Light

Great progress has been made by Russian and German researchers in recent years (Popp, Voeikov, and others) to examine the biophysical aspects of biophotonic processes in humans. This paper suggests that there is a many-body reality to the way biophysical light interacts with the human self-organization of information that may be achieved by means of biomolecular, metabolic, or neural communication.

Mutation of the human gene superoxide dismutase (hSOD1) triggers the fatal neurodegenerative motorneuron disorder, familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease). Broad expression of this gene in Drosophila has no effect on longevity or functional senescence. We show here that restricting expression of human SOD1 primarily to motorneurons of Drosophila has significant effects on optomotor efficiency during in-flight tracking of rapidly moving visual targets.

Caloric restriction (CR) extends lifespan in various heterotrophic organisms ranging from yeasts to mammals, but whether a similar phenomenon occurs in plants remains unknown. Plants are autotrophs and use their photosynthetic machinery to convert light energy into the chemical energy of glucose and other organic compounds. As the rate of photosynthesis is proportional to the level of photosynthetically active radiation, the CR in plants can be modeled by lowering light intensity.

The relationship between circadian rhythms in the pharmacological actions of meperidine and hexobarbital and similar rhythms in the hepatic metabolism of these drugs was examined in mice under a variety of environmental alterations to determine whether such rhythms may be causally related. The rate of metabolism of p-nitroanisole and hexobarbital by hepatic 9000 X g supernatant fractions was found to be higher at 2400 hours (middark phase) compared to 1200 hours (midlight phase).

We evaluated predictions derived from the ultradian theory of hypnosis regarding the effects of temperature, light, trance length, and time of day on reported trance depth in 95 college undergraduates. Temperature and light showed no relation to trance depth. However, as predicted by ultradian theory, subjects who were kept in trance for 15 minutes reported greater trance depth than those who experienced a 5-minute trance.

Electrolytic lesion of the medial septum, a basal forebrain nucleus that projects to the hippocampus, prolonged the emergence from general anesthesia in rats. Septal lesioned rats required a longer time to recover from a loss of righting reflex (LORR) and a loss of tail-pinch response after injectable (20 mg/kg i.p. pentobarbital, 5mg/kg i.v. propofol) or volatile (1.5% halothane, 2% isoflurane) anesthetic. When incremental doses of propofol were given i.p., septal lesioned rats as compared to control rats showed LORR at a lower dose of propofol.