Virulence of Puccinia triticina on Wheat in the United States from 1996 to 1998

Isolates of Puccinia triticina were obtained from wheat leaf collections made by cooperators throughout the United States and from surveys of wheat fields and nurseries in the Great Plains, Ohio Valley, and Gulf Coast states in 1996, 1997, and 1998. Virulence-avirulence phenotypes were determined on 14 host lines that are near-isogenic for leaf rust resistance. We found 31 phenotypes among 277 single uredinial isolates in 1996, 56 phenotypes among 989 isolates in 1997, and 43 phenotypes among 989 isolates in 1998. As in previous surveys, regional race distribution patterns showed that the central United States is a single epidemiological unit distinct from the eastern United States. The distinctive racial composition of collections from the southeast, northeast, and Ohio Valley indicate that populations of P. triticina in those areas are not closely connected, suggesting that epidemics originate from localized overwintering sources.

Interacting effects of multiple roles on women's health

Our study tests several hypotheses concerning the effects of employment, marriage, and motherhood on women's general physical health. These hypotheses predict how the health effect of each role varies, depending on specific role characteristics and the other roles a woman holds. Our analyses utilize longitudinal panel data for 3,331 women from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women (follow-up intervals: 1978-83 and 1983-88). The Role Substitution Hypothesis proposes that employment and marriage provide similar resources (e.g., income and social support), and consequently, employment and marriage can substitute for each other in their beneficial effects on health. As predicted, we found that employment had beneficial effects on health for unmarried women, but little or no effect for married women. Similarly, marriage had beneficial effects on health only for women who were not employed. The Role Combination Strain Hypothesis proposes that employed mothers experience role strain, resulting in harmful effects on health. However, we found very little evidence that the combination of employment and motherhood resulted in harmful health effects. Contrary to the predictions of the Quantitative Demands Role Strain Hypothesis, it appears that neither longer hours of employment nor having more children resulted in harmful effects on health. As predicted by the Age-Related Parental Role Strain Hypothesis, younger age at first birth, particularly a teenage birth, appeared to result in more harmful health effects.

A behavioral intervention for improving verbal behaviors of heroin addicts in a treatment clinic

Positively reinforcing appropriate behaviors improved verbal behaviors of opioid-dependent patients in a buprenorphine treatment clinic. During B phases of an ABAB design, clients received stickers for engaging in appropriate verbal or nonverbal behaviors. Each sticker provided a chance of winning $25. No reinforcement was provided during the A phases. Appropriate verbal behaviors increased during reinforcement periods, and inappropriate verbal behaviors decreased.

Marital status effects on health: are there differences between never married women and divorced and separated women?

To test whether the effects of marital status on health differ between never married women and divorced and separated women, this study utilizes prospective panel data for a large national sample of non-institutionalized young women in the U.S. (the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women). The women were aged 24-34 at the beginning of two successive five-year follow-up intervals (1978-1983 and 1983-1988). The health effects of marital status were evaluated in regressions which assessed the relationships between initial marital status and subsequent health trends in each follow-up interval. In the first follow-up interval, never married women tended to have worse health trends than divorced and separated women for physical impairments and for overall health problems. However, there were no differences between never married women and divorced and separated women in health trends for psychosomatic symptoms in either follow-up interval or for any health measure in the second follow-up interval. Our analyses of cross-sectional data showed few significant differences in health between never married women and divorced and separated women. Taken together, the evidence from our study and previous studies suggests that differences between never married women and divorced and separated women may vary by age and/or cohort. Evidence for the 1970s and 1980s suggests that, among older women, divorced and separated women may have experienced more harmful health effects than never married women; however, among younger women, this difference may have been absent or possibly reversed.

