A 74-year-old man with an enlarging pleural-based mass that was not a mesothelioma.

Soft tissue sarcomas of the chest wall, also known as primary malignant mesenchymal tumors, may be mistaken for a malignant mesothelioma because of their histologic similarities. Reports of primary pleural sarcomas are exceedingly uncommon. We present an unusual case of a primary pleural sarcoma with unique clinical and histological features not previously seen in any other subtype of pulmonary sarcoma.

Continuous monitoring of arylesterase in human serum.

Arylesterase (EC 3.1.1.2) activity in serum was specifically measured using thiophenyl acetate in a mechanized assay at 37 degrees C with 4-bromophenylboronic acid as inhibitor of cholinesterase and hexacyanoferrate-III as indicator. The systematic development of a routine method, apparent limitations of thiophenyl compounds as arylesterase substrates, some kinetic constants of the enzyme, analytical variables such as precision (within-run <2% and between-run <2.5% relative standard deviation) and a preliminary reference interval (19.5-52.4 kU/l) for adults are described.

Receptor-mediated activation of a plant Ca2+-permeable ion channel involved in pathogen defense.

Pathogen recognition at the plant cell surface typically results in the initiation of a multicomponent defense response. Transient influx of Ca2+ across the plasma membrane is postulated to be part of the signaling chain leading to pathogen resistance. Patch-clamp analysis of parsley protoplasts revealed a novel Ca2+-permeable, La3+-sensitive plasma membrane ion channel of large conductance (309 pS in 240 mM CaCl2). At an extracellular Ca2+ concentration of 1 mM, which is representative of the plant cell apoplast, unitary channel conductance was determined to be 80 pS. This ion channel (LEAC, for large conductance elicitor-activated ion channel) is reversibly activated upon treatment of parsley protoplasts with an oligopeptide elicitor derived from a cell wall protein of Phytophthora sojae. Structural features of the elicitor found previously to be essential for receptor binding, induction of defense-related gene expression, and phytoalexin formation are identical to those required for activation of LEAC. Thus, receptor-mediated stimulation of this channel appears to be causally involved in the signaling cascade triggering pathogen defense in parsley.

Signal perception and intracellular signal transduction in plant pathogen defense.

Disease resistance in plant/pathogen interactions requires sensitive and specific recognition mechanisms for pathogen-derived signals in plants. Cultured parsley (Petroselinum crispum) cells respond to treatment with a crude cell wall preparation derived from the phytopathogenic fungus Phytophthora sojae with transcriptional activation of the same set of defense-related genes as are activated in parsley leaves upon infection with fungal spores. A 13 amino acid core sequence (Pep-13) of a 42 kDa fungal cell wall glycoprotein was identified, which stimulates the same responses as the crude cell wall elicitor, namely macroscopic Ca2+ and H(+)-influxes, effluxes of K(+)- and Cl- ions, production of active oxygen species (oxidative burst), defense-related gene activation, and formation of antifungal phytoalexins. Using [125I]Tyr-Pep-13 as ligand in binding assays, a single-class high-affinity binding site in parsley microsomal membranes and protoplasts could be detected. Binding was specific, saturable, and reversible. By chemical crosslinking, a 91 kDa parsley plasma membrane protein was identified to be the receptor of the peptide elicitor. Isolation of this receptor protein involved in pathogen defense in plants is under way.

[Predictors of the course of affective psychoses. A catamnestic study]. / Verlaufsprädikatoren affektiver Psychosen. Eine katamnestische Untersuchung.

A catamnestic study of patients with affective psychoses was carried out in order to identify prognostic criteria of the long-term course of affective psychoses. 34 patients fallen ill for the first time were examined at an average of 6 years after the onset of the disease. 14 patients showed a chronic course, 20 patients appeared not being chronically ill. Chronicity was defined operationally with respect to the catamnestic course and to the findings of the follow-up. The AMDP coded admission data of the two groups were analysed to find out prognostic criteria. The following variables were identified as predictors of a good course of affective psychoses: Vocational advancement and higher monthly income before the onset of the disease, the role of the only bread-winner, symptoms of stupor, sleep disturbances as well as the lack of retardation of thinking and tearfulness. Younger age at the onset of the disease, lacking drug therapy during the catamnestic period and a short hospital treatment during the first phase correlate with a non-chronical course.

