Volatile profiles of human skin cell cultures in different degrees of senescence

It is known that skin releases volatile organic compounds to the environment, and also that its emission pattern changes with aging of the skin. It could be considered, that these compounds are intermediaries in cell metabolism, since many intermediaries of metabolic pathways have a volatile potential. In this work, a simple and non-destructive method consisting of SPME sampling and GC/MS analysis was developed to identify volatile organic emanations from cell cultures. This technique, applied to skin cells culture, indicates that the cells or cell metabolism produce several skin emissions. Chemometric analysis was performed in order to explore the relationship between a volatile profile and the senescence of cell cultures. Volatile profiles were different for cell cultures in different degrees of senescence, indicating that volatile compound patterns could be used to provide information about the age of skin cells.     

New Intercommunity Infanticides by the Chimpanzees of Ngogo,Kibale National Park,Uganda

Hostile intercommunity relations, including attacking and killing extra-community infants of both sexes have occurred at most wild chimpanzee sites. We describe three recent cases of intercommunity attacks on infants committed by members of the Ngogo chimpanzee community in Kibale National Park, Uganda. Two of the attacks resulted in confirmed infanticides while a third attack probably resulted in the infant's death. In common with previous accounts of chimpanzee infanticides, the attacks described here occurred during boundary patrols outside the Ngogo community's usual range, adult and adolescent males were the main participants, one infant was cannibalized after being killed, and the victims’ mothers did not accompany the attacking party back to the Ngogo range. However, the patrol parties during each infanticide were larger than before and included females from the Ngogo community. Our observations indirectly support both the range expansion and imbalance of power hypotheses, which address why and under which conditions chimpanzee intercommunity encounters lead to aggression. These cases of intercommunity infanticide add to the growing database of the phenomenon in wild chimpanzees.     

The Teorell membrane oscillator as a mechano-electric transducer

Summary The results of a recent quantitative analysis of the Teorell membrane oscillator are utilized to explore its role as an excitability analogue. Special attention is paid to its role as a mechano-electric transducer. A membrane of exceptionally well-defined pore structure has been used in this study. The analogue properties arise from nonlinear coupling between water and salt fluxes. When the membrane is simultaneously subjected to controlled gradients of hydrostatic pressure, electrical potential and concentration, bi-stable stationary states can be produced. These arise from the opposing effects of pressure and electro-osmosis on the volume flow. Transitions between these states show hysteresis. The factors governing such transitions are analogous to certain types of stimuli encountered in the natural excitation process. The membrane system also shows oscillatory behavior when the hydrostatic pressure gradient is allowed to vary under constant current conditions. This property is related to the bi-stable stationary state phenomena and is compared to the regenerative behavior found in biologically excitable tissues. Particular emphasis is placed upon analogies between the membrane oscillator and certain natural tissues. The importance of the nonlinear nature of the force-flux coupling in the analogue is stressed, and its possible relevance to biological excitability indicated. Some consideration is also given to the role of electro-osmotic flux coupling in biological tissues.     

The steroidal glycoalkaloid α-tomatine

The literature relating to chemical, biochemical and biological aspects of the steroidal glycoalkaloid, α-tomatine, is reviewed. The alkaloid, which can be used as a starting compound for the synthesis of steroidal hormones, is toxic to a wide range of living organisms. The significance of tomatine to plants which elaborate it is discussed and some possible uses of the compound are mentioned.