The Power of the Picture: How Narrative Film Captures Attention and Disrupts Goal Pursuit

Narrative transportation is described as a state of detachment that arises when one becomes immersed in the narrative of a story. Participants viewed either an intact version of an engaging 20 min film, “Bang You’re Dead!,” (1961) by Alfred Hitchcock (contiguous condition), or a version of the same film with scenes presented out of order (noncontiguous condition). In this latter condition, the individual scenes were intact but were presented out of chronological order. Participants were told a cover story that we were interested in the amount of gun violence depicted in films. Both groups were given the goal to remember to lift their hand every time they heard the word “gun” spoken during the film. Results revealed that participants were significantly less likely to remember to execute their goal in the contiguous condition, presumably because this narrative transported viewers’ attention and thereby “hijacked” processing resources away from internal goals.     

Pectolytic clostridia isolated from sugar beet pulp silages in Italy

Twenty-eight strains of pectolytic clostridia were isolated from sugar beet pulp silages. Seventeen non-pigmented strains were presumed to be Clostridium acetobutylicum ; the remaining 11 pigmented strains were similar to Cl. felsineum. The addition of molasses to sugar beet pulps favoured the growth of other bacteria, particularly lactic acid organisms, whereas pectolytic clostridia were only occasionally found. The pectolytic clostridia promoted the structure loss of simulated silages. The use of molasses in sugar beet pulp ensiling was suggested to prevent texture loss of the ensiled mass.     

Gradient fractionation of cycling and resting cells monitored by BrdUrd incorporation

A number of techniques are currently employed for the fractionation of heterogeneous cell populations or for the separation of cells in different phases of their cycle. With the development of osmotically inert colloidal silica particles media, density gradient centrifugation became an established method for the separation and purification of cells and subcellular particles. We have applied this technique to the separation of cycling from resting Friend erythroleukemia cells, to obtain purified populations for further biological assays. The flow cytometric analysis of DNA content of the different fractions obtained by the gradient and stained with Propidium Iodide (PI), showed the S compartment highly concentrated in the 1.073/77 g/ml interface, while the upper levels of the gradient were highly enriched of cells in G1 phase. Moreover, the dual parameter analysis of DNA content by means of Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdUrd) incorporation and PI staining, showed that part of the cells in the 1.067/73 fraction represented the early S phase even if their DNA level, measured on the basis of PI fluorescence was within the diploid cell cluster. This method seems to be suitable to obtain pure cell fractions even when dealing with numerically large populations.     

In vitro formation of retinoic acid from retinal in rat liver.

Enzymatic conversion of retinal to retinoic acid in rat liver cytosol was detected using a rapid and sensitive assay based on high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). This retinal oxidase assay system did not require extraction steps or any other manipulation of the sample mixture once the sample vial was sealed for incubation. The product (retinoic acid) and the reactant (retinal) were separated by HPLC in 14.0 min with a sensitivity of 15 and 40 pmol per injection for retinoic acid and retinal, respectively. Enzymatic activity was observed to be linear with protein concentration (0-2.4 mg/mL) and time (0-30 min) and displayed a broad pH maximum of 7.7-9.7. The enzyme exhibited Michaelis-Menten single-substrate kinetics with an apparent Km of 0.25 mM. The average specific activity in nine normal rats was 35.6 +/- 3.3 nmol retinoic acid formed/h per mg protein. Incubation of the enzyme with zinc did not affect the rate of retinoic acid synthesis. Dithiothreitol inhibited the reaction. Both NAD and NADH stimulated retinoic acid formation. Formation of retinol was also observed when these pyridine nucleotides were added to the reaction mixture, indicating the presence of retinal reductase activity. The results of kinetic studies suggest that NADH may act indirectly to stimulate retinoic acid formation.     

Genetically controlled differences in the effects of chlormequat on tetraploid wheat (Triticum turgidum)

Two crosses between Triticum turgidum wheat lines differing in their response to chlormequat (CCC) were tested. In the F₂ population of one cross, which was segregating for the Rht1 dwarfing allele, each plant was cloned by separation of two tillers, one of which was treated with CCC. The tall (rht1/rht1) and the intermediate (Rht1/rht1) genotypes showed a greater response to CCC than the semi-dwarf (Rht1/Rht1) genotype, as expressed by culm length and date of ear emergence. The F₃ families of another cross and their two semi-dwarf parents were grown in a three-replicated field test in paris of rows, one of which was treated with CCC. In one of the parents and in 1/4 of the F₃ families CCC induced a wide-angled tiller growth, suggesting a monogenic control of this growth habit in response to CCC.Based on an M.Sc. thesis presented by the senior author to the Faculty of Agriculture of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.     

