Minimum information about a microarray experiment (MIAME)-toward standards for microarray data.

Microarray analysis has become a widely used tool for the generation of gene expression data on a genomic scale. Although many significant results have been derived from microarray studies, one limitation has been the lack of standards for presenting and exchanging such data. Here we present a proposal, the Minimum Information About a Microarray Experiment (MIAME), that describes the minimum information required to ensure that microarray data can be easily interpreted and that results derived from its analysis can be independently verified. The ultimate goal of this work is to establish a standard for recording and reporting microarray-based gene expression data, which will in turn facilitate the establishment of databases and public repositories and enable the development of data analysis tools. With respect to MIAME, we concentrate on defining the content and structure of the necessary information rather than the technical format for capturing it.     

Receptive field plasticity of neurons in rat auditory cortex

Using conventional electrophysiological technique, we investigated the plasticity of the frequency receptive fields (RF) of auditory cortex (AC) neurons in rats. In the AC, when the frequency difference between conditioning stimulus frequency (CSF) and the best frequency (BF) was in the range of 1--4 kHz, the frequency RF of AC neurons shifted. The smaller the differences between CSF and BF, the higher the probability of the RF shift and the greater the degree of the RF shift. To some extent, the plasticity of RF was dependent on the duration of the session of conditioning stimulus (CS). When the frequency difference between CSF and BF was bigger, the duration of the CS session needed to induce the plasticity was longer. The recovery time course of the frequency RF showed opposite changes after CS cessation.The RF shift could be induced by the frequency that was either higher or lower than the control BF, demonstrating no clear directional preference. The frequency RF of some neurons showed bidirectional shift, and the RF of other neurons showed single directional shift. The results suggest that the frequency RF plasticity of AC neurons could be considered asan ideal model for studying plasticity mechanism. The present study also provides important evidence for further study of learning and memory in auditory system.     

A new puffing pattern induced by temperature shock and DNP in drosophila

Riassunto Si è notato che shocks di temperatura possono indurre una variazione di «puffing pattern» in ghiandole salivari di Drosophila. Tali «puffing» sono perfettamente reversibili e rappresentano zone di intensa sintesi di RNA. Si è notato che DNP e Na salicilato portano a simili variazioni di «puffing pattern».     

用菲和苯甲醛合成沥青树脂的反应机理

用苯甲醛 (BA)作为交联剂 ,菲 (Ph)作为纯芳烃原料 ,在对甲基苯磺酸 (PTS)的催化作用下 ,合成出B阶沥青树脂。根据产物的核磁和红外分析结果 ,推断出该反应属质子催化下阳离子型缩聚反应。在质子催化下 ,苯甲醛的醛基打开而产生碳正离子 ,作为双官能团的 3种取代方式连接菲的两个芳环 ,生成具有三芳基甲烷结构的长链沥青树脂。     

Preparation and characterization of doubly substituted microwave absorbing material by sol-gel technique for super high frequency applications

Rare earth Dy~(3+)and divalent Mn~(2+)elements substituting W-type hexagonal ferrites Ba_(1-x)Dy_xZn_2Fe_(16-y)Mn_yO_(27)(x=0,0.02,0.06,0.1 and y=0,0.1,0.3,0.5)were prepared by sol-gel method.The thermo-gravimetric analysis(TGA)and differential scanning calorimetry(DSC)was carried out to find the temperature at which single phase can be obtained.XRD patterns indicate the presence of the single phase for all the synthesized samples with the absence of any extra peak due to unreacted material and secondary phases.The occurrence of absorption bands at low wave numbers(563 and 446 cm~(-1)),can be assigned to the stretching vibration of metal and oxygen ions in FTIR spectra,which also confirms the single hexagonal phase for prepared material.The grains are of platelet like structure,which enhances the microwave absorption properties of hexagonal ferrites.The synthesized material exhibits the minimum reflection loss of-20.9 dB at 11.8 GHz frequency,which reflects the applications of this material in super high frequency devices.The microwave conductivity of the material increases with frequency.     

工业烟气脱硫同时制取硫化氢的初步研究

提出一种无废烟气脱硫新方法。用硫化钠溶液洗脱工业烟气中二氧化硫，同时生成硫化氢。后者用Ｃｌａｕｓ反应可制取元素硫。反应过程为三阶段模式。第一阶段发生二氧化硫溶解和硫离子向硫氢根离子转变；第二阶段主要发生硫氢根离子向硫化氢转变同时吸收二氧化硫；第三阶段，溶液逐渐失去脱除ＳＯ２的能力。提高硫化钠初始浓度和反应温度或降低进气中二氧化硫含量，于提高Ｈ２Ｓ转化率有利。进气中二氧化硫分压增大，各阶段周期缩短。     

Purification and cloning of amyloid precursor protein beta-secretase from human brain

Proteolytic processing of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) generates amyloid beta (Abeta) peptide, which is thought to be causal for the pathology and subsequent cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease. Cleavage by beta-secretase at the amino terminus of the Abeta peptide sequence, between residues 671 and 672 of APP, leads to the generation and extracellular release of beta-cleaved soluble APP, and a corresponding cell-associated carboxy-terminal fragment. Cleavage of the C-terminal fragment by gamma-secretase(s) leads to the formation of Abeta. The pathogenic mutation K670M671-->N670L671 at the beta-secretase cleavage site in APP, which was discovered in a Swedish family with familial Alzheimer's disease, leads to increased beta-secretase cleavage of the mutant substrate. Here we describe a membrane-bound enzyme activity that cleaves full-length APP at the beta-secretase cleavage site, and find it to be the predominant beta-cleavage activity in human brain. We have purified this enzyme activity to homogeneity from human brain using a new substrate analogue inhibitor of the enzyme activity, and show that the purified enzyme has all the properties predicted for beta-secretase. Cloning and expression of the enzyme reveals that human brain beta-secretase is a new membrane-bound aspartic proteinase.