An unexpectedly rapid decline in the X-ray afterglow emission of long gamma-ray bursts

'Long' gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are commonly accepted to originate in the explosion of particularly massive stars, which give rise to highly relativistic jets. Inhomogeneities in the expanding flow result in internal shock waves that are believed to produce the gamma-rays we see. As the jet travels further outward into the surrounding circumstellar medium, 'external' shocks create the afterglow emission seen in the X-ray, optical and radio bands. Here we report observations of the early phases of the X-ray emission of five GRBs. Their X-ray light curves are characterised by a surprisingly rapid fall-off for the first few hundred seconds, followed by a less rapid decline lasting several hours. This steep decline, together with detailed spectral properties of two particular bursts, shows that violent shock interactions take place in the early jet outflows.     

LMNA, encoding lamin A/C, is mutated in partial lipodystrophy

The lipodystrophies are a group of disorders characterized by the absence or reduction of subcutaneous adipose tissue. Partial lipodystrophy (PLD; MIM 151660) is an inherited condition in which a regional (trunk and limbs) loss of fat occurs during the peri-pubertal phase. Additionally, variable degrees of resistance to insulin action, together with a hyperlipidaemic state, may occur and simulate the metabolic features commonly associated with predisposition to atherosclerotic disease. The PLD locus has been mapped to chromosome 1q with no evidence of genetic heterogeneity. We, and others, have refined the location to a 5.3-cM interval between markers D1S305 and D1S1600 (refs 5, 6). Through a positional cloning approach we have identified five different missense mutations in LMNA among ten kindreds and three individuals with PLD. The protein product of LMNA is lamin A/C, which is a component of the nuclear envelope. Heterozygous mutations in LMNA have recently been identified in kindreds with the variant form of muscular dystrophy (MD) known as autosomal dominant Emery-Dreifuss MD (EDMD-AD; ref. 7) and dilated cardiomyopathy and conduction-system disease (CMD1A). As LMNA is ubiquitously expressed, the finding of site-specific amino acid substitutions in PLD, EDMD-AD and CMD1A reveals distinct functional domains of the lamin A/C protein required for the maintenance and integrity of different cell types.     

Hydrolysis of riboflavin by plants

Résumé Il a été prouvé que l'hydrolyse de la riboflavine à l'aide d'une enzyme se produit dans les extraits de plantes appartenant aux familles desLiliacées, Amaryllidacées etCannas (ou Balisier).On a trouvé le lumichrome et le ribitole parmi les produits de l'hydrolyse. La réaction est stchiométrique, les conditions favorisant une activité optimale sont les suivantes: pH 7.4, température 37°, quantités catalytiques de glutathione reduit.     

Aldolase and dehydrogenase activities inSpirillum bengal

Summary Spirillum bengal is unable to grow on sugars, but can utilize different organic acids as carbon sources. Dehydrogenase activities were tested with different substrates and were found highest with lactate, glutamate, acetate, succinate and malate. A low aldolase activity was also detectable.     

Evidences of cytological basis of differentiation

Zusammenfassung Bei verschiedenen Pflanzenarten werden die Variationen der Chromosomenzahlen im Vegetationspunkt des Stammes untersucht. Für Blattzellen ist eine konstante Zahl charakteristisch. Die Resultate weisen darauf hin, dass in der Wachstumsspitze spezifische Chromosomenzahlen in die einzelnen Organe übergehen und so die Differenzierung gesteuert wird. Die normale2n-Zahl kommt in den meisten Zellen vor.     

Phosphomonoesterases in the 2 sexes of the root-knot nematode,Meloidogyne lucknowica Singh, 1969

Summary The 2 phosphomonoesterases of the root-knot nematode were colorimetrically determined. Alkaline phosphatase activity was observed to be lower than the acid phosphatase activity. Sex related trends were clearly seen in the enzyme levels of the 2 sexes of thenematode. Alkaline phosphatase level differed 28.76%, while acid phosphatase level differed 60.36% in the 2 sexes.The authors are grateful to the Council of Science and Technology U.P. for the grant of a Research Scheme for these studies.     

Reflection signature of seismic and aseismic slip on the northern Cascadia subduction interface

At the northern Cascadia margin, the Juan de Fuca plate is underthrusting North America at about 45 mm x yr(-1) (ref. 1), resulting in the potential for destructive great earthquakes. The downdip extent of coupling between the two plates is difficult to determine because the most recent such earthquake (thought to have been in 1700) occurred before instrumental recording. Thermal and deformation studies indicate that, off southern Vancouver Island, the interplate interface is presently fully locked for a distance of approximately 60 km downdip from the deformation front. Great thrust earthquakes on this section of the interface (with magnitudes of up to 9) have been estimated to occur at an average interval of about 590 yr (ref. 3). Further downdip there is a transition from fully locked behaviour to aseismic sliding (where high temperatures allow ductile deformation), with the deep aseismic zone exhibiting slow-slip thrust events. Here we show that there is a change in the reflection character on seismic images from a thin sharp reflection where the subduction thrust is inferred to be locked, to a broad reflection band at greater depth where aseismic slip is thought to be occurring. This change in reflection character may provide a new technique to map the landward extent of rupture in great earthquakes and improve the characterization of seismic hazards in subduction zones.     

Hyper-tetraploids in pea

Summary Cytomorphologically, five hypertetraploids; three hexasomic (4n+2=30), one double pentasomic (4n+1+1=30) and one multiple aneuploid tetraploid (4n+2+1+1+1=33), where isolated in the C₃ generation of pea autotetraploids. Plants with 30 chromosomes were morphologically very distinct from their euploids and characterized by variation in plant height and morphology of leaves. Hexasomic and double pentasomic tetraploids were characterized by the presence of a hexavalent and two pentavalents, respectively. The multiple aneuploid tetraploid showed very vigorous growth and varying frequencies of hexavalents and pentavalents. All the five aneuploids showed high Anaphase-I anomalies; pollen sterility ranged from 50% to 81%.Financial assistance of C.S.I.R., New Delhi, India is acknowledged.