Histamine immunoreactive axons in the macaque retina

PURPOSE: The goal of these experiments was to identify the neurotransmitter in centrifugal axons of the macaque retina. METHODS: Macaca mulatta retinas and optic nerves were fixed overnight in carbodiimide and labeled with an antiserum to histamine with the use of an immunofluorescence technique. RESULTS: Several large histamine-immunoreactive axons ran from the optic nerve head to the peripheral retina, where they branched extensively and terminated in the inner plexiform layer, occasionally alongside retinal blood vessels. Other axons that emerged from the optic nerve head ran in the optic fiber layer to the central retina, circled the fovea, and then returned to the optic disc. These may be the source of histamine-immunoreactive axons that have been observed in central visual areas. No labeled cell bodies were present in the retina. Because perikarya in the posterior hypothalamus are the only known source of histamine in the primate central nervous system and because neurons there can be retrogradely labeled from the cut optic nerve, the histamine-immunoreactive axons must have originated there. CONCLUSIONS: Centrifugal axons in the macaque retina are part of the system of axons containing histamine that originate in the hypothalamus and project throughout the brain. Because the activity of these neurons is highest during the morning, histamine might play a role in preparing the retina to operate in daylight. The contacts of histamine-immunoreactive axons with blood vessels suggest that histamine may also play a role in regulating the retinal microvasculature.     

Preliminary validation of the MMPI-A for a male delinquent sample: an investigation of clinical correlates and discriminant validity

Bacterial strains of Aeromonas salmonicida included in the recognized subsp. acromogenes, subsp. masoucida, and subsp. smithia in addition to the large number of strains not included in any of the described subspecies are referred to as atypical A. salmonicida. The atypical strains form a very heterogeneous group with respect to biochemical characteristics, growth conditions, and production of extracellular proteasess. Consequently, the present taxonomy of the species A. salmonicida is rather ambiguous. Atypical A. salmonicida has been isolated from a wide range of cultivated and wild fish species, non-salmonids as well as salmonids, inhabiting fresh water, brackish water and marine environments in northern and central Europe, South Africa, North America, Japan and Australia. In non-salmonid fish species, infections with atypical strains often manifest themselves as superficial skin ulcerations. The best known diseases associated with atypical A. salmonicida are carp Cyprinus carpio erythrodermatitis, goldfish Carassius auratus ulcer disease, and ulcer disease of flounder Platichthys flesus, but atypical strains are apparently involved in more disease outbreaks than previously suspected. Macroscopical and microscopical studies of ulcerated fish indicate internal organs are infrequently invaded by atypical A. salmonicida. This view is supported by the fact that atypical strains are irregularly isolated from visceral organs of ulcerated fish. High mortality caused by atypical A. salmonicida has been observed in populations of wild non-salmonids and farmed salmonids, although the association between the mortality in the wild fish stocks and atypical A. salmonicida has not always been properly assessed. In injection experiments the pathogenicity of the atypical strains examined showed large variation. An extacellular A-layer has been detected in different atypical strains, but virulence mechanisms different from those described for (typical) A. salmonicida subsp. salmonicida, for example an extracellular metallo-protease and a different iron utilization mechanism, have been described. Limited information is available about the ecology, spread and survival of atypical strains in water. The commonly used therapeutic methods for the control of diseases in farmed fish caused by atypical A. salmonicida are generally effective against the atypical strains. Resistance to different antibiotics and transferable plasmid encoding multiple drug resistance have been observed in atpical A. salmonicida. Studies aimed at producing a vaccine against atypical strains are in progress.     

Nuclear detection of cellular retinoic acid binding proteins I and II with new antibodies

Apart from the retinoic acid nuclear receptor family, there are two low molecular weight (15 kD) cellular retinoic acid binding proteins, named CRABPI and II. Mouse monoclonal and rabbit polyclonal antibodies were raised against these proteins by using as antigens either synthetic peptides corresponding to amino acid sequences unique to CRABPI or CRABPII, or purified CRABP proteins expressed in E. coli. Antibodies specific for mouse and/or human CRABPI and CRABPII were obtained and characterized by immunocytochemistry and immunoblotting. They allowed the detection not only of CRABPI but also of CRABPII in both nuclear and cytosolic extracts from transfected COS-1 cells, mouse embryos, and various cell lines.     

A program system interpreting recording of long-latency evoked potentials

An algorithm and a personal computer program for automatic distinguishing between EEC records containing evoked and no potentials, based on the detected invariants reflecting experts' experience in evoked potential analysis have been developed. The efficiency of the programme (its high accuracy and speed, low volume) has been demonstrated in the system for automatic determination of the hearing level by long-latent evoked potentials. It is easily modifiable to identify evoked potentials from other modalities (visual, somatosensory ones) in the systems using the traditional and/or up-to-date computerized EEC equipment.     

Properties controlling the diffusion and release of water-soluble solutes from poly(ethylene oxide) hydrogels: 3. Device geometry

The diffusive release from hydrogels can be determined by both composition and geometry. This paper presents a theoretical and experimental comparison of the release characteristics of proxyphylline in water-swollen slabs, spheres, and cylinders of a urethane cross-linked poly(ethylene oxide). Contrary to general conventional wisdom it was found that practically cylinders and spheres, which have considerable potential advantages for oral delivery, can provide good 'anomalous' rates for which the 'exponent of release' into water from the dry xerogels is c. 0.8 compared with 1.0 for zero order. An exponent of 0.94 was found for release into water from 'larger' xerogel flat slabs thus confirming that these configurations can provide essentially constant delivery formulations from which the active agent cannot be 'dumped'. For up to 40% total drug release, the theoretical release profiles were essentially of identical form for all three geometries in the swollen state and, as expected in theory and practice, showed an exponent for release of close to 0.5. However, the experimental release of proxyphylline was found to be more sustained from swollen spheres of these polymers than theory would predict. The half life times for release were further extended by approximately two and a half times for the initially dry devices compared with the initially swollen ones.     

A point mutation in the glycerol kinase gene associated with a deletion in the dystrophin gene in a familial X-linked muscular dystrophy: non-contiguous gene syndrome involving Becker muscular dystrophy and glycerol kinase loci

We report a family with an X-linked recessive muscular dystrophy characterised by exercise-induced myalgia, recurrent pigmenturia and mild proximal muscle involvement. Immunocytochemical and immunoblotting analysis in muscle, using the antibody directed against the rod domain of dystrophin, revealed a loss of immunoreactivity, but the immunolabelling using the antibodies directed against the COOH and NH2 domains of dystrophin were almost normal. The immunoreactions for alpha-sarcoglycan, gamma-sarcoglycan and beta-dystroglycan were normal. In the five male patients of this family with increased serum creatine kinase levels (from x8 to x50), mass spectrometry screening of the urine revealed a large increase in glycerol elimination which was quantified by enzymatic assay (from x14 to x39). An in-frame deletion of the dystrophin gene (exons 13-29) was found in the same five males and in three carrier females. All the deleted chromosomes also carried a missense mutation at nucleotide 947 of the Xp glycerol kinase (GK) gene resulting in a Thr to Met substitution at codon 278. These findings indicate that the two mutations cosegregate on the same chromosome in this family. This is the first reported case of two physically independent mutations, within the DMD and GK genes, which are contiguous but several hundred kilobases apart.