Intestinal Coccidiosis in a Patient with Alpha-chain Disease

During an ultrastructural study of small-intestinal mucosa from a patient suffering from alpha-chain disease organisms were identified within the epithelial cytoplasm which showed the fine structural features of the coccidian group. Though coccidiosis is well recognized as causing a diarrhoeal and often lethal illness in animals it has been neglected as a cause of disease in man. Thus this finding may be significant and warrants further investigation into its possible role in the pathogenesis of alpha-chain disease.     

Tissue glycogen concentrations in hypophysectomized pig fetuses following infusion with cortisol

The role of cortisol as a factor controlling the deposition of glycogen in the pig fetus was examined by infusing either a low dose (1 mg/day) or a high dose (3 mg/day) of cortisol into chronically-catheterized hypophysectomized fetal pigs for five days beginning on day 100-104 of gestation. After infusion, liver glycogen was significantly higher (P less than 0.05) and lung glycogen significantly lower (P less than 0.05) than in uninfused hypophysectomized litter mates although concentrations were significantly different from intact litter mates (P less than 0.05). Although skeletal and cardiac muscle content increased after infusion this difference was not significant. Changes in tissue glycogen content were similar for both the low and high rates of infusion. These observations indicate that exogenous cortisol alone is able to stimulate liver glycogen deposition and reverse the effect of hypophysectomy. Although other factors may be necessary for maximal response this suggests that cortisol is an important stimulant for liver glycogen deposition in the fetal pig. The effect of cortisol on muscle glycogen was equivocal suggesting that other hormones may play a more important role in this tissue.     

The effect of temperature on progeny allocation and short interval timing in a parasitoid wasp

Abstract The parasitoid wasp Trichogramma dendrolimi Matsumura sets the number of progeny allocated to its insect egg hosts according to the duration of its initial transit walk across the host surface. Although cooling the wasp reduces its walking speed, reduced temperature does not affect progeny allocation. By locally heating and cooling the wasps, the initial transit can be thermally uncoupled from the subsequent oviposition. Using this technique we show that the timing of initial transit duration is temperature-dependent. These findings suggest that short interval timing by Trichogramma differs physiologically from the temperature compensated clocks that have been described for other insects.     

Degradation of proteins within the endoplasmic reticulum.

Certain newly synthesized proteins within the endoplasmic reticulum undergo rapid turnover by a non-lysosomal proteolytic pathway. Biochemical and morphological evidence has suggested that these proteins never leave the endoplasmic reticulum before they are degraded. The mechanism(s) for the selective targeting of proteins for degradation within the endoplasmic reticulum is still not understood, but appears to rely on specific structural determinants on the protein substrates. Important cellular functions are likely to be served by this endoplasmic reticulum degradative system, including disposal of abnormal proteins and the selective turnover of metabolically regulated proteins.