White Widow Research Articles

Transcriptomic analysis reveals differential gene expression patterns during cannabis leaf morphogenesis and phase transition

ABSTRACT Understanding the molecular mechanisms governing leaf morphogenesis and phase transition in Cannabis sativa is critical for optimizing its growth, development and yield. In this study, we conducted a comparative transcriptomic analysis to investigate the gene expression patterns associated with leaf development and the transition from vegetative to reproductive phases in cannabis plants. Following germination, cannabis plants display a distinct leaf developmental pattern. While the specific number of leaflets varies among cultivars, here we focused on the White Widow cultivar as a model. It showed an increase in the number of serrated leaflets from one (L1) to nine (L5) in a node-specific manner. Subsequently, the number of leaflets decreased from eight (L6) to three (L9). The transition from vegetative to reproductive phases, marked by the appearance of solitary flowers and a shift from opposite to alternate leaf phyllotaxy, occurred at node 7 and node 12, respectively. Analysis of gene expression revealed 1358 differentially expressed genes, with 1,182 genes showing differential expression across all leaves. Notably, several genes involved in leaf morphogenesis (e.g. YAB, AGO5, and TCP4) were found to be upregulated in compound leaves (L2) compared to simple leaves (L1), implying a role in leaflet formation and overall leaf morphology. Furthermore, several genes associated with phase transition and flowering (e.g. SPLs, ELFs, SOC1, and CEN-Like) exhibited specific expression patterns during the transition from vegetative to reproductive phases. These findings provide valuable insights into the genetic regulation of leaf morphogenesis and phase transition in cannabis.

‘Mamie Djihad’ and ‘the white widow’: constructing French and British national identities in terrorist times of crisis

ABSTRACT This article considers the media representation of two women who left the west for Islamic State (IS) in the mid-2010s: from France, Christine Rivière, nicknamed “Mamie Djihad” (Granny Jihad); and from Britain, Sally Jones, known as “The White Widow”. Both were white, middle-aged mothers, born and raised in their respective countries, who converted late in life and left behind established lives and (adult) children to join IS. While much has been written on the migration of western women to IS territory, scholarship has focused on younger women and girls who have been represented as groomed and vulnerable to IS propaganda. These two “unlikely jihadists” profoundly unsettled commonsense ideas about who was vulnerable to radicalisation, and, more troublingly, their defections could potentially be read as statements on the desirability of life in the west vis-à-vis IS’s model. Using Critical Discourse Analysis of leading French and British news media, the article demonstrates how journalists represented both women as always-already outside their respective nations through two key narratives: a gendered discourse of abject motherhood and an intersectional discourse that constructed them as abject inside Others. These narratives worked to suture the ideological rupture caused by these women, who were at first glance typically French/British, by demonstrating that they had actually always been on the margins of the national community and had always been dangerous to the nation.

Morphological Characterization of Cannabis sativa L. Throughout Its Complete Life Cycle.

This study extensively characterizes the morphological characteristics, including the leaf morphology, plant structure, flower development, and trichome features throughout the entire life cycle of Cannabis sativa L. cv. White Widow. The developmental responses to photoperiodic variations were investigated from germination to mature plant senescence. The leaf morphology showed a progression of complexity, beginning with serrations in the 1st true leaves, until the emergence of nine leaflets in the 6th true leaves, followed by a distinct shift to eight, then seven leaflets with the 14th and 15th true leaves, respectively. Thereafter, the leaf complexity decreased, culminating in the emergence of a single leaflet from the 25th node. The leaf area peaked with the 12th leaves, which coincided with a change from opposite to alternate phyllotaxy. The stipule development at nodes 5 and 6 signified the vegetative phase, followed by bract and solitary flower development emerging in nodes 7-12, signifying the reproductive phase. The subsequent induction of short-day photoperiod triggered the formation of apical inflorescence. Mature flowers displayed abundant glandular trichomes on perigonal bracts, with stigma color changing from whitish-yellow to reddish-brown. A pronounced increase in trichome density was evident, particularly on the abaxial bract surface, following the onset of flowering. The trichomes exhibited simultaneous growth in stalk length and glandular head diameter and pronounced shifts in color. Hermaphroditism occurred well after the general harvest date. This comprehensive study documents the intricate photoperiod-driven morphological changes throughout the complete lifecycle of Cannabis sativa L. cv. White Widow. The developmental responses characterized provide valuable insights for industrial and research applications.

