Neurotoxicity of lanthanum chloride in newborn chicks

Acute intraperitoneal administration of lanthanum chloride to newborn chicks at the single dose of 250 mg/kg body weight inhibits calcium binding to brain synaptosomal membrane. There is also marked depression in the activities of neural Ca2+-ATPase, Mg2+-ATPase, and cholinesterase after acute lanthanum chloride intoxication. The inhibition of these enzymes in relation to depletion of calcium binding to the synaptosomal membrane has been discussed.

Photoaffinity labeling of Klebsiella aerogenes citrate lyase by p-azidobenzoyl coenzyme A

p-Azidobenzoyl coenzyme A functions as a linear competitive inhibitor for (3S)-citryl-CoA in the citryl-CoA oxaloacetate-lyase reaction catalyzed by the Klebsiella aerogenes deacetylcitrate lyase complex (Ki = 80 microM; (3S)-citryl-CoA Km = 67 microM). Inactivation is irreversible on photolysis of p-azidobenzoyl-CoA in the presence of the deacetylcitrate lyase complex. Mg2+ is not required for the inactivation. Inactivation is blocked by (3S)-citryl-CoA in the presence of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid. p-Azidobenzoyl-CoA has no effect on the acetyl-CoA:citrate CoA transferase activity of both the deacetylcitrate lyase complex and its isolated transferase subunit. The stoichiometry of the CoA ester binding has been investigated by the use of p-azido[14C]benzoyl-CoA as a photoaffinity reagent. The labeling is exclusively on the lyase beta subunit of the citrate lyase complex.

Lysozyme in Schwartz and Moloney virus-induced lymphoblastic leukaemia

Studies have been made on lysozyme in serum and tissue homogenates in normal and leukaemic mice. An increase in serum lysozyme level occurred in mice bearing both strains of leukaemia as compared to the normal counterparts. Moreover, the elevated enzyme levels seem to be related to the rise in neutrophils in peripheral blood. In the spleen and kidney of leukaemic mice, the lysozyme level was found to be lower than in the normals, while the enzyme level remained more or less unaltered in the liver. The findings are discussed in relation to other reports in the literature.

Variations in body dimensions in relation to altitude among the Sherpas of the eastern Himalayas

A biomedical study was undertaken on the Sherpas of Upper Khumbu (3500-4500m), Nepal, and their migrant counterparts in the lower altitudes (1000-1500m) of Kalimpong subdivision, Darjeeling district, West Bengal, to study the impact of altitude on human biological characteristics in this Himalayan population, following the basic design of the IBP/Human Adaptability Panel. The results of the anthropometric survey of the adults (234 males and 169 females) are presented here. The high-altitude Sherpas of both sexes have significantly higher values than their low-altitude counterparts for most of the length, breadth and girth measurements, weight, cormic index, weight/stature ratio, weight/(stature)2 ratio, chest/stature ratio, surface area and body fat.

Second- and higher-order waveguide grating filters. 1: Theory

A study of second- and higher-order waveguide grating filters is considerably complicated by the fact that the coupling between the guided waves and the radiated waves has to be taken into account. In this paper, we review the theoretical calculations of the spectral response of these grating filters that have been reported by several authors and present a new approach based on the use of the Green's functions of the waveguide structure. Excellent agreement is found between the results of our method of calculation and the results of other, more rigorous but much more complicated, methods. The Green's function method is thus a reasonably simple but fairly accurate method for calculating the spectral response of grating filters.

Second- and higher-order waveguide grating filters. 2: experiment

A series of careful and systematic measurements is made to determine the reflection, transmission, and radiation loss coefficients of second- and third-order waveguide grating filters, and the dependence of these coefficients on the wavelength of the incident light. The experimental measurements are found to agree very well with results of calculations made using a Green's function approach, which we have reported in the preceding paper. This shows the Green's function approach to be a reasonably simple but quite accurate method for calculating the spectral response of grating filters.

Malaria in the north-east of Scotland. A review of 31 cases (1974-78)

In recent years malaria has become the most common imported infection in the United Kingdom. This paper describes the 31 cases diagnosed in the North-East of Scotland between 1974 and 1978. Presentation of this disease in North-East Scotland, exceptional before 1974, has become more frequent recently-and this is largely due to the North Sea ‘oil boom’.

Random fluctuations in first-order waveguide grating filters

A simple method is proposed for studying the spectral response of a first-order waveguide grating filter with random fluctuations in the period of the grating. The method can be applied to any grating groove shape, and it can be used to study the effect of both random and systematic variations in other grating filter parameters. The numerical calculations using this model are simple to carry out, but may be time-consuming in some cases. Results are presented for grating filters with rectangular and triangular grooves.

Digital dermatoglyphics of three caste groups of Mysore

An analysis of digital pattern types and digital ridge counts was made for samples of three endogamous Mysore castes, viz., Lingayat, Vokkaliga and Adi Karnataka. The pattern types exhibit significant variations between Lingayat and Vokkaliga, and between Adi Karnataka and Vokkaliga, though, in general, distributional trend of the three principal pattern types are of the same order in all the three castes, having high frequency of loops, moderate whorls and low arches. In pattern types, differences between sexes are highly significant. The total ridge count (TRC) in both males and females is lower in the Adi Karnataka than in the Lingayat and Vokkaliga and the same holds good for the counts on each hand. Bimanual differences among the groups are small, and left hand counts in almost all the digits are consistently smaller than those of the right hand in all the castes irrespective of sex. TRC differences between sexes are not significant. It is striking that by contrast with the pattern type frequency data very little difference among the three Mysore castes emerges from the analysis of finger quantitative features, i.e., in total ridge count and pattern intensity index. Overall finger pattern frequencies of the present caste samples fit generally with those observed in other caste groups of Mysore but differ from the frequencies in Madras samples.

Un nouveau sérotype de Salmonella isolé au Canada: Salmonella montreal (431, 432: c: l,5)

A new serotype of Salmonella, Salmonella montreal (431, 432: c: 1,5) belonging to Kauffmann's sub-genus I was isolated from the faeces of a young male patient suffering from recurrent diarrhoea. [Journal translation]