Kinetic and structural evidence of the alkenal/one reductase specificity of human ζ-crystallin

Human ζ-crystallin is a Zn²⁺-lacking medium-chain dehydrogenase/reductase (MDR) included in the quinone oxidoreductase (QOR) family because of its activity with quinones. In the present work a novel enzymatic activity was characterized: the double bond α,β-hydrogenation of medium-chain 2-alkenals and 3-alkenones. The enzyme is especially active with lipid peroxidation products such as 4-hydroxyhexenal, and a role in their detoxification is discussed. This specificity is novel in the QOR family, and it is similar to that described in the distantly related alkenal/one reductase family. Moreover, we report the X-ray structure of ζ-crystallin, which represents the first structure solved for a tetrameric Zn²⁺-lacking MDR, and which allowed the identification of the active-site lining residues. Docking simulations suggest a role for Tyr53 and Tyr59 in catalysis. The kinetics of Tyr53Phe and Tyr59Phe mutants support the implication of Tyr53 in binding/catalysis of alkenal/one substrates, while Tyr59 is involved in the recognition of 4-OH-alkenals.     

Electrochemical performance of high purity zinc and Zn-Al-Cd alloy as reference electrodes

The effects of Cl-concentration,temperature,pH,flow velocity,soluble oxygen content of seawater and anodic current on the potential of high purity zinc and Zn-Al-Cd reference electrodes were investigated. The results show that the investigated metal materials are liable to establish stable potential and act as reference electrodes in seawater,diluted seawater and urban tap water. Cl-concentration,temperature,seawater flow velocity and anodic current have an obvious effect on zinc potentials. However,seawate...     

The size variation and related implications of mandibles in northern China in the past 7000 years

To better understand variation of Holocene Chinese mandiblular morphology, a study was conducted on 23 metric traits of Neolithic (n=54), Bronze-Iron Ages (n=184) and modern (n=92) adult male mandibles from northern China. Results indicate that the linear characters of these Chinese mandibles evolved in the past 7000 years. From the Neolithic to Bronze-Iron Ages to present day, the overall size of mandibles decreased. The linear characters of the mandiblular features varied between different time periods. The decrease of thickness and height of the mandibular corpus primarily occurred during the Neolithic to Bronze-Iron Ages. The decrease in main size was during the Bronze-Iron Ages to present day. It is possible that mandibles became thinner before the overall size decreased. Comparisons also indicate that the bottom part of the face may have decreased more greatly in breadth than the upper portion. The decrease in mandible size may be associated with changes in climate and diet, and with changes in the craniums size.     

Investigation of octupole effects in superheavy nuclei with improved potential-energy-surface calculations

It has been found that high-order deformation (e.g.β6) can have important effects on the structures of superheavy nuclei. In the present work, we investigate octupole deformation effects on superheavy nuclei with an improved potential-energy-surface (PES) calculation by including reflection-asymmetric deformations in a space of (β2 ,β3 ,β4 , β5). The calculations give various deformations including highly deformed (β2 ≈ 0.4) and superdeformed (β2 ≈ 0.7) shapes. The octupole-deformation degree of freedom mainly affects the fission barrier beyond the second minimum of PES.     

Two-scale finite element Green’s function approximations with applications to electrostatic potential computation

<正> In this paper,a two-scale finite element approach is proposed and analyzed for approximationsof Green's function in three-dimensions.This approach is based on a two-scale finite elementspace defined,respectively,on the whole domain with size H and on some subdomain containing singularpoints with size h (h H).It is shown that this two-scale discretization approach is very efficient.In particular,the two-scale discretization approach is applied to solve Poisson-Boltzmann equationssuccessfully.     

Identification of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Fallopia</Emphasis> species based on the chloroplast <Emphasis Type="Italic">mat</Emphasis>K gene sequences

In order to develop an efficient identification method for Fallopia plants and drugs, molecular analysis of the partial matK gene sequences was performed on 6 Fallopia species. Based on the matK sequences, a phylogenetic tree was constructed, which showed that different populations of inter- and intra-species could be specified and distinguished. The matK gene sequences of the 6 Fallopia species were all found to be of 1 271 bp in length, with some nucleotide variations throughout the entire sequences. The nucleotide difference at position 1 041 could distinguish F. denticulata from others, while specific nucleotide at position 1 154 became identification markers for F. aubertii. Moreover, four specific marker sites for F. multiflora var. ciliinerve at positions 216, 224, 1 060 and 1 179, seven for F. convolvulus at 318, 765, 772, 874, 936, 952 and 1 036, and seven for F. dentate alata at 111, 192, 366, 450, 457, 1 032 and 1 074 were also observed. By detecting the marker nucleotides and analyzing the phylogenetic relationship, the botanical origins of five inspected drugs were determined, suggesting that matK sequences can be used for authenticating Fallopia plants and drugs.     

A blind watermarking algorithm resisting to geometric transforms based on SVD

A new watermarking algorithm resisting to geometric transformation based on singular value decomposition(SVD) in logarithm polar coordinate is proposed.The log-polar mapping(LPM) is used to resist rotation and scaling attacks,and the odd-even quantization algorithm is used to embed watermark so it can be extracted without the original host image.The experiments show that the proposed algorithm not only resists various geometric attacks but also is robust enough to the common signal processing.     

Phase field simulation of the 180° domain-switching process in PbTiO<Subscript>3</Subscript> single crystal under an antiparallel electric field

The process of 180° domain switching in PbTiO₃ single crystal under an antiparallel electric field was investigated by the three-dimensional phase field simulation, especially the effect of electric field on the type and duration of domain switching. It is found that the polarization reversal of domains takes place under an antiparallel electric field in PbTiO₃ single crystal. The results of the phase field simulation indicate that there is only 90° domain switching under a weak electric field. With the rise of the electric field, 180° domain switching appears. If the electric field is strengthened further, 90° domain switching disappears and the duration of domain switching is shortened.     

A novel data embedding method for H.264 stereo video codec with joint prediction scheme

It is important to reduce data redundancy of stereo video in practical applications. In this paper,first,a data embedding method for stereo video(DEMSV) is investigated by embedding the encoding data into the reference frame to encode stereo video. It can use only one channel to transfer all the video data and the receiver can choose a monocular video decoder or stereo video decoder adaptively. Then,introducing the joint prediction scheme in the coding process of DEMSV,we propose a novel data embedding meth...