Functional and molecular characterization of the conserved Arabidopsis PUMILIO protein,APUM9

Plant Molecular Biology - Here we demonstrate that the APUM9 RNA-binding protein and its co-factors play a role in mRNA destabilization and how this activity might regulate early plant development....     

Determination of opipramol in human plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography with photometric detection using a cyanopropyl column

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method is described for the determination of opipramol in human plasma. Opipramol was extracted into tert.-butylmethyl ether, separated on a cyanopropyl silica column and detected at 254 nm. Imipramine was used as internal standard. The limit of quantitation was 250 pg/ml using 1.5 ml plasma. Precision was better than 9%, inaccuracy less than 8%. The assay is more sensitive than previously published methods, and it has been applied to the analysis of plasma samples from a pharmacokinetic study.     

Ethylene effects on growing and gravireacting maize root segments

The effects of ethylene pretreatments (500 nl/l for 1 h) and treatments (100 nl/1 to 1000 nl/l for 6 h) on elongation and gravireaction of apical maize root segments were tested in light and in the dark. Ethylene was found to affect weakly root elongation and gravireaction, but to induce strong curvatures for root growing vertically.     

Comparison of posttransfusion recoveries achieved with either fresh or stored platelet concentrates

The effectiveness of platelet concentrate transfusion depends on such variables as blood bag material, donor--recipient compatibility, and time elapsed between donation and transfusion. To study the latter a corrected thrombocyte increment for recovery in the recipients was evaluated with 108 platelet transfusions in 31 patients. In 83 treatment programs, the mean recovery at the one-hour post-transfusion time point was 8.6 X 10(9) platelets/l with fresh platelets and 5.9 X 10(9) platelets/l with stored platelets. Significantly better recovery was achieved with freshly prepared platelet over the total of platelet concentrates stored for up to 96 hours; however, if the recoveries in different patient groups given stored platelets were considered separately in terms of storage times of up to 48 h or 48-96 h, the good recovery with fresh platelets was significantly better only when compared to the older (p = 0.034) but not to the younger group of stored platelets. In patients with signs indicating enhanced platelet destruction (fever, splenomegaly, disseminated intravascular coagulation) the transfusion with fresh platelet concentrates gave a significantly better recovery compared to stored platelet concentrates (p = 0.028), whereas in the absence of such signs the recovery produced by fresh concentrates was not significantly higher than with stored concentrates. These findings may be relevant for the logistics in blood banking.     

Industrial contributions to desertification in South America

Degradation of tropical lands has a grim inevitability. This is true of semi-arid and seasonal ecosystems as it is of the rainforests, whose plight has been the principal focus of attention in recent years. The broad belt of savanna-like vegetation in central South America has suffered an accelerating decline in productivity due to overclearing and overgrazing, a process that can be traced directly to the industrialization of Europe in the 19th century. The remorseless slide towards unproductivity need not be slow: a mere 50-100 years seems more than adequate, even for the more robust landscapes. With careful management however, some of these lands are slowly recovering.