Cricket Paralysis Virus, a Potential Control Agent for the Olive Fruit Fly, Dacus oleae Gmel

Representatives of several families of insect viruses were tested for growth and pathogenicity in the olive fruit fly, Dacus oleae Gmel. The viruses included nuclear polyhedrosis viruses, an iridovirus, two picornaviruses, and Trichoplusia ni small RNA virus (a member of the Nudaurelia β family), in addition to two naturally occurring viruses of the olive fruit fly. Two viruses, one of the two picornaviruses (cricket paralysis virus [CrPV] and the iridovirus (type 21 from Heliothis armigera), were found to replicate in adult flies. Flies which were fed on a solution containing CrPV for 1 day demonstrated a high mortality with 50% dying within 5 days and nearly 80% dying within 12 days of being fed. The virus was transmissible from infected to noninfected flies by fecal contamination. The CrPV which replicated in the infected flies was demonstrated to be the same as input virus by infection of Drosophila melanogaster cells and examination of the expressed viral proteins, immunoprecipitation of the virus purified from flies, and electrophoretic analysis of the structural proteins.     

Synthesis and biological evaluation of novel 1'-branched and spironucleoside analogues

Novel anomeric spironucleosides and 1'-cyano-2',3'-didehydro-2',3'-dideoxyuridine, a structural analogue of known anti-HIV agents, were prepared by nucleophilic addition of organolithium reagents to 1'-cyano-2'-deoxy- and 1'-cyano-2'-deoxy-2'beta-bromo-uridine derivatives, respectively. The yield and distribution of products depended on the reaction conditions, which were studied in detail. Although none of the compounds exhibited antiviral activity, two compounds displayed cytostatic activity against both murine leukemia and human T-lymphocyte cells.     

The concentration of three anti-seizure medications in hair: the effects of hair color, controlling for dose and age

Background  

This paper assess the relationship between the quantity of three anti-seizure medications in hair and the color of the analyzed hair, while controlling for the effects of dose, dose duration, and patient age for 140 clinical patients undergoing anti-seizure therapy. Three drugs are assessed: carbamazepine (40 patients), valproic acid (40 patients), and phenytoin (60 patients). The relationship between hair assay results, hair color, dose, dose duration, and age is modeled using an analysis of covariance. The covariance model posits the hair assay results as the dependent variable, the hair color as the qualitative categorical independent variable, and dose, dose duration, and age as covariates. The null hypothesis assessed is that there is a no relationship between hair color and the quantity of analyte determined by hair assay such that darker colored hair will demonstrate higher concentrations of analyte than lighter colored hair.     

Binding of oxalyl derivatives of beta-d-glucopyranosylamine to muscle glycogen phosphorylase b

Five oxalyl derivatives of beta-d-glucopyranosylamine were synthesized as potential inhibitors of glycogen phosphorylase (GP). The compounds 1-4 were competitive inhibitors of rabbit muscle GPb (with respect to alpha-d-glucose-1-phosphate) with K(i) values of 0.2-1.4 mM, while compound 5 was not effective up to a concentration of 10 mM. In order to elucidate the structural basis of their inhibition, we analysed the structures of compounds 1-4 in complex with GPb at 1.93-1.96 Angstrom resolution. The complex structures reveal that the inhibitors can be accommodated at the catalytic site at approximately the same position as alpha-d-glucose and stabilize the T-state conformation of the 280 s loop by making several favourable contacts to Asp283 and Asn284 of this loop. Comparison with the lead compound N-acetyl-beta-d-glucopyranosylamine (6) shows that the hydrogen bonding interaction of the amide nitrogen with the main-chain carbonyl oxygen of His377 is not present in these complexes. The differences observed in the K(i) values of the four analogues can be interpreted in terms of subtle conformational changes of protein residues and shifts of water molecules in the vicinity of the catalytic site, variations in van der Waals interactions, conformational entropy and desolvation effects.