The mammalian sodium channel BNC1 is required for normal touch sensation

Of the vertebrate senses, touch is the least understood at the molecular level The ion channels that form the core of the mechanosensory complex and confer touch sensitivity remain unknown. However, the similarity of the brain sodium channel 1 (BNC1) to nematode proteins involved in mechanotransduction indicated that it might be a part of such a mechanosensor. Here we show that disrupting the mouse BNC1 gene markedly reduces the sensitivity of a specific component of mechanosensation: low-threshold rapidly adapting mechanoreceptors. In rodent hairy skin these mechanoreceptors are excited by hair movement. Consistent with this function, we found BNC1 in the lanceolate nerve endings that lie adjacent to and surround the hair follicle. Although BNC1 has been proposed to have a role in pH sensing, the acid-evoked current in cultured sensory neurons and the response of acid-stimulated nociceptors were normal in BNC1 null mice. These data identify the BNC1 channel as essential for the normal detection of light touch and indicate that BNC1 may be a central component of a mechanosensory complex.     

p73-deficient mice have neurological, pheromonal and inflammatory defects but lack spontaneous tumours

p73 (ref. 1) has high homology with the tumour suppressor p53 (refs 2-4), as well as with p63, a gene implicated in the maintenance of epithelial stem cells. Despite the localization of the p73 gene to chromosome 1p36.3, a region of frequent aberration in a wide range of human cancers, and the ability of p73 to transactivate p53 target genes, it is unclear whether p73 functions as a tumour suppressor. Here we show that mice functionally deficient for all p73 isoforms exhibit profound defects, including hippocampal dysgenesis, hydrocephalus, chronic infections and inflammation, as well as abnormalities in pheromone sensory pathways. In contrast to p53-deficient mice, however, those lacking p73 show no increased susceptibility to spontaneous tumorigenesis. We report the mechanistic basis of the hippocampal dysgenesis and the loss of pheromone responses, and show that new, potentially dominant-negative, p73 variants are the predominant expression products of this gene in developing and adult tissues. Our data suggest that there is a marked divergence in the physiological functions of the p53 family members, and reveal unique roles for p73 in neurogenesis, sensory pathways and homeostatic control.     

Modification of the rib operon derived from Bacillus subtilis and its expression in Escherichia coli

A riboflavin operon （rib operon） derived from Bacillus subtilis 368 was modified on structure and the resulting operons were expressed in various strains of Escherichia coli. The results showed that the optimization of the rib operon and the host strain used for expression are two main factors affecting the riboflavin production. Replacing the promoterl and rfn box of the rib operon with a strong constructive promoter spol drastically increased the expression of the rib genes. When E. coli JM109 was used as the host strain, the highest riboflavin production reached 95.3μg/mL （about eight times higher than that of the unmodified r/b operon）. In addition, when tetracycline （20 μg/mL） was used as the selective pressure, compared with the ampicillin resistant transformants, a higher riboflavin yield was obtained in tetracycline resistant host strain.     

Isotopic compositions of small shelly fossil Anabarites from Lower Cambrian in Yangtze Platform of South China: Implications for palaeocean temperature

Anabarites belong to small shelly fossils (SSF), which occur widely in the Lower Cambrian strata of Yangtze Platform in South China. They are phosphate shell in composition and represent the earliest stage of the Cambrian bioradiation of Bilateria, the so-called “Cambrian Explosion”. In this study, we attempted to separate Anabarites fossils from Lower Cambrian dolostones, and we obtained samples of both the fossils (SSF) and the granular phosphates (GP). Isotopic analyses were performed on samples of SSF, GP, and matrix dolostone (DH-23). The results showed that the δ³⁰Si values of the quartz filling in fossils celoms, and the siliceous materials in granular phosphates are -0.6‰ and -0.7‰, which is different from normal sedimentary siliceous rocks from the Lower Cambrian strata (0—0.7‰) as reported by Li et al., but is consistent with the data for siliceous rocks and cherts of submarine hydrothermal origin. It is likely that a later hydrothermal replacement could have taken place in the SSF-bearing sedimentary rocks. The oxygen isotope values of the phosphate of SSF and GP are 16.8‰ and 17.0‰, respectively. These are significantly higher than the Neoproterozoic phosphate ores (10.9‰—13.9‰) as reported by Ling et al.， hence, late diagenesis and hydrothermal replacement may not have caused a significant change in the oxygen isotope compositions of the small shelly fossils, and the calculated temperatures (25.4—26.3℃) for palaeo-seawater using a SSF phosphate oxygen isotope thermometer are therefore considered here as the upper limit of seawater temperature in the Early Cambrian ocean of the Yangtze Platform.     

