Showing papers by "University of Birmingham published in 1968"
TL;DR: Environmental and genotype-environmental components of variability III: multiple lines and crosses.
Abstract: Environmental and genotype-environmental components of variability III. Multiple lines and crosses
512 citations
TL;DR: It was found that an enzymic peroxidase was principally involved and not the hemoprotins previously suggested, but probably accepted any hydroperoxide as substrate, and was readily and irreversibly inhibited by N-ethylaleimide and p-chloromecuribenzoate, but not by other thiol reagents.
435 citations
TL;DR: A general method of detecting additive, dominance and epistatic variation for metrical traits I.
Abstract: A general method of detecting additive, dominance and epistatic variation for metrical traits I. Theory
238 citations
TL;DR: In uncomplicated plaques, specific immunofluorescence was obtained with antisera specific for low-density lipoproteins at all stages of development of plaques and in plaques complicated by superimposed thrombosis or platelet deposition.
238 citations
225 citations
TL;DR: The present findings show that the residual, established hypertension is also reversible if oxygen therapy is continued for weeks, and it is suggested that this reversal may be brought about by regression of the muscular hyperplasia of the small pulmonary vessels consequent to longterm relief of hypoxia.
Abstract: Established pulmonary hypertension associated with hypoxemia in patients with chronic bronchitis is probably secondary to hyperplasia of the smooth muscle of pulmonary arterioles. To investigate the possibility that this increase in pulmonary arterial pressure was reversible, the floating catheter technique was used to study the effects of continuous administration of oxygen for 4 to 8 weeks on the pulmonary circulation. In six patients, there was a gradual fall in pulmonary arterial pressure, the mean pressure for the group being 42.5 mm Hg before, and 32.3 mm Hg after, the period of oxygen administration. All measurements were made when the patients breathed air. There was no change in cardiac output. Hematocrit decreased from 51.4% to 42.5%, but total blood volume remained unchanged. It has been shown previously that brief inhalation of oxygen can cause a slight temporary reduction in the pulmonary hypertension associated with chronic bronchitis and anoxemia. The present findings show that the residual...
171 citations
TL;DR: The assessment of scenery as a natural resource is discussed in this article, where the authors present a survey of scenery resources in the UK and Ireland, with a focus on scenery preservation.
Abstract: (1968). The assessment of scenery as a natural resource. Scottish Geographical Magazine: Vol. 84, No. 3, pp. 219-238.
163 citations
Journal Article•
133 citations
TL;DR: The anatomy of the labyrinth of the lamprey (Lampetra fluviatilis) is described and a revision of the homologies found in the older literature appears to be called for.
Abstract: The anatomy of the labyrinth of the lamprey (Lampetra fluviatilis) is described. The ampullae of the two semicircular canals are each equipped with a complex three-armed sensory crista. They may be considered homologues of the ampullae of the vertical canals of the gnathostomes. However, the complexity of their cristae encourages the assumption that they may cover a spatial range of responses to angular acceleration which includes responses to accelerations in a horizontal plane controlled in the gnathostomes by the horizontal semi-circular canal. The otolith-bearing end organs are found to be located on a common macular structure. This is subdivided into an anterior horizontal, a vertical, and a posterior horizontal macula, each of which portions carries a characteristic arrangement of sensory cells. On the basis of an electromicroscopic analysis of the orientation of the hair cells in the three main portions of the macula a revision of the homologies found in the older literature appears to be called for. It is suggested to homologize the anterior horizontal macula with the macula utriculi, the vertical macula with the macula sacculi and the posterior horizontal macula with the macula lagenae of the labyrinth of gnathostome animals. A separate sensory ending in the dorsal part of the labyrinth, the dorsal macula, may be the homologue of the macula neglecta. Ultrastructurally the end organs of the lamprey labyrinth conform with those of the gnathostome labyrinth with the exception of the presence of a new type of sensory hair cell which is equipped with a stiff kinocilium of extraordinary length accompanied by extremely short stereocilia. This cell is found preponderantly in the vertical macula (macula sacculi). A striated organelle in the cytoplasm of the hair cells appears to be uniquely confined to the labyrinth of the lamprey. Morphologically the lamprey labyrinth differs from all other chordate labyrinths including that of its fellow cyclostome Myxine by the presence of large ciliated chambers in its centre in which long and powerful cilia maintain a permanent pattern of four endolymph vortices. The ciliated chambers are in open communication with the ampullae and with the spaces containing the otolith-bearing maculae. The analysis of the functional significance of the anatomical and ultrastructural findings will be described in a separate paper.