Invasive brown widow spiders avoid parasitism despite high densities.

Invasive species are sometimes less susceptible to natural enemies compared to native species, but the mechanism is often unclear. Here we tested two potential mechanisms for lower parasitism of invasive species: density-dependent parasitism and preference for human-dominated habitats. We investigated how variation in host density and habitat type affect egg sac parasitismintwo widow spider species (family Theridiidae). We compared parasitism on the egg sac of the brown widow,Latrodectus geometricus, an urban invasive species, and the white widow,Latrodectus pallidus, a species native to Israel. To investigate variation in host and parasitoid density, we measured nearest-neighbor distance between spider webs and parasitism rates in 16 sites, and in a single site monthly throughout a year. In L. pallidus, denser sites were more heavily parasitized (up to 55%) and parasitism rate increased with population density throughout the season. Extremely dense L. geometricus populations, however, had very low rates of parasitism (0-5%). We then conducted an egg sac transplant experiment in human-dominated and natural habitats. We found no parasitism of either species in the human-dominated habitat, compared to 30% parasitism of both species in the natural habitat. In addition, we found evidence for higher predation of L. pallidus than of L. geometricus egg sacs, particularly in the natural habitat. These combined results suggest that the human-dominated habitats inhabited by L. geometricus have a lower abundance of predators and parasites. We conclude that lower parasitism and predation in human-dominated habitats could contribute to the invasion success of L. geometricus.

The Greensburg, Indiana, Race Riot of 1907: Race and a Sundown Town

In April 1907, John Green, a Black resident of Greensburg, Indiana, was accused of robbing and raping white widow Caroline Sefton. Unable to lynch Green, who had been removed from the town, white residents rioted, attacking and injuring several Black men and threatening at least one Black family. Some accounts claim that in response to the riot African Americans fled Greensburg, and it became a sundown town. Author Robert White examines the history of racism in Greensburg and Decatur County and demonstrates that the riot was a symptom of a broader racial intolerance. Racism, which existed prior to the riot and persisted after the riot, drove African Americans from Greensburg, Decatur County, and surrounding counties. Racism created an almost entirely white area of southeastern Indiana that persisted as a sundown region for decades.

Differential parasitism of native and invasive widow spider egg sacs

AbstractDuring colonization, invasive species establish and spread to new locations, where they may have an advantage over native species. One such advantage may be avoidance of predators or parasites by means of better defenses or due to lower suitability as a host. We conducted field surveys and lab behavioral experiments to investigate the differential susceptibility of two widow spider species—one native to Israel, the white widow spider Latrodectus pallidus, and one invasive species, the brown widow spider, Latrodectus geometricus—to an egg sac parasitoid wasp, Philolema latrodecti. In collections of egg sacs from six paired sites of L. geometricus and L. pallidus populations in the Negev Desert, Israel, we found higher parasitism rates on the egg sacs of the native L. pallidus. In no-choice trials, we found that wasps were more likely to parasitize and oviposited longer on L. pallidus egg sacs than on L. geometricus egg sacs. In two-choice tests with spider webs and egg sacs, parasitoids made first contact with L. pallidus webs more often and faster. After developing inside of L. pallidus egg sacs, more parasitoids emerged and were larger than those emerging from L. geometricus egg sacs. Potentially better defense of the L. geometricus egg sacs as well as the parasitoid’s fitness advantages gained from parasitizing L. pallidus egg sacs may explain the higher parasitism rate in the native species. Our results suggest that the invasion and establishment success of L. geometricus is due, in part, to its ability to escape parasitism.

Framing the ‘White Widow’: Using intersectionality to uncover complex representations of female terrorism in news media

Following 21 September 2013, news media in the UK offered extensive and elaborate coverage of the Westgate Mall Massacre in Nairobi, Kenya. This act of terrorism, perpetrated by Al-Shabaab, left over 60 people dead. What news media considered particularly captivating was not the devastation of the attack, but the suspected involvement of Samantha Lewthwaite. She remained at the center of news media in Britain for several months after the attack, dubbed the ‘White Widow’. In this article, the authors employ an intersectional approach to explore the ways that race, religion, nationality, age, class, and gender converge in mediated representations of Lewthwaite. They argue that the application of intersectionality results in a more holistic understanding of the content and discursive impact of news narratives about female terrorists and find that news media both vilify and normalize Lewthwaite, representing her participation in terrorism through complex constellations of identity.

