Immunoglobulin light chains in chronic lymphocytic leukemia and related diseases

The combination of two-dimensional mini gel electrophoresis with the 'western blot' technique proves to be a powerful tool in characterizing lymphoid cells. By testing for kappa and lambda immunoglobulin light chains we were able to differentiate between mono-, oligo-, and polyclonal B-cell diseases. The distribution of the lambda isotypes of 24 cases with chronic lymphocytic B-cell leukemia (B-CLL) tested was not random when compared to the distribution of the lambda light chains in B-lymphocytes of normal persons. This might implicate a genetic link between the lambda loci (chromosome 22) and the development of the lambda-CLL.     

Organization of the ribosomal ribonucleic acid genes in various wild-type strains and wild-collected strains of Neurospora

Summary The organization of the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) repcat unit in the standard wild-type strain of Neurospora crassa, 74-OR23-1A, and in 30 other wild-type strains and wild-collected strains of N. crassa, N. tetrasperma, N. sitophila, N. intermedia, and N. discreta isolated from nature, was investigated by restriction enzyme digestion of genomic DNA, and probing of the Southern-blotted DNA fragments with specific cloned pieces of the rDNA unit from 74-OR23-1A. The size of the rDNA unit in 74-OR23-1A was shown to be 9.20 kilobase pairs (kb) from blotting data, and the average for all strains was 9.11+0.21 kb; standard error=0.038; coefficient of variation (C.V.)=2.34%. These data indicate that the rDNA repeat unit size has been highly conserved among the Neurospora strains investigated. However, while all strains have a conserved HindIII site near the 5 end of the 25 S rDNA coding sequence, a polymorphism in the number and/or position of HindIII sites in the nontranscribed spacer region was found between strains. The 74-OR23-1A strain has two HindIII sites in the spacer, while others have from 0 to at least 3. This restriction site polymorphism is strain-specific and not species-specific. It was confirmed for some strains by restriction analysis of clones containing most of the rDNA repeat unit. The current restriction map of the 74-OR23-1A rDNA repeat unit is presented.     

Linear programming analysis of VA/Q distributions: average distribution

The defining equations of the multiple inert gas elimination technique are underdetermined, and an infinite number of VA/Q ratio distributions exists that fit the same inert gas data. Conventional least-squares analysis with enforced smoothing chooses a single member of this infinite family whose features are assumed to be representative of the family as a whole. To test this assumption, the average of all ventilation-perfusion ratio (VA/Q) distributions that are compatible with given data was calculated using a linear program. The average distribution so obtained was then compared with that recovered using enforced smoothing. Six typical sets of inert gas data were studied. In all sets but one, the distribution recovered with conventional enforced smoothing closely matched the structure of the average distribution. The single exception was associated with the broad log-normal VA/Q distribution, which is rarely observed using the technique. We conclude that the VA/Q distribution conventionally recovered approximates a simple average of all compatible distributions. It therefore displays average features and only that degree of fine structural detail that is typical of the family as a whole.     

Nonsteady-State Three Compartment Tracer Kinetics: II. Sodium Flux Transients in the Toad Urinary Bladder in Response to Short Circuit

The theoretical approach presented in the previous paper provides an analytical method for determining the unidirectional, nonsteady-state fluxes in a three compartment system. Based on this a study was made of the sodium flux transients in the toad urinary bladder. A transient time-dependent state was generated by suddenly short-circuiting a bladder previously maintained in an open-circuited steady state. The sequence of experiments suggested by the theory provided the data required for the analysis. The results of these tracer experiments were consistent with the complex non-three compartmental structure of this tissue. As a result both of the inadequacy of the three compartment model in representing the tissue and of certain experimental difficulties, attempts at a quantitative solution were not entirely successful. Useful information was nevertheless obtained through a careful use of this model, and a qualitative analysis implied that the sodium influxes into the tissue at both of its surfaces are sensitive to changes in electrical potential while both effluxes are insensitive to this change. This suggests that both of the effluxes result from active processes while both influxes are associated with passive processes. The net transepithelial transport of sodium would then necessarily result from a more complex polarization than that proposed by Koefoed-Johnsen and Ussing.