Preventive and Curative Biological Treatments for Control of Botrytis cinerea Stem Canker of Greenhouse Tomatoes

The effects of biological treatments with PlantShield^®, Prestop^®, Quadra 136, RootShield^®, and S33 (Rhodosporidium diobovatum) and chemical treatment with Decree^® applied as a preventive or curative sprays on stem canker caused by Botrytis cinerea on tomato plants grown in sawdust were studied under near-commercial greenhouse conditions. Prestop^® and Decree^®, applied as preventive or curative sprays, PlantShield^® applied as curative spray, and S33 and Q-136 applied as preventive or preventive plus one spray to wounded surface provided season-long protection from B. cinerea stem canker. These treatments also increased fruit yield and decreased the number of dead plants compared with the inoculated control.     

Time-of-day dependent performance efficiency in student nurses

A psychological test battery comprising reasoning ability, name and number checking, letter cancellation and associative recall was administered to a group of 70 student nurses at 2-hr intervals from 0800 to 2000 to determine if their performance varied at different times of day. Simultaneously, their oral temperature was recorded. A 7 x 7 latin square design was utilized, and latin square repeated measure analysis of variance was employed. The results indicated variations in oral temperature as the day advanced. While accuracy of performance in cognitive tasks was found to be superior during the early morning, noon or early evening hours, the speed of performance was highest during the period from late-morning to late-evening.     

Thorium induced testicular changes in rats.

Daily intraperitoneal administration of thorium nitrate produced progressive morphological and biochemical alterations with the increase in thorium concentration in rat testis. The degenerative changes in the seminiferous tubules increased with the duration of treatment and after 90 days calcification occurred in about 25% of the tubules and in the connective tissue of the tunica albuginea. The activity of adenosine triphosphatase and alkaline phosphatase increased markedly as a result of thorium administration. An attempt has been made to interrelate histopathological and enzymatic changes and the metal concentration in the testicular tissue.     

Blue guaran (a chromophore-labeled galactomannan) as a reagent for lectins

A new reagent (blue guaran) for quantitative estimation of lectins, has been derived from a galactomannan (guaran). When the lectin solution is added to an aqueous solution of blue guaran, dye-bound guaran is precipitated from the solution. The difference in absorbance of the blue guaran solution before and after the addition of lectin solution is proportional to the amount of lectin present in the sample. The method of preparation of blue guaran, its spectral characteristics and effect of pH on precipitation have also been described. It gives a simple colorimetric method for the estimation of galactose-specific lectins.     

Effect of cholesterol enrichment on 12-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid metabolism by mouse peritoneal macrophages

The metabolism of 12-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (12-HETE) was investigated in mouse peritoneal macrophages enriched in cholesterol by incubation with acetylated low density lipoproteins. After incubating with labeled arachidonic acid, cholesterol-rich cells released more 12-HETE into the medium than unmodified macrophages. With time, however, 12-HETE decreased in the medium of both cell preparations suggesting re-uptake of this monohydroxyfatty acid and perhaps further metabolism. When control macrophages were incubated with radiolabeled 12-HETE for 2 hr, almost 70% of the cell-associated 12-HETE label was incorporated into phospholipids. In contrast, in cholesterol-rich cells, only 31% of the 12-HETE label was incorporated into phospholipids. Bee venom phospholipase completely hydrolyzed the label, suggesting that the monohydroxyfatty acid was esterified at the sn-2 position of the phospholipid. In cholesterol-rich cells, 69% of the 12-HETE was diverted into neutral lipids. Two major neutral lipids were identified in cholesterol-rich macrophages. One neutral lipid band which migrated with an Rf value of 0.34 contained the hydroxylated fatty acid esterified to a glyceride. The other neutral lipid band having an Rf value of 0.49 contained cholesterol and by further analysis was found to contain predominantly cholesteryl-12-HETE. The labeled fatty acids in these two neutral lipids were mostly oxidized products of 12-HETE in contrast to the native 12-HETE observed in the phospholipids. Cholesterol-rich macrophages released 25% more products of 12-HETE metabolism than control macrophages. Two major products were observed in the medium which eluted in the area of a standard di-HETE, LTB4, on high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis. We propose that the reincorporation of 12-HETE into these neutral lipids and the increased capacity for further metabolism of this biologically potent hydroxyfatty acid could be a mechanism by which the cholesterol-rich macrophage maintains its membrane function, and regulates the amount of 12-HETE in the pericellular space.     

Immunoquantitation of aldose reductase in human tissues

Rabbit antibodies raised against bovine kidney aldose reductase (ALR2) were shown to be monospecific for human ALR2 by Western blot analysis of human muscle homogenates. The human enzyme was detected, by reaction with the antiserum (alpha-BKALR2), in homogenates of adrenal gland, muscle, lens, brain, testes, kidney, and placenta, but not in erythrocytes or leukocytes. The amount of enzyme in each tissue was determined by densitometric analysis of autoradiographs of Western blots probed with alpha-BKALR2 and [125I]protein A. Standard curves of radiographic intensity versus amount of purified human muscle ALR2 were linear in the 20 to 200-ng range; a similar sensitivity was seen in tissue homogenates containing up to 675 micrograms total protein. The results presented here for the ALR2 level in human tissues (adrenal greater than muscle greater than lens approximately brain approximately testes greater than kidney approximately placenta) are in agreement with literature values for those tissues from which the enzyme has previously been purified. A notable exception was the absence of detectable ALR2 in human erythrocytes. A quantitative comparison of immunoradiographic response showed that bovine kidney ALR2 was about sevenfold more reactive with a alpha-BKALR2 compared to the human muscle enzyme.     

Cellulolytic activities ofChaetomium globosum on different cellulosic substrates

The effect of cellulosic substrates on the production of extra-cellular cellulases and their cellulolytic activity inChaetomium globosum has been studied in shake flask cultures. Production of endoglucanase, exoglucanase and filter paper cellulase was highest with pure cellulose whereas -glucosidase was maximally induced by wheat straw. A suitable pretreatment for wheat straw was peracetic acid followed by NaOH and that of bagasse with NaOH for saccharification.

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Résumé On a étudié l'effet de substrats cellulosiques sur la production de cellulases extracellulaires et leur activité cellulolytique chezChaetomium globosum en culture en flacons agités. La production d'endoglucanase, d'exoglucanase et de cellulase type papier-filtre est maximum avec la cellulose pure tandis que la -glucosidase est induite de manière maximum par la paille de froment. La paille de froment est traitée de manière adéquate pour la saccharification par l'acide peracétique suivi de NaOH, la bagasse, par NaOH.

     

Direct correlation between the circadian sleep-wakefulness rhythm and time estimation in humans under social and temporal isolation

Several bodily functions in humans vary on a 24 h pattern and most of these variations persist with a circadian period ofca 25 h when subjects are studied under conditions of social and temporal isolation. We report in this paper that the estimates of short time intervals (TE) of 2 h are strongly coupled to the circadian rhythm in sleepwakefulness. There is a linear correlation between the number of hours humans stay awake (α) and their estimation of 2 h intervals. The coupling of TE to α appears to obtain only under conditions of physical well-being.