White Supremacy under Fire: The Unrewarded Perspective in Edward P. Jones's <i>The Known World</i>

The sexually charged relationship that Clara Martin, a white widow, has with her lone slave Ralph in Edward P. Jones’s The Known World (2003) will strike most readers as schizophrenic. Though she is intensely attracted to Ralph, she goes to mental and social extremes to resist acknowledging her feelings even as she continues to actively pursue him. The event that throws her into this chaotic state of resistance occurs on the fi rst night of a three-day-long storm when, after struggling to comb her wet thick unruly hair, she consents to Ralph’s compliment-laced offer to do it for her. Finding the experience both emotionally comforting and intensely erotic, Clara allows him to groom her hair again over the next two nights. When the storm ends she discontinues the grooming without explanation. Shortly thereafter, she conjures up the notion that Ralph is secretly plotting to rape and murder her. At one point, after reading a local newspaper account of a slave, out of spite, putting fi nely ground glass in her master’s food, Clara becomes so suspicious of Ralph, who has been her cook for twenty-four years, that she abruptly stops eating the food he prepares and loses weight in the process. In addition to declining to eat his food, she has Ralph interrogated, albeit with pointed directives not to “hurt his feelings” or “say anything mean” (153), by fi rst the slave patrollers and then John Skiffi ngton, the sheriff of Manchester County, neither of whom fi nds evidence of wrongdoing. Eclipsing the unfounded need to investigate Ralph’s behavior, Clara begins a nightly ritual of nailing shut her bedroom door and sleeping with two knives—one by her bedside and the other under her pillow “as close as a lover” (162). Despite her expressed fears about Ralph’s motives, Clara collapses into an emotional state of panic after slavery is abolished and Ralph announces that he plans to leave Virginia and go live with his extended family in Washington, DC. The narrator reports that Clara “cried and cried” when Ralph informed her of his plans to move, entreating him like a desperate lover to remain with her in Virginia (163).

Gender and Slave Emancipation in the Atlantic World , and: Women's Rights and Transatlantic Antislavery in the Era of Emancipation , and: From Abolition to Rights for All: The Making of a Reform Community in the Nineteenth Century (review)

Gender and Slave Emancipation in the Atlantic World. Edited by Pamela Scully and Diana Paton. (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2005. Pp. 376. Maps. Cloth, $89.95; Paper, $23.95.)Women's Rights and Transatlantic Antislavery in the Era of Emancipation. Edited by Kathryn Kish Sklar and James Brewer Stewart. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007. Pp. xxiv, 385. Illustrations. Paper, $35.00.)From Abolition to Rights for All: The Making of a Reform Community in the Nineteenth Century. By John T. Cumbler. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007. Pp. xi, 238. Cloth, $49.95.)Reviewed by Amanda Bowie MonizEssays on Brazilian abolition, early European feminists' use of the concept of emancipation, and the strategies of freedwomen in French West Africa in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries might seem far afield for a JER review. Rather than being out of place, however, their inclusion signals compelling directions in the study of abolition, emancipation, and women's rights, and of the early United States more generally.The three works under review, two edited collections and one monograph, cover much time and space and many peoples, but they share a common interest in how people in the nineteenth-century Atlantic world built lives and communities free from bondage based on race or gender or dedicated themselves to freeing others from those shackles. Rather than analyzing broad causes and effects, the authors, with some exceptions, explore developments close to the ground. Taken together, the books argue that to understand the process of emancipation, the meaning of freedom, and the nature of reform activity, we must focus on the lived experiences of individuals or groups. The personal is political, and vice versa, the authors stress.To steer scholars in a new direction in the study of emancipation, Gender and Slave Emancipation in the Atlantic World asks how gender affected men's and women's emergence from slavery and how ex-slaves remade gender relations as part of that transformation. While the volume surveys the Atlantic world, the individual authors generally take particular nations, colonies, or regions as their analytical units. The collective result is an illuminating examination of gender and the ending of slavery in given places (as opposed to an approach featuring the circulation of peoples, ideas, or practices) that reveals how distinct local dynamics led to differences in the reworking of gender relations. There is a big picture, however: Men benefitted more from emancipation than women did.In the first section, Men, Women, and Citizens, five essays consider how gender ideologies shaped political agency and ideas about freedom and citizenship. An 1834 court case involving a Cape Colony freedman, who asserted to a poor white widow his right to marry her daughter, is Pamela Scully's starting point to plumb newly freed men's expectations about the special rights and responsibilities they gained as emancipated men (44). Scully's chapter opens the book effectively not only because it conveys the immediate and personal nature of freedpeople's efforts to fashion their gendered and political identities, but also because it flags the frequent problem that freedpeople's voices are highly mediated. To avoid the problem, Mimi Sheller relies on sources that record the speech of her subjects. Her essay, which argues that working-class black Jamaican men constructed masculinity and citizenship in part in opposition to foreign men, calls attention to another important direction for the study of Atlantic world slavery and emancipation, namely, comparisons and connections to the Indian Ocean world.Four chapters in Families, Land, and Labor probe women's efforts to rebuild or protect their families and to grasp some measure of economic autonomy. Bridget Brereton, for example, examines women's much-discussed withdrawal from plantation labor after British Caribbean emancipation. …

