Workshop on: Chemistry of Metals in Medicine - The Industrial Perspective

The Workshop was attended by 61 participants from 20 countries. Most of the speakers were industrialists and the Chairpersons and Discussion Leaders were academics.The area "Chemistry of Metals in Medicine" has the potential for producing innovative, high quality, and original research.This is a new and emerging area of biomedical chemistry. Small firms are already being established which are devoted to the new elemental medicine. Major pharmaceutical and healthcare industries too are becoming aware of the major impact which metal chemistry is likely to have on traditional organic pharmacology and of the new opportunities which it presents for advances including the development of metalloenzyme-specific inhibitors, targeted radionuclide complexes for diagnosis and therapy, contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging, safer mineral and vitamin supplements, new agents for the treatment of neurological, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular disease, skin conditions, cancer, and microbial and viral infections.The European scientific and technological research base in this area is potentially attractive for business. Industrial collaboration and cooperation can be accommodated within the COST framework.     

Cytotoxic Phosphinoarsino and Diphosphino Pd(II) Complexes of Thiolate Amino Acids and Glutathione

The novel complexes [Pd(L-L')(SR)Cl] where L-L' is Ph(2)PCH(2)CH(2)PPh(2) (dppe) or Ph(2)AsCH(2)CH(2)PPh(2) (dadpe) and RSH is glutathione, L-cysteine, or N-acetyl-L-cysteine, have been prepared and characterised. Their structures in the solid-state and in solution are discussed. The introduction of cysteine or glutathione as a ligand in these complexes greatly improved their aqueous solubility compared with the hydrophobic parent dichloro complexes. The cytotoxicities of the glutathione complexes towards the cell-lines L1210, ADJ/PC6 and CH1 were investigated. Their cytotoxicities towards L1210 cells were comparable to those of the parent dichloro complexes.     

Human Serum Transferrin Fibrils: Nanomineralisation in Bacteria and Destruction of Red Blood Cells

Fibrils formed by human serum transferrin [(1–3 μM ) apo‐Tf, partially iron‐saturated (Fe_0.6‐Tf) and holo‐Tf (Fe₂‐Tf) forms], from dilute bicarbonate solutions, were deposited on formvar surfaces and studied by electron microscopy. We observed that possible bacterial contamination appears to give rise to long, pea‐pod‐like (PPL) structures for Fe₂‐Tf, attributable to the formation of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) storage granules, under the nutrient‐limiting conditions used. These PPL structures contained periodic nanomineralisation sites susceptible to uranyl stain. Extended incubation of transferrin solutions (about four days) gave rise to extensive transferrin fibril structures. Optical microscopy and AFM studies showed that red blood cells (RBCs) readily adhere to these fibrils. Moreover, the fibrils appear to penetrate RBC membranes and to induce rapid cell destruction (within about 5 h). It is speculated that in situations in vivo where transferrin fibrils can form, such interactions might have adverse physiological consequences, and further studies could aid the understanding of related pathological events.     

Adsorption of organic layers over electrodeposited magnetite (Fe3O4) thin films

The formation of monolayers of two organic compounds (oleic acid and dodecanethiol) over magnetite films was studied. Magnetite films ranging from 80 nm to 3.75 μm-thick were electrodeposited on Au on glass substrates under galvanostatic control, with deposition parameters optimized for minimum surface roughness. Films were characterised by SEM and AFM, showing granular deposits with a low rms roughness of 5–40 nm measured over an area of 1 μm². The growth rate was estimated by measuring cross-sections of the thin films. Pure magnetite with an fcc structure is observed in XRD diffractograms. The adsorption of both oleic acid and dodecanethiol on the magnetite films was tested by immersing them in ethanol solutions containing the organic molecules, for different deposition time, temperature and cleaning procedure. Monolayer formation in both cases was studied by contact angle and voltammetric measurements, as well as XPS.     

MMSE multiuser detection for array multicarrier DS-CDMA in fading channels

Reception of asynchronous, multicarrier direct-sequence-code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) in time-varying, multipath radio channels with use of a receiving antenna array is investigated. Interference reducing minimum mean squared error (MMSE) receivers are discussed, and by considering the time-variation of the channel, a modified structure is derived which is efficient for channels experiencing small-scale fading. A blind implementation of this receiver is then proposed. Subspace concepts are applied to formulate a tracking, composite channel vector estimator which operates effectively in fading situations, even when high levels of interference are present. Both the modified MMSE weight matrix and diversity combining weights are generated from these channel estimates. Simulations of the proposed receiver show it to have superior performance over a standard MMSE receiver which is periodically re-evaluated to permit it to follow the channel variations due to small-scale fading. Furthermore, a hybrid MMSE receiver is proposed which applies different processing methods depending on each transmitters mobility, resulting in improved performance.     

Book reviews

Competitive Cities: Succeeding in the Global Economy. H. Duffy. London, E. & F. N. Spon, 1995, 195 pp., £24.99 hb, ISBN 0–419–1984–7

Mapping the Subject: Geographies of Cultural Transformation. S. Pile and N. Thrift (Eds). London: Routledge, 512 pp., £15.99, ISBN 0–415–10226‐X

Transport in Transition: Aspects of British and European Experience. J. McConville & J. Sheldrake (Eds), Aldershot, Avebury, 1995, 203 pp., £35.00, hb, ISBN 1–89528–664–9

Territorial Competition in an Integrating Europe. P. Cheshire & I. Gordon (Eds). Aldershot, Avebury, 1995, 317 pp., £40.00 hb, ISBN 1–85972–112–5

Industrial Location: Principles, Practice and Policy. J. W. Harrington & B. Warf. London, Routledge, 1995, 304 pp., £17.99 pb, ISBN 0–415–11951–0

Partnership Agencies in British Urban Policy. N. Bailey, with A. Berker & K. MacDonald. London, 1995, 256 pp., £12.95 pb, ISBN 1–85728–070–9

Housing and Family Wealth: Comparative International Perspectives. R. Forrest & A. Murie (Eds). London, Routledge, 1995, 272 pp., £45.00 hb, ISBN 0–415–07194–1