Metazoans display a tremendous diversity of developmental patterns, including complex life cycles composed of morphologically disparate stages. In this regard, the evolution of life cycle complexity promotes phenotypic diversity. However, correlations between life cycle stages can constrain the evolution of some structures and functions. Despite the potential macroevolutionary consequences, few studies have tested the impacts of life cycle evolution on broad-scale patterns of trait diversification. Here we show that larval and adult salamanders with a simple, aquatic-only (paedomorphic) life cycle had an increased rate of vertebral column and body form diversification compared to lineages with a complex, aquatic-terrestrial (biphasic) life cycle. These differences in life cycle complexity explain the variations in vertebral number and adult body form better than larval ecology. In addition, we found that lineages with a simple terrestrial-only (direct developing) life cycle also had a higher rate of adult body form evolution than biphasic lineages, but still 10-fold lower than aquatic-only lineages. Our analyses demonstrate that prominent shifts in phenotypic evolution can follow long-term transitions in life cycle complexity, which may reflect underlying stage-dependent constraints.

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Summary. The substrates inositol, rhamnose, d-tartrate and m-tartrate used in fermentation tests with 338 cultures of Salmonella paratyphi B differentiated strains in some phage types to give information that could be used in epidemiological investigations. Xylose in Bitter's medium, the fifth substrate by which 13 of a potential 32 biotypes were identified, differentiated few cultures with the negative character. The possession of a specific type of outer-membrane protein receptor for colicin M or bacteriophage ESl8 and the particular type of ribosomal ribonucleic acid present, defined three groups among the phage-typed and biotyped cultures. The possibility that the serotype S. paratyphi B contains clones of different phylogenetic origin and the consequent implications for nomenclature are discussed.

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Species with truncated developmental patterns may go undetected if they resemble the juveniles of their close relatives. Herein we present an example of this phenomenon with the description of a highly divergent, relict species of streamdwelling plethodontid salamander from the Ouachita Mountains of North America. Both mitochondrial and nuclear sequence data show that this new species is most closely related to its syntopic relative, Eurycea multiplicata. Interestingly, E. multiplicata exhibits the ancestral biphasic (metamorphic) life cycle, whereas the new species maintains an aquatic larval form throughout life (paedomorphic) and superficially resembles larval E. multiplicata. The new species is the first known paedomorphic plethodontid from the Ouachita Mountains, and the most divergent paedomorphic salamander discovered in over seventy years. This species represents an independent instance of the evolution of paedomorphosis associated with a porous streambed, which may facilitate vertical seasonal movements. This new species currently has an extremely limited known distribution and is of immediate conservation concern.

Although beta-agonists remain an important aspect of the treatment of asthma, their role has recently been questioned. Salmeterol has recently been developed as a beta-agonist with prolonged bronchodilator action. Using lucigenin-enhanced chemiluminescence, we have shown that salmeterol inhibits this aspect of phagocyte function in vitro in a concentration-dependent manner. However, salmeterol differs from classical beta 2-agonists in that at concentrations between 10(-5) and 10(-3) mol/L, its effects on phagocytes cannot be completely reversed by washing the cells or by propranolol. The effects on phagocytes may not therefore be explicable on the basis of beta-adrenergic mechanisms alone.

Human mononuclear cells were separated from freshly obtained peripheral venous blood by density centrifugation and the number of monocytes present estimated by volume spectroscopy. The mononuclear cells were then placed directly into the wells of a microtitre plate and incubated for one hour at 37 degrees C to promote adherence of the monocytes to the plastic wells. Non-adherent cells were then removed by washing, thus avoiding the need to treat the monocytes with EDTA or other reagents during cell preparation. The time course and dynamics of the chemiluminescence response of adherent monocytes towards opsonized zymosan was similar to those seen using non-adherent cells. The ability of adherent monocyte preparations to produce chemiluminescence following incubation for varying periods with T-lymphocyte conditioned medium was investigated. The use of a microtitre plate chemiluminescence reader allows several plates to be assayed over the 24-hour period and since small numbers of cells are required, many cultures can be analysed in one experiment. This technique (Patent applied for) promises to be a powerful tool for dissecting the cellular events which occur during macrophage activation and examining the effect of various lymphokines on the ability of monocytes to produce a chemiluminescence response.

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