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Studies with a new technique, active membrane-differential mobility spectrometry, with aqueous standards of benzene and phenol are described. The atmospheric pressure photo-ionisation chemistries of benzene and phenol in the presence of oxygen are similar in that benzene forms phenol radicals that subsequently react to yield diphenylether and 4-phenoxyphenol products. Further phenol sequesters charge from benzene ions leading to a significant loss of sensitivity. This is an important consideration in the development of screening techniques for the presence of benzene in environmental water samples. This challenge was addressed by including a pre-separation stage prior to photo-ionisation, and a 10 cm long polydimethylsiloxane active membrane inlet using nitrogen as a carrier gas was used to sample, concentrate and deliver low resolution separations to the 10.6 eV UV-ionisation region of a differential mobility spectrometer. Acetone was also proposed as a charge carrier for the UV photo-ionisation source; to promote phenol protonation and inhibit charge sequestration from benzene. The responses of the system to aqueous standards of benzene and phenol with and without acetone doping at 10.2 mg m−3were evaluated and four to five-fold increases in sensitivity were obtained with acetone doping. With a sampling time of 60 s and a total measurement cycle of 180 s it was possible to obtain quantitative responses to single standards over the concentration range 6 to 177 µg cm−3with linear correlations with R2values ranging from 0.97 to 0.99. The effects of the heating rate of the membrane and the dispersion field strength of the differential mobility spectrometer on sensitivity and the differentiation of benzene from phenol responses were optimised, leading to a configuration where a voltage heating programme of 4.75 V s−1was applied to a 124 µm stainless steel wire heating element within the active membrane, and a dispersion field strength of 22 kV cm−1was used to test a mixture of benzene (14 µg cm−3) and phenol (6 µg cm−3) in water. The presence of benzene was identified through the presence of a peak corresponding to a benzene response, VC= −9 V FWHM = 1 V, that followed the thermal desorption profile of benzene.

The development of high-throughput environmental screening assays are needed to meet high-specification data quality objectives DQOs that require large numbers of samples to be taken and analysed rapidly. The acquisition and stabilisation of the sample is a key technical and operational challenge in analytical sequences associated with the determination of volatile organic compound VOC contamination of soils. Further the development of miniaturised and embedded analytical systems for environmental conditioning monitoring requires the development of new sampling techniques. A proof-of-concept study is described that shows how pressurised gas, in this case carbon dioxide, may be used to recover reversibly-bound VOCs from soil into an adsorbent sampler, and then analysed by thermal desorption-gas chromatography. The effects of the volume of the pressurised gas, the gas flow rate and the mass of the soil sample on the recovery efficiency and breakthrough from the adsorbent trap were investigated in a preliminary characterisation study. Two distinct approaches were identified. The first involved ventilation of the voids within the soil matrix to displace the soil–gas headspace, a rapid screening approach. The second involved a more prolonged purge of the matrix to strip reversibly bound species into the gas phase and hence pass them into the adsorbent trap, a purge and trap approach. The shortest possible sample processing time required to yield analytically useful responses was 5 s with the use of the headspace approach. In this case n-octane, benzene and toluene were recovered from conditioned spiked soil samples at concentrations in the range 42 to 1690 mg kg−1. The limit of detection for the system was estimated to be no greater than 1.2 mg kg−1. Using the purge and trap variant enabled recovery efficiencies greater than 93 to be achieved with liquid spikes of n-octane onto soil samples. These preliminary studies showed that a system based on this approach would need to balance recovery efficiency, time and analyte breakthrough from the adsorbent trap.

Activity of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) is regulated by a family of proteins called tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMP). Four TIMPs have been cloned, and their molecular weights range from 29,000 to 20,000. By reverse zymography, we have observed a metalloproteinase inhibitor with an apparent molecular weight of 16, 500 from medium conditioned by human brain tumor cells. Antibodies directed against TIMPs failed to react with the 16,500 molecular weight inhibitor, indicating that it was not a truncated form of a known TIMP. The inhibitor was isolated from conditioned medium using affinity and ion exchange chromatography. N-terminal sequences of the inhibitor matched amino acid sequences within the C-terminal domain of a protein known as procollagen C-terminal proteinase enhancer (PCPE). Thus, the inhibitor was named CT-PCPE. Comparison of the N-terminal domain of TIMP with CT-PCPE revealed that both contained six cysteine residues. As in the case of TIMP, reduction and alkylation abolished the inhibitory activity of CT-PCPE. Purified CT-PCPE inhibited MMP-2 with an IC(50) value much greater than that of TIMP-2. This implies that MMPs may not be the physiologic targets for CT-PCPE inhibition. However, these results suggest that CT-PCPE may constitute a new class of metalloproteinase inhibitor.

