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ABSTRACT Background We explored whether a noninvasive handheld device using Active Cancellation of Tremor (ACT) technology could stabilize tremor-induced motion of a spoon in individuals with essential tremor (ET). Methods Fifteen ET subjects (9 men, 6 women) performed 3 tasks with the ACT device turned on and off. Tremor severity was rated with the Fahn-Tolosa-Marin Tremor Rating Scale (TRS). Subjective improvement was rated by subjects with the Clinical Global Impression Scale (CGI-S). Tremor amplitude was measured using device-embedded accelerometers in 11 subjects. Results TRS scores improved with ACT on (versus off) in all 3 tasks: holding (1.00 ± 0.76 vs. 0.27 ± 0.70; P = 0.016), eating (1.47 ± 1.06 vs. 0.13 ± 0.64; P = 0.001), and transferring (1.33 ± 0.82 vs. 0.27 ± 0.59; P = 0.001). CGI-S improved with eating and transferring, but not the holding task. Accelerometer measurements demonstrated 71% to 76% reduction in tremor with the ACT device on. Conclusions This noninvasive handheld ACT device can reduce tremor amplitude and severity for eating and transferring tasks in individuals with ET. © 2013 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the implementation of the policies at the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and the agreement of the Agenda 2000 reform package in the European Union (EU). It tackles EU's development of employment policies and the negotiations for the structural funds (SFs). It explores the European Commission's 1997 Action Plan for the Single Market and examines its new initiatives which include the intervention mechanism for the free movement of goods and the extension of the Simpler Legislation for the Internal Market (SLIM) programme. It also mentions the establishment of the European Central Bank (ECB), Euro Council and the Economic and Financial Committee.

We describe here experiments which determine at which stage in the lipid A biosynthesis the polar head groups 4-aminoarabinose, phosphorylethanolamine and 3-deoxy-D-manno-octulosonic acid are transferred to the diphosphorylated glucosamine backbone of the lipid A structure. Use was made of a conditional lethal mutant of Salmonella typhimurium (Tsl) which is defective in the synthesis of 3-deoxy-D-manno-octulosonic acid 8-phosphate and accumulates under nonpermissive conditions an underacylated lipid A intermediate [Lehmann, Rupprecht and Osborn (1977) Eur. J. Biochem. 76, 41–49]. Pulse-chase experiments, including a detailed analysis of radioactive pulse and chase products, demonstrated that this underacylated compound is a key intermediate in the lipid A synthesis. It can serve as direct acceptor for the incorporation of the polar head groups 4-aminoarabinose, phosphorylethanolamine and 3-deoxy-D-manno-octulosonic acid. On the basis of these findings some steps in the sequence of reactions involved in the lipid A biosynthesis are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on the internal policies of the European Union (EU) during 1996. Economic policies; Economic and Monetary Union; Growth, competitiveness and employment; Industrial policies; EU finances; Agriculture and fisheries; Social policy; Environmental policy; Justice and home affairs policy.

Discusses internal policy developments in European Union for 1995. Three key areas where advancement of the internal policy of the European Union were laid; Economic and related policies; Financial figures for the union for 1995; Issues affecting agriculture and fisheries; Social policy issues; Environmental policy.

Provides an overview on the European Union's (EU) internal policy. Finishing off earlier initiatives; Routine activities of European integration; Internal market developments; Exchange rate in the Exchange Rate Mechanism; Industrial and competition policies.

Discusses the internal policy developments in the European Union for 1993. Internal market developments; Economic and monetary policy for the period; Evaluation of the Union's growth, competitiveness and employment; Structural funds and regional policy; Policies on industry and competition; Budgetary processes of the federation; Situation of the agriculture and fisheries sector; Social policy.

Examines the economic relationship between the European Economic Community (EEC) and China at of 1986. Trade and investment activities; History of trade between China and Western Europe; Factors for the open-door policy of China; Provisions of the EEC-China agreement in 1978; EEC investments in China; Equity joint ventures in China from 1979 to 1984.

The article tests the hypothesis that in terms of an effective exchange rate the pound was overvalued in 1925, and examines whether it remained so throughout the 1925-31 restoration of the gold standard. The statistical evidence reveals this overvaluation much more clearly than calculations made with reference to the sterling-dollar exchange rate in isolation which generated potentially conflicting results. However, much of the debate has focused on one specific aspect, namely the charge that at the old parity the pound was overvalued by about 10 per cent. The three main problems associated with the relative version relate to the choice of base year, the choice of price index and the incorporation of structural changes between base and current periods. Actually, in one sense, the ability to choose correctly a base year precludes the need for a purchasing power parity calculation, since presumably the method used to identify the equilibrium exchange rate in the past could also be used for the present.

