MODIFICATION OF MEMBRANE COMPOSITION, EICOSANOID METABOLISM, AND IMMUNORESPONSIVENESS BY DIETARY OMEGA-3 AND OMEGA-6 FATTY ACID SOURCES, MODULATORS OF ULTRAVIOLET-CARCINOGENESIS

Dietary sources of lipids containing predominantly n-3 or n-6 fatty acids (FA) have been examined for effect upon several potential pathophysiologic parameters. Epidermal, plasma, and red blood cell (RBC) membrane FA composition exhibited marked differences between animals fed the respective dietary lipid sources. Reduced levels of 18:1, 20:3 and 20:4 occurred in the n-3 FA fed animals which exhibited significantly higher levels of 20:5 and 22:6. Approximately equal levels of 18:2 were present in animals fed either diet. Despite marked differences in RBC membrane FA composition, only marginal effect upon osmotic fragility occurred. Lower levels of 20:3 and 20:4 found in n-3 fed animals could result from a deficit of elongase and/or delta 5-desaturase activity. Whether lower 20:4 levels in n-3 fed animals could rate-limit eicosanoid metabolism is unknown, but epidermal capacity to metabolise arachidonic acid in these animals was found to be closely related to n-6 FA intake. Animals fed n-3 FA exhibited markedly lower levels of plasma PGE2, even when the diet was supplemented with n-6 FA. In addition, UV-radiated animals receiving the n-3 FA source demonstrated a reduced (approximately 30%) response to inflammatory stimulus and a greater (4.5-fold) delayed hypersensitivity (DH) to dinitrochlorobenzene than animals fed the n-6 FA source. These data demonstrate that dietary lipid strongly influences tissue FA composition, eicosanoid metabolism, and, in the case of DH, at least one type of T-cell mediated immune response in UV-irradiated animals.     

Mass spectrometric investigation of polyfluorinated C60. Evidence for the existence of C60F2n (n = 0–30)

Electron-capture negative ion chemical ionization (EC-NICI) and field desorption (FD) mass spectrometric techniques were utilized to examine polyfluorinated C₆₀. Two different samples from the same preparation, one prior to sublimation and the other sublimed material, were investigated. From the raw non-sublimed product in EC-NCI six series of ions corresponding to different numbers of attached oxygen atoms were obtained, which are represented by the formula [C₆₀F_2nO_m]^?, where n ranged from 0 to 30 and m from 0 to 5. The sublimed material in EC-NICI produced the same six series of ions with up to 48 fluorine atoms attached to C₆₀. The field desorption of the same sample produced similar results, but the signal-to-noise ratios of the spectra were low. Both samples, in the two different techniques examined, yielded C₆₀F₆₀ ions with only an even number of fluorine atoms attached. The present investigation, for the first time, provides direct experimental evidence for the existence of higher fluorinated C₆₀ up to C₆₀F₆₀ and multiple oxides of polyfluoro-C₆₀ with up to five oxygen atoms attached.     

Infinite measure preserving transformations with compact first regeneration

We study ergodic infinite measure preserving transformations T possessing reference sets of finite measure for which the set of densities of the conditional distributions given a first return (or entrance) at time n is precompact in a suitable function space. Assuming regular variation of wandering rates, we establish versions of the Darling-Kac theorem and the arcsine laws for waiting times and for occupation times which apply to transformations with indifferent orbits and to random walks driven by Gibbs-Markov maps. This research was supported by an APART [Austrian programme for advanced research and technology] fellowship of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Much of this work was done at the Mathematics Department of Imperial College London. I also benefitted from a JRF at the ESI in Vienna.     

Heavy carbon doping of AlAs by elemental-source molecular beam epitaxy

Heavily carbon-doped AlAs films with free-hole concentrations in excess of 10¹⁹ cm^–3 have been grown by conventional molecular beam epitaxy using elemental sources. The hole concentration in AlAs:C saturates at 6×10¹⁹ cm^–3 without any detectable deterioration of the smooth surface morphology and of the structural properties. At very high carbon concentrations the lattice contraction due to the smaller covalent radius of carbon leads to an in-plane lattice constant of the AlAs:C films which is even smaller than that of the GaAs substrate. The high freehole concentration and the tunability of the lattice constant are important for application in p-type GaAs/AlAs Bragg reflectors in surface emitting lasers having a low series resistance and a significantly reduced lattice mismatch.