ABSTRACTCauliflower mosaic virus(CaMV) encodes a movement protein (MP) which forms tubules in vivo and mediates the translocation of virus particles through plasmodesmata. The relationship between CaMV MP structure and function, in isolation from the complete virus infection, was studied by using MP expression in insect cells. The study allowed the MP domains necessary for tubule formation to be identified and potential MP-MP interactions to be investigated by using double infections with recombinant baculoviruses. Two MP domains which interfered with the ability of the wild-type MP to form tubules were identified. These mutant domains appeared to act as competitive, rather than dominant negative, inhibitors.

The in vitro RNA-binding activity of the movement protein (P1) of cauliflower mosaic virus was studied after its expression in Escherichia coli, purification, and uv-crosslinking to a radioactive probe. It was found that insoluble P1 aggregates were involved in RNA-binding activity. A series of deletion mutants were used to identify a domain within P1 required for binding activity. The RNA-binding domain is located between amino acids 120 and 197 and includes the region of homology between P1 and the movement protein (P30) of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). The homologous region corresponds to part of RNA-binding domain "A" in TMV P30, but unlike domain A, the P1 domain is able to bind RNA out of the context of the complete protein. The P1 RNA-binding domain shows some structural similarity with RNA-binding domains of other proteins. The conservation of this domain in the caulimo- and badnaviruses provides support for the view that this activity has biological relevance. Copyright 1995, 1999 Academic Press

Cloning and sequencing of the human type II insulin-like growth factor (IGF) receptor cDNA revealed an 80% deduced amino acid sequence homology with the bovine cation-independent mannose 6-phosphate (Man-6-P) receptor, suggesting identity of the two receptors (Morgan, D. O., Edman, J. C., Standring, D. N., Fried, V. A., Smith, M. C., Roth, R. A., and Rutter, W. J. (1987) Nature 329, 301-307). We have performed biochemical experiments that support this proposal. Rat liver type II IGF receptor, purified by the conventional method of IGF-II affinity chromatography, bound quantitatively to a beta-galactosidase affinity column and was eluted with Man-6-P. Bovine liver Man-6-P receptor, prepared by the conventional method of affinity chromatography on phosphomannan-Sepharose, bound IGF-II with high affinity (Kd = 1 nM). Affinity cross-linking of 125I-IGF-II to the Man-6-P receptor and analysis by sodium dodecyl sulfate-gel electrophoresis showed that beta-galactosidase, but not Man-6-P, inhibited the formation of the 250-kDa 125I-IGF-II-receptor complex. The inhibition by beta-galactosidase was prevented by coincubation with Man-6-P. 125I-IGF-II did not bind to the 46-kDa cation-dependent Man-6-P receptor. For immunologic studies we purified type II IGF receptors and Man-6-P receptors in parallel from rat placental membranes using either IGF-II- or beta-galactosidase affinity chromatography. A panel of five antisera that previously had been raised against either type II IGF receptor or Man-6-P receptor behaved identically toward type II IGF receptor versus Man-6-P receptor in ligand blocking and immunoprecipitation assays. Our data support the conclusion that the type II IGF receptor and the cation-independent Man-6-P receptor are the same protein and that the IGF-II and Man-6-P-binding sites are distinct.

We used quantitative immunoblotting to measure the total tissue insulin-like growth factor II/mannose 6-phosphate (IGF-II/Man-6-P) receptor in the rat. Whole embryos (6-15 days of gestation) and tissues from 16- and 20-day-old fetal and 5-, 10-, 20-, and 40-day-old postnatal rats were placed in liquid nitrogen, extracted with 2% Triton X-100, and boiled in 2% sodium dodecyl sulfate. The extracts were analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis together with aliquots of a highly purified rat IGF-II/Man-6-P receptor standard. The protein bands were transferred from the gel to nitrocellulose sheets by electroelution. The nitrocellulose sheets were incubated with a specific IGF-II/Man-6-P receptor antiserum (3637). The immunoblots were developed with 125I-protein A and an immunoperoxidase stain. Stained areas were cut from the immunoblots, and radioactivity was measured in a γ-counter. IGF-II/Man-6-P receptor levels were high in fetal tissues and in most tissues declined dramatically in late gestation and/or in the early postnatal period. Concentrations in 16-day-old fetal tissues, expressed as percent of total protein in the extract, were: heart, 1.7; placenta, 1.0; lung, 0.7; intestine, 0.7; muscle, 0.5; kidney, 0.5; liver, 0.3; and brain, 0.1. In whole embryos (6-15 days of gestation), the IGF-II/Man-6-P receptor ranged between 0.1 and 0.4% of total protein in the extract. The IGF-II/Man-6-P receptor size varied within approximately 20 kDa among different tissues and also varied with developmental age in the same tissue. We conclude that the IGF-II/Man-6-P receptor is a major cellular protein in some fetal tissues and that the developmental pattern of receptor expression suggests that the receptor plays an important role in fetal growth and development.