122 citations
TL;DR: An attempt was made to identify all malformations among the 190,236 births that occurred in Birmingham in the ten years 1950–59 by examining obstetric summaries completed either by hospital staff or, for domiciliary births, by midwives; and notifications of stillbirths, certificates of cause of death, and necropsy reports of infants who died in the first two weeks.
Abstract: An attempt was made to identify all malformations among the 190,236 births that occurred in Birmingham in the ten years 1950–59. This was done by examining (a) obstetric summaries completed either by hospital staff or, for domiciliary births, by midwives; and (b) notifications of stillbirths, certificates of cause of death, and necropsy reports of infants who died in the first two weeks. The number of malformed individuals found was 3637 (19.1 per 1000 births).
A more complete ascertainment was achieved in respect of the 1950–54 births by following the children to the age of six years and searching hospital records, death registers, necropsy reports, and the City's Public Health and Education Departments' registers of the physically handicapped and of the mentally subnormal. By these methods 2527 malformed individuals in a population of 94,474 births were identified (26.7 per 1000). The malformation rate was higher for hospital births than for children born at home; the difference was due to selection of patients for hospital delivery and not to inferior recording of domiciliary births.
Details of all malformations recorded are given in table 6 and in the appendix. The most frequent malformations, each with an incidence of at least one per 1000 births, were clubfoot, cardiac anomalies, anencephalus, spina bifida, clefts of lip and palate, Down's disease, hydrocephalus, and polydactyly. These accounted for three–fifths of the total. Combinations of several malformations in the same individual occurred much more frequently than if association between malformations were fortuitous. Apart from the well–known associations of cardiac malformations with Down's disease and clubfoot with spina bifida and anencephalus, the most frequent combinations noted were cardiac defects with clubfoot and with clefts of lip and palate, and clubfoot with hydronephrosis and with reduction deformities of the upper limb.
119 citations
TL;DR: In the case of rabbit actin, which has been most vigorously purified and intensively studied, approximately one histidine in nine is methylated and the 3-methyl histidine was found only in one of the peptide fractions isolated from tryptic digests of this protein.
Abstract: RECENT independent investigations in this laboratory1 and by Asatoor and Armstrong2 have shown that 3-methyl histidine is a normal component of actin isolated from the skeletal muscle of a number of species. In the case of rabbit actin, which has been most vigorously purified and intensively studied, approximately one histidine in nine is methylated and the 3-methyl histidine was found only in one of the peptide fractions isolated from tryptic digests of this protein1.
TL;DR: In this article, the room temperature lattice spacings and magnetic susceptibilities of some PdIn alloys, and the room-temperature lattice spacing of some PtIn and PtSn alloys were examined.
Abstract: The room temperature lattice spacings and magnetic susceptibilities of some PdIn alloys, and the room temperature lattice spacings of some PtIn and PtSn alloys, have been examined in the present work. Extensive primary solid-solubility of indium and tin in α-palladium and α-platinum has been found and whereas indium expands the lattice of α-palladium to a slightly greater extent than tin, in the α-platinum solid solutions, larger expansions were obtained in the case of the tin alloys. The phases Pt3Sn and Pt3In have the ordered L12-type structure whereas Pd3In has a face-centred tetragonal (f.c.t.) structure but is face-centred cubic (f.c.c.) in the deformed (as-crushed) state. It was not possible to determine whether Pd3In is ordered because of the closely similar scattering factors of palladium and indium. The axial ratio of tetragonal Pd3In decreases with increasing temperature. The magnetic susceptibilities of the α PdIn alloys have been correlated with the effective valency of the alloys and deviations from the behaviour expected from the simple rigid band model occur at indium contents in excess of 8 at.%∗. The PdIn B2-type phase exists over an appreciable composition range (~16 at.%), and the variation of the lattice spacings over this range indicated that constitutional vacancies are probably formed at indium contents in excess of 50 at.%. The structures and lattice spacings of the phases Pd2In3, PdIn3, PtSn and PtSn2 have also been determined in the present work.
TL;DR: The decline in enzyme activity during the neonatal period was correlated with a shift in the enzyme properties from the foetal to the adult type, and may reflect the decrease in the proportion of haemopoietic tissue in the liver.
