Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to C R Stewart.
A raised maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein concentration was taken as an indicator of fetomaternal haemorrhage due to amniocentesis and was used to calculate the volume of the fetal bleed. The alpha-fetoprotein concentration seemed to be a more sensitive and reliable indicator than the established Kleihauer technique and may have further applications in antenatal testing.
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The conversion of proline to glutamic acid and hence to other soluble compounds (proline oxidation) proceeds readily in turgid barley (Hordeum vulgare) leaves and is stimulated by higher concentrations of proline. This suggests that proline oxidation could function as a control mechanism for maintaining low cellular levels of proline in turgid tissue. In water-stressed tissue, however, proline oxidation is reduced to negligible rates. These results are consistent with the idea that proline accumulation results from inactivation by water stress of normal control mechanisms. It seems likely that inhibition of proline oxidation is necessary in maintaining the high levels of proline found in stressed barley leaves.
Mutants affected in cistrons 21 and 32 of bacteriophage SPO1 are defective specifically in the initiation of DNA replication. Mutations in cistron 32 also specifically affect the termination of replication.
A procedure is described for the selective isolation of temperature-sensitive replication-deficient mutants of Bacillus subtilis phage SPO1. A modification of the procedure permits the isolation of temperature-sensitive mutants in specific cistrons of interest. The applicability of these procedures to other viral systems is discussed. The mutations isolated were assigned to eight replication-deficient cistrons, with the cold-sensitive mutations showing a distribution strikingly different from that of the heat-sensitive mutations. As a preliminary to the identification of initiation-deficient mutants, the mutants were divided into three classes on the basis of their ability to synthesize DNA after a shift to nonpermissive temperature. We also report two incidental results: (i) the SPO1 dUMP hydroxymethylase, like the T4 dCMP hydroxymethylase, may be part of a multifunctional complex; and (ii) mutants were isolated that were replication positive but lysis deficient and failed to complement one of the replication-deficient mutants.
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Barley (Hordeum vulgare L. var. Prior) leaves converted more (14)C-glutamic acid to free proline when water-stressed than when turgid; neither decreased protein synthesis nor isotope trapping by the enlarged free proline pools found in wilted tissue seemed to account for the result. This apparent stimulation of proline biosynthesis in wilted leaves was not observed when radioactive ornithine or P5C (Delta(1)-pyrroline-5-carboxylate, an intermediate following glutamate in proline synthesis) were used as proline precursors unless proline levels were high as a result of previous water stress. We interpret this to mean that any stimulation of proline synthesis by water stress must act on P5C formation rather than its reduction to proline. Experiments showing greater apparent conversion of (14)C-glutamate to proline do not unequivocally prove that proline synthesis is stimulated by water stress, as P5C feeding studies show that proline oxidation is inhibited under comparable conditions. This inhibition could account, at least in part, for increased proline labeling, and must be considered an alternate possibility.
This paper is a clinical discussion of the effects of corneal lens fenestration on visible corneal edema and spectacle blur. Most of the discussion centers about photo slit lamp material selected to illustrate some of the author's experience with the subject. Although everyone does not benefit from fenestration, photographs show several cases in which visible corneal edema is reduced. Among patient impressions, the outstanding benefit is reduction of spectacle blur.
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The effect of carbohydrate on arginine utilization by excised bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L. var. Tendergreen) leaves in the dark was studied by adding arginine to leaves differing in carbohydrate levels, and measuring the arginine content of the leaves at intervals. In nonstarved leaves, the arginine content decreased steadily after vacuum infiltration of 10 mm arginine and was essentially completely utilized by 36 hours after infiltration. In starved leaves, the arginine content did not decrease except for a brief period of about 4 hours after infiltration. The distribution of (14)C after adding (14)C-arginine to starved and nonstarved leaves indicated that the presence of carbohydrates in the leaves stimulates the utilization of arginine for protein synthesis and conversion to other amino acids, organic acids, and CO(2) (catabolism). Adding sucrose along with arginine to starved leaves stimulated this utilization of arginine for both protein synthesis and catabolism. This effect of sugar on catabolism is different than results of similar studies done previously with proline.Increasing the concentration of added arginine greatly increased arginine catabolism but had a relatively small effect on utilization of arginine for protein synthesis. This result is the same as similar results from adding different concentrations of proline to excised leaves.
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An NAD-linked dehydrogenase from Chlorella pyrenoidosa Chick catalyzing the conversion of l-proline to Delta(1)-pyrroline-5-carboxylic acid was partially purified. Delta(1)-Pyrroline-5-carboxylic acid was identified as the product by co-chromatography of it and its o-aminobenzaldehyde derivative with authentic compounds. The enzyme is NAD and l-proline specific and is not an oxidase; NADP is not inhibitory. The Michaelis constant for NAD is 0.08 mm and for proline is 0.73 mm.
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The effects of wilting on the fate of proline and on the rates of nonprotein proline formation and utilization have been determined in excised bean leaves. Wilting did not alter the fate of exogenously added (14)C-l-proline (2 mm) in either non-starved leaves (from plants previously in the light) or starved leaves (from plants previously in the dark). The fate of proline in nonstarved leaves was protein synthesis and in starved leaves was protein synthesis and oxidation to other compounds.Wilting caused an increase in non-protein proline formation, possibly including release by proteolysis and synthesis from precursors in both starved and nonstarved leaves. Wilting caused a decrease in proline utilization in nonstarved leaves by decreasing protein synthesis. In starved leaves, wilting caused an increase in the rate of proline utilization but this is due to the higher content of proline in wilted leaves compared to the turgid leaves which causes more proline utilization by oxidation. Thus, the primary effects of wilting which lead to the accumulation of proline were to decrease protein synthesis and to increase proline formation. The source of the proline is not known but the increased formation due to wilting is not affected by the carbohydrate content of the leaf. The role of carbohydrates is to prevent the loss of accumulating proline by oxidation.