Toronto congress

TIBS - October 1979

N 250 Although documentation of reviewers activities might increase the desire of a reviewer to accept a paper, such may actually be desirable; a reviewer should consider carefully the rejection of work an author has spent a great deal of time preparing.This potential increase in acceptance rate, however, would be tempered by the reviewers’ names appearing on each publication. Thirdly, once a paper is formally rejected both the authors’ and reviewers’ identities should be made known to each other only if mutually acceptable. This must be at the discretion of the participants and should not be applied universally. There are several situations where the authors and the reviewers would prefer to remain anonymous once a paper is rejected. These feelings should be honored. . . . RICHARD J. 1,. BONDAR Worthington Diagnostics, Freehold, New Jersey 07728, U.S.A.

The problem of causality Defming the terms

As a former student of philosophy, I apologize for not doing justice to the very extensive history of the ‘problem of causality’. No space; my mission was to address directly what Professor H. Mohr (TZBS 4, Sept., N213) and 1 both feel is currently a source of much confusion in certain areas of thinking and research. With respect to SIR:

Boston Biomedical Research Institute, 20 Staniford Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, U.S.A.

Toronto Congress Credit where credit is due

We were greatly honored by being named Honorary co-Presidents of the XIth International Congress of Biochemistry city What spectacular advances have been which was held in Toronto, 8-13 July 1979, under the able Presidency of J. G. made in the 30 years since the First InterKaplan. With our names at the top of the national Congress of Biochemistry, was list of Officers of the Congress, we enjoyed held in Cambridge, England in 1949! many delightful privileges, but we had no Often, during this XIth Congress, we recalled our student days in Cambridge in the administrative duties or responsibilities. We soon became fully aware of the 1920s and especially the prophetic teachwidely held and sincere feeling that the ings of F. G. Hopkins and other pioneers of XIth Congress-despite its staggering size - our subject. How delighted Hopkins would was regarded on all sides as a model of have been at the flourishing and dynamic C. S. HANES planning and organization. Senior col- state of biochemistry today! 3. H. ~~!ASTtll leagues from different countries who had attended all or most of the preceding ten Toronto. Canada SIR:

CROSSWORD

I

0 M P

successful

acid ends in one carbon (8)

8. Sparse but fatty protein (abbrev.) 9. Exude ten mil -combination

(1,1,1)

for the chromatographer?

11. Amino acid for men only? (abbrev.)

12. Claim ripe to be set on an experimental 15. Fashionable

hydrogen

17. My six O-atoms 19. A Roman pyruvate 20. Confused become

acceptor

may produce

footing (Y)

(abbrev.)

(9)

(l,l,l)

fatal disease in rabbits (11)

might think this enzyme requires (abbrev.)

(5.6)

(3)

14. A steep dip could break down one’s proteins

I T I

N

ilcross 6. Partially

E T

0

Congresses stated that the XIth was perhaps the best of all! And there was a unanimous ‘view that it was a tremendous success. We fully endorse this view. We feel it desirable to make clear the fact that the credit for this truly outstanding achievement belongs to the 31 persons whose names are listed below ours in the Programme of the XIth Congress and who. as members of the Executive Committee under G. E. Connell, the Programme Committee under J. S. Colter, and the General Planning Committee under R. H. Painter, have labored for years with vision and dedication to make this great Congress possible. Nor do we forget the contributions of the numerous unnamed volunteers who lubricated the intricate operation which was set in motion as we all assembled in Toronto. In addition, we should channel to the City Fathers of Toronto the copious praise we heard on all sides for the host

his second point, I believe Dr Mohr (define your terms!) used the symbol ‘cause’ to mean essential. By that definition, the lack of gene R, a precursor of anthocyanin, or any other cellular component essential to anthocyanin synthesis, causes a lack of said synthesis. Agreed; however, 1 argued that defining ‘cause’ as ‘essential’ or as ‘proximate event’ was inappropriate and confusing, in view of the origins of a commonly used definition of ‘cause’ described in the first two paragraphs of my article (TZBS 4, May, NllO). BARBARA E. WRIGHT

450 hydrogens

to produce

(1,l.l)

p-mesons

exchange

genetic particles

neutron

for electron

symbolically

and

(8)

Down

1. Organisation (1,lS) Oxygen-free

advocating

cation may be transformed

Neither substrate Protein, Compiled by The Lone Codon will be opened on November 6. There

All entries will be a prize of a Phaidon art book for the first correct solution opened. Send your answers to: TIBS, Elsevier/North-Holland Biomedical Press, 14A Regent Street, Cambridge CB2 IDB, U.K.

that biochemists

nor end-product.

out-moded

into muscle protein

i.e. terminated

strangely

(5) (12)

in his own image? A tricky manipulation

Could he mimic coots in energetic

fashion?

(12)

(3,5)

A prize for wasting away’? (7) Weighty potassium

)

in the general sense, still thrives in serum (7)

Can no male reproduce Vital revolution

of the world unite (abbrev

on well-mixed

Have you encountered

soil (5)

this amino acid? (abbrev.)

(3)

(5.1,: