Showing papers in "Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine in 1968"

Methods in Enzymology.

Abstract: I read this book the same weekend that the Packers took on the Rams, and the experience of the latter event, obviously, colored my judgment. Although I abhor anything that smacks of being a handbook (like, \"How to Earn a Merit Badge in Neurosurgery\") because too many volumes in biomedical science already evince a boyscout-like approach, I must confess that parts of this volume are fast, scholarly, and significant, with certain reservations. I like parts of this well-illustrated book because Dr. Sj6strand, without so stating, develops certain subjects on technique in relation to the acquisition of judgment and sophistication. And this is important! So, given that the author (like all of us) is somewhat deficient in some areas, and biased in others, the book is still valuable if the uninitiated reader swallows it in a general fashion, realizing full well that what will be required from the reader is a modulation to fit his vision, propreception, adaptation and response, and the kind of problem he is undertaking. A major deficiency of this book is revealed by comparison of its use of physics and of chemistry to provide understanding and background for the application of high resolution electron microscopy to problems in biology. Since the volume is keyed to high resolution electron microscopy, which is a sophisticated form of structural analysis, but really morphology in a modern guise, the physical and mechanical background of The instrument and its ancillary tools are simply and well presented. The potential use of chemical or cytochemical information as it relates to biological fine structure , however, is quite deficient. I wonder when even sophisticated morphol-ogists will consider fixation a reaction and not a technique; only then will the fundamentals become self-evident and predictable and this sine qua flon will become less mystical. Staining reactions (the most inadequate chapter) ought to be something more than a technique to selectively enhance contrast of morphological elements; it ought to give the structural addresses of some of the chemical residents of cell components. Is it pertinent that auto-radiography gets singled out for more complete coverage than other significant aspects of cytochemistry by a high resolution microscopist, when it has a built-in minimal error of 1,000 A in standard practice? I don't mean to blind-side (in strict football terminology) Dr. Sj6strand's efforts for what is \"routinely used in our laboratory\"; what is done is usually well done. It's just that …

Normal Table of Xenopus Laevis.

Abstract: havioral performance, and Konorski proposes that the mental experience depends on the occurrence of particular nervous processes in a similar way as overt behavior is correlated with the activity of specific cerebral structures. In Konorski's words, \"In this way, the ultimate goal of brain physiology, consisting in conclusions about the mental experiences of a subject from the electrical activity of his brain, ceases to be mere fantasy and begins to be real possibility.\" If a psychic experience in man is related to definite evoked potentials in the brain, Konorski assumes that a similar experience may be felt by the animals when the stimulus object produces exactly the same set of electrophysiological responses in the brain. This assumption is difficult to prove-or disprove-because sensory inputs produce such a complex spatio-temporal distribution of electrical patterns that their precise recording and analysis is very difficult to achieve. In the opinion of this reviewer, mental activity depends not only on sensory perception but also on past experience, which cannot be detected at the level of sensory inputs. Neurophysiological techniques may inform us about the material carrier (for example, the image of a pencil transduced into a barrage of spikes in the optic pathways) which may be similar in a man or in a cat, but the symbolic meaning is related to previous experience and cultural values which today are still beyond the reach of the neurophysiologist. In spite of possible disagreements in interpretation, experimentation on perceptions and neurophysiological responses in animals are essential for the investigation of psycho-physical correlations. The first part of the book places great emphasis on classical and instrumental conditioned reflexes, the second part concentrates on physiological mechanisms of perceptions and associations based on psychological and neuropathological data collected in human patients. Altogether this is an exceptional book, lucidly written and well documented, which should have a powerful impact on modern thinking about cerebral mechanisms of behavioral and mental activities in animals and man.

The Spread of Cancer.

