Mail

"Manna from Hell"1 is the sort of article that I would love to see more of in the future. What makes it so fascinating? The human disease focus for sure, but also the clear portrayal of how a set of anecdotal observations turned into science - often a long and arduous journey, involving contributions from around the world.

John Collins
Technical University
Braunschweig, Germany
tojohncollins@t-online.de

Whenever I see the word Aristolochia, it brings back memories.I worked on the extraction/purification/bioassays of aristolochic acid from 1978-1982 in Northern India. In our insect studies we found that AA, when fed to adult house flies, causes sterility in males due to chromosomal abnormalities. Insects were able to form sperm and fertilize the eggs, but the larvae died just before the opening of chorion.2 In female insects, AA caused reduced fecundity (lower number of eggs laid) but otherwise normal flies.3

Ajay Sharma National Institute of Child ...