Gene amplification of c-myc and N-myc in small cell carcinoma of the lung

The relationship of the copy numbers of the c-myc and N-myc oncogenes to tumor formation and progression was studied in small cell carcinoma of the lung. When 96 neoplastic lesions from 45 patients were examined, these lesions could be grouped into three categories: high copy (tumors with greater than 3 copies of the N-myc or c-myc gene per haploid genome), middle copy (1.5 to 3 copies per genome), and normal copy. Fourteen of the patients had middle copy tumors, but this was almost always a result of chromosome duplication rather than the amplification of a small genetic locus. In contrast, five patients had high copy tumors, with the increased copy number in each case due to gene amplification. The amplification did not occur in a heterogeneous fashion within individual patients, since all metastatic lesions from patients with high copy lung tumors were also high copy, while none of 41 metastatic lesions from the other patients were high copy. These data suggest that gene amplification is an important step in neoplastic growth in a subset of patients with small cell carcinoma of the lung and that this genetic event occurs relatively early (before metastasis) in this subset.     

Voyager 1 in the foreshock, termination shock, and heliosheath

Voyager 1 (V1) began measuring precursor energetic ions and electrons from the heliospheric termination shock (TS) in July 2002. During the ensuing 2.5 years, average particle intensities rose as V1 penetrated deeper into the energetic particle foreshock of the TS. Throughout 2004, V1 observed even larger, fluctuating intensities of ions from 40 kiloelectron volts (keV) to >/=50 megaelectron volts per nucleon and of electrons from >26 keV to >/=350 keV. On day 350 of 2004 (2004/350), V1 observed an intensity spike of ions and electrons that was followed by a sustained factor of 10 increase at the lowest energies and lesser increases at higher energies, larger than any intensities since V1 was at 15 astronomical units in 1982. The estimated solar wind radial flow speed was positive (outward) at approximately +100 kilometers per second (km s(-1)) from 2004/352 until 2005/018, when the radial flows became predominantly negative (sunward) and fluctuated between approximately -50 and 0 km s(-1) until about 2005/110; they then became more positive, with recent values (2005/179) of approximately +50 km s(-1). The energetic proton spectrum averaged over the postshock period is apparently dominated by strongly heated interstellar pickup ions. We interpret these observations as evidence that V1 was crossed by the TS on 2004/351 (during a tracking gap) at 94.0 astronomical units, evidently as the shock was moving radially inward in response to decreasing solar wind ram pressure, and that V1 has remained in the heliosheath until at least mid-2005.     

Use of restriction fragment length polymorphisms to determine the clonal origin of human tumors

A novel strategy to determine the clonal origin of human tumors has been devised. The strategy involves the use of a cloned polymorphic X-chromosomal gene and two restriction endonucleases. The first endonuclease distinguishes the paternal and maternal copies of the gene through a DNA polymorphism of restriction fragment length. The second endonuclease distinguishes active from inactive copies of this gene through changes in DNA methylation. As illustrations of this strategy, three human cancers were each shown to be monoclonal. The analysis described should have a wide variety of clinical and experimental applications.     

Cytoplasmic and chloroplast ribosomes of Chlamydomonas: ultracentrifugal characterization

Ribosomes isolated from the cytoplasmic and chloroplast fractions of Chlamydomonas were characterized in the ultracentrifuge. The cytoplasmic ribosomes belong to the 80S class of ribosomes, and, like animal ribosomes, dissociate to 60, 50, and 40S subunits. However, like the ribosomes of microorganisms, they contain smaller RNA's, 24 and 16S, and require 0.01 mole of magnesium ions per liter for stability. Chloroplast ribosomes are 70S like those of higher plants but are very unstable. A stable 50S subunit has been observed.     

Chloride methylation by plant pectin: an efficient environmentally significant process

Atmospheric chloromethane (CH3Cl) plays an important role in stratospheric ozone destruction, but many uncertainties exist regarding the strengths of its sources and sinks and particularly regarding the processes generating this naturally occurring gas. Evidence is presented here that CH3Cl is produced in many terrestrial environments by a common mechanism. Abiotic conversion of chloride to CH3Cl occurs readily in plant material, with the widespread plant component pectin acting as a methyl donor. Significant CH3Cl emissions from senescent and dead leaves were observed at ambient temperatures; those emissions rose dramatically when temperatures increased. This ubiquitous process acting in terrestrial ecosystems and during biomass burning could contribute the bulk of atmospheric CH3Cl.     

Fog catchment sand trenches constructed by tenebrionid beetles, lepidochora, from the namib desert

Three species of coastal Namib Desert tenebrionid beetles (Lepidochora) build trenches on desert sand dunes. Trenches are constructed perpendicular to fog winds and concentrate moisture during fogs. The beetles return along the ridges of the trenches extracting water from them. The water content of a population of these beetles increased by 13.9 percent during one fog.