Common Molecular Mechanisms of Mammary Gland Development and Breast Cancer

During its lifetime, the mammary gland undergoes many phases of development and differentiation. Much of this occurs during puberty, when the ductal epithelium expands by branching morphogenesis, invading the surrounding fat pad to form an organised mammary tree. Throughout its existence, the epithelium will go through several cycles of proliferation and cell death during pregnancy, lactation and involution. Many of the signalling mechanisms which control the initial invasion of the fat pad by the epithelium, and regulate its continuing plasticity, can be harnessed or corrupted by tumour cells in order to support their aberrant growth and progression towards invasion. This is true not just for the epithelial cells themselves but also for cells in the surrounding microenvironment, including fibroblasts, macrophages and adipocytes. This review examines the complex web of signalling and adhesion interactions controlling branching morphogenesis, and how their alteration can promote malignancy. Current in vivo and in vitro mammary gland models are also discussed. (Part of a Multi-author Review)     

广义不确定原理对一般静态黑洞熵的影响

把广义不确定原理引入黑洞熵的计算,采用薄膜brick-wall模型,对一般静态黑洞外部标量场的熵进行了计算,得到了熵计算公式.应用该公式结果表明,可以得到已知所有静态黑洞的Bekenstein-Hawking熵.作为比较和进一步研究,对视界面上的二维膜的熵进行计算,可以更方便和一般性地得到熵与视界面积成正比的结论,该讨论可直接表明黑洞熵就是其视界面上的量子态的熵.与原始brick-wall模型不同的是,这一结论是有限的,计算中无需引入截断,且小质量近似也可以避免.     

Which survey indicators are useful for monitoring consumption? Evidence from European countries

This paper assesses the information content of two survey indicators for consumption developments in the near future for eight European countries in the period 1985–1998. Empirical work on this topic typically focuses on consumer confidence, the perceptions of buyers of consumption goods. This paper examines whether perceptions of sellers of consumption goods, measured by retail trade surveys, may also improve short‐term monitoring of consumption. We find that both consumer confidence and retailer confidence embody valuable information, when analysed in isolation. For France, Italy and Spain we conclude that adding retail confidence does not improve the indicator model once consumer confidence has been included. For the UK the reverse case is obtained. For the remaining four countries we show that combining consumer sentiment and retail trade confidence into a composite indicator leads to optimal results. Our results suggest that incorporating information from retail trade surveys may offer significant benefits for the analysis of short‐term prospects of consumption. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

微波辐射合成7-羟基-4-甲基香豆素

以浓硫酸为催化剂，采用微波辐射技术，由间苯二酚与乙酰乙酸乙酯缩合制备7－羟基－4－4甲基香豆素。结果表明，微波辐射合成7－羟基－4－4甲基香豆素的最以应条件为：间苯二酚5.5g，乙酰乙酸乙酯6.8ml，浓硫酸1.5ml，微波功率240W，微波辐射时间6min，产率84．1％，不采用微波辐射，反应时间大于10h，产率78％，红外光谱分析表明，7－羟基－4－4甲基香豆素的特征峰与7－羟基－4－甲基香豆素的各官能团的吸收峰吻合，测定7－羟基－4－甲基香豆素的熔点为189－192℃。     

基于RBF网络的混沌时间序列的建模与多步预测

提出将RBF神经网络应用于混沌时间序列的建模与预测中 ,设计了一个三层RBF网络结构 ,说明了RBF网络用于混沌时间序列建模和预测时的基本性质。仿真结果表明 ,RBF网络模型对混沌时间序列有比较强的拟合能力和比较高的一步及多步预测精度。采用RBF网络进行混沌时间序列的建模和预测能够取得比其它方法好得多的效果。     

金融时间序列分形维估计的小波方法

讨论了金融时间序列的性质,通过实际数据说明,金融时间序列具有两个重要特性——统计自相似性和非平稳性.利用正交小波变换的方法,给出了其分形维的估计方法.最后,实证分析了国内金融市场,并应用此方法分别得出了上证综合指数序列过程和深证成分指数序列过程的分形维.     

甲醇催化脱氢制甲酸甲酯反应中Cu－ZnO－ZrO_2／SiO_2催化剂的特性

Ｃｕ－ＺｎＯ－ＺｒＯ２／ＳｉＯ２催化剂对甲醇催化脱氢制甲酸甲酯的反应具有良好的活性和选择性．应用连续微反、差示热分析、Ｘ射线衍射、程序升温还原、Ｘ射线光电子能谱分析和红外光谱等技术，对该催化剂的活性中心本质、ＺｎＯ及ＺｒＯ２的助催化作用、可能的反应机理以及催化剂的失活原因进行了探讨．     

Timed bromocriptine administration reduces body fat stores in obese subjects and hyperglycemia in type II diabetics.

Obese postmenopausal female volunteers were given timed daily oral dosages of bromocriptine, and tested for reduction of body fat stores. This dopamine agonist has been shown to reset circadian rhythms that are altered in obese animals and to reduce body fat levels in several animal models. The participants were instructed not to alter their existing exercise and eating behavior during treatment. Skinfold measurements were taken on 33 subjects as indices of body fat. The measurements (e.g., suprailiac) were reduced after six weeks by about 25%, which represents a reduction of 11.7% of the total body fat. These dramatic decreases in body fat, which are equivalent to that produced by severe caloric restriction, were accompanied by more modest reductions of body weight (2.5%), indicating a possible conservation of protein that is usually lost as a consequence of such caloric restriction. The effects of bromocriptine treatment on body fat and hyperglycemia were also examined in non-insulin dependent diabetics being treated with oral hypoglycemics (7 subjects) or insulin (7 subjects). Total body fat was reduced by 10.7% and 5.1% in diabetics on oral hypoglycemics and insulin, respectively, without any significant reductions in body weight. Hyperglycemia was reduced in most of the 15 diabetic subjects treated leading to euglycemia and even cessation of hypoglycemic drugs in 3 of the 7 subjects during 4-8 weeks of bromocriptine treatment. These findings support the hypothesis that obesity and type II diabetes may be treated effectively with bromocriptine when administered at the proper times and dosages.