A 60-year-old female presented with a growing tumor of her left upper eyelid of 6 mo duration. The fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) report was consistent with the clinical diagnosis of meibomian gland carcinoma, which was subsequently confirmed by histopathologic examination of tumor tissue. Exenteration was performed following a course of radiotherapy. There was no sign of recurrence after a follow-up period of 6 mo.

Carcinoma↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Oscillatory CO2 evolution in glycolysing yeast extracts.

The rate of formation of carbon dioxide in cytoplasmic yeast extracts in an open system with continuous infusion of glucose was measured by membrane inlet mass spectrometry during glycolytic oscillations. The rate of CO2 production rose in the first third of each cycle to a maximum of about 100 mumol per ml yeast extract per hour and subsequently diminished to a final level of about 50 mumol per h. Measurements of the NADH light absorption under the same conditions revealed oscillations of relaxation type. The phase of high CO2 production could be related to the phase of the high NADH level, giving evidence that the flux in glycolysis is increased during the phase of high NADH concentration. Only half of the amount of injected glucose was metabolized to CO2 during the sustained oscillation, although free glucose did not accumulate.

Carbon Dioxide↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Salamander UV cone pigment: sequence, expression, and spectral properties.

The visual pigment from the ultraviolet (UV) cone photoreceptor of the tiger salamander has been cloned, expressed, and characterized. The cDNA contains a full-length open reading frame encoding 347 amino acids. The phylogenetic analysis indicates that the highest sequence homology is to the visual pigments in the S group. The UV opsin was tagged at the carboxy-terminus with the sequence for the 1D4 epitope. This fusion opsin was expressed in COS-1 cells, regenerated with 11-cis retinal (A1) and immuno-purified, yielding a pigment with an absorbance maximum (lambdamax) of 356 nm which is blue shifted from the absorption of retinal itself. The transducin activation assay demonstrated that this pigment is able to activate rod transducin in a light-dependent manner. Regeneration with 11-cis 3,4-dehydroretinal (A2) yielded a pigment with a lambdamax of 360 nm, only 4 nm red shifted from that of the A1 pigment, while bovine rhodopsin generated with A2 showed a 16-nm red shift from the corresponding A1 pigment. These results demonstrate that the trend for a shorter wavelength pigment to have a smaller shift of lambdamax between the A1 and A2 pigments also fits UV pigments. We hypothesize that the small red shift with A2 could be due to a twist in the chromophore that essentially isolates the ring double bond(s) from conjugation with the rest of the polyene chain.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Orbital lesions. Diagnosis by fine needle aspiration cytology.

Over seven years (1983-1989), 30 orbital lesions were subjected to fine needle aspiration (FNA). The age of the patients ranged from 1.5 to 65 years. The male:female ratio was 16:14. The presenting features were proptosis (15 cases), swelling of eyelids (6), swelling of medial or lateral canthus (6), swelling of infraorbital margin (2) and recurrent orbital mass in a surgically treated case of retinoblastoma (1). FNA was performed on intraocular sites in 2 cases, orbital cavity in 11 and adnexal swellings in 17. The cytodiagnoses were various inflammatory lesions (5 cases), benign cystic lesions (4), meibomian gland carcinoma (3), retinoblastoma (3), meningioma (2) and pleomorphic adenoma (2). Basal cell carcinoma, mucoepidermoid carcinoma, undifferentiated carcinoma, optic nerve glioma, acute myeloid leukemia, leiomyosarcoma and neurofibroma accounted for 1 case each. In 4 cases the cytologic specimens were inadequate.

Adenoma↗