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Intestinal glucose absorption varies with growth; however, the dynamics of these variations has not been yet fully elucidated in broiler chickens. The present study aimed to compare jejunal glucose uptake and maltose digestion in broilers of 2 different ages, i.e., 1- vs. 5 wk old. Oral D-maltose gavage, everted sac, and Ussing chamber experiments were carried out to investigate intestinal glucose absorption and mRNA expression of glucose-transport-related genes as well as jejunal maltase activity. Upon gavage, glucose concentrations peaked at 10 min post-administration in 1-wk-old chicks, while they peaked at 40 min in 5-wk-old chickens. Glucose concentrations at 10 min were significantly higher in the 1-wk-old chicks (P = 0.010). Using the everted sacs experimental setup, 5 intestinal regions i.e., duodenum, proximal jejunum, distal jejunum, proximal ileum, and distal ileum, were targeted to examine D-maltose digestion and glucose transport across the intestinal mucosa. In the distal and proximal ileum, glucose concentrations were found to be significantly higher in the serosal compartment of the 1-wk-old chicks upon incubation with D-maltose (25 mM) (P < 0.05), while in the mucosal compartment the levels were significantly higher in the 5-wk-old chickens (P < 0.05). An Ussing chamber setup was employed to measure glucose-induced short-circuit current (ΔIsc) in the mucosal epithelium of the jejunum. In response to the addition of D-maltose (10 mM) into the mucosal compartment, ΔIsc was significantly higher in the 1-wk-old chicks (P = 0.018). Furthermore, no variations in jejunal maltase activity were observed between the 2 age groups. While jejunal glucose absorption was lower in the 5-wk-old chickens, the mRNA expression levels of jejunal SGLT1, GLUT2, and Na+/K+-ATPase did not show any significant differences between the 2 age groups. Our results suggest that the active transport of glucose across the jejunal epithelium decreases upon growth in broiler chickens but is not accompanied by any variations in maltase activity or in the expression of glucose-absorption-related genes.

Methods to determine cyanide in beans, such as the AOAC OMA 915.03 utilise endogenous enzyme linamarase (β-glucosidase) to liberate hydrogen cyanide (HCN). However, several beans are found to contain insufficient levels of β-glucosidase activity to evaluate their levels of cyanide. This implies some beans indicate false negative using official methods. Therefore, we developed a method to analyse cyanide in beans which lack linamarase activity, and a single laboratory validation was performed. This method used 3 U of linamarase and samples were maintained at 38 °C for 24 h to hydrolyse the cyanogenic glucoside in the beans. After hydrolysis, water and antifoam were added, then, this mixture was distilled to trap cyanide in an alkaline solution. The trapped cyanide was then quantified using a 4-pyridinecarboxylic acid-pyrazolone colouring method. To validate this method, non-cyanide containing blank bean (cowpea) was spiked with potassium cyanide (KCN) from 1.0 to 500 mg/kg and linamarin from 5.0 to 25 mg/k...

Super-Kamiokande is the world's largest water Cherenkov detector, with net mass 50,000 tons. During the period April, 1996 to July, 2001, Super-Kamiokande I collected 1678 live-days of data, observing neutrinos from the Sun, Earth's atmosphere, and the K2K long-baseline neutrino beam with high efficiency. These data provided crucial information for our current understanding of neutrino oscillations, as well as setting stringent limits on nucleon decay. In this paper, we describe the detector in detail, including its site, configuration, data acquisition equipment, online and offline software, and calibration systems which were used during Super-Kamiokande I.

The structure of the vestibular organs of the teleost fish (bluegill), newts (Japanese fire-belly newt), frogs (black-spotted pond frog), snapping turtles and birds (chicks) was morphologically compared, with particular attention to the lagena macula, and the differences between animal species with relation to evolution were considered. Teleost fish had no striola on the lagena macula. The striola of newts were short and restricted to the central area of the macula, but those of frogs, snapping turtles and chicks extended from the anterior to posterior edges of the macula. This indicates that the frog is more highly evolved than the newt. The length of the kinocilium of sensory hairs was equal to that of the longest stereocilium in teleost fish and newts, but the kinocilia of frogs, snapping turtles and chicks were longer than the longest stereocilium. This indicates that the function of the lagena of teleost fish and newts is for hearing whilst in the other animals they are for posture. The diameter of the sensory hair bundles is small in teleost fish and frogs, but large in newts and snapping turtles. This indicates that the sensitivity of the sensory cells of the lagena towards outer force is low in teleost fish and frogs, high in newts and snapping turtles and intermediate in birds. The lagena of snapping turtles protrudes from the basilar papilla into the vestibule but the lagena of chicks lies on the tip of the long projecting basilar papilla. From observation of the locations of lagenae it is natural to speculate that there must have been some species of animal now extinct that had the evolving location of the lagena prior to that of chicks. In future it will be very interesting and useful to identify this extinct animal using DNA techniques.

