Deposition of 1.88-billion-year-old iron formations as a consequence of rapid crustal growth

Iron formations are chemical sedimentary rocks comprising layers of iron-rich and silica-rich minerals whose deposition requires anoxic and iron-rich (ferruginous) sea water. Their demise after the rise in atmospheric oxygen by 2.32?billion years (Gyr) ago has been attributed to the removal of dissolved iron through progressive oxidation or sulphidation of the deep ocean. Therefore, a sudden return of voluminous iron formations nearly 500?million years later poses an apparent conundrum. Most late Palaeoproterozoic iron formations are about 1.88?Gyr old and occur in the Superior region of North America. Major iron formations are also preserved in Australia, but these were apparently deposited after the transition to a sulphidic ocean at 1.84?Gyr ago that should have terminated iron formation deposition, implying that they reflect local marine conditions. Here we date zircons in tuff layers to show that iron formations in the Frere Formation of Western Australia are about 1.88?Gyr old, indicating that the deposition of iron formations from two disparate cratons was coeval and probably reflects global ocean chemistry. The sudden reappearance of major iron formations at 1.88?Gyr ago--contemporaneous with peaks in global mafic-ultramafic magmatism, juvenile continental and oceanic crust formation, mantle depletion and volcanogenic massive sulphide formation--suggests deposition of iron formations as a consequence of major mantle activity and rapid crustal growth. Our findings support the idea that enhanced submarine volcanism and hydrothermal activity linked to a peak in mantle melting released large volumes of ferrous iron and other reductants that overwhelmed the sulphate and oxygen reservoirs of the ocean, decoupling atmospheric and seawater redox states, and causing the return of widespread ferruginous conditions. Iron formations formed on clastic-starved coastal shelves where dissolved iron upwelled and mixed with oxygenated surface water. The disappearance of iron formations after this event may reflect waning mafic-ultramafic magmatism and a diminished flux of hydrothermal iron relative to seawater oxidants.     

Mutations in SEC63 cause autosomal dominant polycystic liver disease

Mutations in PRKCSH, encoding the beta-subunit of glucosidase II, an N-linked glycan-processing enzyme in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), cause autosomal dominant polycystic liver disease. We found that mutations in SEC63, encoding a component of the protein translocation machinery in the ER, also cause this disease. These findings are suggestive of a role for cotranslational protein-processing pathways in maintaining epithelial luminal structure and implicate noncilial ER proteins in human polycystic disease.     

Recovery of learning and memory is associated with chromatin remodelling

Neurodegenerative diseases of the central nervous system are often associated with impaired learning and memory, eventually leading to dementia. An important aspect in pre-clinical research is the exploration of strategies to re-establish learning ability and access to long-term memories. By using a mouse model that allows temporally and spatially restricted induction of neuronal loss, we show here that environmental enrichment reinstated learning behaviour and re-established access to long-term memories after significant brain atrophy and neuronal loss had already occurred. Environmental enrichment correlated with chromatin modifications (increased histone-tail acetylation). Moreover, increased histone acetylation by inhibitors of histone deacetylases induced sprouting of dendrites, an increased number of synapses, and reinstated learning behaviour and access to long-term memories. These data suggest that inhibition of histone deacetylases might be a suitable therapeutic avenue for neurodegenerative diseases associated with learning and memory impairment, and raises the possibility of recovery of long-term memories in patients with dementia.     

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.     

干细胞修复和再生

干细胞研究是目前生物领域最具有吸引力的研究方向之一,将干细胞用于治疗将为许多重大疾病的治疗提供广阔的前景。本书从不同类型的多能干细胞和胚胎干细胞人手,深人浅出地介绍了这些细胞的自身调节与在疾病方面的应用基础,并讲述了目前干细胞修复再生领域的前沿技术与发展趋势。     

论体育运动科研方法

1983年6月和1984年4月10日,苏联共产党第二十六次代表大会苏共中央主席团的决议以及1984的4月12日苏联最高苏维埃4月会议决议《普通教育和职业教育学校改革的基本方向》都指出,把苏联人的教育问题变为现实的前提是必须深入地分析苏联体育,首先是作为形成机体和个性全面发展的实质性知识部分的体育教育和运动训练的基础理论方法。在最近一个时期内,研究运动程序的社会意义的资料,人的行为和生命活动、心理和生物规律的资料都使体育运动的基础理论方法丰富起来。随着这些资料的积累,有必要弄清个性教育的特殊性、明确研究提高从事体育训练人员运动能力的组织工作和方法的一般科学和个别理论的相互关系。到目前,在体育运动方面,有关奥林匹克(国际的)、军事技术和国家运动项目(其中特别重视包括在奥林匹克竞赛计划中的那些项目)的训练程序和比赛活动的特点,形成了三部分理论方法知识。但是,把运动分为三大部分既是正确的历史的社会事实,同时又是有条件的。这种划分的程式化和运动项目分组缺少普遍采用的系统化,包括体育教育和运动训练、形成和发展作为社会现象的运动活动的共同理论的个别问题的研     

Implementation Study Tree Computation on of Dynamic Load Balancing Algorithm of Parallel Clusters of Heterogeneous Workstation

The rapid growth of interconnected high performance workstations has produced a new computing paradigm called clustered of workstations computing. In these systems load balance problem is a serious impediment to achieve good performance. The main concern of this paper is the implementation of dynamic load balancing algorithm, asynchronous Round Robin （ARR）, for balancing workload of parallel tree computation depth-first-search algorithm on Cluster of Heterogeneous Workstations （ COW ） Many algorithms in artificial intelligence and other areas of computer science are based on depth first search in implicitty defined trees. For these algorithms a load- balancing scheme is required, which is able to evenly distribute parts of an irregularly shaped tree over the workstations with minimal interprocessor communication and without prior knowledge of the tree＇s shape. For the （ ARR ） algorithm only minimal interprocessor communication is needed when necessary and it runs under the MPI （Message passing interface） that allows parallel execution on heterogeneous SUN cluster of workstation platform. The program code is written in C language and executed under UNIX operating system （Solaris version）.     

衰老生物学

本书为《分子和亚细胞生物学进展》丛书的第30卷。这套丛书及时地介绍和论述现代分子生物学和亚细胞生物学的各方面研究和应用。本书介绍和论述老化的基础和生物学及其历史展望，分析了老化的基本机理，沟通了分子、细胞和组织之间的联系，特别论述了癌症与衰老之间的关系。