Review of Psychoanalysis: Freud’s cognitive psychology.

Reviews the book, Psychoanalysis: Freud’s cognitive psychology by Matthew Hugh Erdelyi (see record 1985-97974-000). Few psychoanalytic clinicians or experimental psychologists ever bother to develop a historical or meta-theoretical perspective on their discipline, or pause to ponder the obstacles encountered and avenues taken or ignored en route to a synthesis between psychoanalytic, experimental and cognitive psychology. For those who have already pondered these issues somewhat, Erdelyi's book is a positive pleasure, full of penetrating insights, programmatic suggestions and astute historical reflections. For those new to the area, it is the best available introduction to the field, grounded, as it is, in a fluent grasp of the various methods and models of unconscious mental processes in these increasingly convergent fields of inquiry. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Amino acid concentrations in portal venous plasma during absorption from the small intestine of the guinea pig of an amino acid mixture simulating casein and a partial enzymic hydrolysate of casein

1. The characteristics of absorption of individual amino acids from amino acid mixtures simulating casein and from enzymic hydrolysates of casein containing oligopeptides as well as free amino acids are known to be different. The differences, which are attributable to mucosal uptake of small peptides, involve more rapid absorption from the enzymic hydrolysates of certain amino acids which are relatively slowly absorbed from the amino acid mixtures. This could lead to more effective utilization of amino acids from the enzymic hydrolysates than from the amino acid mixtures. 2. To obtain further information bearing on this hypothesis, we have used a recently developed technique for portal cannulation in the guinea pig to make a preliminary investigation of amino acid concentrations in the portal venous plasma at intervals after the infusion into the duodenum of equivalent amounts of (a) an amino acid mixture simulating casein and (b) a partial enzymic (papain followed by kidney peptidases) hydrolysate of casein, the two preparations being infused in separate experiments. 3. For some amino acids, such as leucine, isoleucine, valine, phenylalanine and lysine, the curves after the enzymic hydrolysate were fairly similar to the corresponding curves after the amino acid mixture, though usually slightly lower. With other amino acids, the curves after the enzymic hydrolysate were very much lower than the corresponding curves after the amino acid mixture. With serine, glutamine, proline and glycine this discrepancy was particularly great. 4. The results cannot yet be fully explained, but their main features are explicable by the hypothesis that the lower amino acid concentrations in portal plasma after the enzymic hydrolysate are the result of entry of amino acids into the portal blood in peptide form, in which they would not be detectable by the analytical technique employed, and possibly also of more rapid clearance of amino acids from the blood during absorption of this preparation.     

An ACP structural switch: conformational differences between the apo and holo forms of the actinorhodin polyketide synthase acyl carrier protein

The actinorhodin (act) synthase acyl carrier protein (ACP) from Streptomyces coelicolor plays a central role in polyketide biosynthesis. Polyketide intermediates are bound to the free sulfhydryl group of a phosphopantetheine arm that is covalently linked to a conserved serine residue in the holo form of the ACP. The solution NMR structures of both the apo and holo forms of the ACP are reported, which represents the first high resolution comparison of these two forms of an ACP. Ensembles of twenty apo and holo structures were calculated and yielded atomic root mean square deviations of well-ordered backbone atoms to the average coordinates of 0.37 and 0.42 A, respectively. Three restraints defining the protein to the phosphopantetheine interface were identified. Comparison of the apo and holo forms revealed previously undetected conformational changes. Helix III moved towards helix II (contraction of the ACP), and Leu43 on helix II subtly switched from being solvent exposed to forming intramolecular interactions with the newly added phosphopantetheine side chain. Tryptophan fluorescence and S. coelicolor fatty acid synthase (FAS) holo-synthase (ACPS) assays indicated that apo-ACP has a twofold higher affinity (K(d) of 1.1 muM) than holo-ACP (K(d) of 2.1 muM) for ACPS. Site-directed mutagenesis of Leu43 and Asp62 revealed that both mutations affect binding, but have differential affects on modification by ACPS. Leu43 mutations in particular strongly modulate binding affinity for ACPS. Comparison of apo- and holo-ACP structures with known models of the Bacillus subtilis FAS ACP-holo-acyl carrier protein synthase (ACPS) complex suggests that conformational modulation of helix II and III between apo- and holo-ACP could play a role in dissociation of the ACP-ACPS complex.     