We present results of a search for proton decays, $p\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}{K}^{+}$, using data from a $33\mathrm{kt}\ifmmode \dot{}\else \.{}\fi{}\mathrm{yr}$ exposure of the Super-Kamiokande detector. Two decay modes of the kaon, ${K}^{+}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{+}{\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}$ and ${K}^{+}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{+}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{0}$, were studied. The data were consistent with the background expected from atmospheric neutrinos; therefore a lower limit on the partial lifetime of the proton $\ensuremath{\tau}/B(p\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}{K}^{+})$ was found to be $6.7\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{32}\mathrm{years}$ at $90%$ confidence level.

A total of 614 upward through-going muons of minimum energy 1.6 GeV are observed by Super-Kamiokande during 537 detector live days. The measured muon flux is 1.74+/-0.07(stat.)+/-0.02(sys.)x10^{-13}cm^{-2}s^{-1}sr^{-1} compared to an expected flux of 1.97+/-0.44(theo.)x10^{-13}cm^{-2}s^{-1}sr^{-1}. The absolute measured flux is in agreement with the prediction within the errors. However, the zenith angle dependence of the observed upward through-going muon flux does not agree with no-oscillation predictions. The observed distortion in shape is consistent with the \nu_\mu \nu_\tau oscillation hypothesis with \sin^22\theta > 0.4 and 1x10^{-3} < \Delta m^2 < 1x10^{-1} eV^{2} at 90% confidence level., Comment: 8 pages w/ 3 figures new version contains minor fixes, as it appears in PRL

A search for day-night variations in the solar neutrino flux resulting from neutrino oscillations has been carried out using the 504 day sample of solar neutrino data obtained at Super-Kamiokande. The absence of a significant day-night variation has set an absolute flux independent exclusion region in the two neutrino oscillation parameter space., Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, submitted to PRL, single-spacing

A measurement of the energy spectrum of recoil electrons from solar neutrino scattering in the Super--Kamiokande detector is presented. The results shown here are obtained from 504 days of data taken between the 31st of May, 1996 and the 25th of March, 1998. The shape of the measured spectrum is compared with the expectation for solar B8 neutrinos. The comparison takes into account both kinematic and detector related effects in the measurement process. The spectral shape comparison between the observation and the expectation gives a chi-square of 25.3 with 15 degrees of freedom, corresponding to a 4.6% confidence level., Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures

In order to calibrate the Super-Kamiokande experiment for solar neutrino measurements, a linear accelerator (LINAC) for electrons was installed at the detector. LINAC data were taken at various positions in the detector volume, tracking the detector response in the variables relevant to solar neutrino analysis. In particular, the absolute energy scale is now known with less than 1 percent uncertainty., Comment: 24 pages, 16 figures, Submitted to NIM A

We have searched for proton decay via $p\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{e}^{+}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{0}$ using data from a $25.5\mathrm{kton}\ifmmode \dot{}\else \.{}\fi{}\mathrm{yr}$ exposure of the Super-Kamiokande detector. We find no candidate events with an expected background induced by atmospheric neutrinos of 0.1 events. From these data, we set a lower limit on the partial lifetime of the proton $\ensuremath{\tau}{/B}_{p\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{e}^{+}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{0}}$ to be $1.6\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{33}\mathrm{years}$ at a 90% confidence level.