Abstract: 1. The activity of thymidine kinase in rat liver supernatant decreased with development to a value in the adult that was 1% of that in the 17-day foetus. 2. The foetal enzyme was more stable than the adult to gel filtration on Sephadex G-25 at 0°. 3. The greater stability of the foetal enzyme to incubation at 45° was attributable to the presence of higher concentrations of nucleotides in foetal liver supernatant. 4. The Km values for foetal and adult enzymes were approx. 2·5μm- and 2·1μm-thymidine respectively. 5. The foetal enzyme was more sensitive to inhibition by thymidine triphosphate. 6. The decline in enzyme activity during the neonatal period was correlated with a shift in the enzyme properties from the foetal to the adult type, and may reflect the decrease in the proportion of haemopoietic tissue in the liver.
TL;DR: Electron-microscopic examination of a large neurone on the ventrolateral sheet of fat body reveals no conclusive evidence of neurosecretion, and in the blowfly larva a neurosecretory neurone is located on each side of the body segments at the junction between the somatic and median nerves.
TL;DR: The supernatant fraction of adult rat brain contains a diphosphoinositide kinase that showed little activity under the conditions used to assay the kinase, but was purified by ammonium sulphate fractionation, ethanol treatment and chromatography on Sephadex G-200, which removed much of the triphosphoinposide phosphomonoesterase.
Abstract: 1. The supernatant fraction of adult rat brain contains a diphosphoinositide kinase. 2. Formation of triphosphoinositide by the enzyme in the presence of ATP and Mg2+ ions was shown with labelled ATP or labelled diphosphoinositide. 3. The kinase was also activated by Ca2+, Mn2+ and Co2+ ions, but to a smaller extent than by Mg2+ ions. 4. In the presence of optimum Mg2+ ion concentration the enzyme was inhibited by Ca2+ ions. 5. Activity did not depend on thiol groups and the pH optimum was 7·3. 6. The dialysed supernatant fraction had no diglyceride kinase activity and negligible phosphatidylinositol kinase activity. 7. Triphosphoinositide phosphomonoesterase was present but showed little activity under the conditions used to assay the kinase. 8. Diphosphoinositide kinase was purified by ammonium sulphate fractionation, ethanol treatment and chromatography on Sephadex G-200. 9. This purification removed much of the triphosphoinositide phosphomonoesterase.
TL;DR: In this article, the room temperature lattice spacings of some Pd-La, Ce, Pr, and Y alloys and the magnetic susceptibilities over a range of temperatures of some pd-Ce and PdY alloys, have been measured.
Abstract: The room temperature lattice spacings of some Pd-La, Ce, Pr and Y alloys and the magnetic susceptibilities over a range of temperatures of some Pd-Ce and Pd-Y alloys, have been measured. The lattice spacings indicate that there is a small solubility of La and Pr in α-palladium whereas Ce and Y dissolve up to approximately 12 at. % at 900 °C. The lattice spacings and magnetic susceptibility results also indicate that the effective valency of the cerium atoms in the α-palladium solid solutions is close to that of α-cerium whereas, in the L 12 -type phase, CePd 3 , the effective valency of cerium is slightly in excess of that characteristic of γ-cerium.
TL;DR: The activities of those enzymes involved in the conversion of glucose into lipid are low during the neonatal period and increase with weaning, and NADP-specific malate dehydrogenase first appears and develops at the beginning of the weaning period.
Abstract: 1. The activities of some enzymes involved in both the utilization of glucose (pyruvate kinase, ATP citrate lyase, NADP-specific malate dehydrogenase, glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase and NADP-specific isocitrate dehydrogenase, all present in the supernatant fraction of liver homogenates) and the formation of glucose by gluconeogenesis (glucose 6-phosphatase in the whole homogenate and fructose 1,6-diphosphatase, phosphopyruvate carboxylase, NAD-specific malate dehydrogenase and fumarase in the supernatant fraction) have been determined in rat liver around birth and in the postnatal period until the end of weaning. 2. The activities of those enzymes involved in the conversion of glucose into lipid are low during the neonatal period and increase with weaning. NADP-specific malate dehydrogenase first appears and develops at the beginning of the weaning period. 3. The marked increase in cytoplasmic phosphopyruvate carboxylase activity at birth is probably the major factor initiating gluconeogenesis at that time. 4. The results are discussed against the known changes in dietary supplies and the known metabolic patterns during the period of development.
TL;DR: Environmental and genotype-environmental components of variability III and non-linear interactions for multiple inbred lines are studied.