Abstract: Now that books purporting to show that man is just an ape at heart, and in other ways, are making the best seller lists, a handbook of the tribe itself should command more than ordinary interest. The idea of this book seems an excellent one: it indeed appears to meet its objective as a useful, working volume (a little bit on the bulky side) of the living primates. Falling between Osman Hill's multivolume, The Primates and something like Ivan Sanderson's, The Monkey Kingdom, it can be stated that the illustrations are good to excellent and the information conveyed to the reader (in telegrafese) is quite abundant. Obviously specialists in one or a few primate forms may be unhappy with the coverage. However, the reviewer, as an old (lapsed) Tarsiologist was glad to catch up with recent literature on this wonderful little beast. Only a very few primate forms are at all well studied in any systematic way and it is a measure of our relative neglect of our non-kissing cousins that of the 56 listed genera even the gestation periods are unknown in 26 and only approximately known in another 13. This makes for a large body of ignorance of the endocrinology of the primates, to mention but one area, and generalizations about their sexual behavior tenuous indeed. Identification of species is greatly enhanced by the compendious list of common, generic and specific names, and the volume would be a useful accompaniment on a visit to the monkey house of a good zoo were it not for the deplorable job of binding delivered by the Academic Press. A word about the reference list and index. Considerable reliance on secondary sources means that the reader must fight his way to the originals by a devious route. Figure 3 on p. 41 is a strictly personal example. It is astonishing that Ruch's Bibliographia Primatologica could escape documentation except on grounds of over-familiarity. On the other hand, Goodman's excellent papers on primate immunochemistry (and taxonomy) are all listed but tracing them into the text is a major task and the index is no help. I suspect that other such nuggets are lurking in the references, but not in the index. This reviewer is constantly surprised by the sheer energy expended in compiling longevity records of animals in captivity-and by their almost total meaninglessness. A more useful addition to Part III, the Appendix, would have been the emergence of the dentitions in the one form in which it has been definitively studied, M. mulatta (Hurme and van Wagenen). This Handbook is warmly recommended to students and workers in primate biology and to interested bystanders generally of \"This Simian World.\" H. R. CATCHPOLE Department of Pathology University of Illinois Chicago, Illinois

Integrative Activity of the Brain

Abstract: charges were for neuropsychiatric disorders. It was impossible for such a situation not to come to the attention of command. The response is amply documented in the present volume. Neuropsychiatry in World War II deals with the frustrations, failures, and successes of the administrative and professional personnel in negotiating the Scylla and Charybdis between organizational responsibility and respect for the individual. In a setting where necessity often dictated policy, where policy was not always consistent but quick to change, and where the decision-making apparatus was, at best, cumbersome with little congruence between expertise and power, this was no mean task. It is a credit to the inventiveness and persistence of the people involved that some 25 years later it is possible to write not only of the lessons learned, but also of the changes resulting from these lessons. Nor should the lessons be regarded as unimportant, for they include the conceptual foundations of many current psychiatric practices, particularly in the spheres of milieu therapy and community psychiatry. The book, however, is not primarily concerned with clinical issues. It is, foremost a historical account of the processes that defined policy and thereby determined the clinical workload of the psychiatrist. While there is statistical data on the prevalence and incidence of neuropsychiatric disorders, and theoretical material, particularly in reference to the issues of secondary gain and the relationship between predisposition and stress, the vast majority of the sections on psychiatry in practice discuss the elaboration of the organization of services and the recruitment and training of core personnel. If the reader's interest is in the relationship between policy formation, organizational structure, and program development, Neuropsychiatry in World War II is to be recommended. The reader should be forewarned, however, that the book itself suffers from certain organizational deficits related to the multiplicity of authors and manifest by a degree of repetitiousness and redundancy.

Myotatic, Kinesthetic and Vestibular Mechanisms.

Abstract: This monograph is a collection of papers presented by The Ciba Foundation Study Group on Antilymphocytic Serum which included such noted immunologists as Humphrey, Medawar, Gell, and Gowans who joined with other workers in presenting clinical and experimental studies with this material. The auspicious tone that apparently pervaded the meeting is set by Humphrey's opening remarks that antilymphocytic serum might be regarded as analogous to Ehrlich's \"magic bullet\" in suppressing the immune response and by a comment in the closing discussion about the urgency of its use in patients undergoing transplantation. However, the experimental findings presented hardly justify this optimism. Immediately after the introduction, the expected sequence never materializes and the reader is abruptly faced with a mass of findings in patients treated with antilymphocytic globulin while undergoing renal transplantation at the University of Colorado. The data seem interminable and could benefit by consolidation. More importantly, the investigators admit that it was not tested alone but always in conjunction with other well-known forms of immune suppression. Experimental data in mice, dogs, and primates follow. As is noted in the discussion, however, disagreement is not limited to theories alone but also extends to such critical facts as the effect of antilymphocytic serum on size and cellularity of the chief antibody producing organs. The sections dealing with lymphocyte blast transformation, other in vivo and in vitro properties of antilymphocytic serum and its postulated mode of action contain basic concepts that should have logically preceded the clinical presentations. The ideas and data are clearly presented and repay careful reading. There is a concluding discussion by all the participants highlighted by a discourse by Medawar on possible hypotheses for the roles of antilymphocytic serum in suppressing homograft rejection. Five theories are considered with his evaluation of the merit of each. For the investigator who may be interested in the use of antilymphocytic serum either for studying delayed hypersensitivity, or for prolonging graft survival, the book should prove invaluable since it details the status of work in this field up to January, 1967, including many previously unreported problems in its production.

