ALBERT

Description: In phenotype the mycoplasmas are very different from ordinary bacteria. However, genotypically (i.e., phylogenetically) they are not. On the basis of ribosomal RNA homologies the mycoplasmas belong with the clostridia, and indeed have specific clostridial relatives. Mycoplasmas are, however, unlike almost all other bacteria in the evolutionary characteristics of their ribosomal RNAs. These RNAs contain relatively few of the highly conserved oligonucleotide sequences characteristic of normal eubacterial ribosomal RNAs. This is interpreted to be a reflection of an elevated mutation rate in mycoplasma lines of descent. A general consequence of this would be that the variation associated with a mycoplasma population is augmented both in number and kind, which in turn would lead to an unusual evolutionary course, one unique in all respects. Mycoplasmas, then, are actually tachytelic bacteria. The unusual evolutionary characteristics of their ribosomal RNAs are the imprints of their rapid evolution.

Description: Under contract with Marshall Space Flight Center, Midwest Research Institute compiled a Lubrication Handbook intended as a reference source for designers and manufacturers of aerospace hardware and crews responsible for maintenance of such equipment. Engineers of Lindsay Manufacturing Company learned of this handbook through NASA Tech Briefs and used it for supplemental information in redesigning gear boxes for their center pivot agricultural irrigation system.

Description: Originally developed under contract for NASA by Ball Bros. Research Corporation for acquiring visual information from lunar and planetary spacecraft, system uses standard closed circuit camera connected to a device called a scan converter, which slows the stream of images to match an audio circuit, such as a telephone line. Transmitted to its destination, the image is reconverted by another scan converter and displayed on a monitor. In addition to assist scans, technique allows transmission of x-rays, nuclear scans, ultrasonic imagery, thermograms, electrocardiograms or live views of patient. Also allows conferencing and consultation among medical centers, general practitioners, specialists and disease control centers. Commercialized by Colorado Video, Inc., major employment is in business and industry for teleconferencing, cable TV news, transmission of scientific/engineering data, security, information retrieval, insurance claim adjustment, instructional programs, and remote viewing of advertising layouts, real estate, construction sites or products.

Description: NASA has initiated new effort in Global Biology, the primary focus of which is to understand biogeochemical cycles. As part of this effort, an interdisciplinary team of scientists has formed at Ames Research Center to investigate the cycling of sulfur in the marine coastal zone and to study the cycling of nitrogen in terrestrial ecosystems. Both studies will use remotely sensed data, coupled with ground-based research, to identify and measure the transfer of major and minor biologically produced gases between these ecosystems and global reservoirs.

Description: The area postrema in mammals other than rodents and lagomorphs is a bilateral mound of gelatinous-appearing tissue that protrudes into the caudal fourth ventricle on either side of the obex. In rodents and lagomorphs it is a single midline structure at the apex of the calamus scriptorius. The vasculature is derived mainly from the posterior inferior cerebellar arteries and consists mainly of sinusoidal capillaries. It appears to constitute a portal system, at least in the rat. Many of the capillaries are fenestrated, and many large perivascular spaces with both vascular and parenchymal basal laminae are present. The cell population is composed of flattened ependymal cells exhibiting microvilli, and of small neurons, normal astrocytes, glialoid cells, and a very few oligodendroglia. Mast cells are occasionally present. The glialoid cells appear to be the predominant cell type and exhibit great numbers of vascular podia. Axodendritic synapses are numerous and axosomatic synapses are occasionally seen in the parenchyma. Synaptic vesicles are mainly of the clear-cored type but large dense-cored vesicles are commonly observed in some axon terminals.

Description: The incidence and size of the patent foramen ovale were studied in 965 autopsy specimens of human hearts, which were from subjects who were evenly distributed by sex and age. Neither incidence nor size of the defect was significantly different between male and female subjects. The overall incidence was 27.3%, but it progressively declined with increasing age from 34.3% during the first three decades of life to 25.4% during the 4th through 8th decades and to 20.2% during the 9th and 10th decades. Among the 263 specimens that exhibited patency in our study, the foramen ovale ranged from 1 to 19 mm in maximal potential diameter (mean, 4.9 mm). In 98% of these cases, the foramen ovale was 1 to 10 mm in diameter. The size tended to increase with increasing age, from a mean of 3.4 mm in the first decade to 5.8 mm in the 10th decade of life.

Description: 14C-benzyladenine (BA) and 14C-indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) were used to study hormone transport to the tiller bud and hormone catabolism in excised oat stem segments. Acropetal BA transport was greatest from upright stem segments to tiller buds suppressed by apical dominance. IAA, abscisic acid (ABA), and C2H4 inhibited BA transport to the tiller bud. IAA transport to the tiller bud site was inhibited by BA, C2H4, or after gravistimulation, which affected BA transport to a lesser extent than IAA transport. Multiple peaks of radioactivity were observed in 14C-BA- or 14C-IAA-treated stem segments after 9 h of transport. IAA, ABA, and C2H4 promoted BA catabolism. Auxin, ABA, and C2H4 may inhibit tiller bud release by inhibiting cytokinin transport to the tiller bud and by promoting cytokinin catabolism. Gravistimulation may promote tiller release by inhibiting IAA transport to the tiller bud and allowing cytokinins to accumulate there preferentially.

Description: Inverted Xenopus eggs have reduced numbers of primordial germ cells (PGCs). The extent of the reduction varies from spawning to spawning. Histologic examination revealed that PGC counts were lowest in inverted eggs which displayed the greatest amount of shift in the vegetal mass of large yolk platelets, although the germ plasm itself always remained localized in the egg's original vegetal hemisphere. Even at blastulation the germ plasm continued to be localized in the egg's original vegetal hemisphere. In many cases, however, it was confined to the periphery of the embryo, which probably accounts for the reduced PGC number in some tadpoles. In other cases it may have been dispersed and therefore not detectable in histologic analyses. Although the altered site of involution in inverted embryos did not influence PGC development, subsequent cell movement patterns apparently did. Those embryos which displayed the largest degree of pattern reversal at the tail-bud stage also exhibited the most extreme reduction in PGC numbers. A brief cold shock (4 degrees C, 10 min) prior to first cleavage leads to a further reduction in PGC numbers in inverted embryos, probably as a result of the displacement of the germ plasm away from its original vegetal pole location.

Description: Indole-3-acetyl-myo-inositol esters have been demonstrated to be endogenous components of etiolated Zea mays shoots tissue. This was accomplished by comparison of the putative compounds with authentic, synthetic esters. The properties compared were liquid and gas-liquid chromatographic retention times and the 70-ev mass spectral fragmentation pattern of the pentaacetyl derivative. The amount of indole-3-acetyl-myo-inositol esters in the shoots was determined to be 74 nanomoles per kilogram fresh weight as measured by isotope dilution, accounting for 19% of the ester indole-3-acetic acid of the shoot. This work is the first characterization of an ester conjugate of indole-3-acetate acid from vegetative shoot tissue using multiple chromatographic properties and mass spectral identification. The kernel and the seedling shoot both contain indole-3-acetyl-myo-inositol esters, and these esters comprise approximately the same percentage of the total ester content of the kernel and of the shoot.

