The outbreak of the second world war greatly stimulated investigations on the preservation and use of stored blood. Numerous groups of workers attacked this problem and rapidly improved methods of preservation and methods for following the survival of red blood cells after transfusion. By the end of the war these studies had advanced to a point where it was evident that further progress in this field could only be achieved through detailed studies of the enzyme systems, especially those of the formed elements, and of the associated chemical and physical chemical changes taking place during preservation of the blood.

Although the existence of the ovary had been well known to ancient physicians, the morphological details of this organ were first described by Regnerus de Graaf (1) in 1673. This Dutch physician described the structures now known as the "Graafian Follicles," which are visible on the ovarian surface during the fertile period of life. It was not until after primitive microscopes became available that the Russian anatomist Von Baer (1) saw and described the ovum, which is on the borderline of unaided visibility. The elucidation of the ovary as an organ of internal secretion must be attributed to Knauer (2) and Halbon (3), who proved that ovarian transplants could renew the sexual cycle of spayed animals.

Metabolism of fatty acids in mammalian tissues has attracted active interest since the early days of biochemistry. Studies of biological oxidation of fatty acids originated with the work of Knoop, who fed 0-phenyl derivatives of several fatty acids to dogs and isolated the breakdown products of these substances. The animals excreted conjugated phenyl-acatic acid if an acid with an even number of carbons in the aliphatic chain was used and conjugated benzoic acid if the acid fed had an odd number of carbon atoms in the aliphatic chain. [...]

The importance and widespread distribution of the 2-amino sugars has gradually been revealed in investigations during the last 70 years. They are now regarded as important components of a broad group of substances, being present in many compounds of diverse biological function, such as heparin, the bacterial polysaccharides, the polysaccharides of connective tissue and the structural polysaccharides which make up the exoskeleton of many invertebrates. The amino sugars do not normally occur in the freestate, but as compounds of substances of varying complexity.

When heated snake venom solution is added to a suspension of respiring rat liver, kidney or brain mitochondria, there is an initial stimulation of the rate of respiration, a rapid release of soluble protein, a progressive appearance of ATPase activity, an uncoupling of oxidation from phosphorylation and a gradual decrease in the optical density of the suspension. It has been shown that the lecithin of these mitochondria is susceptible to the hydrolytic action of the thermostable phospholipase A of heated snake venoms and that lysolecithin is produced. The action of the heated venom and the effect of the lysolecithin which accumulates lead to the changes in mitochondrial structure and function.

There is now good evidence that the Central Nervous System is largely responsible for the direct or indirect regulation of the endocrine glands (1). In the case of the neurohypophysis and the adrenal medulla this control is probably direct, as both these glands are richly innervated. On the other hand the control exerted by the central nervous system over the adenohypophysis and thereby the gonads, thyroid and adrenal cortex is incompletely understood (1), but the evidence points to a neurohumoral type of control (1). From the work of Harris and ethers it appears, that both the hypothalamus and the neurohypophysis are involved in the integration of the activity of the adenohypophysis.

The biochemistry of the steroid hormones continues to engage the efforts of a large number or research workers. Excellent reviews of steroid biochemistry which have appeared in the past few years include those of Lieberman and Teich (1), Roberts and Szego (2) and Samuels (3). The genesis of the adrenocortical secretions has been exhaustively and capably reviewed by Hechter and Pincus (4) and Pincus (5).

In 1915 Twort published his classical paper entitled "An Investigation on the Nature of Ultra-microscopic Viruses". Among the non-pathogenic viruses that he was trying to isolate from various sources was calf vaccinia. Some "glycerinated calf vaccinia" preparations were contaminated with micrococci, and it is to his credit that he noted that the "inoculated agar tubes, after 24 hours at 37°C. often showed watery looking areas, and in cultures that gres micrococci, it was found that some of these colonies could not be subcultured, but if kept, they became glassy and transparent".

17-KS are excreted in the urine as conjugates which must be hydrolyzed prior to chemical estimation of the steroid moiety. The classical method of hydrolysis has been to heat the urine in the presence of strong acid. This treatment splits the conjugates quantitatively, but causes a certain amount of destruction or alteration of the steroids which may lead to mistaken interpretation of the results. While this method may be of some use in the routine clinical determination of total 17-KS, estimation of the individual compounds demands hydrolytic procedures that cause as little artifact formation as possible.

The basic investigations which led to the discovery of the nucleic acids were made by Friedrich Miescher (1), who as a student of Hoppe-Seyler in 1868, became interested in the problem of isolating nuclear components. He was able to prepare nuclei from pus cells obtained from discarded surgical bandages. From this nuclear material he was able to prepare an unusual phosphorous containing compound which he named "nuclein". At that time, the only known natural source of organic phosphorous was lecithin, and so this discovery alone was sufficient to attract attention to the compound.