Search for the lepton-number-violating decay Xi(-)-->pmu(-)mu(-).

A sensitive search for the lepton-number-violating decay Xi(-)-->pmu(-)mu(-) has been performed using a sample of approximately 10(9) Xi(-) hyperons produced in 800 GeV/c p-Cu collisions. We obtain B(Xi(-)-->pmu(-)mu(-))<4.0x10(-8) at 90% confidence, improving on the best previous limit by 4 orders of magnitude.

Search for DeltaS = 2 nonleptonic hyperon decays.

A sensitive search for the rare decays Omega(-)--> Lambdapi(-) and Xi(0)--> ppi(-) has been performed using data from the 1997 run of the HyperCP (Fermilab E871) experiment. Limits on other such processes do not exclude the possibility of observable rates for |DeltaS| = 2 nonleptonic hyperon decays, provided the decays occur through parity-odd operators. We obtain the branching-fraction limits B(Omega(-)-->Lambdapi(-)) < 2.9 x 10(-6) and B(Xi(0)--> ppi(-)) < 8.2 x 10(-6), both at 90% confidence level.

Evidence for the decay sigma+ --> pmu+ mu-.

We report the first evidence for the decay Sigma(+)-->pmu(+)mu(-) from data taken by the HyperCP (E871) experiment at Fermilab. Based on three observed events, the branching ratio is B(Sigma(+)-->pmu(+)mu(-))=[8.6(+6.6)(-5.4)(stat)+/-5.5(syst)]x10(-8). The narrow range of dimuon masses may indicate that the decay proceeds via a neutral intermediate state, Sigma(+)-->pP(0),P0-->mu(+)mu(-) with a P0 mass of 214.3+/-0.5 MeV/c(2) and branching ratio B(Sigma(+)-->pP(0),P0-->mu(+)mu(-))=[3.1(+2.4)(-1.9)(stat)+/-1.5(syst)]x10(-8).

Search for CP violation in charged-Xi and Lambda hyperon decays.

We have compared the p and p angular distributions in 117 x 10(6) Xi- -->Lambdapi- -->ppi-pi- and 41 x 10(6) Xi+ -->Lambda pi+ -->p pi+pi+ decays using a subset of the data from the HyperCP experiment (E871) at Fermilab. We find no evidence of CP violation, with the direct-CP-violating parameter AXiLambda identical with (alphaXialphaLambda-alpha Xialpha Lambda)/(alphaXialphaLambda+alphaXialphaLambda)=[0.0+/-5.1(stat)+/-4.4(syst)] x 10(-4).

Observation of the decay K- --> pi(-)mu(+)mu(-) and measurements of the branching ratios for K+/- --> pi(+/-)mu(+)mu(-).

Using data collected with the HyperCP (E871) spectrometer during the 1997 fixed-target run at Fermilab, we report the first observation of the decay K--->pi(-)mu(+)mu(-) and new measurements of the branching ratios for K+/--->pi(+/-)mu(+)mu(-). By combining the branching ratios for the decays K+-->pi(+)mu(+)mu(-) and K--->pi(-)mu(+)mu(-), we measure Gamma(K+/--->pi(+/-)mu(+)mu(-))/Gamma(K+/--->all) = (9.8+/-1.0+/-0.5)x10(-8). The CP asymmetry between the rates of the two decay modes is [Gamma(K+-->pi(+)mu(+)mu(-))-Gamma(K--->pi(-)mu(+)mu(-))]/[Gamma(K+-->pi(+)mu(+)mu(-))+Gamma(K--->pi(-)mu(+)mu(-))] = -0.02+/-0.11+/-0.04.

K-12 science education as the road to consilient curricula.

We begin with the absurdity of ninth-grade biology to bewail the fate of high school science education as one component of a wholly inadequate K-12 education. Our proposal for a coherent physics-chemistry-biology core curriculum for all high school students leads naturally to seeking the connections between the sciences, the sciences and mathematics, and indeed to the social sciences and the humanities. Our goal is literacy--scientific and humanistic--as the sensible goal for a 21st century high school graduate.

Biosynthetic antibody binding sites: development of a single-chain Fv model based on antidinitrophenol IgA myeloma MOPC 315.

The functional antigen binding region of antidinitrophenol mouse IgA myeloma MOPC 315 has been produced as a single-chain Fv (sFv) protein in E. coli. Recombinant 315 proteins included sFv alone, a bifunctional fusion protein with amino-terminal fragment B (FB) of staphylococcal protein A, and a two-chain 315 Fv fragment. Successful refolding of the 315 sFv required formation of disulfide bonds while the polypeptide was in a denatured state, as previously observed for the parent Fv fragment. Affinity-purified recombinant 315 proteins showed full recovery of specific activity, with values for Ka,app of 1.5 to 2.2 x 10(6) M-1, equivalent to the parent 315 Fv fragment. As observed for natural 315 Fv, the sFv region of active FB-sFv315 fusion protein was resistant to pepsin treatment, whereas inactive protein was readily degraded. These experiments will allow the application of protein engineering to the 315 single-chain Fv; such studies can advance structure-function studies of antibody combining sites and lead to an improved understanding of single-chain Fv proteins.

