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The effects of different concentrations of urea (1 to 12%) sprayed at heading and blooming and after blooming on the components of yield, yield, crude and true protein, gluten, Ca, P, and niacin content of wheat, were studied over 3 years. Foliar application of urea caused an increase in the number of kernels per head and 1000‐kernel weight. Concentrations beyond 3% eliminated mottling in grains altogether. Mottling was inversely related to the protein content. Concentrations from 1 to 6% increased the yield of grain irrespective of season and the yield response was linear when spray was given at heading, an increase of 52 pounds per acre (4% of that under check) having been recorded with each increase of 1% in concentration, the maximum increase being of the order 24%. Subsequent sprays were not beneficial. Urea sprays increased the proportion of grain in total dry matter produced. Spraying urea resulted in considerable increase in both crude and true protein contents, the response in protein to different concentrations being linear at all the three frequencies. Increase in total protein content was largely due to that in the true protein fraction. The range of increase in protein varied from 18 to 34%. Spraying after blooming was more efficient than at heading or at blooming for enhancing the rate of accumulation of protein in grain. Increases in protein yield per acre due to N sprays ranged from 24 to 60%. Increases in gluten followed the pattern of protein and were of the order of 53 to 70%. Gluten constituted 70% of crude protein and 80% of true protein in nonsprayed wheat and 82% of crude protein and 90% of true protein in N sprayed wheat. While ash and Ca contents remained unaffected P content increased on account of spraying urea. Foliar sprays of N increased the niacin content of grain.

1. The formation of (+)-[14C]catechin has been demonstrated in Uncaria gambir after the administration of 14CO2 and [1−14C]acetate. 2. By alkaline degradation to phloroglucinol and protocatechuic acid it has been shown that administration of 14CO2 resulted in equal labelling of the A and B rings of catechin, whereas [1−14C]-acetate gave rise to labelling largely in the A ring. 3. Incorporation of 14C from both 14CO2 and [1−14C]acetate into (+)-catechin was greater in young than in older leaves.

1. The metabolism of flavanone in the rat was studied after oral or intraperitoneal administration of the compound. Flavone and flav-3-ene together with five other unidentified minor metabolites were excreted in the urine. 2. The formation of flavanone metabolites was not suppressed by the administration of high doses of the antibacterial compounds aureomycin and phthaloylsulphathiazole. 3. No aromatic acids that could be attributed to ring cleavage of flavanone were detected. 4. Administration of 100 or 200mg of flavanone daily per rat caused some deaths during the 7–14-day period. 5. The application of combined gas–liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry and proton nuclear-magnetic-resonance spectroscopy to the separation and identification of the flavanone metabolites is described. 6. Measurement of the two major flavanone metabolites was carried out by gas–liquid chromatography.

It is now well known that a system of interference fringes photographed on a photographic plate has very interesting properties when used as a diffraction grating. This paper considers two cases. One is when the photographic plate is a plane surface; the aberration properties of this are worked out as a function of wavelength. There are three positions for which the spherical aberration is zero. Of these, one is of little interest as this is simply zero-order position. Another case considered was that of a photographic plate in the form of a concave spherical surface. In this case, there are three positions at which the spherical aberration is zero. The nature of variation of spherical aberration between these zero-aberration positions is presented in the form of curves computed from the theory of these gratings.

The immature oocyte and unfertilized eggs of Urechis caupo, a marine echiuroid worm, contain many nuclear bodies and a main nucleolus. These bodies are similar to prenucleolar bodies of other materials with respect to their origin, structure, cytochemical and biochemical characteristics. They are formed in large numbers during the diffuse diplotene stage, perhaps by an aggregation of nucleolar materials which had been associated with chromosomes. They are fibrillar in structure, made up mainly of some nucleolar proteins, and are inactive in RNA synthesis. Biochemical analyses suggest the possibility that these structures contain a small amount of ribosomal RNA precursors which may have originated from the main nucleolus. An accumulation of prenucleolar bodies in Urechis oocytes may result from the lack of formation of multiple functional nucleoli, such as those found in amphibian oocytes.

