Effect of Cu Toxicity on Growth of Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata)

Accurate determination of the rhizotoxicity of Cu in dilute nutrient solutions is hindered by the difficulty of maintaining constant, pre-determined concentrations of Cu (micromolar) in solution. The critical Cu2+ activity associated with a reduction in the growth of solution-grown cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp. cv Caloona) was determined in a system in which Cu was maintained constant through the use of a cation exchange resin. The growth of roots and shoots was found to be reduced at solution Cu2+ activities ≥ 1.7 µM (corresponding to 90 % maximum growth). Although root growth was most likely reduced due to a direct Cu2+ toxicity, it is considered that the shoot growth reduction is attributable to a decrease in tissue concentrations of K, Ca, Mg, and Fe and the formation of interveinal chlorosis. At high Cu2+ activities, roots were brown in color, short and thick, had bent root tips with cracking of the epidermis and outer cortex, and had local swellings behind the roots tips due to a reduction in cell elongation. Root hair growth was reduced at concentrations lower than that which caused a significant reduction in overall root fresh weight.

Matrix elements of U(2n) generators in a multishell spin-orbit basis. I. The del-operator MEs in a two-shell composite Gelfand-Paldus basis

This is the first in a series of three articles which aimed to derive the matrix elements of the U(2n) generators in a multishell spin-orbit basis. This is a basis appropriate to many-electron systems which have a natural partitioning of the orbital space and where also spin-dependent terms are included in the Hamiltonian. The method is based on a new spin-dependent unitary group approach to the many-electron correlation problem due to Gould and Paldus [M. D. Gould and J. Paldus, J. Chem. Phys. 92, 7394, (1990)]. In this approach, the matrix elements of the U(2n) generators in the U(n) x U(2)-adapted electronic Gelfand basis are determined by the matrix elements of a single Ll(n) adjoint tensor operator called the del-operator, denoted by Delta(j)(i) (1 less than or equal to i, j less than or equal to n). Delta or del is a polynomial of degree two in the U(n) matrix E = [E-j(i)]. The approach of Gould and Paldus is based on the transformation properties of the U(2n) generators as an adjoint tensor operator of U(n) x U(2) and application of the Wigner-Eckart theorem. Hence, to generalize this approach, we need to obtain formulas for the complete set of adjoint coupling coefficients for the two-shell composite Gelfand-Paldus basis. The nonzero shift coefficients are uniquely determined and may he evaluated by the methods of Gould et al. [see the above reference]. In this article, we define zero-shift adjoint coupling coefficients for the two-shell composite Gelfand-Paldus basis which are appropriate to the many-electron problem. By definition, these are proportional to the corresponding two-shell del-operator matrix elements, and it is shown that the Racah factorization lemma applies. Formulas for these coefficients are then obtained by application of the Racah factorization lemma. The zero-shift adjoint reduced Wigner coefficients required for this procedure are evaluated first. All these coefficients are needed later for the multishell case, which leads directly to the two-shell del-operator matrix elements. Finally, we discuss an application to charge and spin densities in a two-shell molecular system. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons.

Matrix elements of U(2n) generators in a multishell spin-orbit basis. III. General formulas

This is the third and final article in a series directed toward the evaluation of the U(2n) generator matrix elements (MEs) in a multishell spin/orbit basis. Such a basis is required for many-electron systems possessing a partitioned orbital space and where spin-dependence is important. The approach taken is based on the transformation properties of the U(2n) generators as an adjoint tensor operator of U(n) x U(2) and application of the Wigner-Eckart theorem. A complete set of adjoint coupling coefficients for the two-shell composite Gelfand-Paldus basis (which is appropriate to the many-electron problem) were obtained in the first and second articles of this series. Ln the first article we defined zero-shift coupling coefficients. These are proportional to the corresponding two-shell del-operator matrix elements. See P. J. Burton and and M. D. Gould, J. Chem. Phys., 104, 5112 (1996), for a discussion of the del-operator and its properties. Ln the second article of the series, the nonzero shift coupling coefficients were derived. Having obtained all the necessary coefficients, we now apply the formalism developed above to obtain the U(2n) generator MEs in a multishell spin-orbit basis. The methods used are based on the work of Gould et al. (see the above reference). (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Molecular cloning reveals that the p160 myb-binding protein is a novel, predominantly nucleolar protein which may play a role in transactivation by Myb

