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2003 ford focus parts

Stocks Volatile Before Cons. Conf. Data

Wall Street fluctuated in early trading Tuesday following big back-to-back rallies and as investors awaited readings on consumer sentiment.

The market seemed to be searching for direction in the early going. Some profit-taking was to be expected after a two-day rally sent the Dow Jones industrial average up nearly 450 points. Investors are looking for insights into whether the easing of some of Wall Street's fears in recent sessions is well-founded or overly optimistic.

Stocks have charged higher in the days following the Federal Reserve's decision to aid investment banks and orchestrate a buyout deal for a near-collapsed Bear Stearns Cos. The Fed's actions …

Cubs face the future Kimm, players content to act as if there will be more games

Cubs 13

Brewers 10

MILWAUKEE--On what could have been the last day of the 2002season, Cubs manager Bruce Kimm rested first baseman Fred McGriff sohe could be fresh to play this weekend at Wrigley Field against theSt. Louis Cardinals.

Thursday afternoon might have been McGriff's last game as a Cub ifplayers strike today for the rest of the season. But Kimm showed nofear of the future. He refused to let any dark shadows from the NewYork negotiations disrupt his routine.

I'm not treating it as the end of the season," Kimm said beforethe Cubs' 13-10 victory over the Brewers at Miller Park.

If this was the finish line, the Cubs crossed it as they …

Politica de Nicaragua: El Cinismo de los Disidentes Sandinistas

Politica de Nicaragua: El Cinismo de los Disidentes Sandinistas

Por Roberto Zelaya Blanco

DURANTE el periodo comprendido entre julio de 1979 y abril de 1990, los dirigentes del Frente Sandinista, la respectiva intelectualidad organica, los capitalistas "progresistas" y curas de sotana roja que los aceptaban como la vanguardia del pueblo nicaraguense, son directamente corresponsables de la comision de crimenes de guerra y de lesa humanidad en perjuicio de determinados sectores de la colectividad nacional, incluyendo el exterminio metodico y sistematico de las minorias etnicas de la Costa Atlantica del pais.

Si algun dia -que ojala no este lejano-, todos esos …

Japan stocks fall on jitters over global economy

Japanese shares retreated Thursday, as concerns about the global economy overshadowed any optimism over the U.S. Senate's passage of a US$700 billion bank rescue plan.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average fell 213.50 points, or 1.88 percent, to 11,154.76. The broader Topix index 2.19 percent to 1,076.97.

Tokyo stocks began the morning in positive territory as investors hunted for bargains, but quickly fell into the red on faltering sentiment.

News during the morning that the Senate had passed a revised version the bailout plan did little to lift market spirits, said Tsuyoshi Nomaguchi, a strategist at Daiwa Securities in Tokyo. The bill now …

Merging TV with the Web

Perhaps the biggest disconnect in the digital landscape today is between the Internet and the TV set. Consumers have been buying big new high-definition TVs in large numbers and, separately, are watching more and more video from online sources like YouTube, Hulu and iTunes. But the two trends have yet to merge. Despite the efforts of big names like Microsoft, Apple and TiVo, relatively few people are watching Internet video on their shiny new sets.

Now, two more set-top boxes have been launched to try to marry the Internet and the TV. Both adapters, from Sony and Roku, worked well in my tests, but each has limitations. The problem is that the Sony box supplies content from a wide …

MCI may cut 1,875 jobs in effort to trim costs

NEW YORK MCI WorldCom Inc., the newly formed telecommunicationscompany, plans to lay off about 1,875 workers, or 2.5 percent of itswork force, as part of an effort to slash $2.5 billion in costs nextyear, an industry source familiar with the situation said today.

MCI WorldCom Chief Executive Bernard Ebbers is known for movingswiftly to cut costs in newly acquired companies. MCI and WorldComcompleted their $37 billion deal three months ago in one of thenation's largest telecommunications mergers, forming a formidablerival to AT&T Corp. and other dominant players.

The new company is the nation's second-largest long-distanceprovider behind AT&T after fusing No. …

China sends long-missing lawyer Gao back to jail

BEIJING (AP) — More than a year and a half after prominent civil rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng disappeared, China's government gave the first sign Friday that he is alive, saying he would be sent to prison for three years for violating his probation.

