White Cat Research Articles

Does a pleiotropic gene explain deafness and blue irises in white cats?

The prevalence of deafness is high in cat populations in which the dominant white gene is segregating. The objective of this study was to investigate whether there is a gene that is responsible for deafness as well as for blue eyes and to establish a plausible mode of inheritance. For this purpose, data from an experimental colony with deaf cats were analyzed. The hearing status was determined by acoustically evoked brain stem responses (BAER). Complex segregation analyses were conducted to find out the most probable mode of inheritance using maximum likelihood procedures. The prevalence of deafness and partial hearing in the experimental colony was 67% and 29%, respectively. The results of the bivariate segregation analysis support the hypothesis of a pleiotropic major gene segregating for deafness and blue iris colour. The high heritability coefficients for both traits, 0.55 and 0.75 respectively, indicate that beside the major gene there is an important influence of polygenic effects.

Kate, the Cat and the Moon (review)

Reviewed by: Kate, the Cat and the Moon Timnah Card Almond, David Kate, the Cat and the Moon; illus. by Stephen Lambert. Doubleday, 2005 [32p] Library ed. ISBN 0-385-90929-2$17.99 Trade ed. ISBN 0-385-74691-1$15.95 Reviewed from galleys Ad 4-8 yrs Late at night, Kate hears a white cat meow beneath the moon. Charmed, the [End Page 68] little girl grows her own set of feline ears, then runs downstairs and outside to play, completing the change from child to cat along the way. Kate and the cat lope across the countryside, coming to rest on a high hilltop under a gleaming moon—a moon that also becomes a cat, a giant moon cat that rides with Kate and her companion through a sky "full of dreams." Next morning, Kate's family recounts their dreams from the night before, to which Kate (returned to human shape) smiles and says, "Meow." Almond's prose is full of evocative phrasing and rhythm, but the narrative arc lacks height—Kate and the cat and the moon don't do much of anything on their midnight flight, and the ending fizzles. Still, dreams of shape-changing and nocturnal and/or aerial exploits hold a drama all their own, ably illustrated in Lambert's touchably textured, realistically shadowed landscapes. Recurring images of characters' knowing eyes, turned enigmatically toward the viewer, hold a mystic attraction. When listeners grow too old for Henkes' Kitten's First Full Moon (BCCB 3/04), they may want to try a nighttime ramble with Kate and her feline friends. Copyright © 2005 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

The Manager's Son

The Manager’s Son Jaimee Wriston Colbert (bio) The manager's son hovers behind the leafless oak, huddling there as if it could cover him, shade him, though it's January and there's no shade or any need for it. He scratches at the baby fat on his cheek, tugs it a bit, both cheeks, in the upward direction; up and away, like being lifted by his face one moment, and when he's set back down he's magically older, more fully formed, the sculpted perfection of the man he wishes he could see himself becoming. He's watching the pregnant girl from 211-D, who's staring at an empty wooden crib stuck there between his father's prairie garden and the garbage dumpsters. The crib is white, a knot of little yellow ducks painted at the head. She's just standing, leaning up against nothing at all, though her posture is thrust back a little as if she really is leaning, short pale hands anchored on her narrow hips, maybe to support the weight of the baby, he thinks, poking out in front. Otherwise, she's the slick straight shape of a pencil. You'd never guess a baby's there. In fact, the first time he saw her from the back, that sort of jaunty walk of hers, no hips, sleek hair streaming off her neck, dark yellow arrow of it pointing down at nothing in particular, he had thoughts about her and immediately needed to see her face. It's in the face you can tell about a person. But her face, when he saw it, was blank. A cat leaps from out of nowhere into the crib, and it startles them both, she jumping back a little, he letting out a sound he should've (oh man, why didn't he?) kept to himself. Because then, of course, she whips around and sees him there, watching her. And it's not the first time. She sucks in her lower lip, You again? I've seen you before. Whose cat is this anyway? I've seen this cat before. He walks over to her stiffly, a scratchy, uncomfortable sort of walk propelled by something stronger than his shyness, his reluctance, but not too close. He feels his own heart pounding like it's [End Page 35] been unleashed in his chest; don't look at her! he warns himself. They both gaze inside the crib at the black and white cat, the long ears and golden eyes, lounging about on the plastic mattress with its yellow ducks, its blue daisies, its puffy, cheery red steam engines; the cat lolling on his back like all of this is his, his personal world, white belly exposed. The manager's son has a sudden longing to be there himself, contained and safe, eyes shut. That cat keeps turning up here, he says, his voice cracking a little at its own unfamiliar sound. (A quiet boy, his mother always said; know when to keep your mouth shut! his father's words.) My dad took it to the shelter when some people complained, but it found its way back again with a lady who lives here, only then she didn't want it either. The manager's son gasps a little, realizing he's rattling on about this and maybe the pregnant girl couldn't care less? Anyway, he adds, I don't know who has it now, but someone's feeding it. That stomach's fat as. . . . The girl rolls her eyes. Oh, great! she says, Just great, I'm happy to make your acquaintance too. So go ahead then, finish your sentence. Weren't you going to say fat as mine? The manager's son's face burns. He fixes on the girl's painted fingernails, a sort of purpley-maroon or dark aubergine, something like that, like the blaze of his cheeks. No, he mumbles, shaking his head, this way, that way, anyway but her way; I'd never say that. I just couldn't think of what to say is all, the best way to complete the sentence. Her eyes crinkle up, light eyes, not...

