Insulin-like growth factor-II gene expression in Wilms' tumour and embryonic tissues

Wilms' tumour (nephroblastoma) is an embryonal neoplasm occurring in hereditary and spontaneous forms. Both types show rearrangements of the short arm of chromosome 11. The germ line of children with the rare inherited triad of aniridia, genito-urinary abnormality and mental retardation carry a chromosome 11 that has a deletion in its short arm (band 11p13) and these children are at increased risk of developing Wilms' tumour. Neonates with the Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome, in which there may be duplication of the 11p13-11p15 region, are similarly predisposed. In the spontaneous form of the tumour a deletion of the 11p14 band in tumour cells, but not in normal cells, has been reported, and the development of homozygosity for recessive mutations in the 11p region is implicated in the aetiology of Wilms' tumour. In view of these chromosomal rearrangements and because Wilms' tumour is histologically indistinguishable from the early stages of kidney development, we have now examined the expression of genes localized to 11p in Wilms' tumour and human embryonic tissue. In 12 sporadic tumours examined, the expression of the gene coding for insulin-like growth factor-II (IGF-II), localized to the 11p15 region, was markedly increased relative to adult tissues, but was comparable to the level of expression in several fetal tissues including kidney, liver, adrenals and striated muscle. This may reflect the stage of tumour differentiation, but could also contribute to the malignant process, as IGF-II is an embryonal mitogen.     

Phospholipase Cgamma1 controls surface expression of TRPC3 through an intermolecular PH domain

Many ion channels are regulated by lipids, but prominent motifs for lipid binding have not been identified in most ion channels. Recently, we reported that phospholipase Cgamma1 (PLC-gamma1) binds to and regulates TRPC3 channels, components of agonist-induced Ca2+ entry into cells. This interaction requires a domain in PLC-gamma1 that includes a partial pleckstrin homology (PH) domain-a consensus lipid-binding and protein-binding sequence. We have developed a gestalt algorithm to detect hitherto 'invisible' PH and PH-like domains, and now report that the partial PH domain of PLC-gamma1 interacts with a complementary partial PH-like domain in TRPC3 to elicit lipid binding and cell-surface expression of TRPC3. Our findings imply a far greater abundance of PH domains than previously appreciated, and suggest that intermolecular PH-like domains represent a widespread signalling mode.     

工业烟气脱硫同时制取硫化氢的初步研究

提出一种无废烟气脱硫新方法。用硫化钠溶液洗脱工业烟气中二氧化硫，同时生成硫化氢。后者用Ｃｌａｕｓ反应可制取元素硫。反应过程为三阶段模式。第一阶段发生二氧化硫溶解和硫离子向硫氢根离子转变；第二阶段主要发生硫氢根离子向硫化氢转变同时吸收二氧化硫；第三阶段，溶液逐渐失去脱除ＳＯ２的能力。提高硫化钠初始浓度和反应温度或降低进气中二氧化硫含量，于提高Ｈ２Ｓ转化率有利。进气中二氧化硫分压增大，各阶段周期缩短。     

中文文本压缩的LZW算法

本文报告两个关于中文信息处理研究的结果:(1)采用Cover的方法,猜估中文信息熵,实验表明,中文信良熵不大于4.1bits/字。(2)根据中文的结构特性,选择Welch型的Lemple-Ziv数据压缩算法,把它移植、扩展于中文文本压缩上。应用该算法于不同类型的中文文本,本文获得一些中文文本压缩实际性能值。     

Extraterrestrial meteors: a martian meteor and its parent comet

Regular meteor showers occur when a planet approaches the orbit of a periodic comet--for example, the Leonid shower is evident around 17 November every year as Earth skims past the dusty trail of comet Tempel-Tuttle. Such showers are expected to occur on Mars as well, and on 7 March last year, the panoramic camera of Spirit, the Mars Exploration Rover, revealed a curious streak across the martian sky. Here we show that the timing and orientation of this streak, and the shape of its light curve, are consistent with the existence of a regular meteor shower associated with the comet Wiseman-Skiff, which could be characterized as martian Cepheids.     

