Synthesis of a sulfur-containing amino acid under simulated prebiotic conditions

Ultraviolet irradiation of an aqueous solution of ammonium thiocyanate produces the sulfur-containing amino acid methionine. Synthesis of this class of biocompound fills another important gap in development of an overall picture of how prebiological chemistry may have evolved on primitive Earth.

Residues in potato tubers following haulm desiccation with(14)C-Diquat

When potato haulms are desiccated with(14)C-diquat at a rate roughly equivalent to 1 1/2 1b. diquat ion per acre, no degradation products of the chemical appear in the harvested tubers.

Dehydration and Rehydration in a Prebiological System

A proteinoid microsphere suspension system was subjected to cyclic dehydration and rehydration. Particles having somewhat coacervate properties were observed, suggesting a relation between the coacervate and proteinoid origin of cells.

RESEARCH AND THERAPEUTICS

Progressive therapeutics depends on research, but at the same time it is a marked stimulant for promoting research. Through research will come much of the post-war advancement which may occur in medicine and allied sciences, drug manufacturing and educational centers. Success and survival will depend not only on cooperation, leadership and a shrewd business sense but on an adequate appreciation of opportunities, limitations and the value of fostering research by providing grants and fellowships. Much material assistance can be provided with mutual gain for all participants when such fellowships are established. This gain may extend past current problems into lifelong associations. If the manufacturer recognizes his opportunities and obligations and forges ahead to challenge or accept them instead of remaining on the defensive, there will be less likelihood of being fettered by purblind policies. Each one interested in research and therapeutics has responsibilities peculiar to himself, but there are few, regardless of occupation, who, at the completion of a job well done, does not feel as Pasteur, who said of the researcher: It is indeed a hard task when you believe you have found an important scientific fact and are feverishly anxious to publish it, to constrain yourself for days, weeks, years sometimes, to fight with yourself, to try to ruin your own experiments and only to proclaim your discovery after having exhausted all contrary hypotheses. But when, after so many efforts, you have at last arrived at certainty, your joy is one of the greatest which can be felt by a human soul, and the thought that you will have contributed to the honor of your country renders that joy still deeper.

PRESIDENT'S PERPETUAL BRIDGE TROPHY: LOS ANGELES COUNTY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION

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Reconstructive Plastic and Oral Surgery

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