A brief report by the state-run Xinhua News Agency did not answer key questions about Gao — the condition of his health and his whereabouts now and in the 20 months since he disappeared, presumably at the hands of the authorities.

"Are they sending him to a proper prison? Which prison was he at before? Where were they hiding him?" said Gao's brother, Gao Zhiyi, who has been on a quest to find his sibling.

Gao's wife said from …

Body in Pa. river ID'd as tourist; 2nd body seen

The body of one of two missing Hungarians was recovered Friday from the Delaware River near where a 250-foot barge collided with a stalled amphibious sightseeing boat. A second body was later spotted during salvage operations but has not yet been recovered.

A statement from Hungary's foreign ministry said U.S. authorities had reported that they had recovered the body of a female Hungarian citizen missing since Wednesday's accident.

Sixteen-year-old Dora Schwendtner was one of two passengers. The other, 20-year-old Szabolcs Prem, has not been found.

The girl's body was recovered at around 4:45 a.m. near the Walt Whitman Bridge by members of the …

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Yawning often occurs during the time we're transitioning from a passive state to a more active one, like when we're waking up in the morning or when we've decided to stop watching TV, get up off the couch and head out for a jog. Psychology professor Robert Provine, an expert on the subject, says that concert pianists and Olympic athletes typically yawn as they gear up for their moments in the limelight. Judging from these facts, Aries, I imagine you'll soon be indulging in more yawns than usual. You're about to go from a phase of relative inertness to one of mind-jiggling adventure.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Surveys show that two out of every 10 people …

US ambassador says Japanese exit from war on terror would be `tragedy'

The U.S. ambassador urged Japan on Wednesday to extend its naval mission in the Indian Ocean, saying it would be "a real tragedy" if Tokyo dropped out of the battle against terrorism.

Japan has refueled U.S.-led warships in the Indian Ocean since 2001, but withdrew the mission in November when the opposition _ which controls the upper house of parliament _ blocked its extension.

U.S. Ambassador Thomas Schieffer said Japan would have to decide whether it wants to be part of the international effort to combat terrorism or not.

"It would be a real tragedy if somehow Japan tried to opt out of the war on terror," he told reporters …

Hikes in gas, food prices lower recovery expectations

Higher gas and food prices pushed overall consumer prices up in the Chicago metropolitan area and nationally in March, raising concerns that higher gas prices could put the brakes on the economic recovery.

Prices rose 0.8 percent in the Chicago metropolitan area in March from February.

Nationally, prices rose 0.5 percent, matching February's increase, the largest since the recession ended in June 2009.

So far, the spikes in food and gas prices haven't stopped businesses from stepping up hiring or slowed factory production, which rose in March for the ninth straight month. But employees are seeing small, if any, pay increases, leaving many little wiggle room. The …

A simple fish dish to wow the crowd

Chef D's Kitchen

Okay... My apologies for not giving you guys a fish recipe as I promised two weeks ago. I failed to mention that I am a big football fan and even a bigger tailgate fan. So with the football season kicking off, I had to drop something for my fellow ., Bear fans to eat. Here is another one of my favorite things to do with fish. Rustic southern flavors enhance mis simple dish in time for the fall season. Pay attention to techniques in this recipe to ensure a successful dish. Enjoy...

Cabbage steamed fjsh and black-eyed peas

8 oz. fresh black-eyed peas

2 cups of chicken broth

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and cut in half

8-10 leaves of …

Solution NMR studies of antiamoebin, a membrane channel-forming polypeptide

ABSTRACT Antiamoebin I is a membrane-active peptaibol produced by fungi of the species Emericellopsis which is capable of forming ion channels in membranes. Previous structure determinations by x-ray crystallography have shown the molecule is mostly helical, with a deep bend in the center of the polypeptide, and that the backbone structure is independent of the solvent used for crystallization. In this study, the solution structure of antiamoebin was determined by NMR spectroscopy in methanol, a solvent from which one of the crystal structures was determined. The ensemble of structures produced exhibit a right-handed helical C terminus and a left-handed helical conformation toward the N-terminus, in contrast to the completely right-handed helices found in the crystal structures. The NMR results also suggest that a "hinge" region exists, which gives flexibility to the polypeptide in the central region, and which could have functional implications for the membrane insertion process. A model for the membrane insertion and assembly process is proposed based on the antiamoebin solution and crystal structures, and is contrasted with the assembly and insertion mechanism proposed for other ion channel-forming polypeptides.

