Proteolytic processing of the Sindbis virus non-structural polyproteins (P123 and P1234) and synthesis of minus- and plus-strand RNAs are highly regulated during virus infection. Although their precise roles have not been defined, these polyproteins, processing intermediates or mature cleavage products (nsP1-4) are believed to be essential components of viral replication and transcription compl...

Zinc in pooled human serum, diluted 10-fold with demineralized water, was determined by flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Recoveries of zinc added to the serum were calculated by use of standards prepared in water, physiological saline, synthetic serum, or dilute HNO3 (10 ml/liter). The flow rates were essentially the same (9.1 to 9.3 ml/min) for water, diluted synthetic serum or act...

We compared results obtained by (a) chemical (spectrophotometric) and competitive protein-binding assays for serum corticosteroids, and (b) competitive protein-binding and radioimmunoassay, with and without CCI-4 extraction, for serum cortisol. The two corticosteroid methods gave identical results. Radioimmunoassay with and without a CCI-4 extraction step gave identical results for cortisol. Co...

The minus partial order linear algebraic methods have proven to be useful in the study of complex matrices. This paper extends study of minus partial orders to general rings. It is shown that the condition a < b, where < is the minus partial order, defines two triples of orthogonal idempotents, and thus, a decomposition of a ring into a direct sum of abelian groups. Hence, several well-known re...

Serum digitoxin levels were measured in 18 infants (under two years) and in 23 children (aged 2-13 years) receiving maintenance therapy. Digitalization was carried out because of heart failure in 17 infants and 13 children and for control of dysrhythmia in one infant and 10 children. Mean maintenance dosage for infants was 0.0042 plus or minus 0.0008 (sd) mg/kg/day and for children was 0.0031 p...

The molecular basis of microtubule dynamic instability is controversial, but is thought to be related to a "GTP cap." A key prediction of the GTP cap model is that the proposed labile GDP-tubulin core will rapidly dissociate if the GTP-tubulin cap is lost. We have tested this prediction by using a UV microbeam to cut the ends from elongating microtubules. Phosphocellulose-purified tubulin was a...

Cyclaneusma needle-cast has a major impact on the New Zealand forest industry. The causal agent, Cyclaneusma minus, causes most severe damage to 11–20 year-old trees and currently there are no economically viable procedures for control of the disease in New Zealand. Here we present a method for genetic transformation of C. minus using protoplasts generated by incubation with GlucanexTM enzyme. ...

Replication of the woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV) genome requires the synthesis of minus-strand DNA from an RNA template, the pregenome, by reverse transcription. During this reaction, the 5' end of minus-strand DNA becomes covalently linked to a protein. The position of the 5' end of minus-strand DNA was identified previously, but the initiation site for DNA synthesis on pregenomic RNA remain...

Plastid trnL-trnF and nuclear ribosomal ITS sequences were obtained from selected wild-type individuals of Polygonum minus Huds. in Peninsular Malaysia. The 380 bp trnL-trnF sequences of the Polygonum minus accessions were identical. Therefore, the trnL-trnF failed to distinguish between the Polygonum minus accessions. However, the divergence of ITS sequences (650 bp) among the Polygonum minus ...

An animal chamber and a simple microspectrophotometer for investigating the in vivo oxygenation of the haemoglobin of E. brevis are described. The in vivo absorption peaks of this haemoglobin occur at similar wavelengths to those of other nematodes. Mean values, given with their corresponding standard errors, occur at 577.6 plus or minus 0.6 nm, 543.6 plus or minus 0.5 nm and 421.7 plus or minu...