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Author(s): The Artistic Forms and Complexity Group:; J.-P. Boon; J. Casti; C. Djerassi; J. Johnson; A. Lovett; T. Norretranders; V. Patera; C. Sommerer; R. Taylor; S. Thurner 'You paid what? [...]

Discusses new approaches to birth control, from which the pharmaceutical industry has withdrawn due to product liability. Modification in product liability would help assure the development of such birth control devices as a male pill and an antifertility vaccine, the author asserts.

Argues for more scientific efforts in the United States in the study of natural family planning (NFP) and fertility awareness for women.

As a first step towards a new form of male contraception--sperm cryopreservation, vasectomy and eventual artificial insemination--the military services should begin a large-scale sperm cryopreservation programme.

The application of magnetic circular dichroism as an optical probe for simultaneous identification and determination of at least two microsomal cytochromes is demonstrated. The assignments of the bands in the spectra of microsomal suspensions are made from the spectra of soluble preparations of cytochrome P-450 obtained from Pseudomonas putida and of cytochrome b(5) obtained from rat livers.

Since many contraceptives appropriate for use in developing countries are not of major interest to the pharmaceutical companies in developed countries, the World Health Organization has sponsored a program whereby contraceptives are developed outside the traditional pharmaceutical industry channels. This program might serve as a model for the develoment of other drugs or even pesticides.

uman and insect population control have several features in common, all of them indicating that the lag times in converting laboratory discoveries into practical agents are increasing greatly and that ROI calculations are becoming more and more significant in decisions related to the development of new agents. ROI calculations are particularly important in the field of insect control because, by being more specific, the agents of the future are likely to cover smaller markets. Several recommendations for stimulating the development of new methods of insect control are proposed which are addressed primarily to policy-makers. If they are not implemented, then our suggestions should at least stimulate others to make alternative proposals. If neither event occurs, then it is unlikely that there will be any fundamentally new approaches to practical insect control in this decade; a similar prediction (6) that was made 4 years ago in the field of human birth control is rapidly proving to be correct.

QUANTITATIVE STEROL COMPOSITIONS OF CULTURED ZOOXANTHELLAE ISOLATED FROM VARIOUS PACIFIC AND ATLANTIC INVERTEBRATE HOSTS: Zoanthus sociatus (a zoanthid), Oculina diffusa (a scleractian coral), Tridacna gigas (a giant clam), Melibe pilosa (a nudibranch), and Aiptasia pulchella (a sea anemone) are reported. The results clearly demonstrate large differences in sterol patterns of zooxanthellae and that there is no obvious relationship between the taxonomic affiliation of the host and the sterol pattern of its isolated symbiont. The sterols of the zooxanthellae of O. diffusa (Cnidaria) and T. gigas (Mollusca) are qualitatively equivalent. Based on the structures of the two major free sterols synthesized by each alga, the zooxanthellae from different hosts were separated into three distinct groups. It was also found that an aposymbiotic alga can synthesize the unique marine sterols gorgosterol and 23-desmethylgorgosterol. Most of the sterols were identified by using mass spectroscopy and 360-MHz proton magnetic resonance. Spectroscopic data are reported for four novel sterols-(23,24R)-dimethyl-5alpha-cholest-(22E)-en-3beta-o l, 23-methyl-5alpha-cholest-22E-en-3beta-ol, cholesta-5,14-dien-3beta-ol, and 4alpha-methyl-5alpha-cholesta-8(14)-24-dien-3beta-ol.

A reinvestigation of the proton resonance spectrum of vindolinine based on new data at 300 MHz is now completely consistent with the recently modified structure. These data are presented as an example of possible pitfalls in the interpretation of complex spectral data for structural analysis. Spectra and assignments are included.

Cytochromes P-450 and P-448 in microsomal suspensions have been shown to be spectrally distinct by magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy. Furthermore, this technique can be used to measure induction of these two cytochromes by phenobarbital and 3-methyl-cholanthrene. Magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy is thus at least as useful as difference spectroscopy for the investigation of P-450 and P-448 and more informative because the presence of cytochrome b(5) and hemoglobin can be detected concurrently. We have also shown that the molar magnetic ellipticity for reduced + CO treated cytochrome P-450 of Pseudomonas grown on camphor is of similar value to that of reduced + CO treated microsomal P-450 and P-448.