Low-pressure microwave-induced helium plasma emission spectrometry: Vaporization characteristics of metal chlorides,nitrates, and sulfates

A low-pressure microwave-induced helium plasma serves as an excitation source for metal chlorides, nitrates, and sulfates vaporized from a filament, resulting in fractional vaporization and differential sensitivities of detection of the elements depending on the vapor pressures of their salts. The shapes of the single emission peaks, which are simple in the presence of potassium chloride, become complex and may double in number.     

The carpal tunnel syndrome as a probable primary deficiency of vitamin B6 rather than a deficiency of a dependency state

The mean basal specific activities and the mean % deficiencies of the activity of the glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase of the erythrocytes were identical (n.s.) for a group of eight patients with a severe carpal tunnel syndrome and for a group of eight university students. There was no significant difference in the increases in the specific activities for the patients and the students at 4 concentrations of pyridoxal 5′-phosphate. The apparent K_m for the patients and the students was 95 μM and 61 μM (n.s.) respectively. It is concluded from these data in conjunction with previous findings that the carpal tunnel syndrome is a deficiency disease of vitamin B₆, which is probably primary rather than one of a dependency state.     

Adaptations for feeding on rock surfaces and sandy sediment by the fiddler crabs (Brachyura: Ocypodidae) Uca tetragonon(Herbst, 1790) and Uca vocans(Linnaeus, 1758)

Two species of fiddler crab, Uca tetragonon(Herbst, 1790) and Uca vocans(Linnaeus, 1758), which belong to the subgenus Gelasimus, dwell on rocky shores and muddy–sandy tidal flats, respectively, in Phuket Is., Thailand. We investigated their feeding ecology in relation to the morphology of their feeding organs: minor food-handling chelipeds and maxillipeds. U. tetragononfed chiefly on rocks covered by filamentous green algae. U. vocansfed on the emerged sand and in shallow water along the shoreline and in pools. While feeding, both crabs made sand pellets beneath their mouthparts and discarded them, indicating that they divided the matter scooped up with their minor chelipeds into edible and inedible fractions by using the maxillipeds in the water passing through their buccal cavity. The morphology of maxillipeds hardly differed between the two species, which means that both species are flotation-feeders. The morphology of their minor chelipeds, however, differed: the tips of the dactyl and pollex were flat in U. tetragononand pointed in U. vocans.When the minor cheliped was closed, U. tetragononhad a hemispherical space in the distal one-fourth of the gape, which was closed by the framing keratin layers and a few setae of the dactyl and pollex. On the other hand, U. vocanshad an ellipsoidal space in the distal half of the gape. We consider these morphological characters to be adaptations to the different feeding substrates for retaining more food-laden sediment. We discuss the role of the setae on the minor chelipeds on the basis of the morphological differences between populations of U. tetragononin Phuket Is. and East Africa where the crab inhabits muddy–sandy tidal flats.     

Cross-sectional Area-corrected Compression Modulus of Food Gel

The linearity of the stress-strain relationship for food gel is limited to a very narrow range of the strain (usually less than 0.1 as a Cauchy measure). The reason is thought due to the change in cross-sectional area of the gel upon deformation. In this report, the cross-sectional area was approximately corrected of the compressed gel on the assumption that the gel expanded uniformly without changing its volume upon compression. In cases when the initial Young’s modulus was calculated from the thus-corrected area for some food gels, the linearity was increased for a wider range of strain.     

Humans but Not Chimpanzees Vary Face-Scanning Patterns Depending on Contexts during Action Observation

Human and nonhuman primates comprehend the actions of other individuals by detecting social cues, including others’ goal-directed motor actions and faces. However, little is known about how this information is integrated with action understanding. Here, we present the ontogenetic and evolutionary foundations of this capacity by comparing face-scanning patterns of chimpanzees and humans as they viewed goal-directed human actions within contexts that differ in whether or not the predicted goal is achieved. Human adults and children attend to the actor’s face during action sequences, and this tendency is particularly pronounced in adults when observing that the predicted goal is not achieved. Chimpanzees rarely attend to the actor’s face during the goal-directed action, regardless of whether the predicted action goal is achieved or not. These results suggest that in humans, but not chimpanzees, attention to actor’s faces conveying referential information toward the target object indicates the process of observers making inferences about the intentionality of an action. Furthermore, this remarkable predisposition to observe others’ actions by integrating the prediction of action goals and the actor’s intention is developmentally acquired.     

Development of the bovine ileal mucosa

The development of the bovine ileal mucosa was studied with particular reference to maturation during the fetal and neonatal period. In this region, by 4-5 months of fetal development, vacuolation of the epithelial cells had occurred on the villi, and the goblet and absorptive cells in the crypts were present. By 6-9 months, the villi were longer and more numerous than in the previous stages. At the same time, the vacuolated cells could be seen predominantly on the upper half of each villus. The absorptive cells and goblet cells were more distinct in the crypt and lower half of each villus. Moreover, the goblet cells showed differences in mucin, while in the submucosa the lymphoid follicles were seen to have enlarged to become a prominent feature of the Peyer's patches at this stage. At birth, in suckled animals, the ileal cells on the lower area of each villus and in the crypt appeared more like mature cells. In contrast, there were numerous inclusion bodies in epithelial cells on the upper half of each villus. They appeared in the apical portion of the cytoplasm as vacuoles with stainable or dense contents. By 1 week, however, epithelial cells no longer contained inclusion bodies, and absorptive and goblet cell populations had begun to emerge from the crypts. These histological results suggest that the bovine ileal mucosa has two distinct turning points during its development in the fetus and the neonate. Initially all the mucosal structures are present in fetuses at 6-7 months of gestation, and then the vacuolated cells covering the ileal villi are replaced by mature, nonpinocytosing epithelium which emerges from the crypts on or before the 7th day after birth (ileal closure).     

Amino acid sequence of the calcium-binding light chain of myosin from the lower eukaryote, Physarum polycephalum

We have established a new method for preparing Physarum myosin whose actin-activated ATPase activity is inhibited by micromolar levels of Ca2+. This Ca2+-inhibition is mediated by the Ca2+ binding to the myosin rather than by the Ca2+-dependent modification of the phosphorylated state of the myosin (Kohama, K., and Kendrick-Jones, J. (1986) J. Biochem. (Tokyo) 99, 1433-1446). Ca2+-binding light chain (CaLC) has been suggested to be primary importance in this Ca2+ inhibition (Kohama, K., Takano-Ohmuro, H., Tanaka, T., Yamaguchi, T., and Kohama, T. (1986) J. Biol. Chem. 261, 8022-8027). The amino acid sequence of CaLC was determined; it was composed of 147 amino acid residues and the N terminus was acetylated. The molecular weight was calculated to be 16,131. The homology of CaLC in the amino acid sequence with 5,5'-dithiobis-(2-nitrobenzoic acid) light chain and alkali light chain of skeletal muscle myosin were rather low, i.e., 25% and 30%, respectively. Interestingly, however, the CaLC sequence was 40% homologous with brain calmodulin. This amino acid sequence was confirmed by sequencing the cloned phage DNA accommodating cDNA coding CaLC. Northern and Southern blot analysis indicated that 0.8-kilobase pair mRNA was transcribed from a single CaLC gene. This is the first report on the amino acid sequence of myosin light chain of lower eukaryotes and nucleotide sequence of its mRNA.