Marriage protection and marriage selection--prospective evidence for reciprocal effects of marital status and health

Married adults are generally healthier than unmarried adults. It has been hypothesized that marriage is associated with good health because marriage has beneficial effects on health (marriage protection effects) and/or because healthier individuals are more likely to marry and to stay married (marriage selection effects). To investigate these hypotheses, this study analyzes prospective panel data for a large national sample of women in the U.S. (the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women). The women were aged 24-34 yr at the beginning of two successive five-year follow-up intervals. Analyses of the prospective data indicate that there were significant marriage protection effects, but only among women who were not employed. Specifically, for women who were not employed, married women had better health trends than unmarried women in each follow-up interval. It appears that marriage had beneficial effects on health for women who did not have a job which could provide an alternative source of financial resources and social support. In addition, analyses of the prospective data provide limited evidence for marriage selection effects. Specifically, women who had better health initially were more likely to marry and less likely to experience marital dissolution, but only for women who were not employed full-time and only during the first follow-up interval. Thus, the prospective evidence suggests that, for women who were not employed, both marriage protection and marriage selection effects contributed to the marital status differential in health observed in cross-sectional data. In contrast, neither marriage protection nor marriage selection effects were observed for women who were employed full-time. As would be expected, the cross-sectional data show that marital status differentials in health were large and highly significant for women who were not employed, whereas marital status differentials in health were much smaller and often not significant for employed women. Women who were neither married nor employed had particularly poor health. Additional evidence indicates that the women who were neither married nor employed suffered from multiple interacting disadvantages, including poor health, low incomes, and sociodemographic characteristics which contributed to difficulty in obtaining employment.

Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist allele (IL1RN*2) associated with nephropathy in diabetes mellitus

We have previously found association between an allele of the interleukin-1 (IL-1) receptor antagonist gene (IL1RN) and several inflammatory diseases, where IL-1 has been implicated in the inflammatory mechanism. We have now, therefore, tested the association of this specific allele (IL1RN*2) with complications of diabetes which have an inflammatory tissue component. We have tested the allele frequency of IL1RN*2 in 128 patients with insulin-dependent and 125 with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). There was a significant association between carriage of IL1RN*2 and diabetic nephropathy (P<0.001, Pcorrected<0.0012). The association was significant in both types of diabetes, but the observed increase was highest in NIDDM, rising to double the control levels. It appears that IL1RN*2 is a novel genetic marker of severity of inflammatory complications of diseases rather than a marker of disease susceptibility. If the DNA polymorphism is associated with altered gene function, new therapeutic interventions may be possible.

The impact of an increase in family planning services on the teenage population of Philadelphia

In an assessment conducted 30 months after a Philadelphia-area project increased the resources that community family planning agencies devoted to teenage services, teenagers in targeted communities showed no generalized improvement in rates of pregnancy and childbearing, in knowledge or use of clinic services, or in attitudes toward contraception compared with those of teenagers in the entire city. Samples of adolescents aged 14-18 from the clinics' catchment areas and from the entire city were interviewed in mid-1988, when the project's activities began, and 2.5 years later. The results suggest that while community family planning clinics may provide effective services to the teenagers who seek them out, they may not be the most effective strategy for decreasing rates of pregnancy and childbearing in the overall teenage population.

Fine structural ribonucleoprotein components of the cell nucleus visualized after spreading and high resolution autoradiography

The fine structure of the nuclear components was studied following mild lysis of mouse or Drosophila tissue culture cells and spreading of nuclear material. Particular attention was paid to nuclear ribonucleoprotein (RNP) constituents, which were analysed by high resolution autoradiography after [3H]uridine pulse labelling of cells. Comparison with the labelling kinetics of various in situ nuclear RNP constituents described previously suggests strong similarities between in situ constituents and structures observed within spread nuclear components. The present observations suggest that the nucleolar dense fibrillar component, shown previously in ultrathin sections of [3H]uridine-labelled intact cells as carrying rapidly labelled pre-rRNA, in fact consists of highly compacted transcribing ribosomal genes. The growing RNP fibrils appearing in transcription complexes of extranucleolar active genes and the in situ observed perichromatin fibrils also show the same labelling properties. This confirms that the two structures indeed represent the same nucleoplasmic constituents. As for the nuclear structures involved in post-transcriptional events, our observations demonstrate the occurrence of a rapidly labelled RNP fibro-granular network. Its granular elements correspond, in size and perichromatin location, to the perichromatin granules seen in the situ preparations and suggest similarities between the two constituents. The results are discussed in the light of other data providing information on the role of various nuclear structural constituents.

