The Case of Paul Kammerer: Evolution and Experimentation in the Early 20th Century

To some, a misguided Lamarckian and a fraud, to others a martyr in the fight against Darwinism, the Viennese zoologist Paul Kammerer (1880–1926) remains one of the most controversial scientists of the early 20th century. Here his work is reconsidered in light of turn-of-the-century problems in evolutionary theory and experimental methodology, as seen from Kammerer’s perspective in Vienna. Kammerer emerges not as an opponent of Darwinism, but as one would-be modernizer of the 19th-century theory, which had included a role for the inheritance of acquired characteristics. Kammerer attempted a synthesis of Darwinism with genetics and the chromosome theory, while retaining the modifying effects of the environment as the main source of favorable variation, and he developed his program of experimentation to support it. Kammerer never had a regular university position, but worked at a private experimental laboratory, with sidelines as a teacher and a popular writer and lecturer. On the lecture circuit he held forth on the significance of his science for understanding and furthering cultural evolution and he satisfied his passion for the arts and performance. In his dual career as researcher and popularizer, he did not always follow academic convention. In the contentious and rapidly changing fields of heredity and evolution, some of his stances and practices, as well as his outsider status and part-Jewish background, aroused suspicion and set the stage for the scandal that ended his career and prompted his suicide.     

白色獭兔蓝眼突变体的发现与遗传分析

文章设计了杂交、回交和全同胞交配3个实验, 对美系白色獭兔(♂)和青紫蓝肉兔(♀)杂交所产生的白色蓝眼獭兔突变体的遗传机制进行了等位性测试。结果表明, 白色獭兔蓝眼突变体是维也纳座位(V)发生隐性突变的结果。基因v纯合(vv)对家兔基本毛色基因座(A、B、C、D、E)具有隐性上位作用, 无论其他毛色座位的基因型如何, 只要vv存在即可产生白色蓝眼兔。vv基因型与rr基因型组合即可产生白色蓝眼獭兔。白色蓝眼獭兔突变体在我国家兔育种中是一个新发现, 其遗传机制的阐明, 对獭兔育种和生产具有重要的指导意义。     

Main changes in the new edition of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature——the “Vienna Code”

The rules that govern scientific naming in botany (including phycology and mycology) are revised at Nomenclature Section meetings at successive International Botanical Congresses. The most recent edition of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (Vienna Code) embodies the decisions of the XVII International Botanical Congress held in Vienna in 2005 and supersedes the Saint Louis Code. This paper presents an account of the main differences between the two Codes, including those related with starting points, effective publication, valid publication, fossil plants, pleomorphic fungi, orthography, and the Appendices.     

Irinotecan Upregulates Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor 3 Expression in Colorectal Cancer Cells,Which Mitigates Irinotecan-Induced Apoptosis

BACKGROUND: Irinotecan (IRI) is an integral part of colorectal cancer (CRC) therapy, but response rates are unsatisfactory and resistance mechanisms are still insufficiently understood. As fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3) mediates essential survival signals in CRC, it is a candidate gene for causing intrinsic resistance to IRI. METHODS: We have used cell line models overexpressing FGFR3 to study the receptor's impact on IRI response. For pathway blockade, a dominant-negative receptor mutant and a small molecule kinase inhibitor were employed. RESULTS: IRI exposure induced expression of FGFR3 as well as its ligands FGF8 and FGF18 both in cell cultures and in xenograft tumors. As overexpression of FGFR3 mitigated IRI-induced apoptosis in CRC cell models, this suggests that the drug itself activated a survival response. On the cellular level, the antiapoptotic protein bcl-xl was upregulated and caspase 3 activation was inhibited. Targeting FGFR3 signaling using a dominant-negative receptor mutant sensitized cells for IRI. In addition, the FGFR inhibitor PD173074 acted synergistically with the chemotherapeutic drug and significantly enhanced IRI-induced caspase 3 activity in vitro. In vivo, PD173074 strongly inhibited growth of IRI-treated tumors. CONCLUSION: Together, our results indicate that targeting FGFR3 can be a promising strategy to enhance IRI response in CRC patients.     

A frameshift mutation in the melanophilin gene causes the dilute coat colour in rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) breeds

In rabbit, the dilute locus is determined by a recessive mutated allele (d) that causes the dilution of both eumelanic and pheomelanic pigmentations. In mice, similar phenotypes are determined by mutations in the myosin VA, Rab27a and melanophilin (MLPH) genes. In this study, we investigated the rabbit MLPH gene and showed that a mutation in this gene appears responsible for the dilute coat colour in this species. Checkered Giant F1 families segregating for black and grey (diluted or blue) coat colour were first genotyped for a complex indel in intron 1 of the MLPH gene that was completely associated with the coat colour phenotype (θ = 0.00; LOD = 4.82). Then, we sequenced 6357 bp of the MLPH gene in 18 rabbits of different coat colours, including blue animals. A total of 165 polymorphisms were identified: 137 were in non‐coding regions and 28 were in coding exons. One of them was a frameshift deletion in exon 5. Genotyping the half‐sib families confirmed the complete cosegregation of this mutation with the blue coat colour. The mutation was analysed in 198 rabbits of 23 breeds. All Blue Vienna and all other blue/grey/ash rabbits in other breeds (Californian, Castor Rex, Checkered Giant, English Spot, Fairy Marburg and Fairy Pearly) were homozygous for this deletion. The identification of MLPH as the responsible gene for the dilute locus in rabbit provides a natural animal model for human Griscelli syndrome type 3 and a new mutant to study the role of this gene on pigmentation.     

