A functional circuit underlying male sexual behaviour in the female mouse brain

In mice, pheromone detection is mediated by the vomeronasal organ and the main olfactory epithelium. Male mice that are deficient for Trpc2, an ion channel specifically expressed in VNO neurons and essential for VNO sensory transduction, are impaired in sex discrimination and male-male aggression. We report here that Trpc2-/- female mice show a reduction in female-specific behaviour, including maternal aggression and lactating behaviour. Strikingly, mutant females display unique characteristics of male sexual and courtship behaviours such as mounting, pelvic thrust, solicitation, anogenital olfactory investigation, and emission of complex ultrasonic vocalizations towards male and female conspecific mice. The same behavioural phenotype is observed after VNO surgical removal in adult animals, and is not accompanied by disruption of the oestrous cycle and sex hormone levels. These findings suggest that VNO-mediated pheromone inputs act in wild-type females to repress male behaviour and activate female behaviours. Moreover, they imply that functional neuronal circuits underlying male-specific behaviours exist in the normal female mouse brain.     

椭圆形基坑支护土压力分布理论初探

为使基坑设计更加科学合理,分析了椭圆形基坑支护的变形和土压力分布情况。结果表明:椭圆形支护上存在4个土压力转变点,在转变点处土压力会发生主、被动之间性质的转变;作用于支护上的土压力值是区别于经典理论的“类主动土压力”和“类被动土压力”,它们之间存在一定的比例关系。根据椭圆形支护上土压力的分布模式,提出了3种确定椭圆形支护土压力的方法。     

女性弹力袜压力测试及其压感舒适性研究

选取女性弹力袜为实验试样,采取主客观相结合的方法,对弹力袜的压感舒适性进行研究.在主现评价实验中,采用着装者对袜子穿着感的几项指标进行量化评价,如柔软感、顺滑感、压迫感、运动感以及综合感等;在客观压力测试实验中,在不同姿势下,测试袜子各部分压力值大小,分析了随着人体姿势的变化,各部分压力值的波动幅度.为弹力袜压感舒适性的研究提供准确的基础数据,从而为厂家生产和消费者购买袜品提供一定指导.     

女性紧身裤的压感舒适性研究

选取女性紧身裤为实验材料,采取主客观相结合的测试方法,研究了紧身裤的压感舒适性.在客观测试中,选取人体的左半身为研究对象,并通过对紧身裤预测试分别确定了对其接触压力影响最大的5个点,实验测量了站立姿势时各点的压力值.在主观测试中,以心理物理学中的数量估计法为评价方法,评价因子包括柔软感、塑身感、压迫感、运动感以及综合感等.最后将主客观相结合对实验结果进行了分析总结.     

Homing behaviour of axons in the embryonic vertebrate brain

In embryonic nervous systems, growing axons must often travel long distances through diverse extracellular terrains to reach their postsynaptic partners. In most embryos, axons grow to their appropriate targets along particular tracts or nerves, as though they were following guidance cues confined to specific pathways. For example, in all vertebrates, axons from the retina invariably grow to the tectum along the well-defined optic tract. Yet, transplant experiments demonstrate that retinal axons make tectal projections even though they enter the brain at locations which are distinctly off the optic tract. Only recently has it become possible to label discreet growing projections in the embryonic vertebrate brain. Thus, it is not yet known whether displaced retinal axons grow directly towards the tectum or find it accidently, through random extension. To resolve this question, pioneering axons from normal and transplanted eyes in embryonic Xenopus were labelled using a short-survival horseradish peroxidase (HRP) method, and their orientation during growth was quantitatively assessed. The finding that the ectopic fibres head towards their distant targets implies that guidance cues are not restricted to specific pathways but are distributed throughout the embryonic brain. The significance of this result is discussed with respect to the ontogeny and evolution of the visual pathway.