ABSTRACTS.

These abstracts for presentations at the February 2000 annual meeting of the Mississippi Academy of Sciences were not included in the January abstract issue.

Agriculture and Plant Sciences--poster presentation EARLY AND LATE PLANTING EFFECTS ON LEAF AREA INDEX (LAI), BIOMASS AND YIELD OF SNAP BEANS

A.H. Al-Humadi [*], Girish K. Panicker, C. Sims, Liang C. Huam, and J. Harriess, Alcorn State University, Alcorn State, MS 39096

This field research was done on highly erodible Memphis Silt Loarg Soil (Typic hapludalf, silty, mixed, thermic) in 1993 and 1994 to compare the LAI, biomass and yield of snap beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L. var. 'Provider') planted in late summer of 1993 and early summer of 1994. The density of planting for both crops was at 0.904 mx 0.152 m and they received the same cultural practices and fertilizers. Five destructive harvest studies were conducted in each season. Statistical analysis was performed at 0.05 level of probabilities to determine the significant effects of the leaf area index, biomass, and the yield for the two planting. Leaf area index (LAI), and upper and lower dry biomass were significantly lower in summer 1993 planting than summer 1994 planting. However, the yield in summer 1993 was higher than the yield of summer 1994. It was concluded that planting in late summer was more economical to the growers than planting in the early summer.

Cellular, Molecular and Developmental Biology-oral presentation

DEPENDENCE ON CUTOFF DISTANCE IN PROTEIN FOLD RECOGNITION SCORING FUNCTIONS

Alexander Grant Clark, St. Andrew's Episcopal School, Ridgeland, MS 39157

In the protein fold recognition problem, one tries to recognize the correct (native) structure of a protin given its amino acid sequence. The native structure should have a better score than plausible decoy structures. After formulating a scoring function, and keeping that function static, cutoff distances, used in the generation of contact matrices, and protein database atom types were varied to determine the values needed to optimize the scoring function to return the best results. Data collected concluded that using a database of all-carbon atom proteins with a cutoff distance of 4.0 A returned the highest Z scores, a measure of a scoring function's ability to distinguish between native structures and decoys.

Chemistry and Chemical Engineering--oral presentation

IBOGAINE ANALOGS AS NOVEL AGENTS FOR ADDICTION THERAPY

Mark S. Levi [1][*], C. Randall Clark [2], W. Marvin Davis [1,5], Cheryl L. Klein [3], John C. Matthews [1,5], Harry J. Olverman [4], Robert D. Sindelar [1,5], Norrie H. Wilson [4], and Ronald F. Borne [1,5], (1.) University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677; (2.) Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849; (3.) Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans, LA 70125; (4.) University of Edinburgh Medical School, Edinburgh, Scotland; and (5.) Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University, MS 38677

Currently, ibogaine, an indole alkaloid isolated from West African shrubs, appears to be the most novel lead to further new drug development for treatment of drug dependency. Surprisingly, few analogues of ibogaine have been synthesized and evaluated. Modifications of the structure offer not only opportunity to find an improved congener of ibogaine, but also to reach a better understanding of the mechanism(s) responsible for its desirable actions. That is because structural modifications may lead to changes in the neurochemical activity profile. Thus, inferences would become possible regarding neurochemical actions underlying the favorable neurobehavioral effects of ibogaine itself. Of particular interest have been recent reports that ibogaine binds to a number of receptor systems, most notably the NMDA receptor subtype, an area of special interest to this research. The brain NMDA receptor system has been implicated in the pathway of addiction. The overall goals of this research are to synthesize 2-azabicyclo [2.2.2]octane analogues of ibogaine to clarify SAR requirements at the NMDA receptor and to identify analogues more potent and less toxic than ibogaine or its metabolite as potentially useful agents.

Marine and Atmospheric Sciences--poster presentation

A STUDY OF HURRICANE PREDICTIVE INDEX (HPI) FOR PREDICTING HURRICANE BRET OVER THE GULF OF MEXICO 

R. Suseela Reddy [1], John L. Hurley [1][*], and Richard L. Miller [2], (1.) Jackson State University, Jackson, MS 39217 and (2.) NASA Earth System Science Office, Stennis Space Center, MS 39259

Under the NASA FAR Program, a study has been undertaken to investigate the ocean-atmosphere interactions over the Gulf of Mexico and their relation in the formation and development of tropical cyclones/hurricanes. Hurricane Predictive Index (HPI), a new method, has been developed for predicting the formation and development of land-falling tropical cyclones/hurricanes over the Gulf of Mexico. This index characterizes the ocean-atmosphere interactions over the Marine Boundary Layer (MBL) in terms of heat, momentum and latent heat fluxes, scale height, pressure tendency, kinetic energy, and instability. A positive index indicates no sign of formation of hurricanes. A negative index indicates a significant formation and development of hurricanes. The index has been tested for the hurricanes Opal and Roxanne, which formed over the Gulf of Mexico in October 1995 (Reddy and Miller 1998; Reddy and Miller 1999). In the present study, the index has been further tested for hurricane Bret which formed and developed on A ugust 22, 1999 over the Gulf of Mexico. GOES (visible), AVHRR sea surface temperatures, and NOAA's buoy data from the National Data Buoy Center at Stennis were used in this study. The study has indicated a strong negative index (-0.5 to -5.0), 2--3 days prior to the formation and development of hurricane Bret. The results were in good agreement with those of previous studies. The method is useful to disaster relief agencies for reducing property damage and loss of life during these events.