Climate-mediated energetic constraints on the distribution of hibernating mammals

To predict the consequences of human-induced global climate change, we need to understand how climate is linked to biogeography. Energetic constraints are commonly invoked to explain animal distributions, and physiological parameters are known to vary along distributional gradients. But the causal nature of the links between climate and animal biogeography remain largely obscure. Here we develop a bioenergetic model that predicts the feasibility of mammalian hibernation under different climatic conditions. As an example, we use the well-quantified hibernation energetics of the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) to parameterize the model. Our model predicts pronounced effects of ambient temperature on total winter energy requirements, and a relatively narrow combination of hibernaculum temperatures and winter lengths permitting successful hibernation. Microhabitat and northern distribution limits of M. lucifugus are consistent with model predictions, suggesting that the thermal dependence of hibernation energetics constrains the biogeography of this species. Integrating projections of climate change into our model predicts a pronounced northward range expansion of hibernating bats within the next 80 years. Bioenergetics can provide the simple link between climate and biogeography needed to predict the consequences of climate change.     

Strategies for mitigating an influenza pandemic

Development of strategies for mitigating the severity of a new influenza pandemic is now a top global public health priority. Influenza prevention and containment strategies can be considered under the broad categories of antiviral, vaccine and non-pharmaceutical (case isolation, household quarantine, school or workplace closure, restrictions on travel) measures. Mathematical models are powerful tools for exploring this complex landscape of intervention strategies and quantifying the potential costs and benefits of different options. Here we use a large-scale epidemic simulation to examine intervention options should initial containment of a novel influenza outbreak fail, using Great Britain and the United States as examples. We find that border restrictions and/or internal travel restrictions are unlikely to delay spread by more than 2-3 weeks unless more than 99% effective. School closure during the peak of a pandemic can reduce peak attack rates by up to 40%, but has little impact on overall attack rates, whereas case isolation or household quarantine could have a significant impact, if feasible. Treatment of clinical cases can reduce transmission, but only if antivirals are given within a day of symptoms starting. Given enough drugs for 50% of the population, household-based prophylaxis coupled with reactive school closure could reduce clinical attack rates by 40-50%. More widespread prophylaxis would be even more logistically challenging but might reduce attack rates by over 75%. Vaccine stockpiled in advance of a pandemic could significantly reduce attack rates even if of low efficacy. Estimates of policy effectiveness will change if the characteristics of a future pandemic strain differ substantially from those seen in past pandemics.     

A dynamic early East Antarctic Ice Sheet suggested by ice-covered fjord landscapes

The first Cenozoic ice sheets initiated in Antarctica from the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains and other highlands as a result of rapid global cooling ～34 million years ago. In the subsequent 20 million years, at a time of declining atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and an evolving Antarctic circumpolar current, sedimentary sequence interpretation and numerical modelling suggest that cyclical periods of ice-sheet expansion to the continental margin, followed by retreat to the subglacial highlands, occurred up to thirty times. These fluctuations were paced by orbital changes and were a major influence on global sea levels. Ice-sheet models show that the nature of such oscillations is critically dependent on the pattern and extent of Antarctic topographic lowlands. Here we show that the basal topography of the Aurora Subglacial Basin of East Antarctica, at present overlain by 2-4.5?km of ice, is characterized by a series of well-defined topographic channels within a mountain block landscape. The identification of this fjord landscape, based on new data from ice-penetrating radar, provides an improved understanding of the topography of the Aurora Subglacial Basin and its surroundings, and reveals a complex surface sculpted by a succession of ice-sheet configurations substantially different from today's. At different stages during its fluctuations, the edge of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet lay pinned along the margins of the Aurora Subglacial Basin, the upland boundaries of which are currently above sea level and the deepest parts of which are more than 1?km below sea level. Although the timing of the channel incision remains uncertain, our results suggest that the fjord landscape was carved by at least two iceflow regimes of different scales and directions, each of which would have over-deepened existing topographic depressions, reversing valley floor slopes.