THONNER's analytical key to the families of flowering plants

For the identification of a flowering plant the first step usually is to discover to which family it belongs. With some experience, the families commonly encountered in one’s area of interest are soon known, but when dealing with specimens from other places, notably those from the vast and rich subtropics and tropics, there is much less certainty. The pertinent literature is often not readily available as it is often found only in expensive, rare or obscure books, or journals, present only in a few specialized institutes. Basically only a few keys to the families of flowering plants of the world have ever been produced, the best known of which at present is Hutchinson’s Key to the families of flowering plants (1973); less well-known are Lemée’s Tableau analytique des genres monocotylédones (1941) (incl. Gymnosperms) and his Tableau analytique des genres dicotylédones (1943), and Hansen and Rahn’s Determination of Angiosperm families by means of a punched-card system (Dansk Bot. Ark. 26, 1969, with additions and corrections in Bot. Tidsskr. 67, 1972, 152-153, and Ibid. 74 1979, 177-178). Of note also are Davies and Cullen’s The identification of flowering plant families, 2nd ed. (1979), which, however, deals only with the families native or cultivated in North Temperate regions, and Joly’s Chaves de identifição das famílias de plantas vasculares que ocorrem no Brasil, 3rd ed. (1977), which may be useful in other tropical areas too. There are a number of excellent keys prepared by an Austrian, Franz Thonner (1863-1928), which deal either with European genera (1901, 1903, 1918), or African ones (1908, 1913, 1915), or with all families of the world (1891, 1895, 1917). Some of these have apparently been completely overlooked, others have been known only to a few, and then sometimes served as a base for keys of their own, thereby again influencing keys by others (see Derived works)

Lipopolysaccharide LPS-mediated soluble TNF receptor release and TNF receptor expression by monocytes. Role of CD14, LPS binding protein, and bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein.

Previously we demonstrated that two soluble(s) tumor necrosis factor receptors, TNF-R55 as well as sTNF-R75, are constitutively released in vitro by monocytes, and that this release was markedly enhanced after activation. Because LPS is an important activator of monocytes, we investigated the effect of LPS on sTNF-R release by monocytes. It was found that release of sTNF-R75, but not (or minimally) release of sTNF-R55, was enhanced after activation with LPS, reaching plateau levels after approximately 2 days. CD14, one of the membrane receptors for LPS, is an intermediate in this process, as shown in experiments using mAb directed against CD14. Under serum-free conditions, LPS-induced sTNF-R75 release was less as compared with release in the presence of serum, suggesting involvement of serum proteins. Addition of LPS binding protein (LBP) enhanced the LPS-induced sTNF-R75 release under serum-free conditions, but had no effect in the presence of serum. On the other hand, bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein (BPI), known to possess LPS neutralizing activity, inhibited LPS-induced sTNF-R75 release. Furthermore, cell surface expression of both types of TNF-R was shown to be controlled by LPS, LBP, and BPI. LPS caused, within 1 h, a complete reduction of TNF-R55 as well as TNF-R75 expression, followed by enhanced re-expression of both receptors after 24 h. The down-modulation of expression was increased by LBP, whereas BPI counteracted the LPS-induced down-regulation. The LPS-enhanced release of sTNF-R75, capable of inactivation of TNF, as well as LPS-induced initial down-modulation of TNF-R expression leading to postulated temporary unresponsiveness to TNF may share in a physiological mechanism to carefully control the effects of TNF