大尺寸单晶金刚石同质连接技术

介绍了制备人造单晶金刚石的技术途径及发展现状,重点讨论并对比了几种化学气相沉积法(CVD)金刚石制备技术的优缺点,详细阐述了基于微波等离子体CVD (MPCVD)法的同质连接技术——一种突破晶体尺寸限制,实现大尺寸单晶金刚石的有效途径。通过该技术实现了英寸级单晶金刚石晶片的制备,并针对横向生长、界面质量及演化、三维结构连接控制等核心科学技术问题进行了分析和讨论,展望了其在尖端应用领域的发展前景。     

Population-based resequencing of ANGPTL4 uncovers variations that reduce triglycerides and increase HDL

Resequencing genes provides the opportunity to assess the full spectrum of variants that influence complex traits. Here we report the first application of resequencing to a large population (n = 3,551) to examine the role of the adipokine ANGPTL4 in lipid metabolism. Nonsynonymous variants in ANGPTL4 were more prevalent in individuals with triglyceride levels in the lowest quartile than in individuals with levels in the highest quartile (P = 0.016). One variant (E40K), present in approximately 3% of European Americans, was associated with significantly lower plasma levels of triglyceride and higher levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in European Americans from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study and in Danes from the Copenhagen City Heart Study. The ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous variants was higher in European Americans than in African Americans (4:1 versus 1.3:1), suggesting population-specific relaxation of purifying selection. Thus, resequencing of ANGPTL4 in a multiethnic population allowed analysis of the phenotypic effects of both rare and common variants while taking advantage of genetic variation arising from ethnic differences in population history.     

Stepwise replication identifies a low-producing lymphotoxin-alpha allele as a major risk factor for early-onset leprosy

Host genetics has an important role in leprosy, and variants in the shared promoter region of PARK2 and PACRG were the first major susceptibility factors identified by positional cloning. Here we report the linkage disequilibrium mapping of the second linkage peak of our previous genome-wide scan, located close to the HLA complex. In both a Vietnamese familial sample and an Indian case-control sample, the low-producing lymphotoxin-alpha (LTA)+80 A allele was significantly associated with an increase in leprosy risk (P = 0.007 and P = 0.01, respectively). Analysis of an additional case-control sample from Brazil and an additional familial sample from Vietnam showed that the LTA+80 effect was much stronger in young individuals. In the combined sample of 298 Vietnamese familial trios, the odds ratio of leprosy for LTA+80 AA/AC versus CC subjects was 2.11 (P = 0.000024), which increased to 5.63 (P = 0.0000004) in the subsample of 121 trios of affected individuals diagnosed before 16 years of age. In addition to identifying LTA as a major gene associated with early-onset leprosy, our study highlights the critical role of case- and population-specific factors in the dissection of susceptibility variants in complex diseases.     

Ionic Conductivity and Dielectric Properties of the PAN-Ion Conducting Polymers

1 Results In this work, the ion conducting films of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) containing lithium triflate (LiCF3SO3) and sodium triflate (NaCF3SO3) were prepared by the solution casting technique. The ionic conductivity measurements were carried out using impedance spectroscopy. The room temperature conductivity for pure polyacrylonitrile film is 1.51×10-11 S·cm-1. The room temperature conductivity for the highest conducting film in the PAN-LiCF3SO3 and PAN-NaCF3SO3 systems is 1.51×10-5 and 7.99×10-6 S·cm-1, respectively. The conductivity-temperature studies were performed in the temperature range between 303 and 373 K. The results for the variation of the conductivity with temperature obeys the VTF law. The increase and decrease in the number of ions can be implied from the plots of dielectric constant, εr-frequency and dielectric loss, εi-frequency.     

A genome-wide association study for celiac disease identifies risk variants in the region harboring IL2 and IL21

We tested 310,605 SNPs for association in 778 individuals with celiac disease and 1,422 controls. Outside the HLA region, the most significant finding (rs13119723; P = 2.0 x 10(-7)) was in the KIAA1109-TENR-IL2-IL21 linkage disequilibrium block. We independently confirmed association in two further collections (strongest association at rs6822844, 24 kb 5' of IL21; meta-analysis P = 1.3 x 10(-14), odds ratio = 0.63), suggesting that genetic variation in this region predisposes to celiac disease.     

Genetic studies of diseases

Genomic alterations lead to cancer complexity and form a major hurdle for comprehensive understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying oncogenesis. In this review, we describe recent advances in studying cancer-associated genes from a systems biology point of view. The integration of known cancer genes onto protein and signaling networks reveals the characteristics of cancer genes within networks. This approach shows that cancer genes often function as network hub proteins which are involved in many cellular processes and form focal nodes in information exchange between many signaling pathways. Literature mining allows constructing gene-gene networks, in which new cancer genes can be identified. The gene expression profiles of cancer cells are used for reconstructing gene regulatory networks. By doing so, genes which are involved in the regulation of cancer progression can be picked up from these networks, after which their functions can be further confirmed in the laboratory.     

范德华力：生物学家、化学家、工程师和物理学家手册

分子间的范德华力是十分微弱的，但可以说普遍的存在着，在很多体系中起着巨大的作用，在物理学、化学、生物学等学科中得到了广泛的研究。但怎样计算范德华力？如何考虑各种条件对范德华力的影响？     

极紫外天文学

极紫外天文学是一个较为新颖的研究领域，其可行性直到上世纪70年代初还被普遍怀疑，理由是星系介质对极紫外光子（100到1000埃）的强吸收。尽管此后的极紫外空间项目特别是ROSAT卫星和EUVE卫星取得了大量成果，确立了极紫外天文学的地位，这方面的专著仍是凤毛麟角。