Secretory IgA in Urinary Tract Infections

Secretory IgA, measured by radial immunodiffusion, was compared in the urine of children with chronic and recurrent non-obstructive urinary tract infections with that in normal children. IgA, IgG, and IgM were also measured. Absent and low levels of IgA(s) were found in both groups; however, the mean levels of IgA(s) were significantly higher in the infected group compared with normals—3·3 to 0·78 mg./24 hours, respectively. Secretory IgA was found to be locally produced in the bladder. It is suggested that IgA(s) levels reflect an antibody response to infection.     

Interdependence of inoculum size and trace element supply in growth of Aspergillus oryzae

Summary Further to earlier reports indicating that the effects of inoculum size on growth of Aspergillus oryzae in synthetic media are abolished by certain trace element compositions, it has now been shown that those effects can be made more pronounced, but can also be reversed, by varying the balance of available trace elements.Addition of Ca to substrate A ₁ increases the usual effects of inoculum size whereas Cu abolishes them with a tendency for reversal.Supplementation of substrate A ₁ with suitable amounts of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid results in a stronger inhibition of small-inoculum cultures than large ones, thus increasing the usual effects of inoculum size. These effects are reversed if the sugar of substrate A ₁ is purified by Al(OH)₃ co-precipitation method, but only if the treatment is carried out at neutral or alkaline reaction. This reversal of the phenomena is due to an almost complete absence of Zn after purification and presence of Fe in substrate A ₁.The Al(OH)₃ treatment of the sugar results in substrates so poor in Zn that addition of as little as 5 g ZnSO₄ · 7 H₂O/l has an effect. This influence, however, results in an inhibition of the growth rate, and higher concentrations of Zn are required in order to obtain stimulation with both large and small-inoculum cultures.The above-mentioned reversal of the phenomena was abolished in a substrate with slightly caramelized glucose.

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Zusammenfassung Diese Arbeit ist eine Erweiterung vorhergehender Berichte über den Einfluß der Größe der Impfmenge auf das Wachstum von Aspergillus oryzae, wo u. a. festgestellt wurde, daß die beobachteten Effekte durch bestimmte Spurenelement-Zusammensetzungen aufgehoben werden.Es wurde nun festgestellt, daß Zugabe von Ca zu Substrat A ₁ die gewohnten Effekte erhöht, während Cu diese verringert mit einer Tendenz zur Umkehrung.Werden geeignete Mengen Äthylendiamintetraessigsäure zu Substrat A ₁ zugegeben, so werden Kulturen, die aus kleiner Impfmenge erwachsen sind, stärker in ihrer Wachstumsgeschwindigkeit und maximaler Ausbeute an Mycel gehemmt als Kulturen von großer Impfdichte, was einer Verstärkung der gewohnten Effekte gleich kommt. Diese Effekte werden umgekehrt, wenn die Glucose des Substrates A ₁ durch Al(OH)₃-Fällung gereinigt wird, jedoch nur wenn diese Behandlung bei neutraler oder alkalischer Reaktion erfolgt. Diese Umkehrung ist auf nahezu vollständige Entfernung von Zn und gleichzeitige Anwesenheit von Fe in Substrat A ₁ zurückzuführen.Schon Zugabe sehr kleiner Mengen Zn (5 g ZnSO₄ · 7 H₂O/l) zum gereinigten Substrat übt eine Wirkung aus, welche aber in einer Hemmung der Wachstumsgeschwindigkeit besteht. Höhere Zn-Konzentrationen sind nötig, um das Wachstum der Kulturen von großen und kleinen Impfmengen zu fördern.Die vorerwähnte Umkehrung der Phänomene wurde aufgehoben, wenn ein Substrat mit leichter Caramelisierung der Glucose angewendet wurde.

     

Atypical Manifestations of Hyperthyroidism

Patients with hyperthyroidism usually present with symptoms of hypermetabolism with or without goitre and/or eye signs. Occasionally, however, the chief complaints are not immediately suggestive of hyperthyroidism. Patients with hyperthyroidism are described who presented with such atypical manifestations as periodic muscular paralysis, myasthenia, myopathy, encephalopathy, psychosis, angina pectoris, atrial fibrillation, heart failure without underlying heart disease, skeletal demineralization, pretibial myxedema, unilateral eye signs, and pitting edema of the ankles.     

Ventricular septal defect with bidirectional shunting: Mathematical considerations

