Jamaican

The elaterid Pyrophorus is of special importance in the history of bioluminescence, because it was used by Dubois in his first demonstration of the luciferin-luciferase reaction in 1885. The Jamaican click beetle (Pyrophorus noctilucus) is commonly found in the West Indies. The beetle possesses two kinds of luminous organs. A... 

An "amazing amount of trash", mostly plastic objects, is stranded on the Atlantic coast of Florida during onshore winds, particularly in winter (55). While some of this debris was of United States origin (from local sources or from entrainment in the Florida Current of wastes from shipping), the remainder was of Venezuelan, Columbian, and Jamaican origin. Debris from the easternmost Caribbean and the northern coast of South America could be transported to the Atlantic coast of Florida by the Guiana and Antilles Currents in about four months. Alternatively, debris from the southern or southwestern part of the Caribbean could be carried by the Caribbean Current via the Yucatan Channel and Straits of Florida to the Atlantic coast of Florida in as little as two months. 

The pK of Ca2+aq (204), 12.6 at zero ionic strength, rising to over 13 as ionic strength increases, means that concentrations of CaOH+aq will be negligible in body fluids (lpolluted waters, and under all conditions of biological relevance, from the very low pHs of 0.5 (Thiobacillus thiooxidans) to 1.5 at which bacteria used for oxidative metal extraction operate (205), through acid soils and acid rain (pH 3 to 6), streams, rivers, and oceans (pH 6 to 8), soda lakes (pH 10), up to the pHs of 11 or more in Jamaican Red Mud slurry ponds (206) (cf. Section II.C.l below). 

Fruits from Jamaican ackee tree - Blighia sapida, Sapindaceae sp., and other tropical plants... 

On examination of the urine and serum of numerous patients with suspected paraproteinemia in both Jamaicans and Africans between 1962 and 1966, it was concluded that whenever a low total serum y-globulin level with a normal serum electrophoretic pattern were encountered in a suspected case of multiple myelomatosis, it was then essential to obtain also a specimen of urine from such a patient for further electrophoretic examination. Invariably simultaneous electrophoresis of such sera and urines proved to be diagnostic, even when the classical heat test for Bence Jones protein was negative. Consequently it was found that concurrent electrophoresis of scrum and urine was the first means of detecting multiple myelomatosis in no less than 20% of the patients, which were subsequently confirmed either by bone marrow biopsy or X-ray examination or both (M3). 

A high incidence of multiple myelomatosis has been reported in Jamaican Negroes in three different studies (M3, Mil, Tl) and higher incidence in American Negroes than in American whites (M26). Further investigation into the racial incidence of multiple myelomatosis in tropical populations are awaited with interest, especially since more specific immunochemical methods are now available. 

The commonest causes of death in the Jamaican patients with multiple myelomatosis were bronchopneumonia and other infectious complications, a finding which is compatible with the secondary antibody deficiency syndrome and impaired cellular immunity which occurs in patients with this disease. Bleeding manifestations and renal failure were not uncommon findings, and myeloma kidney was observed in 66% of the cases. Skeletal involvement was observed, but in many cases the typical lesions had to be searched for. Amyloidosis was present in as many as 21% of the patients (Tl) and this may be associated with the high number of patients in Jamaica that are known to excrete Bence Jones protein in myeloma (Mil). 

Sebum Immunoglobulin Concentrations in Various Malignant Diseases OF THE Reticuloendothelial System in Jamaicans... 

Mil. McFarlane, H., Talerman, A., and Steinberg, A. G., Immunoglobulins in Jamaicans and Nigerians with immuno-genetic typing of myeloma and lymphoma in Jamaicans. J. Clin. Pathol. 23, 124-126 (1970). 

R8. Rowe, M. R., Macroglobulins in Jamaicans. Ph.D. Thesis, University of the West Indies, Mona, Kingston, Jamaica, 1967. 

Night vision improvement. In a doubleblind study, graduated THC administration at doses of 0-20 mg (as Marinol) on measures of dark adaptometry and scotopic sensitivity was evaluated. Field studies of night vision were performed among Jamaican and Moroccan fishermen, and mountain dwellers with the LKC Technologies Scotopic Sensitivity Tester-1 (SST-1). Improvements in night vision measures were noted after THC or cannabis. The effect was dose-dependent and cannabinoid-mediated at the retinal level k... 

Hendriks, H., T. M. Malingre, S. Batterman and R. Bos. Mono- and sesqui-terpene hydrocarbons of the essential oil of Cannabis sativa. Phytochemistry 1975 14 814—815. Thorbum, M. J. Jamaican bushes and human chromosomes. Jamaica J 1975 8(4) 18. 

Tahara, S. et al.. Naturally occurring coumaranochroman-4-ones a new class of isoflavonoids from lupines and Jamaican dogwood. Zeitschrift fuer Naturforschung C, 46, 331, 1991. 

Yvette Jackson, a Jamaican, graduated with a BSc (special) degree in chemistry (1976), and a PhD in chemistry (1983), from the University of the West Indies, Mona campus (UWI, Mona). Her PhD work, under the supervision of Dr. Vernon G. S. Box, involved synthesis of rotenoids -oxygen heterocycles popularly known for their insecticidal activity. She joined the staff at UWI, Mona, in 1983 as an assistant lecturer. Since then she has done postdoctoral work (1986) and many collaborative summer research stints with Prof. Michael P. Cava and Dr. M. V. Lakshmikantham at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, USA, and has risen up the ranks to professor at the University of the West Indies. Her research interests are in the areas of synthetic organic chemistry and organic reaction mechanisms. 

BOX 24-A MAPLE SYRUP URINE DISEASE AND JAMAICAN VOMITING SICKNESS... 

Lehnert H, van Soest RWM (1996) North Jamaican Deep Fore-Reef Sponges. Beaufortia 46 53... 

Hu J-F, Peng J, Kazi AB, Kelly M, Hamann MT (2005) Bromopyrrole Alkaloids from the Jamaican Sponge Didiscus oxeata. J Chem Res 427... 

Hu J-F, Schetz JA, Kelly M, Peng J-N, Ang KKH, Flotow H, Leong CY, Ng SB, Buss AD, Wilkins SP, Hamann MT (2002) New Antiinffective and Human 5-HT2 Receptor Binding Natural and Semisynthetic Compounds from the Jamaican Sponge Smenospongia awrea. J Nat Prod 65 476... 

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