Biosynthesis of the Fungal Estrogen F-2 and a Naturally Occuring Derivative (F-3) by Fusarium moniliforme

The fungal metabolites, F-2 and F-3, associated with estrogenism in swine, are produced by some races of Fusarium moniliforme isolated from toxic feeds.     

Biochemical studies of bacterial sporulation and germination. XII. A sulfonic acid as a major sulfur compound of Bacillus subtilis spores

A sulfonic acid found to be a major constituent of spores of Bacillus subtilis was provisionally identified as 3-l-sulfolactic acid. This compound was completely absent from vegetative cells during growth, but large amounts accumulated in sporulating cells just before the development of refractile spores. Essentially all of the accumulated sulfolactic acid was eventually incorporated into the nature spore, where it may represent more than 5% of the dry weight of the spore. Germination resulted in the rapid and complete release into the medium of unaltered sulfolactic acid. This compound was not found in spores of Bacillus megaterium, B. cereus, or B. thuringiensis.     

Electron microscopy of spore germination and cell wall formation in Mucor rouxii

Summary The fine structure of ungerminated and aerobically germinated sporangiospores of Mucor rouxii was compared. The germination process may be divided into two stages: I, spherical growth; II, emergence of a germ tube. In both stages, germination is growth in its strictest sense with overall increases in cell organelles; e.g., the increase in mitochondria is commensurate with the overall increase in protoplasmic mass. Noticeable changes occurring during germination are the disappearance of electron-dense lipoid bodies, formation of a large central vacuole and, most strikingly, formation of a new cell wall. Unlike many other fungi, M. rouxii does not germinate by converting the spore wall into a vegetative wall. Instead, as in other Mucorales, a vegetative wall is formed de novo under the spore wall during germination stage I. This new wall grows out, rupturing the spore wall, to become the germ tube wall. Associated with the apical wall of the germ tube is an apical corpuscle previously described. The vegetative wall exhibits a nonlayered, uniformly microfibrillar appearance in marked distinction to the spore wall which is triple-layered, with two thin electron dense outer layers, and a thick transparent inner stratum. The lack of continuity between the spore and vegetative walls is correlated with marked differences in wall chemistry previously reported. A separate new wall is also formed under the spore wall during anaerobic germination leading to yeast cell formation. On the other hand, in the development of one vegetative cell from another, such as in the formation of hyphae from yeast cells, the cell wall is structurally continuous. This continuity is correlated with a similarity in chemical composition of the cell wall reported earlier.     

Control of glycogen levels in brain

Abstract— Prolonged (6 hr) anaesthesia with phenobarbital in mice or rats results in a doubling or tripling of brain glycogen. Increases were also observed if high levels of plasma glucose were maintained for 6 hr. In alloxan diabetes brain glycogen was not elevated in spite of the high plasma glucose concentrations. However, administration of insulin to such diabetic animals, together with enough glucose to maintain high plasma levels, resulted in at least a doubling of brain glycogen in 6 hr. Phenobarbital can still increase brain glycogen in diabetic animals. In all of the conditions associated with increased glycogen deposition, increases were found in the ratio of brain glucose to plasma glucose. Cerebral glucose-6-P levels were also increased whereas there were no substantial changes in levels of UDP-glucose or glucose-1,6-diphosphate.     

The Physician and Industry

Many employers are interested in helping their employees improve and maintain health through a program of preventive medicine designed to supplement health services which already exist in the community. The objectives of such a health program can be attained only through team work between physicians, both within and outside industry. Such specific objectives as the development of measures for the maintenance and improvement of health and the prevention of disease; the provision of readily available diagnostic, treatment and counselling services; the rehabilitation of disabled employees; and the effective administration of sick-benefit plans require the closest communication and co-operation among the occupational health service, the private physician, and other health and welfare agencies. Only by such liaison can the maximum benefits of both preventive and curative medicine be extended to the employee—in his best interest as well as that of the community and the employer.