The release of alanine by rat diaphragm muscle in vitro.

Z discs were isolated from Lethocerus flight muscle by removing the contractile proteins from myofibrils with a solution of high ionic strength. The protein composition of the Z discs was analysed by sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis; the major proteins were alpha-actinin, actin and tropomyosin. Z lines were selectively removed from intact myofibrils by digestion with crude lipase and chymotrypsin, but not by purified lipase.     

The anaerobic decomposition of benzoic acid during methane fermentation

Anaerobic rupture of the benzoic acid ring was investigated. Carbon 4 was converted primarily to carbon dioxide. Following ring rupture during methane fermentation, propanoic acid is an intermediate, and carbon 4 of benzoate becomes its carboxyl.Contribution No. 1285-j, Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506. This work was supported in part by funds from the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506. Paper II of this series is Fina and Fiskin (1960)     

Heterologous transformation in Bacillus subtilis. 1. Transmission of DNA of the R1drd19 plasmid]

Bac. subtilis 168 (BD-25) cells were infected with DNA of plasmide R1drd19 isolated from E. coli strain; transformants resistant to streptomycin (500 microgram/ml) and kanamycin (40 microgram/ml) appeared with the frequency of 2.10(-6). These transformants retained resistance to the mentioned antibiotics stably. A satellite DNA peak was revealed in centrifugation in the density gradient of cesium chloride with ethidium bromide. It was possible to infect cells of Bac. subtilis 168 (BD-25) with plasmide DNA isolated from the transformants. Plasmide transduction with the aid of phages AR9 and PBSI multiplied on the transformant strains was also effected. Physico-chemical analysis of the transformed plasmide DNA was conducted; its molecular weight was determined.     

Rock-Climbing Injuries in Yosemite National Park

This study was presented in part at the annual meeting of the Wilderness Medical Society at Aspen, Colorado, in August 1986 and at “Mountain Medicine 1987,” Leavenworth, Washington, in November 1987.We questioned 220 injured rock climbers or their partners seen consecutively at the Yosemite (California) Medical Clinic over 3 ½ years regarding details of their accidents. Injury type and location were extracted from medical records and severity quantified. The National Park Service rescued 27% of the climbers. Injured climbers were characteristically male (88%) and experienced (mean 5.9 years) and typically fell while leading climbs (66%). Among 451 injuries, 50% were to the skin or subcutaneous tissues, while 28% involved the lower extremity and were predominantly fractures. In terms of each climber''s most severe injury (n = 220), 45% involved the lower extremities (30% from the ankle alone). Head injury or hypothermia caused 12 of 13 fatalities, showing the lowest case-fatality rate reported to date among injured climbers (6%). Rescue personnel successfully managed airways in victims of head injuries, anticipated and treated complications of hypothermia, and stabilized fractures. Victims requiring immediate extensive surgical intervention or blood transfusion usually died before rescue could be effected.     

A new species of Eriocaulon (Eriocaulaceae) from Madhya Pradesh, India

Eriocaulon raipurense (Eriocaulaceae) is described and illustrated as a new species from Madhya Pradesh, India. The species is closely allied to E. hamiltonianum but differs in the size and apex of involucral bancts, white-pilose nature of floral bracts and colour of female petals.     

Studies on the formation and stability of a complex between Streptomyces proteinaceous metalloprotease inhibitor and thermolysin.

The effects of certain physicochemical parameters on the formation and stability of a complex between Streptomyces proteinaceous metalloprotease inhibitor (SMPI) and thermolysin were investigated. SMPI had its lowest Ki value at a pH of around 6.5 (similar to the pH dependence of the kcat/K(m) of thermolysin catalysis), reflecting the splitting mechanism of the SMPI inhibition of thermolysin. This Ki increased with an increase in pressure, and in (Ki-1) was almost linear with respect to pressure. The volume of the reaction (delta Vcomp), which is the volume change accompanying enzyme-inhibitor complex formation, was calculated as +8.1 +/- 0.3 mL.mol-1, which has a sign opposite to delta Vcomp for neutral peptide inhibitors and acyl-peptide substrates. The temperature dependence of Ki-1 gave the reaction enthalpy (delta Hcomp) and reaction entropy (delta Scomp) of the complex formation as 34.6 +/- 1.4 kJ.mol-1 and 298 +/- 5 J.mol-1.K-1, respectively. These positive reaction volumes and reaction entropies were related to the electrostatic interactions and ionic strength dependence of Ki which corresponded to the key ionic interaction during complex formation. Complex formation with SMPI stabilized thermolysin against pressure perturbation as observed by the changes in the Trp fluorescence of thermolysin with increasing pressure. Thermal stability, however, was affected very little by complex formation with SMPI. Phosphoramidon, Cbz-Phe-Gly-NH2 and Cbz-Phe also positively affected the pressure-tolerance of thermolysin, in the following order: Cbz-Gly-Phe-NH2 < Cbz-Phe < phosphoramidon. The third compound exhibited stabilizing effects comparable with those of SMPI, which suggests that the interaction between SMPI and thermolysin was localized to the reactive site.