The fate of intraperitoneally inoculated infective third-stage larvae (L,) of the nematode Brugia malayi Lichtenstein and the status of the peritoneal macrophage function were investigated in the susceptible rodent hosts Mastomys natalensis Roberts and Meriones unguiculatus Milne-Edwards (jird). Jirds and M. natalensis were inoculated intraperitoneally with 125 and 250 L, and the worm burden and peritoneal macrophage function in the two species were compared at different days post-in-oculation (DPI). None of the infected M. natalensis had adult worms in the peritoneal cavity; very few degenerating L, surrounded by peritoneal cells were recovered 7 and 15 DPI. In contrast, all the infected jirds showed the parasite in different stages of development and the worm burden at different days PI was more in 250 L, dose group than in 125 L3 dose group. The phagocytic function of peritoneal macrophages of normal M. natalensis was twice higher than that of jirds. This function was found significantly suppressed in both host species at 15 DPI; at 35 DPI, the activity was still at this low level in the jird, while that in M. natalensis reverted to uninfected age- and sex-matched control levels. These findings demonstrate that the peritoneal environment of M. natalensis is not conducive to the development of B. malayi and this is probably related to high macrophage activity in the peritoneum of this host compared to that found in the jird.
This article asks why it is so difficult to find a place for Raymond Aron among sociologists, even though he is consensually regarded as one of the most important contributors to the development of political sociology and to the analysis of the democratic political regjmes of his day. The author examines the foundations of Aron's 'political sociology' in terms of (a) Aron's intellectual development and (b) the French intellectual scene from the 1940s to the 1980s (including the conflict with Sartre and Merleau-Ponty over Soviet totalitarianism). Also discussed are Aron's intellectual roots in the French philosophical tradition (Montesquieu and Tocqueville), his analysis of German thought in the late 1930s (especially the influence of Max Weber), and the fundamentals of his philosophy of history. In the second part the author looks at Aron's critical analyses of totalitarianism and contrasts the specifics of his approach with some frequent themes in the theories of totalitarianism, namely the so-called uneven distribution of fear and 'hidden' (illegal and illegitimate) exclusion. In conclusion the author interprets Aron's 'pessimist dialectics' (disenchantment with the idea of progress) as a vital stimulus for the study of social and political issues today.