Descartes’s changing mind

Descartes is always concerned about knowledge. However, the Galileo affair in 1633, the reactions to his Discourse on method, and later his need to reply to objections to his Meditations provoked crises in Descartes’s intellectual development the import of which has not been sufficiently recognized. These events are the major reasons why Descartes’s philosophical position concerning how we know and what we may know is radically different at the end of his life from what it was when he began. We call this later position Descartes’s epistemic stance and contrast it with his earlier methodological, metaphysical realism. Yet Descartes’s epistemic views cannot be separated from other aspects of his work, for example, his views concerning God, causality, metaphysics, and the nature of science. A further meta-implication is that serious errors await any scholar who cites early Cartesian texts in support of late Cartesian positions, or who uses later texts in conjunction with early ones to support a reading of Descartes’s philosophy.     

初中生学习化学兴趣的发展趋势

针对目前初中化学教学中学生因缺乏应有的学习兴趣而导致学习动力不足和影响其个性和谐发展的问题，运用现代教育学、心理学的理论，结合初中生的心理特点和化学学科特点，提出把初中生学习化学兴趣提到学生稳定的个性心理品质上来研究，是符合马克思主义关于人的学说和现代教育心理学理论以及初中化学教学实际的；初中生学习化学兴趣的形成和发展是一个立体发生的过程，其纵向趋势为：直感兴趣→解析兴趣→探索兴趣；其横向品质为：指向性、持久性、广泛性和有效性，初中生学习化学兴趣水平的提高应当在有效的教学中进行     

关于扰动单位根上的复Hermite插值多项式

本文给出了基于扰动单位根的Hermite插值对As(|z|<1)中函数f(z)及其导数的同时一致及平均逼近阶。     

Preferential hydrophobic interactions are responsible for a preference of D-amino acids in the aminoacylation of 5'-AMP with hydrophobic amino acids.

We have studied the chemistry of aminoacyl AMP to model reactions at the 3' terminus of aminoacyl tRNA for the purpose of understanding the origin of protein synthesis. The present studies relate to the D, L preference in the esterification of 5'-AMP. All N-acetyl amino acids we studied showed faster reaction of the D-isomer, with a generally decreasing preference for D-isomer as the hydrophobicity of the amino acid decreased. The beta-branched amino acids, Ile and Val, showed an extreme preference for D-isomer. Ac-Leu, the gamma-branched amino acid, showed a slightly low D/L ratio relative to its hydrophobicity. The molecular basis for these preferences for D-isomer is understandable in the light of our previous studies and seems to be due to preferential hydrophobic interaction of the D-isomer with adenine. The preference for hydrophobic D-amino acids can be decreased by addition of an organic solvent to the reaction medium. Conversely, peptidylation with Ac-PhePhe shows a preference for the LL isomer over the DD isomer.     

Cyclosporine is angiostatic

The systemic effect of the immunosuppressive drug cyclosporine (CS) on formation of new blood vessels was studied quantitatively in rats using the mesenteric-window assay. Angiogenesis was induced by i.p. injection of saline. CS at a s.c. dose of 4 mg/kg/day, which is in the range used clinically, suppressed angiogenesis (inhibiting branching or tortuosity more than spatial expansion), and appeared to be non-toxic. This is the first report on an apparently selective angiostatic effect of CS. The finding is likely to have implications for the clinical use of CS, not only in certain types of organ transplantation but possibly also in psoriasis and other angiogenesis-dependent diseases.     

Pathways for oxidative fuel provision to working muscles: Ecological consequences of maximal supply limitations

The study of metabolic fuel provision and its regulation has reached an exciting stage where specific molecular events can be correlated with parameters of the organism's ecology. This paper examines substrate supply pathways from storage sites to locomotory muscle mitochondria and discusses ecological implications of the limits for maximal flux through these pathways. The relative importance of the different oxidative fuels is shown to depend on aerobic capacity. Very aerobic, endurance-adapted animals such as long distance migrants favor the use of lipids and intramuscular fuels over carbohydrates and circulatory fuels. The hypothesis of functional co-adaptation between oxygen and metabolic fuel supply systems allows us to predict that the capacity of several biochemical processes should be scaled with maximal oxygen consumption. Key enzymes, transmembrane transporter proteins, glucose precursor supply and soluble fatty acid transport proteins must all be geared to support higher maximal glucose and fatty acid fluxes in aerobic than in sedentary species.     

Mutation of the matrix metalloproteinase 2 gene (MMP2) causes a multicentric osteolysis and arthritis syndrome.

The inherited osteolyses or 'vanishing bone' syndromes are a group of rare disorders of unknown etiology characterized by destruction and resorption of affected bones. The multicentric osteolyses are notable for interphalangeal joint erosions that mimic severe juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (OMIMs 166300, 259600, 259610 and 277950). We recently described an autosomal recessive form of multicentric osteolysis with carpal and tarsal resorption, crippling arthritic changes, marked osteoporosis, palmar and plantar subcutaneous nodules and distinctive facies in a number of consanguineous Saudi Arabian families. We localized the disease gene to 16q12-21 by using members of these families for a genome-wide search for homozygous-by-descent microsatellite markers. Haplotype analysis narrowed the critical region to a 1.2-cM region that spans the gene encoding MMP-2 (gelatinase A, collagenase type IV; (ref. 3). We detected no MMP2 enzymatic activity in the serum or fibroblasts of affected family members. We identified two family-specific homoallelic MMP2 mutations: R101H and Y244X. The nonsense mutation effects a deletion of the substrate-binding and catalytic sites and the fibronectin type II-like and hemopexin/TIMP2 binding domains. Based on molecular modeling, the missense mutation disrupts hydrogen bond formation within the highly conserved prodomain adjacent to the catalytic zinc ion.     

Algorithmic compression of empirical data: reply to Twardy, Gardner, and Dowe

This discussion note responds to objections by Twardy, Gardner, and Dowe to my earlier claim that empirical data sets are algorithmically incompressible. Twardy, Gardner, and Dowe hold that many empirical data sets are compressible by Minimum Message Length technique and offer this as evidence that these data sets are algorithmically compressible. I reply that the compression achieved by Minimum Message Length technique is different from algorithmic compression. I conclude that Twardy, Gardner, and Dowe fail to establish that empirical data sets are algorithmically compressible.