Metallothionein promotes regenerative axonal sprouting of dorsal root ganglion neurons after physical axotomy

Prior studies have reported that metallothionein I/II (MT) promote regenerative axonal sprouting and neurite elongation of a variety of central nervous system neurons after injury. In this study, we evaluated whether MT is capable of modulating regenerative axon outgrowth of neurons from the peripheral nervous system. The effect of MT was firstly investigated in dorsal root ganglion (DRG) explants, where axons were scratch-injured in the presence or absence of exogenous MT. The application of MT led to a significant increase in regenerative sprouting of neurons 16 h after injury. We show that the pro-regenerative effect of MT involves an interaction with the low-density lipoprotein receptor megalin, which could be blocked using the competitive antagonist RAP. Pre-treatment with the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) inhibitor PD98059 also completely abrogated the effect of exogenous MT in promoting axonal outgrowth. Interestingly, we only observed megalin expression in neuronal soma and not axons in the DRG explants. To investigate this matter, an in vitro injury model was established using Campenot chambers, which allowed the application of MT selectively into either the axonal or cell body compartments after scratch injury was performed to axons. At 16 h after injury, regenerating axons were significantly longer only when exogenous MT was applied solely to the soma compartment, in accordance with the localized expression of megalin in neuronal cell bodies. This study provides a clear indication that MT promotes axonal regeneration of DRG neurons, via a megalin- and MAPK-dependent mechanism.     

Quantifying social group evolution

The rich set of interactions between individuals in society results in complex community structure, capturing highly connected circles of friends, families or professional cliques in a social network. Thanks to frequent changes in the activity and communication patterns of individuals, the associated social and communication network is subject to constant evolution. Our knowledge of the mechanisms governing the underlying community dynamics is limited, but is essential for a deeper understanding of the development and self-optimization of society as a whole. We have developed an algorithm based on clique percolation that allows us to investigate the time dependence of overlapping communities on a large scale, and thus uncover basic relationships characterizing community evolution. Our focus is on networks capturing the collaboration between scientists and the calls between mobile phone users. We find that large groups persist for longer if they are capable of dynamically altering their membership, suggesting that an ability to change the group composition results in better adaptability. The behaviour of small groups displays the opposite tendency-the condition for stability is that their composition remains unchanged. We also show that knowledge of the time commitment of members to a given community can be used for estimating the community's lifetime. These findings offer insight into the fundamental differences between the dynamics of small groups and large institutions.     

Genetic diversity and disease control in rice

Crop heterogeneity is a possible solution to the vulnerability of monocultured crops to disease. Both theory and observation indicate that genetic heterogeneity provides greater disease suppression when used over large areas, though experimental data are lacking. Here we report a unique cooperation among farmers, researchers and extension personnel in Yunnan Province, China--genetically diversified rice crops were planted in all the rice fields in five townships in 1998 and ten townships in 1999. Control plots of monocultured crops allowed us to calculate the effect of diversity on the severity of rice blast, the major disease of rice. Disease-susceptible rice varieties planted in mixtures with resistant varieties had 89% greater yield and blast was 94% less severe than when they were grown in monoculture. The experiment was so successful that fungicidal sprays were no longer applied by the end of the two-year programme. Our results support the view that intraspecific crop diversification provides an ecological approach to disease control that can be highly effective over a large area and contribute to the sustainability of crop production.     

隧道开挖对周围土体及桩基影响的试验研究

通过离心机试验研究了粘土中隧道开挖引起的土体瞬时和长期沉降.对不同的隧道与桩间距情况进行了3组离心机试验,研究隧道开挖对桩基的瞬时和长期影响.试验结果表明,高斯曲线法计算的土体瞬时沉降与试验值比较吻合,而计算的长期沉降低估了地表沉降的影响范围.隧道开挖引起的桩身最大轴力和弯矩都发生在隧道起拱线附近,而且桩基反应都是随着...     

Clothing Colour Preferences in A Hospital Environment in Hong Kong:Part Ⅱ-Paediatric Nurses’Preferences of Colour on Their Uniform

The present study investigated nurses'colour prefer-ences on their uniform in paediatric wards.Results ofthe study provided guidelines for the selecting of ap-propriate colours for nurses'uniforms for paediatricwards,and the comparison of nurses'preferences ofcolours on their uniform and child patients'colourpreferences of nurses'uniform was drawn.     

港式饮茶与香港人的身份认同

港式饮茶具有香港人身份认同的社会作用 ,它是香港人社会关系得以强化以及建构身份认同的文化领域。以饮茶为核心的物质文化和消费行为是都市人身份认同的重要组成部分。港式饮茶在香港表现出自助、自动和自由选拔的意识 ,成为官方文化和普及文化一致接受的香港人身份认同的象征