Trying times for human insulin.

The introduction of human insulin to treat diabetics seemed straightforward. What can account for the problems that have followed?     

Effects of vitamin B12 on plasma melatonin rhythm in humans: increased light sensitivity phase-advances the circadian clock?

Vitamin B12 (methylcobalamin) was administered orally (3 mg/day) to 9 healthy subjects for 4 weeks. Nocturnal melatonin levels after exposure to bright light (ca. 2500 lx) were determined, as well as the levels of plasma melatonin over 24 h. The timing of sleep was also recorded. Vitamin B12 was given blind to the subjects and crossed over with placebo. We found that the 24-h melatonin rhythm was significantly phase-advanced (1.1 h) in the vitamin B12 trial as compared with that in the placebo trial. In addition, the 24-h mean of plasma melatonin level was much lower in the vitamin B12 trial than with the placebo. Furthermore, the nocturnal melatonin levels during bright light exposure were significantly lower in the vitamin B12 trial than with the placebo. On the other hand, vitamin B12 did not affect the timing of sleep. These findings raise the possibility that vitamin B12 phase-advances the human circadian rhythm by increasing the light sensitivity of the circadian clock.     

Retrograde transport of endocytosed Shiga toxin to the endoplasmic reticulum.

Shiga toxin and some other protein toxins that act on targets in the cytosol have previously been shown to enter the trans-Golgi network. Transport by this route may be necessary for translocation of the toxin to the cytosol and for intoxication, but it is not known whether the enzymatically active part of the toxins actually enters the cytosol from the trans-Golgi network. It has been suggested that such toxins are transported in a retrograde manner to the endoplasmic reticulum and that translocation occurs in this organelle, but retrograde transport of endocytosed material beyond the trans-Golgi network has never been demonstrated. Here we show that in butyric acid-treated A431 cells endocytosed Shiga toxin is not only transported to the trans-Golgi network, but also to all Golgi stacks, to the endoplasmic reticulum and to the nuclear envelope. Furthermore, butyric acid sensitizes the cells to Shiga toxin, which is consistent with the possibility that retrograde transport is required for translocation of the toxin to the cytosol.     

The harmonic decomposition reconstruction for the exponential radon transform

The exponential Radon transform, a generalization of the Radon transform, is defined and studied as a mapping of function spaces. It is represented in terms of Fourier transform of its domain and range, and this leads to the harmonic decomposition reconstruction. The results are similar results of Tretiak and Metz. Foundation item: Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 19971064), Key Project of Science and Technology of Hubei Province Education Committee. Biography: Wang Jin-ping (1963-), male, Ph.D. candidate, research direction: numberical solution of singular integral equation and integral transformation etc.     

Resource Search in Unstructured Peer-to-Peer System Based on Multiple-Tree Overlay Structure

We propose a multiple-tree overlay structure for resource discovery in unstructured P2P systems. Peers that have similar interests or hold similar type of resources will be grouped into a tree-like cluster. We exploit the heterogeneity of peers in each cluster by connecting peers with more capacities closer to the root of the tree. The capacity of a peer can be defined in different ways （e.g. higher network bandwidth, larger disk space, more data items of a certain type etc.） according to different needs of users or applications.     

On the verge of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Umdeutung</Emphasis> in Minnesota: Van Vleck and the correspondence principle. Part one

In October 1924, The Physical Review, a relatively minor journal at the time, published a remarkable two-part paper by John H. Van Vleck, working in virtual isolation at the University of Minnesota. Using Bohr’s correspondence principle and Einstein’s quantum theory of radiation along with advanced techniques from classical mechanics, Van Vleck showed that quantum formulae for emission, absorption, and dispersion of radiation merge with their classical counterparts in the limit of high quantum numbers. For modern readers Van Vleck’s paper is much easier to follow than the famous paper by Kramers and Heisenberg on dispersion theory, which covers similar terrain and is widely credited to have led directly to Heisenberg’s Umdeutung paper. This makes Van Vleck’s paper extremely valuable for the reconstruction of the genesis of matrix mechanics. It also makes it tempting to ask why Van Vleck did not take the next step and develop matrix mechanics himself. This paper was written as part of a joint project in the history of quantum physics of the Max Planck Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte and the Fritz-Haber-Institut in Berlin.