A comparative study of metabolite levels in plant leaf material in the dark.

Metabolite levels have been compared in the dark and during photosynthesis in leaves and protoplasts from spinach, pea, wheat and barley. In protoplasts the subcellular distribution was also studied. The levels of triose phosphates and sugar bisphosphates were high in the light and low in the dark. The hexose phosphates and 3-phosphoglycerate levels in the dark were very variable depending on the plant material. In most conditions, hexose phosphates and triose phosphates were mainly in the extrachloroplast compartment, while 3-phosphoglycerate and the sugar bisphosphates were mainly in the chloroplast compartment. Leaves always had a very low triose phosphate: 3-phosphoglycerate ratio in the dark, but in protoplasts this ratio was higher. Detailed studies with spinach showed that metabolite levels were very dependent on the availability of carbohydrate in the leaf, particularly starch. Starch mobilisation is not controlled just by the availability of inorganic phosphate and accumulation of phosphorylated intermediates. Hydrolysis of starch may provide precursors for sucrose synthesis while phosphorolysis leads to provision of substrates for respiration. Starch breakdown generates high enough levels of hexose phosphate to support substantial rates of sucrose synthesis in the dark. Respiration is not greatly increased when metabolite levels are high during starch mobilisation. Higher levels of metabolites shorten the length of the induction phase of photosynthesis.

Regulation of Sucrose Synthesis by Cytoplasmic Fructosebisphosphatase and Sucrose Phosphate Synthase during Photosynthesis in Varying Light and Carbon Dioxide.

The aim of this work was to investigate whether sucrose synthesis in the cytosol of leaf cells is regulated in response to the supply of energy and organic carbon from the chloroplast. Fluxes into sucrose and metabolite levels in wheat (Triticum aestivum var Timmo) leaf protoplasts were compared in a range of light intensities and CO(2) concentrations, showing that sucrose-phosphate synthase and the cytosolic fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase are inhibited in situ when the supply of trioseP from the chloroplasts decreases. Such a regulation might aid CO(2) fixation in limiting conditions by permitting stromal metabolites to be maintained at higher levels than would otherwise be possible.

Experimental cerebrospinal nematodiasis due to Baylisascaris procyonis in chickens.

Avian cerebrospinal nematodiasis was studied in chickens experimentally inoculated with infective eggs of Baylisascaris procyonis of raccoon origin. Birds each received 3,200, 1,600, 800, 400, 200, or 0 eggs, one dose per group of 10 birds. Central nervous system (CNS) disease developed in 17 of the 50 infected birds. Birds receiving the higher dosages exhibited the worst clinical signs, had higher mortality rates, lived for shorter duration, and had the most severe brain lesions. Onset of CNS disease was consistent between groups and averaged 20.4 days, and duration varied from less than one to 23 days. No gross lesions were present. Histologically, multifocal areas of malacia and necrosis, hemorrhage, perivascular cuffing, nonsuppurative meningoencephalitis, focal granulomas, and migrating larvae were seen in the brains. No larvae were recovered from the brains by the Baermann method. Extraneural lesions were limited to focal choroiditis and a granuloma in an extrinsic ocular muscle.

Raccoon ascarid larvae as a cause of fatal central nervous system disease in subhuman primates.

To assess the danger of Baylisascaris procyonis (the common roundworm of raccoons) to subhuman primates, as well as the zoonotic potential of the parasite, 4 squirrel monkeys were inoculated by stomach tube with 5,000 or 10,500 infective B procyonis eggs. Fulminating severe CNS disease developed at 10-15 days after inoculation, and the monkeys died or were euthanatized at 12-19 days. At necropsy, numerous hemorrhagic migration tracks were visible in coronal brain slices. Histologically, numerous migration tracks and larvae were seen in the brain as well as the spinal cord. Larvae measured 60-65 micrometers in midbody diameter. Migration tracks averaged 508 micrometers X 354 micrometers in cross section and consisted of foci of malacia and microcavitation, with an influx of macrophages and leukocytes, and various degrees of hemorrhage. Also seen were extensive perivascular cuffing, gliosis, astrocytosis, and a mixed inflammatory cell infiltrate. Numerous larval granulomas were seen grossly and microscopically throughout the body; they were particularly abundant in the tissues of the head, neck, and thorax. It was concluded that B procyonis should be considered a threat to the health of subhuman primates and an important potential zoonosis in situations wherein infection of monkeys or human beings could take place.

