物理学对于提升理工科学生人文素养的价值——匈牙利《物理文化史》课程的启示

《物理文化史》是匈牙利布达佩斯理工大学的物理教学团队为理工科专业学生开发的一门选修课.作为一门完备的选修课程,不但具有独特的课程理念和丰富的课程内容,而且在教学方式和评价方式上,都是极具特色和创新思维的,其对于国内物理教师开发类似的选修课程极具借鉴价值.     

Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome is caused by mutations in HPS4, the human homolog of the mouse light-ear gene

Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome (HPS) is a disorder of organelle biogenesis in which oculocutaneous albinism, bleeding and pulmonary fibrosis result from defects of melanosomes, platelet dense granules and lysosomes. HPS is common in Puerto Rico, where it is caused by mutations in the genes HPS1 and, less often, HPS3 (ref. 8). In contrast, only half of non-Puerto Rican individuals with HPS have mutations in HPS1 (ref. 9), and very few in HPS3 (ref. 10). In the mouse, more than 15 loci manifest mutant phenotypes similar to human HPS, including pale ear (ep), the mouse homolog of HPS1 (refs 13,14). Mouse ep has a phenotype identical to another mutant, light ear (le), which suggests that the human homolog of le is a possible human HPS locus. We have identified and found mutations of the human le homolog, HPS4, in a number of non-Puerto Rican individuals with HPS, establishing HPS4 as an important HPS locus in humans. In addition to their identical phenotypes, le and ep mutant mice have identical abnormalities of melanosomes, and in transfected melanoma cells the HPS4 and HPS1 proteins partially co-localize in vesicles of the cell body. In addition, the HPS1 protein is absent in tissues of le mutant mice. These results suggest that the HPS4 and HPS1 proteins may function in the same pathway of organelle biogenesis.     

Gas liquid chromatographic analysis of amino acids in the hemolymph ofOncopeltus fasciatus

Zusammenfassung Aminosäuren in Proben von 2 l Haemolymphe von gefütterten und hungerndenOncopeltus fasciatus wurden mittels Gaschromatographie analysiert und gezeigt, dass dieses Insekt die Konzentration mehrer Aminosäuren aus Haemolymphe regulieren kann.     

Changes in Z-disc width of vertebrate skeletal muscle following tenotomy

Summary Results of unilateral Achilles tenotomy on male rats, after 2–6 weeks, showed conclusively that the Z-lines of tenotomized muscles are significantly wider than those of control, nontenotomized muscles.Acknowledgments. We would like to thank Paul Toselli, David Sack and Kathleen Finneran for their assistance with this project. This investigation was supported in part by NIH Grant No. HL 15462.     

Effect of precocene II on acid phosphatase activity in the large milkweed bug,Oncopeltus fasciatus (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae)

Summary When precocene II was applied to the fourth instar milkweed bug, there was a significant decrease in acid phosphatase activity in the hemolymph at the 40%, 50%, 60%, and 70% time periods in the stadium.     

Dengue-like viruses isolated by an improved method

Zusammenfassung Aus Seren von Dengue-Fieberkranken (Epidemie 1963) wurden zwei «Dengue-like» Viren isoliert. Die Isolierung der Stämme gelang in Bristol-HeLa-Zellen, die mit dem LKB 6300 A Ultrafilter dargestellt wurden. Die Identifizierung der Viren erfolgte mit der Reaktion der Komplementbindung.     

Genome-wide association analyses identify 13 new susceptibility loci for generalized vitiligo

We previously reported a genome-wide association study (GWAS) identifying 14 susceptibility loci for generalized vitiligo. We report here a second GWAS (450 individuals with vitiligo (cases) and 3,182 controls), an independent replication study (1,440 cases and 1,316 controls) and a meta-analysis (3,187 cases and 6,723 controls) identifying 13 additional vitiligo-associated loci. These include OCA2-HERC2 (combined P = 3.80 × 10(-8)), MC1R (P = 1.82 × 10(-13)), a region near TYR (P = 1.57 × 10(-13)), IFIH1 (P = 4.91 × 10(-15)), CD80 (P = 3.78 × 10(-10)), CLNK (P = 1.56 × 10(-8)), BACH2 (P = 2.53 × 10(-8)), SLA (P = 1.58 × 10(-8)), CASP7 (P = 3.56 × 10(-8)), CD44 (P = 1.78 × 10(-9)), IKZF4 (P = 2.75 × 10(-14)), SH2B3 (P = 3.54 × 10(-18)) and TOB2 (P = 6.81 × 10(-10)). Most vitiligo susceptibility loci encode immunoregulatory proteins or melanocyte components that likely mediate immune targeting and the relationships among vitiligo, melanoma, and eye, skin and hair coloration.     

A genome-wide association study of Hodgkin's lymphoma identifies new susceptibility loci at 2p16.1 (REL), 8q24.21 and 10p14 (GATA3)

To identify susceptibility loci for classical Hodgkin's lymphoma (cHL), we conducted a genome-wide association study of 589 individuals with cHL (cases) and 5,199 controls with validation in four independent samples totaling 2,057 cases and 3,416 controls. We identified three new susceptibility loci at 2p16.1 (rs1432295, REL, odds ratio (OR) = 1.22, combined P = 1.91 × 10(-8)), 8q24.21 (rs2019960, PVT1, OR = 1.33, combined P = 1.26 × 10(-13)) and 10p14 (rs501764, GATA3, OR = 1.25, combined P = 7.05 × 10(-8)). Furthermore, we confirmed the role of the major histocompatibility complex in disease etiology by revealing a strong human leukocyte antigen (HLA) association (rs6903608, OR = 1.70, combined P = 2.84 × 10(-50)). These data provide new insight into the pathogenesis of cHL.