Anorexia Nervosa and Respecting a refusal of life-prolonging Therapy: A Limited Justification

People who suffer from eating disorders often have to be treated against their will, perhaps by being detained, perhaps by being forced to eat. In this paper it is argued that whilst forcing compliance is generally acceptable, there may be circumstances under which a sufferer's refusal of consent to treatment should be respected. This argument will hinge upon whether someone in the grip of an eating disorder can actually make competent decisions about their quality of life. If so, then the decision to refuse therapy may be on a par with other decisions to refuse life-prolonging therapy made by sufferers of debilitating chronic, or acute onset terminal illness. In such cases, palliation might justifiably replace aggressive therapy. The argument will also draw heavily on the distinction between competent refusal of therapy and passive euthanasia, and the distinction between incompetent and irrational decisions. Both distinctions will then be applied to decisions to refuse food. The extent to which sufferers from anorexia nervosa can be categorised as either incompetent or irrational will be examined. It is against this background that it will be argued that at least some of those who suffer from eating disorders should have their refusals respected, even if they may die as a result.     

Characterization of a transferrin-diphtheria toxin conjugate

We report here the synthesis and properties of a hybrid toxin prepared by covalently coupling diphtheria toxin to transferrin. The purified material contained two major hybrid protein species and was highly cytotoxic to mouse LMTK- cells in culture, reducing protein synthesis by 50% in 24 h at a concentration of 1 ng/ml. Cytotoxic activity was completely abolished in the presence of exogenous transferrin or anti-transferrin or anti-diphtheria toxin, thus demonstrating that the hybrid toxin was intoxicating cells via their transferrin receptors and that both the diphtheria toxin and transferrin components of the conjugate were necessary for activity. NH4Cl, a drug that elevates the pH within acidic intracellular vesicles, also blocked cytotoxic activity, suggesting that a low intravesicular pH was required for activity. The inhibitory effect of NH4Cl could be abolished by exposing toxin-treated cells to acidic culture medium, further implicating an acid-dependent step in the mechanism of the hybrid toxin action. Studies on the kinetics of intoxication also implied that endocytosis and exposure to a low pH within vesicles were necessary for cytotoxicity. Altogether, the results suggest that the transferrin-diphtheria toxin conjugate binds to transferrin receptors and is internalized into acidic endocytic vesicles. The enzymatic moiety of diphtheria toxin then apparently enters the cytosol in response to the low pH and subsequently arrests protein synthesis.     

A comparison of three methods for the determination of available lysine in barley

The protein quality of barley was determined by the measurement of the protein efficiency ratio (PER). Available lysine in the same samples was determined chemically and by microbiological assay, and relationships were obtained between PER and either total or available lysine content.In the PER test, groundnut meal was found to be a suitable protein supplement to barley for the purpose of detecting differences in the protein quality of barley. The method was sufficiently sensitive to detect a reduction in protein quality of one variety as a result of micronization. Available lysine values obtained by the modified Tetrahymena method were significantly correlated (r = 0.99) with PER values; there was no significant correlation between total lysine content and the PER value.The available lysine values measured by the two chemical methods were higher than the Tetrahymena values. The Silcock method gave results better correlated (r = 0.93) with the Tetrahymena values than did the Carpenter method (r = 0.82). The results of chemical methods were not significantly related with PER values, but the methods ranked the barleys in an order similar to that obtained with the PER and Tetrahymena tests.     

Self-complementary regions in human albumin mRNA encode important structural regions within the human albumin protein

An analysis of the human albumin mRNA structure revealed a nonrandom distribution of self-complementary regions within the mRNA. The majority of these self-complementary mRNA stretches encode important structural regions of the human albumin protein. The amino acids contained within these regions of the protein exhibit a high degree of hydrophobic complementarity which could influence local protein conformation and contribute to the biological importance of the protein structures.     

The free lipids of Mycobacterium leprae harvested from experimentally infected nine-banded armadillos

The free lipids of a sample of Mycobacterium leprae were extracted by a procedure designed to produce separate non-polar and polar fractions. The composition of these lipids was analysed semi-quantitatively by five special thin-layer chromatographic systems covering the total range of mycobacterial lipid polarities. In order of increasing polarity, the major lipids were dimycocerosates of phthiocerol A, phthiocerol B and phthiodiolone A, glycosyl phenolphthiocerol dimycocerosates and phospholipids, including monoacylphosphatidylinositol di- and pentamannosides. The diacylated forms of these latter lipids, found in most mycobacteria, were not present. The composition of the free lipids of the leprosy bacillus, surveyed over the total polarity range for the first time, showed that the patterns were particularly related to those of Mycobacterium bovis, Mycobacterium kansasii and Mycobacterium marinum.     

Intraspecific molecular variation inHieracium sect.Alpina (Asteraceae), an apomictic group

Intraspecific variation of four agamospecies ofHieracium sect.Alpina was studied using RAPD and isozyme techniques. No variation in either multiprimer RAPD or multi-enzyme phenotypes was observed withinH. holosericeum, suggesting that this widespread species consists of only a single genotype. A low level of within-population isozyme variation was seen inH. tenuifrons andH. calenduliflorum, the origin of which appears to be consistent with somatic mutation. Most isozyme and all RAPD variation in these two species was partitioned between populations. A strong correlation with geography suggests that its cause may be due to polytopic (-polyphyletic?) origin or perhaps to mutation and dispersal. The most variable species wasH. alpinum, in which isozyme variation occurred mostly within populations rather than between them, suggesting occasional sexual events or that the parents ofH. alpinum were heterozygous. RAPD variation in this species, in contrast, was partitioned between Scottish and Swiss populations, suggesting the existence of geographical races.     

Bulge loops used to measure the helical twist of RNA in solution.

Bulge loops are commonly found in helical segments of cellular RNAs. When incorporated into long double-stranded RNAs, they may introduce points of flexibility or permanent bend that can be detected by the altered electrophoretic gel mobility of the RNA. We find that a single An or Un bulge loop near the middle of a long RNA helix significantly retards the RNA during polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis if n greater than or equal to 2. The mobility of an RNA containing two A2 bulges various periodically with the number of base pairs between the bulges. We interpret this to mean that A2 bulges varies periodically with the number of base pairs between the bulges. We interpret this to mean that Z2 bulges form torsionally stiff bends in the helix; the gel mobility reaches a minimum when the total helical twist between the bulges rotates the arms of the molecule into a cis conformation. The gel mobilities are proportional to the predicted end-to-end distance of the RNA if the average RNA helical repeat is 11.8 +/- 0.2 bp/turn and there is no helical twist (3 +/- 9 degrees) associated with the bulge (data obtained in 0.15 M Na+). Other sizes and sequences of bulges have very different effects on RNA helix conformation and flexibility. U2 bulges bend the helix to a much smaller degree than A2 bulges, while longer A or U bulge sequences probably allow bends of 90 degrees or more; all of these may be fairly flexible joints.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)