Flow cytometric analysis of isolated rat liver nuclei during growth

The development of hepatocyte polyploidy in rats aged up to 4 months was analyzed by flow cytometry using both scatter and fluorescent parameters to distinguish DNA diploid and DNA tetraploid populations and to discriminate between parenchymal and non-parenchymal compartments. The precise origin of each class of nuclei was assessed in whole liver homogenate using purified hepatocytes, obtained by liver perfusion followed by separation on Percoll gradient, and identifying the peaks corresponding to parenchymal nuclei. The results indicate that preparative procedures involving homogenization of the rat liver tissue caused loss of the DNA octaploid population. Data on the relative proportion of the different DNA ploidy elements during rat liver development, which are in good agreement with those observed by cell analysis by means of microspectrophotometry, indicate the usefulness of flow cytometry as a choice method for the analysis of ploidy distribution.     

Predicting genotypes at loci for autosomal recessive disorders using linked genetic markers: application to Wilson's disease

Summary Recently, the Wilson's disease locus (WND) has been mapped to the long arm of chromosome 13. We have analyzed segregation of serveral chromosome 13 markers flanking the WND locus and used multipoint linkage analysis to determine the most likely WND genotype of each of 57 unaffected individuals in 5 Wilson's disease families. Approximately 46% of these could be classified as carrier (heterozygote), homozygous normal, or homozygous affected (not yet symptomatic) with a probability of at least 90%, while 77% could be classified with a probability of at least 80%. Our results demonstrate that even though there is a significant decrease on average in serum copper concentration in Wilson's disease heterozygotes compared to normal homozygotes, other sources of variation in serum copper concentration are much greater and preclude use of serum copper to detect heterozygotes for Wilson's disease. Subsequent analyses showed that a familial component, independent of WND genotype, is the major factor accounting for variation in ceruloplasmin levels among unaffected individuals; age is another factor accounting for more variation in copper levels among unaffected individuals than WND genotype.     

Thigmomorphogenesis: The induction of callose formation and ethylene evolution by mechanical perturbation in bean stems

Mechanical perturbation by rubbing of the first internode of 11–12 day old plants of Phaseolus vulgaris L. cv. Cherokee wax induces the rapid deposition of callose in the cells of phloem and other tissues. Callose deposition begins immediately after mechanical perturbation, and shows a minor transient peak 1.5 h, and a major peak 6 h later. The callose gradually disappears and is gone after 3 days. If the stems are perturbed every day, the amount of callose decreases by day 2 but then gradually increases again through day 12. Both the top and bottom of the internode produce callose in response to mechanical perturbation. The evolution of ethylene in response to mechanical perturbation begins after 1 h, peaks at 2–3 h and is gone by 5–6 h. A spray of 10⁻² M 2-deoxy-D-glucose (DDG) completely blocks stem thickening, callose deposition and ethylene evolution due to mechanical perturbation. DDG at 10⁻⁵ to 10⁻⁴ M blocks callose production in mechanically perturbed stem segments and increases ethylene evolution from unperturbed stem segments to greater levels than those obtained by mechanically perturbed segments. It is concluded that mechanical perturbation of bean stems tissue induces deposition of callose more rapidly than it induces evolution of ethylene and that DDG can block both processes.     

Genetics of salt tolerance in higher plants: theoretical and practical considerations

Summary An interdisciplinary approach to breeding for stress tolerance in plants has gained considerable recognition in the past few years. Accordingly, this article presents a synthesis of the genetic, physiological, and ecological aspects of salt tolerance in plants. An understanding of these aspects and the interrelationships between them is essential for an efficient breeding program.A significant part of the presentation concentrates on the basic problems associated with the genetics of tolerance to stresses and of quantitative characters in general, since many of the unsolved problems relevant to the genetics of salt tolerance are still general. Significant progress in the breeding of quantitative as well as qualitative traits in multicellular organisms depends on an understanding of the genetic and epigenetic dimensions of gene action. The discussion therefore includes an overview of (1) the limited existing knowledge on the genetic control of salt tolerance and (2) the physiological mechanisms and molecular targets central to the control of salt resistance as expressed by the amount and stability of yield.An additional subject emphasized here concerns the main strategies of adaptation of wild species to their natural habitats. An understanding of them is essential to (1) enable distinction between traits that can increase agricultural yield and traits that are favorable only for survival under natural conditions (such a distinction is essential, especially when wild species are used as a gene source), and (2) predict the best combinations of characters for efficient agricultural production in stressful environments.