The first results of the solar neutrino flux measurement from Super-Kamiokande are presented. The results shown here are obtained from data taken between the 31st of May, 1996, and the 23rd of June, 1997. Using our measurement of recoil electrons with energies above 6.5 MeV, we infer the total flux of 8B solar neutrinos to be 2.42+-0.06(stat.)+0.10-0.07(syst.)*10^6/cm^2/s. This result is consistent with the Kamiokande measurement and is 36% of the flux predicted by the BP95 solar model. The flux is also measured in 1.5 month subsets and shown to be consistent with a constant rate., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures

From an exposure of 25.5~kiloton-years of the Super-Kamiokande detector, 900 muon-like and 983 electron-like single-ring atmospheric neutrino interactions were detected with momentum $p_e > 100$ MeV/$c$, $p_\mu > 200$ MeV/$c$, and with visible energy less than 1.33 GeV. Using a detailed Monte Carlo simulation, the ratio $(\mu/e)_{DATA}/(\mu/e)_{MC}$ was measured to be $0.61 \pm 0.03(stat.) \pm 0.05(sys.)$, consistent with previous results from the Kamiokande, IMB and Soudan-2 experiments, and smaller than expected from theoretical models of atmospheric neutrino production.

We present an analysis of atmospheric neutrino data from a 33.0 kiloton-year (535-day) exposure of the Super-Kamiokande detector. The data exhibit a zenith angle dependent deficit of muon neutrinos which is inconsistent with expectations based on calculations of the atmospheric neutrino flux. Experimental biases and uncertainties in the prediction of neutrino fluxes and cross sections are unable to explain our observation. The data are consistent, however, with two-flavor nu_mu nu_tau oscillations with sin^2(2theta)>0.82 and 5x10^-4 < delta m^2 < 6x10^-3 eV^2 at 90% confidence level., Comment: 9 pages (two-column) with 4 figures. Small corrections to Eqn.4 and Fig.3. Final version to appear in PRL

The large-scale anisotropy of cosmic-ray primaries in the celestial coordinate was studied using cosmic-ray muons recorded in a large water Cherenkov detector, Kamiokande. The right-ascension distribution of the muon arrival directions deviated from an isotropic distribution with a 2.8 standard deviation, and agreed well with the first harmonics with an amplitude of $(5.6\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1.9)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$ and a phase of $8.0\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}19.1\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}$. This is the deepest underground observation of the large-scale anisotropy of cosmic rays, and agrees with observations with other underground experiments and extensive air-shower array experiments.

Neutron background in the atmospheric neutrino sample was studied based on the vertex position distribution of the fully contained π 0 events. No evidence for the background contamination was observed. The neutron contamination in the sub-GeV e-like sample was less than 1.2% at 90% C.L.

We carried out an experimental test of various characteristics of a water Cerenkov detector, especially the particle identification capability, using the 12-GeV proton synchrotron at KEK, Japan. The detector characteristics so far studied are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation. Especially it is able to identify electrons and muons with mis-identification probabilities less than a few percent in the momentum range of 250–1000 MeV/c except the particle positions in the extreme edge of the detector volume. Based on the present results, the deficiency of μ-neutrinos in the atmospheric neutrinos is not an artifact caused by some peculiar detector characteristics.

Data from the Kamiokande detector were used to study the atmospheric (v μ + v μ ) (v e + v e ) ratio in the multi-GeV energy range. The observed ratio of μ-like to e-like events relative to the calculated ratio, ( μ /e) data /( μ /e) MC = 0.57 -0.07 +0.08 ± 0.07, suggests that the atmospheric (v μ + v μ ) (v e + v e ) ratio is smaller than expected for these neutrino energies. Also studied was the zenith-angle dependence of the above ratio. Results of an analysis of neutrino oscillations are presented.

Achieving innovations that allows customers to work on a task they have never thought of before is one of the key issues for a firm to pioneer a new market. In frontier business areas, not only customer's needs (what they want) are implicit but also their tasks (what they want to accomplish) are unarticulated as well. An important question in such a situation is: in what way can we pursue innovation that pioneer customer's potential task? Although there are a number of studies in R&D management which help firms to focus on the customer's existing tasks, managerial principles to promote innovations towards customer's potential tasks are still unclear in traditional arguments. In our study, we propose a model to help understand the process of concept planning and embodiment in innovation, apply it to eight cases, and compare innovations that pioneered customer's potential tasks (e.g., 3M Post-itreg and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) DNA test) with those which did not. We then suggest that, in order to discover customer's potential task during the front-end, (1) the concept planner should delegate the idea-generation role to other people, and (2) application of a unique idea should be investigated by people different from the idea-generator

A 2.5V CMOS image sensor using a pixel configuration of four photodiodes in one unit sharing seven transistors is presented. This image achieves a 2.25/spl mu/m pixel pitch with 25% aperture ratio in a 0.25/spl mu/m IP2M CMOS process.