Frequency and consequences of damage to male copulatory organs in a widow spider

Copulatory organ breakage, in which a portion of the male's genitalia breaks off and remains in or attached to the female's genitalia may represent a male strategy of high investment in a single mating. Such a strategy is expected when mating opportunities for males are limited and competition for females is high. We studied costs and benefits for males as a consequence of male organ breakage in the white widow spider (Latrodectus pallidus O. Pickard-Cambridge 1872). In order to estimate the frequency and consequences of such damage we provided each male with four virgin females simultaneously in an outdoors enclosure. We recorded male mating success and loss of the tip of the embolus (the male intromittent organ) inside the female's genitalia for each male. In order to test the effect of the broken tip as a mating plug, we collected females from natural populations and observed the location of embolus tips inside their genitalia. We found that damage to the male organ was frequent but did not necessarily result in male sterility. From the field data, we found that the likelihood of a second embolus tip entering the spermatheca is significantly lower than that of the first tip, suggesting the possibility that the tip functions as a partial mating plug.

Retail marijuana purchases in designer and commercial markets in New York City: Sales units, weights, and prices per gram

This paper documents the bifurcation of the market for commercial marijuana from the market for designer marijuana in New York City. Commercial marijuana is usually grown outdoors, imported to NYC, and of average quality. By contrast, several varities of designer marijuana are usually grown indoors from specially bred strains and carefully handled for maximum quality. The mechanisms for marijuana sales include street/park sellers, delivery services, private sales, and storefronts. Retail sales units vary from $5 to $50 and more, but the actual weights and price per gram of retail marijuana purchases lacks scientific precision. Ethnographic staff recruited marijuana purchasers who used digital scales to weigh a purposive sample of 99 marijuana purchases. Results indicate clear differences in price per gram between the purchases of commercial (average $8.20/g) and designer (average $18.02/g) marijuana. Designer purchases are more likely to be made by whites, downtown (Lower East Side/Union Square area), via delivery services, and in units of $10 bags, $50 cubes, and eighth and quarter ounces. Commercial marijuana purchases are more likely to be made by blacks, uptown (Harlem), via street dealers, and in units of $5 and $20 bags. Imported commercial types Arizona and Chocolate were only found uptown, while designer brand names describing actual strains like Sour Diesel and White Widow were only found downtown. Findings indicate clear divisions between commercial and designer marijuana markets in New York City. The extent that these differences may be based upon different THC potencies is a matter for future research.

Limited mating opportunities and male monogamy: a field study of white widow spiders, Latrodectus pallidus (Theridiidae)

The reproductive success of a male is thought to be a function of the number of females he fertilizes. Nevertheless, various naturally occurring male behaviours seem to reduce dramatically the probability of obtaining additional matings. Such behaviours are expected when mating opportunities are limited for males and when males compete strongly for females or fertilizations. In widow spiders, males cohabit in females' webs, engage in long courtship displays, often lose the tip of one or both emboli (copulatory organs) inside the female's genital tract during copulation and are occasionally cannibalized by the female. We investigated conditions that may favour the evolution of a high-investment strategy of mating in white widow, Latrodectus pallidus, males. We followed male movements between females in a patchily distributed population of white widows and estimated the minimum number of males with which field-caught females mated from the number of embolus tips found in their genital tracts. The encounter rate of males with females was low with less than 20% of the searching males reaching a female. Females, in contrast, frequently mated with more than one male (up to six). We suggest that low encounter rates with females, coupled with high intrasexual competition, drives the evolution of a strategy of high investment by males in a single mating, as was observed in the white widow spider.

