Preliminary results from the self-regulatory treatment of high-medication-consumption headache

Data are presented from a prospective clinical replication series of ten consecutive high-medication headache patients who presented for nondrug treatment of their headaches. For the first eight, an attempt was made to withdraw the patients from medication, with the assistance of relaxation training, prior to entering a comprehensive self-regulatory treatment program. For the last two, drug withdrawal accompanied the treatment. Six of the ten patients showed clinically significant reductions in headache activity, which held up over follow-ups of up to 12 months. Psychological tests provide some discrimination between success and failures.This research was supported in part by a grant from NINDS, No. NS-23340. Appreciation is expressed to Dr. Kenneth A. Appelbaum and Ms. Denise Michultka for their roles in this study.     

PHENOTYPIC GENDER IN SEX CHANGING DWARF GINSENG,PANAX TRIFOLIUM (ARALIACEAE)

Dwarf ginseng (Panax trifolium L., Araliaceae) is a diphasic (“sex changing”) species in which one phase has staminate flowers and the other has hermaphroditic flowers. In order to determine the relative allocations of the hermaphroditic gender phase to male and female functions,variation in population gender phase ratios, pollen production and viability, and ovule and seed production were documented. Gender phase ratios are highly male-biased. Dwarf ginseng is self-compatible, and both gender phases have viable pollen capable of effecting fertilization. Males produce more flowers and more viable pollen per anther than hermaphrodites. The phenotypic gender of hermaphrodites is extremely female-biased; it is likely that hermaphrodites function essentially as females. Sexual selection may have a role in the evolution and maintenance of differences between the gender phases in allocation to male function.     

Metabolic activation of hexamethylmelamine and pentamethylmelamine by liver microsomal preparations

Incubation of [¹⁴C]-ring labeled hexamethylmelamine and pentamethylmelamine with rat and mouse liver microsomal preparations results in metabolic activation of both drugs as measured by covalent binding of radiolabel to acid-precipitable microsomal macromolecules. Covalent binding is dependent on viable microsomes, NADPH, and molecular oxygen. Binding of HMM (280 pmol/mg protein/15 min) was approximately 5 times greater than that observed for PMM (60 pmol/mg protein/15 min), and represents 0.22% of incubated material. Similar results were found with [¹⁴C]-methyl labeled substrates. Pretreatment with phenobarbital increased covalent binding while addition of SKF 525-A, addition of glutathione, or incubation in an 80% carbon monoxide atmosphere reduced covalent binding.     

Neue,abgewandelte pseudoguajanolide aus Psilostrophe villosa

Investigation of the North American species Psilostrophe villosa afforded, in addition to known compounds, five new sesquiterpene lactones, which all turn out to be modified pseudoguaianolides, most of them closely related to hymenolide. However, one of the lactones is a new type of nor-pseudoguaianolide. Furthermore a new monoacetylated borneol-β-D-glucoside is present. The chemotaxonomic situation is discussed briefly.     

Selective localization of lymphoblasts prepared from guinea pig intestinal lamina propria

The tissue localization patterns of radiolabeled dividing cells obtained from gut lamina propria (LP), mesenteric (MLN) and peripheral (PLN) lymph nodes, and Peyer's patches (PP) were studied in guinea pigs using an adoptive lymphocyte transfer method. Within 24 hr ¹²⁵I-deoxyuridine-labeled cells from donor LP and MLN, but not PLN, selectively localized in recipient gut and MLN. In contrast, donor PLN lymphoblasts returned to their sites of origin while labeled PP donor cells exhibited no specific tissue localization. These findings suggest that the gut LP, like the MLN, contains a population of cells which, unlike those in the PP and PLN, has the capacity to selectively localize in mucosal tissues. From this and other published work, we conclude that within the LP there is a population of cells at different stages of differentiation with a propensity to populate mucosae.     

Interaction of DNA with a porphyrin ligand: evidence for intercalation.

The porphyrin photosensitizer, meso-Tetra (4-N-methylpyridyl) porphine tetraperchlorate binds to calf thymus DNA by intercalation and by external electrostatic association. This was concluded from the results of measruements involving Scatchard analysis, viscometry, thermal denaturation, and circular dichroism.