Long-term changes of diatoms and chemistry in headwater streams polluted by atmospheric deposition of sulphur and nitrogen compounds

1. Samples for the analysis of attached diatoms and surface water chemistry were taken at thirty-five stations in sixteen soft-water streams in the Netherlands during autumn 1990. Most were located in pine forest and heathland catchments, fed by deep groundwater (median residence time 87 years), with no direct influence of agricultural or urban drainage water. 2. The chemical data from sixteen stations were compared with data collected in 1974 and 1981. There were no significant increases in pH (6.3 in 1974, 6–4 in 1990) or in sulphate (200 mmol m^?3 in 1974, 229 mmol m^?3 in 1990). Over the same period nitrate increased significantly from 17 to 158 mmol m^?3, while alkalinity decreased significantly from 355 to 251 meq m^?3. 3. The most important correlates with the distribution of diatoms, as revealed by canonical correspondence analysis, were pH, nitrate, cross-sectional area of the stream and the Ca/(Ca + Cl) ratio. 4. Diatom assemblages of upstream stations indicated more acid conditions than those of downstream stations. Also there was considerable variation in the diatom assemblages of different habitats, 5. A diatom-pH transfer function was developed using the weighted-averaging method. The function was applied to comparable pairs of samples which were collected in 1974 and 1990 at ten stations. There was a significant decrease in the median diatom-inferred pH from 6.78 in 1974 to 6.55 in 1990. 6. The diatom assemblages are diverse and contain a high proportion of filamentous diatoms, particularly Aulacoseira crenulata and A. alpigena, which are rare in Western Europe. This is a response to the low current velocity (median 5 cm^?1) and the relatively constant deep groundwater discharge.     

Fine needle aspiration (FNA) of synovial sarcoma—a comparative histological–cytological study of 15 cases, including immunohistochemical, electron microscopic and cytogenetic examination and DNA‐ploidy analysis

A retrospective study of 25 FNAs (11 aspirates from primary tumours and 14 from recurrencies and metastases) from 15 synovial sarcomas was performed. The cytological findings were correlated with the histopathology and the value of immunohistochemical and electron microscopic examination as well as DNA‐ploidy and cytogenetic analysis for diagnosis were assessed. A reproducible cellular pattern with a reliable diagnosis of spindle cell sarcoma was possible provided that the aspirates were cell rich. However, a true biphasic pattern indicative of synovial sarcoma was only seen in one of the 25 specimens. Electron microscopic examination of the aspirates was a valuable adjunctive diagnostic method, whereas immunocytochemistry and DNA‐ploidy analysis were not. Immunohistochemical, electron microscopic and cytogenetic analysis were all valuable ancillary methods when performed on surgical specimens. Malignant haemangiopericytoma and fibrosarcoma were the most important differential diagnoses in the FNA specimens.     

Herbivore‐induced plant responses in Brassica oleracea prevail over effects of constitutive resistance and result in enhanced herbivore attack

1. Plant responses to herbivore attack may have community‐wide effects on the composition of the plant‐associated insect community. Thereby, plant responses to an early‐season herbivore may have profound consequences for the amount and type of future attack. 2. Here we studied the effect of early‐season herbivory by caterpillars of Pieris rapae on the composition of the insect herbivore community on domesticated Brassica oleracea plants. We compared the effect of herbivory on two cultivars that differ in the degree of susceptibility to herbivores to analyse whether induced plant responses supersede differences caused by constitutive resistance. 3. Early‐season herbivory affected the herbivore community, having contrasting effects on different herbivore species, while these effects were similar on the two cultivars. Generalist insect herbivores avoided plants that had been induced, whereas these plants were colonised preferentially by specialist herbivores belonging to both leaf‐chewing and sap‐sucking guilds. 4. Our results show that community‐wide effects of early‐season herbivory may prevail over effects of constitutive plant resistance. Induced responses triggered by prior herbivory may lead to an increase in susceptibility to the dominant specialists in the herbivorous insect community. The outcome of the balance between contrasting responses of herbivorous community members to induced plants therefore determines whether induced plant responses result in enhanced plant resistance.     

Joint Report of the Third International Bovine Lymphocyte Antigen (BoLA) Workshop, Helsinki, Finland, 27 July 1986

Summary. Two hundred and eighty-two alloantisera were submitted by 20 participating laboratories from 13 countries and tested against lymphocytes of 1298 cattle. The cell panel consisted of samples from 38 Bos taurus breeds, 11 Bos taurus crossbreeds, 4 Bos indicus breeds, 6 Bos taurus X Bos indicus , and a variety of other crossbred populations. Using a standardized lymphocytotoxicity test, all 17 previously identified BoLA specificities were confirmed. The workshop produced agreement on 16 new lymphocyte alloantigenic specificities. Three of the new specificities behaved as splits of previously identified BoLA specificities. Four of the new specificities behaved as alleles at the agreed BoLA-A locus. Seven new specificities are tentatively assigned to the BoLA-A locus but require further definition. Two new specificities may represent products of a second closely-linked BoLA locus.