Description: No abstract available

Description: Gravistimulation induces an asymmetric distribution of free indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) in the cortex-epidermis of the Zea mays L. cv 'Stowells Evergreen' mesocotyl within 15 minutes, the shortest time tested. IAA was measured by an isotope dilution method as the pentaflurobenzyl ester. The per cent IAA in the lower half of the mescotyl cortex was 56 to 57% at 15, 30, and 90 minutes after stimulus initiation. Curvature is detectable in the mescotyl within 3 minutes after beginning gravitropic stimulation. The rate of curvature of the mesocotyl increases during the first 60 minutes to maximum of about 30 degrees per hour. Thus, the growth asymmetry continues to increase for 45 minutes after hormone asymmetry is established. Free IAA occurs predominantly in the stele of the mesocotyl whereas esterified IAA is mainly in the mesocotyl cortex-epidermis. This compartmentation may permit determining in which tissue the hormone asymmetry arises. Current data suggest the asymmetry originated in the stele.

Description: In etiolated corn (Zea mays L.) and etiolated pea (Pisum sativum L.) seedlings, a gravitropic stimulation induces the deposition of callose. In the corn coleoptiles this occurs within 5 min of gravity stimulation, and prior to the beginning of curvature. Both gravitropic curvature and callose deposition reach their maxima by 12 h. Within the first 2 h more callose is deposited on the upper (concave) side, but after 2-3 h, this deposition pattern is reversed. An inhibitor of protein glycosylation, 2-deoxy-D-glucose (DDG), inhibits callose production and considerably retards gravitropic bending in both species of plants. Mannose can relieve the inhibition of gravitropic bending by DDG. The pea mutant "Ageotropum", which does not respond to gravity when etiolated, also fails to produce callose in response to a gravitic stimulus. These correlations indicate that callose deposition may be a biochemical component of gravitropism in plant shoots.

Description: Key tool of Redken Laboratories new line of hair styling appliances is an instrument called a thermograph, a heat sensing device originally developed by Hughes Aircraft Co. under U.S. Army and NASA funding. Redken Laboratories bought one of the early models of the Hughes Probeye Thermal Video System or TVS which detects the various degrees of heat emitted by an object and displays the results in color on a TV monitor with colors representing different temperatures detected.

Description: Four-day-old pine seedlings and mung bean and oat seeds were prepared for flight on the third Space Transport System Mission (STS-3). The seedlings and seeds were planted in six mini-growth chambers (two chambers per species) which were placed in a plant growth unit (PGU). Another set of seedlings and seeds was prepared and placed in another PGU as the 1 g control. The flight PGU was positioned in the orbiter mid-deck locker area about 11 h prior to launch. The pine seedlings and germinating mung bean and oat seeds were exposed to 194 h of microgravity. The PGU was received at a temporary laboratory about 75 min post-landing. Plants were observed, photographed and the atmospheric gases analyzed at the landing site. The plants were then brought to our Houston laboratory where they were measured and analyzed for lignin and protein content and for phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) and peroxidase activities. Flight seedlings were shorter than the controls in all three species. Twenty-five to 40 per cent of the mung bean and oat roots were growing upward, and the mung beans showed signs of disorientation. Flight mung beans showed a significant reduction in lignin content in comparison to the controls, and PAL and peroxidase activities were reduced in flight pine seedlings. The results generally support the postulate that lignin synthesis is reduced in near-weightlessness and show other interesting findings.

Description: Alterations in internal partitioning of carbon were evaluated in plants exposed to limited nitrogen supply. Vegetative, nonnodulated soybean plants (Glycine max (L.) Merrill, 'Ransom') were grown for 21 days with 1.0 mM NO3- and then exposed to solutions containing 1.0, 0.1, or 0.0 mM NO3- for a 25-day treatment period. In nitrogen-limited plants, there were decreases in emergence of new leaves and in the expansion rate and final area at full expansion of individual leaves. As indicated by alterations in accumulation of dry weight, a larger proportion of available carbon in the plant was partitioned to the roots with decreased availability of nitrogen. Partitioning of reduced nitrogen to the root also was increased and, in plants devoid of an external supply, considerable redistribution of reduced nitrogen from leaves to the root occurred. The general decrease in growth potential and sink strength for nutrients in leaves of nitrogen-limited plants suggested that factors other than simply availability of nitrogen likely were involved in the restriction of growth in the leaf canopy and the associated increase in carbon allocation to the roots.

Description: Many gram-positive bacteria form substituted polymers of glycerol and ribitol phosphate esters known as teichoic acids. Utilizing the relative specificity of cold concentrated hydrofluoric acid in the hydrolysis of polyphosphate esters it proved possible to quantitatively assay the teichoic acid-derived glycerol and ribitol from gram-positive bacteria added to various soils and sediments. The lipids are first removed from the soils or sediments with a one phase chloroform-methanol extraction and the lipid extracted residue is hydrolyzed with cold concentrated hydrofluoric acid. To achieve maximum recovery of the teichoic acid ribitol, a second acid hydrolysis of the aqueous extract is required. The glycerol and ribitol are then acetylated after neutralization and analyzed by capillary gas-liquid chromatography. This technique together with measures of the total phospholipid, the phospholipid fatty acid, the muramic acid and the hydroxy fatty acids of the lipopolysaccharide lipid A of the gram-negative bacteria makes it possible to describe the community structure environmental samples. The proportion of gram-positive bacteria measured as the teichoic acid glycerol and ribitol is higher in soils than in sediments and increases with depth in both.

Description: A treatment period as brief as 8 h in 10(-3) M EGTA completely blocks gravitropism in 70-80% of the treated coleoptiles of oats (Avena sativa L. cv. Garry) without inhibiting growth. Only about 10% of the plants perfused in water failed to exhibit gravitropism. Subsequent perfusion of EGTA-treated plants with calcium completely restores gravitropism; post-perfusion with water does not. After perfusion in water for 10 h, gravistimulated oat coleoptile segments show the same asymmetry of 45Ca distribution as reported earlier for non-perfused coleoptiles and sunflower hypocotyls. The degree of this asymmetry is reduced in those coleoptiles partially inhibited by perfusion in EGTA and is essentially absent in those coleoptiles completely inhibited by EGTA. The fact that calcium reverses the inhibitory effects of EGTA on gravitropism indicates that the inhibition was probably due to a reduction in the availability of free calcium required for one or more of the transduction steps of gravitropism.

Description: We report a pioneering attempt to use the NASA Shuttle Orbiter Middeck locker facility to acquire data on plant growth in near weightlessness. The information was needed to confirm the suitability of a plant culture system to be used in an experiment scheduled for the first Spacelab mission. The test was designed to measure germination and early seedling growth in a series of soil mixtures covering a range of water contents. Empirical determination of growth dependence on moisture content was required because both in theory and from Soviet flight experience it seemed possible that the dependence function in near weightlessness could be critically different from what we had measured on Earth. Such a difference could invalidate the future test in Spacelab 1 of gravity dependence of the differential growth process, circumnutation. After two failed attempts sufficient measurements were obtained from the third Shuttle Orbiter flight test to confirm the biocompatibility of the plant culture system--viz. soil moisture content variations had the same effect in near weightlessness as at 1 g. A number of supplemental observations about middeck locker conditions in Shuttle flight are presented. These may prove helpful to would-be experimenters who will plan to take advantage of future Shuttle flight opportunities for biological research.

