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PubMed2005

Standard skin prick testing and sensitization to inhalant allergens across Europe--a survey from the GALEN network.

Skin prick testing (SPT) is the standard method for diagnosing allergic sensitization but is to some extent performed differently in clinical centres across Europe. There would be advantages in harmonizing the standard panels of allergens used in different European countries, both for clinical purposes and for research, especially with increasing mobility within Europe and current trends in botany and agriculture. As well as improving diagnostic accuracy, this would allow better comparison of research findings in European allergy centres. We have compared the different SPT procedures operating in 29 allergy centres within the Global Allergy and Asthma European Network (GA(2)LEN). Standard SPT is performed similarly in all centres, e.g. using commercial extracts, evaluation after 15-20 min exposure with positive results defined as a wheal >3 mm diameter. The perennial allergens included in the standard SPT panel of inhalant allergens are largely similar (e.g. cat: pricked in all centres; dog: 26 of 29 centres and Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus: 28 of 29 centres) but the choice of pollen allergens vary considerably, reflecting different exposure and sensitization rates for regional inhalant allergens. This overview may serve as reference for the practising doctor and suggests a GA(2)LEN Pan-European core SPT panel.

Administration, Inhalation↗
PubMed1994

New sources of cytochalasins A and B from dematiaceous hyphomycetes.

One hundred isolates of 27 species belonging to 13 genera of dematiaceous hyphomycetes were screened for production of cytochalasins A and B. Most of these isolates (94) were obtained from Assiut University Culture Collection, Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Assiut University, Egypt; three isolates from CBS, The Netherlands; two isolates from DSM, Germany; and one isolate from IMI, UK. The results revealed that 10 isolates of six species representing five genera of fungi produced cytochalasins A and/or B. These species are Alternaria chlamydospora, Cochliobolus spicifer, Diplococcum spicatum, Phoma herbarum, Phoma multipora and Setosphaeria rostrata. This is the first report for the production of cytochalasins A and/or B by these species of dematiaceous hyphomycetes.

Cytochalasin B↗
PubMed1981

Compositae dermatitis. Current aspects.

Clinical features, botany, phytochemistry, patch testing, ecology and the absence of a role for pollen in Compositae dermatitis are discussed with a review of current aspects of photosensitivity for pathogenesis. It appears that the plants yield photoallergen(s) not yet identified.

Allergens↗
PubMed1996

The life of Henry Jeanneret (1802-1886). Pioneer Australian dentist. With an account of his colonial service and scientific contributions in Australia.

Henry Jeanneret was a pioneer Australian dentist, perhaps the first in this country to promote the discipline of dentistry as distinct from medicine and general surgery. This profile describes his early life and training, his emigration to Australia, his clinical practice in Sydney and in Van Diemen's Land, and his contributions to natural history, particularly in the field of botany.

Australia↗
PubMed2001

Ecology. Tropical forest diversity--the plot thickens.

Also see the archival list of Science's Compass: Enhanced Perspectives ECOLOGY:Enhanced: Tropical Forest Diversity--The Plot Thickens David F. R. P. Burslem, Nancy C. Garwood, Sean C. Thomas Ecologists have long pondered why tropical forests contain such a huge number of species and what factors might be responsible for maintaining this diversity. In a Perspective, Burslem and colleagues discuss unique data sets from the forest dynamics plots (FDP) network, which shed light on the factors responsible for tropical forest diversity. D. F. R. P. Burslem is in the Department of Plant and Soil Science, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UU, UK. E-mail: d.burslem@abdn.ac.uk. N. C. Garwood is in the Department of Botany, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK. E-mail: ncg@nhm.ac.uk. S. C. Thomas is in the Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto, Toronto M5S 3B3, Canada. E-mail: sc.thomas@utoronto.ca

Ecosystem↗
PubMed2004

Evolutionary ecology of the prezygotic stage.

