Cultural responsibility in the preservation of local economic plant resources

Understanding the relationships between indigenous people and their threatened economic plants can aid the conservation effort on many levels. Understanding ethnic perceptions of the taxon is critical toin situ andex situ conservation projects and enhances the accompanying educational effort. Examples are discussed from the experience of a grassroots conservation group in southwestern United States, Native Seed/SEARCH. Four levels of economic plant vulnerability are examined among 1) wild-harvested plants, 2) husbanded wild plants, 3) domesticates, and 4) wild relatives of domesticates. Legal interpretations of endangered husbanded and domestic plants are discussed, and further documentation encouraged. Genetic dynamism of threatened indigenous crops is examined and the concept of Systems Conservation (i.e. the plant/human interactive systems) is introduced. Guidelines are offered for incorporating better cultural responsibility intoex situ conservation strategies. The concept of Biocultural Restoration is introduced with an example from an O'odham community. Examples are given of ways indigenous peoples and their knowledge can assist in the conservation effort.     

An improved method of typing hair sheath cells using the PGM3 locus following starch gel electrophoresis

Summary The PGM₃ locus, like the PGM₁ locus, is shown to be easily demonstrated in hair sheath cells using starch gel electrophoresis. The discriminating power of the total system (PGM₁ and PGM₃) on starch gel electrophoresis closely approaches that observed by isoelectric focusing of the PGM₁ locus. Family studies of the PGM₃ locus variants in hair sheath cells confirm that the alleles responsible are inherited in a Mendelian fashion independent of the PGM₁ locus.     

Quinine-induced agranulocytosis: toxic effect of quinine bisulphate on bone marrow cultures in vitro.

In a case of quinine-induced agranulocytosis marrow culture studies confirmed the inhibitory effect on the patient''s cells of equivalent therapeutic plasma concentrations of quinine. Similar concentrations had no effect on normal marrow cells. Quinidine, the stereoisomer of quinine, had no effect on either cells from the patient or normal cells. The results encourage the use of in-vitro bone marrow cultures for identifying drugs responsible for agranulocytosis.     

Granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor stimulates the synthesis of membrane and nuclear proteins in murine neutrophils

The effect of granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), a well-characterized hemopoietic regulator, on protein synthesis in murine bone marrow neutrophils is described. Bone marrow neutrophils in excess of 95% purity were obtained by fluorescence-activated cell sorting. While GM-CSF did not appear to slow the rate of dying of peritoneal exudate neutorphils or thymus cells, the viability of bone marrow neutrophils after 17 hr was enhanced (40%) by GM-CSF. GM-CFS had no effect on total 35S-methionine incorporation by thymocytes or peritoneal exudate neutrophils over a 17-hr incubation period; however, bone marrow neutrophils showed increased incorporation (approximately 10%) at all times between 5-17 hr. As viability and 35S-methionine incorporation of bone marrow neutrophils at 5 hr were minimally affected by GM-CSF, this time point was chosen to study the effect of GM-CSF on the synthesis of particular proteins. Two-dimensional polyacrylamide gels of 35S-methionine-labelled lysates were prepared from whole cells, isolated nuclei, and membranes. Quantitative analysis of the fluorograms obtained from the two-dimensional electropherograms by a computer-linked optical data digitiser indicated that out of a total of 180 proteins, the amount of label contained in 11 proteins was significantly higher in the presence of GM-CSF, while three proteins, apparently of cytoplasmic origin, contained less label than control cells. Eight of these proteins were identified as nuclear, and one was membrane derived. Attempts have been made to identify some of the inducible proteins and to correlate results with other studies of normal hemopoietic and leukemic cells. The significance and multiple functions of GM-CSF in hemopoiesis are discussed.     

Simultaneous detection of 35S- and 32P-labeled proteins on electrophoretic gels

A new method for the determination of oxalic acid in urine, which does not require isolation of oxalic acid, was developed by derivatizing oxalic acid and separating and quantitating the product by automated liquid chromatography. Oxalic acid in urine was reacted with o-phenylenediamine to form the strongly uv-absorbing compound 2,3-dihydroxyquinoxaline. Isolation and quantitation of this derivative were accomplished using a reverse-phase C₈ column, 5% methanol in 0.1 m ammonium acetate buffer (pH 6.6) as eluant, and absorption at 314 nm. The method was linear from 1 to 151 μg oxalic acid/ml of sample and the conversion of oxalic acid to the dihydroxyquinoxaline over this concentration range was 94.9%. The precision of duplicates averaged ±1.1%. Analyses of urine before and after treatment with oxalate decarboxylase were employed to differentiate actual urinary oxalic acid from oxalogenic compounds. Under the conditions employed, no urine was found to contain inhibitors of oxalate decarboxylase. No significant contribution to the method was found in a study of 19 potentially interfering urinary constituents. Levels of oxalic acid found in 27 urine samples from patients by this method averaged 71% of levels found using an earlier colorimetric method.     

The dentition of red deer (Cervus elaphus): a scoring scheme to assess age from wear of the permanent molariform teeth

Skulls of red deer ( Cervus elaphus of known age were examined. A scoring procedure devised for fallow deer ( Dama dama ) was used to relate tooth wear to a particular age (Brown & Chapman, 1990). The precise sequential nature of tooth wear as it appeared on the slopes and tips of cusps, on the marginal ridges and links between cusps was recorded. From these data a base has been provided from which estimates of age may be made of animals of unknown age. The variability for the scores are given for 95% prediction intervals from the regression of age on total molar wear score.     

Purification of eukaryotic RNA polymerase II by immunoaffinity chromatography. Elution of active enzyme with protein stabilizing agents from a polyol-responsive monoclonal antibody

Active eukaryotic RNA polymerase II (RNAP II) was purified by immunoaffinity chromatography, using a monoclonal antibody (mAb) that reacts with the highly conserved heptapeptide repeat of the largest subunit. This mAb (designated SWG16) was conjugated to CNBr-activated Sepharose and used to purify RNAP II from wheat germ and calf thymus. The subunit composition of the immunoaffinity-purified enzyme was essentially the same as RNAP II purified by conventional chromatography except that it contained only the form with the unproteolyzed largest subunit. Active enzyme could be eluted from the SWG16-Sepharose, at pH 7.9, with combinations of low molecular weight polyols and nonchaotropic salts. The superior eluting procedure used combinations of ethylene glycol (30-40%) and ammonium sulfate (0.5-0.75 M). Active enzyme also could be eluted with a synthetic peptide containing four repeats of the heptapeptide; however, the peptide was not as effective as the polyol and salt combinations for eluting the enzyme. This mAb should be useful for purifying RNAP II from many eukaryotic species. Because the elution of enzyme from the immunoadsorbent seems to be dependent upon the presence of a polyol, this antibody is referred to as a "polyol-responsive mAb." A procedure that helps to identify a polyol-responsive mAb and to optimize the eluting conditions is described. Polyol-responsive mAbs might have broad applicability to the purification of many labile enzymes by immunoaffinity chromatography.     

Concepts of occlusion: Australian evidence

Longitudinal studies of aboriginal children over a 20-year period have drawn attention to the wide variation in morphological features of the dentition and the way in which occlusal relationships develop. This paper summarizes some important determinants of optimal occlusal development, namely, tooth size relationships within and between dentitions, the patterns of alveolar growth, and tooth migrations during the transition from primary to permanent teeth and the nature of growth changes in the dental arches. Dental occlusion constantly changes throughout life in response to changing functional requirements. Observations limited to cross-sectional material provide an incomplete, and sometimes misleading, concept of dental occlusion and masticatory function.