Ball Of Yarn Research Articles

Light microscopic golgi study of mitral/tufted cells in the accessory olfactory bulb of the adult rat

Mitral/tufted cells (MTCs) of the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB) of adult rats were investigated light microscopically with the rapid Golgi method. The somata of the MTCs, appearing ovoid or triangular in shape, are distributed throughout the external plexiform layer. The soma size varies from small to large (12-26 microns). Apical dendrites originating from the soma enter the glomerular layer to provide branches that form the glomerular arbors. After making a glomerular arbor, some dendrites develop a second arbor (en passant and terminal arbors, respectively). The MTCs have a very diverse dendritic branching pattern and most have a variable number of glomerular arbors per cell (up to 6); we have tentatively classified the MTCs into simple, intermediate, and complex. Of the glomerular arbors, 80% have a diameter of less than 50 microns. The glomerular arbors have been classified as baskets (small spherical or ovoid) with short loopy processes; balls of yarn (large and nearly spherical) with loosely intermingled thick loops; and bushes (small to large and rather polymorphic) with irregular processes. The MTCs send dendritic arbors to terminate in one or more glomeruli where they are arranged in several different types of endings. Since it is generally believed that the dendrites of mitral and tufted cells of the main olfactory bulb terminate in only one glomerulus, the difference in the termination of the dendrites of the MTCs may represent a morphological characteristic that is relevant to the coding and/or integration of sensory information.

Nordic influence on Saami folk belief: the "Buttercat" (Smörkatt)

The topic of this paper is a Saami superstitious belief, namely the smørkatt "buttercat", which is without doubt a Nordic loan in Saami tradition. In olden days there were people who sold themselves or half of their souls to the devil for a considerable sum of money. They made a "butter cat" in order to get more milk. The "butter cat" looked like a ball of yarn. It stole cream and butter from the neighbour. The neighbour could not understand what had become of his butter. But he soon discovered that people who had only a few cows had a lot of butter. He chased after the "butter cat" and if he could capture it, the person who had sold his soul to the devil would die. This tradition existed among both the mountain Saamis and the Saamis who had settled down in the villages, but it was unknown among Norwegian people. The form and function of the "smørkatt" together with the way in which it could be disabled is in line with the Nordic tradition. This milk-stealing creature, which might be a hare or any other animal, is often a cat, particularly in northern Norway. It is a common Nordic tradition, too, that the animal is identical with its master, and because of that the master must die when the animal is killed. This link between the master and the animal is closer in northern Norway than anywhere else. Woman, animal and devil are linked to each other in the Nordic tradition, too, but the tradition that the master sells his soul to the devil is found only in Karasjok. It is clear, however, that people must pay for the devil's assistance. This theme is well-known in Europe in other connections.

Commentary: Mating Types and Human Sexuality

tured and organized by contingent goals. The results of scientific activity are then used to bolster particular theological, ethical, or political assumptions. Several historical examples could be cited: Harvey vs. Descartes, Pasteur and Pouchet, and the nineteenth century dispute on the use of animals for experimentation. Only the first of these has failed to resurface repeatedly as an issue. Experimental work since the 1950s, associated with the names of Urey and Miller, Oparin, and others, have produced fresh polemics on the nature of spontaneous generation, no more resolved than in Spallangni's time. The animal rights movement continues to inveigh (with increasing success) against animal experiments. Only the nature of the heartbeat fails to excite. The controversies surrounding human sexuality, however, differ fundamentally from these examples for the reason that they are not scientific debates, nor even epistemological ones, but primarily political, where becomes tangentially involved only because the antagonists appeal to scientists to justify one or another position. Indeed, even those appeals are often misdirected to clinicians whose claim to competence in the methodologies of empirical science are tenuous. But could sexuality be studied and adjudged objectively? This, of course, would not end the scientific aspects of the controversy. My suspicion has been all along that scientists treat debates as kittens do a ball of yarn; they are as loath to abandon them. If a scientific study were possible, however, some of the irrelevant arguments might at least be removed from the political debates.

The Internal Structure of the Oncogenic RNA Viruses

Negative staining technique with potassium phosphotungstate (pH 7.0) was used to study the internal structure of the avian myeloblastosis virus, murine leukemia virus, murine mammary tumor virus and feline leukemia virus. Two essential structural features of the viral interior were observed: 1) single strands (30-50 A° in diameter) randomly oriented to give the appearance of a ball of yarn inside the virion; and 2) paired strands (70-90A° in diameter) that appear to be double helices which upon uncoiling give the single strands. Figs. 1 and 2 show the morphology of type B, and C particles respectively, where helical structures in the interior of the virions can be seen (arrow). The subunit structures observed on the helical regions are morphologically similar to those seen on the surface of the nucleoid that do not show helical symmetry. When helical segments were observed in the virus they were almost always seen at the periphery of the nucleoid. This is in agreement with the hollow spherical nucleoid structure of budding virions seen in thin section and suggests that the nucleocapsid is supercoiled as a hollow sphere.