Localization of a human system for sustained attention by positron emission tomography

Positron emission tomographic (PET) studies of human attention have begun to dissect isolable components of this complex higher brain function, including a midline attentional system in a region of the anterior cingulate cortex. The right hemisphere may play a special part in human attention; neglect, an important phenomenon associated with damage to attentional systems, is more severe, extensive and long-lasting after lesions to the right hemisphere. Here we use PET measurements of brain blood flow in healthy subjects to identify changes in regional brain activity during simple visual and somatosensory tasks of sustained attention or vigilance. We find localized increases in blood flow in the prefrontal and superior parietal cortex primarily in the right hemisphere, regardless of the modality or laterality of sensory input. The anterior cingulate was not activated during either task. These data localize the vigilance aspects of normal human attention to sensory stimuli, thereby clarifying the biology underlying asymmetries of attention to such stimuli that have been reported in clinical lesions.     

The free amino acid pools of two aquatic hyphomycetes

Résumé Les masses communes des amino-acides libres chezTetracladium setigerum etHeliscus submersus ont été analysées par des méthodes chromatographiques utilisant une couche mince de cellulose. Elles sont typiques pour la plupart des mycètes. Les amino-acides libres n'apparaissant que rarement ont été: l'hydroxyproline chezT. setigerum cultivé sur de l'acide glutamique, l'éthanolamine chezT. setigerum etH. submersus cultivé sur l'acide glutamique et enfin l'acide -aminobutyrique chezH. submersus avec comme nutrition la tyrosine.     

Thermal polymerization of amino acids and a theory of biochemical origins

Zusammenfassung Bei überschuss von Glutamins?ure und Asparagins?ure werden zahlreiche Aminos?uren thermisch kopolymerisiert. Das Studium der Reaktionen und Nebenreaktionen führt zu einer Theorie über den thermischen Ursprung biochemischer Systeme.

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Presented at a symposium on Biochemical Origins at the 133^rd meeting of the American Chemical Society, San Francisco, April 17 1958. The research has been aided by Grant C-3971 of the National Institutes of Health, U. S. Public Health Service, Grant G-4566 of the National Science Foundation, and by the General Foods Corporation. Contribution No. 109 of the Oceanographic Institute of The Florida State University.     

A novel explosive process is required for the gamma-ray burst GRB 060614

Over the past decade, our physical understanding of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) has progressed rapidly, thanks to the discovery and observation of their long-lived afterglow emission. Long-duration (> 2 s) GRBs are associated with the explosive deaths of massive stars ('collapsars', ref. 1), which produce accompanying supernovae; the short-duration (< or = 2 s) GRBs have a different origin, which has been argued to be the merger of two compact objects. Here we report optical observations of GRB 060614 (duration approximately 100 s, ref. 10) that rule out the presence of an associated supernova. This would seem to require a new explosive process: either a massive collapsar that powers a GRB without any associated supernova, or a new type of 'engine', as long-lived as the collapsar but without a massive star. We also show that the properties of the host galaxy (redshift z = 0.125) distinguish it from other long-duration GRB hosts and suggest that an entirely new type of GRB progenitor may be required.     

Olfaction: mosquito receptor for human-sweat odorant

Female Anopheles mosquitoes, the world's most important vector of Plasmodium falciparum malaria, locate their human hosts primarily through olfactory cues, but the molecular mechanisms that underlie this recognition are a mystery. Here we show that the Anopheles gambiae protein AgOr1, a female-specific member of a family of putative odorant receptors, responds to a component of human sweat. Compounds designed to activate or block receptors of this type could function as attractants for trapping mosquitoes or as insect repellents in helping to control Anopheles and other insect pests.