An appraisal of the fossil record for the Cirolanidae (Malacostraca: Peracarida: Isopoda: Cymothoida), with a description of a new cirolanid isopod crustacean from the early Miocene of the Vienna Basin (Western Carpathians)

Abstract:  Isopod crustaceans are rarely preserved in the fossil record. Herein, an appraisal of the fossil record for the cirolanid isopods is presented. Five genera are briefly discussed, including Bathynomus, Brunnaega, Palaega, Pseudopalaega and Cirolana. A key for the cirolanid genera known to date from the fossil record is provided based mostly on pleotelson characters. From the early Miocene of the Slovak part of the Vienna Basin, Cirolana feldmanni sp. nov. is described being only the fifth fossil Cirolana species known to date and one of the few with preserved appendages. The material exhibits preservation suggesting biphasic moulting; the mode of preservation suggests a rather short time between shedding the posterior and anterior parts of the exoskeleton instead of hours or even days known in extant taxa. As no subsequent transport or physical disturbance was inferred, the specimens can be stated as in situ preservation. From the palaeoecological point of view, it is concluded that Cirolana feldmanni sp. nov. is the first unequivocal fossil deep‐water Cirolana as suggested by the accompanied fauna.     

Surgery and national identity in late nineteenth-century Vienna

For historians of medicine, the professor Theodor Billroth of the University of Vienna was the leading European surgeon of the late nineteenth century and the personification of intervention by organ or body part removal. For social and political historians, he was a German nationalist whose book on medical education heralded the rise of anti-Semitism in the Austrian public sphere. This article brings together and critically reassesses these two hitherto separate accounts to show how, in a period of dramatic social and political change, Viennese surgery split into two camps. One, headed by Billroth, was characterized by an alliance with the German educational model, German nationalism leading to racial anti-Semitism and an experimental approach to the construction of surgical procedure, which heavily relied on the methods of pathological physiology. The other, which followed a long Austrian tradition, stood for a clinically oriented and strictly organized medical education that catered to an ethnically and socially diverse population and, simultaneously, for an anatomically oriented surgery, largely of the locomotor apparatus. This study shows how, in a major centre of medical education and capital of a multiethnic empire, surgical and national identities were forged together.     

Level of anxiety and results of psychomotor tests in young soccer players of different performance levels

The aim of the current study is to determine how the level of state and trait anxiety differs between youth athletes of different performance levels and furthermore whether there are correlations between performance levels and psychomotor variables in the selected tasks. A sample of 97 boys, aged 11–12 years, practising soccer represented two groups: A – high performance level and B – lower performance level. Participants completed a state and trait anxiety inventory and performed selected psychomotor tests. The analyses demonstrated that the higher the levels of anxiety were, the shorter was the response time and more accurate were the responses in selected psychomotor tests. For the whole group, r = -0.224, p < 0.05, and for group B, r = -0.333, p < 0.05. Moreover, the findings showed a moderator effect of level (group A vs B) on reaction time, which was almost significant in state anxiety and significant in trait anxiety. For group B, trait anxiety was negatively related to reaction time (b = -0.002, SE = 0.001, t = -2.93, p = .004, 95% CI [-0.004, -0.001]). This means that the higher the trait anxiety was, the shorter was the reaction time in group B, but there was no significant effect in group A. The results of the study confirmed the negative correlation between the trait and state anxiety and reaction time. The higher the anxiety was, the shorter was the response time of child soccer players. Future research should determine whether athletes’ performance levels do affect performance under stress and replicate the study with different samples such as girls and different sport disciplines.     

Radiation induced alterations in rabbit aortic prostacyclin formation

Earlier studies have demonstrated very severe vascular lesions occuring after irradiation in human and experimental animals as well. We examined the rabbit aortic PGI₂-formation using the platelet bioassay technique in one year aged rabbits after different irradiation doses and a time course. The findings demonstrate a signficant increase in prostacyclin formation, which might be due to the damage of endothelial cells. This stage is followed by a long lasting severe depression. This behaviour in addition demonstrates a dose dependent manner. The findings of a long lasting decrease in vascular PGI₂-formation might contribute to the understanding of the high incidence of vascular lesions being found at the site of irradiation.