The Escherichia coli F, ATPase, ECFI, has been examined by cryoelectron microscopy after reaction with Fab' fragments generated from monoclonal antibodies to the a and E subunits. The enzyme-antibody complexes appeared triangular due to the superposition of three anti-a Fab' fragments on alternating densities of the hexagonally arranged a and .3 subunits. The Fab' to the E subunit superimposed on a .8 subunit. A density was observed near the center of the structure in the internal cavity. Mg2+ were added and ATP hydrolysis was allowed to proceed, almost two-thirds of the images were in the class in which the central density was closest to the 13 subunit superimposed by the E subunit. We conclude that domains within the ECF, structure, either the central mass or a domain including the E subunit, move in the enzyme in response to ligand binding. We suggest that this movement is involved in coupling catalytic sites to the proton channel in the FO part of the ATP synthase.Energy-transducing membranes, including the plasma membrane of bacteria, the thylakoid membrane of chloroplasts, and the mitochondrial inner membrane, all contain a structurally homologous F1Fo ATP synthase (reviewed in refs. 1 and 2). This enzyme complex uses the energy of the transmembrane proton gradient, generated by oxidative or photophosphorylation, to synthesize ATP from ADP and inorganic phosphate (Pi) (3,4).The ATP synthase is organized into two distinct subassemblies, a catalytically active portion extrinsic to the membrane (F1) and a bilayer-spanning proton channel (FO). The compositionally simplest ATP synthases are found in bacteria: the Escherichia coli F1 (ECF1) is made up of five subunits, a, /3, y, 8, and E, in the ratio 3:3:1:1:1, and the ECFo is composed of three subunits, a, b, and c, in a stoichiometry of 1:2:10-12 (4-7).The catalytic sites in F1 are located on the ,8 subunits (1, 2); hence there are potentially three active sites per F1. Catalysis is highly cooperative, in that release of products is very slow when only one site is occupied, and increases dramatically (up to 106-fold) by binding substrate at a second catalytic site (8)(9)(10). Cooperativity between active sites is likewise critical for ATP synthesis by F1FO (10,11).To explain both the high degree of cooperativity and the unusual stoichiometry of the enzyme, catalytic mechanisms involving alternating active sites have been proposed (12-14); the models differ in the number of active sites, their order of use, and the involvement of regulatory sites. In the intact ATP synthase, both ATP synthesis and hydrolysis are tightly coupled to proton flow through Fo (15). As Fo appears to contain only one proton channel, consisting in part of the single copy of the a subunit (1, 16-18), only one catalytic site can be coupled and active at one time. Hence any multiplesite mechanism requires a shift in the coupling of Fo to each of the catalytic sites in turn. Such a sequential linking of the proton channel to active sites has been suggested to involve rotation of pa...

This article is concerned with identifying, comparing, and accounting for the principal rhetorical conventions within Pagan practitioners' narratives of conversion. Applying key insights from studies on narrative identity and drawing on 15 months of fieldwork and 25 in-depth interviews with Pagan practitioners, I first outline formal similarities in the content of participants' narratives, arguing that these narrative conventions together constitute an ideal typical conversion narrative: what I call the rhetoric of continuity. This narrative form depicts the process of conversion as a rediscovery or uncovering of a temporally continuous and essentialized Pagan self. I suggest that while all conversions involve both change and continuity, adherents of different faith traditions vary in the degree to which they stress self-transformation and/or self-continuity. I then argue that the rhetoric of continuity reflects and reinforces practitioners': (1) perspective on the locus and nature of the authentic self; (2) claims to legitimacy and social acceptance; and (3) understanding of the nature of religious truth.

Background COVID-19 and its associated restrictions around in-person gatherings have created unprecedented challenges for religious congregations and those who lead them. While several surveys have attempted to describe how pastors and congregations responded to COVID-19, these provide a relatively thin picture of how COVID-19 is impacting religious life. There is scant qualitative data describing the lived reality of religious leaders and communities during the pandemic. Purpose and methods This paper provides a more detailed look at how pastors and congregations experienced and responded to COVID-19 and its associated restrictions in the early period of the pandemic. To do so, we draw from 26 in-depth interviews with church-appointed United Methodist pastors conducted between June and August 2020. Pastors were asked to describe how their ministry changed as a result of COVID-19 and interviews were analyzed using applied thematic analysis approaches to identify the most common emergent themes. Results Pastors reported that COVID-19 fundamentally unsettled routine ways of doing ministry. This disruption generated both challenges and opportunities for clergy and their congregations. In the findings, we describe how clergy responded in key areas of ministry–worship and pastoral care–and analyze how the pandemic is (re)shaping the way that clergy understood their role as pastors and envisioned the future of the Church. We argue for the value of examining the pandemic as an “unsettled” cultural period (Swidler 1986) in which religious leaders found creative ways to (re)do ministry in the context of social distancing. Rather than starting from scratch, we found that pastors drew from and modified existing symbolic and practical tools to fit pandemic-related constraints on religious life. Notably, however, we found that “redoing” ministry was easier and more effective in some areas (worship) than others (pastoral care). Conclusions and Implications The impact of COVID-19 on pastors and congregations is complex and not fully captured by survey research. This study provides a baseline for investigating similarities and differences in the responses of pastors within and across denominations and traditions. It also provides a baseline for assessing whether changes in ministry implemented during the early stages of the pandemic remain in place in the post-COVID world.

Background This study aimed to determine the impact of pulmonary complications on death after surgery both before and during the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. Methods This was a patient-level, comparative analysis of two, international prospective cohort studies: one before the pandemic (January–October 2019) and the second during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (local emergence of COVID-19 up to 19 April 2020). Both included patients undergoing elective resection of an intra-abdominal cancer with curative intent across five surgical oncology disciplines. Patient selection and rates of 30-day postoperative pulmonary complications were compared. The primary outcome was 30-day postoperative mortality. Mediation analysis using a natural-effects model was used to estimate the proportion of deaths during the pandemic attributable to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Results This study included 7402 patients from 50 countries; 3031 (40.9 per cent) underwent surgery before and 4371 (59.1 per cent) during the pandemic. Overall, 4.3 per cent (187 of 4371) developed postoperative SARS-CoV-2 in the pandemic cohort. The pulmonary complication rate was similar (7.1 per cent (216 of 3031) versus 6.3 per cent (274 of 4371); P = 0.158) but the mortality rate was significantly higher (0.7 per cent (20 of 3031) versus 2.0 per cent (87 of 4371); P < 0.001) among patients who had surgery during the pandemic. The adjusted odds of death were higher during than before the pandemic (odds ratio (OR) 2.72, 95 per cent c.i. 1.58 to 4.67; P < 0.001). In mediation analysis, 54.8 per cent of excess postoperative deaths during the pandemic were estimated to be attributable to SARS-CoV-2 (OR 1.73, 1.40 to 2.13; P < 0.001). Conclusion Although providers may have selected patients with a lower risk profile for surgery during the pandemic, this did not mitigate the likelihood of death through SARS-CoV-2 infection. Care providers must act urgently to protect surgical patients from SARS-CoV-2 infection.