A homologous tandem translocation [45,XX,-13,-13,+t(13;13) (q12;q34)]

Chromosomal investigation of a young girl with mental and motor retardation and congenital anomalies revealed a translocation between both members of pair No. 13. Banding analysis showed that the translocation was "tandem," leading to monosomy for segments in both the long and short arms of No. 13.

Emotionally induced decreases in pulmonary flow rates in asthmatic children

This study found that vividly remembered incidents of intense anger and similarly recalled fear decreased 1-sec forced expiratory flow rates (FEV1)in 35 male and 25 female chronic asthmatic children who had no psychopathology. FEV1 increased with relaxation. Changes in FEV1 following anger correlated with changes following fear as highly as the reliabilities of the responses permitted, although anger produced a greater decrease than fear. FEV1 decrease following anger and fear correlated with FEV1 increase due to relaxation. The amount of change in each of the three conditions correlated with history of emotionally precipitated asthma. This pattern was interpreted to mean that the same phenomenon underlies emotional-bronchoconstriction, relaxation-bronchodilitation, and emotionally triggered asthma. No relationship was found between degree of allergic sensitivity (atopy) and FEV1 changes in any of the three conditions nor did atopy correlate with history of emotionally triggered asthma. These results do not support the view that psychological and allergic factors are inversely related, alternative causes of asthma.

Attenuation of "acute" habituation by scopolamine in the black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus)

The hypothesis after scopolamine attenuates habituation occurring within a training session as well as that occurring between training sessions was tested and confirmed. Scopolamine injections (.5 mg/kg) reduced spontaneous wheel running in the prairie dog. The same dosage did not affect the threshold for wheen running induced by electrical brain stimulation (EBS). Another experiment demonstrated that EBS-induced running declined during a 10-min. stimulation period and indicated that the decline was habituative since the response was repeatedly dishabituated. In a final experiment .5 mg/kg of scopolamine reduced habituation of EBS-induced wheel running during 10-min. sessions.