Description: Root tips prepared for metaphase chromosome analysis from seedlings germinated under microgravity on the Space Shuttle (oats and mung bean) or which were exposed to space flight as very young seedlings (sunflower) have been examined. Experimental constraints did not permit pre-fixation in space with a cytostatic agent but arrest was achieved in the first division cycle on Earth after recovery. The number of cells in division was significantly depressed in all three species. Several chromosomal abnormalities were encountered in flight material. Bridge formation was seen in sunflower, as was aneuploidy. Breakage and fracture of chromosomes was prevalent in oats. No aberrant features could be detected in the chromosomes of mung bean. These results, although preliminary, should serve to alert investigators of the need to assess carefully as many aspects of cell division in higher plants exposed to space flight conditions as possible.

Description: Several media were tested for the extent to which they promoted high fertilization efficiencies in ovulated, stripped Xenopus eggs. One medium was selected for maintaining eggs in a 'delayed fertilization' (DelF) condition. DelF eggs displayed several unusual characteristics, including shift of the center of gravity, prominent sperm entrance site, and occasional polyspermy. The frequency of normal pattern formation varied according to the length of time eggs were maintained in the DelF condition. Various developmental abnormalities were observed during gastrulation, neurulation, and organogenesis. Most abnormalities appeared, however, to be related to morphogenesis of the endoderm. Primordial germ cell (PGC) development was examined in DelF eggs which displayed normal external morphological features at the swimming tadpole stage. PGC counts were usually normal in short-duration (eg, 5 hr) DelF eggs, but frequently substantially reduced or completely diminished in longer-duration (eg, 25h) tadpoles. Six spawnings were compared and shown to exhibit considerable variability in fertility, morphogenesis, and PGC development. Yolk platelet shifts and developmental parameters were examined in two additional spawnings. The subcortical cytoplasm in which the germ plasm is normally localized appeared to be disrupted in longer duration DelF eggs. That observation may account for low PGC counts in DelF tadpoles.

Description: A dynamic simulation model to describe vegetative growth of plants, for which some functions and parameter values have been estimated previously by optimization search techniques and numerical experimentation based on data from constant temperature experiments, is validated under conditions of changing temperatures. To test the predictive capacity of the model, dry matter accumulation in the leaves, stems, and roots of tobacco plants (Nicotiana tabacum L.) was measured at 2- or 3-day intervals during a 5-week period when temperatures in controlled-environment rooms were programmed for changes at weekly and daily intervals and in ascending or descending sequences within a range of 14 to 34 degrees C. Simulations of dry matter accumulation and distribution were carried out using the programmed changes for experimental temperatures and compared with the measured values. The agreement between measured and predicted values was close and indicates that the temperature-dependent functional forms derived from constant-temperature experiments are adequate for modelling plant growth responses to conditions of changing temperatures with switching intervals as short as 1 day.

Description: Studies from this laboratory have shown that either central or peripheral administration of clonidine, the alpha(sub 2)-adrenoceptor agonist, can attenuate a variety of dipsogenic stimuli in rats. Further, yohimbine and tolazoline, alpha(sub 2)-adrenoceptor antagonists, augment the drinking response to both peripherally administered isoproterenol and angiotensin 2. Studies reported here establish a dose-inhibition relationship between the dose of clonidine administered (2 to 32 micrograms/kg) intracerebroventricularly (IVT) and inhibition of the drinking response to peripherally administered angiotensin 2 (200 micrograms/kg, SC). DI(sub 50) was approximately 4 micrograms/kg. Yohimbine (300 micrograms/kg, SC) reversed the antidipsogenic effect of centrally administered clonidine (32 micrograms/kg, IVT) on angiotensin 2-induced (200 micrograms/kg, SC) water intake. Phenylephrine, an alpha(sub 2)-adrenoceptor agonist, administered IVT (40 and 80 micrograms/kg) also inhibited angiotensin 2-induced drinking in a dose-related fashion. The antidipsogenic effect of phenylephfine (80 micrograms/kg) was blocked by administration of yohimbine (100 micrograms/kg, SC). Thus, this effect of phenylephrine most likely occurs by way of alpha(sub 2)- adrenoceptors. These results support a role for the pre-synaptic alpha(sub 2)-adrenoceptor in the mediation of drinking in rats. Activation of alpha(sub 2)-adrenoceptors is accompanied by reduced water intake while inhibition of these receptors enhances water intake.

Description: Recent studies from this laboratory showed that l-m-synephrine (phenylephrine), a metabolite of l-m-octapamine, inhibited the drinking response of rats to peripherally administered angiotensin 2. The objective of this investigation was to determine whether the isomers ofboth octapamine and synephrine could inhibit angiotensin 2-induced dipsogenesis in the rat. Of the isomers tested, only d,l-m-octopamine and l-m-synephrine blocked the dipsogenic response to administration of angiotensin 2 (200 micrograms/kg, SC). The antidipsogenic effect of both d,l-m-octopamine and l-m-synephrine could be blocked by concurrent administration of yohimbine (300 micrograms/kg, IP), an alpha(sub 2)-adrenoceptor antagonist. The results indicate that m-octopamine and m-synephrine exert their antidipsogenic effect via alpha(sub 2)-adrenoceptors. These studies add to a growing body of data suggesting that activation of alpha(sub 2)-adrenoceptors inhibits, while blockade of these receptors enhances, angiotensin 2-induced drinking.

Description: Space flight provides a unique capability to gravitational research by providing an environment in which gravity can be manipulated below the Earth norm of 1 to a state comparable to weightlessness. Although space experiments with seeds and plants have been conducted for almost 25 years, we are only now entering an era that promises the capability of routinely conducting controlled plant experiments in space. Results from experiments with higher plants and seeds flown thus far in both manned and unmanned spacecraft from both the USA and USSR are briefly summarized. An overview of the current status of space biology experimentation as it relates to plants is presented and present and future opportunities to conduct plant experiments under space flight conditions are discussed.

Description: The anatomy and fine structure of roots from oat and mung bean seedlings, grown under microgravity conditions for 8 days aboard the Space Shuttle, was examined and compared to that of roots from ground control plants grown under similar conditions. Roots from both sets of oat seedlings exhibited characteristic monocotyledonous tissue organization and normal ultrastructural features, except for cortex cell mitochondria, which exhibited a 'swollen' morphology. Various stages of cell division were observed in the meristematic tissues of oat roots. Ground control and flight-grown mung bean roots also showed normal tissue organization, but root cap cells in the flight-grown roots were collapsed and degraded in appearance, especially at the cap periphery. At the ultrastructural level, these cells exhibited a loss of organelle integrity and a highly-condensed cytoplasm. This latter observation perhaps suggests a differing tissue sensitivity for the two species to growth conditions employed in space flight. The basis for abnormal root cap cell development is not understood, but the loss of these putative gravity-sensing cells holds potential significance for long term plant growth orientation during space flight.

