Biomedical subjects

D E Platt

Publications and source records attributed to D E Platt.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2001

Are mitochondria mesoscopic?

Systems whose length scales are small enough to be near the threshold where macroscopic thermodynamic descriptions fail are called mesoscopic. This is particularly appropriate for studies of mitochondrial function since basic and important ideas such as protomotive force, and models finding common applications, such as the Gouy-Chapman theory describing the diffuse ionic charge layer near the inner membrane, depend on the macroscopic thermodynamic notion of chemical potential. This paper shows that the length scales in Gouy-Chapman theory are not consistent with the premises upon which Gouy-Chapman theory was based, a failure typical of mesoscopic systems. Furthermore, while there are good reasons for a protomotive force to be a valid description for a collection of mitochondria, it is a marginal description even for an entire individual mitochondrion for similar reasons. Mitochondria are, therefore, physically mesoscopic systems.

Algorithms↗

PubMed1999

Molecular moment similarity between several nucleoside analogs of thymidine and thymidine. sil@watson.ibm.com.

Molecular moment descriptors of the shape and charge distributions of twenty five nucleoside structures have been examined. The structures include thymidine as well as the difluorotoluene nucleoside analog which has been found to pair efficiently with adenine by polymerase catalysis. The remaining twenty three structures have been chosen to be as structurally similar to thymidine and to the difluorotoluene nucleoside analog as possible. The moment descriptors which include a description of the relationship of molecular charge to shape show the difluorotoluene nucleoside to be one of the most proximate molecules to thymidine in the space of the molecular moments. The calculations, therefore, suggest that polymerase specificity might be not only a consequence of molecular steric features alone but also of the molecular electrostatic environment and its registration with molecular shape.

Molecular Structure↗

PubMed1998

Molecular moment similarity between clozapine and substituted [(4-phenylpiperazinyl)-methyl] benzamides: selective dopamine D4 agonists.

Moment descriptors of the molecular charge and mass distributions are investigated within the context of molecular similarity. Euclidean distances in the moment descriptor space are shown to yield molecular proximities in accord with chemical intuition for a substituted [(4-phenylpiperazinyl)-methyl] benzamide series of dopamine D4 agonists. The proximity of the dopamine D4 antagonist clozapine to the molecules of this series is also examined in the moment space.

Benzamides↗

PubMed1996

Comparative molecular moment analysis (CoMMA): 3D-QSAR without molecular superposition.

3d-QSAR procedures utilize descriptors that characterize molecular shape and charge distributions responsible for the steric and electrostatic nonbonding interactions intimately involved in ligand-receptor binding. Comparative molecular moment analysis (CoMMA) utilizes moments of the molecular mass and charge distributions up to and including second order in the development of molecular similarity descriptors. As a consequence, two Cartesian reference frames are then defined with respect to each molecular structure. One frame is the principal inertial axes calculated with respect to the center-of-mass. For neutrally charged molecular species, the other reference frame is the principal quadrupolar axes calculated with respect to the molecular "center-of-dipole." QSAR descriptors include quantities that characterize shape and charge independently as well as quantities that characterize their relationship. 3D-QSAR partial least squares (PLS) cross-validation procedures are utilized to predict the activity of several training sets of molecules previously investigated. This is the first time that molecular electrostatic quadrupolar moments have been utilized in a 3D-QSAR analysis, and it is shown that descriptors involving the quadrupolar moments and related quantities are required for the significant cross-validated predictive r2's obtained. CoMMA requires no superposition step, i.e., no step requiring a comparison between two molecules at any stage of the 3D-QSAR calculation.

Adrenal Cortex Hormones↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Suicide risk assessment: a review of risk factors for suicide in 100 patients who made severe suicide attempts. Evaluation of suicide risk in a time of managed care.

A study of 100 patients who made a severe suicide attempt suggested that the managed care criteria often applied for approving admission to hospitals for potentially suicidal patients were not, in fact, predictive of features seen in patients who actually made such attempts. Severe anxiety, panic attacks, a depressed mood, a diagnosis of major affective disorder, recent loss of an interpersonal relationship, recent abuse of alcohol or illicit substances coupled with feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, worthlessness, global or partial insomnia, anhedonia, inability to maintain a job, and the recent onset of impulsive behavior were excellent predictors of suicidal behavior. The presence of a specific suicide plan or suicide note were not. Patients with managed care were overrepresented by 245% in the study.

Adolescent↗