Laparoscopically assisted AAA repair is technically challenging but feasible. Potential advantages may be early removal of nasogastric suction, shorter intensive care unit and hospital stays, and prompt return to full functional status. The hemodynamic data obtained from the pulmonary artery catheter and transesophageal echocardiogram during pneumoperitoneum suggest that transesophageal echocardiography may be sufficient for evaluation of volume status along with the added benefit of detection of regional wall motion abnormalities and aortic insufficiency. Further refinement in technique and instrumentation will make total laparoscopic AAA repair a reality.

The antimicrobial constituents of the marine sponge Halichondria sp. from Ponape have been identified as (6fl,7S)-7-amino-7,8-dihydro-a-bisabolene (3) and its hydrochloride salt 4. The structure of amine 3 was determined by an X-ray crystallographic study of the corresponding symmetrical urea 5 and the absolute configuration was elucidated by chemical conversion to (6fl,7£)-a-bisabqlene. The urea 5, the corresponding isothiocyanate 6, and an unrelated diene 7 were also isolated from the sponge.

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Certain isolates of the plant-pathogenic fungus Stemphylium botryosum produce a phytotoxin, stemphyloxin I. This toxin (C(21)H(34)O(6)) was crystallized and its structure was determined by x-ray crystallography to be a beta-ketoaldehyde trans-Decalin. This compound is a highly unusual natural product. Iron (Fe(3+)) controls production of toxin by this fungus. Furthermore, iron reacts with the toxin to yield a colored product which aids in its detection on chromatograms and in its quantitative estimation by colorimetry.;

Geometries and electronic structures of [TV]pericyclynes, (C=CCH2)/v, where TV = 2-6, and some permethylated analogues have been investigated by using Allinger's MM2 force-field and ab initio ST0-3G calculations, photoelectron spectroscopy, and electron transmission spectroscopy. The "small-ring" pericyclynes, TV = 3 and 4, are planar, with all the angle strain absorbed by the relatively easily deformable acetylene linkages. The "common-ring" pericyclynes, TV = 5 and 6, behave conformationally like cyclopentane or cyclohexane in which all torsional interactions are eliminated. For example, [6] pericyclyne has chair, twist-boat, and boat forms of essentially identical energy. Both through-space and through-bond interactions between the acetylenic units are found to be important, with the former dominating in the in-plane orbitals and the latter in the out-of-plane orbitals. The structure of decamethyl [5] pericyclyne predicted by MM2 compares well with the X-ray crystal structure. The crystal structure of a tetrayne,