Temporal trends of organochlorine pesticides such as beta-hexachlorocyclohexane (beta-HCH), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), and 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)-ethylene (p,p'-DDE), were determined in freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium nipponense) collected from Lake Kasumigaura in 1978 to 2000. The organochlorine pesticides elucidated a 72.4% decrease in beta-HCH, from 42 (1978) to 11.6 ng/g fat (2000); an 89.6% decrease in HCB, from 1.64 (1978) to 0.17 ng/g fat (2000); and an 87.3% decrease in p,p'-DDE, from 97.5 (1978) to 12.4 ng/g fat (1992). After organochlorine pesticide prohibition in 1971, the declining trend of beta-HCH, HCB, and p,p'-DDE concentrations persisting in the prawns could be approximated by exponential equations.

The paper presents an on-line software modification technique for use in office data provisioning in the Non-stop Service Enhancible Software (NOSES) system. High reliability and high software-maintainability needed for coping quickly and effectively with diverse customer demands related to system extension. The principal technique is the generation, modification, addition or deletion of office data related to the provision of physical components or logical resources in the executing system file. As an on-line partial program updating technique within the framework of the object oriented paradigm, mechanisms and operation procedure based on TMN are addressed in detail. These technologies are expected to be a basis for quick service provisioning in intelligent networks as well as in transport networks.

The effects of garlic preparations, including dehydrated raw garlic powder (RGP), dehydrated boiled garlic powder (BGP) and aged garlic extract (AGE), on the gastric mucosa were determined using a newly established endoscopic air-powder delivery system, which can deliver solid materials directly into the stomach. Among the three preparations, RGP caused severe damage, including erosion. BGP also caused reddening of the mucosa, whereas AGE did not cause any undesirable effects. The safety of enteric-coated garlic products was also determined. Direct administration of pulverized enteric-coated products on the gastric mucosa caused reddening of the mucosa. When an enteric-coated tablet was administered orally, it caused loss of epithelial cells at the top of crypts in the ileum. These results suggest that caution be used with regard to safety and effectiveness when choosing a garlic preparation because some preparations may have undesirable effects, including gastrointestinal problems.

The effect of aged garlic extract (AGE) on stress induced hyperglycemia was investigated using the immobilization stress model in mice. After the exposure to immobilization stress for 16 hr per day for 2 consecutive days, the adrenal glands of the mice hypertrophied, and their serum glucose level and corticosterone secretion became elevated, but insulin secretion did not change. These results suggest that the elevation of serum glucose was probably due to the stimulation of the pituitary-adrenocortical axis by the stress. Pretreatment of AGE (5 and 10 ml/kg, p.o.) significantly prevented adrenal hypertrophy, hyperglycemia and elevation of corticosterone, but did not alter serum insulin level. The efficacy of AGE was the same as that of diazepam (5 mg/kg, p.o.). From these results, it is suggested that AGE may prevent stress-induced hyperglycemia, which is the risk of suffering from diabetes mellitus and its progression.

A total of 137 upward stopping muons of minimum energy 1.6 GeV are observed by Super-Kamiokande during 516 detector live days. The measured muon flux is 0.39+/-0.04(stat.)+/-0.02(syst.)x10^{-13}cm^{-2}s^{-1}sr^{-1} compared to an expected flux of 0.73+/-0.16(theo.)x10^{-13}cm^{-2}s^{-1}sr^{-1}. Using our previously-published measurement of the upward through-going muon flux, we calculate the stopping/through-going flux ratio R}, which has less theoretical uncertainty. The measured value of R=0.22+/-0.02(stat.)+/-0.01(syst.) is significantly smaller than the value 0.37^{+0.05}_{-0.04}(theo.) expected using the best theoretical information (the probability that the measured R is a statistical fluctuation below the expected value is 0.39%). A simultaneous fitting to zenith angle distributions of upward stopping and through-going muons gives a result which is consistent with the hypothesis of neutrino oscillations with the parameters sin^2 2\theta >0.7 and 1.5x10^{-3} < \Delta m^2 < 1.5x10^{-2} eV^2 at 90% confidence level, providing a confirmation of the observation of neutrino oscillations by Super-Kamiokande using the contained atmospheric neutrino events., Comment: 15 pages, including 7 figures. Submitted to Physics Letters Revision fixes typo in author field

