Demonstration of correlations between the 8 and 10 kHz atmospherics and the inflammatory reaction of rats after carrageenan injection

Between the mean daily density of 28 kHz atmospherics and the onset of epileptic fits there is a highly significant correlation coefficient (r) of 0.30; there is a negative coefficient of –0.20 between the fits and the mean daily density of 10 kHz atmospherics. The onset of heart infarction is correlated with 28 kHz atmospherics (r=0.15). Furthermore, we have discovered that sudden deafness is also correlated with certain configurations of atmospherics. In this paper we report the following correlation coefficients between the inflammatory reaction of rats to a carrageenan injection (rci) into a hind paw and the mean daily pulse rate of atmospherics of the same day:r=0.49 for the 8 kHz atmospherics (P<0.02) andr=0.44 for the 10 kHz atmospherics (P<0.04). The correlations between rci reaction and other atmospherics (12 and 28 kHz) are smaller and not significant. By the method of multiple linear regression we found a multipleR=0.54 between rci reaction and the 8 and 10 kHz atmospherics (the regression function for the rci reaction is 0.15+0.004×8 kHz+0.002×10 kHz,P<0.05).     

Self-Renewal Capacity and Clonal Succession of Haemopoietic Stem Cells In Long-Term Bone Marrow Culture

Abstract. The CFU-s proliferative potential varied greatly during long-term cultivation. Most of the CFU-s in the cultures were represented by cells with low renewal capacity. Pre-CFU-s cells capable of producing multipotential colonies in methylcellulose, which contained CFU-s with a high proliferative potential, were identified in the culture. In cultivation of a mixture of cells of different karyotype their ratio changed rapidly from week to week. the findings were consistent with the hypothesis that haemopoietic stem cells are maintained in the culture by the products of a small number of clones which arise and decline in succession, and that pre-CFU-s, but not the CFU-s themselves, are clonogenic progenitors.     

Attenuation of phrenic motor discharge by phrenic nerve afferents

Short latency phrenic motor responses to phrenic nerve stimulation were studied in anesthetized, paralyzed cats. Electrical stimulation (0.2 ms, 0.01-10 mA, 2 Hz) of the right C5 phrenic rootlet during inspiration consistently elicited a transient reduction in the phrenic motor discharge. This attenuation occurred bilaterally with an onset latency of 8-12 ms and a duration of 8-30 ms. Section of the ipsilateral C4-C6 dorsal roots abolished the response to stimulation, thereby confirming the involvement of phrenic nerve afferent activity. Stimulation of the left C5 phrenic rootlet or the right thoracic phrenic nerve usually elicited similar inhibitory responses. The difference in onset latency of responses to cervical vs. thoracic phrenic nerve stimulation indicates activation of group III afferents with a peripheral conduction velocity of approximately 10 m/s. A much shorter latency response (5 ms) was evoked ipsilaterally by thoracic phrenic nerve stimulation. Section of either the C5 or C6 dorsal root altered the ipsilateral response so that it resembled the longer latency contralateral response. The low-stimulus threshold and short latency for the ipsilateral response to thoracic phrenic nerve stimulation suggest that it involves larger diameter fibers. Decerebration, decerebellation, and transection of the dorsal columns at C2 do not abolish the inhibitory phrenic-to-phrenic reflex.     

Effect of Eimeria falciformis infection on the development of toxoplasmosis in mice

White mice previously infected with 10(2), 10(3) or 10(4) Eimeria falciformis oocysts on days 0, 5, 10 or 30 were inoculated per os with 10(1), 10(2), 10(3) or 10(4) Toxoplasma oocysts. While the results obtained for mice with higher Toxoplasma inocula were consistent, animals with 10(1) and 10(2) oocysts previous inoculation with Eimeria showed important differences related with those infected only with Toxoplasma. For example, survival time was higher in animals infected with both parasites, especially if inoculated with Eimeria 30 days before Toxoplasma infection. Furthermore the number of T. gondii cysts found in the animals previously infected with Eimeria was lower compared with mice inoculated with Toxoplasma only. Body weight of mice infected with Toxoplasma previous infection with Eimeria was almost normal in relation to those infected only with Toxoplasma, indicating a probable pathological effect due to the parasite, more evident in "non immunized" mice.     

