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In this report, the authors trace the development of an effective statewide tobacco control program following victory at the Massachusetts polls in 1992. They examine the pitfalls standing in the way of coalition building and present important lessons for states in similar positions.

The tobacco control leaders of four states that have successfully passed tobacco tax ballot initiatives (California, Massachusetts, Arizona, and Oregon) were brought together to this conference to discuss what happens after the passage of such an initiative, how to defend tobacco control funds against diversion for other purposes by a state's legislature, and how to use the revenues maximally to reduce the health and economic toll taken by tobacco use. At the conference, the attendees from each state presented reports that will undoubtedly be useful to other states seeking to pass their own tobacco tax legislation or initiatives.

We have used transmission electron microscopy to examine plasmodesmata of the charophycean green alga Chara zeylanica, and of the putatively early divergent bryophytes Monoclea gottschei (liverwort), Notothylas orbicularis (hornwort), and Sphagnum fimbriatum (moss), in an attempt to learn when seed plant plasmodesmata may have originated. The three bryophytes examined have desmotubules. In addition, Monoclea was found to have branched plasmodesmata, and plasmodesmata of Sphagnum displayed densely staining regions around the neck region, as well as ring-like wall specializations. In Chara, longitudinal sections revealed endoplasmic reticulum (ER) that sometimes appeared to be associated with plasmodesmata, but this was rare, despite abundant ER at the cell periphery. Across all three fixation methods, cross-sectional views showed an internal central structure, which in some cases appeared to be connected to the plasma membrane via spoke-like structures. Plasmodesmata were present even in the incompletely formed reticulum of forming cell plates, from which we conclude that primary plasmodesmata are formed at cytokinesis in Chara zeylanica. Based on these results it appears that plasmodesmata of Chara may be less specialized than those of seed plants, and that complex plasmodesmata probably evolved in the ancestor of land plants before extant lineages of bryophytes diverged.