The east-west anisotropy, caused by the deflection of primary cosmic rays in the Earth's magnetic field, is observed for the first time in the flux of atmospheric neutrinos. Using a 45 kt-year exposure of the Super-Kamiokande detector, 552 e-like and 633 mu-like horizontally-going events are selected in the momentum range between 400 and 3000 MeV/c. The azimuthal distribution of e-like and mu-like events agrees with the expectation from atmospheric neutrino flux calculations that account for the geomagnetic field, verifying that the geomagnetic field effects in the production of atmospheric neutrinos in the GeV energy range are well understood., Comment: 8 pages,3 figures revtex, submitted to PRL

Accumulating reports indicate a relationship between mitochondrial DNA mutation and impaired glucose-induced insulin secretion leading to a subtype of noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. DNA from a 45-yr-old Japanese woman with noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and muscle atrophy was isolated and studied for mitochondrial DNA mutations. We identified a mitochondrial DNA C-T heteroplasmic mutation at nucleotide position 3256. The mutation was located in the transfer ribonucleic acidLeu in a region conserved in evolution. Eight other members of her family were examined for the mutation. Six of them had the same mutation together with noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, and one teenage boy had the mutation and impaired glucose tolerance. The other family member who did not have this mutation had normal glucose tolerance. The enzyme activity of the mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation pathway in the muscle of the proband was measured. The enzyme activity was decreased in the proband, especially in complex I. This mutation might be responsible for the abnormal glucose metabolism.

The flux of upward through-going muons of minimum (mean) threshold energy > 1.6 (3.0) GeV is measured, based on a total of 372 events observed by the Kamiokande II+III detector during 2456 detector live days. The observed muon flux was (1.94+-0.10(stat.)+0.07-0.06(sys.))*10^-13 /cm^2/s/sr, which is compared to an expected value of (2.46+-0.54(theo.))*10^-13/cm^2/s/sr. The observation is in agreement with the prediction within the errors. The zenith angle dependence of the observed upward through-going muons supports the previous indication of neutrino oscillations made by Kamiokande using sub- and multi-GeV atmospheric neutrino events., 9 pages with 3 eps figures, uses psfig.sty and revtex, submitted to PRL

Results from 1036 days of solar neutrino data accumulated in the upgraded Kamiokande detector (Kamiokande III) are presented. The $^{8}\mathrm{B}$ solar neutrino flux observed in Kamiokande III is ${2.82}_{\ensuremath{-}0.24}^{+0.25}$ (stat) \ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{} 0.27 (syst) \ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{} ${10}^{6}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$${\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$; the combined flux from Kamiokande II and III (2079 days in total) is 2.80 \ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{} 0.19 (stat) \ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{} 0.33 (syst) \ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{} ${10}^{6}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$${\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$, which is 49% to 64% of the standard solar models. These combined data from January 1987 to February 1995, covering an entire period of solar cycle 22, enabled us to study a correlation between the neutrino flux and the solar activity in detail: no strong correlation of the solar neutrino flux with the sunspot numbers was found within experimental errors. The result on a search for the daytime and nighttime flux difference is also reported.

This paper describes a novel approach to study the expression of temperature-related reproductive phenomena such as thermolabile sex determination (TSD) and heat-induced germ cell loss in wild fish populations. The proposed approach is based on the reconstruction of the past thermal history of individual fish through the microchemical analysis of the otoliths (mineralized structures responsible for the sense of balance). As an example, we outline the preliminary results of an investigation on the natural occurrence of TSD in pejerrey Odontesthes bonariensis, an atherinid fish in which all-female to all-male populations can be produced by experimental manipulation of the rearing temperature during the critical time of sex differentiation, from Lake Kasumigaura, Japan.

Ultrastructural differences in the tracheal gland between young and aged rats were studied. Marked differences were observed in the serous cells between the young (8-17 week-old) and the aged (20-30 month-old) subjects. The secretory granules of the serous cells of the young subjects were homogeneously electron dense, whilst those of the aged subjects had a bizonal appearance. These bizonal granules contained abundant mucous material. The trans Golgi network of the aged rat serous cells was more developed and formed a fine meshwork in comparison with that of the young subjects. In the aged subjects, findings indicate alterations not only in the function of the Golgi apparatus including formation of secretory granules and addition of terminal sugars to the secretory protein but also the histochemical and ultrastructural properties of the secretory material. The changes in the Golgi apparatus are possibly responsible for depression of the tracheal host defense mechanism and might explain why various airway diseases increase with aging.

