Dermatologic radiotherapy--R.I.P

A questionnaire returned by nearly 3,000 dermatologists indicates that about 75 percent of them have discontinued completely the use of x-ray therapy in acne. An additional 11 percent use it in less than 10 percent of their patients who have this disease."Hazards" constituted the greatest deterrent to the use of ionizing radiation. Yet the assumption that it can cause skin cancers, in the absence of radiodermatitis, is not proved and its importance as an additive energy to solar radiation is considered to be limited. About one-third of the respondents expressed belief that better treatments were available for this condition. An equal number were concerned with public resistance to this therapeutic agent, which, however, seems to be more apparent than real. Probably the major roadblock was posed by the dermatologic training centers where teaching was withheld despite a rule of the American Board of Dermatology favoring it. Other factors mentioned with some frequency included ineffectiveness of radiotherapy, lack of equipment, and fiscal and medicolegal considerations. This study indicates that dermatologic radiation therapy is passing into oblivion.

Biochemical Changes in Terminal Root Galls Caused by an Ectoparasitic Nematode, Longidorus africanus: Amino Acids

The amino acids of terminal root galls caused by Longidorus africanus on bur marigold (Bidens tripartita L.) and grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) were studied. The galled roots of bur marigold contained 73% more cell-wall protein and 184% more free amino acids. The main changes among the free amino acids of the galled tissue were a large increase (1900%) in proline and a decrease in aspartic acid (56%) compared with the respective check tissue. Hydroxyproline decreased in the wall protein fraction from 5.6% in the healthy tissue to 3.6% in the infected tissue.Percent of hydroxyproline in total amino acids of the wall protein fraction of grapevine roots decreased from 0.7% in the healthy tissue to 0.3% in the galled tissue, and total proteins of this fraction decreased from 9.5 mg to 4.5 rag, respectively. Total protein in the protoplasmic fraction also decreased from 3.0 mg in healthy to 1.0 mg in infected roots. No change was noticed in total proteins in the free amino acids fraction but free proline decreased 40% in the infected roots.The relationship of these differences to the specific reactions of the hosts to nematode feeding is discussed.

Triamcinolone-procaine in the treatment of zoster and postzoster neuralgia

Twenty-four patients with herpes zoster were treated with injections of 2 percent procaine hydrochloride containing 2 mg of triamcinolone per ml. The treatments were given subcutaneously under the cutaneous lesions and in areas of pain. The results were excellent in 22 patients. There was one failure-postzoster neuralgia in an 82-year-old woman. Of 12 patients with postherpetic neuralgia, eight had improvement of 70 to 90 percent and three had complete relief. There were no significant complications in either group.

Lateral Transport of Ions into the Xylem of Corn Roots: II. Evaluation of a Stelar Pump

When an excised corn (Zea mays) root pretreated with chloride was exposed for 10 minutes to pulse labeling with (30)Cl and then transferred to unlabeled chloride, the activity in the xylem exudate reached a maximum about 4 minutes after pulse labeling was discontinued and then declined sharply. The rate at which labeled chloride was transported across the root into the xylem and basipetally therein was on the order of 75 to 250 centimeters per hour. Consequently, symplasmic movement of chloride in corn roots is fast and may not be rate-limiting in transfer from the root surface to the xylem. Experiments on pulse labeling with (22)Na gave similar results. A large fraction of the absorbed (22)Na was not translocated into the exudate but was tightly sequestered in a cell compartment, probably the vacuole.Electron probe analysis was used to reveal the pattern of potassium distribution in cross sections taken 10 to 11 millimeters from the tip. The cytoplasm and vacuoles of the xylem parenchyma cells accumulated potassium to a much greater extent than cortical and other stelar cells. Ultrastructural studies showed that the cytoplasm of the xylem parenchyma cells contains numerous membrane systems. It was concluded that the xylem parenchyma cells secrete ions from the symplasm into the conducting vessels, and it was suggested that this secretion is driven across the plasmalemma by a carrier-mediated transport.

