Opsin expression: new mechanism for modulating colour vision

Each cone photoreceptor in the retina responds to light in a limited range of wavelengths, giving it a spectral phenotype. This phenotype is determined by the most prevalent of the photoreceptor's visual-pigment proteins (opsins) and is assumed to remain unchanged during an animal's lifetime. Here we show that in the Pacific pink salmon, Oncorhynchus gorbuscha, single cones can switch their spectral phenotype from ultraviolet to blue by regulating the production of the appropriate opsins as the fish grow older. This photoreceptor plasticity may operate to modulate colour vision as the salmon's lifestyle changes.     

Novel aspects of glypican glycobiology

Mutations in glypican genes cause dysmorphic and overgrowth syndromes in men and mice, abnormal development in flies and worms, and defective gastrulation in zebrafish and ascidians. All glypican core proteins share a characteristic pattern of 14 conserved cysteine residues. Upstream from the C-terminal membrane anchorage are 3–4 heparan sulfate attachment sites. Cysteines in glypican-1 can become nitrosylated by nitric oxide in a copper-dependent reaction. When glypican-1 is exposed to ascorbate, nitric oxide is released and participates in deaminative cleavage of heparan sulfate at sites where the glucosamines have a free amino group. This process takes place while glypican-1 recycles via a nonclassical, caveolin-1-associated route. Glypicans are involved in growth factor signalling and transport, e.g. of polyamines. Cargo can be unloaded from heparan sulfate by nitric oxide-dependent degradation. How glypican and its degradation products and the cargo exit from the recycling route is an enigma.Received 27 November 2003; received after revision 8 January 2004; accepted 13 January 2004     

Wet periods in northeastern Brazil over the past 210 kyr linked to distant climate anomalies

The tropics are the main source of the atmosphere's sensible and latent heat, and water vapour, and are therefore important for reconstructions of past climate. But long, accurately dated records of southern tropical palaeoclimate, which would allow the establishment of climatic connections to distant regions, have not been available. Here we present a 210,000-year (210-kyr) record of wet periods in tropical northeastern Brazil--a region that is currently semi-arid. The record is obtained from speleothems and travertine deposits that are accurately dated using the U/Th method. We find wet periods that are synchronous with periods of weak East Asian summer monsoons, cold periods in Greenland, Heinrich events in the North Atlantic and periods of decreased river runoff to the Cariaco basin. We infer that the wet periods may be explained with a southward displacement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone. This widespread synchroneity of climate anomalies suggests a relatively rapid global reorganization of the ocean-atmosphere system. We conclude that the wet periods probably affected rainforest distribution, as plant fossils show that forest expansion occurred during these intermittent wet intervals, and opened a forest corridor between the Amazonian and Atlantic rainforests.     

Correlation between geometrical parameters of electrical tree and corresponding partial discharge parameters in XLPE

This paper deals with the experimental study on the correlation between the geometrical parameters of electrical tree and corresponding partial discharge (PD) characteristic parameters in the course of electrical tree aging within cross linked polyethylene (XLPE) insulation. The electrical tree aging tests were performed on specimens removed from a section of 220 kV transmission cable. The PD macroscopic characteristic parameters were found to be significantly dependent on the corresponding geometrical parameters of electrical tree channels in the course of aging of XLPE, and different kind of electrical tree has different characteristics, and there is obvious correlation between the type of electrical tree and the pre-applied power-frequency stress. Beside, using regression analysis, the expression of the relation between them were obtained, and from which it can be seen that there is significant nonlinear correlation between geometrical parameters of electrical tree and corresponding PD characteristic parameters in the course of aging of XLPE. Therefore, the aging degree of XLPE can be effectively evaluated by recognizing the changing regularity of the PD rnacroscopic characteristic parameters.     

Random quadralinear forms and schur product on tensors

In this work, we made progress on the problem that [ symbol: see text] is a Banach algebra under schur product. Our results extend Tonge's results. We also obtained estimates for the norm of the random quadralinear form A:l(r)(M) x l(p)(N) x l(q)(K) x l(s)(H)-->C, defined by: A(e(i), e(j), e(k), e(s))=a(ijks), where the (a(ijks))'s are uniformly bounded, independent, mean zero random variables. We proved that under some conditions [ symbol: see text] is not a Banach algebra under schur product.     