A chronic infection with Shigella flexneri2a has been established in mice for the evaluation of compounds for therapeutic potential. Evidence of infection is indicated by prolonged symptomless excretion in the feces and by positive isolation of organisms from different segments of the intestinal tract and from mesenteric lymph nodes. Serum antibody titer reaches a maximum after 9 days of infection and remains at a low level until 32 days postinfection. In this model, five drugs used in human shigellosis were evaluated for efficacy. Ampicillin was found to be the most active followed by oxytetracycline and kanamycin. Neomycin and colistin were the least active in this system.

The source of the large amounts of circulating progesterone and the smaller quantities of 17α-hydroxyprogesterone in Hydatidiform Mole was studied by measuring progesterone, 17α-hydroxyprogesterone and 20α-hydroxyprogesterone in petroleum ether extracts of mole vesicle fluid and theca lutein cyst fluid following chromatography. The progesterone concentration in 10 samples of mole vesicle fluid ranged from 261–1493 ng/ml (mean 724 ng/ml) and was 8.6 times higher than the concentration in the serum. The chromatogram of the theca lutein cyst fluid showed a large peak of progesterone followed by two large secondary peaks of 20α-hydroxyprogesterone and 17α-hydroxyprogesterone. In 3 patients with benign Hydatidiform Mole, progesterone and human chorionic gonadotrophin rapidly decreased during the first 48 hours following evacuation of the mole. Thereafter, progesterone disappeared from the serum before HCG in one case, together with HCG in the second, and remained at low concentrations for 3 months in the third patient despite negative (below 0.6 IU/ml) HCG assays. The studies show that the mole trophoblast is the principal source of progesterone and the ovaries are a secondary source. Theca lutein cysts are the principal source of 17α-hydroxyprogesterone.

Progesterone and human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) were measured in the sera of 25 patients with hydatidiform mole, 10 patients with choriocarcinoma and 200 normal pregnancies by a competitive protein-binding assay and a haemagglutination-inhibition assay respectively. Elution of the petroleum ether extract of mole serum on Sephadex LH-20 showed that the main fraction (92.8%) was progesterone, followed by a small peak of 20 α-hydroxyprogesterone. In 21 intact hydatidiform moles, the mean serum progesterone of 106.0 ng/ml (range 17.8–263 ng/ml) was higher than for normal pregnancy. Serum HCG (mean 833 IU/ml) was similarly elevated. Low concentrations of progesterone (0–17.3 ng/ml) and HCG (15–160 IU/ml) were present in 4 patients who had aborted. The mean serum progesterone was not further elevated in patients with theca lutein cysts of the ovary. There was no correlation between the serum progesterone and the uterine size, serum HCG or malignant sequelae. In 10 cases of choriocarcinoma, the serum progesterone ranged from 1.3–61 ng/ml (mean 16.9 ng/ml), the serum HCG from 0–960 IU/ml (mean 158 IU/ml) but there was no correlation between the two values. The evidence suggests a hyperactive steroidogenesis in hydatidiform mole and poor steroidogenesis in choriocarcinoma. An HCG secretion occurs in both cases.

Distribution studies with orthorhombic zinc sulphate and magnesium sulphate as hosts and 54Mn as guest have been carried out in order to determine the transition temperatures of different phases. The change in morphology of either the host or the guest is always indicated by a prominent change in distribution values at the point of transition. In the present study, with zinc sulphate as host and 54Mn as guest, the transition temperatures of the two components, orthorhombic MnSO4,7H2O and MnSO4,6H2O, were found to be 10 and 42.5C respectively. The host component ZnSO4,7H2O transforms to its lower hydrate ZnSO4,6H2O at 38.95C. Distribution studies with MgSO4,7H2O as host and 54Mn tracer as guest also confirm that MnSO4,6H2O undergoes transition at 42.5C. Isolation of MnSO4,6H2O in finite concentration has been achieved by cocrystallizing with stable and well defined ZnSO4,6H2O at 42C.