FELINE NON‐CARDIOGENIC THROMBOEMBOLIC DISEASE: A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY OF 48 CASES (1991–2002)

Introduction: The study objective was to describe the underlying diseases, predisposing factors, clinical signs and clinicopathologic abnormalities associated with thromboembolic disease of non‐cardiogenic origin in cats.Study Design: Necropsy‐based retrospective study (1991–2002)Results: Forty‐eight cats with thromboemboli that were not associated with significant structural heart disease were identified in a retrospective study using case records from the small animal necropsy service of the University of Pennsylvania, from 1991 to 2002. Thirty‐five cats presented for non‐specific signs such as lethargy and anorexia while others presented for signs such as paresis (10) or dyspnea (10) that were referable to the location of the thromboemboli. Thromboembolic disease was suspected clinically in 12 of 48 cats. In cases where a single predisposing factor could be identified, thromboemboli were associated with neoplastic (9), infectious (7) and inflammatory (3) disease. Thirteen cats had multiple predisposing factors and no obvious predisposing factor could be identified in 16 cats. The thromboemboli were found in the systemic arteries (12), systemic veins (9), both systemic arteries and veins (7), pulmonary vasculature (7) and in both the pulmonary and systemic circulation (13). Eleven cats either died at home, presented in respiratory or cardiac arrest, or arrested shortly after presentation to the emergency service. Two cats arrested later during hospitalization and the remainder were euthanized (35). No sex or breed disposition was found. There were no significant differences in serum biochemistries, coagulation profiles, lactate, Doppler blood pressure or rectal temperature when groups were compared by primary disorder. Cats with neoplasia as the underlying disorder were significantly older (median 13.5 years, p=0.04). Cats with infectious disease had statistically significant higher white blood cell counts (median 35,000/μl, p=0.03) and cats with inflammatory disease had significantly longer hospital stays (median 3 days, p=0.006).Conclusion: These results suggest that most cats with non‐cardiac related thromboemboli often have multiple predisposing factors, non‐specific signs and non‐specific changes on laboratory parameters. More sensitive tests for hypercoagulability may aid in diagnosing thromboemboli in cats.

P‐73 Evaluation of the practicality and efficacy of cryotherapy in feline cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma

Based on the absence of detailed published reports focusing on cryosurgery in domestic cats, our objective was to evaluate the practicality and efficacy of cryotherapy to treat squamous cell carcinoma. Liquid nitrogen cryosurgery was used to treat 50 cats with 100 squamous cell carcinoma lesions located in the unpigmented areas of the ears (n = 32), eyelids (n = 12), nose (n = 40) and other areas (n = 16). Treatment led to remission in 36 cases (72%). There was remission of 80% of the lesions following a single treatment. White cats were most susceptible to squamous cell carcinoma. Complications of cryotherapy were observed in 13 cats (26%). Cryosurgery is a practical, safe and effective method of treating feline cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma and can be successfully performed under small animal veterinary clinic conditions. Funding: Self‐funded.

An animal model for cochlear implants.