Description: Prochloron is a genus of prokaryotic algae with photosynthetic pigments like those of chlorophytes. Prochlorophytes are almost invariably found associated as symbionts with marine protochordates (didemnid ascidians), and so far none has been successfully grown in sustained culture away from in host. Based on materials collected from nature, information of various sorts (biochemical, physiological, cytological and fine-structural) has been obtained, indicating many resemblances (and probably close phylogenetic affinities) between prochlorophytes and cyanophytes. Nevertheless they are distinguished by certain unique combinations of characters. Some of the data support the symbiogenesis theory for the origin of green-plant chloroplasts. Other possibilities are briefly discussed.

Description: Genera, families, and possibly orders of basidiomycetous yeasts can be defined by 25S rRNA homology and correlated phenotypic characters. The teleomorphic genera Filobasidium, Leucosporidium, and Rhodosporidium have greater than 96 relative binding percent (rb%) intrageneric 25S rRNA homology and significant intergeneric separation from each other and from Filobasidiella. The anamorphic genus Cryptococcus can be defined by morphology (monopolar budding), colony color, and greater than 75 rb% intrageneric homology; Vanrija is heterogeneous. Agaricostilbum (Phragmobasidiomycetes, Auriculariales), Hansenula (Ascomycotera, Endomycota), Tremella (Phragmobasidiomycetes, Tremellales), and Ustilago (Ustomycota, Ustilaginales) appear equally unrelated to the Cryptococcus, Filobasidiella, and Rhodosporidium spp. used as probes. The Filobasidiaceae and Sporidiaceae, Filobasidiales and Sporidiales, form coherent homology groups which appear to have undergone convergent 25S rRNA evolution, since their relatedness is much greater than that indicated by 5S rRNA homology. Ribosomal RNA homologies do not appear to measure evolutionary distance.

Description: The negative gravitropic response in the grass leaf-sheath pulvinus is a consequence of cell elongation involving all cells except those of the uppermost region of the upper flank of an horizontally oriented pulvinus. The lowermost layer of cells elongate maximally, and the regions in between elongate to intermediate extents. The resulting curvatures of a responding pulvinus can be expressed mathematically by relating the angle of curvature (theta) to the original length (L0) and the maximal length of the lower surface (L1) and the diameter of the organ (D), using the equation, theta = (L1-L0)/D, where theta is in radians. The elongation response (S) of any individual cells within the pulvinus can be expressed by the equation, S = 0.5 - r cos theta, where r is the radius of the pulvinus and theta is in degrees. Microscopic measurement of cell lengths in different regions of the pulvinus supports the mathematical predictions. Indirect support is also obtained from the use of colchicine, coumarin, dichlorobenzonitrile (DCBN) and isopropyl N-chlorophenyl carbamate which exaggerate the inherent asymmetry during gravitropic response. Coumarin and DCBN also induce thickenings in the radial walls which appear first in the statenchyma, and later, in cells located towards the outer periphery of the pulvinus. The distribution patterns of these thickenings suggest that the asymmetric growth response of the pulvinus may be due to a differential and radial, centrifugal transport of growth promotors from the central statenchyma region.

Description: In certain cultivars of corn (Zea mays var. Merit), light stimulates gravitropic bending of the root by influencing events in the root cap. In this paper, we report on changes in root cap proteins which occur as a result of the light treatment and single out specific proteins as potentially having a role in mediating the gravitropic response. For this work, we have used root caps maintained aseptically in culture media supplemented with auxin. If auxin is deleted from the culture medium, the protein profiles observed following illumination differ from that seen in caps provided light while in auxin-supplemented media. We also report that several of the proteins for which synthesis is stimulated by light appear to turn over rapidly, usually within 0.5 hour of formation.

Description: It is hypothesized (i) that the molecular mechanism for the reception of friction and flexure and the mechanism by which auxin enhances ethylene production have in common a release of free calcium into the cytosol, (ii) that elevated cytosolic calcium initiates vesicle exocytosis, and (iii) that the vesicles release a factor or set of factors which depolarizes the plasmalemma and promotes ethylene synthesis. One consequence of such exocytosis should be small, extracellularly observable voltage transients. Transients, ranging in size up to 600 microvolts and possessing risetimes (10-90%) of approximately 200 ms, are known to be elicited in etiolated stems of Pisum sativum L. by friction and are here shown to be elicited by sudden increase of auxin concentration and also by a Ca2+ ionophore.

Description: The present study was designed to establish the role of an essential hormone controlling sex expression in cucumber. A potent anti-ethylene agent, AgNO3, completely inhibited pistillate flower formation caused by IAA, ACC or ethephon. Inhibitors of ethylene biosynthesis, AVG and CoCl2 also suppressed feminization due to exogenous IAA or ACC. Though AVG also suppressed ethephon-induced feminization, this may be due to the second effect of AVG rather than the effect on ACC biosynthesis. These results confirm that ethylene is a major factor regulating feminization and that exogenous auxin induces pistillate flower formation through its stimulation of ethylene production, rather than ACC production.

Description: An extracellular solution obtained from bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L. cv. Resistant Cherokee Wax) stems induced phytoalexin-like substance and ethylene production in a soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr. cv. Wayne] cotyledon bioassay. The elicitor-like activity for phytoalexin formation and ethylene production was increased by mechanical perturbation of bean stems. Moreover, the application of extracted or known elicitors to bean plants mimicked the effect of mechanical perturbation (i.e., inhibition of stem elongation and enhancement of radial growth). The effects of extract when applied exogenously, on elicitor-like activity in the bioassay as well as stem thickening were decreased by aminoethoxyvinylglycine, an inhibitor of ethylene biosynthesis. These results suggest that elicitor-like substances which are formed in response to mechanical perturbation contribute to the thigmomorphogenesis.

Description: According to the chemiosmotic polar diffusion hypothesis, auxin pulse velocity and basal secretion should increase with decreasing cell wall pH. Experiments were designed to test this prediction. Avena coleoptile sections were preincubated in either fusicoccin (FC), cycloheximide, pH 4.0, or pH 8.0 buffer and subsequently their polar transport capacities were determined. Relative to controls, FC enhanced auxin (IAA) uptake while CHI and pH 8.0 buffer reduced IAA uptake. Nevertheless, FC reduced IAA pulse velocity while cycloheximide increased velocity. Additional experiments showed that delivery of auxin to receivers is enhanced by increased receiver pH. This phenomenon was overcome by a pretreatment of the tissue with IAA. Our data suggest that while acidic wall pH values facilitate cellular IAA uptake, they do not enhance pulse velocity or basal secretion. These findings are inconsistent with the chemiosmotic hypothesis for auxin transport.