We have previously detected two related murine nuclear proteins, p160 and p67, that can bind to the leucine zipper motif within the negative regulatory domain of the Myb transcription factor. We now describe the molecular cloning of cDNA corresponding to murine p160. The P160 gene is located on mouse chromosome 11, and related sequences are found on chromosomes 1 and 12. The predicted p160 protein is novel, and in agreement with previous studies, we find that the corresponding 4.5-kb mRNA is ubiquitously expressed. We showed that p67 is an N-terminal fragment of p160 which is generated by proteolytic cleavage in certain cell types. The protein encoded by the cloned p160 cDNA and an engineered protein (p67*) comprising the amino-terminal region of p160 exhibit binding specificities for the Myb and Jun leucine zipper regions identical to those of endogenous p160 and p67, respectively. This implies that the Myb-binding site of p160 lies within the N-terminal 580 residues and that the Jun-binding site is C-terminal to this position. Moreover, we show that p67* but not p160 can inhibit transactivation by Myb. Unexpectedly, immunofluorescence studies show that p160 is localized predominantly in the nucleolus. The implications of these results for possible functions of p160 are discussed.

Modification of MCM-41 by surface silylation with trimethylchlorosilane and adsorption study

Siliceous MCM-41 samples were modified by silylation using trimethylchlorosilane (TMCS). The surface coverage of functional groups was studied systematically in this work. The role of surface silanol groups during modification was evaluated using techniques of FTIR and Si-29 CP/MAS NMR. Adsorption of water and benzene on samples of various hydrophobicities was measured and compared. It was found that the maximum degree of surface attachments of trimethylsilyl (TMS) groups was about 85%, corresponding to the density of TMS groups of 1.9 per nm(2). The degree of silylation is found to linearly increase with increasing pre-outgassing temperature prior to silylation. A few types of silanol groups exist on MCM-41 surfaces, among which both free and geminal ones are responsible for active silylation. Results of water adsorption show that aluminosilicate MCM-41 materials are more or less hydrophilic, giving a type IV isotherm, similar to that of nitrogen adsorption, whereas siliceous MCM-41 are hydrophobic, exhibiting a type V adsorption isotherm. The fully silylated Si-MCM-41 samples are more hydrophobic giving a type III adsorption isotherm. Benzene adsorption on all MCM-41 samples shows type IV isotherms regardless of the surface chemistry. Capillary condensation occurs at a higher relative pressure for the silylated MCM-41 than that for the unsilylated sample, though the pore diameter was found reduced markedly by silylation. This is thought attributed to the diffusion constriction posed by the attached TMS groups. The results show that the surface chemistry plays an important role in water adsorption, whereas benzene adsorption is predominantly determined by the pore geometry of MCM-41.

On the mechanism of microbial cell disruption in high-pressure homogenisation

The tensions produced in the wall of a rigid, thin-walled, liquid-filled sphere as it moves with an axisymmetric straining flow are examined. This problem has not been previously addressed. A generalised correlation for the maximum wall tension, expressed in dimensionless form as a Weber number (We), is developed in terms of the acceleration number (Ac) and Reynolds number (Re) of the straining flow. At low Reynolds number We is dominated by viscous forces, while inertial forces due to internal pressure gradients caused by sphere acceleration dominate at higher Re. The generalised correlation has been used to examine the case of a typical yeast cell (a thin-walled, liquid-filled sphere) passing through a typical high-pressure homogeniser (a straining-flow device). At 56 MPa homogenising pressure, a 6 mu m yeast cell experiences tensions in the inertially dominated regime (Re = 100). The correlation gives We = 0.206, corresponding to a maximum wall tension of 8 Nm(-1). This is equivalent to an applied compressive force of 150 mu N and compares favourably with the force required to break yeast cells under compressive micromanipulation (40-90 mu N). Inertial forces may therefore be an important and previously unrecognised. mechanism of microbial cell disruption during high-pressure homogenisation. Further work is required to examine the likelihood of cell deformation in the high-strain-rate short-residence-time environment of the homogeniser, and the effect that such deformation may have on the contribution of inertial forces to disruption. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Integrable open-boundary conditions for the q-deformed supersymmetric U model of strongly correlated electrons

A general graded reflection equation algebra is proposed and the corresponding boundary quantum inverse scattering method is formulated. The formalism is applicable to all boundary lattice systems where an invertible R-matrix exists. As an application, the integrable open-boundary conditions for the q-deformed supersymmetric U model of strongly correlated electrons are investigated. The diagonal boundary K-matrices are found and a class of integrable boundary terms are determined. The boundary system is solved by means of the coordinate space Bethe ansatz technique and the Bethe ansatz equations are derived. As a sideline, it is shown that all R-matrices associated with a quantum affine superalgebra enjoy the crossing-unitarity property. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.