Lysostaphin: an enzymatic approach to staphylococcal disease. 3. Combined lysostaphin-methicillin therapy of established staphylococcal abscesses in mice.

Abstract: Serious staphylococcal infections continue to pose therapeutic problems despite the availability of antimicrobial agents that are effective against staphylococci in vitro. Much suggests that this relates, in part, to the nature of the basic lesion in staphylococcal disease. The abscess is the hallmark of staphylococcal disease, and many therapeutic failures appear to result from the inability of available antimicrobials to eliminate staphylococci residing in high titers in abscess lesions. Although antibiotics do penetrate abscess cavities in high concentrations,' it has been shown that these agents are relatively ineffective against sluggishly multiplying bacteria found in such lesions.\"8

Environmental factors in emphysema and a model system with NO.2.

Abstract: ImagesFig. 10Fig. 7Figs. 15-18Fig. 8Figs. 3a and bFig. 4Figs. 5 and 6Fig. 9Fig. 11Fig. 12Figs. 13 and 14Fig. 1

Advances in Teratology.

Abstract: Due to the scope of the discipline, an annual survey of teratology must encompass a broad spectrum of findings from the bio-medical sciences. The first volume in this series does range topically in including reviews on aspects of cytogenetic, pharmacological, radiobiological, and immunological problems. If a field such as teratology is to be reviewed, one cannot expect a high degree of correspondence between individual articles; however, one does expect to find reviews that center on teratological problems. Other-wvise, these reviews might be of greater value if included in journals or review works germane to particular areas. In this first volume, the editor has skillfully delimited the presentation, and it is hoped that particular articles in coming additions to the series will be as carefully edited, as well as selected. Certain chapters in Volume I will be of interest to a wide range of readers. The role of chromosomes in Down's syndrome and the Lyon hypothesis are covered in the first two chapters. Mary Lyon's review of the development and evidence for her theory of X-chromosome inactivation in female mammals will be cited for some time. A broad survey on the development of immunocompetence and the significance of the maternal-fetal immuno-logic systems is well done by Robert Brent. In other chapters, radiation, viral, and drug aetiologies for malformations are discussed. With the continuance of this series, one should not envisage a restriction in the scope of the presentation; rather, the series will be a valuable contribution if it can aid in introducing workers in this area to information from diverse fields that has relevance to teratology. This reviewer feels that there is a role for a series that does not attempt to narrow a problem, but rather, summarizes progress in areas that might influence thought in the discipline as a whole. This recent volume is the proceedings of a colloquium held in Warsaw in April, 1966. The speed with which this book appeared makes it valuable as an insight into what many of the outstanding investigators in the field of platelet biochemistry are doing. It also points up one of the things which bedevil even the most talented investigators in the field: the difficulty of working with such fragile cells and gathering reproducible data. The reaction between platelets and damaged blood vessels is thought to be mediated through adenosine diphosphate. It is only natural, then, to find several papers dealing with …

Neuropsychiatry in World War II

Abstract: detailed suggestions in the use of various methods that are not possible to transmit through research publications. The subjects covered in Volume XI include nearly all the techniques that would be needed in a thorough study of enzyme structure. Subjects that would appear to be missing generally have been covered by articles in previous volumes. The first section contains ten articles on amino acid analysis and related procedures. The primary technique treated is that of automatic amino acid analysis, although certain specific amino acid determinations are included. Four articles on end-group analysis and four articles on methods of subunit separation follow. The fourth and fifth sections deal with techniques for cleavage of disulfide and peptide bonds, respectively. They are followed by 11 articles on separation of peptides and eight articles on sequence determination. The eighth section includes 25 articles on general techniques for modification of enzyme structure. These cover a very broad range, from oxidation with hydrogen peroxide to limited proteolysis by exopeptidase. Seven articles describe techniques specific for certain enzymes or enzyme classes. The last section brings together a number of techniques classified as being suitable for investigation of conformation changes, although in general they are of much broader significance. These techniques include titration, hydrogen exchange, difference spectroscopy, fluorescence, reporter groups, dialysis and diffusion, and immunological approaches. The broader nature of the topics covered make these articles more comprehensive than those in the preceding sections. In particular, the very comprehensive article on fluorescence measurements by L. Brand and B. Witholt is worthy of special note. From this summary of the contents of this volume it should be apparent that the order of presentation is most pertinent, following the logical order in which the techniques would be used upon purification of a new enzyme. Moreover, the volume may be of greater general value than previous volumes because of the general nature of the techniques presented. Indeed, of the 94 articles in the volume, nine are limited to use for only a small class of enzymes. The remaining 85 articles would be of use to investigators concerned with any aspect of enzyme structure.

