Multimodal signals: enhancement and constraint of song motor patterns by visual display

Many birds perform visual signals during their learned songs, but little is known about the interrelationship between visual and vocal displays. We show here that male brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) synchronize the most elaborate wing movements of their display with atypically long silent periods in their song, potentially avoiding adverse biomechanical effects on sound production. Furthermore, expiratory effort for song is significantly reduced when cowbirds perform their wing display. These results show a close integration between vocal and visual displays and suggest that constraints and synergistic interactions between the motor patterns of multimodal signals influence the evolution of birdsong.     

Medulloblastoma growth inhibition by hedgehog pathway blockade

Constitutive Hedgehog (Hh) pathway activity is associated with initiation of neoplasia, but its role in the continued growth of established tumors is unclear. Here, we investigate the therapeutic efficacy of the Hh pathway antagonist cyclopamine in preclinical models of medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumor in children. Cyclopamine treatment of murine medulloblastoma cells blocked proliferation in vitro and induced changes in gene expression consistent with initiation of neuronal differentiation and loss of neuronal stem cell-like character. This compound also caused regression of murine tumor allografts in vivo and induced rapid death of cells from freshly resected human medulloblastomas, but not from other brain tumors, thus establishing a specific role for Hh pathway activity in medulloblastoma growth.     

THE GOLDEN HAMSTER (CRICETUS AURATUS) AS A TEST ANIMAL FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF LEPTOSPIROSIS

There is evidence that the golden hamster (Cricetus auratus) is the animal of choice for the isolation of leptospirae, especially of the Leptospira canicola type since young guinea pigs and mice are resistant to infection and rats are entirely refractory. Both the classical strain, L. icterohaemorrhagiae and L. canicola on isolation have been found to produce a fatal infection in hamsters. The present report deals with the isolation of L. canicola in two instances by the injection intraperitoneally into hamsters of urine obtained from dogs ill with suspected leptospirosis. Each of the dogs was apparently the source of infection for a human case of Canicola leptospirosis. The classical strain L. icterohaemorrhagiae was isolated from the dog for the first time in the United States. In this instance the organism was isolated by injecting both whole blood and urine from the patient intraperitoneally into young hamsters. The injection into hamsters of suitable material from patients infected with L. canicola and L. icterohaemorrhagiae is followed by a fatal leptospirosis in the test animal.     

Experimental allergic encephalomyelitis in agammaglobulinemic chickens

White Leghorn chickens were subjected to bursectomy and total body irradiation at hatching, thus rendering them agammaglobulinemic. At 4 weeks of age, these chickens and control chickens received lyophilized bovine spinal cord emulsified with complete Freund's adjuvant. Agammaglobulinemic chickens developed the lesions of allergic encephalomyelitis with the same frequency and intensity as the controls. Our findings support the contention that antibodies are not necessary for the development of experimental allergic encephalomyelitis.     

Defect in vitamin B12 release from lysosomes: newly described inborn error of vitamin B12 metabolism

Cultured diploid fibroblasts from a patient with a previously undescribed inborn error of cobalamin metabolism accumulate unmetabolized, nonprotein-bound vitamin B12 in lysosomes. These cells are able to endocytose the transcobalamin II-B12 complex and to release B12 from transcobalamin II. The freed vitamin B12 is not released from lysosomes into the cytoplasm of the cell. This suggests that there is a specific lysosomal transport mechanism for vitamin B12 in the human.     

Isoprenoid acids in recent sediments

Phytanic acid, pristanic acid, and 4,8,12-trimethyltridecanoic acid have been isolated from three recent marine sediments. The ratio of palmitic to pristanic acid is similar to that encountered in typical marine lipids. This suggests a biochemical origin of these sedimentary acids; phytol is their presumed biochemical precursor. Other isoprenoid acids between C(11) and C(22) which are common in ancient sediments have not been found. They are probably geochemical products formed slowly and at a greater depth.     

Plasma progesterone concentration in the hen in relation to the ovulatory cycle

The concentration of peripheral plasma progesterone was measured by a double isotope derivative assay in hens slaughtered at various stages during the ovulatory cycle. A peak value was obtained 2 to 6 h before ovulation and basal levels were reached at ovulation. No secondary peaks were observed during the cycle. Similar results were obtained using a protein‐binding assay on plasma from individual birds taken serially during the cycle. Birds which did not ovulate on a particular day showed no peak of progesterone. In two birds sampled at the beginning of a laying cycle, the progesterone peak was of longer duration.