Description: Mechanical perturbation (MP) applied to celery (Appium graveolens L. cv. Florida 683) leaf petioles or ethephon application to the plant did not induce thigmomorphogenesis (inhibition of elongation and increase in thickness of the petiole). However, the two treatments did cause the parenchyma breakdown which leads to pithiness or increased natural pithiness, mainly at the base of the petiole. Nevertheless, MP (but not ethephon) decreased the severity of drought-stress or GA3-induced pithiness. Although MP stimulates ethylene production, mainly at the middle part of the petiole, it seems that the protection by MP of the petiole may not be directly mediated by ethylene production. The exposure of the plant to drought stress brought about an increase in ethylene evolution. Upon reirrigating the plants, the first steps of pithiness were accompanied by a sharp decline in ethylene production. This decrease might be due to membrane disruption. The increase in ethylene production during drought stress may be one of the events which stimulate pithiness of the celery leaf petiole.

Description: Primary roots of maize (Zea mays L.) and pea (Pisum sativum L.) exhibit strong positive gravitropism. In both species, gravistimulation induces polar movement of calcium across the root tip from the upper side to the lower side. Roots of onion (Allium cepa L.) are not responsive to gravity and gravistimulation induces little or no polar movement of calcium across the root tip. Treatment of maize or pea roots with inhibitors of auxin transport (morphactin, naphthylphthalamic acid, 2,3,5-triiodobenzoic acid) prevents both gravitropism and gravity-induced polar movement of calcium across the root tip. The results indicate that calcium movement and auxin movement are closely linked in roots and that gravity-induced redistribution of calcium across the root cap may play an important role in the development of gravitropic curvature.

Description: Substance P inhibits renin secretion. This polypeptide is a transmitter in primary afferent neurons and is released from the peripheral as well as the central portions of these neurons. It is present in afferent nerves from the kidneys. Neuropeptide Y, which is a cotransmitter with norepinephrine and epinephrine, is found in sympathetic neurons that are closely associated with and presumably innervate the juxtagolmerular cells. Its effect on renin secretion is unknown, but it produces renal vasoconstriction and natriuresis. Vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) is a cotransmitter with acetylocholine in cholinergic neurons, and this polypeptide stimulates renin secretion. We cannot find any evidence for its occurence in neurons in the kidneys, but various stimuli increase plasma VIP to levels comparable to those produced by doses of exogenous VIP which stimulated renin secretion. Neostigmine increases plasma VIP and plasma renin activity, and the VIP appears to be responsible for the increase in renin secretion, since the increase is not blocked by renal denervation or propranolol. Stimulation of various areas in the brain produces sympathetically mediated increases in plasma renin activity associated with increases in blood pressure. However, there is pharmacological evidence that the renin response can be separated from the blood pressure response. In anaesthetized dogs, drugs that increase central serotonergic discharge increase renin secretion without increasing blood pressure. In rats, activation of sertonergic neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus increases renin secretion by a pathway that projects from this nucleus to the ventral hypothalamus, and from there to the kidneys via the sympathetic nervous system. The serotonin releasing drug parachloramphetamine also increases plasma VIP, but VIP does not appear to be the primary mediator of the renin response. There is preliminary evidence that the serotonergic neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus are part of the pathway by which psychosocial stimuli increase renin secretion.

Description: Radiolabeled oxindole-3-acetic acid was metabolized by roots, shoots, and caryopses of dark grown Zea mays seedlings to 2,3-dihydro-7-hydroxy-2-oxo-1H indole-3-acetic acid-7'-O-beta-D-glycopyranoside with the simpler name of 7-hydroxyoxindole-3-acetic acid-glucoside. This compound was also formed from labeled indole-3-acetic acid supplied to intact seedlings and root segments. The glucoside of 7-hydroxyoxindole-3-acetic acid was also isolated as an endogenous compound in the caryopses and shoots of 4-day-old seedlings. It accumulates to a level of 4.8 nanomoles per plant in the kernel, more than 10 times the amount of oxindole-3-acetic acid. In the shoot it is present at levels comparable to that of oxindole-3-acetic acid and indole-3-acetic acid (62 picomoles per shoot). We conclude that 7-hydroxyoxindole-3-acetic acid-glucoside is a natural metabolite of indole-3-acetic acid in Z. mays seedlings. From the data presented in this paper and in previous work, we propose the following route as the principal catabolic pathway for indole-3-acetic acid in Zea seedlings: Indole-3-acetic acid --〉 Oxindole-3-acetic acid --〉 7-Hydroxyoxindole-3-acetic acid --〉 7-Hydroxyoxindole-3-acetic acid-glucoside.

Description: Chilling auxin-depleted, etiolated stems of Pisum sativum L. to 4 degrees C for 60 s enhanced the production of previously described voltage transients 20-fold. It is postulated that plasmalemmal permeability to Ca2+ is increased at low temperature, permitting influx of the ion from the apoplast to the cytosol and thereby promoting production of transients. Heating to 40 degrees C or 45 degrees C elicits no increase in transients, and heating to 50 degrees C leads to loss of turgor.

Description: The endosymbiotic hypothesis for the origin of the eukaryotic cell has been applied to the origin of the mitochondria and chloroplasts. However as has been pointed out by Mereschowsky in 1905, it should also be applied to the nucleus as well. If the nucleus, mitochondria and chloroplasts are endosymbionts, then it is likely that the organism that did the engulfing was not a DNA-based organism. In fact, it is useful to postulate that this organism was a primitive RNA-based organism. This hypothesis would explain the preponderance of RNA viruses found in eukaryotic cells. The centriole and basal body do not have a double membrane or DNA. Like all MTOCs (microtubule organising centres), they have a structural or morphic RNA implicated in their formation. This would argue for their origin in the early RNA-based organism rather than in an endosymbiotic event involving bacteria. Finally, the eukaryotic cell uses RNA in ways quite unlike bacteria, thus pointing to a greater emphasis of RNA in both control and structure in the cell. The origin of the eukaryotic cell may tell us why it rather than its prokaryotic relative evolved into the metazoans who are reading this paper.

Description: Seedlings of Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. cv Rutgers emit a pulse of ethylene during the first 2 to 4 minutes following horizontal placement. Because this burst appears too rapid and brief to be mediated by increase in net activity of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid synthase, it might result form accelerated transformation of vacuolar 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid to ethylene.

Description: Apparatus for operating on the brain with minimal disturbances thereto, including a bullet-shaped expandable device with an end that can be closed for insertion through a small hole in the brain. The device can be expanded after insertion to leave an air pocket through which to extend viewing and cutting devices which enable operation on tumors or the like that lie at the end of the expanded device. A set of probes of varying diameters are also provided, to progressively enlarge a passage leading to the tumor, prior to inserting the expandable device.

