There is a large body of educational research results available in the science education literature that could be usefully applied for the improvement of teaching practice in biochemistry and molecular biology. Unfortunately, for a great variety of reasons, such applications are relatively limited in our discipline. In this first paper in the…

Through associative learning, cues for biologically significant reinforcers such as food may gain access to mental representations of those reinforcers. Here, we used devaluation procedures, behavioral assessment of hedonic taste-reactivity responses, and measurement of immediate-early gene (IEG) expression to show that a cue for food engages…

Bioassays are commonly used to test the biological activity of chemicals and other exercises are presented in which students synthesize plant hormones. Lab exercise is conducted using commercially available auxins and auxin regulating compounds.

The authors teach upper-level science courses in cell biology, genetics, and biochemistry at a public, four-year "community university" that serves a demographically diverse population of traditional and nontraditional students. In this article, they describe some of the issues they have found to be particularly significant at their "community…

Bacterial conjugation is a genetic transfer that involves cell-to-cell between donor and recipient cells. With the current method used to teach students in genetic courses at the undergraduate level, the transconjugants are identified using bacterial physiology and/or antibiotic resistance. Using physiology, however, is difficult for both…

Describes a set of biochemistry laboratory experiments in which tetrameric hemoglobin is separated into its subunits then formed again by recombination of the subunits. (MLH)

Questions and answers to biochemistry four topics are presented. Items include fatty acid synthesis, reaggregation of sponge cells, enzymic degradation of pollutants, and energy requirements of organisms. (RWH)

Describes the initially ignored research performed in 1900 by Archibald Garrod concerning the link between heredity and biochemical reactions. (MLH)

This review examines the available evidence in support of the argument that serum uric acid (SUA) possesses considerable promise as an indicator of one type of biochemical influence on achievement behavior. The evidence arguing for further research into the role of serum cholesterol in achievement behavior is also examined. (Author/JR)

Sequential urinalysis of four premature infants with marked physiologic anemia demonstrated no erythropoietin (substances which may stimulate red blood cell formulation). (CL)

Levels of serum IgE (an immunoglobulin carrying reaginic antibody activity) were investigated in 16 Down's syndrome adolescents (12-to 18-years old) and in an equal number of retardates matched for age and sex residing in the same institution. (CL)

This paper presents an overview of the functions of connective tissue and the mechanisms of joint injury and contracture formation in relation to therapeutic exercise. The components of connective tissue operation are explained, including fibroblasts, macrophages, plasma cells, and collagen. An examination of the histology of connective tissue as…

Describes a system for the management and analysis of chemical structure-biological activity data wherein the chemical structures, encoded in Wiswesser Line Notation, are checked for accuracy, stored, and retrieved by computer. Unification of description and activity of bio-systems. Structuring data files. (Author)

Six 4- to 37-year-old patients with tuberosis sclerosis (a chronic condition characterized by siezures, intercranial calcification, a reddish-yellow sebaceous glandular mass on the face, and frequent crises in early years), did not exhibit an elevation of the (alpha + beta) globulin fraction in their serum. (Author/MC)