Effect of ras-gene transformation on the inhibition of NIH3T3 cell growth by pertussis toxin.

To investigate the relationship between the effects of a pertussis toxin-inhibitable class of G-proteins and the ras family of protooncogenes on cell growth, we isolated multiple cell lines transformed by oncogenic Hras or Nras genes and measured the ability of pertussis toxin to inhibit their growth rate. Although all of the cell lines were morphologically transformed and could grow in agar suspension, there was considerable variability in their resistance to pertussis toxin, ranging from cell lines completely resistant to pertussis toxin to cell lines as sensitive to pertussis toxin as the parental cells from which they derived. For those lines resistant to pertussis toxin, this resistance is not due to an inability of pertussis toxin to reach or react with its intracellular target; pertussis toxin could be shown to ADP-ribosylate the endogenous G-proteins of all lines tested regardless of whether it affected their growth rate. There was a strong correlation between the level of active ras protein expressed in the different lines and the degree of resistance to pertussis toxin (r = 0.80). Although the Hras-transformed cell lines were more resistant to pertussis toxin as a group than the Nras-transformed cell lines, we believe that this is not a primary difference between Nras and Hras, but, rather, is due to a higher average level of expression of ras in the cell lines receiving Hras. We suggest that the consequences of ras transformation vary with the concentration of oncogenic ras present in the cell, and that different assays or different properties of transformation show different sensitivities to the level of ras expression.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Observations in particle physics from two neutrinos to the standard model.

The two-neutrino experiment established a relationship between particles, muon and muon neutrino, electron and electron neutrino, which evolved into the standard model of particle physics. The theme of this article is a personal one, which reviews a series of experiments at the Columbia Synchrocyclotron, the Brookhaven Cosmotron, the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron, the CERN intersecting storage rings, the Fermilab 400-gigavolt proton synchrotron, and the Cornell electron storage rings, all of which were important in the evolution of the standard model. In some cases the fermion particles were discovered (the second neutrino vmicro, b quark); in other cases fields of research were opened (muon spin resonance, neutral kaons and charge-parity violation, dimuons and the Drell-Yan process), which led to further development of the standard model. Finally, the current ignorance about the properties of now three neutrinos is reviewed.

Science and technology policies and priorities: a comparative analysis.

This article compares the science and technology strategies and priorities of France, Germany, Japan, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. An analysis is given of similarities and differences, historical settings, research and development allocations, coordinating mechanisms, outputs, dissatisfactions, and recent changes. Also presented are data on performers and funding sources, the character and objectives of work, the industries involved, employment of scientists and engineers, and degrees by field. This comparison provides a way of understanding the advantages and disadvantages of different strategies and an opportunity for one country to learn from the others.

Purification of insulin-dependent exocytic vesicles containing the glucose transporter.

In muscle and fat, insulin causes the cellular redistribution of glucose transporters and insulin-like growth factor II receptors from an intracellular pool of membranes (low density microsomes) to the plasma membrane. This translocation is a major mechanism by which insulin stimulates cellular glucose uptake. Our aim was to purify and characterize the insulin-regulatable exocytic intracellular membranes that are enriched in glucose transporter. Low density microsome and plasma membrane fractions were isolated from basal and insulin-stimulated rat adipocytes by differential centrifugation. In cells exposed to insulin, glucose transporters were decreased in the low density microsomes and correspondingly increased in the plasma membranes as determined by immunoblotting and cytochalasin B binding. Low density microsomes were further fractionated by sucrose density gradient centrifugation. Membranes containing glucose transporters were separated from the major protein-containing peaks and from plasma membranes, Golgi, and endoplasmic reticulum. Further fractionation was achieved by agarose gel electrophoresis. Overall, the intracellular membranes enriched in transporter were purified 9-fold compared to low density microsomes. These purified membranes had the following characteristics: 1) uniformly sized vesicles, diameter 60-100 nm; 2) insulin-regulatable protein composition, one constituent being an Mr 43,000 protein that co-migrated with immunoblotted glucose transporters; 3) enrichment in insulin-like growth factor II receptors, but of a lesser degree than the enrichment in transporters. Thus, using a three-step procedure, insulin-sensitive translocatable vesicles from adipocytes have been highly purified. These are similar in size and density to endosomes, and the glucose transporter is a major constituent of this distinct vesicle population.