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Under the impact of the Great Depression, the New Deal, and World War II, the Urban League's social service agenda moved increasingly from preoccupation with industrial employers toward work with a variety of state agencies charged with helping ordinary working people make ends meet during a moment of extraordinary economic suffering. Pittsburgh's shifting band of urban reformers joined and sometimes spearheaded broad-based community struggles to desegregate the city's social, civic, educational, medical, and economic institutions. By the end of World War II, the organization had increased its impact on social policy and social justice movements across regional and even national boundaries.

A single-compartment conductance-based computational model to mimic the behavior of rat tail motoneurons after acute and chronic spinal cord injury (SCI) was developed. The model includes a calcium-dependent potassium current, I"K"("C"a"), that contributes to after hyperpolarizations. In the chronic SCI model, the presence of sodium and calcium persistent inward currents (PICs) causes plateau potentials resulting in prolonged self-sustained firing. The interaction between the calcium PIC and I"K"("C"a") affects the magnitude and duration of plateau potentials as well as the hysteresis seen during injected current ramps. The model responses mimic experimental observations and may explain the spasticity observed after chronic SCI.

The efficacy of topically applied ointment and lotion formulations of Bidens pilosa was evaluated against an experimental surgical staphylococcal wound infection in ICR mice. Colonies of Staphylococcus aureus from agar plates were inoculated into a superficial wound, and therapy with the topical preparations was started 24 hours after infection. The control (NSS), standard (Mupirocin), and placebo bases were included in the study to compare the results with the medicated preparations. Histopathological analysis of the S. aureus infected wounds has shown inflammation after the 1st day and regressed after the 4th day of therapy. After the 5th day, only the Mupirocin and Burburtak ointment groups manifested healing. In non-treated wounds, there was a continuous proliferation of inflammatory cells that lasted up to the 4th day and it only terminated after the 5th day signaling the self-healing process. Therapy with placebo ointment and lotion (polyethylene glycol base) was ineffective, whereas twice daily application of Mupirocin ointment resulted in elimination of the staphylococci. The topical preparations from ethanolic extracts of Bidens pilosa were proven effective but Bidens pilosa ointment showed greater action than Bidens pilosa lotion. Keywords: Bidens pilosa, Burburtak, in vivo study, Mupirocin DOI: 10.3860/acta.v56i0.1488 Acta Manilana 56 (2008) pp.1-5

Background Following a contusion injury to the spinal cord (SCI), motoneurons below the level of injury undergo significant morphological and behavioral changes. Compared with uninjured controls, SCI motoneurons have a larger soma, fewer and thicker primary dendrites, and less dendritic branching [1]. Behaviorally, SCI motoneurons are more excitable and exhibit altered rhythmic firing and reflex properties [2]. While neuronal morphology and neuronal excitability are linked, to date it is not clear to what extent the morphological changes in motoneurons following SCI are responsible for the altered electrical behavior.

Ovine prolactin has been shown to initiate porphyropsin synthesis in “second metamorphosis” of the eastern red-spotted newt ( Notophthalmus viridescens ). Prolactin activity is demonstrable in both terrestrial juvenile efts and aquatic adults. In adults, thyroxine initiates molting, antagonizes prolactin-induced water-drive behavior, and yet does not appear to affect visual pigment synthesis. Adaptation of adults to aquatic and terrestrial conditions does not alter visual pigment composition; prolactin initiates porphyropsin synthesis in animals maintained in both experimental environments.

Fishes display a variety of anatomical relationships between brain and pituitary to a degree unique among vertebrates. This group is pivotal for understanding evolution of functions of hypophysiotropic peptides. We review information concerning occurrences, distributions and physiological activities of three identified peptides in fish brain, and biological properties of fish brain extracts. Thyrotropin releasing hormone may be present universally in piscine central nervous tissue; however, this peptide has not been clearly demonstrated to have hypophysiotropic activity in fishes. Somatostatin also has been shown to occur in fish brains; studies of actions of this substance are virtually absent. Gonadotropin releasing hormone is apparently of broad occurrence in fishes; its hypophysiotropic activity is well established for several teleostean species. Anatomical relationships between brain and pituitary are particularly varied among elasmobranchs. Investigations involving additional elasmobranch representatives, as well as other fishes, are needed before generalizations can be made. Widespread extrahypothalamic distribution of hypophysiotropic peptides in lower vertebrates and neurotransmitter (or related) functions of neurones containing these peptides provide a basis for proposals concerning evolution of hypothalamic control of the pituitary gland.