To test the feasibility of using the deaf white cat model of early-onset deafness. We studied the neuronal effects of prosthetic intervention with a clinical, "off-the-shelf" multichannel cochlear implant. We placed cochlear implants in 5 deaf white kittens at age 12 and 24 weeks. The devices were activated and stimulated in the laboratory using a clinical speech processor programmed with a high-resolution continuous interleaved sampling (CIS) strategy for 8 to 24 weeks. Stimulus parameters were guided by electrically evoked brainstem responses and intracochlear-evoked potentials. Kittens were assessed with respect to their tolerance and general behavior in response to speech, music, and environmental sounds. Surgical complications were minimal, and kittens tolerated the experimental procedures well. Subjects were able to detect and respond to a specific sound played from a computer speaker. Electrophysiologic responses were reliably attainable and showed consistency with observed behavioral responses to sound. This experimental paradigm, using clinical devices, can be used in a practical research setting in cats. Deafness and other variations in neural activity result in many distinct changes to the central auditory pathways. Animal models will facilitate assessment of the reversibility of deafness-associated changes at the level of the neuron and its connections. Our observations of the feasibility of using clinical devices in animal models will enable us to simulate clinical conditions in addressing questions about the effects of "replacement" activity on the structure and function within the central auditory pathways in deafness.

Notes from the Underground: The Cinema of Emir Kusturica by Goran Gocić (review)

272 Reviews Notes from the Underground: The Cinema of Emir Kusturica. By Goran Gocic. London and New York: Wallflower Press. 2001. xii + 2o8pp. ?14.99. ISBN 1903394 -14-0. Given the proliferation of film-writing, it is surprising how few English-language monographs have been published on the work of directors from Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Forman, Polanski, and Kieslowski are known figures but their 'East European' work is largely viewed as a prelude to their success in the 'West'. Some would argue that Bosnian director Emir Kusturica now comes into the same category. He lives in Paris, and the funding for his last four features has come largely from France and Germany (and he most recently appeared in an acting role in Neil Jordan's updating of Bob le flambeur). However, Goran Gocic suggests that, with the exception of his French-funded American film Arizona Dream (1993), he has continued to make 'Balkan films'. Gocic's book has the considerable merit of being the work of an 'insider', an enthusiast with an easy familiarity with the films. He describes his book as a user's guide and it has been compiled in the non-linear spirit of bricolage, moving back and forthbetween films,examining context, character, and motifs, focusingon his 'gypsy' subjects and the role of 'ethno' cinema. Alongside apposite quotations fromJameson, Said, and Zizek, we find discussions of Serbian folk art, the importance ofsevdah (the state of exaltation and sadness that Slavs fall into when listening to music), the pagan origins ofslava (Home Saint's Day)?a key element in Dom za vesanje (The Time of the Gypsies, 1988)?and the origins of scenes in proverbs and scatological humour. Gocic traces Kusturica's work fromhis early success at the Prague Film School with Guernica (1978) through his collaborations with three writers, the Bosnian Abdulah Sidran (Sjecas li se Dolly Bell? (Do You Remember Dolly Bell?, 1981); Otac na sluzbenomputu (When Father Was Away on Business, 1985)), and the Serbian writers Gordon Minic (Dom za vesanje', Crna macka, beli macor (Black Cat, White Cat, 2000)), and Dusan Kovacevic (Podzemlje/Bila jednom jedna zemlja (Underground/ Once Upon a Time There was a Country, 1995)). This also marks a progressionfrom his 'well-made' early films towards a loose 'postmodernist' style, 'a search for the miraculous' at the point of shooting. Kusturica's films, Gocic argues, are 'anti-hegemonic', reject ideologies, and promote 'a cult of the margin' (p. 47). In Kusturica's films,the handicapped, the mentally ill, or the psychotic can be heroes. While in the 1980s he was heralded as a 'Bosnian emancipator', he has consistently identified with a minority viewpoint? Jewish, Bosnian Muslim, 'gypsy', and, more controversially, 'Yugoslav' post-1989. The appeal of Kusturica's films, which have secured three major Cannes awards, is that of 'ethno' cinema, a cinema rooted in local traditions but expressed in 'Western' form. This liberal political engagement with exotic subject matter is none the less, argues Gocic, an empowerment of the marginal. When he filmed part of Underground in Belgrade, Kusturica, who rejected the claims of the Bosnian Muslim government, was accused of siding with Milosevic. (For a detailed account of this episode, see Dina Iordanova's Cinema of Flames: Balkan Film, Culture and the Media (London: British Film Institute, 2001).) Gocic accepts Kusturica's argument that the film is 'non-ideological', that its flawed heroes are Communists and therefore have 'international' names, that he was criticized by Mrs Milosevic. Like Zhang Yimou and Kiarostami, Kusturica, argues Gocic, reduces 'the possibility of any singular ideological, religious and/or nationalist reading to absurdity' (p. 164). In contrast to most academic books on film, Gocic communicates an infectious enthusiasm (equivalent to the 'jouissance' he finds central in Kusturica's work). Some of his generalizations about Eastern Europe, Slavs, and the West are questionable, MLR, 99.1, 2004 273 and one might question the 'authenticity' of Kusturica' s identification with the Roma, but this is an instructive, stimulating, and productive exploration of his work. Staffordshire University Peter Hames Early Soviet Cinema: Innovation, Ideology and Propaganda. By David Gillespie. (Short Cuts) London: Wallflower Press. 2000. xii+ii4pp. ?11.99. ISBN 1903364 -04-3...

