Is there an earlier phylogenetic precursor that is common to both the nervous and endocrine systems?

Our recent findings that hormonal peptides and neuropeptides (insulin, somatostatin, ACTH and β-endorphin) are native to unicellular organisms suggest a common phylogenetic origin for the endocrine system and nervous system of vertebrates.     

The NSILA-s receptor in liver plasma membranes. Characterization and comparison with the insulin receptor.

NSILA-s (nonsuppressible insulin-like activity, soluble in acid ethanol) is a serum peptide that has insulin-like and growth-promoting activities. We have demonstrated previously that liver plasma membranes possess separate receptors for NSILA-s and insulin and have characterized the insulin receptor in detail. In the present study we have characterized the properties and specificity of the NSILA-s receptor and compared them to those of the insulin receptor in the same tissue. Both 125I-NSILA-s and 125I-insulin bind rapidly and reversibly to their receptors in liver membranes; maximal NSILA-s binding occurs at 20 degrees while maximal insulin binding is seen at 1-4 degrees. The pH optimum for NSILA-s binding is broad (6.0 to 8.0), in contrast to the very sharp pH optimum (7.5 to 8.0) for insulin binding. Both receptors exhibit a high degree of specificity. With the insulin receptor, NSILA-s and insulin analogues compete for binding in proportion to their insulin-like potency: insulin greater than proinsulin greater than NSILA-s. With the NSILA-s receptor, NSILA-s is most potent and the order is reversed: NSILA-s greater than proinsulin greater than insulin. Furthermore, six preparations of NSILA-s which varied 70-fold in biological activity competed for 125I-NSILA-s binding in order of their potencies. NSILA-s which had been inactivated biologically by reduction and aminoethylation and growth hormone were less than 1/100,000 as potent as the most purified NSILA-s preparation. Purified preparations of fibroblast growth factor, epidermal growth factor, nerve growth factor, and somatomedins B and C were less than 1% as effective as NSILA-s in competing for the 125I-NSILA-s suggesting that these factors act through other receptors. In contrast, somatomedin A was 10% as active as NSILA-s and multiplication-stimulating activity was fully as active as NSILA-s in competing for the NSILA-s receptor. Analysis of the data suggests that there are approximately 50 times more insulin receptors than NSILA-s receptors per liver cell, while the apparent affinity of NSILA-s receptors is somewhat higher than that of the insulin receptor.     

A Method of Fuzzy-Theory-Based Computer-Aided Exploratory Data Analysis

When evaluating functional relationships from given data in an exploratory state of investigation, we only want to get an imagination of a possibly existing trend. Usually, methods of local or empirical regression are chosen to meet this purpose. In the paper we suggest an alternative using the possibilities of modern picture processing methods and computers. The data were transformed into a grey-tone picture representing a fuzzy observation set, the maximum trace of which yields the desired first impression of the trend and may serve as the starting point for further detailed evaluation of the functional relationship. The method is illustrated by a real-data numerical example.     

Principles of self-generation and self-maintenance

Living systems are characterized as self-generating and self-maintaining systems. This type of characterization allows integration of a wide variety of detailed knowledge in biology.The paper clarifies general notions such as processes, systems, and interactions. Basic properties of self-generating systems, i.e. systems which produce their own parts and hence themselves, are discussed and exemplified. This makes possible a clear distinction between living beings and ordinary machines. Stronger conditions are summarized under the concept of self-maintenance as an almost unique character of living systems. Finally, we discuss the far-reaching consequences that the principles of self-generation and self-maintenance have for the organization, structure, function, and evolution of single- and multi-cellular organisms.