Metabolite levels during induction in the chloroplast and extrachloroplast compartments of spinach protoplasts.

The light activation of photosynthesis has been investigated in spinach palisade cell protoplasts. (1) After a short induction period, maximal rates of photosynthesis are achieved. (2) [14C]Bicarbonate initially labels anionic compounds in the chloroplast and then in the extrachloroplast compartments. These pools saturate within 2-4 min and radioactivity accumulates mainly in sucrose in the extrachloroplast compartment, in starch and in cationic compounds. (3) Enzymic determinations were made of metabolite levels during the induction period in the chloroplast and extrachloroplast compartments. There is no general build-up of intermediates. Perturbations of individual intermediates occurred, consistent with the activation of specific enzymes. (4) It is suggested that fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase and ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase may limit flux in the Calvin cycle during induction. (5) The onset of sucrose synthesis is not accompanied by accumulation of intermediates in the cytosol. It is suggested that sucrose phosphate synthase or sucrose phosphate phosphatase is activated. (6) Measurements of metabolites in whole leaves during a 24 h illumination cycle confirmed that substrates are not depleted during the dark period, and that the onset of photosynthesis is not accompanied by a rise in intermediate levels. (7) It is concluded that the causes of the induction lag in protoplasts can differ from those in isolated chloroplasts.

Enzymic determination of metabolites in the subcellular compartments of spinach protoplasts.

A method for determining the subcellular metabolite levels in spinach protoplasts is described. The protoplasts are disrupted by centrifugation through a nylon net, releasing intact chloroplasts which pass through a layer of silicone oil into perchloric acid while the remaining cytoplasmic components remain over the oil and are simultaneously quenched as acid is centrifuged into them. Cross-contamination is measured and corrected for using ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate as a chloroplastic marker and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase as a cytoplasmic marker. A method for separation of intact protoplasts from the medium by silicone oil centrifugation is described, which allows a correction to be made for the effect of free chloroplasts and broken protoplasts. Methods for inhibiting chloroplast photosynthesis, without inhibiting protoplasts, are presented. It is demonstrated that ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate, ATP, ADP, AMP, inorganic phosphate, hexose phosphate, triose phosphate, fructose 1,6-bisphosphate, and 3-phosphoglycerate can be reliably recovered in the subcellular fractions isolated from protoplasts, and measured by enzymic substrate analysis.

Specificity of the phosphatidylcholine exchange protein from bovine liver.

The phosphatidylcholine exchange protein from bovine liver stimulates the specific transfer of phosphatidylcholine (PC) from rat liver microsomes to mitochondria or phospholipid vesicles (Wirtz, K.W.A., Kamp, H.H., and van Deenen, L.L.M. (1972), Biochim. Biophys. Acta 274, 606). In the present study, it has been established which components of the PC molecule are essential to the specific interaction with the protein. Radiochemically labeled analogues of PC have been synthesized with modifications in the polar and apolar moiety, and their transfer was measured between donor and acceptor vesicles. Relative to 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphorylcholine (egg yolk PC), transfer is inhibited or abolished when (a) the distance between phosphorus and nitrogen is decreased or increased and (b) a methyl group on the quaternary nitrogen is removed or substituted by an ethyl or propyl group. Transfer is much less affected when (a) the ester bonds are replaced by ether or carbon-carbon bonds, (b) the PC molecule contains two saturated fatty acids, and (c) the D stereoisomer is used. It is concluded that the protein has a binding site which interacts specifically with the phosphorylcholine head group and which cannot accommodate substantial configurational changes. Interaction with the apolar moiety of PC is less specific. However, lyso-PC is not transferred, suggesting that two hydrocarbon chains are required to stabilize the exchange protein-phospholipid complex. Interaction of [14C]PC-labeled exchange protein with vesicles of different phospholipid compositon has been analyzed by measuring the release of [14C]PC into these vesicles. Vesicles of egg PC or dimethylphosphatidylethanolamine function as acceptors, in contrast to vesicles of sphingomyelin or phosphatidylethanolamine.