The Cell Periphery, Metastasis, and Other Contact Phenomena.

Abstract: pounds. This is followed by several papers discussing the synthesis and biochemistry of the different prostaglandins. Later in the symposium, there are two papers presenting the chemical pathways of the laboratory synthesis of the prostanoic acids. Although originally isolated from seminal fluid, the prostaglandins have been found in other organs. Several papers describe the isolation and purification of these compounds from kidney, lung, intestine, adrenal gland, and nervous tissue. Both in vivo and in vitro, the prostaglandins have a wide range of bio-logic functions. The book contains detailed reports of the effects of the prostaglandins on smooth muscle contraction, fatty acid and carbohydrate metabolism, central nervous system activity, platelet clumping, cardiac activity, and blood pressure control. There is only occasional speculation about the clinical relevance of this interesting array of 'biologic activities. Because the book is a collection of papers written by the people who have done most of the research with the prostaglandins, it is a comprehensive and authoritative source. In addition, almost all the papers include a list of pertinent references. One serious omission is a concluding chapter that summarizes and puts into perspective the large amount of data presented at the Symposium. It is apparent that the understanding of the biochemistry and physiology of the prostaglandins is just beginning. This book may be outdated before too long. Recently, new literature has appeared for the student of cell contact phenomena. Reflecting the predilections and prejudices of their authors, and as revealed by their titles, these two volumes illustrate different approaches to one problem. Curtis attempts to unify what we know about the properties of the cell periphery, cell contacts, and morphogenetic cell movements, into a coherent picture. He fails, not because of his shortcomings, but as a result of the fragmentary nature of a good deal of the experimental data. The most useful feature of his book is the fact that he is highly critical and very careful to offer alternate explanations for seemingly simple and straightforward observations. Weiss reviews what is known of the cell surface in terms of composition and structure, and then proceeds to discuss the relationship between these properties and cell behavior in normal and malignant tissues. Weiss' contribution suffers from being unreadable and uncritical in many respects, and often serves as little more than a compilation of contradictory experiments. There is no polemic in his work, and consequently little excitement. Each book will …

Sickness and Society

Abstract: Sickness and Society reports on an intensive study of the attitudes and inter-relationships of patients and staff in the Yale-New Haven Hospital. The authors, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Professor of Sociology, had financial support from a federal research grant, enabling them to employ data collectors and typists. The main focus of the work was a selected group of 161 adult married patients, some medical, some surgical, some on the private divisions and some on the wards of the hospital. Approximately 125 study hours were devoted to each case, permitting extensive interviews with patients, families, nurses, doctors and other hospital personnel. Follow-up visits were made, and the medical records were scrutinized. The results are presented in a 390-page book, containing 58 tables. The chapters bear such titles as \"How We Worked,\" \"Professors, Administrators and Practitioners,\" \"Patients and Physicians,\" \"The Patient Views his Illness,\" \"Dying and Death.\" The book will undoubtedly be widely read and quoted. The academic connections of the two authors, and the sheer volume of the effort will satisfy many readers that this is an authoritative account of life and death in a great university hospital. Its message is clearly intended for nonmedical readers; for example, the word prognosis is explained. An even clearer indication of the readership for which it is intended is found in the last two sentences of the book where, in asking whether we should be content with medical care as it is today the authors state:

Methods for the quantitative study of the aerobic and anaerobic intestinal bacterial flora of man.

Abstract: ImagesFig. 3Fig. 1Fig. 2

The effects of continuous high level nitrogen dioxide on hamsters.

Abstract: ImagesFig. 3Fig. 1Fig. 2

Variability of body fat in hyperphagic rats.

Abstract: Although hypothalamic hyperphagia was described and named 25 years ago,: the nature of this phenomenon is still not clear. Presumably it is brought about by some deficiency in the systems controlling food intake. What this deficiency might be was explicitly considered by Kennedy' in the paper where he suggested that the body regulates its fat content. He had confirmed the observation of Brobeck, Tepperman, and Long' that one of the characteristics of this hyperphagia is that it tends to disappear as the animal becomes obese. Kennedy decided that the obesity more or less directly antagonizes the hyperphagia, and wrote as follows: \"The only invariable index of the loss of hypothalamic function is the level of obesity which develops. .. Once the level of fatness is determined, it is actively maintained. .. The only disturbance of appetite which ever does develop, in fact, is the transient increase incidental to getting fat.\"' His view of these phenomena has been accepted into the literature as the \"lipostatic\" hypothesis of control of food intake. According to this hypothesis , the hypothalamus adjusts food intake so as to regulate the size of fat depots. After ventromedial lesions the food intake is increased because the control system is given a new set point that requires a greater amount of fat in the body. When this greater amount has been acquired, the system functions to maintain energy balance as before. In subscribing to this hypothesis , Teitelbaum' has written, \".. . then one might say that the hyper-phagic rat overeats to get fat. Once it is fat, it no longer overeats\" (p. 49). Some animals with hypothalamic lesions become more obese than other animals, presumably because the effectiveness of ventromedial lesions varies from one animal to another; in any given animal, however, the effective

