Hyponatremia and the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion became the “attribute” disorders of nephrologists. Invention of a microflame photometer fostered the revival of micropuncture and transport studies. In the 1960s,

the flame photometer was linked to Leonard Skeggs’ sequential automated analysis system, leading to enormous numbers of routine measurements of electrolytes. The growing number of nephrologists, then based mostly at teaching hospitals, thus found plentiful instances of sodium and potassium find more abnormalities to address. The autoanalyzer also catalyzed use of the anion gap, another emblem of nephrology in its early decades. Not only ideas and theories, but also the usually invisible machinery, enable the growth of a knowledge base and formation of a scientific discipline or medical specialty. Of course, the flame photometer did not itself shape the agenda of nephrology, but it allowed the most influential group of progenitors and their progeny to explore normal function and bring a strongly physiologic imperative to their daily work with patients. Am J Kidney Dis 56:379-386. (C) 2010 by the National Kidney Foundation, Inc.”
“Lima

bean is a species cultivated broadly in the Americas and has been cultivated Selleck LY3023414 in the Caribbean for at least 500 years. In order to determine the genetic structure and 17-AAG clinical trial diversity of Lima bean from the Caribbean, 50 landraces from Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico were collected and analyzed using 24 SSR

markers. All landraces in this Caribbean collection were found to be of Middle-American descent. The genetic diversity (H-E) was highest in the landraces from Puerto Rico and lowest in Haitian landraces. The observed proportion of heterozygotes (H-O) was higher in the Haitian landraces and lowest in Puerto Rican landraces. Unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic averaging analysis showed that the landraces clustered into 3 clusters with all Haitian landraces grouping in one cluster. We also assessed the agro-morphological characteristics of the collection as well as the content of cyanogenic glucoside, linamarin, in leaves and dry seeds. Lima bean, which is a model crop for indirect plant defenses against herbivory, also possess linamarin as a source of direct plant defense. Upon tissue damage, linamarin is converted to toxic hydrogen cyanide. In our collection 44.6 % of the landraces had average seed HCN content <= 200 ppm which is the permitted level for Lima bean seed in the US. Our results also identified the landraces in this collection which have high linamarin levels in the leaves while having low levels in the seeds.