It is uncertain whether normocalcemic, normocalciuric patients with calcium nephrolithiasis have a disorder of calcium metabolism. We studied the effect of a parathyroid extract (PTE) INFUSION (1.4 U/kg body weight) on the urinary cyclic AMP excretion in 16 such patients. For comparison, we investigated groups of normal individuals and patients with primary hyperparathyroidism, renal insufficiency and different gastrointestinal diseases. The increase of cyclic AMP above basal excretion in patients with nephrolithiasis was only 1.2 +/- 0.3 mumol/h (mean +/- SEM), versus 2.5 +/- 0.5 mumol/h in normal subjects (p less than 0.05) although the basal excretion was similar. Patients with renal insufficiency had low basal excretion of cyclic AMP and little stimulation of excretion by PTH (increase, 0.3 +/- 0.06 mumol). Patients with primary hyperparathyroidism had high baseline cyclic AMP excretion but sub-normal stimulation by PTE (increase, 0.46 +/- 0.13); in contrast, patients with different gastrointestinal disease had high baseline excretion and supranormal stimulation of cyclic AMP excretion (increase, 5.2 +/- 0.6). We speculate that an impaired response to PTH might be involved in the slightly increased urinary calcium excretion in normocalcemic stone formers suggested by others.     

HISTONES AND ALKALINE FAST GREEN STAINING OF ONION ROOTS

Onion root tips were freeze killed or fixed in 12 different chemical fixatives to determine the possible effects of such treatments on subsequent staining with alkaline Fast green (pH 8.0-8.1) to reveal the presence of histones. Ethanol, methanol, neutral formalin, and a mixture of methanolchloroform-acetic acid produced nearly comparable results. Subsequent to fixation or freeze drying the sections were treated with hot 5% trichloroacetic acid (TCA) to remove nucleic acids prior to Fast green staining. Staining of histones does not occur in chemically fixed material if TCA hydrolysis is omitted. Nuclei, chromosomes during mitosis, and cytoplasm (to varying degrees) were stainable after TCA treatment. Positive staining occurs in nuclei, nucleoli, and cytoplasm in freeze-dried material with or without prior TCA treatment. Comparisons are made with chemical fixations. The use of ribonuclease instead of TCA permits staining of the cytoplasm and of chromosomes during mitosis. Discussions are included on the stainability of nucleoli and the possibility that native histone is associated with ribonucleic acid (RNA).     

Structure of the serine-containing capsular poly-saccharide K40 antigen from Escherichia coli O8:K40:H9

The structure of the K40 antigenic capsular polysaccharide (K40 antigen) of E. coli O8:K40:H9 was elucidated by determination of the composition, ¹H- and ¹³C-n.m.r. spectroscopy, periodate oxidation and Smith degradation, and methylation analysis. The K40 polysaccharide consists of [(O-β- -glucopyranosyluronic acid)-(1→4)-O-(2-acetamido-2-deoxy-- -glucopyranosyl)-(1→6)-O-(2-acetamido-2-deoxy-- -glucopyranosyl)-(1→4)] repeating units. All of the glucuronic acid residues are substituted amidically with -serine.     

How to differentiate facilitation and environmentally driven co‐existence

Positive plant–plant interactions (i.e. facilitation) receive increasing attention as a potentially important driver of community assembly. We conducted a systematic literature review indicating broad support for positive effects of potential facilitator species. However, a large majority of the reviewed studies (83% for field studies, 57% for experiments) share a similar risk of misinterpretation as they assess facilitative effects by comparing plots inhabited by a potential facilitator with randomly placed control plots nearby (paired sampling). As the distribution of facilitator species may itself be environmentally driven, species co‐existence caused by facilitation cannot exclusively be separated from environmental effects (habitat sharing). Based on simulated plant communities and sampling protocols, we show how non‐random co‐existence can occur in the absence of facilitation. This is relevant because both the effect of spatial environmental heterogeneity and of facilitation (stress‐gradient hypothesis) are expected to increase with environmental harshness. Nevertheless, 58% of facilitation studies neither undertook measures to minimize potential biases in their sampling approaches nor did they acknowledge such limitations in the discussion. Attention to this problem has significantly decreased in recent years. We propose that facilitation studies could be improved by (1) using random sampling for association studies, (2) co‐analysing environmental factors, or (3) experimentally establishing presumed facilitators. Experimental approaches mimicking facilitative plant characteristics can help to identify facilitation mechanisms. Combining approaches and including functional traits of the involved species should further strengthen inference.     

