While moving through their environment, medicinal leeches stop periodically and wave their head or body back and forth. This activity has been previously described as two separate behaviors: one called 'head movement' and another called 'body waving'. Here, we report that these behaviors exist on a continuum, and provide a detailed description of what we now call 'scanning'. Scanning-related be...

Amiloride-sensitive Na+ absorption is a well-described feature of numerous transporting epithelia in vertebrates. Yet, very little is known about this important physiological process regarding invertebrates. In the present paper, we compare vertebrate Na+ absorption mediated by the amiloride-sensitive epithelial Na+ channel (ENaC) and its invertebrate counterpart. We used the dorsal skin of the...

408e Although blood letting and the use of leeches dates back to pharaonic Egypt,1 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration only approved the use of Hirudo medicinalis as a medical device in 2004.2 Leeches are used by plastic,3–7 maxillofacial,8–10 and other surgeons11,12 to aid salvage of venously congested pedicled flaps,13,14 freetissue transfers,3,15–17 replanted digits,6,18–25 ears,26–32 lips...