Sodium–Sulfur Flow Battery for Low‐Cost Electrical Storage

A new sodium–sulfur (Na–S) flow battery utilizing molten sodium metal and flowable sulfur‐based suspension as electrodes is demonstrated and analyzed for the first time. Unlike the conventional flow battery and the high‐temperature Na–S battery, the proposed flow battery system decouples the energy and power thermal management by operating at different temperatures for the storage tank (near room temperature) and the power stack (100–150 °C). The new Na–S flow battery offers several advantages such as easy preparation and integration of the electrode, low energy efficiency loss due to temperature maintenance, great tolerance of the volume change of the metal anode, and efficient utilization of sulfur. The Na–S flow battery has an estimated system cost in the range of $50–100 kWh^?1 which is very competitive for grid‐scale energy storage applications.     

Central antinociceptive effects of lysine-vasopressin and an analogue

Vasopressin (VP) neurons project to extrahypothalamic sites involved in pain perception, including the substantia gelatinosa of the spinal cord as well as the trigeminal and vagus nerves. Previous studies have reported antinociceptive activity following intracerebroventricular (ICV) or subcutaneous (SC) VP injections (16–100 μg) on the tail-flick test while hyperalgesia has been observed in rats either genetically deficient in VP or treated with antisera to VP. The present study investigated whether nanogram (ng) doses of lysine-vasopressin (LVP) and a VP analogue with prolonged activity increased tail-flick latencies and flinch-jump thresholds following ICV or SC injections. LVP (150 and 500 ng, ICV) significantly increased tail-flick latencies while the analogue 1-deamino-(8-Lys-N^?-(Gly-Gly-Gly))-VP (500 ng, ICV) produced more powerful and prolonged analgesia. In contrast, latencies were not increased by SC injections of LVP (150–1500 ng). Further, flinch-jump thresholds were affected minimally by either ICV or SC LVP injections. These data suggest a role for VP in pain modulation and a central site of this action.     

Loss of morphine hyperphagia following neonatal monosodium glutamate treatment in rats

Morphine stimulates food intake in mildly-deprived and nondeprived rats. Neonatal administration of monosodium glutamate (MSG) destroys the medial-basal hypothalamus and other circumventricular organs, including cells containing beta-endorphin that project to other hypothalamic nuclei proposed in the modulation of morphine hyperphagia. Food intake of MSG-treated and control rats were assessed following vehicle and morphine (1.0-5.0 mg/kg, sc) treatment in a mild (5h) food deprivation paradigm. Morphine hyperphagia was found to be absent in MSG-treated rats, although they responded normally to mild deprivation following vehicle treatment. These results add to the types of ingestive deficits observed in the MSG-treated rat, and suggest that the circumventricular system in general, and opioid medial-basal hypothalamic cells in particular may be implicated in morphine hyperphagia.     

The separate and combined effects of harmonic structure, phase, and FM on female preferences in the barking treefrog (Hyla gratiosa)

In natural advertisement calls of the barking treefrog, Hyla gratiosa, a small amount of incoherent frequency modulation (FM) is present. Incoherency in the FM of a call creates inharmonicity and phase changes between its frequency components. In this study, the combined and separate effects of the harmonic structure, phase spectrum, and FM of an advertisement call on female choice were tested. The harmonic structure of a call can have a direct effect on female preference; females showed a significant preference for static-inharmonic calls over static-harmonic calls. Neither differences in phase or FM alone conferred a preference in two choice tests. However, when FM is present in both calls it does influence female preference for harmonic structure -namely harmonic calls become preferable to inharmonic calls. This reversal of female preference for inharmonicity in a call by the presence of FM suggests that call parameters may interact, and thereby effect mate choice.Abbreviations AP amphibian papilla - BP basilar papilla - FM frequency modulation - PM phase modulation - HS harmonic structure - GB Gaussian Band     

The role of solvents in the stabilization of helical structure: the low pH ribo A8 and A10 double helices in mixed solvents.

The order-disorder transitions of the double helices formed by the ribo-oligoadenylic acids rA8 and rA10 at pH 4.2 have been investigated in a series of organic/aqueous mixed solvents. Melting temperature data, Tm, derived from the uv melting curves were used to define the stability of the double helices in the different mixed solvent systems. It was found that the extent of helix destabilization depended in a predictable fashion on both the quantity and the nature of the added organic solvents. For the C1 through C4 aliphatic alcohols, the longer, less branched alcohols proved to be more effective destabilizers of the helical structure. Significantly, the amides proved to be more powerful destabilizers than the alcohols. Analysis of the melting curves provided the Van't Hoff enthalpy change for each transition. The data are interpreted in terms of the role of solvent in the stabilization of ribonucleic acid structure.     

The molecular organization of the beta-globin complex of the deer mouse, Peromyscus maniculatus

Recombinant DNA clones have been isolated that contain 80 kb of the beta-globin complex from the deer mouse, Peromyscus maniculatus. Comparisons of this complex with that from the laboratory mouse, Mus domesticus (with an order 5'-Hbby, Hbb-bhO, Hbb-bhl, Hbb-bh2, Hbb-bh3, Hbb-bl, Hbb-b2 3') highlight organizational trends in the beta-globin complex since the two species diverged. Unlike other mammals studied thus far, the deer mouse possesses three adult genes. Partial sequence analysis indicates that each of the three adult genes is intact and hence may be functional. Hybridization of one of the two Mus pseudogenes, Hbb-bh3, to genomic blots from Peromyscus reveals that it has a homologous counterpart in Peromyscus. Homologous genes to the two gamma-like Mus genes, Hbb-bhO and Hbb-bhl, are also found in Peromyscus. The strong hybridization between the Hbb-bhl genes and significant nucleotide similarity between the Hbb-bhO genes suggest that both pairs are important for the ontogeny of these mice although no known product has been identified for the Hbb-bhO genes. The presence of Hbb-bhO and Hbb-bhl in Peromyscus suggests that the duplication that created this related gene set occurred before the two lineages diverged. A single gene for Hbb-y has been isolated from Peromyscus. The adult region in Peromyscus has undergone significant divergence from the same region in Mus, having three rather than two adult genes, the acquisition of at least 15 kb of extra DNA relative to Mus, and possibly the loss of the Hbb-bh2 pseudogene. The nonadult region of the complex, in contrast, contains the same set of genes apparently distributed over the same amount of DNA as in the Mus beta- globin complex. This observation suggests that the embryonic region of the complex is more evolutionarily stable than the adult region.