Mutations

Abstract

PREFACESomewhat over twenty years ago, the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation initiated a series of regularly scheduled conferences directed toward challenging problems in medicine and health. With time, firm but not immutable ground rules have been evolved for the conduct of these sessions. Thus, each conference group is to meet annually for a period of five or more years. Twenty-five persons, selected to represent a multidiscipline approach, are to participate in a meeting. These individuals are termed conference members, if they have been selected to participate in all of the meetings of a group, and guests, if they are to participate in a single meeting.The purpose of each conference is the promotion of communication, the exchange of ideas. To this end, an informal give-and-take among the participants, members and guests, is encouraged. Structure and continuity are given the discussion by a leader whose function is to present some of the more interesting aspects of the problem under discussion. The participants are enjoined to interrupt this presentation with questions, criticisms, and comment. At their best, the interruptions lay bare the birth and maturation of an idea, and form, therefore, an essential part of the lessons to be gained from the conference process. To share these lessons as widely as possible, an edited transcript of the meeting is published. These transactions, which attempt to retain the spontaneity of the discussion, have aroused considerable interest and criticism. Comments range from an enthusiasm for, to a total rejection of, the personalized approach. Criticism, in the words of Frank Fremont-Smith, for many years the guardian of these conferences, "has been directed primarily to editorial permissiveness which has allowed in the final text, in some instances, too many questions, remarks, or comments which, although perhaps useful during a heated discussion, seem out of context and interrupt the sequence of thought." Clearly, not all critics recognize the narrowness of the path twixt spontaneity, on the one hand, and editorial permissiveness, on the other, nor the challenges which confront the editor.

Two-Year Follow-Up Study of Stress-Related Disorders among Immigrants to Israel from the Chernobyl Area

“…Yet, many approach tion,"Effects of A-Bomb Radiation on the Human Body," summarized the 45 years of research on this population (1). Yet no mention is made of any systematic study of the psychological impact of such a horrendous event, and current contacts with Japanese researchers have not uncovered any psychiatric epidemiology on the longterm effects (2). It was almost 20 years after the atomic bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki before the first psychohistorical study of survivors was published by Robert Jay Lifton in 1967.…”

Aneurysmal Disease of the Thoracic and Abdominal Aorta

“…High radiation doses (1 to 2 Gy) of ionizing radiation to the developing human fetus may induce mental retardation and microcephaly (Brent, 2007). The susceptibility of the developing human to injury from prenatal exposure was clearly shown by Schull andOtake (1984, 1999). The human data related mainly to those exposed to radiation from the use nuclear weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki are in good agreement with data on animal models.…”

Participation of N 1 -Oxide derivatives of Adenine Nucleotides in the Phosphotransferase Activity of Liver Mitochondria

“…Although there might be additional phosphotransferases, others than adenylate kinase or GTP-AMP phosphotransferase, which could participate in the phosphorylation of AMP-NO to ADP-NO, it seems unlikely that they have a major biological significance; this means that the inhibitory effect of adenosine Ni-oxide on cell metabolism may be explained as being entirely due to the formation of AMP-NO. In order to test this hypothesis we depleted liver of endogenous ATP by injecting rats with ethionine (28,29). As shown in Table 6, adenosine quickly restores the normal level of ATP, in agreement with data reported by Schull (28), while adenosine Ni-oxide is unable to do so.…”

“…Sci. USA 71 (1974) __An-0.08B Female rats weighing 150-180 g were injected intraperitoneally with 1 g of DL-ethionine per kg of body weight, following the schema proposed by Schull (28). A total dose of 0.2 mmol of adenosine or adenosine Ni-oxide was given intramusculary.…”