An easy guide to electronystagmography interpretations

Although there are numerous text books and long articles written on electronystagmography, there are few comprehensive summary tables to assist in teaching ENG interpretation. The use of such a device, however, is particularly helpful for medical students, residents, audiologists, nurses, and medical specialists who do not interpret electronystagmograms regularly.

Visualization of Transcription in early mouse embryos

Transcriptional activity during early mammalian embryogenesis was examined in 2 cell, 4--8 cell and late morula/early blastocyst mouse embryos. Zona pellucida-free embryos were obtained after pronase digestion followed by a PMSF wash to inhibit proteolytic activity. The embryos were then lysed with NP40 detergent and spread for electron microscopy according to Miller and Bakken (1972). pre-mRNA transcription was observed at all stages. Comparison of growing RNP chain lengths revealed statistically significant differences in the distribution of shorter fibrils between the successive developmental stages examined. The number of shorter fibrils was lower in the 4--8 cell stage than in either of the two other stages. Transcription complexes of ribosomal type were detected only in 4--8 cell and morula/blastocyst embryos. Structures resembling replication loops were observed within chromatin from all stages. Similar loop-like structures as well as individually transcribed RNP fibrils were also occasionally found on fibres emerging from mitotic chromosomes. The results are discussed in the context of recent findings concerning genetic expression in early mouse embryos.

Extensive exchange of rat liver microsomal phospholipids

Liver microsomal fractions were prepared from rats injected with a single dose of choline [14C]methylchloride or with single or multiple doses of 32Pi. Exchangeability of microsomal phospholipids was determined by incubation with an excess of mitochondria and phospholipid exchange proteins derived from beef heart, beef liver or rat liver. Labeled phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylserine and phosphatidylinositol were found to act as a single pool and were 85--95% exchangeable in 1--2h. High latencies of mannose-6-phosphate phosphohydrolase activities and impermeability of microsomes to EDTA proved that phospholipid exchange proteins did not have access to the intracisternal space. If microsomal membranes are largely composed of phospholipid bilayers, the experiments suggest that one or more of the phospholipid classes in microsomal membranes undergo rapid translocation between the inner and outer portions of the bilayer.

Meningitis caused by an alkali-producing pseudomonad

The clinical and microbiological features of a case of meningitis, due to an alkali-producing pseudomonad which closely resembles Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes, are described. A respiratory infection and a course of antibiotic therapy before admission to hospital may have been predisposing factors to opportunistic infection by this normally saprophytic organism. The problems of identifying alkali-producing pseudomonads are discussed.

Use of phospholipid exchange protein to measure inside-outside transposition in phosphatidylcholine liposomes

The exchange of phosphatidylcholine between (32P)phosphatidylcholine lipososomes and unlabeled mitochondria was catalyzed by a purified phospholipid exchange protein from bovine heart cytosol. The loss of (23P)phosphatidylcholine from the liposomes appeared to proceed in two stages: with 100 units of phospholipid exchange protein per ml the half-time of the initial stage was about 10 min and that of the final stage 4 days or greater. Agarose-gel chromatography of the liposomes showed an elution compatible with a homofwnwoua pool od amLL single walled vesicles. Treatment of phosphatidyl (14C) choline liposomes with phospholipase D (phosphatidylcholine phosphantidohydrolase) showed that labeled phospholipid removable during the rapid exchange phase was subject to hydrolysis by the phospholipase, but that the labeled phospholipid left after the rapid exchange was completed cound not by hydrolyzed by phospholipase D. It is proposed that the rapidly exchanging phosphatidylcholine constitutes the outer layer of the liposome bilayer. The long half-lives of 4 days or more probably represent the transposition of phosphatidylcholine from the inner to the outer layer of the liposome bilayer.