Assessment of rice fields by GIS／GPS-supported classification of MODIS data

The new Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite image offers a large choice of opportunities for operational applications. The 1-km Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) image is not suitable for retrieval of field level parameter and Landsat data are not frequent enough for monitoring changes in crop parameters during the critical crop growth periods.A methodology to map areas of paddy fields using MODIS,geographic information system (GIS) and global position system (GPS) is introduced in this paper. Training samples are selected and located with the help of GPS to provide maximal accuracy.A concept of assessing areas of potential cultivation of rice is suggested by means of GIS integration. By integration of MODIS with GIS and GPS technologies the actual areas of rice fields in 2002 have been mapped. The classification accuracy was 95.7% percent compared with the statistical data of the Agricultural Bureau of Zhejiang Province.     

Effects of calcineurin on LTP of rats <Emphasis Type="Italic">in vivo</Emphasis>

Calcineurin (CN) is thought to play a role in the synaptic plastivity and long-term potentiation (LTP) in the hippocampus. Based on two LTP models in vivo, a specific inhibitor cyclosporin A (CsA) of CN was observed, which affected LTP in the hippocampal dentate gyrus of the rats. The results indicated that CsA blocked LTP induced by high frequency stimulation (HFS) partly, but it had no effect on the decrease of the onset and peak latency of population spikes (PS) except that it reduced the increase of the amplitude after HFS. On the other hand, CsA blocked LTP induced by ginsenosides (GSS) completely. It suppressed the GSS-enhanced amplitude of PS reversibly and blocked the decrease of the peak latency of PS induced by the GSS. These results suggest that the postsynaptic CN plays a role in the induction of LTP in the hippocampus of the rats.     

An exonucleolytic activity of human apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease on 3' mispaired DNA

Human apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease (APE1) is an essential enzyme in DNA base excision repair that cuts the DNA backbone immediately adjacent to the 5' side of abasic sites to facilitate repair synthesis by DNA polymerase beta (ref. 1). Mice lacking the murine homologue of APE1 die at an early embryonic stage. Here we report that APE1 has a DNA exonuclease activity on mismatched deoxyribonucleotides at the 3' termini of nicked or gapped DNA molecules. The efficiency of this activity is inversely proportional to the gap size in DNA. In a base excision repair system reconstituted in vitro, the rejoining of nicked mismatched DNA depended on the presence of APE1, indicating that APE1 may increase the fidelity of base excision repair and may represent a new 3' mispaired DNA repair mechanism. The exonuclease activity of APE1 can remove the anti-HIV nucleoside analogues 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine and 2',3'-didehydro-2', 3'-dideoxythymidine from DNA, suggesting that APE1 might have an impact on the therapeutic index of antiviral compounds in this category.     

The earliest known eutherian mammal

The skeleton of a eutherian (placental) mammal has been discovered from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of northeastern China. We estimate its age to be about 125 million years (Myr), extending the date of the oldest eutherian records with skull and skeleton by about 40 50 Myr. Our analyses place the new fossil at the root of the eutherian tree and among the four other known Early Cretaceous eutherians, and suggest an earlier and greater diversification of stem eutherians that occurred well before the molecular estimate for the diversification of extant placental superorders (104 64 Myr). The new eutherian has limb and foot features that are known only from scansorial (climbing) and arboreal (tree-living) extant mammals, in contrast to the terrestrial or cursorial (running) features of other Cretaceous eutherians. This suggests that the earliest eutherian lineages developed different locomotory adaptations, facilitating their spread to diverse niches in the Cretaceous.     

"三个代表"是中国"实践的唯物主义者"的使命

"实践的唯物主义者,即共产主义者","三个代表"的重要思想是对马、恩有关共产主义者使命著名论断的有力坚持和发展,充分体现了共产主义者使命的共性与个性的内在统一,渗透和贯穿了"实践的唯物主义"的丰富而深刻的哲学内涵.共产主义者使命的哲学依据,是基于实践辩证地把握和对待现存世界、社会历史及人生的"实践的唯物主义".