Spacing and kinship in the Formosan squirrel living in different habitats

Summary Spacing and kinship of the Formosan squirrel, Callosciurus erythraeus thaiwanensis, were studied in two different habitats. One, native habitat in the woods of Kenting, southern Formosa, was rich in available food throughout the year and had several species of predators. The other, a site in Kamakura, central Japan where squirrels had been introduced, had relatively scanty food and few potential predators. 1. Home ranges among males and between sexes overlapped extensively in both habitats. 2. Females occupied exclusive home ranges in Kamakura but had small overlapping home ranges in Ken-ting. 3. Most males disappeared from their natal areas at 1 year old in both habitats (86% in Kamakura and 93% in Ken-ting), but less females disappeared (36% in Kamakura and 35% in Ken-ting). 4. In Kamakura, daughters settled adjacent to the mother or inherited the home range of the mother, but never shared the mother's home range. In Ken-ting, 35% of daughters shared the home range with their mothers. 5. Tolerance among female kin in Ken-ting was probably facilitated by the richness of available food throughout the year, and functioned to reduce predation risk via alarm calling and mobbing.     

Circadian rhythm in total pulmonary resistance of asthmatic children. Effects of a beta-agonist agent

Six children (boys and girls, 8 to 13 years old) with allergic asthma (AA) had their total pulmonary resistance (R1) measured at four fixed times (0730, 1130, 1630 and 2230 hr), before and again 10 min after a 2 mg orciprenaline (beta-agonist) aerosol inhalation. R1 was measured by means of the esophageal balloon technique. Subjects were socially synchronized in May with a diurnal activity from 0700 to 2100 and a nocturnal rest. Patients had had no asthma attacks and had received no medication for 8-15 days. Time series were analyzed according to conventional (t-tested mean time point differences) ANOVA, and cosinor methods. The 24 hr adjusted means (cm H2O.l/s +/- SEM) were 5.7 +- 0.4 in seven previously documented healthy children. 7.4 +/- 1.2 in AA before orciprenaline, and 4.9 +/- 0.2 in healthy children, 5.2 +/- 0.8 in AA after beta-agonist inhalation. Circadian rhythms were detected in both groups before but not after treatment. The treatment had its maximal effect on R1 around 0730 (when bronchial patency is close to its trough) and had no effect around 1630 (peak time of airway patency) in both groups (P less than 0.01; ANOVA). Thus, inhaled orciprenaline was mainly effective around 0730 and to a lesser extent around 2230 whereas there was no detectable effect during the day (1230 and 1630).     

Primary structure of heat-stable enterotoxin produced by Yersinia enterocolitica

A heat-stable enterotoxin was isolated and purified from the culture supernatant of $\text{Yersinia enterocolitica}$ by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. The amino acid sequence of the purified toxin was determined to be as follows: Gln-Ala-Cys(X)-Asp-Pro-Pro-Ser-Pro-Pro-Ala-Glu-Val-Ser-Ser-Asp-Trp-Asp-Cys-Cys-Asp-Val-Cys-Cys-Asn-Pro-Ala-Cys-Ala-Gly-Cys (X: not determined). The C-terminal sequence containing 6 half-cystine residues was highly homologous to that of heat-stable enterotoxin of enterotoxigenic $\text{Escherichia coli.}$     

Effects of Cu,Cd and Zn on photosynthesis of freshwater benthic algae

One hundred and eighteen algal isolates comprising seven classes were obtained from a range of sites from polluted rivers running through Cu or Zn mining regions, and from unpolluted rivers. All the isolates were tested for photosynthetic activity when exposed to Cu, Cd or Zn. The tolerance levels of Bacillariophyceae, Charophyceae, Cyanophyceae and Chlorophyceae to Cu showed significant positive correlations with Cu concentrations in the field. However the distribution of metal sensitivities of the algae from the sites with the same metal concentration was broad. Both Bacillariophyceae and Charophyceae had a number of strains whose sensitivity to Cu differed more widely in relation to Cu levels in the environment than Cyanophyceae and Chlorophyceae. Cyanophyceae were sensitive to all three metals, whether or not isolates were obtained from polluted sites, whereas Chlorophyceae tended to have high tolerance even in isolates from unpolluted sites. For Cd and Zn the correlation between tolerance levels and concentrations in the field was not so clear as for Cu. The occurrence of Cu tolerance was shown in 4 diatom species and one Charophyceae, whereas metal resistance occurred in some Chlorophyceae. Cu-tolerant isolates tended also to be Zn-tolerant in Bacillariophyceae, and Cd-resistant isolates tended also to be Zn-resistant in Chlorophyceae.     

Internal desynchronization of circadian rhythms and tolerance of shift work

Fifteen male subjects including 12 shift workers (oil refinery operators) volunteered to document circadian rhythms in sleep-wake, grip strength of both hands, peak expiratory flow, heart rate, self-rated drowsiness, fatigue and attention. Each of these variables was measured 4 to 6 times/day for 2 to 3 weeks. In addition, both axillary temperature (with a shielded probe) and wrist activity were almost continuously recorded at 15 min intervals during the same time span. Individual time series were analyzed according to several statistical methods (power spectrum, cosinor, chi 2, etc.), in order to estimate the prominent circadian period tau and to evaluate both individual and subgroup differences with regard to tolerance of shift work, age, duration of shift work. The present study confirms for continuously recorded temperature and wrist activity, grip strength of both hands, heart rate and peak expiratory flow that intolerance of shift work is frequently associated with an internal desynchronization. However, this conclusion cannot be extended to circadian rhythms in self-rated drowsiness, fatigue and attention. The internal desynchronization among several circadian rhythms supports the hypothesis that these latter are driven by several oscillators, with presumable differences between right and left hemispheres as suggested by unequal values of tau in rhythms of both hand grip strength. Since an internal desynchronization can be observed in tolerant shift workers having no complaint, it is likely that symptoms of intolerance are related to the subject's sensitivity to internal desynchronization rather than to the desynchronization itself.     

Growth of the malignant and nonmalignant human squamous cells in a protein-free defined medium

Summary A novel protein-free synthetic medium has been developed for the culture of human squamous cell carcinoma cells. This medium, designated PF86-1, supports the serial subcultivation of six out of nine human squamous cell carcinoma cell lines in a protein-free, chemically defined condition without the adapting culture from serum-containing conditions. These cell lines growing in PF86-1 exhibited nearly equal potency to grow in massive culture without noticeable changes in morphology but presented a significantly decreased level of colony forming efficiency when compared with the cells cultured in serum-containing media, suggesting the implication of some autocrine mechanism. Interestingly, this medium supported the growth of normal human squamous cells of oral mucosa and skin for more than 2 mo. in the primary explant culture in spite of high levels of calcium ion concentration, where the overgrowth of fibroblasts as contaminant was not observed. These results suggest that PF86-1 supports the growth of cells derived from epidermal tissues selectively and provides the same defined condition for growth of malignant and nonmalignant human squamous cells. It seems, therefore, that PF86-1 allows investigations on the products of squamous cell carcinoma cells or on the differences of growth mechanisms between normal and neoplastic human squamous cells.