Phenethylbiguanide in diabetic patients; clinical and metabolic effects

Phenethylbiguanide (DBI) was given to 70 unselected but not obese diabetic patients who were receiving restricted diabetic diets. The only side effects attributed to the drug were anorexia, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea in 28 patients. These symptoms subsided with reduction of dosage. No evidence of serious toxicity has been demonstrated in clinical and metabolic studies. In 27 of the 70 patients diabetes was controlled adequately with DBI alone, and more stable control was obtained in 11 labile diabetics who received DBI in combination with insulin.The mechanism of action is not definitely known.     

Cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata) Grown for Production of Seed

In grasses grown for production of seed under field conditions,it has been found that only a small proportion of tillers produceinflorescences. For a period of 23 weeks from 4 February 1963a study was made of cocksfoot grown for production of seed inan attempt to discern whether the ability of tillers to becomereproductive was related to specific morphological features.Most tillers which initiated spikelets were rooted, and rootsquickly developed on unrooted tillers which had initiated spikelets.It appeared that larger tillers, judged on the basis of dry-weight,were more likely to become fertile than smaller tillers; importantfeatures of tiller size were the length of the stem and theweight of green leaf (lamina) borne by the tiller. The potentialnumber of inflorescences was reduced considerably by the death,in June, of tillers with completely differentiated apices.     

Early Events in the Interaction of Melanotropin with Cloudman S91 Melanoma Cells

Melanotropin stimulates melanin synthesis in Cloudman S91 melanomacells, the accumulation of melanin being preceded by a numberof events which are understood to various degrees. In this reviewI will discuss the control of melanogenesis by melanotropin;emphasis will be on the early events of the process, althoughother aspects will be discussed. The probes (fluorescent andradioactive labels) used to examine the binding of the hormoneto the cells will be described, as will be the results of initialbinding studies. One of the events immediately following thebinding of the hormone is the activation of adenylate cyclase:the evidence supporting this, plus the role of cyclic AMP instimulating melanin synthesis, will be discussed. Also examinedis the role which internalization of the melanotropin-receptor-adenylatecyclase complex may play in mediating hormone action.