Anaphylactic reaction to penicillin O

Although normally the sympathetic nerves aid vascular dilatation during effort, in certain diseases of the vascular system they have a reverse effect. Abolition of sympathetic vasoconstrictive impulses by sympathectomy is the most effective treatment in some chronic peripheral vascular conditions. The authors have used electrocoagulation for a number of years and found it quick, effective and more likely to prevent regeneration of the affected nerves. Improvement was obtained by sympathectomy in arteriosclerotic vascular insufficiency, thromboangiitis obliterans, Raynaud's disease, reflex sympathetic dystrophy following thrombophlebitis or trauma, scleroderma, spinal sympathetic dystrophy and acquired megacolon. A case of causalgia was aggravated by the operation. Abstention from the use of tobacco appears to be sufficient for control of symptoms in many cases. Since vasospasm is manifested in many conditions long before a thrombotic catastrophe occurs, not only relief of symptoms but prevention of irreversible changes may be achieved by early operation.     

Mumps meningoencephalitis; a clinical review of 119 cases with one death

Mumps is one of the most common viruses to affect the central nervous system and should be given primary consideration in the differential diagnosis of aseptic meningitis. Many cases of numps infection do not involve the salivary glands. The course of numps meningoencephalitis is usually benign, with fever and signs of meningeal irritation lasting less than five days. The findings in the cerebrospinal fluid are usually distinctive, with leukocyte content greater than 200 per milliliter, of which 80 per cent or more are lymphocytes. Sequelae, even of a minor nature, are rare. Death is extremely rare in recorded literature. A fatal case of numps meningoencephalitis is described herein.     

Stomatal Functioning of In Vitro and Greenhouse Apple Leaves in Darkness, Mannitol, ABA, and CO2

Leaves from in vitro and greenhouse cultured plants of Malusdomestica (Borkh.) cv. Mark were subjected to 4 h of darkness;4 h of 1 M mannitol induced water stress; 1 h of 10^–4M to 10^–7 M cis-trans abscisic acid (ABA) treatment; 1h of 0.12% atmospheric CO₂. Stomatal closure was determinedby microscopic examination of leaf imprints. In all treatments,less than 5% of the stomata from leaves of in vitro culturedplants were closed. The diameter of open stomata on leaves fromin vitro culture remained at 8 µm. In contrast, an averageof 96% of the stomata on leaves of greenhouse grown plants wereclosed after 4 h in darkness; 56% after 4 h of mannitol inducedwater stress; 90% after 1 h of 10^–4 M ABA treatment; 61%after 1 h in an atmosphere of 0.12% CO₂. Stomata of in vitroapple leaves did not seem to have a closure mechanism, but acquiredone during acclimatization to the greenhouse environment. Thelack of stomatal closure in in vitro plants was the main causeof rapid water loss during transfer to low relative humidity.     

Lung ventilation in salamanders and the evolution of vertebrate air-breathing mechanisms

Functional analysis of lung ventilation in salamanders combined with historical analysis of respiratory pumps provides new perspectives on the evolution of breathing mechanisms in vertebrates. Lung ventilation in the aquatic salamander Necturus maculosus was examined by means of cineradiography, measurement of buccal and pleuroperitoneal cavity pressures, and electromyography of hypaxial musculature. In deoxygenated water Necturus periodically rises to the surface, opens its mouth, expands its buccal cavity to draw in fresh air, exhales air from the lungs, closes its mouth, and then compresses its buccal cavity and pumps air into the lungs. Thus Necturus produces only two buccal movements per breath: one expansion and one compression. Necturus shares the use of this two-stroke buccal pump with lungfishes, frogs and other salamanders. The ubiquitous use of this system by basal sarcopterygians is evidence that a two-stroke buccal pump is the primitive lung ventilation mechanism for sarcopterygian vertebrates. In contrast, basal actinopterygian fishes use a four-stroke buccal pump. In these fishes the buccal cavity expands to fill with expired air, compresses to expel the pulmonary air, expands to fill with fresh air, and then compresses for a second time to pump air into the lungs. Whether the sarcopterygian two-stroke buccal pump and the actinopterygian four-stroke buccal pump arose independently, whether both are derived from a single, primitive osteichthyian breathing mechanism, or whether one might be the primitive pattern and the other derived, cannot be determined. Although Necturus and lungfishes both use a two-stroke buccal pump, they differ in their expiration mechanics. Unlike a lungfish (Protopterus), Necturus exhales by contracting a portion of its hypaxial trunk musculature (the m. Iransversus abdominis) to increase pleuroperitoneal pressure. The occurrence of this same expiratory mechanism in amniotes is evidence that the use of hypaxial musculature for expiration, but not for inspiration, is a primitive tetrapod feature. From this observation we hypothesize that aspiration breathing may have evolved in two stages: initially, from pure buccal pumping to the use of trunk musculature for exhalation but not for inspiration (as in Necturus); and secondarily, to the use of trunk musculature for both exhalation and inhalation by costal aspiration (as in amniotes).     