The life cycles of sexually reproducing animals and flowering plants begin with male and female gametes and their fusion to form a zygote. Selection at this earliest stage is crucial for offspring quality and raises similar evolutionary issues, yet zoology and botany use dissimilar approaches. There are striking parallels in the role of prezygotic competition for sexual selection on males, cryptic female choice, sexual conflict, and against selfish genetic elements and genetic incompatibility. In both groups, understanding the evolution of sex-specific and reproductive traits will require an appreciation of the effects of prezygotic competition on fitness.

Animals↗
PubMed1967

Leaf epicuticular waxes.

The external surface of the higher plants comprises a cuticular layer covered by a waxy deposit. This deposit is believed to play a major part in such phenomena as the water balance of plants and the behavior of agricultural sprays. The wax contains a wide range of organic compounds. These complex mixtures are amenable to modern microchromatographic and microspectrometric analytical procedures. The few surveys which have been made of the species distribution of certain classes of constituents indicate that such distribution may be of limited taxonomic value; however, the wax composition of a species may differ for different parts of the same plant and may vary with season, locale, and the age of the plant. This fascinating subject, in which the disciplines of botany, biochemistry, chemistry, and physics overlap and interact, is still in a very active state. Much remains to be learned about the composition and fine structure of the wax deposits, and, for this, experimental study of wax crystallization and permeation through artificial membranes will be required. Enzymic studies, radiolabeling, and electron microscopy will be needed to reveal the mode of biogenesis of the wax constituents and their site of formation and subsequent pathway through the cuticle to the leaf surface.

Aldehydes↗
PubMed1982

Scattered electrons in microscopy and microanalysis.

The use of scattered electrons alone for direct imaging of biological specimens makes it possible to obtain structural information at atomic and near-atomic spatial resolutions of 0.3 to 0.5 nanometer. While this is not as good as the resolution possible with x-ray crystallography, such an approach provides structural information rapidly on individual macromolecules that have not been, and possibly cannot be, crystallized. Analysis of the spectrum of energies of scattered electrons and imaging of the latter with characteristic energy bands within the spectrum produces a powerful new technique of atomic microanalysis. This technique, which has a spatial resolution of about 0.5 nanometer and a minimum detection sensitivity of about 50 atoms of phosphorus, is especially useful for light atom analysis and appears to have applications in molecular biology, cell biology, histology, pathology, botany, and many other fields.

DNA, Viral↗
PubMed2001

Reduced function of a phenylacetate-oxidizing cytochrome p450 caused strong genetic improvement in early phylogeny of penicillin-producing strains.

The single-copy pahA gene from Penicillium chrysogenum encodes a phenylacetate 2-hydroxylase that catalyzes the first step of phenylacetate catabolism, an oxidative route that decreases the precursor availability for penicillin G biosynthesis. PahA protein is homologous to cytochrome P450 monooxygenases involved in the detoxification of xenobiotic compounds, with 84% identity to the Aspergillus nidulans homologue PhacA. Expression level of pahA displays an inverse correlation with the penicillin productivity of the strain and is subject to induction by phenylacetic acid. Gene expression studies have revealed a reduced oxidative activity of the protein encoded by pahA genes from penicillin-overproducing strains of P. chrysogenum compared to the activity conferred by phacA of A. nidulans. Sequencing and expression of wild-type pahA from P. chrysogenum NRRL 1951 revealed that an L181F mutation was responsible for the reduced function in present industrial strains. The mutation has been tracked down to Wisconsin 49-133, a mutant obtained at the Department of Botany of the University of Wisconsin in 1949, at the beginning of the development of the Wisconsin family of strains.

Aspergillus nidulans↗
PubMed1963

EFFECT OF O-METHYL-DL-THREONINE AND O-METHYL-DL-SERINE ON GROWTH AND PROTEIN SYNTHESIS IN ESCHERICHIA COLI.