Separate forms of pathology in the cochlea of congenitally deaf white cats

Congenital deafness due to cochlear pathology can have an immediate or progressive onset. The timing of this onset could have a significant impact on the development of structures in the central auditory system, depending on the animal’s hearing status during its critical period. In order to determine whether cats in our deaf white cat colony suffered from progressive hearing loss, they were tested repeatedly in 30-day intervals using standard auditory evoked brainstem response (ABR) methodology. ABR thresholds did not change over time, indicating that deafness in our colony was not progressive. Moreover, different forms of cochlear pathology were associated with deafness. One form (67% of the deaf ears) had a collapsed Reissner’s membrane that obliterated the scala media, resembling what is called the Scheibe deformity in humans. A second form (18%) exhibited excessive epithelial growth within the bony labyrinth. A third form (15%) combined excessive epithelial growth in the apex and a collapsed Reissner’s membrane in the base. Cochleae having an abnormally thin tectorial membrane and an outward bulging Reissner’s membrane were associated with elevated thresholds (poor hearing).

Effects of congenital deafness in the cochlear nuclei of Shaker-2 mice: an ultrastructural analysis of synapse morphology in the endbulbs of Held.

It is well established that manipulation of the sensory environment can significantly alter central auditory system development. For example, congenitally deaf white cats exhibit synaptic alterations in the cochlear nucleus distinct from age-matched, normal hearing controls. The large, axosomatic endings of auditory nerve fibers, called endbulbs of Held, display reduced size and branching, loss of synaptic vesicles, and a hypertrophy of the associated postsynaptic densities on the target spherical bushy cells. Such alterations, however, could arise from the cat's genetic syndrome rather than from deafness. In order to examine further the role of hearing on synapse development, we have studied endbulbs of Held in the shaker-2 ( sh2 ) mouse. These mice carry a point mutation on chromosome 11, affecting myosin 15 and producing abnormally short stereocilia in hair cells of the inner ear. The homozygous mutant mice are born deaf and develop perpetual circling behavior, although receptor cells and primary neurons remain intact at least for the initial 100 days of postnatal life. Endbulbs of Held in 7-month old, deaf sh2 mice exhibited fewer synaptic vesicles in the presynaptic ending, the loss of intercellular cisternae, and a hypertrophy of associated postsynaptic densities. On average, postsynaptic density area for sh2 endbulbs was 0.23 +/- 0.19 microm(2) compared to 0.07 +/- 0.04 microm(2) ( p < 0.001) for age-matched, hearing littermates. These changes at the endbulb synapse in sh2 mice resemble those of the congenitally deaf white cat and are consistent with the idea that they represent a generalized response to deafness.

The effects of congenital deafness on auditory nerve synapses: Type I and Type II multipolar cells in the anteroventral cochlear nucleus of cats.

Sensory deprivation has been shown to exert detrimental effects on the structure and function of central sensory systems. Congenital deafness represents an extreme form of auditory deprivation, and in the adult white cat, synapses between auditory nerve endings and resident cells of the anteroventral cochlear nucleus exhibited abnormal structure. Endbulbs of Held were reduced in branching and displayed striking hypertrophy of their postsynaptic densities. So-called modified endbulbs showed no change in branching complexity but did exhibit hypertrophy of their postsynaptic densities. These differential pre- and postsynaptic effects prompted the question of how deafness might affect other primary endings and synapses. Thus, we studied type I and type II multipolar cells that receive bouton endings from auditory nerve fibers. Type I multipolar cells project to the contralateral inferior colliculus and have relatively few axosomatic endings; type II multipolar cells project to the contralateral cochlear nucleus and have many axosomatic endings. Compared with normal-hearing cats, bouton endings of congenitally deaf cats were smaller but there was no difference in synaptic vesicle density or size of postsynaptic densities. These data reveal that different classes of primary endings and second-order neurons exhibit different degrees of synaptic anomalies to deafness.

