Comparative wood anatomy of eight tree species of Mimosa sect. Batocaulon (Leguminosae) distributed in Mexico and their taxonomic implications

The great diversity of the genus Mimosa and the difficulty in the circumscription of its species and varieties based on morphology have encouraged the search for characters in other sources of evidence such as wood anatomy, which provides characters of taxonomic importance. The main objective of this study was to identify characters with taxonomic value for Mimosa; we studied the wood anatomy of eight tree species in Mimosa sect. Batocaulon from Mexico: Mimosa acantholoba, M. bahamensis, M. benthamii, M. hexandra, M. leucaenoides, M. tejupilcana, M. tenuiflora, and M. texana belonging to eight series: Acantholobae, Bahamenses, Distachyae, Bimucronatae, Leucaenoideae, Plurijugae, Leiocarpae and Boreales, respectively. One stem fragment (80 cm in length) was collected at 80 cm above soil height, from three plants per species. Twenty-five measurements were taken per individual for 15 anatomical characters. Three species have ring-porous wood and five species have diffuse-porous wood; the species differ in colour, figure, in the prevalence of a certain type of axial parenchyma, in the tangential diameter of the earlywood vessels, in the number of vessels connected by confluent-aliform parenchyma, in the number of series of rays and in the presence or absence of crystal sand in the ray cells. These characters have taxonomic value at species level, but not at series level. At the section level, the presence of homocellular rays distinguished Batocaulon from other sections of the genus. Based on these results, we produced a wood anatomical identification key to the eight studied species.

EDITORIAL

When Mark Newman took on the role of editor-in-chief of the Edinburgh Journal of Botany at the beginning of 2014, he stated clearly that it would be for a fixed term of three years. Now that his tenure has come to an end, I find myself in the enviable position of taking on responsibility for a thriving journal that has made the transition to early online publication (FirstView) under his management, has introduced colour figure printing free of charge to authors, and now has an outstanding average lead time from manuscript submission to publication. We owe Mark a debt of gratitude for both his exceptionally deft handling of the editorial process and his development of ‘EJB’ into a fully fledged international e-journal.

Quantitation of Monoclonal Plasma Cells in Bone Marrow Biopsies in Plasma Cell Dyscrasia

Direct measurement of monoclonal plasma cell mass in bone marrow biopsies may be a useful parameter to establish in plasma cell dyscrasia. In this study monoclonal plasma cells/mm2in light chain immunoglobulin immunostained archival bone marrow sections from 22 patients in whom a diagnosis of multiple myeloma (MM) had been excluded but who had monoclonal proteins were counted by two observers at light microscopic level. There was good correlation between the counts of the two observers. The levels of monoclonal plasma cells/mm2in biopsies were not related to the % counts in the aspirates taken at the same time as the biopsies. Three of seven patients with biopsy levels in excess of the polyclonal levels in patients without plasma cell dyscrasia developed progressive MM within the observation time. Monoclonal plasma cell levels/mm2of bone marrow biopsies can be measured and they provide a useful parameter for the assessment of patients with low volume plasma cell dyscrasia. Colour figure can be viewed onhttp://www.esacp.org/acp/2003/25‐4/markey.htm.

Gain in 1q is a Common Abnormality in Phyllodes Tumours of the Breast

We studied DNA copy number changes by CGH and allelic imbalance (AI) on 3p by LOH analysis on 22 phyllodes tumours (PT) of the breast in order to gain insight into the genetic basis of tumour progression in PT. Copy number changes were observed in 14 cases (63%). Gain in 1q with 1q21–23 as the minimal overlapping area was seen in 12 cases (55%). The gain was observed both in benign and malignant tumours. Our study did not reveal any DNA copy number changes or allelic loss on 3p. The results suggest that DNA copy number changes are not associated with the histological grade or clinical behaviour of PT and the chromosomal changes on 3p appear to be rare. Colour figure can be viewed onhttp://www.esacp.org/acp/2003/25‐2/jee.htm.