Mental capability of children exposed to lead pollution

'Eleven-plus' school examination scores were obtained for 851 Birmingham children residing since birth in a lead-polluted area and 1642 children residing in two similar but unpolluted areas. It was found that the children in the lead-polluted area actually scored higher on the average than children in the control areas. Within the area of lead contamination, children living closest to the source of pollution did not have significantly lower scores than children living further away. The results indicate that lead pollution of the magnitude reported in this investigation did not have a demonstrable effect on the mental capabilities of children in the affected community.     

Biological role of alcohol dehydrogenase in the tolerance of Drosophila melanogaster to aliphatic alochols: utilization of an ADH-null mutant

The toxicity of the first eight primary alcohols and of four secondary alcohols was compared in a wild-type strain (having active ADH) and an ADH-negative mutant. Differences between LC50 measured in the two strains allowed an evaluation of the biological activity of the enzyme. In vitro, ADH is mainly active on secondary alcohols, while in vivo its main role is the detoxification and metabolism of ethanol. These observations suggest that originally ADH was involved in unknown metabolic pathways and that its utilization in ethanol metabolism could be a recent event.     

Circadian rhythms of serum renin activity and serum corticosterone, prolactin, and aldosterone concentrations in the male rat on normal and low-sodium diets

To investigate the control of aldosterone secretion, non-stress levels of serum aldosterone, corticosterone, and prolactin, and renin activity were determined at 4-h intervals during 24-h light-dark cycles in adult male rats on regular and low-sodium diets. Circadian rhythms of plasma aldosterone, prolactin, and corticosterone concentrations and of serum renin activity were demonstrated during a regular sodium diet. When the rats were on a low-sodium diet, a circadian rhythm of serum corticosterone and aldosterone concentration was observed, but there was no circadian variation in serum renin activity or in serum prolactin concentration. Serum aldosterone concentration correlated with serum corticosterone concentration (r = 0.48) and serum renin activity (r = 0.36) during a low-sodium diet. Serum prolactin concentration did not correlate with serum aldosterone concentration or serum osmolality. These data are compatible with a role for renin and ACTH, but not for prolactin, in the modulation of aldosterone secretion in the rat.     

Partial purification of rabbit aorta contracting substance-releasing factor and inhibition of its activity by anti-inflammatory steroids

Rabbit aorta contracting substance-releasing factor (RCS-RF) is found in perfusates from guinea pig lungs during anaphylaxis. It has been identified as a small peptide which releases arachidonic acid from lung tissue, thus generating prostaglandin endoperoxides and tbromboxanes and causing bronchocconstriction. Anti-inflammatory steroids block the release of arachidonate by RCS-RF. In this activity their relative potency is very similar to their relative anti-inflammatory potency, suggesting that the two actions may be related.     

Resonance Raman spectra of iron(III)-, copper(II)-, cobalt(III)-, and manganese(III)-transferrins and of bis(2,4,6-trichlorophenolato)diimidazolecopper(II) monohydrate, a possible model for copper(II) binding to transferrins

Fe(III), Cu(II), Co(III), and Mn(III) complexes of ovo- and human serum transferrins show resonance enhanced Raman bands near 1600, 1500, 1270, and 1170 cm-1 upon excitation with laser frequencies which fall within the visible absorption bands of those metalloproteins. Comparison of the visible absorption and resonance Raman spectra of the Cu(II)-transferrin complexes with those for the Cu(II) model compound, bis(2,4,6-trichlorophenolato)diimidazolecopper(II) monohydrate, indicates that the resonance Raman bands are due to enhancement of phenolic vibrational modes. For the model (Cu(II) compound, a normal coordinate analysis was used to aid our assignment of the observed resonance bands at 1562, 1463, 1311, and 1122 cm-1 to A1 vibrational modes of the 2,4,6-trichlorophenolato moiety. These assignments are consistent with those made for Cu(II)-transferrins. The latter assignments were based upon calculated A1 frequencies for p-methylphenol (Cummings, D.L., and Wood, J.L. (1974), J. Mol. Struct. 20, 1). The wavelength shifts in the resonance bands for the model compound from those for Cu(II)-transferrins are due to the influence of the chloro substituents on the planar vibrations of phenol. These results clearly identify tyrosine as a ligand in copper binding to transferrins.     

An electrophoretic analysis of RNA synthesis in normal and lobeless Ilyanassa embryo

A primary infection with schistosoma mansoni, of 5 or more weeks duration, stimulated a high level of resistance to a challenge infection in the WO outbred strain of golden hamster. In sharp contrast, the LGN strain showed no statistically significant immunity to reinfection in most experiments and where detected the level of resistance was only about half that observed in the WO strain. Immunity to reinfection was assayed with the lung recovery method which assesses resistance a few days after challenge and with the conventional perfusion assay which measures immunity 6 weeks after challenge. Wide differences in the immune response to S. mansoni in different strains of the same host species have not been reported previously.