A novel method for selection of chymotrypsin inhibitors from a phage peptide library

A novel screening strategy has been developed for the identification of alpha-chymotrypsin inhibitors from a phage peptide library. In this strategy, the standard affinity selection protocol was modified by adding a proteolytic cleavage period to avoid recovery of alpha-chymotrypsin substrates. After four cycles of selection and further activity assay, a group of related peptides were identified by DNA sequencing. These peptides share a consensus sequence motif as (S/T)RVPR(R/H). Then, a corresponding short peptide (Ac-ASRVPRRG-NH2) was synthesized chemically and proved to be an inhibitor of alpha-chymotrypsin. The present work provides a useful way for searching proteinase inhibitors without detailed knowledge of the molecular structure.

Hepatic structure-pharmacokinetic relationships: The hepatic disposition and metabolite kinetics of a homologous series of O-acyl derivatives of salicylic acid

1 The hepatic disposition and metabolite kinetics of a homologous series of O-acyl (acetyl, propionyl, butanoyl, pentanoyl, hexanoyl and octanoyl) esters of salicylic acid (C2SA, C3SA, C4SA, C5SA, C6SA and C8SA, respectively) was determined using a single-pass, in-sills rat liver preparation. 2 The hepatic venous outflow profiles for the parent esters and the generated metabolite, salicylic acid (SA) were analysed by HPLC. Non-parametric moments analysis was used to determine the area under the curve (AUC'), mean transit time (MTT) and normalized variance (CV2) for the parent esters and generated SA. 3 Pregenerated SA ([C-14]-salicylic acid) was injected into each liver with the parent ester to determine its distribution characteristics. 4 The overall recovery of ester plus metabolite was 89% of the ester dose injected and independent of the ester carbon number, suggesting that ester extraction was due to hepatic metabolism to salicylic acid. 5 The metabolite AUC' value increased directly with the lipophilicity of the parent ester (from 0.12 for C2SA to 0.95 for C8SA). By contrast, the parent AUC' decreased with the lipophilicity (from 0.85 for C2SA to zero for C8SA). The metabolite MTT value also showed a trend to increase with the lipophilicity of the parent ester (from 15.72 s for C3SA to 61.97 s for C8SA). However, the parent MTT value shows no significant change across the series. 6 The two-compartment dispersion model was used to derive the kinetic parameters for parent ester, pregenerated SA and generated SA. Consequently, these parameters were used to estimate the values of AUG', MITT and CV2 for the parent ester and metabolite. The moments values obtained using the two-compartment dispersion model show similar trends to the corresponding moments values obtained from the outflow profiles using a non-parametric approach. 7 The more lipophilic aspirin analogues are more confined to the portal circulation after oral administration than aspirin due to their more extensive hepatic elimination avoiding systemic prostacyclin inhibition. Given that aspirin's selectivity as an anti-thrombotic agent has been postulated to be due to selective anti-platelet effects in the portal circulation, the more lipophilic and highly extracted analogues are potentially more selective anti-thrombotic agents than aspirin.

Three-dimensional quantum solitons with parametric coupling

We consider the quantum field theory of two bosonic fields interacting via both parametric (cubic) and quartic couplings. In the case of photonic fields in a nonlinear optical medium, this corresponds to the process of second-harmonic generation (via chi((2)) nonlinearity) modified by the chi((3)) nonlinearity. The quantum solitons or energy eigenstates (bound-state solutions) are obtained exactly in the simplest case of two-particle binding, in one, two, and three space dimensions. We also investigate three-particle binding in one space dimension. The results indicate that the exact quantum solitons of this field theory have a singular, pointlike structure in two and three dimensions-even though the corresponding classical theory is nonsingular. To estimate the physically accessible radii and binding energies of the bound states, we impose a momentum cutoff on the nonlinear couplings. In the case of nonlinear optical interactions, the resulting radii and binding energies of these photonic particlelike excitations in highly nonlinear parametric media appear to be close to physically observable values.