Interview With E. Paul Torrance on Creativity in the Last and Next Millennia

I interviewed E. Paul Torrance on a bright, cold day in early December at his home in Athens, GA. He still lives in the house near the university that he and Pansy, his wife, moved into shortly before she passed away. The first thing one notices upon arrival at his doorstep is the quilted toy chest on his large front porch. Years ago, the volume of mail coming and going from the Torrance household exceeded the size of a normal mailbox, and he has been using the toy chest as a mailbox ever since. We settled in his study, surrounded by his files and books. He sat with Cherokee Princess, his beautiful, fluffy white cat with calico markings, on his lap. I sat across from him with my notepad and pen and a small tape recorder on a little table to his left. The conversation was comfortable and relaxed, punctuated frequently by laughing and occasionally when Paul rose to get a book or paper to show me. I marveled that he found what he wanted so easily, even books from several decades ago. I was especially impressed that he remembered dates so well and the names that went with them. He'd had a busy day, attending a Christmas party at the Sunday School where he and Pansy used to teach, as well as attending to his correspondence and various projects. After the hour-and-a-half interview, I think we were both a little tired, but his eyes still sparkled with mirth and intelligence. Approximately two weeks later, we met to go over my transcribed notes, and he clarified some issues for me. I was also referred to his recent article on the issue of creativity in the new millennium published in the Korean Journal of Thinking & Problem Solving (2000). C: Now that we are on the cusp of the new millennium, we can look backward and forward to see where research on creativity has been and where it may be going. As an international leader in creativity research, I'd like to ask you to stand on the cusp and tell the readers of JSGE what you see. Most scholars say that research on creativity really began with the impetus of J.P. Guilford's speech to the APA in 1950. Do you agree? T: No, I would disagree. There's no question about it that Guilford gave great impetus to it all along, especially after his 1950 speech before APA when he was president. But, even before that, Guilford had been doing some things and so had other people. And there was some creativity testing even before 1900. They were using the Rorshach and so forth. They were using it differently, I think, then: All they used were common responses and uncommon responses. That had continued and, of course, been validated and indicated originality. The Rorshach people also used movement, human movement, mechanical movement, different kinds of movement for different things. Most of all it goes along with creativity--people who are fast moving. I had that experience with the fighter pilots. I had the experience of being head of the task force studying fighter pilots over Korea. We tested the aces and nonaces and those who had no hits at all, and we found they were all higher than the general population; but, of course, the aces were much higher than the near aces and no hits. Their attitudes were, of course, different, too, but that would be a different story. C: Is that where you got the idea to put the movement and action on the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking as an indicator of creativity? T: I got a lot of my ideas from there, ideas about the biographical inventory that worked out quite well. And I was making progress with that, but Cal Taylor was a competitor. I decided I had enough else to do so I'd leave it with him, but that was a mistake. I'm sorry that I did because he never did make known his answer key and that sort of thing, so it didn't become useful. So, he's now dead and gone, and so is the biographical inventory C: Do you still have yours? T: I still have that, but I haven't developed it. …

The black cat/white cat principle of signal integration in bacterial promoters.

‘Black cat, white cat: whatever catches the mouse is a good cat’ (Chinese proverb). Throughout the 3000 million years that bacteria have been on planet Earth, they have evolved amazing mechanisms for rapid adaptation to every imaginable type of environmental change. To give one extreme example, as little as 50 years after the introduction of the first antibiotics, very few of these drugs remain effective today at combating microbial infections (Davies, 1997). When bacteria are faced with antimicrobials, the only challenge they must overcome is to defeat the toxic effect of the compound through modification, cleavage or pumping the drug out of the cells; these processes generally involve one or just a few proteins. A far more complex environmental threat is that posed by organic chemicals, which have been discharged into many ecosystems through industrial and urban activities. Many of these chemicals are xenobiotic compounds (literally, alien to life), which include types of chemical ligatures (typically covalent C–Cl bonds) that have never been present in significant amounts in the biosphere and against which the housekeeping metabolic pathways of most microbes are generally useless (van der Meer et al ., 1992). Unlike antibiotics, the challenge in this case is the construction of entire biodegradation pathways that endow bacteria with the ability to grow on these otherwise unpalatable chemicals. Such an outcome involves not just one protein, but sometimes dozens, which must adapt to entirely new substrates and intermediates. However, difficult as this might be, the successful assembly of a degradation pathway does not guarantee per se the survival of a particular strain. Bacteria that colonize polluted sites are subject to extremely tough competition from other microbial residents of the same niche. Transcriptional regulation of biodegradative genes and operons thus becomes a critical asset for the success of a newly assembled pathway to …

