Phylogenetic relationships within the class Spirotrichea (Ciliophora) inferred from small subunit rRNA gene sequences.

The small subunit rDNAs of five species belonging to the Euplotidae and eight species of the Oxytrichidae were sequenced to obtain a more detailed picture of the phylogenetic relationships within the Spirotrichea (Ciliophora). Various tree reconstruction algorhythms yielded nearly identical topologies. All Euplotidae were separated from the other Spirotrichea by a deep split. Further, a large genetic distance between the marine genus Moneuplotes and the freshwater species of Euplotoides was found. Differences between the methods used occurred only within the Oxytrichidae. Whereas the monophyly of the Stylonychinae was supported in all trees, the monophyly of the Oxytrichinae was not. However, the molecular data support the morphological and ontogenetic evidence that the pattern of 18 frontal-ventral-transversal cirri evolved in the stemline of the Oxytrichidae and was modified several times independently. Our results are also in agreement with taxonomic revisions: the separation of both Sterkiella nova from Oxytricha and Tetmemena pustulata from Stylonychia.

Analysis of the complete mitochondrial DNA sequence of the brachiopod terebratulina retusa places Brachiopoda within the protostomes.

Brachiopod phylogeny is still a controversial subject. Analyses using nuclear 18SrRNA and mitochondrial 12SrDNA sequences place them within the protostomes but some recent interpretations of morphological data support a relationship with deuterostomes. In order to investigate brachiopod affinities within the metazoa further, we compared the gene arrangement on the brachiopod mitochondrial genome with several metazoan taxa. The complete (15 451 bp) mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence of the articulate brachiopod Terebratulina retusa was determined from two overlapping long polymerase chain reaction products. All the genes are encoded on the same strand and gene order comparisons showed that.only one major rearrangement is required to interconvert the T. retusa and Katharina tunicata (Mollusca: Polvplacophora) mitochondrial genomes. The partial mtDNA sequence of the prosobranch mollusc Littorina saxatilis shows complete congruence with the T. rehtusa gene arrangement with regard to the ribosomal and protein coding genes. This high similarity in gene arrangement is the first to be reported within the protostomes. Sequence analyses of mitochondrial protein coding genes also support a close relationship of the brachiopod with molluscs and annelids, thus supporting the clade Lophotrochozoa. Though being highly informative, sequence analyses of the mitochondrial protein coding genes failed to resolve the branching order within the lophotrochozoa.

Phylogenetic relationships between prostome and colpodean ciliates tested by small subunit rRNA sequences.

We analyzed the phylogenetic relationships among the four ciliate classes, Prostomatea, Colpodea, Nassophorea, and Litostomatea, by small subunit ribosomal RNA gene sequence comparison to test several phylogenetic hypotheses that had been proposed for these classes, based on ultrastructural features. The complete coding regions of the prostomes, Prorodon teres and Coleps hirtus, and of the colpodean, Bursaria truncatella, were determined and compared to the database and the literature. The prostomes and colpodeans are strongly supported as monophyletic groups in all analyses. A sister-group relationship between prostomes and colpodeans is strongly supported by parsimony analyses and moderately supported by distance matrix analyses. There was no support for a close relationship between colpodeans and nassophoreans or between colpodeans and litostomes. In all analyses, these four classes branch late in the ciliate tree. This finding further supports the new view of ciliate phylogeny that so-called ancestral taxa, such as the "primitive" prostomes, are in fact derived and that so-called "highly evolved" groups, such as the heterotrichs, branch off very early in the ciliate tree.

Resocialization of schizophrenic patients.

An increasing number of chronic schizophrenic veterans is being discharged through various community placement programs. Because of years of separation from the social changes that have occurred in the society they once knew, these veterans need to be reoriented to community living. This study describes the responses of four chronic schizophrenic veterans who participated in a program of intensive reorientation. After exposure to this program, the veterans' ability to show empathy for one another was more eventful than their accomplishment of specific skills. Follow-up evaluations indicated that the veterans had gained social interest and competence and demonstrated less pathology.