Sex-dependent effects of non-H-2 loci on lethal GVH reaction induced across an H-2 barrier

We have studied the influence of DBA/2 non-H-2 antigens on the lethal graft-versus-host reaction (GVHR) developed across an H-2 barrier. (DBA/2 x B10.D2)F₁ x B10.D2 (H-2 ^d) backcross (BC) mice were typed for their allelic constitution at nine genetically independent chromosome markers and used as individual cell donors simultaneously for two to three (DBA/2 X B10.D2)F₁ recipients incompatible for DBA/2 non-H-2 antigens alone and two to three (DBA/2 x B10.BR)F₁ recipients incompatible for DBA/2 non-H-2 antigens and H-2^k. The results showed that, when compared with that developed in a control group incompatible for H-2 ^kalone [B10.D2(B10.D2xB10.BR)F₁], the GVHR mortality seen in the presence of an additional incompatibility for DBA/2 non-H-2 antigens [(DBA/2 X B10.BR)F₁recipients] is significantly delayed but only in female mice. An analysis of individual BC donors indicated that this protective effect of DBA/2 non-H-2 antigens correlates with incompatibility for gene(s) linked to the Pgm-1 chromosome marker. In contrast, incompatibility for gene(s) linked to Mod-1 and Es-3 markers accelerates GVHR mortality, but only in male mice. Finally, the results obtained with (DBA/2 x B10.D2)F₁ and (DBA/2 x B10.BR)F₁ recipients were compared; they showed that the intensity of the GVHR developed by cells from individual BC donors against a given set of DBA/2 non-H-2 antigens correlates well with that developed by the same BC donor against the same set of non-H-2 antigens plus H-2^k. We conclude that certain non-H-2 genes (and antigens) can modulate the intensity of the GVHR developed across an H-2 barrier. The number of such genes is probably great; their effects are strong and complex, and can be sex-dependent.     

The chimpanzee M blood-group antigen is a variant of the human M-N glycoproteins

Chimpanzee erythrocytes express strong M but weak, occasional N blood-group activity, as detected by anti-M and anti-N reagents. We have found that the M activity is carried by a major membrane glycoprotein that is similar but not identical to the human MM glycoprotein (glycophorin A). We have isolated and characterized this glycoprotein from erythrocyte membranes of four individual chimpanzees. The purified glycoproteins strongly inhibited agglutination of M cells by rabbit anti-human M sera and only weakly inhibited the agglutination of N cells by rabbit anti-human N sera. They also displayed medium-to-strong inhibitory activity against chimpanzee iso- and crossimmune antisera tested with chimpanzee erythrocytes of various V-A-B-D and W^c specificities, which are known as chimpanzee extensions of the human type M-N system and the Miltenberger counterpart, respectively. Each glycoprotein was cleaved with CNBr into three fragments, whose size, solubility, and composition were analogous to those obtained by similar treatment of the human M-N antigens. The amino-terminal fragment was found to be a glycooctapeptide whose amino acid composition and partial sequence indicated that it is an intermediate form of the human M and N glycooctapeptides. Its carbohydrate content comprised two threonine-linked saccharide units that, although similar in composition to the human threonine-linked units, were fewer in number than the three units found in the corresponding human glycooctapeptides. Structural similarities to the human antigens strongly suggest that the amino terminus bears the major antigenic determinants of the molecule, and the occurrence in this region of numerous, albeit rare, variants among humans and in chimpanzees indicates that the corresponding coding sequence of the structural gene is particularly susceptible to mutational events. We conclude that the chimpanzee M gene product is a variant of the human type and that the chimpanzee gene is an allele of the human polymorphic M-N locus.This research was supported by National Institutes of Health Grants GM 16389 and HL 19011 and March of Dimes Grant 1-661.     

Characterization of Growth Stimulants in Corn Steep for Lactic Streptococci

The production of acid in milk cultures of lactic streptococci was stimulated by the addition of corn steep liquor. Separation by ion-exchange and paper chromatography indicated the presence of four major stimulatory components in the corn steep. Some variation was noted in the response of the lactic streptococci to the individual stimulatory components. The four components were further purified by paper and column chromatography. One of the four stimulatory components stained positively on chromatograms with ninhydrin. The remaining stimulatory components were detectable only by bioautography. All four components were unstable to acid hydrolysis and absorbed ultraviolet light between 230 and 275 nm in aqueous solution. The stimulatory components did not contain pentoses, suggesting that they were not nucleotides or nucleosides; however, they might be purine or pyrimidine bases.     

Some properties of pea enation mosaic virus isolated from field pea and broad bean plants in Bohemia

Pea enation mosaic virus (PEMV) was isolated from disea sed field pea (Pisum sativum L.ssp. arvense A.Gr.) and broad bean (Faba vulgaris Moench) plants grown as filed crops at Bohumilice in Bohemia. The virus proved to be pathogenic for the following plant species:Pisum sativum L. cv. Raman,Faba vulgaris Moench,Lens culinaris Med.,Vicia sativa L.,Lathyrus odoratus L.,Glycine soja L.,Phaseolus vulgaris L.,Chenopodium amaranticolor Coste andReyn,Nicotiana clevelandi Gray,Trifolium incarnatum L. The dilution end point of the isolate was higher in pea plants (10^?4) than in broad bean plants (10^?2). The thermal inactivation point was 65–68° and the longevityin vitro between 10 and 14 days. According to the host range, symptoms on pea plants and physical properties the virus isolate studied resembles some isolates described in the U.S.A. and represents a PEMV strain different from those reported so far in Czechoslovakia.