WHOLE-CELL CLAMP STUDY OF XENOPUS EMBRYONIC CHOLINERGIC NEURONS

Whole-cell clamped myoballs are placed into direct visible contact with the growth cones of isolated neurons in embryonic Xenopus culture to serve as probe of acetylchollne (AcCHo) release in order to determine whether these neurons are cholinergic or not. Using a GQ-seal, whole-cell recording method, the electrophysiological properties of these identified cholinergic neurons are studied. It is found that these embryonic neurons, like adult frog motor neurons, exhibit repetitive firings in a certain embryonic developing stage. A development of repetitive firings is observed simultaneously. Tracing the development of one neuron, we find that the development of repetitive firing is completed at the 48th h after fertilization. Tetrodotoxin (TTX) which blocks Na~+ channels can abolish all firings; and tetraethyl ammonium chloride (TEA), the blocker of K~+ channels, reverses this development, i. e. it makes the repetitive firings disappear again. These data show that the nature of the development of repetiti     

A comparison of some integral methods

The integral methods proposed to compute the kinetic parameters of heterogeneous reactions under non-isothermal conditions are usually worked by the help of the least squares method and the obtained correlation coefficient is taken as a criterion to choose the best integral method.An analysis of several experimental data by mean of three different integral methods was performed by us and the results pointed out that this criterion, by itself, is not enough to provide reliable information on the kinetic parameters.It appears, thus, that the use of an integral method or another is a simple matter of researcher's choice.

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Zusammenfassung Integrationsmethoden zur Berechnung kinetischer Parameter von heterogenen Reaktionen unter nicht isothermen Bedingungen werden im allgemeinen nach der Methode der kleinsten Quadrate erarbeitet und der ermittelte Korrelationskoeffizient dient als ein Kriterium für die Auswahl der besten Integrationsmethode.Mittels drei verschiedenen Integrationsmethoden wurde eine Analyse verschiedener experimenteller Daten durchgeführt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, daß dieses Kriterium allein nicht ausreicht, um ausreichende Informationen über die kinetischen Parameter zu liefern.Es scheint deshalb, daß die Verwendung der einen oder anderen Integrationsmethode einfach eine Wahl des Anwenders darstellt.

     

Mechano-chemische Reaktionen des Polyvinylchlorids 7. Einfluß einiger Faktoren auf die Zugfestigkeit der durch Walzen von PVC-S in Anwesenheit von aromatischen Diaminen erhaltenen Produkte

Zusammenfassung Die Möglichkeit von chemischen Reaktionen des Polyvinylchlorids mit niedermolekularen Beimischungen vom Typ aromatischer Diamine während der Verarbeitung des Polymeren durch Walzen wird besprochen.Die so erhaltenen Produkte weisen eine höhere Streckfestigkeit gegenüber dem ursprünglichen Polymeren auf; diese mechanische Eigenschaft wird als Auswirkung der Reaktion betrachtet. Es wird der Einfluß einiger Parameter des Verarbeitungsvorganges (Diaurin - Menge, Dauer, Temperatur) auf die Streckfestigkeit der so erhaltenen Erzeugnisse verfolgt.     

Synthesis,properties, and fungal degradation of castor-oil-based polyurethane composites with different cellulose contents

Different contents of bonded cellulose were dispersed in a matrix of castor-oil-based polyurethane to produce composites with high susceptibility to fungal attack. We chose to bond the cellulose filler with free diisocyanate, to increase the crosslinking density. Measurements indicated physical and chemical interactions between the polyurethane matrix and cellulose filler. The cellulose network significantly enhanced the interfacial adhesion and thus improved the thermal stability and Young’s modulus of the composites. The influences of the amount of cellulose on the surface chemical structure, surface morphology, and mechanical properties after fungal attack were also investigated. The tensile strength and elongation at break of these composites substantially decreased after exposure to fungus. These composites with high content of renewable raw materials present an optimal balance of physical properties and biodegradability, with potential applications as ecofriendly biomaterials.     

Quantifying the relationships among drug classes

The similarity of drug targets is typically measured using sequence or structural information. Here, we consider chemo-centric approaches that measure target similarity on the basis of their ligands, asking how chemoinformatics similarities differ from those derived bioinformatically, how stable the ligand networks are to changes in chemoinformatics metrics, and which network is the most reliable for prediction of pharmacology. We calculated the similarities between hundreds of drug targets and their ligands and mapped the relationship between them in a formal network. Bioinformatics networks were based on the BLAST similarity between sequences, while chemoinformatics networks were based on the ligand-set similarities calculated with either the Similarity Ensemble Approach (SEA) or a method derived from Bayesian statistics. By multiple criteria, bioinformatics and chemoinformatics networks differed substantially, and only occasionally did a high sequence similarity correspond to a high ligand-set similarity. In contrast, the chemoinformatics networks were stable to the method used to calculate the ligand-set similarities and to the chemical representation of the ligands. Also, the chemoinformatics networks were more natural and more organized, by network theory, than their bioinformatics counterparts: ligand-based networks were found to be small-world and broad-scale.     

Optimization of CAMD techniques 3. Virtual screening enrichment studies: a help or hindrance in tool selection?

Over the last few years many articles have been published in an attempt to provide performance benchmarks for virtual screening tools. While this research has imparted useful insights, the myriad variables controlling said studies place significant limits on results interpretability. Here we investigate the effects of these variables, including analysis of calculation setup variation, the effect of target choice, active/decoy set selection (with particular emphasis on the effect of analogue bias) and enrichment data interpretation. In addition the optimization of the publicly available DUD benchmark sets through analogue bias removal is discussed, as is their augmentation through the addition of large diverse data sets collated using WOMBAT.     

Mechanochemically initiated polymerizations—5. Polymerization by vibratory milling of acrylamide and methacrylamide

Mechanochemical polymerization by vibratory milling of acrylamide and methacrylamide is discussed. The influences of duration, nature of medium and temperature are examined. The polymers are characterized by elemental analysis, i.r.-spectroscopy. X-ray and by determination of some properties. An anion-radical mechanism is proposed.     

Obituary: Toshio Fujita,QSAR pioneer

This is the obituary for Toshio Fujita, pioneer of the quantitative structure activity relationship (QSAR) paradigm.