Thaumatin-like proteins and chitinases, the haze-forming proteins of wine, accumulate during ripening of grape (Vitis vinifera) berries and drought stress does not affect the final levels per berry at maturity.

Thaumatin-like proteins and chitinases, which are pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins, were the major soluble protein components of grapes from five cultivars of Vitis vinifera. This dominance of PR proteins was apparent at berry softening (véraison) and then throughout berry development for the Muscat of Alexandria, Sultana, and Shiraz cultivars and in the berries of the Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir cultivars examined at commercial maturity. The M(r) of the major thaumatin-like protein from Muscat of Alexandria grapes was 21 272, and those of the three major chitinases from this cultivar, ChitB, ChitC, and ChitD, were 25 588, 25 410, and 25 457, respectively. The vines in the study were irrigated and showed no obvious signs of disease. Shiraz vines that had not been irrigated throughout the season were clearly water stressed, but had levels of PR proteins in the berry similar to vines that had been fully irrigated. It appears that the production of PR proteins that cause protein instability in wines by grapes may be little influenced by environmental conditions.

Transfusion-transmitted babesiosis in Washington State: first reported case caused by a WA1-type parasite.

Most cases of babesiosis reported in the United States have been tickborne and caused by Babesia microti, the etiologic agent of all previously described transfusion-transmitted cases. A 76-year-old man with the first recognized case of transfusion-transmitted infection with the recently identified WA1-type Babesia parasite is described. The subject received multiple blood transfusions in 1994. Indirect immunofluorescent antibody testing of serum from 57 blood donors implicated a 34-year-old man (WA1 titer, 1:65,536) whose donation had been used for packed red cells. Isolates of the organisms that infected the recipient and the donor, both of whom were spleen-intact residents of Washington State, were obtained by hamster inoculation. The DNA sequence of a 536-bp region of the nuclear small subunit-rRNA gene of both isolates was identical to that of WA1 (isolated in 1991 from the index WA1 case-patient). Effective measures for preventing transmission of babesiosis by blood transfusion are needed.

Children's hypotheses about word meanings: is there a basic level constraint?

We tested the hypothesis that a basic level constraint guides preschool children's hypotheses about word meanings. In the first study, a puppet labeled pictures with novel words. Three-, four-, and five-year-olds then chose referents for the novel word from a set of pictures. A pretest allowed us to select three sets of items for each subject: items that were familiar at the subordinate and basic level (e.g., poodle-dog), items that were familiar at the basic level but not at the subordinate level (e.g., sedan-car), and items that were unfamiliar at both levels (e.g., manta-ray). Contrary to the basic level constraint hypothesis, children tended to interpret novel words (e.g., quadruped) at the basic level only for items where they already knew a basic level name. In a second study, using a simplified procedure, three- and four-year-olds again showed no bias toward basic level interpretations except when translation to familiar basic level words was possible. A third study controlled for the possibility that our use of multisyllabic words might have biased children against basic level interpretations; despite the use of single-syllable nonsense words, children in this study again did not favor basic level interpretations. In the final two studies, adults' ratings of picture similarity and children's judgments in a triad task confirmed that the differences in children's basic level biases could not be accounted for by differences in similarity across the item types. Taken together these results suggest that although other constraints on word meaning may be in place, preschoolers are flexible in interpreting new words at different hierarchical levels.