H-ras activation is an early event in the ptaquiloside-induced carcinogenesis: Comparison of acute and chronic toxicity in rats

Bracken fern (Pteridium spp.) produces cancer of the urinary bladder and oesophagus in grazing animals and is a suspected human carcinogen, The carcinogenic principle ptaquiloside (PT), when activated to a dienone (APT), forms DNA adducts which eventually leads to tumor. Two groups of female Sprague-Dawley rats were given a chronic dose of 3 mg APT weekly for 10 weeks either by intravenous (iv) tail vein or by intragastric (ig) route, A third group was given a weekly dose of 6 mg of APT for 3 weeks by the ig route corresponding to acute dosing. Both chronic iv and ig dosed animals showed ischemic tubular necrosis in the kidney but only iv dosed animals developed adenocarcinomas of the mammary glands. Acutely dosed ig animals produced apoptotic bodies in the liver, necrosis of blood cell precursors in the bone marrow and ischemic tubular necrosis in the kidney but they did not develop tumors, No mutations were found in the H-ras and p53 genes in the mammary glands of either the ig rats or the tumor-bearing iv rats. However, the mammary glands of a fourth group of rats, which received APT by iv and killed before tumor development, carried Pu to Pu and Pu to Py double mutations in codons 58 and 59 of H-ras. This study indicates that the route of administration plays a role in the nature of the disease expression from ptaquiloside exposure. In addition to confirming the role of APT in the PT-induced carcinogenesis our finding suggests that activation of H-ras is an early event in the PT-carcinogenesis model. (C) 1998 Academic Press.

Cytotoxicity of pilosulin 1, a peptide from the venom of the jumper ant Myrmecia pilosula

The synthetic peptide pilosulin 1, corresponding to the largest defined allergenic polypeptide found in the venom of the jumper ant Myrmecia pilosula, inhibited the incorporation of [methyl-H-3]thymidine into proliferating Epstein-Barr transformed (EBV) B-cells. The LD50 was four-fold lower in concentration than melittin, a cytotoxic peptide found in honey bee venom. Loss of cell viability was assessed by flow cytometry by measuring the proportion of cells that fluoresced in the presence of the fluorescent dye 7-aminoactinomycin D. Examination of proliferating EBV B-cells indicated that the cells lost viability within a few minutes exposure to pilosulin 1. Partial peptides of pilosulin 1 were less efficient in causing loss of cell viability and the results suggest that the 22 N-terminal residues are critical to the cytotoxic activity of pilosulin 1. Normal blood white cells were also labile to pilosulin I. T- and B-lymphocytes, monocytes and natural killer cells, however, were more labile than granulocytes. Analysis of pilosulin I using circular dichroism indicated that, in common with melittin and other Hymenoptera venom toxins, it had the potential to adopt an cc-helical secondary structure. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V, All rights reserved.

Multidimensional parametric quantum solitons

We consider the parametric quantum field theory involving cubic and quartic couplings of two bosonic fields. This is exactly soluble for the two-particle energy eigenstates (or quantum solitons) in one, two, and three space dimensions. We estimate the binding energies and corresponding radii in the case of photonic fields in nonlinear optical materials, and Bose-Einstein condensates. [S1050-2947(98)51110-9].

The relationship between hetero-oligomer formation and function of the topological specificity domain of the Escherichia coli MinE protein

MinE is an oligomeric protein that, in conjunction with other Min proteins, is required for the proper placement of the cell division site of Escherichia coli. We have examined the self-association properties of MinE by analytical ultracentrifugation and by studies of hetero-oligomer formation in non-denaturing polyacrylamide gets. The self-association properties of purified MinE predict that cytoplasmic MinE is likely to exist as a mixture of monomers and dimers. Consistent with this prediction, the C-terminal MinE(22-88) fragment forms hetero-oligomers with MinE(+) when the proteins are co-expressed. In contrast, the MinE(36-88) fragment does not form MinE(+)/MinE(36-88) hetero-oligomers, although MinE36-88 affects the topological specificity of septum placement as shown by its ability to induce minicell formation when co-expressed with MinE(+) in wild-type cells. Therefore, hetero-oligomer formation is not necessary for the induction of mini-celling by expression of MinE(36-88) in wild-type cells. The interference with normal septal placement is ascribed to competition between MinE(36-88),nd the corresponding domain in the complete MinE protein for a component required for the topological specificity of septal placement.

Suicide and recency of health care contacts - A systematic review

Background Many countries have set targets for suicide reduction, and suggested that mental health care providers and general practitioners have a key role to play. Method Asystematic review of the literature. Results Among those in the general population who commit suicide, up to 41% may have contact with psychiatric inpatient care in the year prior to death and up-to 9% may commit suicide within one day of discharge. The corresponding figures are I I and 4% for community-based psychiatric care and 83 and 20% for general practitioners. Conclusions Among those who die by suicide. contact with health services is common before death. This is a necessary but not sufficient condition for clinicians to intervene. More work is needed to determine whether these people show characteristic patterns of care and/or particular risk factors which would enable a targeted approach to be developed to assist clinicians in detecting and managing high-risk patients.