I. Analysis of Animal Fats. II. Cyclisation in the Friedel-Crafts Ketone Synthesis. With an Addendum on the Structure of Byssochlamic Acid

The work done on the fats of oxen, pigs, the white rat, etc., to determine the effect of diet, age, sex, etc., on their depot fatty acids is of the greatest importance. Herein lies the main difference between vegetable and animal fats. The ultimate aim, of course, would be the fat composition in the various sites as has been done with oxen, pigs, etc., but by present procedure this would be Impossible in the case of small animals unless by accumulated samples from a number of individuals. The initial stage, that of obtaining samples of the less common animals, has been overcome, as stated above, by the cooperation of zoological authorities and other sources. About twenty samples of a wide variety have been sent to us during a year and these have been extracted and stored in a refrigerator for future work. Treatment prior to extraction of these samples required investigation since the presence of disease in some of the tissues made sterilisation desirable. Apparatus has been designed for extraction of animal fats varying from hard tallows to liquid fish oils. This procedure was quite different from the seed oil method since tissue is often tough and resistant to breakdown. As some of the samples were too small for analysis by standard procedure, considerable time was spent in testing the reliability of the usual methods on the small scale, and the use of approximately 0.6 g. for the saponification equivalent measurement has given satisfactory results. Mixtures of fatty acids similar to those in animal fats have been subjected to low temperature crystallisation and the optimum conditions found. Crystallisation from methyl alcohol at -20 has proved as effective and less troublesome than the usual lead salt separation of saturated from unsaturated acids. The technique has been improved and a low temperature cabinet for better control of conditions is being made. The efficiency of two fractionating columns (Towers and Dixon) in separating various quantities of mixed esters has been investigated. It has been shown that fractional distillation of small quantities (12 g. and 6 g.) with subsequent use of the semi-micro technique for the saponification equivalent gave results almost identical with those obtained by distilling larger quantities (40 g. and 25 g. ) of the same ester mixture. The analysis of three fats has been carried out using the Hilditch procedure modified by the above preparatory work. The method of analysis is to hydrolyse the fat, extract the mixed acids and subject these to low temperature fractional crystallisation to give three or more fractions. These are then esterified and fractionally distilled to twelve or more ester fractions each. The saponification equivalent, iodine value and weights of the ester fractions combined with alkali isomerisation data provide the information for calculation of the acid composition. This is followed by identification of each acid present in appreciable amounts and concentrated by the fractionation during analysis. Except in one case the fatty acids identified in these fats were all the usual acids occurring in seed oils. This was a hexadecenoic acid found in deer fat which gave a dihydroxy derivative having a different melting point from that of the usual one. A hexadecenoic acid giving a dihydroxy derivative of the same melting point as the deer fat derivative has been isolated from spemn oil , but the position of the double bond was not determined. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)

Objective measurement of habitual sedentary behavior in pre-school children: comparison of activPAL with actigraph monitors

The Actigraph is well established for measurement of both physical activity and sedentary behavior in children. The activPAL is being used increasingly in children, though with no published evidence on its use in free-living children to date. The present study compared the two monitors in preschool children. Children (n 23) wore both monitors simultaneously during waking hours for 5.6d and 10h/d. Daily mean percentage of time sedentary (nontranslocation of the trunk) was 74.6 (SD 6.8) for the Actigraph and 78.9 (SD 4.3) for activPAL. Daily mean percentage of time physically active (light intensity physical activity plus MVPA) was 25.4 (SD 6.8) for the Actigraph and 21.1 (SD 4.3) for the activPAL. Bland-Altman tests and paired t tests suggested small but statistically significant differences between the two monitors. Actigraph and activPAL estimates of sedentary behaviour and physical activity in young children are similar at a group level

Living with bushfire risk: Social and environmental influences on preparedness

This paper discusses the process of developing a model capable of informing the development of community outreach strategies to facilitate the sustained adoption of bushfire preparedness measures. Following the identification of anomalies in defining the predictors of preparedness, a qualitative study of the reasoning processes that influence whether or not people decided to prepare for bushfire hazards is presented. The findings of the qualitative study are used to revise the preparedness model. Finally, using data from 482 residents in high bushfire risk areas in Hobart, the ability of the revised model to account for differences in levels of household preparedness is discussed

(4-Nitro­phenolato)(subphthalo­cyaninato)boron(III)1

The main feature of the structure of the title compound, C30H16BN7O3 or NO2PhO-BsubPc, are pairs of mol­ecules linked through π-inter­actions between the concave faces of the BsubPc fragments at a distance of 3.5430 (11) Å across an inversion centre. However, the angle between the planes of the five- and six-menbered rings involved in this inter­action is 1.44 (10)°, causing the inter­acting BsubPcs units to be slightly askew rather than parallel as is typical for π-stacking inter­actions

TRUNCATE-TB: an innovative trial design for drug-sensitive tuberculosis

Background: The number of potential regimens of drug treatment for TB is vast, meaning that evaluating each new treatment against a control in separate two-arm trials requires a huge amount of resources. There is, therefore, a need for innovative trial designs that can evaluate drug regimens simultaneously

Hypertension:A problem of organ blood flow supply-demand mismatch

This review introduces a new hypothesis that sympathetically mediated hypertensive diseases are caused, in the most part, by the activation of visceral afferent systems that are connected to neural circuits generating sympathetic activity. We consider how organ hypoperfusion and blood flow supply–demand mismatch might lead to both sensory hyper-reflexia and aberrant afferent tonicity. We discuss how this may drive sympatho-excitatory-positive feedback and extend across multiple organs initiating, or at least amplifying, sympathetic hyperactivity. The latter, in turn, compounds the challenge to sufficient organ blood flow through heightened vasoconstriction that both maintains and exacerbates hypertension

(4-Cyano­phenolato)(subphthalocyaninato)boron1

The crystal structure of the title compound, C31H16BN7O, (CNPhO-BsubPc) is characterized by pairs of π–π stacking inter­actions between the concave faces of inversion-related BsubPc fragments with a centroid–centroid distance of 3.600 (1) Å. In addition, these pairs of mol­ecules are linked into chains along [101] through further weak π–π stacking inter­actions with a centroid–centroid distance of 3.8587 (9) Å. There are also weak C—H⋯π(arene) inter­actions within the chains

Ferrets exclusively synthesize Neu5Ac and express naturally humanized influenza A virus receptors

Mammals express the sialic acids ​N-acetylneuraminic acid (​Neu5Ac) and ​N-glycolylneuraminic acid (​Neu5Gc) on cell surfaces, where they act as receptors for pathogens, including influenza A virus (IAV). ​Neu5Gc is synthesized from ​Neu5Ac by the enzyme cytidine monophosphate-N-acetylneuraminic acid hydroxylase (CMAH). In humans, this enzyme is inactive and only ​Neu5Ac is produced. Ferrets are susceptible to human-adapted IAV strains and have been the dominant animal model for IAV studies. Here we show that ferrets, like humans, do not synthesize ​Neu5Gc. Genomic analysis reveals an ancient, nine-exon deletion in the ferret CMAH gene that is shared by the Pinnipedia and Musteloidia members of the Carnivora. Interactions between two human strains of IAV with the sialyllactose receptor (sialic acid—α2,6Gal) confirm that the type of terminal sialic acid contributes significantly to IAV receptor specificity. Our results indicate that exclusive expression of ​Neu5Ac contributes to the susceptibility of ferrets to human-adapted IAV strains