The effects of congenital deafness on auditory nerve synapses and globular bushy cells in cats

It is well known that auditory deprivation affects the structure and function of the central nervous system. Congenital deafness represents one form of deprivation, and in the adult white cat, it has been shown to have a clear effect upon the synaptic interface between endbulbs of Held and spherical bushy cells. It is not known, however, whether all primary synapses are affected and/or whether they are affected in the same way and to the same extent. Thus, we studied a second neuronal circuit in the deaf white cat involving modified (small) endbulbs and globular bushy cells. Compared to normal hearing cats, modified endbulbs of congenitally deaf cats were 52.2% smaller but unchanged in structural complexity. There was also a striking loss of extracellular space between ending and cell body. The somata of postsynaptic globular bushy cells were 13.4% smaller and had enlarged postsynaptic densities. These data reveal that axosomatic synapses demonstrate abnormal structure as a consequence of deafness and that the extent of the abnormalities can vary with respect to the circuits involved. The implication of these observations is that synaptic anomalies would introduce differential delays within separate circuits, thereby desynchronizing neural activity from sound stimuli. This loss of synchronization could in turn disrupt temporal processing and compromise a host of related functions, including language comprehension.

Congenital Deafness and its Recognition

Congenital deafness in dogs and cats is primarily of the hereditary sensorineural form associated with white pigmentation genes, although acquired forms of deafness are possible. Highest prevalence is seen in white cats, especially those with blue eyes, and the Dalmatian, with many other dog breeds affected to some extent. This deafness results from degeneration of the cochlear blood supply at age 3-4 weeks, presumably resulting from suppression of melanocytes by the white (cat) or merle or piebald (dog) genes. Mechanism of inheritance is not understood for most breeds. Such animals should not be bred and may present liabilities for their owners. Objective diagnosis of deafness, especially when unilateral, relies on the brainstem auditory evoked response, an electrodiagnostic test where electrical activity in response to a click stimulus is recorded from the scalp using needle electrodes and a special purpose computer. Client counseling guidelines are presented.

Dermatite solar felina associada a carcinoma epidermóide

A pele é um dos maiores sistemas do organismo animal, desempenhando importantes papéis e apresenta inúmeras alterações que, freqüentemente, levam os proprietários de animais domésticos a procurar os serviços veterinários. A dermatite solar felina é uma doença de natureza ambiental, que acomete gatos brancos ou aqueles que possuem áreas despigmentadas, principalmente nas orelhas e nariz. Esta doença, causada pela exposição da pele despigmentada à radiação ultravioleta, pode evoluir para carcinoma epidermóide nos casos de exposição por período prolongado. A lesão inicia-se com severo eritema da orelha, progredindo para descamação cutânea e formação de crostas marginais. O controle objetiva evitar o contado da pele despigmentada com a luz solar, principalmente nas horas mais quentes do dia. Para se atingir este objetivo, deve-se evitar que os animais entrem em contato com o sol, mantendo-os presos em horários estratégicos, utilizando filtros solares à base de creme ou ainda confeccionando tatuagens nas áreas despigmentadas. Após a instalação do carcinoma epidermóide, diferentes métodos terapêuticos são recomendados para o tratamento, dentre eles a cirurgia, com remoção total dos tecidos atingidos pela neoplasia, a radioterapia, a fotoquimioterapia, a hipertermia e a terapia com glicocorticóides.

Single unit recordings in the auditory nerve of congenitally deaf white cats: morphological correlates in the cochlea and cochlear nucleus.