静岡県浜北市および奈良県桜井市のドウガネブイブイの高密度野外個体群の幼虫に流行病が観察されたが,病原調査の結果,これは,一種の昆虫ポックスウイルス(EPV)病であることが判明した。野外個体群では,2令後期から3令期で病徴が現われる。病気の進行は緩慢で死亡までの期間は一般に長い。このEPVは脂肪体および血球を冒す。感染を受けた細胞の細肪質中には,楕球状(Spheroid)と長い八面体状または紡錘体状(Spindle様体)の2種類の封入体が形成される。Spheroidは平均5×8μで大きいものは15μに達する。Spindle様体は4.5×7μ程度のものが最も多いが,大きいものでは長軸が18μに達し,小さいものは1μ以下である。電子顕微鏡観察によると,Spheroid中には多数のウイルス粒子が含まれており,Spheroid自体は115Aの幅をもった結晶格子状構造をしている。Spindle様体もまた結晶格子状構造をしているが,格子幅は50∼57Aで,中にはウイルス粒子を含まない。ウイルス粒子は最初,感染細胞の細胞質中に球状の未熟粒子として現われ,次第に内部構造が分化し成熟するにつれてSpheroidたん白質中に包埋されていく。ウイルス粒子の成熟はSpheroid中で完成する。成熟したウイルス粒子は,長軸4400A,短軸2500Aの楕球状で表面は桑実状をしている。ウイルスのcoreは一方に湾曲した腎臓型をしており,core shellは2層からなる約200Aの厚さをしている。coreの中には直径約350Aのひも状構造が含まれている。Spheroid, Spindle様体とも,2つあるいは2つ以上が融合したような異形がみられることもある。本病はドウガネブイブイの高密度個体群中に高い率で発生し,発病率は場所により85%以上にも達する。感染はすでに7月からみとめられ,感染率は次第に高くなる。発病率は秋から冬に最高になる。

The temporal development of antibodies to Moloney sarcoma virus (MSV)-induced antigens in relation to tumor progression was followed with the membrane immunofluorescence (MF) and antibody-dependent normal lymphocyte cytotoxicity (ADNLC) assays. Antibody was detected at 14 days following virus infection by MF. In mice that developed primary tumors which regressed, MF titers developed to high levels following a period between 2 and 4 weeks post-inoculation during which the titers remained at low and constant levels. The increase in MF titers corresponded closely on a temporal basis to the initiation of the regression process. In contrast, antibody remained at low levels in those mice that developed progressively growing tumors. ADNLC was detected in the sera of regressor mice approximately 6 weeks post-inoculation but was not detectable at any of the time intervals in sera from mice with progressively growing tumors. Attempts to enhance the cytotoxic activity of normal spleen cells directly with immune serum were unsuccessful. The synergistic effect of serum on the cytotoxic activity of immune lymphocytes was less pronounced than with normal lymphocytes in this system. Temporal studies indicated that there was an inverse relationship between the development of cellular immunity and the capability of these cells to be activated in the ADNLC assay.

The effect of biosynthetic human epidermal growth factor (Bh-EGF) as well as mouse EGF on postnatal development of mice of ICR strain was examined. Daily administration of Bh-EGF (0.01, 0.1, and 1.0 microgram X g body wt-1 X day-1) for 30 consecutive days postpartum caused a clearly dose-dependent increase in their body weight. Furthermore, in addition to the well-known premature eyelid opening and early tooth eruption, we have also observed precocious opening of the vagina among treated females. As far as the accelerated growth rate as reflected in their body weight gain was concerned, daily administration for only five consecutive days postpartum was just as effective as the above noted 30 consecutive daily injections. As to the precocious vaginal opening, however, the susceptible 5-day-period was found to be 14-18 days after the parturition. Some of those treated females also entered the estrous cycle precociously, a few days after the precocious opening of their vagina. The microscopic examination of various organs from treated males and females revealed no apparent pathological changes. As far as the above noted effects of EGF were concerned, Bh-EGF, which is xenogenic to mice, was as potent as mouse EGF.

The antifungal activity of six fractions derived from garlic was investigated in an in vitro system. Ajoene had the strongest activity in these fractions. The growth of both Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans was inhibited by ajoene at less than 20 micrograms/ml.