Citrulline in amniotic fluid and the prenatal diagnosis of citrullinemia

We report relatively high citrulline concentration in amniotic fluid of a citrullinemic fetus suggesting that prenatal detection of this condition could be done on this basis in conjunction with a direct or an indirect determination of argininosuccinate synthetase activity in amniotic fluid cells.     

Evolution and longevity-assurance processes

The role of the development of information fidelity systems in evolution is explored, with evidence that the loss in the ability to maintain the integrity of homeostasis in organisms over time, aging, is correlated with the loss in the ability to maintain integrity at the molecular biological level. Evolutionary-comparative analysis places an upper limit on the number of these systems important to the evolution of longevity in the primates, and suggests the importance of insuring the stability of information bearing macromolecules in evolution and the role of modulators of damage to these moieties in the expression of the senescent state