Preparation, properties and metabolism of retinoic acid anhydride.

A new analogue of vitamin A, viz., retinoic acid anhydride was prepared, for the first time, by the action of thionyl chloride on retinoic acid in benzene containing pyridine. The amhydride was charcterised by its chromatographic properties, elemental analysis, ultraviolet absorption, infrared and nuclear magnetic resonance spectral characteristics. The compound could be readily hydrolysed to retinoic acid both by acid and alkali treatments and reduced by lithium aluminium hydride to vitamin A alcohol (retinol). The spectral changes with antimony trichloride reagent were similar to those observed for retinoic acid. The metabolism of retinoic acid anhydride was found to be similar to that of retinoic acic. When administered either orally or intraperitoneally, the compound promotes growth in vitamin A-deficient rats. Time-course experiments revealed that retinoic acid anhydride is converted into retinoic acid by non-enzymatic hydrolysis and thereby exerts its biological activity. The biopotency of the anhydride was found to be nearly the same as that of the acid. A new method of preparing esters of retinoic acid employing retinoic acid anhydride as an intermediate, has been described.

Preparation and Characterization of Glycolipid-Bearing Multilamellar and Unilamellar Liposomes

The carbohydrate residues of glycosphingolipids were implicated in many biologic processes such as cell-to-cell interactions; and as receptors for some viruses, bacterial and plant toxins, hormones, and so forth, and invariably for all the lectins (1). However, their receptor functions remained poorly defined for a long time as they form micelles even at very low concentrations in aqueous medium. In micelles, the oligosaccharide chains are not expected to have a well defined orientation suitable for recognition by macromolecular ligands. This problem was overcome by incorporating them in model membranes, namely, the liposomes. The demonstration of lectin-glycolipid interaction using liposomal model membranes was a crucial development that established glycolipids as biological receptors. Moreover, glycolipid-bearing liposomes provide a convenient system for investigating the role of glycolipid density, orientation, and exposure of their oligosaccharide chains at the membrane interface relevant to their receptor function (2–4).

Voluntary Control of Multisaccade Gaze Shifts During Movement Preparation and Execution

Ramakrishnan A, Chokhandre S, Murthy A. Voluntary control of multisaccade gaze shifts during movement preparation and execution. J Neurophysiol 103: 2400-2416, 2010. First published February 17, 2010; doi: 10.1152/jn.00843.2009. Although the nature of gaze control regulating single saccades is relatively well documented, how such control is implemented to regulate multisaccade gaze shifts is not known. We used highly eccentric targets to elicit multisaccade gaze shifts and tested the ability of subjects to control the saccade sequence by presenting a second target on random trials. Their response allowed us to test the nature of control at many levels: before, during, and between saccades. Although the saccade sequence could be inhibited before it began, we observed clear signs of truncation of the first saccade, which confirmed that it could be inhibited in midflight as well. Using a race model that explains the control of single saccades, we estimated that it took about 100 ms to inhibit a planned saccade but took about 150 ms to inhibit a saccade during its execution. Although the time taken to inhibit was different, the high subject-wise correlation suggests a unitary inhibitory control acting at different levels in the oculomotor system. We also frequently observed responses that consisted of hypometric initial saccades, followed by secondary saccades to the initial target. Given the estimates of the inhibitory process provided by the model that also took into account the variances of the processes as well, the secondary saccades (average latency similar to 215 ms) should have been inhibited. Failure to inhibit the secondary saccade suggests that the intersaccadic interval in a multisaccade response is a ballistic stage. Collectively, these data indicate that the oculomotor system can control a response until a very late stage in its execution. However, if the response consists of multiple movements then the preparation of the second movement becomes refractory to new visual input, either because it is part of a preprogrammed sequence or as a consequence of being a corrective response to a motor error.

A Novel Synthetic Route For The Preparation Of Ammonium And Alkali-Metal Tetrafluoroborates And Alkyl Substituted Ammonium Tetrafluoroborates Using Pyridinium Tetrafluoroborate As The Precursor

Ammonium and alkali metal tetrafluoroborates have been prepared by the cation exchange reaction of pyridinium tetrafluoroborate with the corresponding hydroxides/halides. The reaction of pyridinium tetrafluoroborate with primary, secondary and tertiary alkyl amines at room temperature gives rise to mono-, di- and tri-alkylammonium tetrafluoroborates, respectively. The yields are good and the samples are of high purity. The products have been characterised by elemental analysis, IR and PMR spectroscopy. The spectral data for most of the compounds are reported for the first time.

Preparation of ultrafine CsCl crystallites by combined cryogenic and room temperature ball milling

The present investigation reports the preparation and microstructural characterization of ultrafine CsCl crystallites using combined cryogenic and room temperature (RT) mechanical milling. The milling has been performed in evacuated WC vials under high purity argon atmosphere. The low temperature milling has been utilized as an effective means of rapid fracturing of the CsCl crystallites. This was followed by RT milling for different time durations. The final crystallite size obtained is 10 +/- 6 nm for sample cryo-milled for 11 h and subsequently RT milled for 35 h. The experimental findings indicate the strong effect of duration of cryo-milling on the final size of the crystallites. The prolonged room temperature milling leads to increase of the crystallite size due to deformation-induced sintering. The results have been discussed in the light of currently available literature. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.

Mutual inhibition and capacity sharing during parallel preparation of serial eye movements

Many common activities, like reading, scanning scenes, or searching for an inconspicuous item in a cluttered environment, entail serial movements of the eyes that shift the gaze from one object to another. Previous studies have shown that the primate brain is capable of programming sequential saccadic eye movements in parallel. Given that the onset of saccades directed to a target are unpredictable in individual trials, what prevents a saccade during parallel programming from being executed in the direction of the second target before execution of another saccade in the direction of the first target remains unclear. Using a computational model, here we demonstrate that sequential saccades inhibit each other and share the brain's limited processing resources (capacity) so that the planning of a saccade in the direction of the first target always finishes first. In this framework, the latency of a saccade increases linearly with the fraction of capacity allocated to the other saccade in the sequence, and exponentially with the duration of capacity sharing. Our study establishes a link between the dual-task paradigm and the ramp-to-threshold model of response time to identify a physiologically viable mechanism that preserves the serial order of saccades without compromising the speed of performance.