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The use of molecular editing in the elucidation of the mechanism of action of amphotericin B is presented. A modular strategy for the synthesis of amphotericin B and its designed analogues is developed, which relies on an efficient gram‐scale synthesis of various subunits of amphotericin B. A novel method for the coupling of the mycosamine to the aglycone was identified. The implementation of the approach has enabled the preparation of 35‐deoxy amphotericin B methyl ester. Investigation of the antifungal activity and efflux‐inducing ability of this amphotericin B congener provided new clues to the role of the 35‐hydroxy group and is consistent with the involvement of double barrel ion channels in causing electrolyte efflux.

Objective:This study investigated the frequency of the panic-agoraphobic spectrum symptoms in a sample of obese subjects affected by Binge Eating Disorder (BED) vs controls. Method:Fifty obese with BED were matched by age, sex and marital status to twenty-five normal weight controls. The Structured Clinical Interview For Panic-Agoraphobic Spectrum — SCI-PAS was administered to all participants. Results:Obese subjects with BED presented significantly higher frequencies of typical and atypical panic symptoms (82% vs 8%, p<0.0001), agoraphobia (58% vs 12%, p=0.002) and reassurance orientation (56% vs 8%, p=0.001) than controls. Discussion:BED frequently co-occurs with other major psychiatric disorders, traditionally assessed using categorical methods of classification of mental disorders. The spectrum of the subthreshold, atypical and partial symptoms of full-blown mental disorders, often neglected by categorical approach, may also affect subjective well-being and functioning as full-blown disorders. The identification of the subthreshold symptomatology may have relevant implications for the response to treatment and the outcome of the eating disorder.

A complicated form of recessive hereditary spastic paraplegias (HSPs) with thin corpus callosum (TCC) was first described in Japan, and most of the Japanese families showed linkage to chromosome 15q13–15. A recessive HSP locus (SPG11) has also been mapped to chromosome 15q13–15 in Italian and North American families with and without TCC, and it overlaps the region identified in the Japanese families.

The authors report on a novel frameshift mutation (c.1688insA) in the SPG3Agene resulting in premature translation termination of the gene product atlastin. These data add a new variant to the second disease gene in autosomal dominant hereditary spastic paraplegia (ADHSP) and lend definitive support to its causative role. By combining direct testing of SPASTand SPG3A,at least 50 of ADHSP families can now receive appropriate genetic diagnosis.

The authors describe a family of Sephardic Jews with progressive external ophthalmoparesis, skeletal muscle weakness, and parkinsonism. Autosomal recessive inheritance was suggested by many consanguineous marriages, although a dominant disorder could not be excluded. No linkage to known progressive external ophthalmoparesis locus was found. The presence of cytochrome coxidase-negative ragged-red fibers, biochemically reduced respiratory chain complexes, and multiple mitochondrial DNA deletions in muscle biopsies from four patients suggested a new mitochondrial disorder of intergenomic communication.

Studies in patients with uremia due to diabetes mellitus treated with CAPD show that the kinetics of amino acid equilibration between dialysate and plasma behave differently from those in patients with uremia of different etiology. Diabetics also have larger amino acid losses in dialysate.

This work was presented in part at the 12th Annual Contractor's Conference of the National Institutes of Arthritis, Metabolism and Digestive Diseases, Bethesda, USA, January 15, 1979 and the Congress of the International Society for Artificial Internal Organs at the symposium on CAPD, New York Hilton, New York, April 19, 1979.

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