It is well known that experimentally induced cochlear damage produces structural, physiological, and biochemical alterations in neurons of the cochlear nucleus. In contrast, much less is known with respect to the naturally occurring cochlear pathology presented by congenital deafness. The present study attempts to relate organ of Corti structure and auditory nerve activity to the morphology of primary synaptic endings in the cochlear nucleus of congenitally deaf white cats. Our observations reveal that the amount of sound-evoked spike activity in auditory nerve fibers influences terminal morphology and synaptic structure in the anteroventral cochlear nucleus. Some white cats had no hearing. They exhibited severely reduced spontaneous activity and no sound-evoked activity in auditory nerve fibers. They had no recognizable organ of Corti, presented >90% loss of spiral ganglion cells, and displayed marked structural abnormalities of endbulbs of Held and their synapses. Other white cats had partial hearing and possessed auditory nerve fibers with a wide range of spontaneous activity but elevated sound-evoked thresholds (60-70 dB SPL). They also exhibited obvious abnormalities in the tectorial membrane, supporting cells, and Reissner's membrane throughout the cochlear duct and had complete inner and outer hair cell loss in the base. The spatial distribution of spiral ganglion cell loss correlated with the pattern of hair cell loss. Primary neurons of hearing-impaired cats displayed structural abnormalities of their endbulbs and synapses in the cochlear nucleus which were intermediate in form compared to normal and totally deaf cats. Changes in endbulb structure appear to correspond to relative levels of deafness. These data suggest that endbulb structure is significantly influenced by sound-evoked auditory nerve activity.

在技術烏托邦的彼岸: 中西醫學再評價

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.本文試圖綜合本期各篇文章的主要觀點，依據“目的”、“體驗”和“價值”三條線索來對傳統中醫和現代西醫做一初步的評價。由於醫學的內在目的在於防治疾病、維護健康，而不是追求真理、認識世界，因而中醫與西醫都可以發揮作用，現代化研究與傳統式探索也可以並行不諱，只要有助於醫學的目的即可。此外，西方醫學從傳統走向現代的過程，乃是從重視病人的親身感受轉向注重病理解剖事實的過程，而中醫學體系提供了一種不同的臨床現象學。最後，醫學是負荷看價值和意識形態的人類活動，應當超越當前的技術烏托邦傾向，成為良好生活方式的一個和諧部分。The contemporary world is characteristic of science-fetishism and technological utopia. Every social issue is explored in the name of science, and all difficult problems are to be resolved by renovated technologies. This is even more so in modern China than in the West. The people attempt to modernize their lives in all respects. For many of them, everything old needs to be weighed on a modern scientific scale and anything unscientific must be rejected. This constitutes the context in which traditional Chinese medicine is generally evaluated. This essay argues that this context is misleading. It intends to reevaluate traditional Chinese versus modern Western medicine in consideration of the internal aim of medicine, patients, experiences, and ideologies and values.There has been a long-standing debate in China in this century regarding whether or not traditional Chinese medicine is a science. Both sides of the debate, ironically, agree that if traditional Chinese medicine is not a science, it should be abandoned. However, this debate is non-sensical. Medicine as medicine, whether it is a traditional medicine or a modern medicine, is not a science. Medicine is not a science because its internal aim differs from the aim of science. While the internal aim of science can be identified as pursuing truth and knowing the world, the internal aim of medicine consists in maintaining health as well as treating and preventing diseases. Undoubtedly, modern Western medicine is scientific. Its theories and practices are based upon typical modern sciences such as physics, chemistry and biology. But medicine as medicine does not have to be scientific. Given the internal aim of medicine, as long as a practice or method contributes to the treatment of disease or the promotion of health, it is legitimate. The existence of varieties of non-scientific alternative medicine and faith medicine in the US where modern science and technology are most advanced, is a good example of this. To put it in a famous Chinese saying, "whether it is a white cat or a black cat, as long as it catchesthe mouse, it is a good cat."No one can deny the tremendous achievements that modern scientific medicine has made in fighting diseases. However, focused on a technologized anatomico-pathologic view of the body and diseases, contemporary medicine discounts the significance of patient complaints and it is naturally easy to lose sight of the non-technological aspects of medical practice, especially the experience of the sick person. Traditional Chinese medical theory and practice provide a heuristic alternative. By viewing the essence of illness as symptom-complex rather than anatomico-pathological lesion, by identifying imbalanced climate and emotional factors rather than disease entities as the sources of illnesses, by using ordinary contacts rather than complicated lab and mechanical investigations as medical examining tools, by focusing on the experience of being sick rather than on pathological anatomy, by following balancing rather than curing as the treatment principle, and by emphasizing prevention rather than treatment, traditionalChinese medicine offers a systematic medical phenomenological system in which a patient’s life experience and intuitive knowledge of the body is the center of clinical practice.Finally, medical theory and practice are value-laden. "Our ideologies and expectations concerning the world move us to select certain states as illnesses because of our judgment as to what is dysfunctional or a deformity and to select certain causal sequences,etiological patterns, as being of interest to us because they are bound to groups of phenomena we identify as illnesses" (Engelhardt). Our ideologies and expectations also move us to select certain modes of medicine and therapeutic methods as most useful and promising because of our judgments about the appropriateness and efficacy of practical instruments. Accordingly, practicing and accepting medicine is part of a way of life. As people accept different value systems and life expectations, they must be careful about what medicine and technology they want to accept and develop. We must reflect on the contemporary ideology of technological utopia that intends to resolve all problems by newly developed complicated technologies. Not all conflicts and tensions of life can be resolved by technologies. What is worse, the overwhelmingly powerful incentive to develop high tech medicine in the third-world countries would drain on their scarce health care resources, which would significantly harm most people in those countries.DOWNLOAD HISTORY | This article has been downloaded 15 times in Digital Commons before migrating into this platform.