Neale, S. (Department of Botany, University College, London, England), and H. Tristram. Effect of O-methyl-dl-threonine and O-methyl-dl-serine on growth and protein synthesis in Escherichia coli. J. Bacteriol. 86:1241-1250. 1963.-Addition of either O-methyl-dl-threonine or O-methyl-dl-serine to exponentially growing cultures of Escherichia coli resulted in "linear" increases in optical density. The total cell count, however, remained constant, the increase in optical density being accompanied by a marked increase in cell length. In the presence of O-methyl-dl-serine, a phase of "linear" growth was followed by exponential growth, which was maintained during a second passage through analogue-containing medium but not after a subsequent passage through normal medium, suggesting phenotypic adaptation to the analogue. The differential rate of incorporation of amino acids into trichloroacetic acid-insoluble material was unaffected by growth in the presence of either O-methyl-dl-threonine or O-methyl-dl-serine. Neither analogue was incorporated into E. coli protein. The effect of the analogues on the production of alkaline phosphatase and beta-galactosidase was examined. The precise point and mode of action of the analogues have not been determined, but available evidence suggests that the growth-inhibitory effects of both substances are due to interference with the biosynthesis of threonine and methionine.

Alkaline Phosphatase↗
PubMed2001

Development of molecular methods for identification of Schizophyllum commune from clinical samples.

In the last 50 years, to our knowledge, only 16 cases of diseases caused by Schizophyllum commune in humans have been reported. Within only 6 months, we found four isolates of this basidiomycetous fungus, obtained from patients suffering from chronic sinusitis. The cultures of the isolated fungi showed neither clamp connections nor fruiting bodies (basidiocarps), which are distinctive features for S. commune, but fast-growing cottony white mycelium only. This was harvested, and DNA was extracted. The internal transcribed spacer region of the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) was amplified with fungus-specific primers, and the PCR products were sequenced. Two strains of S. commune, collected from branches of a European hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) and a tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima), respectively; four specimens from the herbarium of the Institute of Botany, Karl-Franzens-University Graz; and two strains from internationally known culture collections (CBS 340.81 [ATCC 44201] and CBS 405.96) were investigated in the same way. The sequence data of all strains were compared and showed homology of over 99% in this 660-bp-long fragment of rDNA. With these results, a map of restriction enzyme cutting sites and a primer set specific for S. commune were created for reliable identification of this human pathogenic fungus.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1976

Potential anti-fertility plants from Chinese medicine.

A brief review of the history of development of Chinese pharmacognosy and its application to gynecology and obstetrics is presented. An evaluation system is introduced for short-listing some potentially useful and anti-fertility plants. Twenty such plants are listed in order of priority according to our evaluation system. Brief descriptions of the botany, phytochemistry and reputed biological effects are provided. It is hoped that this article may provide an impetus for the development of new antifertility agents.

Abortifacient Agents↗
PubMed1992

On the purported discovery of the bronchial circulation by Leonardo da Vinci.

Among modern physiologists and anatomists, there has been a nearly universal acceptance that Leonardo da Vinci was the first to identify the anatomy of the bronchial circulation. However, because of certain ambiguities in both his anatomic drawing that was supposed to have shown this circulation and the accompanying descriptive text, we questioned whether he really could have been the first to discover this small but important vasculature. To address this question, we set out to repeat Leonardo's dissections in the ox. We reasoned that perhaps the normally tiny bronchial vessels would be considerably more noticeable in this very large species. Our dissections, however, failed to provide any evidence that Leonardo's drawing was that of the bronchial circulation. Furthermore we observed a set of distinct small pulmonary veins to the left upper and right middle lobes that Leonardo, given his lack of understanding of the function of the lung and its circulation, could have easily mistaken for a separate circulation. We thus conclude that Leonardo da Vinci did not describe the anatomy of the bronchial circulation. We believe that the first person to clearly and unequivocally describe the anatomy of this circulation was the Dutch Professor of Anatomy and Botany, Frederich Ruysch.

