脑及其自我先天本能和后天驱动力的神经生物化学观念

这本专著总结了作者多年来最重要的研究成果。研究表明，人的大脑皮层具有获得驱动力的独特能力．正是这种能力创造了人类社会，并促使人类社会不断进化。作者认为，人类社会目前还处于反复实验的发展阶段，但其最终必将由现在的不可知状态逐渐过渡到理性指导的平衡状态。通过对获得性驱动力的特殊分析及以前曾认为不可知的脑机理的发现，作者对社会生活的发展及艺术、科学的起源给出了合理的生理学解释。本书的目的是要论证即使在脑及其自我的关系中，自然规律仍然是简单的，而不是不可知的。     

HIV preferentially infects HIV-specific CD4+ T cells

HIV infection is associated with the progressive loss of CD4(+) T cells through their destruction or decreased production. A central, yet unresolved issue of HIV disease is the mechanism for this loss, and in particular whether HIV-specific CD4(+) T cells are preferentially affected. Here we show that HIV-specific memory CD4(+) T cells in infected individuals contain more HIV viral DNA than other memory CD4(+) T cells, at all stages of HIV disease. Additionally, following viral rebound during interruption of antiretroviral therapy, the frequency of HIV viral DNA in the HIV-specific pool of memory CD4(+) T cells increases to a greater extent than in memory CD4(+) T cells of other specificities. These findings show that HIV-specific CD4(+) T cells are preferentially infected by HIV in vivo. This provides a potential mechanism to explain the loss of HIV-specific CD4(+) T-cell responses, and consequently the loss of immunological control of HIV replication. Furthermore, the phenomenon of HIV specifically infecting the very cells that respond to it adds a cautionary note to the practice of structured therapy interruption.     

Genome sequencing in microfabricated high-density picolitre reactors

The proliferation of large-scale DNA-sequencing projects in recent years has driven a search for alternative methods to reduce time and cost. Here we describe a scalable, highly parallel sequencing system with raw throughput significantly greater than that of state-of-the-art capillary electrophoresis instruments. The apparatus uses a novel fibre-optic slide of individual wells and is able to sequence 25 million bases, at 99% or better accuracy, in one four-hour run. To achieve an approximately 100-fold increase in throughput over current Sanger sequencing technology, we have developed an emulsion method for DNA amplification and an instrument for sequencing by synthesis using a pyrosequencing protocol optimized for solid support and picolitre-scale volumes. Here we show the utility, throughput, accuracy and robustness of this system by shotgun sequencing and de novo assembly of the Mycoplasma genitalium genome with 96% coverage at 99.96% accuracy in one run of the machine.     

Summer food habits of coyotes in central Wyoming

Summer food habits of coyotes ( Canis latrans ) were investigated on a 3100-km 2 area in central Wyoming, divided into one deer-use area and five non-deer areas. Analysis of 404 scats (fecal samples) revealed an overall average of 63 percent occurrence of native ungulates, 63 percent leporids, 46 percent rodents, 14 percent livestock, and 11 percent birds. Pronghorn ( Antilocapra Americana ) was the ungulate most frequently consumed, occurring in about 87 percent of the scats. Mule deer ( Odocoileus hemionus ) occurred in only 8 percent, and in 5 percent the native ungulate remains were not identifiable beyond order. This large percentage of big game in the diet is apparently unusual, because big game has been of minor importance in most coyote food-habit studies. The high incidence of leporids is consistent with other studies performed in arid intermountain areas. Although cricetines, especially deer mice ( Peromyscus maniculatus ), were trapped consistently in all habitats, months, and trapping areas, they were found in scats at a lower frequency than microtines and sciurids. This suggests a coyote hunting strategy that selected for the latter two groups.     

What We Can Learn from a Diagram: The Case of Aristarchus's On The Sizes and Distances of the Sun and Moon

By using the example of a single proposition and its diagrams, this paper makes explicit a number of the processes in effect in the textual transmission of works in the exact sciences of the ancient and medieval periods. By examining the diagrams of proposition 13 as they appear in the Greek, Arabic, and Latin traditions of Aristarchus's On the Sizes and Distances of the Sun and Moon, we can see a number of ways in which medieval, and early modern, scholars interpreted their sources in an effort to understand and transmit canonical ancient texts. This study highlights the need for modern scholars to take into consideration all aspects of the medieval transmission in our efforts to understand ancient practices.     

Anti-apoptotic mechanisms of HIV: lessons and novel approaches to curing HIV

Past efforts at curing infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have been blocked by the resistance of some infected cells to viral cytopathic effects and the associated development of a latent viral reservoir. Furthermore, current efforts to clear the viral reservoir by means of reactivating latent virus are hampered by the lack of cell death in the newly productively infected cells. The purpose of this review is to describe the many anti-apoptotic mechanisms of HIV, as well as the current limitations in the field. Only by understanding how infected cells avoid HIV-induced cell death can an effective strategy to kill infected cells be developed.     

Connexins and pannexins in the skeleton: gap junctions,hemichannels and more

Regulation of bone homeostasis depends on the concerted actions of bone-forming osteoblasts and bone-resorbing osteoclasts, controlled by osteocytes, cells derived from osteoblasts surrounded by bone matrix. The control of differentiation, viability and function of bone cells relies on the presence of connexins. Connexin43 regulates the expression of genes required for osteoblast and osteoclast differentiation directly or by changing the levels of osteocytic genes, and connexin45 may oppose connexin43 actions in osteoblastic cells. Connexin37 is required for osteoclast differentiation and its deletion results in increased bone mass. Less is known on the role of connexins in cartilage, ligaments and tendons. Connexin43, connexin45, connexin32, connexin46 and connexin29 are expressed in chondrocytes, while connexin43 and connexin32 are expressed in ligaments and tendons. Similarly, although the expression of pannexin1, pannexin2 and pannexin3 has been demonstrated in bone and cartilage cells, their function in these tissues is not fully understood.