Binding of epithelial cells to lectin-coated surfaces

Summary Epithelial cells may relate to their basement membrane substrates via lectin-like interactions. In a model system for study of this type of interaction, lectin-coated bacteriological plastic petri dishes were presented as substrates for epithelial cell adhesion. Of 21 lectins tested by mixed agglutination against two epithelial cell types, Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK), and human embryonic kidney cells (HEK), nine gave less than 5% rosettes and 12 gave 5 to 50% rosettes. Wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) andGeodia cydonium lectin gave the highest percentage of rosettes. Wheat germ agglutinin was readily adsorbed to plastic surfaces and maintained specificity in binding interactions. Both MDCK and HEK cells attached as well to WGA coated petri dishes as to conventional tissue culture dishes. Furthermore, both spread over the lectin-coated surfaces. The MDCK cells grew to confluence and could be subcultured and maintained indefinitely on such surfaces, although WGA in solution was toxic to the cells in concentrations as low as 0.1 to 1.0 μg/ml. Cell attachment to WGA coated dishes was blocked by cycloheximide only if the cells had been preincubated with the inhibitor for several hours. Cell attachment was not inhibited by pretreatment of cells with neuraminidase. Precoating cells with WGA blocked binding to both WGA-coated surfaces and untreated tissue culture dishes. Cells attached to WGA-coated dishes could not be readily dislodged by trypsin-EDTA for the first 2 h after subculture. By 4 h, attachment was again trypsin sensitive, suggesting that the cells synthesized a trypsin-sensitive material that was laid down between the cell surface and the WGA-coated dish. Regeneration of trypsin sensitivity was not blocked by cycloheximide. This work was supported by Research Grant AG01986 from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.     

The asymmetric war of attrition

The paper, which has an informal discussion at the end, provides a game theoretical analysis of the asymmetric “war of attrition” with incomplete information. This is a contest where animals adopt different roles like “owner” and “intruder” in a territorial conflict, and where the winner is the individual prepared to persist longer. The term incomplete information refers to mistakes in the identification of roles. The idea by Parker & Rubenstein (1981) is mathematically worked out and confirmed that there exists only a single evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) for the model with a continuum of possible levels of persistence and no discontinuities in the increase of cost during attrition. The ESS prescribes to settle the conflict according to “who has more to gain or less to pay for persistence”. The only evolutionarily stable convention is thus to give the player access to the resource who has the role which is favoured with respect to payoffs. By contrast, it was shown earlier (Hammerstein, 1981) for various asymmetric versions of the “Hawks-Doves” model that an ESS can exist which appears paradoxical with respect to payoffs. The nature of this contrast is further analyzed by introducing elements of discreteness in the asymmetric war of attrition. It turns out that some conditions must be satisfied in order to have the possibility of an alternative ESS which is not of the above simple commonsense type. First, a decision to persist (or escalate) further in a contest must typically commit a contestant to go on fighting for a full “round”, before he can give up without danger. Second, such a “discontinuity” must occur at a level of persistence where the contest is still cheap, and, finally, errors in the identification of roles must be rare.     

Purification of native forms of eel acetylcholinesterase: active site determination

The 14 and 18 S forms of acetylcholinesterase from the electric organ of Electrophorus electricus were purified by chromatography on an N-methyl-3-aminopyridinium derivative of Affi-Gel 202. a further increase in purity was seen when these forms were separated by density gradient sedimentation subsequent to the affinity step. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate demonstrated that the 14 and 18 S forms were highly purified following these procedures. Using [³H]diisopropyl fluorophosphate labeling and separation of labeled enzyme from unreacted [³H]diisopropyl fluorophosphate by gel filtration, active site numbers of 8.3 and 11.4 were determined for the 14 and 18 S forms, respectively. These numbers compare to 4.2 active sites determined for the 11.8 S globular form of acetylcholinesterase. These results are in accord with a proposed model of two and three tetrameric structures comprising the head groups of the 14 and 18 S forms of electric tissue acetylcholinesterase.     

Organ specificity of the sex dependent regulation of aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH) in rat

Aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH) activity was measured in liver, kidneys and lungs of control and gonadectomized Sprague-Dawley rats. There was a six-fold difference in hepatic AHH activity between male and female rat. Activity in male was highest, castration reduced this activity by about 50%, whereas ovariectomy had little effect on activity in female. No sex difference in lung AHH activity was discernable; on the other hand kidney AHH activity was higher in females than in males. These data suggest that, at least in the rat, sex dependent regulation of microsomal mixed function oxygenases is organ specific.     