Four episodes in re-creating a life

This four-part reflection concerns a white, working-class woman in New England who married a West Indian man of color in 1869. The first part tells the story of the death of the woman's first husband in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War; the second part recounts what little the archives reveal of the years between the end of the war and the woman's remarriage, to the West Indian man, four years later. The third part spins two possible scenarios for the initial meeting between the white widow and the man of color; the last recounts the author's visit to a house in Vermont where the woman lived in the 1860s, prompting an imaginative leap to fill in the archival gap.

The King v. Robert James, a Slave, for Rape: Inequality, Gender, and British Slave Amelioration, 1823–1834

In December 1832, less than a year before the British Parliament passed the first imperial slave emancipation bill, an all-white jury in the British Caribbean colony of Barbados convicted a black, enslaved man named Robert James of having robbed and sexually violated Margaret Higginbotham, an impoverished white widow and mother. Since Robert James was a black man accused of raping a white woman the jury's decision could hardly have surprised anyone and his rapid dispatch by a hangman must have been universally expected.

Book Reviews

Covers of the Saturday Evening Post: Seventy Years of Outstanding Illustration from America's Favorite Magazine. A Measure of Memory: Storytelling and Identity in American Jewish Fiction. Victoria Aarons. Beyond the Mafia: Italian Americans and the Development of Las Vegas. Alan Balboni. Dressing in Feathers: The Construction of the Indian in American Popular Culture. S. Elizabeth Bird, ed. Killing the White Man's Indian: Reinventing Native Americans at the End of the Twentieth Century. Fergus Bordewich. Against the Tide: Women Reformers in American Society. Paul A. Cimbala and Randall M. Miller, eds. The Comedy of Democracy. James E. Combs and Dan Nimmo. alt. Culture: An A‐to‐Z Guide to the '90s—Underground “on‐line, and over‐the‐counter.” Steven Daley and Nathaniel Wice. What Trouble I Have Seen: A History of Violence Against Wives. David Peterson Del Mar. The Closed World: Computers and the Politics of Discourse in Cold War America. Paul N. Edwards. Virtual Archaeology: Re‐creating Ancient Worlds. Maurizio Forte and Alberto Siliotti, eds. Main Street Revisited: Time, Space, and Image Building in Small‐Town America. Richard V. Francaviglia. A Visit with Harlan Hubbard. Wade Hall. The Archaeology of the Donner Party. Donald L. Hardesty, with contributions by Michael Brodhead, Donald K. Grayson, Susan Lindstrom, and George L. Miller. Green Culture: Environmental Rhetoric in Contemporary America. Carl G. Herndl and Stuart C. Brown, eds. Shades of Freedom: Racial Politics and Presumptions of the American Legal Process. A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr. Outsiders in 19th‐Century Press History: Multicultural Perspectives. Frankie Hutton and Barbara Straus Reed, eds. Women of the Far Right. The Mothers' Movement and World War II. Glen Jeansonne. The Lively Arts: Gilbert Seldes and the Transformation of Cultural Criticism in the United States. Michael. Kammen. Questions of Travel: Postmodern Discourses of Displacement. Caren Kaplan. White Widow. Jim Lehrer.Psycho: Behind the Scenes of the Classic Thriller. Janet Leigh and Christopher Nickens. Pulp Art: Original Cover Paintings for the Great American Pulp Magazines. Robert Lesser. Big Trouble. J. Anthony Lukas. Belonging to the Army: Camp Followers and Community During the American Revolution. Holly A. Mayer. Icons of American Protestantism: The Art of Warner Sallman. David Morgan, ed. Making Room: The Economics of Homelessness. Brendan O'Flaherty. Art and the Higher Life: Painting and Evolutionary Thought in Late Nineteenth‐Century America. Kathleen Pyne. From Virtue to Character: American Childhood, 1775–1850. Jacqueline S. Reiner. American Women Historians, 1700s‐1990s.Jennifer Scanlon and Shaaron Cosner. Cultural Conservatism, Political Liberalism: From Criticism to Cultural Studies. James Seaton. Love's Madness: Medicine, the Novel, and Female Insanity 1800–1865. Helen Small. Art Carney: A Biography. Michael Seth Starr. John Wayne's America: The Politics of Celebrity. Gamy Wills. Stars in Blue: Movie Actors in America's Sea Services. James E. Wise, Jr., and Anne Collier Rehill. The Anatomy of Prejudices. Elisabeth Young‐Bruehl

