Of the species studied, woody plants with short flowering duration are the best indicators of a warming climate. For monthly minimum temperatures, temperatures 1 or 2 mo prior to flowering are most significantly correlated with flowering time. Studies combining herbarium specimens, photographs, and field observations are an effective method for detecting the effects of climate change on flowering times.

Twenty-four patients (16 men, 8 women) underwent corpus callosum section specifically for improvement of control of atonic or tonic seizures that resulted in falls and injuries. All patients suffered from multiple seizure types, including complex partial (CP) and tonic-clonic (TC) seizures, in addition to the tonic or atonic episodes. Preoperative seizure frequency was quantified for all types for 1 year immediately before surgery and for the most recent year since the procedure; average monthly counts were obtained for each seizure type. The period of follow-up since surgery averaged 43 months (range, 23-79 months). Statistically significant improvements were documented, not only for the atonic/tonic seizures (p less than 0.0001) for all patients, but also for TC seizures (17 patients; p less than 0.001) and CP seizures (20 patients; p less than 0.02). Six patients experienced an exacerbation of CP seizures postoperatively, and three developed new simple partial (SP) seizures. In all of the CP group and all three of the SP group, ictal video and EEG features suggested that the new seizures were an aborted expression of the previously generalized seizures. From these data, we conclude that callosotomy is an effective treatment for tonic, atonic, and TC seizures intractable to anticonvulsant medications. Three patients became seizure free. The procedure may also be useful for certain specific subgroups of CP epilepsy, but further studies are required before expanding callosotomy to intractable CP seizures not amenable to focal resection.

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Juvenility and flowering requirements of Coreopsis grandiflora Hogg ex Sweet. `Sunray' and C. lanceolata L. `Early Sunrise' were examined by growing plants under short days (SD) and transferring them to long days (LD) upon reaching the designated true leaf stages. Neither cultivar flowered in continuous SD, and `Sunray' remained vegetative in LD. However, LD induced flowering in `Early Sunrise' plants in each leaf count treatment and the loss of juvenility was gradual, with most rapid flowering occurring when plants were transferred to LD at the 16 leaf stage. The limited inductive photoperiod (LIP) inhibited stem elongation of `Early Sunrise' plants in all LD treatments and selectively inhibited axillary flower bud development compared to plants grown in continuous LD. LIP did not affect scape length at first flower even though plant height was significantly diminished if given relatively few LD before transfer to SD. Height reduction was attributed to LIP inhibition of stem elongation with no significant loss of axillary flower bud potential.

Formulated and technical grade HOE-39866 [ammonium-(3-amino-3-carboxypropyl) methylphosphinate] at concentrations of 10–1, 10–2, and 10–3M were applied to leaf blade tissues of nonreproductive adult redroot pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexusL. # AMARE) and fall panicum (Panicum dichotomiflorumMichx. # PANDI). Tissues were sampled at regular intervals after treatment and prepared for light microscopic examination. The major response of both species involved rupture and contortion of the interveinal mesophyll cells with concomitant disorganization of the bundle sheath cells. Rapid epidermal collapse occurred in redroot pigweed but not in fall panicum. The absence of adjuvants resulted in nonuniform symptom expression as herbicide droplets accumulated in depressions and along leaf margins. No other adjuvant-specific effect was observed. Herbicide concentration did not alter the final response but the time-to-expression increased as concentration decreased.