INTRODUCTION

The antiamoebins are a family of peptides produced by fungi of the species Emericellopsis that have antibiotic properties against the organism responsible for amoebic dysentery (Thirumalachur, 1968). Up to 16 microheterogeneous members of the family have been identified, termed antiamoebin I, II, etc., (Pandey et al., 1977; Pandey et al., 1978; Jaworski and Brukner, 2000). Antiamoebin I has the primary structure:

The peptaibols, including antiamoebin, are considered good models for studying ion channels, as they form stable, well characterized channels and are relatively abundant (Wallace, 2000). They also fall in the intermediate size range where both NMR spectroscopic and x-ray crystallographic techniques can be used to investigate three-dimensional structure.

High-resolution crystal structures of antiamoebin I published by Snook et al. (1998) and Karle et al. (1998) in different environments (methanol and octanol, respectively) and in different crystallographic space groups, show that the molecule has essentially the same backbone conformation in both environments. The polypeptide backbone atoms of the two crystal structures have a positional root mean square deviation (RMSD) of 0.24 Angstrom (Wallace et al., 2000). The structures are mostly helical, with an N-terminal a-helix (residues 1-9) followed by a small segment of 3^sub 10^-helix (residues 10-12) joined to an overlapping series of beta-turns at the C-terminus (residues 12-16), which is sometimes described as a beta-bend-ribbon (Di Blasio et al., 1992). The molecule has a deep bend centered on residue Hyp^sup 11^, forming an angle of 560 between the two helix axes in the methanol crystal form (Snook et al., 1998).

[Reference]

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[Author Affiliation]

T. P. Galbraith,* R. Harris,^ ^^ P. C. Driscoll,^^ (sec) and B. A. Wallace*

*School of Crystallography, Birkbeck College, University of London, London WC1 E 7HX, UK; ^Bloomsbury Centre for Structural Biology, Birkbeck College and University College, University of London, London WC1 E, UK; ^^Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University College, University of London, London WC1 E 613T, UK; and (sec)Ludwig Institute of Cancer Research, UCL School of Medicine Branch, London WlP 813T, UK

[Author Affiliation]

Submitted June 17, 2002, and accepted for publication August 05, 2002.

R. Harris's present address is The Burnham Institute, 10901 N. Torrey Pines Rd., La Jolla, CA 92037 USA.

Address reprint requests to B. A. Wallace. Tel.: (+44) 20 7631 6857; Fax: (+44) 20 7631 6803; E-mail: b.wallace@mail.cryst.bbk.ac.uk.

Kmart narrows loss; Limited, Intimate Brands dip

Kmart Corp.'s fiscal second-quarter loss narrowed after thediscount chain closed stores and reduced advertising costs. Profitsat Limited Inc. and its Intimate Brands Inc. unit fell as clothingsales declined. Limited, the second-largest U.S. apparel chain, andIntimate Brands also said earnings in the third quarter will fallmore than forecast as sales continue to drop. Other retailers thatreported results included No. 1 U.S. bookseller Barnes & Noble Inc.,which narrowed its loss in the quarter ended Aug. 4 to $1.69 millionfrom $8.65 million a year earlier. Sales rose 14 percent to $1.05billion. Kmart's loss narrowed to $95 million from $448 million ayear earlier. Sales in the quarter ended Aug. 1 fell 0.9 percent to$8.92 billion, hurt by the closing of 70 stores, from the year-earlier quarter. Net income at Limited fell 7.8 percent to $71.6million, or 16 cents a share, as sales declined 4.2 percent to $2.19billion. Limited expects to break even in the third quarter,compared with last year when it earned 11 cents a share. Per-shareearnings for the full year will "be down significantly," the retailersaid. At Intimate Brands, the biggest U.S. lingerie chain, netincome fell 31 percent to $68.9 million, or 14 cents a share, assales declined 3.4 percent to $1.15 billion. Intimate Brands alsosaid profit will break even in the third quarter and will fall thisyear. Bloomberg News