Glycine methyltransferase from rat liver is a tetrameric enzyme with 292 amino acid residues in each identical subunit and catalyzes the AdoMet-dependent methylation of glycine to form sarcosine. The enzyme was crystallized by the hanging drop vapor diffusion method, using polyethylene glycol 4000 as a precipitant. The crystal belongs to the orthorhombic space group P2(1)2(1)2, with unit cell dimensions of a = 86.4, b = 175.7, c = 45.5 A and with two subunits in the asymmetric unit. The crystals diffract beyond 2.4 A resolution, and a set of 2.4 A resolution data were measured.

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PubMedDate not supplied

Holography of 3D surface reconstructed CT images.

A multiplex hologram (cylindrical holographic stereogram) was successfully made from three-dimensional (3D) surface reconstruction CT images of a child with plagiocephaly. This method appears to be suitable as one of the projectional aids of 3D surface reconstruction CT images that are proving useful in plastic and reconstructive surgery. The principle of the method is described. Also discussed is the possibility of developing a computer-aided hologram synthesizing system that could be used for images obtained with U-arm X-ray equipment (by either cinefilm, or videotape, or digital subtraction angiography) or by CT as well as MR. For practical use, it is necessary for the hologram to be synthesized in a short time. One of the key problems in developing such a machine is the need for an incoherent-to-coherent image converter.

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PubMedDate not supplied

Hippocampal damage in the human brain after cardiac arrest.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Very few reports are available on changes in the human hippocampus after cardiac arrest. The objective of this study was to investigate if specific hippocampal volume losses can be demonstrated in the human brain following reperfusion after cardiac arrest. METHODS: We assessed the volumes of the hippocampal formation (HF) and temporal lobe excluding HF (TL) as the contrast using magnetic resonance (MR)-imaging-based volumetry in 11 vegetative patients after cardiac arrest and in 22 healthy controls of similar age, sex and body size distribution. The measured volumes were normalized for differences in the head size among subjects by dividing by the total intracranial volume (TICV). The MR images of the 11 patients were obtained between days 8 and 21 after cardiac arrest. RESULTS: The observed volumes of HFs and TLs of both patient and control groups were as follows: right HF volume (HFV): 2.67 +/- 0.19 (mean +/- SD, cm(3)) in patients versus 3.89 +/- 0.44 in controls; left HFV: 2.72 +/- 0.17 versus 3.74 +/- 0.35; right TL volume (TLV): 73.37 +/- 6.54 versus 80.08 +/- 7.62, and left TLV: 72. 45 +/- 6.77 versus 78.59 +/- 6.68. The normalized indices (HFV/TICV and TLV/TICV) were as follows: right HF: 0.0021 +/- 0.0002 (mean +/- SD) in patients versus 0.0031 +/- 0.0001 in controls, p < 0.0001, left HF: 0.0022 +/- 0.0002 versus 0.0030 +/- 0.0001, p < 0.0001, right TL: 0.058 +/- 0.002 versus 0.064 +/- 0.004, p = 0.0007, and left TL: 0.058 +/- 0.002 versus 0.062 +/- 0.004, p = 0.0014. The HFV-TLV ratios (HFV/TICV divided by TLV/TICV) of both groups were: right HFV-TLV ratio: 0.037 +/- 0.004 in patients versus 0.049 +/- 0. 004 in controls, p < 0.0001, left HFV-TLV ratio: 0.038 +/- 0.004 versus 0.048 +/- 0.004, p < 0.0001. CONCLUSIONS: The patient group had HFs that were 26.8-30.6% smaller than those of the control group, but in the patient group, the TLs slightly decreased in size by only 7.8-8.2% of the volume of those in the control group within 21 days after cardiac arrest. The volume reductions in the bilateral HFs of patients after cardiac arrest were significantly larger than those in the bilateral TLs. We speculate that this specific rapid hippocampal shrinkage reflects its greater vulnerability to global brain ischemia.

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PubMedDate not supplied

Characterization of major phosphoproteins in the cGMP-mediated protein phosphorylation system of vascular smooth muscle membranes.

G(0) (215-250 kD) and G(1) (120-140 kD), the unidentified major phosphoproteins in the cGMP-mediated protein phosphorylation system of vascular smooth muscle membranes, were compared for biochemical and immunological properties with the type 1 inositol 1,4, 5-trisphosphate receptor (InsP(3)R, 240 kD) and the myosin-binding subunit (MBS, 138 kD) of myosin phosphatase, both of them substrates for cGMP-dependent protein kinase. Two microsomal proteins that were immunoreactive with antibodies to InsP(3)R and MBS were detected, and comigrated with G(0) and G(1), respectively, on SDS-PAGE. When thiophosphorylated G(0) and G(1) were subjected to immunoprecipitation, MBS antibody induced the precipitation of a 138-kD phosphoprotein, but did not significantly affect the amount of G(1) remaining in the supernatant, while InsP(3)R antibody precipitated G(0) almost completely. Unexpectedly, InsP(3)R antibody coprecipitated a large portion of G(1), which did not cross-react with either antibody to MBS or InsP(3)R. Just like InsP(3)R, G(0) bound to the calmodulin column in a Ca(2+)-dependent manner, and, again, a large portion of G(1) was copurified with G(0). These results suggest that G(0) is identical to InsP(3)R, while G(1) consists of several phosphoproteins, including the 138-kD protein associated with InsP(3)R as a major component. MBS is not G(1) or may represent only a minor component of it.

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PubMedDate not supplied

Some observations of the projection to VPMpc from the so-called 'frontal opercular pure taste area'.

The essential projection to VPMpc from the area located between the diagnonal sulcus and the arcuate sulcus in the buried cortex of the Sylvian fissure in monkeys was observed with the silver impregnation method of Nauta-Gygax. This area does not seem to project to VPM, VPL and Vpi. it is located far rostral to SI and SII. This observation may give the anatomical basis of the existence of a 'frontal opercular pure taste area' not relating to the tactile or alimentary systems.

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