Description: Subcutaneous administration of 1-5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP), the precursor of serotonin, to female rats induces copious drinking accompanied by activation of the renin-angiotensin system. Neither a reduction in blood pressure nor body temperature accompanied administration of 5-HTP. The objective of the present study was to determine whether serotonin-induced dipsogenesis, like that of 5-HTP, is mediated via the renin-angiotensin system. Serotonin (2 mg/kg, SC)-induced drinking was inhibited by the dopaminergic antagonist, haloperidol (150 /micro g/kg, IP), which also inhibits angiotensin II-induced drinking, Both captopril (35 mg/kg, IP), an angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor, and propranolol (6 micro g/kg, IP), a beta-adrenergic antagonist, blocked serotonin-induced dipsogenesis. The alpha(sub a),-adrenergic agonist, clonidine (6.25 micro g/kg, SC), which suppresses renin release from the kidney, attenuated serotonin-induced water intake. The dipsogenic responses to submaximal concentrations of both serotonin (1 mg/kg, SC) and isoproterenol (8 micro g/kg, SC) were additive rather than interactive suggesting that similar pathways mediate both responses. The serotonergic receptor antagonist, methysergide (3 mg/kg, IP), inhibited serotonin-induced drinking but had no effect on isoproterenol (25micro g/kg, SC)-induced dipsogenesis. However, neither serotonin (2 mg/kg, SC) nor isoproterenol (25 micro g/kg, SC)-induced drinking was inhibited by cinansefin (25 micro g/kg, IP). These data indicate that serotonin induces drinking in rats via the renin-angiotensin system. However, the results of the studies using methysergide suggest that scrotonin appears to act at a point prior to activation of beta-adrenoceptors in the pathway leading to release of renin from the kidneys.

Description: Subcutaneous administration of the alpha(sub 2)-adrenoreceptor antagonists, yohimbine and tolazoline, at doses up to 1000 micro-g/kg, had no effect on water intake of female rats. However, when these compounds were administered SC in combination with either the beta-adrenoreceptor agonist, isoproterenol (10 to 25 micro-g/kg, SC), or with angiotensin 2 (200 micro-g/kg, SC). water intake was enhanced. In contrast, intraventricular administration of either tolazoline (10 and 20 micro-g/kg) or yohimbine (300 micro-g/kg) failed to augment the dipsogenic response to angiotensin 2 (150 micro-g/kg, SC). Thus, the enhancing effect of these alpha(sub 2)-adrenoreceptor antagonists on isoproterenol- and angiotensin 2-induced water intakes appears to be manifested peripherally, rather than centrally. In view of the fact that clonidine, an alpha(sub 2)-adrenoreceptor agonist, has been shown to inhibit water intake induced by both isoproterenol and angiotensin 2, the results suggest that the alpha(sub 2)-adrenoreceptor may play a role in modulating water intake induced by these two dipsogenic agents.

Description: Methane-forming bacteria contain unusual phytanylglycerol ether phospholipids which can be extracted from the bacteria in sediments and assayed quantitatively by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In this procedure the lipids were extracted, the phospholipids recovered, hydrolyzed, purified by thin layer chromatography, derivatized and assayed by HPLC. Ether lipids were recovered quantitatively from Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum and sediments at levels as low as 8 x 10(-14) moles. In freshwater and marine sediments the flux of methane to the atmosphere and the methane levels in the pore water reflects the recovery of the phytanyl glycerol ether lipid 'signature'. The proportion of the ether phospholipid to the total recoverable phospholipid was highest in anaerobic digester sewage sludge and deeper subsurface freshwater sediment horizons.

Description: Several levels of photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) were tested for effects on growth of 4 cultivars of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) under controlled-environment conditions. Growth of 'Salad Bowl', 'Bibb', and 'Ruby' was greater at 932 micromoles s-1 m-2 than at 〈 or = 644 micromoles s-1 m-2 under a 16-hour photoperiod. Thirty mM NO3- or 5 mM NH4+ + 25 mM NO3- increased leaf dry weight while reducing leaf chlorosis in 'Salad Bowl' and 'Grand Rapids' relative to that with 15 mM NO3-, and reduced leaf purpling in 'Bibb' and 'Ruby' with little or no effect on yield. Continuous illumination with 455 or 918 micromoles s-1 m-2 stimulated yield of 'Salad Bowl' and 'Bibb' when 30 mM N as NH4+ + NO3- was used relative to that with 15 mM NO3-.

Description: A device for controlling flow of fluid to and from a resilient inflatable cuff implanted about the urethra to control flow of urine therethrough. The device comprises a flexible bulb reservoir and a control unit that includes a manually operated valve that opens automatically when the bulb is squeezed to force fluid into the cuff for closing the urethra. The control unit also includes a movable valve seat member having a relatively large area exposed to pressure of fluid in a chamber that is connected to the cuff and which moves to a position in which the valve member is unseated by an abutment when fluid pressure in the chamber exceeds a predetermined value to thereby relieve excess fluid pressure in the cuff. The arrangement is such that the valve element is held closed against the seat member by the full differential in fluid pressures acting on both sides of the valve element until the seat member is moved away from the valve element to thus insure positive closing of the valve element until the seat member is moved out of engagement with the valve element by excess pressure differential.

Description: The OSS-1 Payload of nine experiments was carried on the STS-3 Space Shuttle flight in March of 1982. The OSS-1 Payload contained four instruments that evaluated specific aspects of the Orbiter's environment, including the levels of particulate, gaseous and electromagnetic emissions given off by the Orbiter, and the interactions between the Orbiter and the surrounding plasma. In addition to these environmental observations, these instruments performed scientific investigations in astronomy and in space plasma physics, including active experiments in electron beam propagation. Other experiments were in the areas of solar physics, plant growth, micrometeorite studies and the technology of actively controlled heat pipes. We present the initial results from these experiments, with some implications of these results for future operation of space experiments from the Shuttle payload bay. One major result was the unexpected discovery of a faint surface-induced optical glow created near the Shuttle surfaces by impacts of ambient atmospheric atoms and molecules.

Description: Specially formulated derivatives of an unusual basic compound known as Alcide may be the answer to effective treatment and prevention of the disease bovine mastitis, a bacterial inflammation of a cow's mammary gland that results in loss of milk production and in extreme cases, death. Manufactured by Alcide Corporation the Alcide compound has killed all tested bacteria, virus and fungi, shortly after contact, with minimal toxic effects on humans or animals. Alcide Corporation credits the existence of the mastitis treatment/prevention products to assistance provided the company by NERAC, Inc.

Description: Several isocyanate and isothiocyanate derivatives Porasil C were synthesized and evaluated for the separation of the low-molecular-weight saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons. It was shown that different functional groups significantly affect the retention behavior of the more polar unsaturated hydrocarbons, and that reproducible results can be obtained if dry carrier gas is used.

Description: MK-421, the ethyl ester maleate salt of N-(S)-1-(ethoxycarbonyl)-3-phenyl-propyl- Ala-L-Pro, is an angiotensin I converting enzyme inhibitor. An initial objective was to determine whether MK-421, administered at 0, 2.5, 5.0, 10.0, 20.0 and 40.0 mg/kg, ip to 96 female rats 15 min prior to administration of the beta-adrenergic agonist, isoproterenol (25 microgram/kg, ip), would inhibit the drinking induced by isoproterenol during 2 h after its administration. The water intake induced by isoproterenol was inhibited significantly by 2.5 mg MK-421/kg. When a similar experiment was performed using Angiotensin I (AI) (200 microgram/kg, ip) as the dipsogenic agent, MK-421 (5 mg/kg, ip), administered 15 min prior to AI, inhibited significantly both the dipsogenic and the diuretic effect of AI. However, administration of angiotensin II (AII, 200 microgram/kg, ip) 15 min after MK-421 (5mg/kg) was accompanied by a water intake that did not differ from AII alone. The drink induced by ip administration of 1.0 m NaCl solution (1% of body wt, ip) was not inhibited by administration of MK-421 (5 mg/kg) 15 min prior to allowing access to water while the drink induced by a 24 h dehydration was partially inhibited. Thus, the drinks induced by administraition of either isoproterenol or AI are dependent on formation of AII. That induced by dehydration is partially dependent, while that induced by hypertonic siilinc is independent of the formation of AII.