Anatomy, Artistic↗
PubMed2002

Nephrolithiasis at the turn of the 18th to 19th centuries: biochemical disturbances. A genuine cascade giving rise to clinical chemistry.

This report will discuss the relationship between urinary calculi, urine composition and urinary sediment and the link to chemistry unveiled during the years 1775-1840. It was by this interconnection that physicians, who were also chemists, introduced some basic sciences into medicine particularly in studying normal and diseased metabolism. The chemistry of urinary stones definitely influenced the progress of medicine in the post-Enlightment period. "We would probably still not have chemistry, botany, or anatomy had not physicians studied and taught them." G. Cuvier Report on Natural Sciences, Paris 1980.

Chemistry, Clinical↗
PubMed1994

Useful plants in renal therapy according to Pliny the Elder.

The Naturalis Historia of Pliny the Elder consists of 37 books, of which 16 are devoted to botany. About 900 plants are named, but many names are synonyms and identification is often impossible. Where identification is possible it is achieved by comparison of the actual names with the vernacular names in related languages or by indirect evidence from their medical use. In this way 130 plants used in renal therapy during Roman times can be identified. Many were eaten as part of the diet, and the distinction between medicinal and edible plants was not clearcut. Pliny was also the first author to comment that wild species are more active than cultivated ones. Most of the plants reported by Pliny are also mentioned by Dioscorides, and more than 30 of them were also listed by Plenck. Several are still quoted in modern pharmacopeias.

History, Ancient↗
PubMed1994

The Salerno School of Medicine.

The cultural revival in Salerno was linked to Benedictine monasticism, with its main center at Montecassino. Historical evidence of the activity of the Salerno School of Medicine dates back to the 10th century, though the most productive period of the Salerno masters was in the 11th-13th centuries. The school's knowledge was broadened in the 12th century by the work of Constantinus Africanus, who translated many classical texts from Arabic into Latin. Circa Instans, a fundamental text on medicinal botany, was also produced by Mattaeus Platearius. Towards the middle of the 12th century, the school gradually became a theoretical center, rather than a primarily practical one, and many commentaries on earlier texts were produced. Uroscopy was pre-eminent in the teachings of Salerno, which was also one of the first medical centers to recognize the contribution of surgery to treatment. The precepts of the school were widely disseminated by the Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum, which contained remedies for every occasion and advice on keeping healthy.

Christianity↗
PubMed1995

The life and times of James Jeffray, Regius Professor of Anatomy, University of Glasgow 1790-1848.

James Jeffray, Regius Professor of Anatomy at Glasgow University from 1790 -1848, worked at a time when the only legal support of material for dissection was the bodies of hanged criminals. The Napoleonic Wars created a large demand for anatomical teaching and Jeffray saw the height of the body-snatching era. At Glasgow University, Jeffray supervised the establishment of the Hunterian Museum, negotiated a separate Chair of Botany and was a prime mover in founding the Botanic Gardens. The fetal circulation was a special interest and he is remembered as the inventor of the chain saw, which he designed from a watch chain for use in excision of diseased joints in an effort to prevent amputation.

Anatomy↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Toxic disputes and the rise of environmental justice in Australia.

The paper examines the rise of environmental justice issues in Australia, evident in two toxic disputes; the first, in a Perth outer suburb in Western Australia where residents faced both a hazardous waste dump and the nation's biggest chemical fire; and the second, in the Sydney suburb of Botany where residents were confronted with the destruction of what is thought to be, the world's largest stockpile of hazardous hexachlorobenzene (HCB) waste. The paper reviews the range of factors that impacted the local communities' fight for environmental justice. It explores the limitations of risk assessment and risk-based policies, as well as the problematic role of the expert and the communication of risk. The informational inequity and resource disparities so evident in toxic disputes are highlighted. The case studies confirmed the inequitable distribution of chemical risk as a failure to secure environmental justice for all Australians.

Australia↗