龙门山茂汶─汶川变质带构造特征研究

龙门山中段茂汶─汶川韧性剪切带中可见到绿片岩相到角闪岩相的古生界。该地的巴罗型中压变质相相当于松潘—甘孜褶皱带中地壳的绿泥石带，构成了北东—南西向的茂汶—汶川变质带。雪隆包花岗岩体正位于该变质带的中心部位。三次韧性变形作用（Ｄ１～Ｄ３）造就了印支褶皱带，并在三叠纪末末形成了松潘—甘孜褶皱带。Ｄ１变形作用为北东—南西向的挤压作用和冲断作用，形成了大型的等斜褶皱，使古生界缩短和加厚。在持续的Ｄ２北京—南西向挤压作用下，松潘—甘孜褶皱带和稳定的扬子克拉通之间的差异应变由茂汶—汶川剪切带中非同轴左旋剪切作用所容纳。雪隆包花岗岩体是在Ｄ２变形作用的晚期侵入到剪切带的。产生蓝晶石的变质条件也是在Ｄ２或Ｄ２变形作用后出现的。Ｄ３变形作用为北西—南东向挤压，在局部地方形成糜棱岩状的道冲剪切带。这些特征与绿泥石退变质作用有关，揭示出在Ｄ３变形期间茂汶—汶川变质带有较大幅度的隆升。尽管雪隆包岩体在空间上与茂汶—汶川变质带有关，但作者认为其变质作用是岩层加厚引起的热作用重新达到平衡的产物，而不是由侵入作用引起的热接触变质作用。然而，与岩浆作用伴生的高温和活动性流体仍是产生Ｄ３局部变形和雪隆包岩体隆升的原因，这也是局部出现角闪告相     

Mutations of the BRAF gene in human cancer

Cancers arise owing to the accumulation of mutations in critical genes that alter normal programmes of cell proliferation, differentiation and death. As the first stage of a systematic genome-wide screen for these genes, we have prioritized for analysis signalling pathways in which at least one gene is mutated in human cancer. The RAS RAF MEK ERK MAP kinase pathway mediates cellular responses to growth signals. RAS is mutated to an oncogenic form in about 15% of human cancer. The three RAF genes code for cytoplasmic serine/threonine kinases that are regulated by binding RAS. Here we report BRAF somatic missense mutations in 66% of malignant melanomas and at lower frequency in a wide range of human cancers. All mutations are within the kinase domain, with a single substitution (V599E) accounting for 80%. Mutated BRAF proteins have elevated kinase activity and are transforming in NIH3T3 cells. Furthermore, RAS function is not required for the growth of cancer cell lines with the V599E mutation. As BRAF is a serine/threonine kinase that is commonly activated by somatic point mutation in human cancer, it may provide new therapeutic opportunities in malignant melanoma.     

Animal communication: ground squirrel uses ultrasonic alarms

Apart from echolocation and the pursuit of prey by bats, the function of ultrasound in animal communication is poorly understood. This is mainly because of the broad range of responses that it can evoke and the widely varied contexts in which it is used (for example, in rodents of the Muridae family it may indicate distress in infants or a sexual or predatory encounter in adults). Here we find that a purely ultrasonic signal is produced in the wild by a rodent of the Sciuridae family, Richardson's ground squirrel, and show that its function is to warn conspecifics of impending danger. To our knowledge, ultrasonic alarm calls have not previously been detected in any animal group, despite their twin advantages of being highly directional and inaudible to key predators.