Previously proposed formulae for the quantitative estimation of bidirectional shunts across ventricular septal defects require determination of the oxygen contents of mixed venous, pulmonary artery, pulmonary venous, and aortic blood. Because these formulae do not take into account the mixing of oxygenated with unoxygenated blood within the ventricles, their use must result in underestimation of shunt flows in each direction. A mathematical model for a ventricular defect is examined, in which it is assumed that mixing of blood occurs in each of six sites in the venae cavae or right atrium, right ventricle, pulmonary artery, left atrium, left ventricle, and aorta. A total of fourteen streams of blood can flow from one to another of these mixing sites. As long as complete mixing occurs in the six specified mixing sites, any degree of mixing or non-mixing of the various streams is permitted. From the equations characterizing the model, formulae are derived in which the shunt flow in each direction is expressed in terms of the oxygen contents in the six mixing sites and the fractions of blood which enter the shunt from either side without prior mixing in a ventricular mixing site. The previously reported formulae, which apply when no ventricular mixing is allowed to occur, lead to theoretical minimum values for the shunt flows in each direction. At the opposite extreme where all the shunting blood is required to mix in a ventricle before entering the shunt, formulae for maximum possible shunt flows are also obtained. The absolute values for the left-to-right and right-to-left shunt flows, which must lie somewhere between the theoretical maximum and minimum values, cannot be computed from blood gas data alone. This work was supported in part by grant HE-07563 from the National Heart Institute of the National Institutes of Health and grants-in-aid from the American and North Carolina Heart Associations and the Life Insurance Medical Research Fund. Work completed during tenure as U.S.P.H.S. post-doctoral fellow.     

Linkage mapping of genes for resistance to leaf,stem and stripe rusts and ω-secalins on the short arm of rye chromosome 1R

Summary The genes controlling resistance to three wheat rusts, viz., leaf rust (Lr26), stem rust (Sr31) and stripe or yellow rust (Yr9), and -secalins (Sec1), located on the short arm of rye chromosome 1R, were mapped with respect to each other and the centromere. Analysis of 214 seeds (or families derived from them) from testcrosses between a 1BL.1RS/1R heterozygote and Chinese Spring ditelocentric 1BL showed no recombination between the genes for resistance to the three rusts, suggesting very tight linkage or perhaps a single complex locus conferring resistance to the three rusts. The rust resistance genes were located 5.4 ± 1.7 cM from the Sec1 locus, which in turn was located 26.1 ± 4.3 cM from the centromere; the gene order being centromere — Sec1 — Lr26/Sr31/Yr9 — telomere. In a second test-cross, using a different 1BL.1RS translocation which had only stem rust resistance (SrR), the above gene order was confirmed despite a very large proportion of aneuploids (45.8%) among the progeny. Furthermore, a map distance of 16.0 ± 4.8 cM was estimated for SrR and the telomeric heterochromatin (C-band) on 1RS. These results suggest that a very small segment of 1RS chromatin is required to maintain resistance to all three wheat rusts. It should be possible but difficult to separate the rust resistance genes from the secalin gene(s), which are thought to contribute to dough stickiness of wheat-rye translocation lines carrying 1RS.     

Acute and Prolonged Alterations in Brain Free Magnesium Following Fluid Percussion-Induced Brain Trauma in Rats

Abstract: Several studies have reported declines in brain total and free magnesium concentration after a traumatic insult to the CNS. Although the evidence suggests that this magnesium decline is associated with eventual neurologic outcome after trauma, the duration of free magnesium decline and its impact on related bioenergetic variables are relatively unknown. The present study has therefore used phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy to determine the length of time that free magnesium remains suppressed after traumatic brain injury in rats. Immediately after the traumatic event, brain intracellular free magnesium declined to <60% of preinjury values and remained significantly depressed (50 ± 8%; p < 0.001) for 5 days before recovering to preinjury levels by day 8. Cytosolic phosphorylation ratio and mitochondrial oxidative capacity also significantly decreased ( p = 0.008) and increased ( p = 0.002), respectively, after trauma. However, unlike the time of maximum magnesium change, the maximum changes in these bioenergetic variables occurred at 16–24 h after trauma and thereafter remained stable until after the magnesium had recovered. We conclude that free magnesium decline after trauma precedes changes in bioenergetic variables. Furthermore, therapies targeted at reestablishing magnesium homeostasis after trauma may require administration over a 1-week period.     

Genetic Manipulation of the Cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 (Development of Strains Lacking Photosystem I for the Analysis of Mutations in Photosystem II)

We have taken a genetic approach to eliminating the presence of photosystem I (PSI) in site-directed mutants of photosystem II (PSII) in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. By selecting under light-activated heterotrophic conditions, we have inactivated the psaA-psaB operon encoding the PSI reaction center proteins in cells containing deletions of the three psbA genes. We have also introduced deletions into both copies of psbD in a strain containing a mutation that inactivates psaA (ADK9). These strains, designated D1-/PSI- and D2-/PSI-, may serve as recipient strains for the incorporation of site-directed mutations in either psbA2 or psbD1. The characterization of these cells, which lack both PSI and PSII, is described.     

Cytogenetic studies in wheat. XV. Location of rust resistance genes in VPM1 and their genetic linkage with other disease resistance genes in chromosome 2A

Inheritance studies showed that the VPM1-derived seedling resistances to stem rust, stripe rust, leaf rust, and powdery mildew were controlled by single genes; the genes for rust resistance were designated Sr38, Yr17, and Lr37, respectively, whereas the gene for resistance to powdery mildew was postulated to be Pm4b. Sr38, Yr17, and Lr37 were shown to be closely linked and distally located in the short arm of chromosome 2A. They showed very close repulsion linkage with Lr17 and were genetically independent of other genes known to be located in chromosome 2A. Previously unmapped, Yr1 appeared to be distally located in the long arm of chromosome 2A.