The Effects of Breeder Loss on Wolves

Abstract Managers of recovering wolf (Canis lupus) populations require knowledge regarding the potential impacts caused by the loss of territorial, breeding wolves when devising plans that aim to balance population goals with human concerns. Although ecologists have studied wolves extensively, we lack an understanding of this phenomenon as published records are sparse. Therefore, we pooled data (n = 134 cases) on 148 territorial breeding wolves (75 M and 73 F) from our research and published accounts to assess the impacts of breeder loss on wolf pup survival, reproduction, and territorial social groups. In 58 of 71 cases (84%), ≥1 pup survived, and the number or sex of remaining breeders (including multiple breeders) did not influence pup survival. Pups survived more frequently in groups of ≥6 wolves (90%) compared with smaller groups (68%). Auxiliary nonbreeders benefited pup survival, with pups surviving in 92% of cases where auxiliaries were present and 64% where they were absent. Logistic regression analysis indicated that the number of adult-sized wolves remaining after breeder loss, along with pup age, had the greatest influence on pup survival. Territorial wolves reproduced the following season in 47% of cases, and a greater proportion reproduced where one breeder had to be replaced (56%) versus cases where both breeders had to be replaced (9%). Group size was greater for wolves that reproduced the following season compared with those that did not reproduce. Large recolonizing (>75 wolves) and saturated wolf populations had similar times to breeder replacement and next reproduction, which was about half that for small recolonizing (≤75 wolves) populations. We found inverse relationships between recolonizing population size and time to breeder replacement (r= —0.37) and time to next reproduction (r= —0.36). Time to breeder replacement correlated strongly with time to next reproduction (r=0.97). Wolf social groups dissolved and abandoned their territories subsequent to breeder loss in 38% of cases. Where groups dissolved, wolves reestablished territories in 53% of cases, and neighboring wolves usurped territories in an additional 21% of cases. Fewer groups dissolved where breeders remained (26%) versus cases where breeders were absent (85%). Group size after breeder loss was smaller where groups dissolved versus cases where groups did not dissolve. To minimize negative impacts, we recommend that managers of recolonizing wolf populations limit lethal control to solitary individuals or territorial pairs where possible, because selective removal of pack members can be difficult. When reproductive packs are to be managed, we recommend that managers only remove wolves from reproductive packs when pups are ≥6 months old and packs contain ≥6 members (including ≥3 ad-sized wolves). Ideally, such packs should be close to neighboring packs and occur within larger (≥75 wolves) recolonizing populations.     

The Evolution of Lung-Gill Bimodal Breathing and the Homology of Vertebrate Respiratory Pumps

SYNOPSIS. A comparative analysis of actinopterygian and sarcopterygianaerial buccal pumps indicates that the primitive pattern ofair transfer differs fundamentally between these two clades.Actinopterygian fishes ventilate their lungs with a four-strokebuccal pump: the buccal cavity expands and fills with expiredair, compresses to expel expired air, expands again to takein fresh air, and then compresses again to pump fresh air intothe lungs. Lungfishes, caudates, and anurans expand and compressthe buccal cavity only once per expiratory-inspiratory cycle,and thus use a two-stroke pump. Both of these bidirectional,aerial buccal pumps evolved from unidirectional, aquatic buccalpumps. The two-stroke aerial pump and the primitive aquaticpump used for gill irrigation share slow movements and may bothbe triggered by the same central rhythm generator. These similaritiessuggest that the two-stroke buccal pump evolved from the gillirrigation pump. Similarly, the four-stroke pump shares rapidmovement and afferent triggering with aquatic suction feedingand coughing, suggesting that the four-stroke pump may haveevolved from a combination of two suction feeding or coughingmovements. Thus the differences between the actinopterygianand sarcopterygian aerial buccal pumps may be due to their independentevolution from different aquatic buccal pumps, rather than dueto divergence from a single aerial buccal pump.