X-ray diffraction of the collagen contained in blood vessels]

An X-ray diffraction study has been undertaken on Human and Rabbit blood-vessels. Vessels are stretched 500% and the diagrams present a great analogy with those obtained from collagen. Thus, it appears, that it is possible to determine by X-Rays some pathological anomalies of the collagen in vessels.     

The effect of object distance on pattern preferences in the walking fly,Drosophila melanogaster

Zusammenfassung Fliegen bevorzugen sehwinkelkonstante Vertikal- gegenüber Horizontalstreifen bei grossen, nicht dagegen bei kleinen Musterentfernungen. Diese entfernungsabhängige Vertikalstreifenpräferenz wird als Folge eines Mechanismus zur optischen Kurskontrolle verstanden, der von Art und Geschwindigkeit der retinalen Bildverschiebung abhängt.

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Financial support of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the Schweizerischer Nationalfonds is gratefully acknowledged.     

Die Wirkung des Toluidinblaus und der Thrombokinase auf den Vorgang der Thrombininaktivierung

Summary The disappearance of thrombin—formed in the blood, or added to serum-follows a manomolecular reaction-type. Heparin increases the reaction-velocity of this thrombin-inactivating process.Our investigation established that toluidine blue or kinase, which, according to the literature, bind heparin, strongly reduce the speed of thrombin-inactivation too. Therefore the heparin-binding capacity of these substances is also manifested in the decrease of thrombin-inactivation.     

The role of crustecdysone in the moulting crayfish

Résumé La crustecdysone injectée dans l'écrevisse,Procambarus sinulans ne cause pas la mue chez l'animal intact mais l'accélère après ablation des pédoncules oculaires.     

Side-chain hydroxylation in the biosynthesis of β-ecdysone (20-hydroxyecdysone) in the blowflyCalliphora stygia

Résumé Dans la mouche a viandeCalliphora stygia le 25-hydroxycholesterol et le (22R)-22-hydroxycholesterol sont incorporés a la -ecdysone (20-hydroxy-ecdysone) beaucoup moins qu'au cholesterol et ne sont donc probablement pas des précurseurs de cette hormone.     

Plant growth inhibitory lactones fromPodocarpus neriifolius: Structure of podolactone E

Résumé Le Podolactone E, qui a la structure (4), empêche très activement la croissance des cellules végétales. C'est le plus actif des podolactones isolés jusqu'à présent.     

Localized mutations in the gene encoding the cytoskeletal protein filamin A cause diverse malformations in humans

Remodeling of the cytoskeleton is central to the modulation of cell shape and migration. Filamin A, encoded by the gene FLNA, is a widely expressed protein that regulates re-organization of the actin cytoskeleton by interacting with integrins, transmembrane receptor complexes and second messengers. We identified localized mutations in FLNA that conserve the reading frame and lead to a broad range of congenital malformations, affecting craniofacial structures, skeleton, brain, viscera and urogenital tract, in four X-linked human disorders: otopalatodigital syndrome types 1 (OPD1; OMIM 311300) and 2 (OPD2; OMIM 304120), frontometaphyseal dysplasia (FMD; OMIM 305620) and Melnick-Needles syndrome (MNS; OMIM 309350). Several mutations are recurrent, and all are clustered into four regions of the gene: the actin-binding domain and rod domain repeats 3, 10 and 14/15. Our findings contrast with previous observations that loss of function of FLNA is embryonic lethal in males but manifests in females as a localized neuronal migration disorder, called periventricular nodular heterotopia (PVNH; refs. 3-6). The patterns of mutation, X-chromosome inactivation and phenotypic manifestations in the newly described mutations indicate that they have gain-of-function effects, implicating filamin A in signaling pathways that mediate organogenesis in multiple systems during embryonic development.