A large dust/ice ratio in the nucleus of comet 9P/Tempel 1

Comets spend most of their life in a low-temperature environment far from the Sun. They are therefore relatively unprocessed and maintain information about the formation conditions of the planetary system, but the structure and composition of their nuclei are poorly understood. Although in situ and remote measurements have derived the global properties of some cometary nuclei, little is known about their interiors. The Deep Impact mission shot a projectile into comet 9P/Tempel 1 in order to investigate its interior. Here we report the water vapour content (1.5 10(32) water molecules or 4.5 10(6) kg) and the cross-section of the dust (330 km2 assuming an albedo of 0.1) created by the impact. The corresponding dust/ice mass ratio is probably larger than one, suggesting that comets are 'icy dirtballs' rather than 'dirty snowballs' as commonly believed. High dust velocities (between 110 m s(-1) and 300 m s(-1)) imply acceleration in the comet's coma, probably by water molecules sublimated by solar radiation. We did not find evidence of enhanced activity of 9P/Tempel 1 in the days after the impact, suggesting that in general impacts of meteoroids are not the cause of cometary outbursts.     

Transition metals in an experimental tumour system.

In this report we present an analysis by atomic absorption spectrometry of some of the transition metals Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn, Co, and Ni in tissues and nuclear fractions in an experimental tumour system.     

EDXRF中几何探测光路分析及其优化设计

能量色散X射线荧光分析因其分析速度快、准确度高、分析过程简单等优势已经广泛的应用到医疗、考古等诸多领域。探测光路的最优化设计可以减小仪器散射本底,降低检出限,提高仪器的分辨率及探测效率,增强特征X射线的全能峰的峰背比,改善仪器的工作性能。应用自制的一款低检出限、高分辨率的能量色散X射线荧光分析仪,通过对纯元素Cu特征X射线探测完成了光谱仪几何光路最优化设计。实验结果表明,X射线管与样品的夹角、样品与探测器的夹角均为45°,X射线管到样品、样品到探测器的距离均为10mm时,特征X射线的峰背比最佳。同时将Al-Pb准直加装在光路中进行本底测量,散射本底以及仪器的检出限大大降低,提高了仪器的分辨率及探测效率,为痕量和微量元素的分析提供了优化的光路解决方案。     

Structure of the insulin receptor ectodomain reveals a folded-over conformation

The insulin receptor is a phylogenetically ancient tyrosine kinase receptor found in organisms as primitive as cnidarians and insects. In higher organisms it is essential for glucose homeostasis, whereas the closely related insulin-like growth factor receptor (IGF-1R) is involved in normal growth and development. The insulin receptor is expressed in two isoforms, IR-A and IR-B; the former also functions as a high-affinity receptor for IGF-II and is implicated, along with IGF-1R, in malignant transformation. Here we present the crystal structure at 3.8 A resolution of the IR-A ectodomain dimer, complexed with four Fabs from the monoclonal antibodies 83-7 and 83-14 (ref. 4), grown in the presence of a fragment of an insulin mimetic peptide. The structure reveals the domain arrangement in the disulphide-linked ectodomain dimer, showing that the insulin receptor adopts a folded-over conformation that places the ligand-binding regions in juxtaposition. This arrangement is very different from previous models. It shows that the two L1 domains are on opposite sides of the dimer, too far apart to allow insulin to bind both L1 domains simultaneously as previously proposed. Instead, the structure implicates the carboxy-terminal surface of the first fibronectin type III domain as the second binding site involved in high-affinity binding.     

Inhibition of phosphodiesterase activity of human spermatozoa by spermine.

Sperm motility and metabolism are dependent upon the levels of cyclic AMP. Our studies have demonstrated that spermine by inhibiting sperm phosphodiesterase activity could regulate sperm physiology.     

标准红外辐射源的设计和制做方法

本文提出了一种利用红外辐射与吸收匹配原理,设计与制做标准红外辐射源的方法。实验表明用本文方法设计和制做的红外辐射源能够满足使用要求。     

An earlier origin for the Acheulian

The Acheulian is one of the first defined prehistoric techno-complexes and is characterized by shaped bifacial stone tools. It probably originated in Africa, spreading to Europe and Asia perhaps as early as ～1?million years (Myr) ago. The origin of the Acheulian is thought to have closely coincided with major changes in human brain evolution, allowing for further technological developments. Nonetheless, the emergence of the Acheulian remains unclear because well-dated sites older than 1.4?Myr ago are scarce. Here we report on the lithic assemblage and geological context for the Kokiselei 4 archaeological site from the Nachukui formation (West Turkana, Kenya) that bears characteristic early Acheulian tools and pushes the first appearance datum for this stone-age technology back to 1.76?Myr ago. Moreover, co-occurrence of Oldowan and Acheulian artefacts at the Kokiselei site complex indicates that the two technologies are not mutually exclusive time-successive components of an evolving cultural lineage, and suggests that the Acheulian was either imported from another location yet to be identified or originated from Oldowan hominins at this vicinity. In either case, the Acheulian did not accompany the first human dispersal from Africa despite being available at the time. This may indicate that multiple groups of hominins distinguished by separate stone-tool-making behaviours and dispersal strategies coexisted in Africa at 1.76?Myr ago.