Additions of 0.0005 N calcium borogluconate to Trypticase Soy Broth (TSB) produced an increase in phage titer about 1 million-fold, whereas its addition to skim milk resulted in about a 100-fold decrease in the maximal titer. Supplemental calcium had a stimulatory influence on bacterial growth in TSB but not in skim milk. Studies were made of the effect of binding of calcium of skim milk on the proliferation of staphylococcal bacteriophage. Sequestering the calcium with 2% phosphate mixture inactivated the phages without affecting the bacterial growth. However, chelation of calcium by 0.012% ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid produced an inhibitory effect on both the phages and the bacteria.

Propagation of homologous bacteriophage in a culture of Staphylococcus aureus(1:1 ratio of phage to bacteria) in Trypticase Soy Broth (TSB) and in skim milk indicated more activity of phage in TSB. Early lysis of bacteria in skim milk followed by a pronounced rise in bacterial population suggested that staphylococcal phages were being inactivated by milk. Titration of phages from skim milk, whey, and TSB indicated about 90% adsorption of phages by acid- and heat-precipitable proteins of skim milk, whereas numbers recovered from whey were quite comparable to those recovered from TSB. Reducing the pH from 6.5 to 4.0 increased the percentage of phages recoverable from skim milk from 10 to 56%. Apparently, the changes in electrical charges on the casein micelles at this low pH were responsible for release of many phages from their complex with casein.

1. The biliary and urinary excretion of (+)-[U-14C]catechin was studied in normal male rats after a single injection of the flavonoid. 2. In rats large amounts of radioactivity (33.6–44.3% of the dose in 24h) were excreted in the bile as two glucuronide conjugates [one of which was a (+)-catechin conjugate] and three other unconjugated metabolites. 3. Excretion of radioactivity in the urine when the bile duct was not cannulated amounted to 44.5% of the dose. 4. In both the urine and bile the new metabolites showed maximum excretion in the ½–1½h after intravenous injection of [14C]catechin. 5. The metabolites m-hydroxyphenylpropionic acid, p-hydroxyphenylpropionic acid, δ-(3-hydroxyphenyl)-γ-valerolactone and δ-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-γ-valerolactione originate from the action of the intestinal micro-organisms on the biliary-excreted metabolites of (+)-catechin. These phenolic acid and lactone metabolites are then reabsorped and excreted in the urine. 6. It is proposed that, depending on the route of administration of (+)-catechin, there exists an alternative pathway, involving biliary excretion, for the metabolism of (+)-catechin.

1. The fate of (+)-[U−14C]catechin and (+)-[ring A−14C]catechin has been studied in the guinea pig and rat. 2. (+)-[U−14C]Catechin was shown to give rise to labelled phenolic acids, labelled phenyl-γ-valerolactones and 14CO2. 3. (+)-[ring A−14C]-Catechin did not give rise to labelled phenolic acids, but labelled phenyl-γ-valerolactones were detected together with a higher proportion of 14CO2. 4. Administered [14C]δ-(3-hydroxyphenyl)-γ-valerolactone gave rise to labelled m-hydroxyphenylpropionic acid in the rat whereas administered [14C]m-hydroxyphenylpropionic acid gave rise to a compound yielding labelled m-hydroxybenzoic acid on hydrolysis. 5. The distribution of radioactivity in the urine and faeces of (+)-[14C]catechin-fed animals is described; a high proportion of residual radioactivity was found in urine that had been exhaustively extracted with diethyl ether.

1. Administration of (+)-catechin to the guinea pig gives rise to a number of phenolic acids and lactones, which have been identified by chromatographic and spectrophotometric methods. The major phenolic acid metabolite is m-hydroxybenzoic acid and the major lactone metabolite is δ-(3-hydroxyphenyl)-γ-valerolactone. 2. The phenolic acid and lactone metabolites are excreted in both free and conjugated forms, including their glucuronides and to a lesser degree their ethereal sulphates. 3. Administration of certain of the metabolites isolated has permitted certain sequential relationships of these intermediates to be established. 4. Degradation of (+)-catechin in the guinea pig is effected at least in part by the gut microflora and is suppressed by aureomycin plus phthaloyl-sulphathiazole.