[Behavior of alpha-tocopherol during the autoxidation of linoleic acid in aqueous solution].

Addition of great quantity of alpha-tocopherol to an aqueous solution containing linoleic acid dispersed with twen 20 conduce to an important augmentation of the rate of formation of linoleic hydroperoxides. In these particular conditions, alpha-tocopherol have a prooxidant effect. In the same time, alpha-tocopherol is rapidly transformed into tocopherylquinone and a dimer of alpha-tocopherol.

[New plasmid resistance of Staphylococcus aureus to aminosides (gentamicin, tobramycin, amikacin].

Recently, strains of Staphylococcus aureus resistant to gentamicin, tobramycin and amikacin have been discovered in several hospitals in France. These new resistances, of two different types, are of plasmid origin and of enzyme mechanism. This study describes their current incidence.

[Application of the distal bronchial brushing technic to the bacteriological diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis].

The tubercle bacillus was sought in samples obtained by bronchial brushing in 36 patients whose tuberculosis was demonstrated and in whom a direct examination of the sputum had given only negative results. In 5 cases, the tubercle bacillus was demonstrated only in the sample obtained by brushing, by direct examination and positive cultures in one case and in the other cases, culturutum coughed up after brushing.

Spectral characteristics of the bioluminescence induced in the marine fish, Porichthys notatus by Cypridina (ostracod) luciferin.

Specimens of Porichthys notatus, which are naturally luminous along the coast of California, are non-luminous in Puget Sound. However, luminescence capability may be induced in the adult Puget Sound Porichthys by the administration of purified Cypridina (ostracod) luciferin, synthetic Cypridina luciferin, or Cypridina organisms. The bioluminescence emission spectra produced by the Puget Sound fish following induction is similar, if not identical, to that of the naturally luminous Porichthys notatus from California waters (maxima: 485 and 507 nm).

[Autoxidation rate increase of linoleic acid in the presence of tocopherol in aqueous medium ; study of the transformation of tocopherol].

Linoleic acid in aqueous emulsion is spontaneously autoxidized and product hydroperoxides. In vitro the autoxidation of the cis-9, cis-12, octadecadienoic acid with DL-alpha-tocopherol, both emulsified in water, shows an important increase of the hydroperoxides. During this time the tocopherol quickly disappears.

Extraction of Renilla-type luciferin from the calcium-activated photoproteins aequorin, mnemiopsin, and berovin.

Photoproteins, which emit light in an oxygen-independent intramolecular reaction initiated by calcium ions, have been isolated from several bioluminescent organisms, including the hydrozoan jellyfish Aequorea and the ctenophore Mnemiopsis. The system of a related anthozoan coelenterate, the sea pansy Renilla reniformis, however, is oxygen dependent, requiring two organic components, luciferin and luciferase. Previously published indirect evidence indicates that photoproteins may contain a Renilla-type luciferin.

Renilla luciferin as the substrate for calcium induced photoprotein bioluminescence. Assignment of luciferin tautomers in aequorin and mnemiopsin.

A study was made of the effects of pH and protic and aprotic solvents on the spectral properties of Renilla (sea pansy) luciferin and a number of its analogs. The results have made possible the assignment of two tautomeric forms of Renilla luciferin, one which absorbs maximally at 435 nm and another which exhibits an absorption maximum at 454 nm. Furthermore the results provide an explanation for the visible absorption characteristics of the photoproteins aequorin (lambda-max 454 nm) and mnemiopsin (lambda-max 435 nm).

[The problem of systematic bacteriological examinations carried out early in premature infants].

Systematic bacteriological examinations of samples taken from the pharynges, the gastric juices and the meconium or the ano-rectal regions were carried out on 300 premature babies immediately on their admission to hospital. These examinations, which consisted in direct microscopic examination and in culturing the specimens, showed that usually a normal microbial flora was established in the mucous membranes of the digestive tracts but there were also abnormalities caused by contamination. There is therefore a limited but real value in the tests when they reveal massive bacterial contamination by the presence of microbes that could be at this stage of life dangerous to a premature baby.

A fine structure study of the anthocodium in Renilla mülleri. Evidence for the existence of a bioluminescent organelle, the luminelle.

A fine structure study of the anthocodium of the sea pansy, Renilla mülleri, was undertaken. The anthocodium, a known site of bioluminescence, was selected in order to determine whether a structural entity could be found which would satisfy the biochemical and physiological features associated with the known sites of bioluminescence in this animal. These sites, termed lumisomes, have previously been shown to be small (0.