Aneuploidy and isolation in two Hypochoeris species

The annual species Hypochoeris glabra (2n = 10) and the perennial H. radicata (2n = 8) hybridise readily in nature and in experiment. During meiosis in F₁ hybrids the maximum association is a chain of seven and a bivalent indicating that at least three interchanges differentiate the two genomes. The nucleolar chromosomes in the two species are homologous and form a ring bivalent. They are, however, differentiated since in the F₁ hybrid only one nucleolar-organiser region is expressed. Although chromosomal differentiation reduces the egg fertility of F₁ hybrids to about 1%, viable backcross hybrids to H. radicata as pollen parent have been experimentally produced and occur in natural populations. Backcrosses with 8, 9 and rarely 13 chromosomes are found and those with 2n = 8 are fully interfertile with H. radicata. Gene flow may therefore take place in natural populations across an aneuploid barrier. The direction of gene flow in Hypochoeris is probably unidirectional from the annual to the perennial.     

Interaction of Four Soybean Cultivars with Subsoiling and a Nematicide

Yields of four soybean, Glycine max, cultivars were increased with subsoiling under the row and application of the nematicide, DBCP i 1,2-dibromo-3-chloropropane) in Tiflon sandy loam heavily infested with the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita. These cultivars represent four maturity groups: very early (V), "Essex'', early (VI), "Davis'': medium (VII), ''Ransom''; and late (VIII), '' Hutton ''. The average increase for the four cullivars was about the same for subsoiling or DBCP. When the treatmcnts were used together, the increase was greater than when either was used alone, but the effects were not additive. Increased yields were obtained with subsoiling and DBCP for the most nematode resistant cultivar, Hutton, as well as for the most susccptiblc, Davis. Subsoiling reduced root-knot galling in nonfumigated plots but did not affect it in fumigated plots. On 12 September, M. incognita larvae were most numerous at the 0- to 20 cm depth, intermediate at 20 to 33 cm depth and least numerous at 33 to 46 cm depth, Subsoiling did not affect larval populations at the three levels.     

The breakthrough paradox: How focusing on one form of innovation jeopardizes the advancement of science

Research needs a balance of risk‐taking in “breakthrough projects” and gradual progress. For building a sustainable knowledge base, it is indispensable to provide support for both. Subject Categories: Careers, Economics, Law & Politics, Science Policy & Publishing

Science is about venturing into the unknown to find unexpected insights and establish new knowledge. Increasingly, academic institutions and funding agencies such as the European Research Council (ERC) explicitly encourage and support scientists to foster risky and hopefully ground‐breaking research. Such incentives are important and have been greatly appreciated by the scientific community. However, the success of the ERC has had its downsides, as other actors in the funding ecosystem have adopted the ERC’s focus on “breakthrough science” and respective notions of scientific excellence. We argue that these tendencies are concerning since disruptive breakthrough innovation is not the only form of innovation in research. While continuous, gradual innovation is often taken for granted, it could become endangered in a research and funding ecosystem that places ever higher value on breakthrough science. This is problematic since, paradoxically, breakthrough potential in science builds on gradual innovation. If the value of gradual innovation is not better recognized, the potential for breakthrough innovation may well be stifled.

While continuous, gradual innovation is often taken for granted, it could become endangered in a research and funding ecosystem that places ever higher value on breakthrough science.

Concerns that the hypercompetitive dynamics of the current scientific system may impede rather than spur innovative research have been voiced for many years (Alberts et al, 2014). As performance indicators continue to play a central role for promotions and grants, researchers are under pressure to publish extensively, quickly, and preferably in high‐ranking journals (Burrows, 2012). These dynamics increase the risk of mental health issues among scientists (Jaremka et al, 2020), dis‐incentivise relevant and important work (Benedictus et al, 2016), decrease the quality of scientific papers (Sarewitz, 2016) and induce conservative and short‐term thinking rather than risk‐taking and original thinking required for scientific innovation (Alberts et al, 2014; Fochler et al, 2016). Against this background, strong incentives for fostering innovative and daring research are indispensable.     

Short-term effects of wake- and bright light therapy on sleep in depressed youth

Chronotherapeutics are well established for the treatment of depression and associated sleeping problems in adults. However, effects are still understudied in adolescents. Two pilot studies highlighted the crucial role of sleep when it comes to the treatment of depression, by means of chronotherapeutics, in adolescents. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of adjunctive wake therapy (WT) in addition to bright light therapy (BLT) with respect to sleep behaviors. In the present study, 62 depressed inpatients (aged 13–18 years; diagnosed with Beck Depression Inventory Revision) were randomly assigned to two groups: BLT only (BLT-group) and a combination of BLT and WT (COMB-group). After one night of WT adolescents in the COMB-group revealed longer sleep durations, time in bed, advanced sleep onset, less wakes during night and an improved sleep efficiency. However, one night of WT plus BLT had no additional effect on sleep parameters compared with BLT-group in the long run. Therefore, future studies should assess whether more nights of WT might lead to more sustainable effects.