Prediction of auditory spatial acuity from neural images on the owl's auditory space map

The owl can discriminate changes in the location of sound sources as small as 3 degrees and can aim its head to within 2 degrees of a source. A typical neuron in its midbrain space map has a spatial receptive field that spans 40 degrees--a width that is many times the behavioural threshold. Here we have quantitatively examined the relationship between neuronal activity and perceptual acuity in the auditory space map in the barn owl midbrain. By analysing changes in firing rate resulting from small changes of stimulus azimuth, we show that most neurons can reliably signal changes in source location that are smaller than the behavioural threshold. Each source is represented in the space map by a focus of activity in a population of neurons. Displacement of the source causes the pattern of activity in this population to change. We show that this change predicts the owl's ability to detect a change in source location.     

日本那须地区人工草地牧草生物量随时间变化的解析——Ⅰ地上生物量(英文)

为了揭示草地生态系统的现存生物量随时间的变化规律与气候条件和人为干扰(放牧压,施肥量等)之间的关系,从1974年开始至1994年,每年的4月至11月,在位于日本中部那须地区的国立草地研究所内的人造围栏放牧草场进行了放牧试验.结果表明,在1974至1994年的21年间,在不同放牧处理(放牧压分别为轻度和重度/施肥分少量和大量)的条件下,地上现存生物量的季节变化非常明显,其变化范围为:150～380gDWm-2.用4次方多项式检验表明牧草成长模式呈双峰曲线,每一年中不同放牧条件下地上现存生物量的最大值都出现在6月份左右,第二个峰值出现在9,10月份.复合回归分析的结果得出了体现现存生物量和气温,放牧压(或施肥量)之间的定量关系的多项回归方程式.协方差分析结果表明放牧压力,施肥量以及季节和年度的变化,以及他们之间的相互作用对现存生物量有着显著影响(P<0.05)或极显著影响(P<0.01).本研究表明在现存放牧强度下不会对地上生物量造成毁灭性的影响,而是在其承受范围之内.     

The chemical structure of the Hawaiian mantle plume

The Hawaiian-Emperor volcanic island and seamount chain is usually attributed to a hot mantle plume, located beneath the Pacific lithosphere, that delivers material sourced from deep in the mantle to the surface. The shield volcanoes of the Hawaiian islands are distributed in two curvilinear, parallel trends (termed 'Kea' and 'Loa'), whose rocks are characterized by general geochemical differences. This has led to the proposition that Hawaiian volcanoes sample compositionally distinct, concentrically zoned, regions of the underlying mantle plume. Melt inclusions, or samples of local magma 'frozen' in olivine phenocrysts during crystallization, may record complexities of mantle sources, thereby providing better insight into the chemical structure of plumes. Here we report the discovery of both Kea- and Loa-like major and trace element compositions in olivine-hosted melt inclusions in individual, shield-stage Hawaiian volcanoes--even within single rock samples. We infer from these data that one mantle source component may dominate a single lava flow, but that the two mantle source components are consistently represented to some extent in all lavas, regardless of the specific geographic location of the volcano. We therefore suggest that the Hawaiian mantle plume is unlikely to be compositionally concentrically zoned. Instead, the observed chemical variation is probably controlled by the thermal structure of the plume.     

The N-end rule pathway as a nitric oxide sensor controlling the levels of multiple regulators

The conjugation of arginine to proteins is a part of the N-end rule pathway of protein degradation. Three amino (N)-terminal residues--aspartate, glutamate and cysteine--are arginylated by ATE1-encoded arginyl-transferases. Here we report that oxidation of N-terminal cysteine is essential for its arginylation. The in vivo oxidation of N-terminal cysteine, before its arginylation, is shown to require nitric oxide. We reconstituted this process in vitro as well. The levels of regulatory proteins bearing N-terminal cysteine, such as RGS4, RGS5 and RGS16, are greatly increased in mouse ATE1-/- embryos, which lack arginylation. Stabilization of these proteins, the first physiological substrates of mammalian N-end rule pathway, may underlie cardiovascular defects in ATE1-/- embryos. Our findings identify the N-end rule pathway as a new nitric oxide sensor that functions through its ability to destroy specific regulatory proteins bearing N-terminal cysteine, at rates controlled by nitric oxide and apparently by oxygen as well.     

Precise Synthesis of Organometallic Dendrimers

1 Introduction Dendrimers possessing a regularly branched architecture and large spherical dimensions have attracted significant attention because of their unique and tunable properties as well as their potential applications. The incorporation of organometallic species into dendritic molecules has been attracting much attention, because the addition of properties characteristic of organometallic complexes, such as magnetic, electronic, and photo-optical properties, as well as reactivity may l…     

Cloning of complementary DNA encoding T-cell replacing factor and identity with B-cell growth factor II

Proliferation and maturation of antigen-stimulated B cells are regulated by several soluble factors derived from macrophages and T cells. These soluble factors are functionally divided into two groups: B-cell growth factor (BCGF), thought to be involved in B-cell proliferation; and B-cell differentiation factor (BCDF), responsible for maturation of activated B cells into immunoglobulin-secreting cells. This classification needs to be re-examined in the light of the recent cloning of complementary DNA encoding IgG1 induction factor (interleukin-4, IL-4) from the 2.19 mouse T-cell line. Recombinant IL-4 has BCGF and BCDF activities and affects B cells, T cells and mast cells (refs 7, 8; our unpublished data). Another well-characterized B-cell factor is T-cell replacing factor (TRF), which, when secreted by the murine T-cell hybridoma B151K12, is defined by two activities: induction of IgM secretion by BCL1 leukaemic B-cell line; and induction of secondary anti-dinitrophenol (DNP) immunoglobulin G (IgG) synthesis in vitro by DNP-prime B cells. Although TRF from B151K12 was classified as BCDF, purified TRF has BCGF-II activity. To elucidate the molecular properties of TRF we isolated cDNA encoding TRF from the 2.19 T-cell line and report here the structure and multiple activities of this lymphokine.     

Toxic metabolites ofAspergillus candidus

Zusammenfassung Zwei neue Toxine wurden aus den Mycelien und dem Zuchtmedium eines Schimmelpilzes,Aspergillus candidus, sowie aus dem experimentell mit demselben Pilz verschimmelten polierten Reis isoliert. Die beiden Substanzen sind sowohl chemisch als auch toxikologisch voneinander völlig verschieden.