Cell Lineage of Vein Formation in Variegated Leaves of the C4Grass Stenotaphrum secundatum

Clonal analysis of variegated leaves of the C₄grass, Stenotaphrumsecundatum, indicates that invasions among meristematic layersoccur during the organogenetic stage of leaf development, resultingin long, broad white and green stripes. These layer invasionscease prior to the second phase of leaf development when delimitationof leaf regions occurs. Vein precursors mostly arise duringthe second phase, so that procambial strand formation is superimposedon the lineage makeup of earlier-formed tissue. Anatomical evidenceindicates that procambium arises through formative divisionswithin ground tissue of leaf primordia and that each strandis derived from a variable number (one–four) of groundmeristem precursors. If a developing vein straddles the boundarybetween previously-formed green and white sectors, then themature vein is half green and half white, reflecting its mixedcell lineage. In Stenotaphrum, 24.8% of the sectors observedwere bounded by such ‘half veins’. The temporalrelationship of layer invasion and tissue system delimitationin this species supports the view that positional signals aremore important than lineage history in the determination oftissue type. However, analysis of planes of cell division indeveloping veins indicates, that, once formed, procambial strandsare discrete lineage units that extend longitudinally by proliferativedivisions. Thus, lineage restrictions may play an importantrole in the third stage of leaf development, differentiationof tissues and cells, which also includes the maintenance ofcell identity.Copyright 2000 Annals of Botany Company C₄photosynthesis, cell lineage, clonal analysis, leaf development, St. Augustine’s grass,Stenotaphrum secundatum , variegation, vein formation     

Which function describes the species–area relationship best? A review and empirical evaluation

Aim The aims of this study are to resolve terminological confusion around different types of species–area relationships (SARs) and their delimitation from species sampling relationships (SSRs), to provide a comprehensive overview of models and analytical methods for SARs, to evaluate these theoretically and empirically, and to suggest a more consistent approach for the treatment of species–area data. Location Curonian Spit in north‐west Russia and archipelagos world‐wide. Methods First, I review various typologies for SARs and SSRs as well as mathematical models, fitting procedures and goodness‐of‐fit measures applied to SARs. This results in a list of 23 function types, which are applicable both for untransformed (S) and for log‐transformed (log S) species richness. Then, example data sets for nested plots in continuous vegetation (n = 14) and islands (n = 6) are fitted to a selection of 12 function types (linear, power, logarithmic, saturation, sigmoid) both for S and for log S. The suitability of these models is assessed with Akaike’s information criterion for S and log S, and with a newly proposed metric that addresses extrapolation capability. Results SARs, which provide species numbers for different areas and have no upper asymptote, must be distinguished from SSRs, which approach the species richness of one single area asymptotically. Among SARs, nested plots in continuous ecosystems, non‐nested plots in continuous ecosystems, and isolates can be distinguished. For the SARs of the empirical data sets, the normal and quadratic power functions as well as two of the sigmoid functions (Lomolino, cumulative beta‐P) generally performed well. The normal power function (fitted for S) was particularly suitable for predicting richness values over ten‐fold increases in area. Linear, logarithmic, convex saturation and logistic functions generally were inappropriate. However, the two sigmoid models produced unstable results with arbitrary parameter estimates, and the quadratic power function resulted in decreasing richness values for large areas. Main conclusions Based on theoretical considerations and empirical results, I suggest that the power law should be used to describe and compare any type of SAR while at the same time testing whether the exponent z changes with spatial scale. In addition, one should be aware that power‐law parameters are significantly influenced by methodology.