AN ELECTRON MICROSCOPE STUDY OF LYMPHATIC TISSUE IN RUNT DISEASE

The thymus, spleen, and lymph nodes were studied in runt disease induced by a graft of intravenously injected homologous splenic cells into newborn rats and mice. Adult Long-Evans cells (70 x 106) were injected into Sprague-Dawley rats. Adult DBA cells (7 x 106) were injected into C57BL/6 mice. Runted rats were sacrificed at 14 to 28 days of age; mice at 10 to 20 days. The thymic cortex is depleted of small lymphocytes. Those remaining are severely damaged and phagocytized. Evidence of damage includes swelling of mitochondria, myelin figure formation, margination of chromatin, and sharp angulation in nuclear contour. Large numbers of macrophages are present. Epithelial-reticular cells which envelop small cortical blood vessels are often retracted, with the result that the most peripheral layer in the thymic-blood barrier suffers abnormally large gaps. Lymphocytes of the periarterial lymphatic sheaths of spleen and of the cortex of lymph nodes are reduced in number and damaged. Vast numbers of plasma cells and many lymphocytes are evident throughout lymph nodes, in the periarterial lymphatic sheaths, and in the marginal zone and red pulp of the spleen. Plasma cells are of different sizes, the larger having dilated sacs of endoplasmic reticulum. Lymphocytes are small to medium in size. They contain, in varying quantity, ribosomes and smooth membrane-bounded cytoplasmic vesicles approximately 350 to 500 A in diameter. Most plasma cells and lymphocytes are damaged and many of these are phagocytized. Many lymphocytes in lymph nodes, however, show no evidence of damage. Reticular cells and other fixed cells of the connective tissues seldom appear affected. Thus, the major cell types reacting in runt disease are lymphocytes, plasma cells, and histiocytes or macrophages. It appears, therefore, that both the delayed and immediate types of sensitivity play a part in this disease

Direct and Indirect Psychosocial Outcomes for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and their Parents Following a Parent-involved Social Skills Group Intervention

Objective: This study examined the direct and indirect outcomes of a social skills group intervention for children with high functioning autism spectrum disorders and their parents. Method: Thirty-five children and their parents participated in_the program evaluation. Children and parents completed measures of child social skills and problem behaviors. Children reported on their self-concept, and parents reported on their psychological acceptance and empowerment. Results: Results indicate significant increases in overall child social skills according to parent and child report, in child general self- worth, and in parent service empowerment and psychological acceptance. Conclusion: While past program evaluations of social skills groups highlight changes in social competence, taking a broader perspective on the types of positive outcomes suggests potential benefits for both child and parent

Arrival time and magnitude of airborne fission products from the Fukushima, Japan, reactor incident as measured in Seattle, WA, USA

We report results of air monitoring started due to the recent natural catastrophe on 11 March 2011 in Japan and the severe ensuing damage to the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear reactor complex. On 17-18 March 2011, we registered the first arrival of the airborne fission products 131-I, 132-I, 132-Te, 134-Cs, and 137-Cs in Seattle, WA, USA, by identifying their characteristic gamma rays using a germanium detector. We measured the evolution of the activities over a period of 23 days at the end of which the activities had mostly fallen below our detection limit. The highest detected activity amounted to 4.4 +/- 1.3 mBq/m^3 of 131-I on 19-20 March.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, published in Journal of Environmental Radioactivit

Nuclear starburst-driven evolution of the central region in NGC 6764

We study the CO and the radiocontinuum emission in an active galaxy to analyze the interplay between the central activity and the molecular gas. We present new high-resolution observations of the CO(1-0) and CO(2-1) emission lines, and 3.5 cm and 20 cm radio continuum emission in the central region of the LINER/starburst galaxy NGC 6764. The galaxy has an outflow morphology in radio continuum, spatially coincident with the CO and H$\alpha$ emission, and centered slightly off the radio continuum peak at the LINER nucleus. The total molecular gas mass in the center is about 7x10^8 \msun, using a CO luminosity to total molecular gas conversion factor that is three times lower than the standard one. CO(1-0) emission is found near the boundaries of the radio continuum emission cone. The outflow has a projected expansion velocity of 25 km/s relative to the systemic velocity of NGC6764. About 4x 10^6 \msun of molecular gas is detected in the outflow. The approximate location (~1 kpc) of the dynamical inner Lindblad resonance has been derived from the rotation curve. The peak of the CO emission is slightly (< 200 pc) offset from the peak of the radio continuum. The molecular gas has most likely been ejected by the stellar winds from the recent starburst, but the CO line ratios show indication of an interaction with the AGN. The energy released by the nuclear starburst is sufficient to explain the observed outflow, even if the data cannot exclude the AGN from being the major energy source. Comparison of the outflow with hydrodynamical simulations suggests that the nuclear starburst is 3--7 Myr old and the bubble-like outflow is still confined and not freely expanding.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&

Exclusive measurement of coherent eta photoproduction from the deuteron

Coherent photoproduction of eta mesons from the deuteron has been measured from threshold up to incident photon energies of 750 MeV using the photon spectrometer TAPS at the tagged photon facility at the Mainz microtron MAMI. For the first time, differential coherent cross sections have been deduced from the coincident detection of the eta meson and the recoil deuteron. A missing energy analysis was used for the suppression of background events so that a very clean identification of coherent eta-photoproduction was achieved. The resulting cross sections agree with previous experimental results except for angles around 90 deg in the photon-deuteron cm-system where they are smaller. They are compared to various model calculations.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure