Climatic controls on central African hydrology during the past 20,000 years

Past hydrological changes in Africa have been linked to various climatic processes, depending on region and timescale. Long-term precipitation changes in the regions of northern and southern Africa influenced by the monsoons are thought to have been governed by precessional variations in summer insolation. Conversely, short-term precipitation changes in the northern African tropics have been linked to North Atlantic sea surface temperature anomalies, affecting the northward extension of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and its associated rainbelt. Our knowledge of large-scale hydrological changes in equatorial Africa and their forcing factors is, however, limited. Here we analyse the isotopic composition of terrigenous plant lipids, extracted from a marine sediment core close to the Congo River mouth, in order to reconstruct past central African rainfall variations and compare this record to sea surface temperature changes in the South Atlantic Ocean. We find that central African precipitation during the past 20,000 years was mainly controlled by the difference in sea surface temperatures between the tropics and subtropics of the South Atlantic Ocean, whereas we find no evidence that changes in the position of the Intertropical Convergence Zone had a significant influence on the overall moisture availability in central Africa. We conclude that changes in ocean circulation, and hence sea surface temperature patterns, were important in modulating atmospheric moisture transport onto the central African continent.     

Electrophysiological investigation on the antennal receptors of the silk moth during chemical and mechanical stimulation

Zusammenfassung Die isolierte Antenne vonBombyx beantwortet eine Duftreizung mit erhöhter Signalfrequenz vorher spontanaktiver und dem Signalisieren vorher ruhender Chemorezeptoren. Auf Duftströme reagiert das Sinnesorgan mit einer langsamen Potentialschwankung, demElektroantennogramm (EAG). Luftströme erregen in Schwingungsrezeptoren frequente Entladungen und löschen in Druckrezeptoren spontane Spikes aus.     

Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia is driven by antigen-independent cell-autonomous signalling

B-cell antigen receptor (BCR) expression is an important feature of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), one of the most prevalent B-cell neoplasias in Western countries. The presence of stereotyped and quasi-identical BCRs in different CLL patients suggests that recognition of specific antigens might drive CLL pathogenesis. Here we show that, in contrast to other B-cell neoplasias, CLL-derived BCRs induce antigen-independent cell-autonomous signalling, which is dependent on the heavy-chain complementarity-determining region (HCDR3) and an internal epitope of the BCR. Indeed, transferring the HCDR3 of a CLL-derived BCR provides autonomous signalling capacity to a non-autonomously active BCR, whereas mutations in the internal epitope abolish this capacity. Because BCR expression was required for the binding of secreted CLL-derived BCRs to target cells, and mutations in the internal epitope reduced this binding, our results indicate a new model for CLL pathogenesis, with cell-autonomous antigen-independent signalling as a crucial pathogenic mechanism.     

交叉层积木数值模拟研究以及连接损伤分析

木建筑由于结构冗余性以及钉接节点超强的吸能耗能能力在抗震中表现良好.交叉层积木是一种新型的建筑材料.本文以交叉层积木3种柔性连接试验为基础,采用OpenSees中Pinching4自定义模型模拟连接滞回曲线的高度非线性、强度退化、刚度退化和捏拢现象.基于主次半循环累积能量的损伤模型,对交叉层积木连接进行损伤分析,并提出该连接的5种性能水平的损伤指数.Pinching4模型与连接试验结果吻合较好,进一步证明该模型模拟木节点连接性能的可行性和有效性.损伤因子对应的损伤程度基本符合试验规律,其平均值在合理范围内,计算结果离散性较低.     

Fingerprints of global warming on wild animals and plants

Over the past 100 years, the global average temperature has increased by approximately 0.6 degrees C and is projected to continue to rise at a rapid rate. Although species have responded to climatic changes throughout their evolutionary history, a primary concern for wild species and their ecosystems is this rapid rate of change. We gathered information on species and global warming from 143 studies for our meta-analyses. These analyses reveal a consistent temperature-related shift, or 'fingerprint', in species ranging from molluscs to mammals and from grasses to trees. Indeed, more than 80% of the species that show changes are shifting in the direction expected on the basis of known physiological constraints of species. Consequently, the balance of evidence from these studies strongly suggests that a significant impact of global warming is already discernible in animal and plant populations. The synergism of rapid temperature rise and other stresses, in particular habitat destruction, could easily disrupt the connectedness among species and lead to a reformulation of species communities, reflecting differential changes in species, and to numerous extirpations and possibly extinctions.     

Brain homeostasis: VEGF receptor 1 and 2—two unequal brothers in mind

Vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGFs), initially thought to act specifically on the vascular system, exert trophic effects on neural cells during development and adulthood. Therefore, the VEGF system serves as a promising therapeutic target for brain pathologies, but its simultaneous action on vascular cells paves the way for harmful side effects. To circumvent these deleterious effects, many studies have aimed to clarify whether VEGFs directly affect neural cells or if the effects are mediated secondarily via other cell types, like vascular cells. A great number of reports have shown the expression and function of VEGF receptors (VEGFRs), mainly VEGFR-1 and -2, in neural cells, where VEGFR-2 has been described as the major mediator of VEGF-A signals. This review aims to summarize and compare the divergent roles of VEGFR-1 and -2 during CNS development and homeostasis.