Testing the toxicity of sediments contaminated with diesel fuel using glochidia and juvenile mussels (Bivalvia, Unionidae)

Sediment toxicity was evaluated for one site upstream and three sites downstream of a diesel fuel spill that occurred in Fish Creek (OH and IN) in September 1993 using glochidia and juvenile unionid mussels. This fourth order tributary of the St. Joseph River has the only known remaining population of white cat's paw pearly mussel, Epioblasma obliquata perobliqua, and populations of several other federal and state endangered mussels. The impact of the oil spill was of great concern because of the potential long term threat it poses to the survival of these mussels. Sediment samples collected two years after the spill contained low heavy metal concentrations, and detectable, but not quantifiable levels of organic components of diesel fuel. These levels coincided with their lack of toxicity to juvenile Villosa villosa and Lampsilis siliquoidea mussels after 9-day exposures. Fish Creek sediments may be toxic to L. siliquoidea glochidia.

Testing the toxicity of sediments contaminated with diesel fuel using glochidia and juvenile mussels (Bivalvia, Unionidae)

Abstract Sediment toxicity was evaluated for one site upstream and three sites downstream of a diesel fuel spill that occurred in Fish Creek (OH and IN) in September 1993 using glochidia and juvenile unionid mussels. This fourth order tributary of the St. Joseph River has the only known remaining population of white cat’s paw pearly mussel, Epioblasma obliquata perobliqua, and populations of several other federal and state endangered mussels. The impact of the oil spill was of great concern because of the potential long term threat it poses to the survival of these mussels. Sediment samples collected two years after the spill contained low heavy metal concentrations, and detectable, but not quantifiable levels of organic components of diesel fuel. These levels coincided with their lack of toxicity to juvenile Villosa villosa and Lampsilis siliquoidea mussels after 9-day exposures. Fish Creek sediments may be toxic to L. siliquoidea glochidia.

A model for prelingual deafness, the congenitally deaf white cat – population statistics and degenerative changes

Cochlear implantation in congenitally deaf children leads to electrical stimulation of an entirely naive central auditory system. In this case, processes of central auditory maturation are induced by the electric stimuli. For the study of these processes the deaf white cat (DWC) appears to be an appropriate model. However, a knowledge of the basic data of these animals is necessary before such a model may be used. This paper presents these data and is one of a series of publications concerning congenital deafness in children and cochlear implantation. In our strain 72% of the animals are totally deaf as judged by the absence of any brain stem evoked potentials at click intensities up to 120 dB SPL peak equivalent. Primarily, there is a degeneration of the entire organ of Corti during the first postnatal weeks. An absence of acoustically evoked brain stem responses in the early postnatal weeks shows that DWCs probably never have any hearing experience. Months after the degeneration of the organ of Corti, the spiral ganglion starts to degenerate from the midportion of the cochlea. However, even in adult cats (2 years), a sufficient number of functionally intact auditory afferents remain, which are suitable for electrical cochlear stimulation.