Elevated blood lead and erythrocyte protoporphyrin levels of children near a battery-recycling plant in Haina, Dominican Republic.

A survey of children from a community adjacent to an auto-battery-recycling smelter in Haina, the Dominican Republic, revealed alarming elevations of blood lead (B-Pb) and erythrocyte protoporphyrin (EP-ZnPP) compared with controls. The authors recommend follow-up confirmation and treatment of severely lead-poisoned children, shutdown of the plant, controlled disposal of the hazardous waste from the site, and relocation of the community.

High-voltage paper electrophoretic assay for guanyl cyclase.

A simple, sensitive and rapid technique is described, permitting separation of cGMP from GMP, GDP and GTP by the use of unidirectional high-voltage paper electrophoresis. The recovery of labeled cGMP in the assay of guanyl cyclase, by this procedure is 85-90%; the blank values (no enzyme) are negligible.

Transfer RNA species in tumors of different growth rates.

Tyrosyl-, histidyl-, lysyl-, and phenylalanyl-tRNA's from 3 tumors (DBAH, DBAH, and DBA), differing in growth rates and from host mammary glands and liver, were compared by means of methylated albumin kieselguhr (MAK) column and by reverse-phase-5 chromatography. The elution profiles of lysyl-tRNA's from DBAH and DBA, phenylalanyl Trna's from DBAH and DBAH, and histidyl-tRNA's from DBA3 tumors exhibited extra isoaccepting species, compared with host liver and mammary glands. The distribution of acylatable tyrosyl-tRNA's in DBA3 and DBAH, phenylalanyl-tRNA's in DBAH and DBAH2, and histid-l-tRNA's in DBA3 is higher than that in liver, whereas no appreciable differences were observed in the lysyl-tRNA contents of the tumors and liver. The chromatographic alternations appeared to be a property of the tumor tRNA's and not due to differences in aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases or due to the aggregation of tRNA's. The structural and functional significance of these findings are discussed.