Estimation of underdetermined mixing matrix based on support vector machine

In underdetermined blind source separation (BSS), a novel algorithm based on extended support vector machine (SVM) is proposed to estimate the mixing matrix in this paper, including the number of the active sources. Instead of traditional clustering algorithms, it mainly takes the modulus of observations and the number in each direction of arrival, without any prior knowledge about the sources except for sparsity, and it is not sensitive to the initial values. Simulations are given to illustrate availability and robustness of our algorithm.     

Evidence for existence of a close association between CD14 and CXCR4 on monocytic cell line U937

The surface expression of HIV-1 coreceptors (CXCR4 and CCR5) on monocytes can be regulated by the ligand of CD14, and the susceptibility of the cells to HIV-1 is then changed. Our previous study found that monoclonal antibody against CD14 could dramatically inhibit CXCR4-mediated chemotaxis and cell-cell fusion. Based on these studies, we explored potential relationship between CD14 and CXCR4 on monocytic cell line U937. Flow cytometry analysis showed that anti-CXCR4 monoclonal antibody (mAb) 12G5 strongly inhibited binding of the FITC-conjugated anti-CD14 monoclonal antibodies (TUK4 and UCHM1) to U937, while another CXCR4-specific mAb B-R24 did not show any effect on this binding. On the other hand, two anti-CD14 monoclonal antibodies (TUK4 and UCH-M1) obviously inhibited the binding of the PE-conjugated anti-CXCR4 mAb 12G5 to U937 but did not inhibit the binding of mAb 12G5 to CXCR4-transfected 3T3 cells (3T3.T4.CXCR4), which indicates that the blocking of mAb 12G5 binding to CXCR4 by CD14-specific mAbs is not involved in the possibility that CD14-specific mAbs directly bind to CXCR4. These results suggested existence of a close association between CD14 and CXCR4 on monocytic cell line U937.     

Biocompatibility studies of silk fibroin-based artificial nerve grafts in vitro and in vivo

Silk fibroin(SF)has been used extensively in the biomedical field including tissue engineering for the generation of artificial bones,skins or ligaments.We have previously reported on good in vitro biocompatibility of SF fibers with peripheral nerve tissues and cells.In the present study,we developed a novel design of the SF-based artificial nerve graft(SF graft)which was composed of a SF-nerve guidance conduit(NGC)inserted with SF fibers.MTT assay was performed to determine the cytotoxicity of the SF-NGC extract fluid on the cultured L929 cells derived from an immortalized mouse fibroblast cell line.In addition,this SF graft was implanted into adult rats for bridging a 10-mm long sciatic nerve defect.The following-up experiments at initial stage(1-4 week)of nerve regeneration including routine blood tests and histochemical investigation were conducted to evaluate the in vivo biocompatibility of the SF graft with peripheral nerves.The results demonstrated that the SF-NGC graft was biocompatible with the surrounding tissues and cells due to its low inflammatory potential with a grade 0 under the U.S.Pharmacopeia guidelines and it was generally suitable to a certain degree for bridging peripheral nerve defects in virtue of supporting Schwann cell adherence,expansion and migration.Therefore the SF graft is a promising alternative to classical autografts for peripheral nerve repair.     

Optical data storage in nonphotosensitive media by femtosecond laser pulses

Ultrashort lasers have become powerful tools by inducing extremely nonlinear effects in a wide variety of materials. Femtosecond laser data storage in non-photosensitive media is promising for its high density and fast retrieval.We reviewed the progress of three types of femtosecond laser storage in transparent materials:three-dimensional bit-oriented storage by micro-voids,holographic data storage by two beam interference and storage by computer-generated holograms.     

A cumulant-based parameter estimation algorithm for near-field sources

To efficiently use the array aperture and avoid the complicated parameter pairing computation,this paper proposes a new cumulant-based algorithm for localizing near-field narrowband sources.Firstly,this algorithm proposes a symmetric uniform linear ar- ray (ULA),and constructs three cumulant matrices by using the fourth-order cumulants of some properly chosen sensor outputs;second- ly,unlike the conventional parallel factor (PARAFAC) analysis models in data or subspace domain,it forms a three-way array (TWA) in the fourth-order cumulant domain using the three matrices,and analyzes the uniqueness of its low-rank decomposition;thirdly,it jointly estimates the frequency,the direction-of-arrival (DOA),and the range of each near-field source from the matrices via the low-rank de- composition of the TWA.The simulation results are presented to validate the performance of our proposed method.     

Exoskeleton arm with force feedback for robot bilateral teleoperation

A novel 6 degrees of freedom (DOFs) wearable exoskeleton arm,ZJUESA,based on man-machine system is present- ed.It can be used in robot bilateral teleoperation as master arm with force-feedback.With introducing the revolute-prismatic-spherical (RPS) parallel mechanism and planetary gear mechanism,it is designed based on the anatomy of human upper-limb.With the sensors on this external mechanical structure,the human operator motion is detected and converted to the slave robot control command.Additionally the pneumatic system on it generates a force feedback by using hybrid fuzzy control.As a result,the human operator may have a feeling of doing the work directly.