Blood sugar level following intravenous glucose in rheumatoid arthritis

Since the majority of patients with rheumatoid arthritis show a slower fall in the blood sugar level after the intravenous injection of glucose than do the normal controls, the alteration cannot be explained on the basis of gastrointestinal dysfunction. Differences in the renal threshold of glucose do not explain the altered glucose tolerance, since approximately the same amount of glucose is lost in the urine in both groups. Blood samples taken at 3 and 5 minutes following the injection of the glucose showed the height of the blood sugar level to be approximately the same in the patients with rheumatoid arthritis and in normals. The slower fall in the blood sugar level of the former is therefore not a simple function of a greater rise following the intravenous administration of the glucose. Although the patients with severe poliomyelitis had as much or more atrophy than the rheumatoid arthritic patients, there was no delay in rate of fall of the blood sugar level after the intravenous administration of glucose. In view of the fact that the hepatic homeostatic control regulates the blood sugar level, faulty utilization of glucose by extrahepatic tissues cannot be considered the primary factor responsible for the alteration of the glucose tolerance. The altered glucose tolerance in rheumatoid arthritis is explainable on the basis of an altered threshold of the hepatic homeostatic control of the blood sugar. Additional studies must be done to determine whether this derangement emanates directly from extrahepatic influences.     

Calcium: is it required for transmitter secretion?

Ethanol multiplies miniature end-plate potential frequency independently of calcium ion concentrations and also multiplies calcium-dependent depolarization-evoked quantal release, to the same extent. This result implies a final common pathway, requiring little or no calcium, for both kinds of transmitter secretion. Chlorpromazine and hypertonicity act similarly to ethanol, but also depress depolarization-secretion coupling.     

Fertilizer nitrogen: contribution to nitrate in surface water in a corn belt watershed

Measurements of nitrate concentration and relative enrichment in nitrogen-15 were made on samples of the surface waters of a typical Illinois corn belt watershed and the effluent of the subterranean tiles that drain the cropped land in the region. From these measurements, we estimate that at the time of peak nitrate concentration in the spring of 1970 a minimum of 55 to 60 percent of the nitrogen found as nitrate in the surface waters of this watershed originated from fertilizer nitrogen     

Detection of an antigen associated with acute leukemia

Antiserums to a purified cell membrane component from a Burkitt's lymphoma tissue culture cell line were produced in rabbits. These antiserums were cytotoxic to peripheral white blood cells from 8 of 15 patients with acute leukemia and 5 of 41 relatives, but not to peripheral white blood cells from leukemia patients in clinical remission or from normal individuals. These antiserums appear to be detecting an acute leukemia associated antigen or antigens.     

Maintenance of resting potential in anoxic guinea pig ventricular muscle: electrogenic sodium pumping

Anoxic ventricular muscle maintained a normal resting potenitial despite a large loss of potassium. The resting potential was separated into two components: one that depended on the potassium distribution, and one that depended on the activity of an electrogenic sodium pump.     

Asymmetry, its importance to the action and metabolism of abscisic Acid

Unlabeled and (14)C-labeled enantiomorphs of abscisic acid (ABA) were obtained through acetylcellulose chromatography and tested as inducers of abscission, as inhibitors of seed germination, and as antagonists of gibberellic acid-induced synthesis and release of alpha-amylase. The activity of the R isomer was either equal to or less than that of the naturally occurring S form. Greatest differences were in the inhibition of root-related growth. In excised beam axes, although uptake of S-[(14C)]ABA is faster, the internal concentration of R-ABA is higher because of faster conversion of S-ABA to inactive metabolic products. In axes a reversal in chirality is less important to the physiological action of ABA than to its metabolism.