Mast cells are present during angiogenesis in the chick extraembryonic vascular system

The extraembryonic vascular membranes of 3-day-18-day chick embryos were examined for the presence of mast cells. As early as 3.5 days mast cells were found on the area vasculosa. It is suggested that these cells have a role in angiogenesis of the chick extraembryonic vascular system.     

四川龙门山中段变形和变质历史(英文)

在龙门山的中段,四川盆地西缘的逆冲断层起源于紧靠汶川-茂汶断裂西侧的变质“根带”。汶川-茂汶断裂代表一条20～25km宽的剪切带的晚期脆性变形阶段。该剪切带活动于大约200Ma前的印支期。在汶川-茂汶剪切带北西侧的松潘-甘孜褶皱带中,印支期的NE-SW向挤压形成D_1逆冲断层,并被NW向F_2直立褶皱所叠加。当松潘-甘孜褶皱带受到D_1-D_2期缩短时,相邻的四川盆地并没有发生变形。两个地区的差异应变被发育于D_3的汶川-茂汶左行剪切带所容纳。松潘-甘孜褶皱带中持续的NE-SW向缩短导致了龙门山地区的SE向挤压。这种SE向挤压引起沿汶川-茂汶剪切带发生局部地壳加厚和巴罗型(Barrovian-type)变质作用。汶川-茂汶剪切带的运动学特点由D_3的左行剪切逐渐转变为D_4的SE向逆冲。这种逆冲作用引起了变质地区的初步隆起,以及龙门山地区第一期推覆体的就位。在印支期变形的后期(D_5),岩石发生褶皱并被花岗岩体侵入。现在的汶川-茂汶断裂位置是在更晚的变形阶段确立的。这个阶段的变形可能导致了彭灌基底杂岩沿着映秀-北川断裂发生隆起。在这一事件中,汶川-茂汶断裂是作为一条具有显著左行走滑分量的脆性正断层活动的。这一事件可能对应于龙门山地区的第二期推覆体运动,并且可能发生于侏罗纪—第三纪之间,或者是在喜马拉雅期。     

Androgen receptor gene mutations in X-linked spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy

X-linked spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (Kennedy's disease) is an adult-onset form of motorneuron disease which may be associated with signs of androgen insensitivity. We have now investigated whether the androgen receptor gene on the proximal long arm of the X chromosome is a candidate gene for this disease. In patient samples we found androgen receptor gene mutations with increased size of a polymorphic tandem CAG repeat in the coding region. These amplified repeats were absolutely associated with the disease, being present in 35 unrelated patients and none of 75 controls. They segregated with the disease in 15 families, with no recombination in 61 meioses (the maximum log likelihood ratio (lod score) is 13.2 at a recombination rate of 0). The association is unlikely to be due to linkage disequilibrium, because 11 different disease alleles were observed. We conclude that enlargement of the CAG repeat in the androgen receptor gene is probably the cause of this disorder.     

Wormy mice in a hybrid zone

As one approach to analysing the genetic barriers between species, we studied the numbers and types of parasitic worms in two species of house mice (Mus musculus and M. domesticus) and in their natural hybrids. Where the ranges of these two species meet in southern Germany, there is a zone of hybridization less than 20 kilometres across, in which about 98% of the mice have backcross genotypes. Fourteen of the 46 mice tested from within the zone have over 500 pinworms per gut, a number far exceeding the mean of 40 per gut for other mice inside and outside the zone. Other nematodes have a similar, non-random distribution. The number of mice bearing 9 or more tapeworms per gut is also excessive in the hybrid zone. These extraordinarily wormy mice may be unusually susceptible to parasitism; the different species may have different genes for resistance, and recombinant backcross animals may lose both. Our findings support the view that the hybrid populations may have reduced fitness and thereby act as a genetic sink, interfering with the flow of genes between the two species. The possibility that environmental or ecological peculiarites in the zone of hybridization make the mice more liable to infection is not supported.     

Spin-dependent exciton formation in pi-conjugated compounds.

The efficiency of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) made from organic semiconductors is determined by the fraction of injected electrons and holes that recombine to form emissive spin-singlet states rather than non-emissive spin-triplet states. If the process by which these states form is spin-independent, the maximum efficiency of organic LEDs will be limited to 25 per cent. But recent reports have indicated fractions of emissive singlet states ranging from 22 to 63 per cent, and the reason for this variation remains unclear. Here we determine the absolute fraction of singlet states generated in a platinum-containing conjugated polymer and its corresponding monomer. The spin-orbit coupling introduced by the platinum atom allows triplet-state emission, so optically and electrically generated luminescence from both singlet and triplet states can be compared directly. We find an average singlet generation fraction of 22 +/- 1 per cent for the monomer, but 57 +/- 4 per cent for the polymer. This suggests that recombination is spin-independent for the monomer, but that a spin-dependent process, favouring singlet formation, is effective in the polymer. We suggest that this process is a consequence of the exchange interaction, which will operate on overlapping electron and hole wavefunctions on the same polymer chain at their capture radius.     

Complete genome sequence of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium LT2.

Salmonella enterica subspecies I, serovar Typhimurium (S. typhimurium), is a leading cause of human gastroenteritis, and is used as a mouse model of human typhoid fever. The incidence of non-typhoid salmonellosis is increasing worldwide, causing millions of infections and many deaths in the human population each year. Here we sequenced the 4,857-kilobase (kb) chromosome and 94-kb virulence plasmid of S. typhimurium strain LT2. The distribution of close homologues of S. typhimurium LT2 genes in eight related enterobacteria was determined using previously completed genomes of three related bacteria, sample sequencing of both S. enterica serovar Paratyphi A (S. paratyphi A) and Klebsiella pneumoniae, and hybridization of three unsequenced genomes to a microarray of S. typhimurium LT2 genes. Lateral transfer of genes is frequent, with 11% of the S. typhimurium LT2 genes missing from S. enterica serovar Typhi (S. typhi), and 29% missing from Escherichia coli K12. The 352 gene homologues of S. typhimurium LT2 confined to subspecies I of S. enterica-containing most mammalian and bird pathogens-are useful for studies of epidemiology, host specificity and pathogenesis. Most of these homologues were previously unknown, and 50 may be exported to the periplasm or outer membrane, rendering them accessible as therapeutic or vaccine targets.