Abstract: Environmental and genotype-environmental components of variability IV. Non-linear interactions for multiple inbred lines
TL;DR: Results indicated that initial phosphorylation of the free choline followed by the formation of CDP-choline and the subsequent transfer of the phosphorylcholine to a diglyceride is one of the principal routes by which choline lipids in brain are formed.
Abstract: [Me-(14)C]Choline was injected intracerebrally into the adult rat, and its uptake into the lipids and their water-soluble precursors in brain was studied. The radioactivity could be detected only in the choline-containing lipids and was confined to the base choline. The results indicated that initial phosphorylation of the free choline followed by the formation of CDP-choline and the subsequent transfer of the phosphorylcholine to a diglyceride is one of the principal routes by which choline lipids in brain are formed. Further evidence for this was obtained in experiments in which either phosphoryl[Me-(14)C]choline or [(32)P]orthophosphate was injected and the radioactivity in the choline-containing water-soluble and lipidbound components studied.
TL;DR: A comparison has been made of the milk and adipose tissue triglycerides of rabbits and guinea pigs provided with one diet and of rats and mice provided with another, and the significance of enzymes that synthesize short-chain fatty acids in mammary gland is discussed.
TL;DR: In isolation, phenotypic characterisation, enzymic abnormalities and mapping of mutants resistant to these analogues, the regulation of methionine synthesis in S. typhimurium possesses some unique features.
Abstract: BIOCHEMICAL and genetical experiments with methionine auxothrophs of Salmonella typhimurium (SMITH 1961 ; SMITH and CHILDS 1966; CHILDS and SMITH unpublished) have resulted in the recognition of six structural genes ( m t A , B, C, E, F and H ) concerned with well defined sequential steps in the biosynthesis of methionine (Figure 1) . Mutants of another gene (metG) do not have a specific enzyme deficiency: they are leaky due to a low level of activity of all the methimine enzymes. Methionine inhibits the activity of homoserine O-transsuccinylase (metA) and represses the synthesis of all the enzymes of the pathway (ROWBURY 1964). Two pairs of genes (metA and H and metB and F ) are linked closely enough to be co-transducible whereas the mete, E and G genes are each located in well separated regions of the circular bacterial genome (Figure 3). On the basis of this partial clustering of genes concerned with related functions, it seemed likely that the mode of regulation of methionine synthesis in this organism would be sufficiently different from that of the control of lactose (BECKWITH 1967) and arabinose fermentation (ENGLESBERG et al. 1965) in EScherichia coli, histidine (AMES et al. 1967) and leucine (BURNS et al. 1966) synthesis in S. typhimurium and tryptophan synthesis in both organisms (BLUME and BALBINDER 1966; YANOFSKY and LENNOX 1959) to justify further investigation. Mutants of bacteria resistant to inhibition by analogues of metabolic end products have often been shown to be abnormal in regulation of the biosynthesis of the normal end product ( COHEN and JACOB 1959) and to be readily amenable to both biochemical and genetic analyses. The methionine analogues a-DL-methyl methionine, DL-ethionine and DL-norleucine were found to be inhibitory and this paper is concerned with the isolation, phenotypic characterisation, enzymic abnormalities and mapping of mutants resistant to these analogues. Preliminary results (SMITH and LAWRENCE 1966) suggested that the regulation of methionine synthesis in S . typhimurium possesses some unique features.
TL;DR: The comparison shows that during conversion of mevalonic acid to cholesterol ester in vivo the above intermediates and product are, in the main, bound to the endoplasmic reticulum, indicating this to be the major site of cholesterol and cholesterol Ester synthesis from squalene.
TL;DR: It is suggested that this nucleus in the rat may have a function similar to the lateral cervical nucleus of other species, and that it may receive afferent fibres at all segmental levels.
TL;DR: In this article, the stiffness matrices corresponding to these sinusoidal edge loads are derived, taking account of the destabilising effect of the basic longitudinal compressive stress, not only in the out-of-plane but also in the in-plane deformations.
Abstract: This paper provides the basis for a very general approach to the determination of initial buckling stresses of long stiffened panels in uniform longitudinal compression. The panels are assumed to consist of a series of long flat strips, rigidly connected together at their edges, as in panels with top-hat or Z-section stringers, or in sandwich panels with corrugated cores. Whatever the buckling mode, the individual flats are subjected, just after buckling, to sinusoidally varying systems of both out-of-plane and in-plane edge forces and moments, superimposed on the basic state of uniform compression. The stiffness matrices corresponding to these sinusoidal edge loads are derived, taking account of the destabilising effect of the basic longitudinal compressive stress, not only in the out-of-plane but also in the in-plane deformations. For the latter purpose a non-linear theory of elasticity is used. The application of these stiffness matrices to specific panels is briefly described. All possible modes are incorporated within one determinantal equation. For panels with identical stiffeners spaced at equal intervals, the order of the determinant is independent of the number of stiffeners.