Presents a calculation of an effective exchange rate for the British pound in the 1930s. Problems associated with calculating indices of effective exchange rates; Possibility of applying an International Monetary Fund's multilateral exchange rate model to the 1930s; Effect of U.S. domestic activity on exchange rates.

Platelet activating factor (PAF), a naturally occurring phospholipid with many potent physiological and pharmacological activities, is implicated as a mediator of many diseases. An immunoassay for PAF would greatly improve quantitation, and hence PAF-specific antibodies were required. Chemically-reactive analogs of PAF, containing an aldehyde group at the end of the 1- O-alkyl chain (hexyl or dodecyl), were synthesized from readily available materials. During the multi-step synthetic procedure, the aldehyde group was protected as an acetal, which was converted by mild acidic hydrolysis to the aldehyde immediately prior to protein coupling. These analogs were coupled to methylated bovine serum albumin and the resultant conjugates were injected into rabbits. Antibodies to PAF were detected using a solid phase radioimmunoassay based on Protein A-Sepharose. The dodecyl PAF conjugate proved to be the more immunogenic conjugate with more than half of the rabbits producing significant levels of antibodies (at least a 10-fold increase in radioactive uptake over pre-immune levels). Results from solid phase immunoassays employing nitrocellulose discs impregnated with PAF, lysoPAF, lecithin, lysolecithin and 2- O-methyl-lysoPAF indicated that the antibodies recognized only PAF. PAF-specific antibodies were isolated by affinity chromatography using a column of PAF-poly(lysine) conjugated to carboxy-activated polyacrylamide. The antibodies may be employed in a sensitive and specific immunoassay for PAF and for many other studies involving PAF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prespore-specific antigen (PsA) is a cell-surface glycoprotein isolated from Dictyostelium discoideum, which is post-translationally modified by addition of carbohydrate to threonine residues of the carboxy-terminal peptide domain, and a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor which attaches the glycoprotein to the cell membrane. The GPI anchor was isolated by proteolytic cleavage of the protein, and the structure of the lipid and glycan portions of the anchor were determined. The lipid moiety of the anchor is an inositolphosphoceramide which contains C18:0 phytosphingosine as a long chain base, and a mixture of fatty acids with a C18:1 mono-unsaturated fatty acid as the major component. The purified GPI anchor was susceptible to digestion by a bacterial phosphatidy-linositol-specific phospholipase-C enzyme. The glycan of the GPI anchor consisted of two molecular species present in the ratio 55:45, the structures of which were determined by exoglycosidase and found to be Manα1-2ManαI-6Manα1-4GlcNH2 and Manα1-2Manαl-2Manα1-6Manαl-4GlcNH2. The glucosamine in both structures is glycosidically linked to the inositol ring of the inositolphosphoceramide. The GPI glycan structures are consistent with the conserved corn structure of all characterised GPI anchors, and the structure of the D. discoideum GPI moiety has features :in common with structures from yeast, protozoa and higher eukaryotes. Compositional analysis of the carbohydrate attached to threonine residues in the carboxy-terminal peptide domain is also presented. The oligosaccharides bind to wheat gem agglutinin, and contain glucosamine and fucose as the major constituents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. By chemical synthesis starting from phenylacetylene and utilizing stereospecific reactions, two specimens of acetic acid were prepared in which the following conditions were closely approached: (a) some of the methyl groups coated of one hydrogen, one deuterium, and one tritium atom attached to carbon; (b) all such methyl groups in one specimen had the B configuration, and all such methyl groups in the other specimen had the S configuation, and the correct absolute configuration was assignable to each specimen from the method of synthesis used; (e) all methyl groups containing a tritium atom also contained a deuterium atom. 2. Each specimen of acetic acid was converted enzymically into acetyl-coenzyme A and (in the same incubation) this product was condensed with glyoxylic acid on malate synthase to form two specimens of S-malic acid. 3. Each specimen of malic acid was incubated with fumarase until the tritium content of the organic acids (fumarate + malate) had ceased to fall. 4. Malic acid synthesized from R-acetic acid retained 69 % of its carbon-bound tritium (in fumarate + malate) on incubation with fumarase. Malic acid synthesised from S-acetic acid retained 31 % of its carbon-bound tritium. 5. The enzymic assay described in paragraphs 2-4 constitutes a method for determining the absolute configuration of asymmetric methyl groups, provided that a substantial proportion of the tritium in the specimen examined is present in such groups. 6. The method thus established can be used to study the mechanism of enzymic reactions in which a methylene group is converted stereospecifically into a methyl group. With one logical proviso-that it is necessary to known whether protium or deuterium is preferentially removed by the enzsyme from methyl groups also containing tritium — the method is also applicable to enzymic reactions in which a methyl group is converted stereospecifically into a methylene group. 7. Subject to the above proviso, it is indicated that on malate synthase the removal of hydrogen and the attachment of the glyoxylate residue occurs with inversion of configuration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]