Hurricane Allen's Impact on Jamaican Coral Reefs.

Coral reefs of north Jamaica, normally sheltered, were severely damaged by Hurricane Allen, the strongest Caribbean hurricane of this century. Immediate studies were made at Discovery Bay, where reef populations were already known in some detail. Data are presented to show how damage varied with the position and orientation of the substraturn and with the shape, size, and mechanical properties of exposed organisms. Data collected over succeeding weeks showed striking differences in the ability of organisms to heal and survive.

Retinoids for preventing the progression of cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia.

BACKGROUND: Invasive cervical carcinoma is preceded by a precancerous phase, cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia (CIN), which can be detected on cervical smears and confirmed by colposcopy and biopsy. Moderate and severe intra-epithelial neoplasia (CIN2 and CIN3) are treated mainly with surgery to prevent progression to invasive carcinoma. Medical methods of preventing the progression or inducing regression of CIN are needed. Retinoids are potent modulators of epithelial cell growth and differentiation and may have potential for the treatment of CIN. OBJECTIVES: To ascertain whether retinoids can cause regression or prevent progression of CIN. SEARCH STRATEGY: Cochrane Gynaecological Cancer Review Group's Specialised Register and Non-Trials Database, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (Issue 2,2007),MEDLINE and EMBASE (June 2007). SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and non-RCTs of retinoids for treating CIN in women. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two authors independently assessed trial quality and extracted data from the trials. Adverse effects information was also collected from the trials. MAIN RESULTS: Five RCTs comparing the efficacy of four different retinoids were identified. Two studies examined the effect on CIN2 and CIN3 of retinoids N-(4-hydroxyphenyl)retinamide (fenretinide) (Follen 2001) and 9-cis-retinoic acid (aliretinoin) (Alvarez 2003) given orally and two examined the effect of all-trans-retinoic acid given topically to the cervix (Meyskens 1994; Ruffin 2004). The fifth study investigated the use of 13-cis-retinoic acid (isotretinoin) given orally in HIV positive patients with CIN1 and condyloma (Robinson 2002).Four studies reported no significant effect of retinoids on the progression to higher grades of CIN, whilst the fifth did not report data on progression. In all studies retinoids had no significant effect on regression of CIN3. Two studies reported that retinoids were associated with regression of CIN2. One reported a greater complete regression of CIN2 over placebo, which was of borderline statistical significance, odds ratio(OR) = 0.5 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.25 to 1.02). The other study reported a non-significant dose-related trend towards increased rates of complete and partial regression compared with placebo. One study reported a significantly worse outcome in women receiving retinoid, OR for regression = 6.00 (95% CI 1.00 to 35.91). In general, the retinoid medications were well tolerated. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: The retinoids studied are not effective at causing regression of CIN3 but may have some effect on CIN2. The data on CIN1 is inadequate. Retinoids are not effective at preventing progression of CIN of any grade. At the doses given and duration of treatment studied, the retinoids were reasonably well-tolerated.

Early synthesis of membrane protein after bacteriophage T4 infection.

Proteins that associate with cellular membrane during the first 5 min after infection with bacteriophage T4 were examined. Several procedures, including electrophoretic separations in three sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel systems and inhibition of host protein synthesis by UV irradiation, were employed to distinguish host-specified proteins from those induced by T4. Residual host protein synthesis was found to account for much of the new protein in preparations of the total membrane and for almost all of the newly synthesized protein in the outer membrane. Preliminary evidence indicates that the synthesis of some host membrane proteins is shut off less rapidly than is host synthesis of soluble protein. One host-directed polypeptide of the outer membrane was unique in that its synthesis or incorporation into the membrane was preferentially inhibited by infection. Also, it was found that the detergent Sarkosyl solubilizes all early T4 membrane proteins; this observation provides the basis for a simple procedure for distinguishing phage proteins from host outer membrane proteins.

Localization of membrane protein synthesized after infection with bacteriophage T4.

The synthesis of membrane protein after infection with bacteriophage T4 was examined. Protein constituents of both the cytoplasmic and outer membrane are made during the infective cycle. In addition, newly synthesized membrane protein is found in material which has a buoyant density greater than that of either of the two host membrane fractions. Polyacrylamide gel analyses and solubilization studies using the detergent Sarkosyl indicate that synthesis of most of the membrane proteins made during the first 5 min of infection is directed by bacterial genes. New membrane proteins synthesized at times greater than 6 min after infection appear to be distinct from those of the host, and new proteins of the outer membrane are different from those of the inner. Proteins in the new dense membrane fraction are similar to those of the outer membrane.

Effect of inhibition of macromolecule synthesis on the association of bacteriophage T4 DNA with membrane.

The "Mg(2+)-Sarkosyl crystals" (M band) technique distinguishes between membrane-bound and free intracellular DNA. This procedure was employed to investigate the nature of the reactions necessary to convert input T4 DNA to a rapidly sedimenting form. Energy poisoning inhibits this attachment reaction. Neither protein nor DNA synthesis appears to be required, but experiments with rifampin and extensively irradiated T4 suggest that RNA synthesis is involved. These results were confirmed by a second procedure for the determination of rapidly sedimenting DNA.

Solubilization of the cytoplasmic membrane of Escherichia coli by the ionic detergent sodium-lauryl sarcosinate.

The sensitivity of the outer and cytoplasmic membranes of Escherichia coli to detergent was examined by isopycnic sucrose density gradient centrifugation. Sodium lauryl sarcosinate (Sarkosyl) was found to disrupt the cytoplasmic membrane selectively under conditions in which Triton X-100 and dodecyl sodium sulfate solubilized all membrane protein. These results were verified by gel electrophoresis; membrane proteins solubilized by Sarkosyl were identical to those of the cytoplasmic membrane. The presence of Mg(2+) during treatment with Sarkosyl was found to afford partial protection of the cytoplasmic membrane from dissolution.