行人下肢有限元模型的建立与验证研究

下肢损伤是行人与车辆碰撞事故中的主要损伤形式之一,建立具有较高生物逼真度的行人下肢有限元模型,可以为下肢保护提供有效的研究手段.在下肢长骨(股骨、胫骨、腓骨)、韧带(ACL,PCL,MCL,LCL)及膝关节得到全面验证的基础上,建立了包含骨骼、韧带、肌肉及皮肤等详细解剖学结构的行人下肢有限元模型,并定义了各组织间的接触.利用行人下肢弯曲的生物力学实验,对下肢有限元模型进行了整体弯曲验证.结果显示,下肢有限元模型的损伤形式、损伤发生时刻、膝关节弯矩和弯曲角度均与实验结果吻合较好,能够较真实地反映行人下肢的损伤和生物力学响应,具有较好的生物逼真度.     

CCDC103 mutations cause primary ciliary dyskinesia by disrupting assembly of ciliary dynein arms

Cilia are essential for fertilization, respiratory clearance, cerebrospinal fluid circulation and establishing laterality. Cilia motility defects cause primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD, MIM244400), a disorder affecting 1:15,000-30,000 births. Cilia motility requires the assembly of multisubunit dynein arms that drive ciliary bending. Despite progress in understanding the genetic basis of PCD, mutations remain to be identified for several PCD-linked loci. Here we show that the zebrafish cilia paralysis mutant schmalhans (smh(tn222)) encodes the coiled-coil domain containing 103 protein (Ccdc103), a foxj1a-regulated gene product. Screening 146 unrelated PCD families identified individuals in six families with reduced outer dynein arms who carried mutations in CCDC103. Dynein arm assembly in smh mutant zebrafish was rescued by wild-type but not mutant human CCDC103. Chlamydomonas Ccdc103/Pr46b functions as a tightly bound, axoneme-associated protein. These results identify Ccdc103 as a dynein arm attachment factor that causes primary ciliary dyskinesia when mutated.     

The insecticidal potential of venom peptides

Pest insect species are a burden to humans as they destroy crops and serve as vectors for a wide range of diseases including malaria and dengue. Chemical insecticides are currently the dominant approach for combating these pests. However, the de-registration of key classes of chemical insecticides due to their perceived ecological and human health risks in combination with the development of insecticide resistance in many pest insect populations has created an urgent need for improved methods of insect pest control. The venoms of arthropod predators such as spiders and scorpions are a promising source of novel insecticidal peptides that often have different modes of action to extant chemical insecticides. These peptides have been optimized via a prey–predator arms race spanning hundreds of millions of years to target specific types of insect ion channels and receptors. Here we review the current literature on insecticidal venom peptides, with a particular focus on their structural and pharmacological diversity, and discuss their potential for deployment as insecticides.     

TCR signaling requirements for activating T cells and for generating memory

Over the last two decades the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying T cell activation, expansion, differentiation, and memory formation have been intensively investigated. These studies revealed that the generation of memory T cells is critically impacted by a number of factors, including the magnitude of the inflammatory response and cytokine production, the type of dendritic cell [DC] that presents the pathogen derived antigen, their maturation status, and the concomitant provision of costimulation. Nevertheless, the primary stimulus leading to T cell activation is generated through the T cell receptor [TCR] following its engagement with a peptide MHC ligand [pMHC]. The purpose of this review is to highlight classical and recent findings on how antigen recognition, the degree of TCR stimulation, and intracellular signal transduction pathways impact the formation of effector and memory T cells.     

Identifying Difference,Engaging Dissent: What is at Stake in Democratizing Knowledge?

Several prominent voices have called for a democratization of science through deliberative processes that include a diverse range of perspectives and values. We bring these scholars into conversation with extant research on democratic deliberation in political theory and the social sciences. In doing so, we identify systematic barriers to the effectiveness of inclusive deliberation in both scientific and political settings. We are particularly interested in what we call misidentified dissent, where deliberations are starkly framed at the outset in terms of dissenting positions without properly distinguishing the kinds of difference and disagreement motivating dissent.     

On-line Tool Wear Classification in Unmanned-machining Environments

One of the most important features of the modern ma ch ining system in an “unmanned“ factory is to change tools that have been subjec ted to wear and damage. An integrated tool condition monitoring system composed of multi-sensors, signal processing devices and intelligent decision making pla ns is a necessary requirement for automatic manufacturing processes. An intellig ent tool wear monitoring system will be introduced in this paper. The system is equipped with power consumption, vibration, AE and cutt...     

Lack of substrate specificity on the speed of amoeboid locomotion inNaegleria gruberi

Summary Comparison of locomotory rates ofNaegleria on glass, agar, plastic and fluorocarbon oil under a range of defined electrolyte concentrations showed the speed of amoeboid movement to be independent of the substrate's nature.Acknowledgments. We would like to thank Les Cooper for technical assistance, the Science Research Council for support and the 3M Company for the gift of FC75 oil.