Lateral transport of ions into the xylem of corn roots: I. Kinetics and energetics

A technique is described for study of the kinetics of lateral transport of ions across single roots of corn, Zea mays, in short term experiments under steady state conditions. The kinetics of chloride transfer to the vessels reflected the kinetics of absorption of chloride by the root cells. Efflux from the root vacuoles contributed to only a small extent to transport of chloride into the exudate. Lateral transport of chloride was inhibited by bromide at chloride concentrations in the ranges of both mechanisms 1 and 2 in a manner implicating competition. The uncoupler carbonylcyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone used at 1 mum caused transfer of chloride to cease almost immediately at both low and high concentrations of chloride. Oligomycin depressed transport of chloride to the vessels within 10 to 15 minutes after application at 2 micrograms per milliliter. Inhibition by oligomycin was 75% at 0.5 mm chloride and 55% at 5 mm.It is concluded that lateral transport of chloride across corn roots is mediated by the dual mechanisms of ion absorption which reside in the plasmalemma. Transfer of chloride is inhibited by bromide and depends upon ATP as energy source. Chloride moves from the plasmalemma, the site of carriermediated absorption, to the xylem vessels by way of the symplasm. There is no evidence in these experiments that lateral transport of chloride in corn roots is governed by diffusion at any concentrations of chloride used in these experiments.

Identification of Indole-3-Acetic Acid in the Basidiomycete Schizophyllum commune

Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) was detected in the ether extracts of culture filtrates of indigotin-producing strains of the basidiomycete Schizophyllum commune. Several solvents, known to give distinctly different R(F) values for IAA, and 3 location reagents gave identical results with synthetic IAA and IAA found in the extract. Confirmation was obtained by the Avena straight growth test, split pea test, and ultraviolet absorption spectrum.

Sodium absorption by barley roots: its mediation by mechanism 2 of alkali cation transport

When barley roots absorb Na(+) at concentrations ranging from 1 to 50 mm, in the presence of low concentrations of Ca(2+) and K(+), absorption of Na(+) is mediated by carrier mechanism 2 of alkali cation transport, mechanism 1 being unavailable for Na(+) transport under these conditions. The absorption isotherm depicting the rate of Na(+) absorption as a function of the external Na(+) concentration, over the 1 to 50 mm range of concentrations, shows several inflections. This stepwise response occurs whether Cl(-) or SO(4) (2-) is the counterion, but actual rates of Na(+) absorption are lower in the latter case.When the concentration of Na(+) is 50 mm, and the concentration of either K(+) or Ca(2+) is increased from nil to 50 mm, the rate of absorption of Na(+) is diminished not as a smooth function of increasing concentrations of the interfering ions but stepwise. Similarly, when the concentration of K(+) is 50 mm, and the concentration of either Na(+) or Ca(2+) is increased from nil to 50 mm, the rate of absorption of K(+) is diminished not as a smooth function of increasing concentrations of the interfering ions but stepwise.Together, this evidence supports the previous conclusion to the effect that mechanism 2 of alkali cation transport possesses a spectrum of carrier sites with different ionic affinities.When both K(+) and Na(+) are presented at equivalent concentrations over the 1 to 50 mm range, mechanism 2 transports Na(+) almost exclusively, and mechanism 1 K(+) almost exclusively. These findings support previous conclusions to the effect that the active sites of mechanism 2 have higher affinity for Na(+) than for K(+), whereas the reverse is true for mechanism 1.

Sodium absorption by barley roots: role of the dual mechanisms of alkali cation transport

Radioactively labeled Na(+) absorbed by barley roots was sequestered in an intracellular compartment or compartments ("inner" spaces) in which it was only very slowly exchangeable with exogenous Na(+). Absorption of this fraction proceeded at a constant rate for at least 1 hour.When the rate of Na(+) absorption was examined over the range of concentrations, 0.005 to 50 mm, the isotherm depicting the relation showed dual kinetics as follows. Over the range, 0.005 to 0.2 mm, a single Michaelis-Menten term describes the relation between the concentration of Na(+) and the rate of its absorption. The mechanism of Na(+) absorption operating over this range of concentrations, mechanism 1 of alkali cation transport, is severely inhibited in the presence of Ca(2+) and virtually rendered inoperative for Na(+) transport by the combined presence of Ca(2+) and K(+). The mechanism is equally effective in Na(+) transport whether Cl(-) or F(-) is the anion, but is somewhat inhibited when the anion is SO(4) (2-).Over the high range of concentrations, 0.5 to 50 mm Na(+), a second, low-affinity mechanism of Na(+) absorption comes into play. In the presence of Ca(2+) and K(+), this mechanism 2 is the only one to transport Na(+) effectively, since Na(+) absorption via mechanism 1 is virtually abolished under these conditions.Anaerobic conditions, low temperature, and the uncoupler, 2,4-dinitrophenol, inhibit Na(+) absorption both at low and high Na(+) concentrations.