Primary ovarian malignant melanoma arising in cystic teratoma

Primary malignant melanoma of the ovary is a rare neoplasm. This report describes the seventh well-documented case arising in the ovary of a 74-year-old white widow. A unilateral ovarian teratoma was removed, within which was found a malignant melanoma. Junctional activity of melanocytes was demonstrated in the epidermis within the teratoma. An extraovarian primary melanoma was not recognized. The patient was treated with a unilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. She died 2 1 2 years later of bone metastases from the melanoma, confirmed at autopsy. This case is described and the literature reviewed.

Arterial embolism of tumor causing fatal organ infarction.

Although hematogenous metastasis ordinarily involves the embolization of tumor cells singly or in microscopic aggregates, it is distinctly unusual for the emboli to be large enough to result in clinically recognizable infarction.1,2We have recently cared for a patient with widely disseminated adenocarcinoma of the colon characterized by a particular propensity for hematogenous metastases who died of acute myocardial and cerebral infarction secondary to arterial embolism of tumor. We report the case herein with a brief review of the literature. Patient Summary A 72-year-old white widow, when seen by her physician in February 1965, had a history of intermittent rectal bleeding of 18 months' duration. X-ray study with barium enema revealed a sigmoid polyp which proved to be an adenocarcinoma. She underwent sigmoid resection with anastomosis of the descending colon to the rectum. The primary lesion extended only to the muscularis, but a single metastatic lymph node was

Arterial Embolism of Tumor Causing Fatal Organ Infarction

Although hematogenous metastasis ordinarily involves the embolization of tumor cells singly or in microscopic aggregates, it is distinctly unusual for the emboli to be large enough to result in clinically recognizable infarction.^1,2We have recently cared for a patient with widely disseminated adenocarcinoma of the colon characterized by a particular propensity for hematogenous metastases who died of acute myocardial and cerebral infarction secondary to arterial embolism of tumor. We report the case herein with a brief review of the literature. <h3>Patient Summary</h3> A 72-year-old white widow, when seen by her physician in February 1965, had a history of intermittent rectal bleeding of 18 months' duration. X-ray study with barium enema revealed a sigmoid polyp which proved to be an adenocarcinoma. She underwent sigmoid resection with anastomosis of the descending colon to the rectum. The primary lesion extended only to the muscularis, but a single metastatic lymph node was

PARGYLINE, CHEESE AND ACUTE HYPERTENSION.

SEVERE hypertensive episodes, sometimes fatal, may occur after the eating of ripened cheeses by patients receiving potent monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors. Most reported cases have been associated with the mood-elevator tranylcypromine sulfate. This is a report of a severe, paradoxical hypertensive crisis occurring in a patient taking the antihypertensive MAO inhibitor, pargyline hydrochloride, apparently precipitated by the ingestion of aged cheddar cheese. Report of a Case A 59-year-old white widow, a laboratory technician at night, sought medical assistance at 11 PM on Dec 30, 1963, because of generalized pounding headache, profuse sweating, weakness, tremulousness, and anxiety. She had a long history of hypertension which was first noted in 1947 during routine blood pressure evaluation for a blood donation. From 1947 to 1959 she had no symptoms related to the hypertension and she received no antihypertensive medication. While she was working for a physician in 1959 her blood pressure was found

Hydriodic acid-induced myxedema followed by recovery and thyroidal failure.

Despite widespread use of potassium iodide and syrup of hydriodic acid in pulmonary disease, goiter and myxedema are rare and only recently described complications of iodide therapy. The possibility exists that when hypothyroidism and goiter do develop during treatment with iodide-containing medicine, some preexisting defect in thyroidal metabolism may result in marked sensitivity to an antithyroid action of iodide. In an attempt to demonstrate such an abnormality, several techniques have been applied to the study of a patient who developed flagrant myxedema during prolonged ingestion of syrup of hydriodic acid. Report of a Case A 67-year-old white widow was admitted to the hospital because of lethargy, intolerance to cold, and hoarseness. One year prior to admission she developed a chronic cough for which she was given syrup of hydriodic acid. Although her cough subsided, she continued to take 6 teaspoonfuls of the syrup daily (420 mg. of hydriodic acid) until