Description: Acute administration of the parasympathomimetic agent, bethanechol, at 2, 4, 8 and 12 mg/kg body wt, IP, induced drinking and increased urine output of rats in a dose-dependent fashion. The first significant increases in both water intake and urine output above that of controls occurred when 4 mg/kg was administered. The drinking and increased urine output in response to administration of 8 mg bethanechol/kg was inhibited by atropine sulfate (3 and 6 mg/kg, IP). In addition, the 0-adrenergic antagonist, propranolol (6 mg/kg, IP, administered 30 min prior to treatment with bethanechol), inhibited bethanechol (8 mg/kg, IP)-induced drinking. Urine output, however, was unaffected by propranolol. Further, the angiotensin I converting enzyme inhibitor, captopril, inhibited significantly the drinking response, but not the increased urine output, accompanying administration of bethanechol (8 mg/kg). The effect of bethanechol and the beta-adrenergic agonist, isoproterenol (25 Ag/kg) separately and in combination, on water intake was also studied. Both compounds increased water intake but they exerted no interactive effect when administered simultaneously. Administration of bethanechol (8 mg/kg) to conscious rats was also accompanied by a significant reduction in both mean blood pressure and heart rate that reached minimal levels within 10 min after treatment. Both responses had returned to control level by one hour after treatment. These results suggest that bethanechol induces drinking in rats by way of the renin-angiotensin system.

Description: A method for stimulating in vitro propagation of Guayule from a nutrient medium containing Guayule tissue by adding a substituted trialkyl amine bioinducing agent to the nutrient medium is described. Selective or differentiated propagation of shoots or callus is obtained by varying the amounts of substituted trialky amine present in the nutrient medium. The luxuriant growth provided may be processed for its poly isoprene content or may be transferred to a rooting medium for production of whole plants as identical clones of the original tissue. The method also provides for the production of large numbers of Guayule plants having identical desirable properties such as high polyisoprene levels.

Description: A nuclear morphometric assay for preosteoblasts is introduced as a cell-kinetic technique, applicable to routine histological preparations of mineralized tissue. Because this method is a morphological marker for osteoblast precursor cell differentiation, it provides a new dimension for determining the mechanism of osteoblast histogenesis. Osteoblast precursors of the periodontal ligament are a mixed population of progenitors, kinetically separable into two distinct groups according to nuclear size. Preosteoblasts, the immediate proliferating precursors of osteoblasts, have large nuclei (greater than 170 micrometers3) and are derived from relatively undifferentiated fibroblastlike cells, which have smaller nuclei (less than 80 micrometers3). Increase in nuclear volume, during G1 phase of the cell cycle, is apparently a morphological manifestation of change in genomic expression. This key event in preosteoblast differentiation is related to mechanical stress/strain and may be an important rate-limiting step in osteoblast histogenesis.

Description: The administration of morphine to hypophysectomized rats potentiated the steroidogenic response of the adrenal cortex to exogenous adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) in a dose-dependent fashion. Conversely, the opiate antagonist naloxone inhibited the adrenal response to ACTH. Naloxone pretreatment also antagonized the potentiating effect of morphine on ACTH-induced steroidogenesis in a dose-dependent manner. Neither morphine nor naloxone, administered to hypophysectomized rats, had any direct effect on adrenal steroidogenesis. These adrenal actions were stereospecific since neither the (+)-stereoisomer of morphine, nor that or naloxone, had any effect on the adrenal response to ACTH. The administration of human beta-endorphin to hypophysectomized rats had no effect on the adrenal corticosterone concentration nor did it alter the response of the adrenal gland to ACTH. These results indicate that morphine can potentiate the action of ACTH on the adrenal by a direct, stereospecific, dose-dependent mechanism that is prevented by naloxone pretreatment and which may involve competition for ACTH receptors on the corticosterone-secreting cells of the adrenal cortex.

Description: Black magnetic particles are intermixed with white crystalline otoconia in the inner ear gravity receptors of a saltwater ray. Their size and composition suggest that they are multidomains of magnetite-ilmenite.

Description: Science Applications, Inc.'s ATP Photometer makes a rapid and accurate count of the bacteria in a body fluid sample. Instrument provides information on the presence and quantity of bacteria by measuring the amount of light emitted by the reaction between two substances. Substances are ATP adenosine triphosphate and luciferase. The reactants are applied to a human body sample and the ATP Photometer observes the intensity of the light emitted displaying its findings in a numerical output. Total time lapse is usually less than 10 minutes, which represents a significant time savings in comparison of other techniques. Other applications are measuring organisms in fresh and ocean waters, determining bacterial contamination of foodstuffs, biological process control in the beverage industry, and in assay of activated sewage sludge.

Description: Male Wistar rats were placed in orbit for an 18.5 day period aboard the Soviet Cosmos 1129 biological satellite. The skeletal changes which occurred during space flight were a reduced rate of periosteal bone formation in the tibial and humeral diaphyses, a decreased trabecular bone volume, and an increased fat content of the bone marrow in the proximal tibial metaphysis.

Description: Our review has shown that recent studies with the new anterograde and retrograde axon transport methods have confirmed and extended our knowledge of the projection of the basal ganglia and clarified their sites of origin. They have thrown new light on certain topographic connectional relationships and revealed several new reciprocal connections between constituent nuclei of the basal ganglia. Similarly, attention has been drawn to the fact that there have also been many new histochemical techniques introduced in recent years that are now providing regional biochemical overlays for connectional maps of the central nervous system, especially regions in, or interconnecting with, the basal ganglia. However, although these new morphological biochemical maps are very complex and technically highly advanced, our understanding of the function controlled by the basal ganglia still remains primitive. The reader who is interested in some new ideas of the functional aspects of the basal ganglia is directed to Nauta's proposed conceptual reorganization of the basal ganglia telencephalon and to Marsden's more clinically orientated appraisal of the unsolved mysteries of the basal ganglia participation in the control of movement.

