Impairment of muscle stretch reflexes in tick paralysis

Experiments with tick-paralyzed dogs and woodchucks have shown impairment of stretch reflexes in addition to partial paralysis at the neuromuscular junction. Stretch reflexes disappear very early during paralysis, whereas nociceptive reflexes do not appear to be directly affected. The early incoordination and the ascending nature of the paralysis may be related to impairment of stretch reflex pathways.     

Total carbon and nitrogen abundances in lunar samples

Total carbon and nitrogen abundances were determined by using combustion-gas chromatographic techlniques. Weighited mean analyses for butlk fines were 225 and 140 ppm total carbon and 150 anid 100 ppm total nitrogen. Total carbon in fine breccia was 230 ppm; in coarse breccia, 100 ppmn; in fine-grained rock, 70 ppm; and in mediumn-grained rock, 64 ppm. The finest sieved fraction had the highest carbon content. Total nitrogen in fine breccia was 125 ppm; in coarse breccia, 100 ppm; in fine-grained rock, 115 ppm; and in medium-grained rock, 30 ppm. The total carbon and nitrogen finies appeat to be mixtuires of indigenous lunar material togetheer with meteoritic and solar wind components.     

Differential rescue of light- and food-entrainable circadian rhythms

When food is plentiful, circadian rhythms of animals are powerfully entrained by the light-dark cycle. However, if animals have access to food only during their normal sleep cycle, they will shift most of their circadian rhythms to match the food availability. We studied the basis for entrainment of circadian rhythms by food and light in mice with targeted disruption of the clock gene Bmal1, which lack circadian rhythmicity. Injection of a viral vector containing the Bmal1 gene into the suprachiasmatic nuclei of the hypothalamus restored light-entrainable, but not food-entrainable, circadian rhythms. In contrast, restoration of the Bmal1 gene only in the dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus restored the ability of animals to entrain to food but not to light. These results demonstrate that the dorsomedial hypothalamus contains a Bmal1-based oscillator that can drive food entrainment of circadian rhythms.