Formation oftrans-12,13-epoxy-9-hydroperoxy-trans-10-octadecenoic acid from 13-L-hydroperoxy-cis-9,trans-11-octadecadienoic acid catalyzed by either a soybean extract or cysteine-FeC13

A soybean extract or an ethanolic solution of cysteine and ferric chloride catalyzed the conversion of 13-L-hydroperoxy-cis-9,trans-11-octadecadienoic acid to numerous products among which wastrans-12,13-epoxy-9-hydroperoxy-trans-10-octadecenoic acid. When this fatty acid was treated further with the cysteine-ferric chloride solution, 9-hydroxy-12,13-epoxy-10-octadecenoic and 9-oxo-12,13-epoxy-10-octadecenoic acids were formed. Thus,trans-12,13-epoxy-9-hydroperoxy-trans-10-octadecenoic acid probably is an intermediate in the formation of the latter two compounds. Additionally, theerythro andthreo isomers oftrans-12,13-epoxy-11-hydroperoxy-cis-9-octadecenoic acid tenatatively were identified as products. Presented in part at the 13th World Congress, International Society for Fat Research, Marseilles, France, August 30-September 4, 1976, and the AOCS Meeting, Chicago, September 1976.     

Magnetic and superconducting properties of niobium oxides

Low temperature magnetic susceptibilities of niobium oxides have been measured. A homogeneous sample of NbO prepared by arc melting and checked by using X-ray and metallographic techniques exhibits no ferromagnetism but becomes superconducting at 1.20°K.     

Traffic of dynamin within individual Drosophila synaptic boutons relative to compartment-specific markers

Presynaptic terminals contain several specialized compartments, which have been described by electron microscopy. We show in an identified Drosophila neuromuscular synapse that several of these compartments-synaptic vesicle clusters, presynaptic plasma membrane, presynaptic cytosol, and axonal cytoskeleton-labeled by specific reagents may be resolved from one another by laser scanning confocal microscopy. Using a panel of compartment-specific markers and Drosophila shibire(ts1) mutants to trap an intermediate stage in synaptic vesicle recycling, we have examined the localization and redistribution of dynamin within single synaptic varicosities at the larval neuromuscular junction. Our results suggest that dynamin is not a freely diffusible molecule in resting nerve terminals; rather, it appears localized to synaptic sites by association with yet uncharacterized presynaptic components. In shi(ts1) nerve terminals depleted of synaptic vesicles, dynamin is quantitatively redistributed to the plasma membrane. It is not, however, distributed uniformly over presynaptic plasmalemma; instead, fluorescence images show "hot spots" of dynamin on the plasma membrane of vesicle-depleted nerve terminals. We suggest that these dynamin-rich domains may mark the active zones for synaptic vesicle endocytosis first described at the frog neuromuscular junction.     

Automatic Flow-Control Adaptation for Enhancing Network Performance in Computational Grids

With the advent of computational Grids, networking performance over the wide-area network (WAN) has become a critical component in the Grid infrastructure. Unfortunately, many high-performance Grid applications only use a small fraction of their available bandwidth because operating systems and their associated protocol stacks are still tuned for yesterday's WAN speeds. As a result, network gurus undertake the tedious process of manually tuning system buffers to allow TCP flow control to scale to today's WAN Grid environments. And although recent research has shown how to set the size of these system buffers automatically at connection set-up, the buffer sizes are only appropriate at the beginning of the connection's lifetime. To address these problems, we describe an automated and lightweight technique called dynamic right-sizing that can improve throughput by as much as an order of magnitude while still abiding by TCP semantics.     

A neuronal ryanodine receptor mediates light-induced phase delays of the circadian clock

Circadian clocks are complex biochemical systems that cycle with a period of approximately 24 hours. They integrate temporal information regarding phasing of the solar cycle, and adjust their phase so as to synchronize an organism's internal state to the local environmental day and night. Nocturnal light is the dominant regulator of this entrainment. In mammals, information about nocturnal light is transmitted by glutamate released from retinal projections to the circadian clock in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus. Clock resetting requires the activation of ionotropic glutamate receptors, which mediate Ca2+ influx. The response induced by such activation depends on the clock's temporal state: during early night it delays the clock phase, whereas in late night the clock phase is advanced. To investigate this differential response, we sought signalling elements that contribute solely to phase delay. We analysed intracellular calcium-channel ryanodine receptors, which mediate coupled Ca2+ signalling. Depletion of intracellular Ca2+ stores during early night blocked the effects of glutamate. Activators of ryanodine receptors induced phase resetting only in early night; inhibitors selectively blocked delays induced by light and glutamate. These findings implicate the release of intracellular Ca2+ through ryanodine receptors in the light-induced phase delay of the circadian clock restricted to the early night.     

Serum HIV-1 RNA levels and time to development of AIDS in the Multicenter Hemophilia Cohort Study

Normal women produce small amounts of active androgens. When androgen levels are elevated, such as for example in the polycystic ovary syndrome, this is followed by the development of male physical characteristics and muscle mass, structure and function as well as android adipose tissue distribution and function. Psychological features and stress reactions also seem similar to those of men. Such women have an increased risk of developing hypertension, non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease. Recent data have shown that these physical, and psychological characteristics, as well as risk of ill health, are also found in the population of women selected at random. Women in the lowest quintiles of levels of sex-hormone-binding globulin--an indicator inversely related to active androgens--are at risk of developing hypertension, non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular mortality. The mechanism probably includes muscular insulin resistance, following a relative androgen excess. It is thus apparent that androgens, even within the highest levels of the nonselected population of women, are powerful predictors of serious disease development. The population at risk might be as large as about 20% of middle-aged women. This is an area of female disease risk which requires more attention in screening and intervention procedures.