Description: In this report we have attempted to show that "some reality lies concealed in biological variation". This "reality" has its principles, laws, mechanisms, and rules, only a few of which we have sketched. A related idea we pursued was that important information may be lost in the process of ignoring frequency distributions of physiological variables (as is customary in experimental physiology and gerontology). We suggested that it may be advantageous to expand one's "statistical field of vision" beyond simple averages +/- standard deviations. Indeed, frequency distribution analysis may make visible some hidden information not evident from a simple qualitative analysis, particularly when the effect of some external factor or condition (e.g., aging, dietary chemicals) is being investigated. This was clearly illustrated by the application of distribution analysis in the study of variation in mouse liver cellular and fine structure, and may be true of fine structural studies in general. In living systems, structure and function interact in a dynamic way; they are "inseparable," unlike in technological systems or machines. Changes in fine structure therefore reflect changes in function. If such changes do not exceed a certain physiologic range, a quantitative analysis of structure will provide valuable information on quantitative changes in function that may not be possible or easy to measure directly. Because there is a large inherent variation in fine structure of cells in a given organ of an individual and among individuals, changes in fine structure can be analyzed only by studying frequency distribution curves of various structural characteristics (dimensions). Simple averages +/- S.D. do not in general reveal all information on the effect of a certain factor, because often this effect is not uniform; on the contrary, this will be apparent from distribution analysis because the form of the curves will be affected. We have also attempted to show in this chapter that similar general statistical principles and mechanisms may be operative in biological and technological systems. Despite the common belief that most biological and technological characteristics of interest have a symmetric bell-shaped (normal or Gaussian) distribution, we have shown that more often than not, distributions tend to be asymmetric and often resemble a so-called log-normal distribution. We saw that at least three general mechanisms may be operative, i.e., nonadditivity of influencing factors, competition among individuals for a common resource, and existence of an "optimum" value for a studied characteristic; more such mechanisms could exist.

Description: A system is disclosed for monitoring vital physiological signs. Each of the system components utilizes a single hybrid circuit with each component having high accuracy without the necessity of repeated calibration. The system also has low power requirements, provides a digital display, and is of sufficiently small size to be incorporated into a hand-carried case for portable use. Components of the system may also provide independent outputs making the component useful, of itself, for monitoring one or more vital signs. The overall system preferably includes an ECG amplifier and cardiotachometer signal conditioner unit, an impedance pneumograph and respiration rate signal conditioner unit, a heart/breath rate processor unit, a temperature monitoring unit, a selector switch, a clock unit, and an LCD driver unit and associated LCDs, with the system being capable of being expanded as needed or desired, such as, for example, by addition of a systolic/diastolic blood pressure unit.

Description: Head and eye movements in the yaw plane were recorded during and after optokinetic stimulation in squirrel monkeys. 1) Phasic or tonic head deviations to the side of the ocular quick phase occurred in 94% of total recordings (n = 50) during the perstimulus period, and in 75% of recordings (n = 49) during the poststimulus period. Magnitude of mean head deviation was significantly different between perstimulus and poststimulus periods. 2) Head nystagmus associated with eye nystagmus was consistently observed in seven of nine squirrel monkeys during optokinetic stimulation. Squirrel monkeys are thereby less prone to display head nystagmus than either guinea pigs, pigeons or chickens. 3) Slow phase speeds of coupled head and eye nystagmus were subjected to statistical analysis. A highly significant negative correlation was found between slow phase head and eye speeds. The correlation coefficient was - 0.81 at 60 degrees / sec stimulus (n = 119) and -0.72 at 100 degrees / sec stimulus (n = 131). The gaze speed, calculated by summing the head and eye speeds, was 59.1 plus or minus 6.8 / sec at 60 degrees / sec and 92.2 plus or minus 11.4 at 100 degrees / sec stimulus. There was no significant difference between the gaze speed in a free head condition and the eye speed when the head was fixed.

Description: Walt Disney Company activated a sewage treatment plan using NASA technology to create water hyacinths to clean wastewater by absorbing and metabolizing pollutants. Plants have exciting promise as a natural water purification system which can be established at a fraction of the cost of a conventional sewage treatment facility. Harvested plants can be used as fertilizer. They can also be heat-treated to produce consumer energy in the form of methane gas. If an economical method of drying plants can be developed they may find further utility as high protein animal feed.

Description: An automated system to aid the diagnosis of neuromuscular diseases by producing fiber size histograms utilizing histochemically stained muscle biopsy tissue. Televised images of the microscopic fibers are processed electronically by a multi-microprocessor computer, which isolates, measures, and classifies the fibers and displays the fiber size distribution. The architecture of the multi-microprocessor computer, which is iterated to any required degree of complexity, features a series of individual microprocessors P.sub.n each receiving data from a shared memory M.sub.n-1 and outputing processed data to a separate shared memory M.sub.n+1 under control of a program stored in dedicated memory M.sub.n.

Description: Microorganisms in a specimen are detected, identified, and enumerated by introducing the specimen into a sampling cartridge and diluting the specimen with a known volume of water within the cartridge. The cartridge has a manifold and several cassettes attached to the manifold. Each cassette contains a serpentine flow channel having a series of filters therein and a detection cell located downstream from each filter. The flow channel in each cassette also contains a culture medium which is freeze dried and is highly selective in the sense that it promotes the growth of one type of microorganism, but not others. The mixture of the specimen and water flows from the manifold into the flow channel of each cassette where it rehydrates the culture medium therein and further flows through the filters. Each filter removes a known proportion of the microorganisms from the mixture of specimen, water and medium, thereby effecting a serial dilution. After the cassettes are heated to incubate the microoganisms, the detection cells are observed for growth of the microorganisms therein which is manifested in a change in the light transmitting characteristics of the mixtures within the cells.

Description: Twelve young adult squirrel monkeys of the Bolivian subspecies were subjected to continuous counter-clockwise horizontal rotary motion at 25 rpm, together with a sinusoidal vertical excursion of 6 in. every 2 sec (0.5 Hz). Each animal was exposed to this motion regimen for a period of 60 min once each week for three consecutive weeks. Following the third weekly motion test bilateral ablation of the Area Postrema (AP) was performed in eight of the animals by thermal cautery. Two control animals were sham-operated after the third motion test while two additional controls were given the motion tests as noted above but were not operated. The four controls were considered as a single group for statistical analyses of results of the motion tests. After a recovery period of 30 to 40 days, and at a comparable interval in the non-operated controls, each animal was again tested for motion sensitivity for three consecutive weeks. The brains of all of the animals were then fixed by left ventriculal cardiac perfusion with Bouin's fluid and processed for histological evaluation of the bilateral AP ablation in comparison with the control brains. Five of the AP-ablated animals postoperatively were completely refractory to the motion stimuli, two exhibited a decreased number of emetic responses, and one exhibited the same number of responses before and after the AP lesions. The controls exhibited no significant difference in emetic sensitivity on the second series of three weekly tests than on the first series. The results of this investigation appear to be in agreement with the observations of Wang and Chinn in the dog indicating that the integrity of the AP (CTZ) is essential to the emetic response to motion.

Description: McDonnell Douglas came up with a new method of drying agricultural crops derived from vacuum chamber technology called MIVAC, a compression of microwave vacuum drying system. A distant cousin of the home microwave oven, MIVAC dries by means of electrically- generated microwaves introduced to a crop-containing vacuum chamber. Microwaves remove moisture quickly and the very low pressure atmosphere in the chamber permits effective drying at much lower than customary temperatures. Thus energy demand is doubly reduced by lower heat requirement and by the shorter time electric power is needed.