The pharmaceutical industry has invested a great deal of time and finance in the development of therapeutics targeting amyloid generation, signalling and plaque stability. This has been based on the amyloid cascade hypothesis which states that abnormal amyloid precursor protein processing and the formation of amyloid plaques is the central process in the development of the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. However, most clinical trials in this area have been disappointing; therefore the attendees of the Models of Dementia: the Good, the Bad and the Future meeting were given the opportunity to openly debate the proposal 'the amyloid cascade has misled the pharmaceutical industry', with the main contributions from Professor John Hardy and Professor John Mayer. The present article is a representation of the debate.

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The revised Tentative Rules published by CBN in 1966 (1) were an attempt to achieve a broad systematization of various types of abbreviated notation already in use [e.g., Brand & Edsall (1947) Annu. Rev. Biochem.; Report of the Committee on Abbreviations of the American Society of Biological Chemists, 18 December 1959; Report of the Committee on Nomenclature of the European Peptide Symposium (1963) pp. 261-269, Pergamon Press, Oxford; 'Tentative Rules for Abbreviations and Symbols of Chemical Names of Special Interest in Biological Chemistry' (2)]. They sought to reconcile the needs of the protein chemist, i.e., indication of amino-acid sequences, with those of persons concerned more with the chemical reactions of proteins and the synthesis of polypeptides, i.e., the need for conveying more detailed chemical information in abbreviated form. Recent progress in the field of peptide synthesis and in the chemical modification of proteins has made necessary a revision of these Tentative Rules. This revision has been aided by the work of an expert group consisting of J.

The nomenclature of lipids IUPAC-IUB CoMMIssION oN BIOCHEMICAL NOM1ENCoATrEVolume 105 (1967) p. 900, column 2, line 10: for alkenyl read alk-l'-enyl p. 900, column 2, after line 12: add new paragraph: Comment. If the term alk-l'-enyl has to be used repeatedly it may be shortened to alkenyl if an author has stated that he is using alkenyl in this restricted sense. p. 900, column 2, line 14: for 1-alkenyl-2-acyl-sn-glycerophosphoric ester read

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IUPAC-IUB COMMISSION ON BIOCHEMICAL NOMENCLATURE (CBN) The first naturally occurring form of vitamin B-6 was isolated in 1938. It has the structure, confirmed by chemical synthesis (1939), of 3-hydroxy-4,5-bis(hydroxymethyl)-2-methylpyridine$ (I; R=-CH20H). The trivial name 'pyridoxine', proposed for this compound by P. Gyorgy, came into general use as a synonym for 'vitamin B-6'. Two other natural compounds possessing vitamin B-6 activity, detected in 1944 and recognized as the aldehyde, or 4-formyl analogue (I; R=-CHO) of pyridoxine, and the corresponding amine, or 4-aminomethyl analogue (I; R=-CH2NH2), were designated 'pyridoxal' and 'pyridoxamine' respectively. Within the next few years, I. C. Gunsalus, E. E. Snell, A. E. Braunstein and others demonstrated that a phosphorylated derivative of pyridoxal, later identified as pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (II; R =-CHO), is the coenzyme of a large group of specific enzymes catalysing reactions of amino group transfer, decarboxylation and other metabolic transformations of individual amino acids. In the course of enzymic transamination, pyridoxal 5'-phosphate undergoes reversible conversion into pyridoxamine 5'-phosphate (II; R =-CH2NH2), which has coenzyme activity for the aminotransferases (EC 2.6.1.-), but not for other types of vitamin B-6-dependent enzymes [3, 4]. In the IUPAC Definitive Rulesfor the Nomenclature of Vitamins, published in 1960 [5], the term 'pyridoxine' was recommended as a generic designation of the B-6 vitamins, and 'pyridoxol' as the trivial name for the alcohol form (I; R =-CH20H) * This document is a revision of proposals published as Tentative Nomenclature Appendix No. 6 to IUPAC Information Bulletin, September 1970, and in several journals [1], which were, in turn, an extension and revision ofSection M-7 of the earlier IUPAC-IUB Tentative Rules, Trivial Names ofMiscellaneous Compounds ofImportance in Biochemistry [2]. t Comments on and suggestions for future revisions of these Recommendations may be sent to any member of the IUPAC-IUB Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature: 0. Hoffmann-Ostenhof (Chairman), W.

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p. 89, Table 3: the sensitivity of lactate formation after 10 days T3 (first column, last row) should be 30 + 7 (5)" u-units/ml p. 91, Table 6: the adenosine concentration after 10 days of T3 administration (last row) should be 1.10 + 0.1 1 (5)C nmol/g Identification of specific binding sites for keratan sulphate proteoglycans and chondroitin-dermatan sulphate proteoglycans on collagen fibrils in cornea by the use of Cupromeronic Blue in 'criticalelectrolyte-concentration' techniques