Race,privilege and the growing class divide

When Wilson argued back in 1978 that by the mid-twentieth century social class mattered more for getting ahead than race, he launched a rigorous scholarly debate about the relative importance of race and class that continues to this day. Since the 1970s, the gap between the black middle class and the black poor has widened, lending credibility to Wilson's claim, but also raising new research questions for scholars to ponder. In this essay, I suggest that extending Wilson's model to include a new period, encompassing the last twenty-five years, would help to illuminate more recent structural advantages that contribute to class privilege in American society as well an emerging fault line within the black middle class.     

LENGTH-MASS AND TOTAL BODY LENGTH OF ADULT FEMALE SEA OTTERS IN PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND BEFORE AND AFTER THE EXXON VALDEZ OIL SPILL

After the 1989 T/V Exxon Valdez oil spill (EVOS), the body condition of non-pregnant female sea otters ( Enhydra lutris ) ages 4 yr and older in the EVOS-affected region of western Prince William Sound, Alaska (WPWS), was significantly poorer than that of individuals captured in the same or adjacent habitat in WPWS approximately a decade earlier, and than that of individuals inhabiting unoiled habitat in eastern PWS (EPWS) between 1984 and 1990. However, the body condition of females of this age category captured in WPWS prior to EVOS was not significantly different from that of pre-and postspill EPWS females. The mean total body length (TBL) of non-pregnant females captured prespill in WPWS was significantly less than that of pre-and postspill EPWS and postspill WPWS females. Evidence from this and other studies suggests that the body condition of at least some classes of sea otters was negatively affected by one or more EVOS-related factors.     

How theories became knowledge: Morgan's chromosome theory of heredity in America and Britain

T. H. Morgan, A. H. Sturtevant, H. J. Muller and C. B. Bridges published their comprehensive treatise The Mechanism of Mendelian Heredity in 1915. By 1920 Morgan's ``Chromosome Theory of Heredity' was generally accepted by geneticists in the United States, and by British geneticists by 1925. By 1930 it had been incorporated into most general biology, botany, and zoology textbooks as established knowledge. In this paper, I examine the reasons why it was accepted as part of a series of comparative studies of theory-acceptance in the sciences. In this context it is of interest to look at the persuasiveness of confirmed novel predictions, a factor often regarded by philosophers of science as the most important way to justify a theory. Here it turns out to play a role in the decision of some geneticists to accept the theory, but is generally less important than the CTH's ability to explain Mendelian inheritance, sex-linked inheritance, non-disjunction, and the connection between linkage groups and the number of chromosome pairs; in other words, to establish a firm connection between genetics and cytology. It is remarkable that geneticists were willing to accept the CTH as applicable to all organisms at a time when it had been confirmed only for Drosophila. The construction of maps showing the location on the chromosomes of genes for specific characters was especially convincing for non-geneticists.     

[3H] pirenzepine selectively identifies a high affinity population of muscarinic cholinergic receptors in the rat cerebral cortex

The specific binding of [³H] pirenzepine was investigated in homogenates of rat cerebral cortex, cerebellar cortex, and heart. Specific binding of [³H] pirenzepine in the cerebral cortex as defined by displacement with atropine sulfate (1μM) was of high affinity (K_d = 4–10 nM, receptor density = 1.06 pmoles/mg protein), stereoselective, and competitive with drugs specific for the muscarinic receptor. In contrast, few [³H] pirenzepine binding sites were demonstrated in cerebellar and heart homogenates.     

Post ovulatory changes in the concentration of prostaglandins in rabbit Graafian follicles

In previous studies we have demonstrated that prior to hCG induced ovulation the levels of PGF and PGE in rabbit Graafian follicles increase markedly as ovulation approaches. We have now extended the study to include follicles obtained from animals at ovulation time and up to 48 hours after hCG injection. We have found that PGF reaches a maximum in ovulated follicles at the time of ovulation and then quickly decreases, whereas PGE continues to rise for several hours and then declines. The increase in both prostaglandins is limited to the follicles that actually ovulate. These data further document the proposed role for prostaglandins in the ovulatory process.     

Paleolimnology,William Morris and The Magic Flute

This is the text of an informal lecture given on the Saturday evening of the Ambleside conference, outside the formal programme. I submitted it for publication at the request of a number of participants. (PO'S).     

Hypothesis test for causal explanations in human pathology: evaluation of pulmonary edema in 181 autopsied patients with leukemia

Symbolic logic, as used in the formal theory of scientific explanation proposed by Hempel and Oppenheim, has been suggested as the basis for automated medical diagnosis. In human autopsy pathology the determination of cause-and-effect relationships is a major area subject to logical analysis. We propose a modification of the Hempel-Oppenheim schema in which the logical relationships must only be satisfied “much” of the time, as determined by binomial significance tests. The analysis employs “certainty levels” logic with a more limited consistency requirement than classical logic. The analysis is applied to a series of 181 autopsied patients with leukemia in an attempt to determine a possible role of chemotherapeutic agents in the etiology of pulmonary edema. Among 51 patients who had received cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C) within 30 days of death, there was significantly more unexplained moderate or massive pulmonary edema than among patients with no or remote therapy (p<0.001). The results suggest that a symbolic logical analysis combined with a binomial significance test can elucidate cause-and-effect relationships observed at autopsy, especially when there are multiple possible explanations for the same effect.     

Soluble mediators produced by a human continuous B-lymphoblastoid cell line

The Ebstein-Barr virus-transformed human lymphoblastoid cell line PGLC-33H releases a migration inhibitory factor (MIF) of MW ~ 20,000 daltons. This MIF may appear free in serum-free culture supernatants or may be associated with a carrier material as a complex of MW ~ 60,000 daltons, from which the MIF can be dissociated. The free form of MIF possesses, or is associated with a suppressor activity for pokeweed mitogen-induced immunoglobulin synthesis. This suppressor activity is heat (56 °C) and acid pH stable but 2-mercaptoethanol sensitive and cannot be attributed to α-interferon or lymphotoxin.     

Structural and electronic mimics of the active site of cobalt(II)-substituted zinc metalloenzymes

Complexes of cobalt(II) and zinc(II) which involve monodentate coordination of two alkyl carboxylate and two imidazole ligands in a slightly distorted tetrahedral fashion have visible and magnetic circular dichroism spectra remarkably similar to the cobalt(II)-substituted proteolytic enzymes thermolysin and carboxypeptidase A. Single crystal x-ray structure determinations on [Co(C₂H₅COO)₂Im₂], Im = imidazole, and its zinc counterpart reveal only minor structural differences between the cobalt and zinc species. Electron paramagnetic resonance spectra of cobalt(II) doped into zinc(II) complexes with known structures demonstrate the extreme sensitivity of the g-values to minor structural differences.