Functional anatomy of the human saccus lacrimalis

The relations between the saccus lacrimalis and different portions of the musculus orbicularis oculi were studied in orbital regions of human fetuses sectioned into numbered series. No insertions of the pars lacrimalis or Horner's muscle on the saccus were found. These muscular fibres pass along the dorsal wall of the saccus and are separated from it by the reflex tendon of the ligamentum palpebrale mediale. The only muscular fibres that insert on the saccus are those that approach the anterior face of the saccus and the fornix. The fibres that insert on the anterior face proceed from the deep bundles of the pars preseptalis of the lower eyelids, and those that insert on the fornix derive from the deep bundles of the pars preseptalis of the upper eyelid.     

Two new species of Haptoglossa from north-east England

Two new species of Haptoglossa , one zoosporic, H. northumbrica , and one aplanosporic, H. polymorphs, , were isolated from samples of manure and horse dung in north-east England. The zoosporic H. northumbrica is morphologically similar to H. dickii but differs in having slightly smaller infection gun cells with a unique internal arrangement of cones in the apical missile chamber. The thallus of the aplanosporic H. polymorpha is similar to H. heteromorpha but produces three different types of aplanospore. The smaller cysts either develop into broad, arcuate gun cells or form curved adhesive cells that have a rounded base. These curved adhesive cells have very different internal ultrastructural organization. The large cysts develop into infection cells that are morphologically similar to the curved adhesive cells, but their internal structure has not yet been observed.     

Oxygen Transport System in Children Living in the Russian Far North

We studied 654 healthy ten- to twelve-year-old children living in the Russian Far North (Taimyr peninsula) and in Siberia (town of Krasnoyarsk). The state of the body oxygenation and the systems responsible for oxygen delivery were studied according to the length of time living in the Russian Far North and season of the year. An examination of newcomer children revealed the following changes during the first year of living in the Russian Far North: an increased respiration rate and changes in its circadian rhythm; an increase in the heart rate, cardiac output, and cardiac index; an increase in the mean corpuscular volume in the red blood system; the activation of lipid peroxidation, and the changes in electrolyte balance of cells. The control mechanisms of oxygen transport system gradually stabilized during the ages of two to five years. In children living more than five years in the Russian Far North, the increased oxygen demand was met by the activation of cardiovascular and red blood systems aimed at more effective and adequate oxygen delivery to tissues.     

Lipase-catalyzed transamidation of non-activated amides in organic solvent

A novel biocatalytic reaction of transamidation of non-activated amides with amines is reported. Among 45 different lipolytic and proteolytic enzymes tested, only the lipase from Candida antarcticawas able to catalyze this reaction. The reaction proceeded with up to ca. 80% conversion in anhydrous methyl tert-butyl ether and worked with both N-substituted and unsubstituted amides. The biocatalytic transamidation is an equilibrium process and, therefore, higher conversions to the desired amide were achieved by using increased concentrations of the amine nucleophile.     

The Empirical Analysis of Cigarette Tax Avoidance and Illicit Trade in Vietnam, 1998-2010

Illicit trade carries the potential to magnify existing tobacco-related health care costs through increased availability of untaxed and inexpensive cigarettes. What is known with respect to the magnitude of illicit trade for Vietnam is produced primarily by the industry, and methodologies are typically opaque. Independent assessment of the illicit cigarette trade in Vietnam is vital to tobacco control policy. This paper measures the magnitude of illicit cigarette trade for Vietnam between 1998 and 2010 using two methods, discrepancies between legitimate domestic cigarette sales and domestic tobacco consumption estimated from surveys, and trade discrepancies as recorded by Vietnam and trade partners. The results indicate that Vietnam likely experienced net smuggling in during the period studied. With the inclusion of adjustments for survey respondent under-reporting, inward illicit trade likely occurred in three of the four years for which surveys were available. Discrepancies in trade records indicate that the value of smuggled cigarettes into Vietnam ranges from $100 million to $300 million between 2000 and 2010 and that these cigarettes primarily originate in Singapore, Hong Kong, Macao, Malaysia, and Australia. Notable differences in trends over time exist between the two methods, but by comparison, the industry estimates consistently place the magnitude of illicit trade at the upper bounds of what this study shows. The unavailability of annual, survey-based estimates of consumption may obscure the true, annual trend over time. Second, as surveys changed over time, estimates relying on them may be inconsistent with one another. Finally, these two methods measure different components of illicit trade, specifically consumption of illicit cigarettes regardless of origin and smuggling of cigarettes into a particular market. However, absent a gold standard, comparisons of different approaches to illicit trade measurement serve efforts to refine and improve measurement approaches and estimates.     

Hypophysiotropic neurons in the goldfish hypothalamus demonstrated by retrograde transport of horseradish peroxidase

Summary The horseradish-peroxidase (HRP) technique was used to visualize the cell bodies of axons projecting to the goldfish pituitary. Following intravenous injections of HRP, HRP reaction products were observed in axons of the rostral pars distalis, proximal pars distalis, neurointermediate lobe, pituitary stalk and in axons coursing from the pituitary into the hypothalamus. HRP-labelled cells in the brain were localized in two regions only — the nucleus preopticus (NPO) pars magnocellularis and pars parvocellularis, and the nucleus lateralis tuberis (NLT) of the hypothalamus. These observations suggest that the NPO and NLT are the source of the neurosecretory innervation of the goldfish pituitary.