A 300-bp deletion was made in gene I of a multimeric copy of cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV). The deleted and wild-type constructs were mobilized into Agrobacterium tumefaciens and used for the inoculation of plants and leaf discs of the host plant, turnip, by "agroinfection." Infection induced by the wild-type construct gave characteristic vital symptoms on the inoculated and systemically infected leaves of whole plants whereas no infection was detected using the deletion mutant. The possibility that the deletion in gene I affected a cis-related function (e.g., encapsidation) was tested by complementation of mutant gene I with wild-type CaMV. Double infection experiments showed that replication and spread of both viruses occurred without detectable recombination of the mutant. In contrast to the situation in plants, agroinfection (Grimsley et al., 1986), Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 83, 3282-3286) of leaf discs, detected as the accumulation of encapsidated forms of virion DNA, was recorded for both the wild-type and the deleted constructs. The reduced level of virus accumulation from the mutant was consistent with virus replication occurring only in cells involved in the primary interaction with Agrobacterium, and accordingly progeny vital DNA was only detected in cells around the edge of the tissue disc. These data provide definitive evidence that CaMV gene I encodes a movement protein and show that this function can act in trans in a virus infection. Copyright 1993, 1999 Academic Press

Among the variety of specialized intercellular junctions, those of the adherens type have the most obvious association with cytoskeletal elements. This may be with the actin microfilament system as in the zonula adherens or with intermediate filaments as in the macula adherens, or desmosome. In the former case, it is clear that transmembrane glycoproteins of the cadherin family are important adhesive components of the molecular assembly. We now show for desmosomes that a major glycoprotein component (desmosomal glycoprotein DGI) has extensive homology with the cadherins, defining an extended family, but also has unique features in its cytoplasmic domain that are likely to be relevant to the association with intermediate rather than actin filaments. A novel 282-residue extension contains repeats of approximately 29 amino acid residues predicted to have an antiparallel beta-sheet structure, followed by a glycine-rich sequence. As in the cadherins, the extracellular domain contains possible Ca2(+)-binding sequences and a potential protease processing site. The cell adhesion recognition region (His-Ala-Val) of the cadherins is modified to Arg-Ala-Leu.

The insulin-like growth factor-II/mannose 6-phosphate receptor which targets acid hydrolases to lysosomes, has two different binding sites, one for the mannose 6-phosphate (Man-6-P) recognition marker on lysosomal enzymes and the other for insulin-like growth factor-II (IGF-II). We have asked whether IGF-II can regulate the cellular uptake of the lysosomal enzyme 125I-β-galactosidase by modulating the binding of 125I-β-galactosidase to the IGF-II/Man-6-P receptor. We first isolated high affinity 125I-β-galactosidase by affinity chromatography on an IGF-II/Man-6-P receptor-Sepharose column. Specific uptake (mannose 6-phosphate-inhibitable) of 125I-β-galactosidase in BRL 3A2 rat liver cells and in rat C6 glial cells was 3.7–4.8 and 4.0–8.0% of added tracer, respectively. The cell-associated 125I-β-galactosidase in the uptake experiments largely represented internalized radioligand as measured by acid or mannose 6-phosphate washing. The uptake of 125I-β-galactosidase was inhibited by an antiserum (No. 3637) specific for the IGF-II/Man-6-P receptor. Low concentrations of IGF-II also inhibited the uptake of 125I-β-galactosidase. Maximal concentrations of IGF-II inhibited uptake by 73 ± 8% (mean ± S.D.) in C6 cells and by 77 ± 6% in BRL 3A2 cells compared to the level of inhibition by mannose 6-phosphate. The relative potency of IGF-II, IGF-I, and insulin (IGF-II ≫ IGF-I; insulin, inactive) were characteristic of the relative affinities of the ligands for the IGF-II/Man-6-P receptor. IGF-II also partially inhibited the binding of 125I-β-galactosidase to C6 and BRL 3A2 cells at 4 ° C and inhibited the binding to highly purified IGF-II/Man-6-P receptor by 58 ± 14%. We conclude that IGF-II inhibits the cellular uptake of 125I-β-galactosidase and that this inhibition is partly explained by the ability of IGF-II to inhibit binding of 125I-β-galactosidase to the IGF-II/Man-6-P receptor.

1. A case of multiple pseudo-cystic tuberculosis of bone presenting as a generalised disease of the skeleton in a child is reported.2. The response to streptomycin and para-amino-salicylic acid is shown.3. A possible explanation of the etiology of this rare disease is suggested.

Femtosecond, subablation threshold photomodification of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) at 387nm is explored to enable fabrication of optical components. Volatile fragment analysis (thermal desorption gas chromatography-mass spectrometry) and molecular weight distribution monitoring (size exclusion chromatography) suggest photochemical modification, involving direct cleavage of the polymer backbone and propagation via chain unzipping under formation of monomers, similar to the pyrolytic degradation of PMMA. Waveguides were produced in undoped, clinical-grade PMMA, showing an increased refractive index in the laser focal region (Δn_max=4×10^−3).