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The monoclonal antibody 5B5 reacts with the β subunit of proline-4-hydroxylase, the enzyme which catalyses the formation of 4-hydroxyl proline in collagen and other proteins with collagen-like amino acid sequences. This study aims to assess the production and tissue distribution of this enzyme in normal and diseased synovia from patients with various joint diseases, on the basis that it is a putative marker of collagen-producing cells and, therefore, in this context, of fibroblasts. Sections from five normal, 10 osteoarthritic (OA) and 26 rheumatoid arthritic (RA) synovia were labelled with a mouse monoclonal antibody to proline-4-hydroxylase. The enzyme was found to be expressed by a proportion of synovial intimal cells and by fibroblasts in the underlying connective tissue in normal, OA and RA synovia. Labelling was more pronounced in OA and RA cases. The intimal cells labelling positively showed type B synoviocyte morphology, which was confirmed by subsequent double immunolabelling with 5B5 and antibody against type IV collagen using immunocytochemistry and immunoelectron microscopy.Keywords:Immunocytochemistry, 4-Hydroxyl proline, Osteoarthritis, Rheumatoid arthritis, Electron/light microscopy, Type B synoviocytes.

Reproductive events related to time of breeding and fecundity among species of New Guinean Rattus are examined relative to latitude, altitude, and possible climatological cues. At least half of the 25 subspecies examined can breed in any month, and this capability appears to be unrelated to annual photoperiod fluctuations and ambient temperature at different altitudes. Both rainfall and commensalism may exert strong influence on local breeding regimes. This, the first reproductive analysis of all New Guinean species of this genus, permits comparison with similar events in Australian Rattus, and generalised patterns of breeding in these Australasian species are proposed.

Feralia Columbiana, n. sp.—Ground colour a bright emerald green, the maculation black and white. Head with a black interantennal spot. Collar with a black patch at its centre and at the base of each primary: tipped with whitish. Behind the collar there is a black edging to the disc and the loose basal tuftings are black marked. The edges of the patagia are black along the disc and at the base of the wings. The thorax itself is small and quadrate, the maculation just described forminga black square in its centre. The abdomen is deep smoky brown,yellowish or whitish at tip. Primaries with all the lines black, prominent, yet fragmentary. Basal line single, accompanied by a few white scales, becoming diffuse at the inner margin. T. a. line single, followed by a white line, out curved as a whole and irregularly bent or curved outwardly in the interspaces.