Mycoplasmas as pathogens.

Abstract: This paper concerns several animal models for study of pathogenic mechanisms in mycoplasma infection. Although these will seem remote from the general topic of this symposium, it is conceivable that some of the mechanisms may have implications for chronic pulmonary disease. Mycoplasmas are known to be causative agents in acute and chronic pulmonary infections in several species of domestic animals. One species, M. pneumoniae, is now established as the cause of primary atypical pneumonia in man, and the way may now be open for investigation of the role of mycoplasmas in other varieties of lung disease.

The role of tryptophan in the physiology of Neurospora.

Abstract: The genetics and biochemistry of tryptophan metabolism in the bread mold, Neurospora cras&a, have received considerable experimental attention during the past 20 years. By now, an impressive body of information has accumulated to the extent that the intimate details of the biosynthesise and degradation'-' of tryptophan in Neurospora are well known and also to the extent that the genetics of this interesting series of reactions now serves as a textbook model to illustrate the relationship between genes and enzymes.7 These are subjects that have been reviewed extensively elsewhere.\"' In this review we shall concern ourselves with the physiological implications of the metabolism of tryptophan by Neurospora with particular regard to the regulatory mechanisms which impinge on this interesting system.

Response of some hydrolases in thymus and lymphosarcoma of rats to injection of adrenal steroid hormones.

Abstract: ImagesFig. 1

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy—1966.

Abstract: South America\" is considerably more general and simply comments on what is known about what had happened in the past and what has been observed in recent expeditions rather than attempting a compilation. Few aspects of medical investigation are untouched by this book and the discussions and references range from the high estrogen levels in African Bushmen to high altitude performance to the genetics of migration. It is strongly recommended to a wide variety of readers.

Cancer Epidemiology: Methods of Study

Abstract: the young blind should be aware that prevention of the visual sequellae of some genetically determined diseases is possible now (galactose cataracts will disappear if galactose is removed from the diet very early in life); other treatments will be forthcoming as the diseases are better understood; and, corneal and lens opacities may be improved by surgery in selected patients. The authors of this book have given a valuable emphasis to genetic factors responsible for blindness in children, but the significant findings of this survey could probably have been reduced to a single journal article; an excellent example of what they might have written is the article by A. E. MacDonald, \"Causes of blindness in Canada; an analysis of 24,605 cases registered with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind,\" in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (1965, 92, 264-279).

A review of neuroendocrinology, 1966-67.

Abstract: This review covers the literature in neuroendocrinology published during 1966 and 1967. A selected group of papers have been analyzed which, in the author's opinion, have contributed significantly to the field of neuroendocrinology during the past two years. This review is not intended to be a complete summary of the literature and the author assumes full responsibility both for the particular selections and for any omissions. Interest in neuroendocrinology has continued to grow and a number of excellent reviews have appeared during 1966 and 1967.'''

Laboratory and clinical studies of a new antibiotic, cephaloglycin in the treatment of urinary tract infections.

Abstract: Cephaloglycin, the dipolar ion of 7(D-a-aminophenylacetamido) cephalosporanic acid, is a phenyl-glycine analogue of the antibiotic cephalothin. Preliminary studies in vitro, indicate that the drug has bactericidal activity against Gram-negative as well as Gram-positive bacteria.' The broad spectrum of antibacterial activity observed with cephaloglycin is similar to two earlier derivatives of cephalosporanic acid, cephalothin and cephaloridine,\"' which must be administered parenterally. In contrast, cephaloglycin is thought to be well absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract because it is excreted in high concentration in the urine after oral administration in man,3 which suggests that the drug may be useful in the treatment of certain bacterial infections, particularly those involving the urinary tract. The present report describes the absorption, urinary excretion, clinical effect and toxicity of oral cephaloglycin in patients with urinary tract infections. In addition, sensitivity of 151 Gram-negative organisms to cephaloglycin was studied in vitro by comparing the single high-concentration disc method with the tube-dilution method.