Otto Kuntze,botanist. III. Type specimens of fern,gymnosperm and monocotyledon taxa from his Revisio Generum Plantarum

Type specimens of fern, gymnosperm and monocotyledon taxa described as new by Otto Kuntze in hisRevisio Generum Plantarum Vols. I and II (1891) and Vol. III (1898) known to be in the herbarium of the New York Botanical Garden (NY) are listed. Specimens for all of the new taxa were not found at NY.     

Annotated bibliography of Galapagos botany. Supplement I

This supplement to a bibliography published in 1973 lists 112 new references on Galápagos botany. The availability of accurate information in a new flora of the Galápagos Islands has brought about an increase in botanical research. Very little new work has been done on cryptogams. Many recent studies concentrate on ecology and conservation of the unique Galápagos plants.     

Campylobacter colitis.

Eleven consecutive patients with diarrhoea from whose stools campylobacter were isolated were investigated by sigmoidoscopy and rectal biopsy. Eight had definite proctitis, and in seven biopsy specimens were abnormal with histological changes ranging from non-specific colitis to gross colitis with goblet-cell depletion and crypt-abscess formation. Nine of the patients passed blood in their stools, and in all but one abdominal pain was a feature of the illness. Severe campylobacter colitis may be clinically, sigmoidoscopically, and histologically difficult to differentiate from ulcerative colitis and is a differential diagnosis in acute colitis.     

Histochemical Demonstration of Enzyme Activities in Plastic and Paraffin Embedded Tissue Sections

Histochemical staining for enzymes is usually performed on frozen sections. This report lists the longer incubation times required to demonstrate esterase, acid phosphatase, β-galactosidase, and cytochrome oxidase in plastic embedded and routine paraffin embedded tissues. The sections embedded in plastic, i.e. water soluble methacrylate (Polyscience's JB-4) and cut at 2 μm, were far superior to frozen Sections and paraffin embedded sections both in tissue detail and in the localization of the histochemical reaction product.     

Approval of trainers and training practices in the Oxford region: assessment.

This is the second paper of three on criteria for approval of trainers of general practitioners drawn up for the Oxford region. This paper describes assessment of trainers and training practices by a team of general practitioners who visit for one day.     

The crystal structure of methenyltetrahydromethanopterin cyclohydrolase from Methanobrevibacter ruminantium

Methenyltetrahydromethanopterin cyclohydrolase (Mch) is involved in the methanogenesis pathway of archaea as a C₁ unit carrier where N⁵‐formyl‐tetrahydromethanopterin is converted to methenyl‐tetrahydromethanopterin. Mch from Methanobrevibacter ruminantium was cloned, purified, crystallized and its crystal structure solved at 1.37 Å resolution. A biologically active trimer, the enzyme is composed of two domains including an N‐terminal domain of six α‐helices encompassing a series of four β‐sheets and a predominantly anti‐parallel β–sheet at the C‐terminus flanked on one side by α‐helices. Sequence and structural alignments have helped identify residues involved in substrate binding and trimer formation. Proteins 2013; 81:2064–2070. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Conformational restriction in a series of GPR119 agonists: Differences in pharmacology between mouse and human

A series of conformationally restricted GPR119 agonists were prepared based around a 3,8-diazabicyclo[3.2.1]octane scaffold. Examples were found to have markedly different pharmacology in mouse and human despite similar levels of binding to the receptor. This highlights the large effects on GPCR phamacology that can result from small structural changes in the ligand, together with inter-species differences between receptors.