The impact of ocean warming on marine organisms

Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution during the late eighteenth to the early nineteenth centuries, there has been rapidly increasing release of greenhouse gases, notably CO₂, into the atmosphere. As a consequence of this atmospheric change, the Earth’s average surface temperature has increased by approximately 0.6 °C over the last 100 years. The rate of release of greenhouse gases continues to increase, and global surface temperature rose by approximately 0.2 °C per decade in the last 30 years, a rate that is greater than at any other time during the last 1,000 years. The wide-ranging effects of these increases in greenhouse gases and temperature on the biosphere are subject to intense scientific study. Much has been learned, but much more needs to be elucidated, if we are to predict how terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems will be affected by global change. This brief review focuses on the marine environment and offers a concise summary of some of the important advances in our knowledge about the impacts of global change, including physical and chemical changes of the ocean, as well as the impact of ocean warming on marine organisms. Our analysis also points out areas where critical new information is needed if we are to predict the future of marine ecosystems in a warming world with accuracy.     

Oncogenically active MYD88 mutations in human lymphoma

The activated B-cell-like (ABC) subtype of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) remains the least curable form of this malignancy despite recent advances in therapy. Constitutive nuclear factor (NF)-κB and JAK kinase signalling promotes malignant cell survival in these lymphomas, but the genetic basis for this signalling is incompletely understood. Here we describe the dependence of ABC DLBCLs on MYD88, an adaptor protein that mediates toll and interleukin (IL)-1 receptor signalling, and the discovery of highly recurrent oncogenic mutations affecting MYD88 in ABC DLBCL tumours. RNA interference screening revealed that MYD88 and the associated kinases IRAK1 and IRAK4 are essential for ABC DLBCL survival. High-throughput RNA resequencing uncovered MYD88 mutations in ABC DLBCL lines. Notably, 29% of ABC DLBCL tumours harboured the same amino acid substitution, L265P, in the MYD88 Toll/IL-1 receptor (TIR) domain at an evolutionarily invariant residue in its hydrophobic core. This mutation was rare or absent in other DLBCL subtypes and Burkitt's lymphoma, but was observed in 9% of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphomas. At a lower frequency, additional mutations were observed in the MYD88 TIR domain, occurring in both the ABC and germinal centre B-cell-like (GCB) DLBCL subtypes. Survival of ABC DLBCL cells bearing the L265P mutation was sustained by the mutant but not the wild-type MYD88 isoform, demonstrating that L265P is a gain-of-function driver mutation. The L265P mutant promoted cell survival by spontaneously assembling a protein complex containing IRAK1 and IRAK4, leading to IRAK4 kinase activity, IRAK1 phosphorylation, NF-κB signalling, JAK kinase activation of STAT3, and secretion of IL-6, IL-10 and interferon-β. Hence, the MYD88 signalling pathway is integral to the pathogenesis of ABC DLBCL, supporting the development of inhibitors of IRAK4 kinase and other components of this pathway for the treatment of tumours bearing oncogenic MYD88 mutations.     

Preplay of future place cell sequences by hippocampal cellular assemblies

During spatial exploration, hippocampal neurons show a sequential firing pattern in which individual neurons fire specifically at particular locations along the animal's trajectory (place cells). According to the dominant model of hippocampal cell assembly activity, place cell firing order is established for the first time during exploration, to encode the spatial experience, and is subsequently replayed during rest or slow-wave sleep for consolidation of the encoded experience. Here we report that temporal sequences of firing of place cells expressed during a novel spatial experience occurred on a significant number of occasions during the resting or sleeping period preceding the experience. This phenomenon, which is called preplay, occurred in disjunction with sequences of replay of a familiar experience. These results suggest that internal neuronal dynamics during resting or sleep organize hippocampal cellular assemblies into temporal sequences that contribute to the encoding of a related novel experience occurring in the future.     

Special features of the 2009 pandemic swine-origin influenza A H1N1 hemagglutinin and neuraminidase

Since the 2009 pandemic H1N1 swine-origin influenza A virus (09 S-OIV) has reminded the world about the global threat of the ever changing influenza virus,many questions regarding the detailed re-assortment of influenza viruses yet remain unanswered.Influenza A virus is the causative agent of the pandemic flu and contains 2 major antigenic glycoproteins on its surface:(i) hemagglutinin (HA);and (ii) neuraminidase (NA).The structures of the 09 S-OIV HA and NA proteins (09H1 and 09N1) have recently been resolved in our laboratory and provide some clues as to why the 09 S-OIV re-assortment virus is highly infectious with severe consequences in humans.For example,the 09H1 is highly similar to the HA of the 1918 influenza A pandemic virus in overall structure and especially in regards to its 5 defined antibody binding epitopes.For 09N1,its most distinctive feature is the lack of a 150-loop active site cavity,which was previously predicted to be present in all N1 NAs,and we hypothesize that the 150-loop may play a important role in the substrate specificity (α2,3 or α2,6 linked sialic acid receptors) and enzymatic mechanism of influenza NA.Combination of the HA and NA with special characteristics for the 09 S-OIV might contribute to its high increased transmissibility in humans.     

超级电容池及其2018年基础研究回眸

 介绍新型电化学储能器件“超级电容池”并回顾其2018年的基础研究进展。作为蓄电池和超级电容器的内在结合型电化学储能器件，超级电容池较好地结合了前者高储能密度和后者可快速充放电、长循环寿命的特性，可以在移动和固定储能应用中发挥更大作用。     

固体物理学VS粒子物理学通往科学的真理

在科学的伟大梯队中，粒子物理学家把自己和天使放在了一起。他们从天堂向下俯视着化学家、生物学家、地质学家以及气象学家等这些应用而不是发现自然界最基本规律的人。甚至属于同一学科的固体物理学也常常被认为是在进行次要的研究。夸克的发现者默里·盖尔曼把它称为“肮脏态物理学”，其他一些人也对这个“没有价值的物理学”大加排斥。近年来，这些所谓“垃圾学科”发展神速。在一场科学文化的较量中，一些卓越的固体物理学家已经对粒子物理学家作为“终极真理的仲裁者”地位发起了挑战。因在固体物理学中的几项发现而获得1998年度诺贝…