The effects of a settled industrial–domestic sewage works effluent from percolating filters on the survival and growth of various stages of rainbow trout, Salmo gairdneri (Richardson)

Comparisons were made of the mortality, growth and condition factor over a 50-day period of eleutheroembryos, alevins, 2-month fry, 4-month fry and 1 + rainbow trout, Salmo gairdneri , in water of three qualities–Birmingham tap-water, 50% and 100% settled effluent from percolating filters (Minworth Effluent Treatment Works) when dissolved oxygen levels were maintained near 100% ASV.
There was no significant mortality among life stages in control tap-water but the LT50 values of life stages in both 50% effluent and 100% effluent revealed significant differences. Inter-treatment comparisons showed similar mortalities of eleutheroembryos, of 2-month fry and of 1 + fish in the three treatments but LT50 values of 4-month fry showed significant differences. Growth rates of 2-month and 4-month fry were suppressed in both effluents after 7 days and there was a significant deterioration in the K factor of these life stages after 14 days. Predicted toxicities (the sum of the proportions of the 48-h LC50 of the individual poisons to rainbow trout) were compared with the observed toxicity in 50% and 100% effluent. The relevance of in vivo testing in comparison to predictive techniques is compared.     

Seasonal variation of neural tube defects in Newfoundland and elsewhere

In Newfoundland, babies with anencephaly are conceived most often in January, and those with spina bifida in August. These and previous observations suggest that (1) seasonal fluctuations are greatest when the population frequency is neither very high nor very low, and that (2) the peak season for conception of anencephalic babies may occur in any season except August-November in various populations, whereas for spina bifida seasonal peaks are confined almost exclusively to May-August.     

Comparison of Surgery and Prolonged Spironolactone Therapy in Patients with Hypertension,Aldosterone Excess,and Low Plasma Renin

The effect of prolonged preoperative treatment with spironolactone has been studied in a series of 67 patients with hypertension, aldosterone excess, and low plasma renin. In the series as a whole a highly significant reduction in both systolic and diastolic pressures was achieved, with no evidence of escape from control during therapy lasting several years in some cases. The drug was equally effective in controlling blood pressure in patients with and without adrenocortical adenomata. Occasional unresponsive patients were encountered in both groups; pretreatment blood urea levels in these were significantly higher than in the responsive patients. The hypotensive effect of spironolactone usually predicted the subsequent response to adrenal surgery.Spironolactone in all cases corrected plasma electrolyte abnormalities; significant increases in total exchangeable (or total body) potassium and significant reductions in total exchangeable sodium, total body water, extracellular fluid, and plasma volumes were seen. Plasma urea rose during treatment and there was a slight fall in mean body weight. Significant increases in peripheral venous plasma renin and angiotensin II concentrations occurred during treatment.In two patients no increase in aldosterone secretion rate was found during treatment, although plasma aldosterone rose in three of four subjects studied.Severe side effects were rare; in only two of the 67 patients did the drug have to be stopped.In addition to its routine preoperative use, spironolactone can now be advised as long-term therapy in selected patients.     

Transposon mutagenesis of baculoviruses: analysis of TFP3 lepidopteran transposon insertions at the FP locus of nuclear polyhedrosis viruses

We report the complete sequences of two representatives of the TFP3 transposable element family of the lepidopteran, Trichoplusia ni. These elements were isolated as insertions mobilized from the Lepidopteran host genome into two closely related nuclear polyhedrosis viruses (NPV) during infection. Both elements inserted within the 500-bp FP locus of the respective viral genomes (map units 36.0 to 37.0), causing a distinctive plaque morphology phenotype and the loss of a 25-kDa viral-specific protein. Both insertions occurred at the identical TTAA target site in the respective genomes, in the same relative orientation, and are flanked by 15-bp imperfect inverted repeats. The inserted elements interrupt the 25K open reading frame (ORF). One of these FP mutants undergoes spontaneous reversion. Sequence analysis at the excision site of a spontaneous revertant demonstrates that the TFP3 elements are capable of precise excision, restoring the expression of the 25-kDa protein. We also compare the sequences of the 25K genes of the Autographa californica and Galleria mellonella viruses (AcMNPV and GmMNPV, respectively). The 25K gene sequences diverge in five areas, resulting in an additional EcoRV and TaqI site within the GmMNPV 25K gene, and extension of the ORF for an additional 2 amino acids at the C-terminus of the predicted GmMNPV 25 kDa protein. The phenomenon of transposon mutagenesis of Baculovirus genomes provides a unique opportunity for analysis of transposon mobility.     

Disruption of CENP antigen function perturbs dynein anchoring to the mitotic kinetochore

Injection of purified autoantibodies against human centromeric proteins into HeLa cells during interphase disrupts the organization of the kinetochore and interferes with chromosomal movements during the subsequent mitosis even though the chromosomes retain the ability to bind microtubules. We have investigated the hypothesis that this phenotype arises from effects on cytoplasmic dynein, the microtubule motor protein. In previous experiments we found that introduction of anticentromere antibodies into cell nuclei during the G₁- or S-phases causes a prometaphase-like arrest, while injections during G₂-phase cause a metaphase arrest. We show here that, in both cases, the level of detectable cytoplasmic dynein at kinetochores is significantly decreased. In contrast, when injected cells were permitted to enter mitosis in the absence of microtubules (conditions where trilaminar kinetochores could be detected by electron microscopy), the intensity of dynein labeling on the kinetochores was identical to that seen in uninjected control cells exposed to colcemid. Therefore, the loss of dynein label on mitotic kinetochores was correlated both with the injection of anticentromere antibodies and with the presence of intact spindle microtubules. We suggest that the injection of anticentromere antibodies somehow weakens the association of dynein with the kinetochore, so that when microtubules are present, these motor molecules are pulled away from the kinetochores as they generate force. This model offers an explanation for the failure of chromosomes of injected cells to move normally in mitosis even though they have attached microtubules.