Binding, encapsulation and ejection: substrate dynamics during a chaperonin-assisted folding reaction

Mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase (mMDH) folds more rapidly in the presence of GroEL, GroES and ATP than it does unassisted. The increase in folding rate as a function of the concentration of GroEL-ES reaches a maximum at a stoichiometry which is approximately equimolar (mMDH subunits:GroEL oligomer) and with an apparent dissociation constant K' for the GroE acceptor state of at least 1 x 10(-8) M. However, even at chaperonin concentrations which are 4000 x K', i.e. at negligible concentrations of free mMDH, the observed folding rate of the substrate remains at its optimum, showing not only that folding occurs in the chaperonin-mMDH complex but also that this rate is uninhibited by any interactions with sites on GroEL. Despite the ability of mMDH to fold on the chaperonin, trapping experiments show that its dwell time on the complex is only 20 seconds. This correlates with both the rate of ATP turnover and the dwell time of GroES on the complex and is only approximately 5% of the time taken for the substrate to commit to the folded state. The results imply that ATP drives the chaperonin complex through a cycle of three functional states: (1) an acceptor complex in which the unfolded substrate is bound tightly; (2) an encapsulation state in which it is sequestered but direct protein-protein contact is lost so that folding can proceed unhindered; and (3) an ejector state which forces dissociation of the substrate whether folded or not.     

TRAPP, a highly conserved novel complex on the cis-Golgi that mediates vesicle docking and fusion

We previously identified BET3 by its genetic interactions with BET1, a gene whose SNARE-like product acts in endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-to-Golgi transport. To gain insight into the function of Bet3p, we added three c-myc tags to its C-terminus and immunopurified this protein from a clarified detergent extract. Here we report that Bet3p is a member of a large complex ( approximately 800 kDa) that we call TRAPP (transport protein particle). We propose that TRAPP plays a key role in the targeting and/or fusion of ER-to-Golgi transport vesicles with their acceptor compartment. The localization of Bet3p to the cis-Golgi complex, as well as biochemical studies showing that Bet3p functions on this compartment, support this hypothesis. TRAPP contains at least nine other constituents, five of which have been identified and shown to be highly conserved novel proteins.     

Serum IgE levels in paraproteinaemia

Serum IgE levels were measured by radioimmunoassay with a 'Phadesbas test kit' in 45 patients with multiple myeloma or macroglobulinaemia. As with other immunoglobulin classes, low serum levels of IgE were found.     

Children with lesbian parents: A community study.

Existing research on children with lesbian parents is limited by reliance on volunteer or convenience samples. The present study examined the quality of parent-child relationships and the socioemotional and gender development of a community sample of 7-year-old children with lesbian parents. Families were recruited through the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, a geographic population study of 14,000 mothers and their children. Thirty-nine lesbian-mother families, 74 two-parent heterosexual families, and 60 families headed by single heterosexual mothers were compared on standardized interview and questionnaire measures administered to mothers, co-mothers/fathers, children, and teachers. Findings are in line with those of earlier investigations showing positive mother-child relationships and well-adjusted children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sampson among the Philistines.

Comments on E. Sampson's (see record 2001-16333-002) linking individualism and collectivism to religious origins. The author comments critically on Sampson's grouping of all branches of Christianity in his critique of Protestant individualism. He points out theological subtleties and their historical roots to demonstrate the heterogeneous nature of Christianity and the relative similarity of Christian and Jewish intellectual traditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)