Potassium channels in nodal and internodal axonal membrane of mammalian myelinated fibres

Horakova et al. were the first to observe that the phase of late outward current carried by potassium ions in frog and squid nerve is virtually absent in voltage-clamped rat nodes of Ranvier. This observation has been recently confirmed by Chiu et al. in rabbit nodes of Ranvier, suggesting that the nodal membrane in the mammal generally has few if any potassium channels. The present voltage-clamp experiments show that large potassium currents can, however, be produced in normal rabbit nodes of Ranvier by acute treatment designed to loosen the myelin from the axonal membrane. From this we conclude that whereas potassium channels are absent in the mammalian nodal membrane, they are normally present in the internodal axonal membrane at least in the paranodal region.     

高速弧齿锥齿轮弹流润滑特性分析

以某航空发动机高速弧齿锥齿轮为研究对象,在弧齿锥齿轮加载接触分析基础上,建立起适合弹流润滑分析的动态坐标系。用点弹流润滑理论对高速弧齿锥齿轮在啮合过程中的最大油膜压力和最小油膜厚度变化情况进行描述,寻找出载荷、速度和润滑油粘度等因素对轮齿弹流润滑特性的影响规律。     

A physical map of the mouse genome

A physical map of a genome is an essential guide for navigation, allowing the location of any gene or other landmark in the chromosomal DNA. We have constructed a physical map of the mouse genome that contains 296 contigs of overlapping bacterial clones and 16,992 unique markers. The mouse contigs were aligned to the human genome sequence on the basis of 51,486 homology matches, thus enabling use of the conserved synteny (correspondence between chromosome blocks) of the two genomes to accelerate construction of the mouse map. The map provides a framework for assembly of whole-genome shotgun sequence data, and a tile path of clones for generation of the reference sequence. Definition of the human-mouse alignment at this level of resolution enables identification of a mouse clone that corresponds to almost any position in the human genome. The human sequence may be used to facilitate construction of other mammalian genome maps using the same strategy.     

The molecular organization of cypovirus polyhedra

Cypoviruses and baculoviruses are notoriously difficult to eradicate because the virus particles are embedded in micrometre-sized protein crystals called polyhedra. The remarkable stability of polyhedra means that, like bacterial spores, these insect viruses remain infectious for years in soil. The environmental persistence of polyhedra is the cause of significant losses in silkworm cocoon harvests but has also been exploited against pests in biological alternatives to chemical insecticides. Although polyhedra have been extensively characterized since the early 1900s, their atomic organization remains elusive. Here we describe the 2 A crystal structure of both recombinant and infectious silkworm cypovirus polyhedra determined using crystals 5-12 micrometres in diameter purified from insect cells. These are the smallest crystals yet used for de novo X-ray protein structure determination. We found that polyhedra are made of trimers of the viral polyhedrin protein and contain nucleotides. Although the shape of these building blocks is reminiscent of some capsid trimers, polyhedrin has a new fold and has evolved to assemble in vivo into three-dimensional cubic crystals rather than icosahedral shells. The polyhedrin trimers are extensively cross-linked in polyhedra by non-covalent interactions and pack with an exquisite molecular complementarity similar to that of antigen-antibody complexes. The resulting ultrastable and sealed crystals shield the virus particles from environmental damage. The structure suggests that polyhedra can serve as the basis for the development of robust and versatile nanoparticles for biotechnological applications such as microarrays and biopesticides.     

Backbone structure of the infectious epsilon15 virus capsid revealed by electron cryomicroscopy

A half-century after the determination of the first three-dimensional crystal structure of a protein, more than 40,000 structures ranging from single polypeptides to large assemblies have been reported. The challenge for crystallographers, however, remains the growing of a diffracting crystal. Here we report the 4.5-A resolution structure of a 22-MDa macromolecular assembly, the capsid of the infectious epsilon15 (epsilon15) particle, by single-particle electron cryomicroscopy. From this density map we constructed a complete backbone trace of its major capsid protein, gene product 7 (gp7). The structure reveals a similar protein architecture to that of other tailed double-stranded DNA viruses, even in the absence of detectable sequence similarity. However, the connectivity of the secondary structure elements (topology) in gp7 is unique. Protruding densities are observed around the two-fold axes that cannot be accounted for by gp7. A subsequent proteomic analysis of the whole virus identifies these densities as gp10, a 12-kDa protein. Its structure, location and high binding affinity to the capsid indicate that the gp10 dimer functions as a molecular staple between neighbouring capsomeres to ensure the particle's stability. Beyond epsilon15, this method potentially offers a new approach for modelling the backbone conformations of the protein subunits in other macromolecular assemblies at near-native solution states.     

Small modulation of ongoing cortical dynamics by sensory input during natural vision

During vision, it is believed that neural activity in the primary visual cortex is predominantly driven by sensory input from the environment. However, visual cortical neurons respond to repeated presentations of the same stimulus with a high degree of variability. Although this variability has been considered to be noise owing to random spontaneous activity within the cortex, recent studies show that spontaneous activity has a highly coherent spatio-temporal structure. This raises the possibility that the pattern of this spontaneous activity may shape neural responses during natural viewing conditions to a larger extent than previously thought. Here, we examine the relationship between spontaneous activity and the response of primary visual cortical neurons to dynamic natural-scene and random-noise film images in awake, freely viewing ferrets from the time of eye opening to maturity. The correspondence between evoked neural activity and the structure of the input signal was weak in young animals, but systematically improved with age. This improvement was linked to a shift in the dynamics of spontaneous activity. At all ages including the mature animal, correlations in spontaneous neural firing were only slightly modified by visual stimulation, irrespective of the sensory input. These results suggest that in both the developing and mature visual cortex, sensory evoked neural activity represents the modulation and triggering of ongoing circuit dynamics by input signals, rather than directly reflecting the structure of the input signal itself.     

基于现场总线的开放式数控系统体系结构研究

结合现场总线的特点和开放式系统的要求，提出了一种基于现场总线的开放式CNC系统的体系结构，并把该体系划分为应用层，功能层和设备层三个层次，对每一层的功能进行了系统的分析和描述。在实现方法上，采用COM／DCOM技术的OPC规范的软件方法，实现了数控系统的软件 模块的重用与扩充；采用Profibus现场总线实现了数控系统的硬件模块的互操作与互换，从而满足了数控系统开放性的要求。     

固化淤泥渗透性的微观分析

淤泥掺入水泥固化后,水化等化学反应生成的水化产物填充了土颗粒间的孔隙,改变了淤泥的微观孔隙结构,从而改变了其渗透特性。使用柔性壁渗透仪测定不同初始含水率及不同的水泥掺量下的固化淤泥的渗透系数,并使用压汞法研究其微观孔隙结构。试验表明:随着水泥掺量的增加、初始含水率降低,固化淤泥的渗透系数逐渐降低;固化淤泥的孔径分布曲线呈单峰分布,定义其峰值对应的孔径为最可几孔径,则随着固化淤泥渗透系数的降低,最可几孔径逐渐减小,即小孔隙数量增多,两者具有良好的相关性。