Influence of environmental factors during seed development and after full-ripeness on pre-harvest sprouting in wheat

Results on environmental and genotypic factors influencing preharvest sprouting of wheat are summarized. Other possible areas where additional research is needed is suggested

Violation and persistence of the K-quantum number in warm rotating nuclei

The validity of the K-quantum number in rapidly rotating warm nuclei is investigated as a function of thermal excitation energy U and angular momentum I, for the rare-earth nucleus 163Er. The quantal eigenstates are described with a shell model which combines a cranked Nilsson mean-field and a residual two-body interaction, together with a term which takes into account the angular momentum carried by the K-quantum number in an approximate way. K-mixing is produced by the interplay of the Coriolis interaction and the residual interaction; it is weak in the region of the discrete rotational bands (U \lesim 1MeV), but it gradually increases until the limit of complete violation of the K-quantum number is approached around U \sim 2 - 2.5 MeV. The calculated matrix elements between bands having different K-quantum numbers decrease exponentially as a function of $\Delta K$, in qualitative agreement with recent data.Comment: 29 pages, 7 figure

Computer Modeling: The Adjunct Micro Technique for Lipids

Chemistry by computer provides access to microsystem information not readily achieved by other means. Simple computational analysis of saturated triglyceride polymorphism by molecular mechanics within constraints provided by X-ray data show that polymethylene interactions determine hydrocarbon crystal properties when they account for more than 60 percent of the total molecular interaction energy. Modeling predicts multiple , nearly equivalent, a -form triglycerides and a -form character in liquid near-crystalline triglycerides. Symmetrical molecules pack better than asymmetric molecules in a-form configurations and transform readily to 13\u27forms if activated sufficiently to disrupt lateral chain interaction and allow dimensional displacements during transformation. The formation of P\u27-forms, thought important for quality in certain foods, may depend on controlling both the configuration of a-form precursors and the sequence of molecular events during the transformation

Studies on the Functional Mechanism of System II Herbicides in Isolated Chloroplasts

The effect of specific proteolytic enzymes on variable fluorescence, p-benzoquinone-mediated oxygen evolution, PS II herbicide (atrazine and bromoxynil) binding, and protein degradation has been analyzed in isolated class II pea chloroplasts. It was found that: 1. Trypsin and a lysine-specific protease effectively reduce the maximum chlorophyll-a fluorescence yield, whereas the initial fluorescence remains almost constant. At the same number of enzymatic activity units both proteases have practically the same effect. 2. Trypsin and a lysine-specific protease inhibit the p-benzoquinone-mediated flash-induced oxygen evolution with trypsin being markedly more effective at the same number of activity units of both enzymes. Unstacked thylakoids exhibit a higher sensitivity to proteolytic degradation by both enzymes. 3. Trypsin and a lysine-specific protease reduce the binding capacity of [14C]atrazine, but enhance that of [14C]bromoxynil (at long incubation times trypsin treatment also impairs bromoxynil binding). At the same specific activity a markedly longer treatment is required for the lysine-specific protease in order to achieve the same degree of modification as with trypsin. 4. Trypsin was found to attack the rapidly-turned-over 32 kDa-protein severely, whereas the lysine-specific protease does not modify this polypeptide. On the other hand, the lysine-specific protease attacks the light harvesting complex II. 5. Under our experimental conditions an arginine-specific protease did not affect chlorophyll-a fluorescence yield, p-benzoquinone-mediated oxygen evolution, herbicide binding and the poly- peptide pattern. Based on these results a mechanism is proposed in which an as yet unidentified polypeptide with exposable lysine residues, as well as the lysine-free “QB-protein” regulate the electron transfer from Q-A to QB and are involved in herbicide binding

Calcium-free Solid Solutions in the System Ba7F12Cl2−xBrx (x<1.5), a Single-component White Phosphor Host

We have recently prepared solid solutions of Ba∼6.3Ca∼0.7F12Cl2−xBrx with x ranging from 0 to 2. In this work, the synthesis and single crystal X-ray structure of calcium-free crystals of Ba∼6.9Na∼0.2F12Br0.6Cl1.4 (space group P63/m, a=10.6024(10), c=4.2034(4)Å), Ba∼6.9Na∼0.2F12Br1.4 Cl0.6 (space group P63/m, a=10.6155(9), c=4.2355(4)Å) and Ba∼6.9Na∼0.2Br1.32Cl0.68F12 (space group P63/m, a=10.6218(9), c=4.2284(4)Å) are reported. These crystals systematically present additional electron density at the 0 0 0.25 position which is associated with the presence of small, but significant amounts of Na+ ions in the crysta

AXL modulates extracellular matrix protein expression and is essential for invasion and metastasis in endometrial cancer

The receptor tyrosine kinase AXL promotes migration, invasion, and metastasis. Here, we evaluated the role of AXL in endometrial cancer. High immunohistochemical expression of AXL was found in 76% (63/83) of advanced-stage, and 77% (82/107) of high-grade specimens and correlated with worse survival in uterine serous cancer patients. In vitro, genetic silencing of AXL inhibited migration and invasion but had no effect on proliferation of ARK1 endometrial cancer cells. AXL-deficient cells showed significantly decreased expression of phospho-AKT as well as uPA, MMP-1, MMP-2, MMP-3, and MMP-9. In a xenograft model of human uterine serous carcinoma with AXL-deficient ARK1 cells, there was significantly less tumor burden than xenografts with control ARK1 cells. Together, these findings underscore the therapeutic potentials of AXL as a candidate target for treatment of metastatic endometrial cancer