Rhythmically bursting songbird vocomotor neurons are organized into multiple sequences, suggesting a network/intrinsic properties model encoding song and error, not time.

In zebra finch, basal ganglia projecting "HVC " neurons emit one or more spike bursts during each song motif (canonical sequence of syllables), which are thought to be driven in part by a process of spike rebound excitation. Zebra finch songs are highly stereotyped and recent results indicate that the intrinsic properties of HVC neurons are similar within each bird, vary among birds depending on similarity of the songs, and vary with song errors. We tested the hypothesis that the timing of spike bursts during singing also evince individual-specific distributions.

The Caenorhabditis elegans interneuron ALA is (also) a high-threshold mechanosensor.

Background: To survive dynamic environments, it is essential for all animals to appropriately modulate their behavior in response to various stimulus intensities. For instance, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans suppresses the rate of egg-laying in response to intense mechanical stimuli, in a manner dependent on the mechanosensory neurons FLP and PVD. We have found that the unilaterally placed single interneuron ALA acted as a high-threshold mechanosensor, and that it was required for this protective behavioral response.

Microdissection studies of the structural alterations induced in rat kidneys by experimental postischemic acute renal failure.

A unique opportunity presented itself for a morphologic study of experimental unilateral acute renal failure (ARF) in male rats. The ARF had been induced in the rats by temporary occlusion (1h) of the left renal artery. Twenty-nine rats were divided into subsets as follows: 2-3 h, 24 h, 1 week, 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks following release of occlusion.

Hydrocortisone-induced cystic metanephric maldevelopment in serum-free organ culture.

To investigate the basic pathophysiology of renal cystic maldevelopment, the production of renal cysts was studied in a newly developed murine metanephric organ culture system. In this isolated, nonvascularized system, the addition of hydrocortisone (1.4 X 10(-5) M) to completely characterized, serum-free growth medium produced striking tubular cystic abnormalities.

Polycystic kidney and liver disease in Springbok: I. Morphology of the lesions.

Spontaneous polycystic kidney and liver disease in an inbred herd of Springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis) was studied by light microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and microdissection. Springbok are a small species of gazelle of the family Bovidae native to South Africa. Since 1976, 18% of all live calves born have had nephromegaly and died within 2 weeks of birth.

Structural changes of experimental glomerulonephritis in rats as revealed by microdissection.

Microdissection revealed striking alterations in the nephrons of animal models AICN and anti-GBMN. The most severely damaged AICN kidney in the series presented marked heterogeneity in the size and deformity of the proximal tubules, corresponding to the diverse and variegated nephrons described by Oliver in chronic Bright's disease. The severely damaged anti-GBMN kidneys revealed widespread alterations in the proximal tubules, which, however, tended to be fairly uniform among the affected nephrons.

Inflammatory pseudo-tumours of the abdomen: plasma cell granulomas.

Pseudo-tumours of the plasma cell granuloma type are reported in two patients. One was retroperitoneal and the other intraabdominal. Most of the cases of plasma cell granulomas described in the literature have been in the lung (Brunn, 1939; Childress and Adie, 1950; Cotton, 1952; Umiker and Iverson, 1954; Lane, Krohn, Kolozai, and Whitehead, 1955; Liebow and Hubbell, 1956; Titus, Harrison, Clagett, Anderson, and Knaff, 1962; Mason, Keats, and Baker, 1963; Wentworth, Lynch, Fallis, Turner, Lowden, and Conen, 1968; Bahadori and Liebow, 1973).