The basicity and steric configuration of the diterpene alkaloids veatchine and atisine

Zusammenfassung Die Basizität und das verschiedene chemische Verhalten der Isomerenpaare Veatchin-Garryin und Atisin-Isoatisin werden mit der sterischen Konfiguration dieser Verbindungen in Zusammenhang gebracht.     

The intercalated disc of the goldfish heart

Résumé L'examen au microscope électronique de coupes minces du cur de cyprin doré révèle la présence de disques intercalaires de forme soit simple, soit complexe, semblables aux disques des vertébrés supérieurs. De plus, les barres intercellulaires sont présentes. La structure et les rapports des disques et des barres avec la bande Z de la myofibrille suggèrent leur proche similarité.

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This study was aided by a grant from the National Heart Institute, of the National Institutes of Health, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; Bethesda, Maryland.     

Lung cancer: intragenic ERBB2 kinase mutations in tumours

The protein-kinase family is the most frequently mutated gene family found in human cancer and faulty kinase enzymes are being investigated as promising targets for the design of antitumour therapies. We have sequenced the gene encoding the transmembrane protein tyrosine kinase ERBB2 (also known as HER2 or Neu) from 120 primary lung tumours and identified 4% that have mutations within the kinase domain; in the adenocarcinoma subtype of lung cancer, 10% of cases had mutations. ERBB2 inhibitors, which have so far proved to be ineffective in treating lung cancer, should now be clinically re-evaluated in the specific subset of patients with lung cancer whose tumours carry ERBB2 mutations.     

Interaction of sea water and lava during submarine eruptions at mid-ocean ridges

Lava erupts into cold sea water on the ocean floor at mid-ocean ridges (at depths of 2,500 m and greater), and the resulting flows make up the upper part of the global oceanic crust. Interactions between heated sea water and molten basaltic lava could exert significant control on the dynamics of lava flows and on their chemistry. But it has been thought that heating sea water at pressures of several hundred bars cannot produce significant amounts of vapour and that a thick crust of chilled glass on the exterior of lava flows minimizes the interaction of lava with sea water. Here we present evidence to the contrary, and show that bubbles of vaporized sea water often rise through the base of lava flows and collect beneath the chilled upper crust. These bubbles of steam at magmatic temperatures may interact both chemically and physically with flowing lava, which could influence our understanding of deep-sea volcanic processes and oceanic crustal construction more generally. We infer that vapour formation plays an important role in creating the collapse features that characterize much of the upper oceanic crust and may accordingly contribute to the measured low seismic velocities in this layer.     

Screening a large reference sample to identify very low frequency sequence variants: comparisons between two genes

Most human sequence variation is in the form of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). It has been proposed that coding-region SNPs (cSNPs) be used for direct association studies to determine the genetic basis of complex traits. The success of such studies depends on the frequency of disease-associated alleles, and their distribution in different ethnic populations. If disease-associated alleles are frequent in most populations, then direct genotyping of candidate variants could show robust associations in manageable study samples. This approach is less feasible if the genetic risk from a given candidate gene is due to many infrequent alleles. Previous studies of several genes demonstrated that most variants are relatively infrequent (<0.05). These surveys genotyped small samples (n<75) and thus had limited ability to identify rare alleles. Here we evaluate the prevalence and distribution of such rare alleles by genotyping an ethnically diverse reference sample that is more than six times larger than those used in previous studies (n=450). We screened for variants in the complete coding sequence and intron-exon junctions of two candidate genes for neuropsychiatric phenotypes: SLC6A4, encoding the serotonin transporter; and SLC18A2, encoding the vesicular monoamine transporter. Both genes have unique roles in neuronal transmission, and variants in either gene might be associated with neurobehavioral phenotypes.     

The comparative metabolism of ethylene dimethanesulphonate and ethylene dibromide

Zusammenfassung Äthylenglykol-dimethansulfonat (EDS) wird von der Ratte zu N-Acetyl-S-(-hydroxyäthyl)-cystein (V), N-Acetyl-S-(-hydroxyäthyl)-cystein-S-oxyd (VI), und Methansulfonsäure abgebaut. Äthylendibromid (EDB) gibt ausser V und VI, S-(-Hydroxyäthyl)-cystein (III) und wird weiter zu Kohlendioxyd und anorganischem Sulphat via S-(-Hydroxyäthyl)-cystein-S-oxyd (IV) abgebaut. Keine der erwähnten Stoffwechselprodukte sind gegen Tumoren oder gegen Spermatogenese wirksam.

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This work was supported by grants from the Ford Foundation and the Wellcome Trust (A. R. J.) and the British Empire Cancer Campaign for Research (K. E.).     

Dedekinds „Bunte Bemerkungen“ zu Kroneckers „Grundzüge“

Ohne Zusammenfassung Vorgelegt von M. Kline The work of H. Edwards was supported by part by the U. S. National Science Foundation Grant SOC-7905162 and by the Vaughn Foundation.