Genetic variants in novel pathways influence blood pressure and cardiovascular disease risk

Blood pressure is a heritable trait influenced by several biological pathways and responsive to environmental stimuli. Over one billion people worldwide have hypertension (≥140?mm?Hg systolic blood pressure or ≥90?mm?Hg diastolic blood pressure). Even small increments in blood pressure are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events. This genome-wide association study of systolic and diastolic blood pressure, which used a multi-stage design in 200,000 individuals of European descent, identified sixteen novel loci: six of these loci contain genes previously known or suspected to regulate blood pressure (GUCY1A3-GUCY1B3, NPR3-C5orf23, ADM, FURIN-FES, GOSR2, GNAS-EDN3); the other ten provide new clues to blood pressure physiology. A genetic risk score based on 29 genome-wide significant variants was associated with hypertension, left ventricular wall thickness, stroke and coronary artery disease, but not kidney disease or kidney function. We also observed associations with blood pressure in East Asian, South Asian and African ancestry individuals. Our findings provide new insights into the genetics and biology of blood pressure, and suggest potential novel therapeutic pathways for cardiovascular disease prevention.     

古代DNA 技术及其在家养动物驯化历史研究中的应用

家养动物始终伴随着人类文明的发生、发展, 其起源和驯化历史一直备受关注. 而在其 近万年的演化历史中, 家养和野生群体间可能发生基因互渗及替代, 因此基于现代物种DNA 信息进行的历史推断可能存在偏差. 近年来, 古代生物遗骸中的DNA (古代DNA)获取技术日 益成熟, 为这类研究开辟了新的途径. 本文总结了近年来古代DNA 技术研究进展, 点评了古 代生物遗骸DNA 的获取和鉴别方法、古代DNA 提取、扩增及测序技术的革新. 最后, 本文综 述了古代DNA 技术在猪、马、羊、狗等主要家养动物驯化历史研究中的应用进展, 为该技术 的进一步发展及应用提供有益的参考.     

纳米技术的标准化进程和伦理问题

纳米技术的快速发展和纳米技术产品的逐步进入市场, 引起了人们就使用纳米产品对人类健康、安全和环境产生影响的特别关注, 这也是目前伦理学所关心的问题. 标准化不仅在消除贸易障碍、促进国际技术交流和贸易发展、提高产品在国际市场上的竞争能力方面具有重大作用, 对于保障身体健康、生命和环境的安全同样具有重要作用. 本文介绍了纳米技术的健康、安全和环境的标准化进程. 认为上述工作将促进社会科学和自然科学在纳米伦理问题上的交流与沟通, 以期共同解决纳米伦理问题.     

寄生植物和寄主植物间的物质分配

以寄生植物肉苁蓉和寄主植物梭梭为对象, 研究了寄生植物和寄主植物间的物质分配.结果显示, 肉苁蓉体内累积大量的可溶性碳水化合物, 其中可溶性总糖、淀粉以及总可溶性碳水化合物总量分别达到了5.56, 2.73, 8.29 g/株, 分别占梭梭肉苁蓉复合体的51.01%, 60.13%,53.73%; 肉苁蓉对K, P, Zn, Cu 的累积较多, 总量分别达到了348.15, 18.94, 0.24, 0.14 mg/株, 分别占复合体的18.46%, 16.36%, 7.27%, 5.67%. 本研究结果为寄生植物和寄主植物间的物质分配调节提供了初步的理论依据.     

集成微流控芯片

作为一种能够在微米级尺度操纵液体的新兴技术, 微流控芯片已经受到科学家们的广泛关注. 高密度集成的微流控芯片装置可以实现高通量并行化的实验以及多种操作单元的功能一体化, 作为一种新的方法学平台, 已经越来越多地应用于化学和生命科学的研究中. 本文着重介绍了集成化微流控芯片装置的基本概念、构建方法、及其在细胞生物学、分子生物学以及化学合成应用研究中的最新进展, 尤其强调了集成微流控芯片系统在传统方法难以达成或实现的单细胞和高通量的研究中的优势, 展望了集成化微流控芯片在化学以及生命科学中的应用前景.     

Effects of Si and Ce on the microstructure and hydrogen storage property of Ti_(26.5)Cr_(20)V_(45)Fe_(8.5)Ce_(0.5) alloy

In this paper,the effects of Si and Ce on the microstructure and hydrogen storage property of Ti26.5 Cr20V45Fe8.5Ce0.5 alloy were studied,respectively.First of all,effects of Si on the microstructure and hydrogen storage properties of Ti26.5Cr20(V45Fe8.5)1-xSixCe0.5(x=0,0.5,1.0,1.5 and 2.0 at%)alloys were studied by X-ray diffraction,scanning electron microscopy and P-C isotherm measurements.As the Si addition increases,the hydrogen absorption capacities of alloys decrease but the equilibrium pressure incre...     

Magnetocaloric effect in Er-Al-Co bulk metallic glasses

A series of Er-Al-Co bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) have been prepared by the copper mold casting method. The glass forming ability and magnetocaloric effect (MCE) for these alloys have been investigated. The second-order magnetic transition from para-magnetic to ferromagnetic states takes place at about 9 K. These BMGs exhibit excellent MCE because of their large effective magneton number; Er56Al24Co20 BMG has a maximum entropy change and refrigeration capacity of 16.06 J kg-1 K-1 and 546 J kg-1,respectively...     

RH精炼钢中全氧量变化与操作改进

为了使钢中全氧量控制在一个适当的水平,在武钢炼钢总厂RH真空脱气装置对低碳、超低碳钢进行了脱氧净化试验.结果表明,影响全氧去除的因素按作用高低依次是出钢溶解氧水平,溶解氧与钢包渣的交互作用,钢包渣,和真空处理净化时间.通过改进工艺生产了全氧量≤10×10-6,非金属夹杂物尺寸<10μm的清洁钢水,建立了一个钢包内钢水全氧浓度随时间变化的新方程,该方程考虑了全氧的表观平衡含量及环流、扩散传质对去除氧化物夹杂速率的影响.     

Influence of Node Dynamics on Cluster Global Time Continuity

The cluster global time can change in wireless sensor networks due to leader re-elections and node disabilities between two successive synchronizations,which will affect temporal relationships.This paper analyzes cluster global time continuity,using global time change models for the node dynamics.The results prove that defining the global time using the cluster average time(AGT) is more stable than defining it using a single node’s local time(SGT).With normally distributed clock-parameter assumptions,the AGT change bounds are at most 70.7% of those for the SGT’s.The impacts of the initial phase and frequency skew distributions on the global time continuity are also investigated to show that the initial phase variations may strongly influence the continuity.Simulations show that the AGT is more stable with less disabled nodes or larger clusters.The appropriate cluster size is 20-40 when there are less than 15 disabled nodes.     

Universal Distributed Estimation Scheme for a Bandwidth Constrained Ad Hoc Sensor Network

This paper describes a distributed estimation scheme (DES) for a bandwidth constrained ad hoc sensor network.The DES is universal in the sense that operations on all sensors are identical and independent of noise distribution.The scheme requires each sensor to transmit just a 1-bit message per observation.Simulation results show that the scheme achieves much better mean-squares error (MSE) performance than the simplified isotropic universal DES and even outperforms the isotropic universal DES which requires more than twice the bandwidth of this scheme.