The relationships between the release of LHRH, β-endorphin (β-END) and noradrenaline (NA) from the hypothalamic infundibular nuclei/median eminence (NI/ME) during the periovulatory period in the ewe was studied. Neurohormone release was assayed in perfusates collected from the NI/ME via push-pull cannulae. LHRH concentrations in perfusates ranged from below detectable values (5 pg) to 50 pg and from 15 to 240 pg/20 min perfusate on the days of proestrus and estrus, respectively. β-END concentrations in perfusates ranged from 320 to 6,000 pg on the day of proestrus and fell to a range between 100 and 380 pg/20 min perfusate on the day of estrus. The NA content of perfusates ranged from an undetectable level to 0.9 × 10⁴ pg/perfusate during proestrus, and rose from 1.0 × 10⁴ to 6.6 × 10⁴ pg/perfusate shortly before the preovulatory release of LHRH and LH. On the basis of the present observations, the following sequence of events leading to the massive LH ovulatory surge in the sheep is suggested: (1) increased secretion of β-END in the NI/ME on the day of proestrus generates an increase in the releasable pool of LHRH through inhibition of LHRH release; (2) on the day of estrus a decreased release of β-END allows the expression of NA activity in the NI/ME and the augmentation of NA tone facilitates the release of newly accumulated LHRH; (3) the resultant intensified LHRH output with its significantly changing pattern of release triggers the preovulatory surge of LH.

Grain of 30 winter wheat cultivars was screened for the content of seven flavonoids (apigenin, kaempferol, luteolin, naringenin, quercetin, rutin, vitexin). In total, 90 samples were analyzed, belonging to three combinations: the control, samples inoculated with Fusarium culmorum, and samples inoculated with Fusarium culmorum and protected with fungicides (Prosaro, Topsin M). Analyzed flavonoids were detected in all tested samples. The highest concentrations were recorded for quercetin (512.9 mg/kg) and luteolin (458.4 mg/kg). Concentration of all compounds was the highest in the inoculated samples, while in the control and in the inoculated samples treated with fungicides their contents were significantly lower and similar, as confirmed by the statistical analysis conducted by multivariate methods. In most cases, significant correlations were obtained between individual flavonoids. Such correlations were observed for all flavonoids in samples covering all the three variants and almost all flavonoids in the inoculated samples. The lowest number of correlations was recorded for samples treated with fungicides.

The city of Warsaw was razed at the end of World War II and rebuilt under a socialist government whose policy was to allocate dwellings, schools, and health facilities without regard to social class. Of the 14,238 children born in 1963 and living in Warsaw, 96 percent were given the Raven's Progressive Matrices Test and an arithmetic and a vocabulary test in March to June of 1974. Information was collected on the families of the children, and on characteristics of schools and city districts. Parental occupation and education were used to form a family factor, and the district data were collapsed into two factors, one relating to social marginality, and the other to distance from city center. Analysis showed that the initial assumption of even distribution of family, school, and district attributes was reasonable. Mental performance was unrelated either to school or district factors; it was related to parental occupation and education in a strong and regular gradient. It is concluded that an egalitarian social policy executed over a generation failed to override the association of social and family factors with cognitive development that is characteristic of more traditional industrial societies.

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Biosynthesis in fungal cultures of 27 Fusarium graminearum isolates of three different chemotypes (3AcDON, 15AcDON and NIV) grown on yeast extract sucrose agar medium was examined in this study. Volatile organic compound (VOC) analysis performed by headspace solid phase microextraction GC-MS allowed for determination of various concentrations of six alcohols, 14 aldehydes and ketones, 10 benzene derivatives, one furane, five hydrocarbons and three terpenes. In general, the determined VOC profile in fungal cultures was dominated by hexanal (up to 74%), followed by nonanal (18%) and 2-methylbutanal (18%). Principal component analysis and discriminant analysis based on VOCs allowed for unambiguous discrimination of all studied isolates into three different groups in accordance with their trichothecene production (chemotypes). Significant differences were revealed between the levels of aldehydes and ketones, benzene derivatives and hydrocarbons in fungal cultures of three F. graminearum chemotypes.