The National Eczema Association for Science and Education surveyed 429 patients with atopic dermatitis or their parents and 303 physicians about atopic dermatitis, its effect on quality of life (QOL), and the adequacy of available treatments. The physician survey focused on disease severity and management; the patient survey, on disease severity, impact on QOL, and treatment preferences. Physician and patient/parent respondents generally agreed about their assessments of disease severity, poor effectiveness of over-the-counter products, and the need for more patient support groups and toll-free phone information. Atopic dermatitis significantly impacts QOL in children, particularly in those with moderate-to-severe disease. New treatments should offer enhanced efficacy, less frequent application, and fewer adverse effects.

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JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. Marine Biological Laboratory is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Biological Bulletin.The presence of an external shell or shells in molluscs lends to this group a unique potential for a rather specialized behavioral response during osmotic stress. This response consists of temporary exclusion of the environment by clamping or closing of the valves; it has been suggested to occur in several different species of molluscs as a mechanical method of osmoregulation. The principle involved here is quite similar to that shown by the eggs of marine and fresh-water fish. In this case, the eggs are protected against osmotic stress by the fact that they are impermeable to both water and salts. Thus a barrier against equilibration during periods of concentration differences is erected.Among the molluscs, Krogh (1939) demonstrated that the bivalves Mytilus, Crassostrea, and Modiolus respond for varying lengths of time to transfer from normal to dilute sea water by closing the valves. With the valves closed, these marine pelecypods could survive and maintain the hemolymph undiluted for several days. However, if the valves are forced open, the animal swells rapidly and little volume regulation is observed. Among these bivalves, Mytilus seems to show some degree of volume regulation, since Krogh (1939) found that the hemolymph and tissue chloride concentrations had become reduced in dilute sea water. Further evidence that Mytilus is able to tolerate dilute sea water was furnished by Milne (1940), who found that, at low tide, the salinity inside the mantle cavity of Mytilus was 24%o, while the salinity of the environment had fallen to 7%0. Freeman and Rigler (1957) demonstrated that the estuarine lamellibranch Scrobicularia plana tolerates wide salinity variations by closure of the valves, seriously decreasing the rate of equilibration of the body fluids with the external milieu after environmental concentration changes.Among the gastropods, Mayes (1962) found a gradual increase in weight in all the species of British Littorina, an operculate snail, upon transfer of the animals to 25% sea water. In this medium, all animals remained retracted until death; Mayes therefore concluded that the survival times of each species in this medium were correlated with the goodness of fit of the operculum. Avens and Sleigh (1965) have verified these findings using Littorina saxatilis. These workers concluded that hyperosmoticity of the body fluids of this animal in dilute solutions is a result of avoidance of deleterious conditions by retraction, rather than active hyperosmotic regulation, since active animals were always isosmotic with the medium. Thus, Avens and Sleigh conclu...

merzoites, either contained within the confines of mature schizont-infected cells, or artificially removed from host cells, rapidly lose the ability to invade susceptible erythrocytes in vivo when suspended in an isotonic medium and held at 1 to 2 C in vitro.

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