TL;DR: A series of case histories are provided which confirm the occurrence of telocentric chromosomes within the Orthoptera and challenge several of the dogmas upon which chromosome evolution has in the past been predicated.
Abstract: A series of case histories are provided which confirm the occurrence of telocentric chromosomes within the Orthoptera. These cases necessitate a fairly radical revision of ideas concerning the principles governing chromosome rearrangement within this group. They also challenge several of the dogmas upon which chromosome evolution has in the past been predicated.
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01 Jan 1968TL;DR: Biological systems express and reveal their specificity in different ways and at different levels and must ultimately rest on the shapes and surfaces of the macromolecules which contribute to their organisation.
Abstract: Biological systems express and reveal their specificity in different ways and at different levels. This specificity may be manifest in the choosing of a mate or a molecule and in the compatibility of a graft or a pollen grain. It is seen also in nutritional requirement and excretion product, in disease resistance and host range, in ecological preference and geographical distribution. It is expressed in chromosome pairing and the clotting of blood, in gametic fusion and in mating-call. All these properties express the distinctiveness of living systems and must ultimately rest on the shapes and surfaces of the macromolecules which contribute to their organisation. These chemical contours, in turn, are determined by the kind, the order and the degree of polymerisation of the monomer components.
TL;DR: An interpretation of the climatic regime based on the northern requirements of the species in this fauna, suggests that conditions were more severe than for any other entomologically investigated site.
Abstract: An insect fauna of 172 taxa, chiefly of coleoptera, is described from Mid-Weichselian deposits at Brandon, Warwickshire. This fauna includes two species that are now believed to be extinct and thirty-three that are no longer found living in Britain. All but one of these species live today in Arctic or sub-Arctic regions of north-east Europe and northern Sibera-the single exception being an insect of decidedly steppe environments. The fauna as a whole indicates an open treeless habitat closely analogous to the northern tundras of the present day to which several of the recorded species are exclusively confined. Details of the local environment of the times are inferred from the fossil insect fauna. An interpretation of the climatic regime based on the northern requirements of the species in this fauna, suggests that conditions were more severe than for any other entomologically investigated site. A moderate degree of continentality is inferred and an attempt is made to give a range of average monthly temperatures through the year. A comparison of this fauna with other known fossil insect assemblages suggests that these may be of value in correlation of Quaternary deposits.
TL;DR: Lattice spacings have been determined at room temperature for the cubic (C15) Laves phases formed by rare-earth metals with iron, and with nickel, together with the variation of lattice spacing with temperature for GdCo 2.
Abstract: Lattice spacings have been determined at room temperature for the cubic (C15) Laves phases formed by rare-earth metals with iron, and with nickel, together with the variation of lattice spacing with temperature for GdCo 2 The results are briefly discussed and compared with previous work on GdCo 2 The results suggest that in GdFe 2 and GdNi 2 the gadolinium atoms have an abnormally small apparent atomic diameter, whereas in GdCo 2 , the apparent atomic diameter of gadolinium corresponds with that of the pure metal In CeFe 2 , CeCo 2 , and CeNi 2 the apparent atomic diameters of cerium are consistent with the complete or partial transfer of the 4 f electrons of cerium to the conduction band The elements samarium, neodymium and praseodymium appear to adopt expanded atomic diameters in the RENi 2 phases similar to those observed in the corresponding REAl 2 and REPt 2 phases
TL;DR: The British colonies and protectorates in tropical Africa had not been claimed originally because they were needed as colonial estates. Rather, they had been claimed for strategic reasons, and they had to be developed as colonial estate to pay the costs of their administration.
Abstract: The British colonies and protectorates in tropical Africa had not been claimed originally because they were needed as colonial estates. Rather, they had been claimed for strategic reasons, and they had to be developed as colonial estates to pay the costs of their administration. Their economic development was more a consequence than a motive of the "scramble". As an explanation of European rule in tropical Africa, the theory of economic imperialism puts the trade before the flag, the capital before the conquest, the cart before the horse.3