An immunocytochemical unlabeled antibody enzyme technique has been applied to localize mammalian-like immunoreactive luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (ir-LH-RH) in central nervous tissue of Pacific lamprey (Entosphenus tridentata; anadromous spawning migrants) and of Pacific hagfish (Eptatretus stouti, sexually undifferentiated and mature). Specific immunocytochemical staining was located over perikarya in the preoptic nucleus of lampreys; beaded axons containing herring body-like dilatations were stained and appeared to pass ventro-posteriorly into the infundibulum where presumed nerve endings were observed in the neurohypophysis. Cell bodies exhibiting ir-LH-RH were distinct from those, presumably vasotocinergic ones, which stained with aldehyde fuchsin. Specific staining was absent in other regions of the lamprey brain, in control preparations, and in any part of the hagfish central nervous tissues. The possible hypophysiotropic actions of ir-LH-RH in the lamprey preoptico-neurohypophysial system are unclear because no anatomical relationship is evident which might provide for transfer of hypothalamic influences to the pars distalis. However, detection of mammalian-like ir-LH-RH in brain of this primitive agnathan fish indicates that this peptide may be of great evolutionary antiquity.

Testes from 1-day old mice were implanted bilaterally into the inguinal fat pads of young adult mice in order to characterize the initial vascularization of grafts. Implants were permitted to remain in the transplantation site for varying periods of time (2 to 120 hr) and specimens were examined in situ as well as in histologic and autoradiographic preparations. The first specific response elicited, beginning 12 to 24 hr after grafting, was a local hyperemia, frequently with hemorrhage, into and about the transplant. These vascular events were highlighted by administration of the dye Evan's blue systemically. Macroscopically, hemorrhage within the grafts often appeared to be “channelized,” but was demonstrated to be extravascular upon microscopic examination. Vasoproliferation was demonstrated by [ 3 H]thymidine incorporation into nuclei of endothelial cells and found to commence in the small blood vessels of the mammary fat pad at the immediate periphery of the implant. No sprouting of preexisting vessels within the grafts was observed. Endothelial cell proliferation was initiated between 24 and 48 hr after implantation of the graft. Proliferating vessels penetrated the grafts thoroughly by 72 hr. No evidence of anastomosis of graft and host vessels was obtained. Subsequently, both grafts and sinusoid blood vessels were observed to enlarge in size. The utility of neonatal testes as test materials and the mammary gland fat pad as a transplantation site is discussed.

1. 1. Prolactin, which has sodium-retaining activity in some teleost fishes in fresh water, was examined for similar activity in leopard frogs ( Rana pipiens ) and California newts ( Taricha torosa ). 2. 2. Adenohypophysectomy of R. pipiens and T. torosa causes a fall in plasma sodium levels of about 10 per cent, which is not corrected by prolactin treatment. Aldosterone and corticosterone are also ineffective in restoring blood sodium in Taricha . 3. 3. Placing intact Taricha in a hypo-osmotic (75 per cent) saline solution results in an increase in plasma sodium concentrations of about 20 per cent. Treatment with prolactin, aldosterone or corticosterone does not cause further increase. 4. 4. Prolactin does not appear to regulate plasma sodium in these anuran and urodele species.

To assess a possible role of the adenohypophysis in photorefractoriness, photosensitive and photorefractory adult male white-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia Ieucophrys) were treated with single intravenous injections of 0, 0.5, 5, 20, 35, 50 or 500 ng of synthetic Iuteinizing hormone releasing hormone (Syn-LHRH) in 0.9% saline solution. Serial samples of plasma were taken immediately before and at 5, 20 and 60 mm after injection. The plasma level of immunoreactive luteinizing hormone (irLH) was not altered by the injection of saline solution alone, or by 0.5 or 5 ng Syn-LHRH in either photosensitive or photorefractory birds. Treatment with 20, 35, 50 or 500 ng Syn-LHRH, however, elicitedsignificant and approximately equal increases in plasma levels of irLH in both groups 5 mm after injection. These responses are consistent with the hypothesis that the site of photorefractoriness is at a level higher than the adenohypophysis.

The relationship between prolactin-thyroxine antagonism and the metamorphosis of visual pigments in larval amphibians has been investigated using bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) tadpoles. Although prolactin-thyroxine antagonism is demonstrable by morphological criteria, ovine prolactin does not appear to antagonize thyroxine-induced rhodopsin synthesis. The hypothesis is offered that prolactin-thyroxine antagonism is the result of differential gene activities which are opposite in their physiological effects.

Hagfish ( Eptatretus stouti ) thyroid tissue co-cultured with pituitary tissue increased thyroxine (T 4 ) concentration in medium relative to thyroids incubated alone. Synthetic thyrotropin releasing hormone and arginine vasotocin failed (a) to augment medium T 4 in co-cultures and (b) to retard the decline in pituitary thyrotropic activity observed over time.

Child open defecation is common in low-income countries and can lead to fecal exposure in the domestic environment. We assessed associations between child feces management practices vs. measures of contamination and child diarrhea among households with children