Oil shocks: How can OECD countries manage them best?

As the 1990-91 Gulf crisis has emphasized, the risk of new oil shocks remains high in the medium to long run. Although energy intensity has decreased in the major countries since the first two oil shocks, the simulation performed with the MIMOSA world model, which is described in this paper, shows that a permanent rise in oil prices still induces direct strong negative consequences in the OECD: a temporary recession, a durable loss in production and employment and a lasting rise in inflation. Moreover, according to the model and due to national dissimilarities, an oil shock in Europe has some asymmetrical effects which are pointed out here. Further simulations test two different economic policy responses in the OECD: a ‘beggar-thy-neighbor’ policy in which each country tries to ‘export’ its unemployment by curbing domestic inflation and wage growth; and a co-ordinated policy supporting both supply and demand. The first leads to a general deflationist overshooting. The second ensures stabilization with a much lower cost in employment.     

Synthesis of caerulein

Riassunto Viene riportata la sintesi della piroglutamilglutaminil-aspartil-tirosil(O-solfato)-treonil-glicil-triptofanil-metionil-aspartil-fenilalaninamide, un peptide identico per proprietà chimiche, fisiche e biologiche alla caeruleina.     

Ergot alkaloids modified in the cyclitol moiety

Summary Birch reduction of 9, 10-dihydroergot alkaloids (I) yields a compound to which structureII is assigned.     

The structures of ambrosin and damsin

Zusammenfassung Es wird gezeigt, dass die vonAbu-Shady undSoine isolierten Sesquiterpenlaktone «Ambrosin» und «Damsin» vermutlich Gemische von isomeren Substanzen darstellen. Die Interpretation bereits bekannter Tatsachen über die beiden Naturstoffe und der Vergleich mit verwandten Produkten ermöglicht die Aufstellung provisorischer Strukturformeln.

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Terpenes VIII. Part. VII,G. Büchi andW. S. Saari, J. Amer. chem. Soc. (in press).

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On leave of absence from Farmitalia, Milano, Italy.     

Synthesis and antitumour activity of new daunorubicin and adriamycin analogues

Summary A new synthetic procedure for the preparation of daunorubicin and adriamycin analogues bearing different substituents on ring D, has been developed. The new compounds display outstanding efficacy against experimental tumours of mice.     

Genomic analysis of Bartonella identifies type IV secretion systems as host adaptability factors

The bacterial genus Bartonella comprises 21 pathogens causing characteristic intraerythrocytic infections. Bartonella bacilliformis is a severe pathogen representing an ancestral lineage, whereas the other species are benign pathogens that evolved by radial speciation. Here, we have used comparative and functional genomics to infer pathogenicity genes specific to the radiating lineage, and we suggest that these genes may have facilitated adaptation to the host environment. We determined the complete genome sequence of Bartonella tribocorum by shotgun sequencing and functionally identified 97 pathogenicity genes by signature-tagged mutagenesis. Eighty-one pathogenicity genes belong to the core genome (1,097 genes) of the radiating lineage inferred from genome comparison of B. tribocorum, Bartonella henselae and Bartonella quintana. Sixty-six pathogenicity genes are present in B. bacilliformis, and one has been lost by deletion. The 14 pathogenicity genes specific for the radiating lineage encode two laterally acquired type IV secretion systems, suggesting that these systems have a role in host adaptability.     

Mitochondrial dysfunction and apoptosis in myopathic mice with collagen VI deficiency

Collagen VI is an extracellular matrix protein that forms a microfilamentous network in skeletal muscles and other organs. Inherited mutations in genes encoding collagen VI in humans cause two muscle diseases, Bethlem myopathy and Ullrich congenital muscular dystrophy. We previously generated collagen VI-deficient (Col6a1-/-) mice and showed that they have a muscle phenotype that strongly resembles Bethlem myopathy. The pathophysiological defects and mechanisms leading to the myopathic disorder were not known. Here we show that Col6a1-/- muscles have a loss of contractile strength associated with ultrastructural alterations of sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) and mitochondria and spontaneous apoptosis. We found a latent mitochondrial dysfunction in myofibers of Col6a1-/- mice on incubation with the selective F1F(O)-ATPase inhibitor oligomycin, which caused mitochondrial depolarization, Ca2+ deregulation and increased apoptosis. These defects were reversible, as they could be normalized by plating Col6a1-/- myofibers on collagen VI or by addition of cyclosporin A (CsA), the inhibitor of mitochondrial permeability transition pore (PTP). Treatment of Col6a1-/- mice with CsA rescued the muscle ultrastructural defects and markedly decreased the number of apoptotic nuclei in vivo. These findings indicate that collagen VI myopathies have an unexpected mitochondrial pathogenesis that could be exploited for therapeutic intervention.