Long-term Energy Demand and CO_2 Problem in the PRC

The long-term energy demand in China and the-Chinese share in global CO2 emission are forecasted on the basis of scenarios of population growth and economy development up to 2050 proposed in view of the interaction of energy, economy, environment and social development. The total energy demand in 2050 will reach 4.4~ 5.4 billion tce. It is shown in energy supply analysis that coal is China's major energy in primary energy supply. The share of CO2 emission in the future Chinese energy system will be out of proportion to its energy consumption share because of the high persentage of coal to be consumed. It will reach about 27%. The nuclear option which would replace 30.7% of coal in the total primary energy supply will reduce the share by 9.8%. So the policy considerations on the future Chinese energy system is of great importance to the global CO2 issues.     

The genome sequence of the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe grisea

Magnaporthe grisea is the most destructive pathogen of rice worldwide and the principal model organism for elucidating the molecular basis of fungal disease of plants. Here, we report the draft sequence of the M. grisea genome. Analysis of the gene set provides an insight into the adaptations required by a fungus to cause disease. The genome encodes a large and diverse set of secreted proteins, including those defined by unusual carbohydrate-binding domains. This fungus also possesses an expanded family of G-protein-coupled receptors, several new virulence-associated genes and large suites of enzymes involved in secondary metabolism. Consistent with a role in fungal pathogenesis, the expression of several of these genes is upregulated during the early stages of infection-related development. The M. grisea genome has been subject to invasion and proliferation of active transposable elements, reflecting the clonal nature of this fungus imposed by widespread rice cultivation.     

A PPARγ-FGF1 axis is required for adaptive adipose remodelling and metabolic homeostasis

Although feast and famine cycles illustrate that remodelling of adipose tissue in response to fluctuations in nutrient availability is essential for maintaining metabolic homeostasis, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here we identify fibroblast growth factor 1 (FGF1) as a critical transducer in this process in mice, and link its regulation to the nuclear receptor PPARγ (peroxisome proliferator activated receptor γ), which is the adipocyte master regulator and the target of the thiazolidinedione class of insulin sensitizing drugs. FGF1 is the prototype of the 22-member FGF family of proteins and has been implicated in a range of physiological processes, including development, wound healing and cardiovascular changes. Surprisingly, FGF1 knockout mice display no significant phenotype under standard laboratory conditions. We show that FGF1 is highly induced in adipose tissue in response to a high-fat diet and that mice lacking FGF1 develop an aggressive diabetic phenotype coupled to aberrant adipose expansion when challenged with a high-fat diet. Further analysis of adipose depots in FGF1-deficient mice revealed multiple histopathologies in the vasculature network, an accentuated inflammatory response, aberrant adipocyte size distribution and ectopic expression of pancreatic lipases. On withdrawal of the high-fat diet, this inflamed adipose tissue fails to properly resolve, resulting in extensive fat necrosis. In terms of mechanisms, we show that adipose induction of FGF1 in the fed state is regulated by PPARγ acting through an evolutionarily conserved promoter proximal PPAR response element within the FGF1 gene. The discovery of a phenotype for the FGF1 knockout mouse establishes the PPARγ–FGF1 axis as critical for maintaining metabolic homeostasis and insulin sensitization.     

Early Cambrian protoconodonts and conodont-like fossils from China: Taxonomic revisions and stratigraphic implications

Tooth likephosphaticprotoconodontsand“con odont likefossils”arecharacteristiccomponentsoftheEarlyCambriansmallshellyfossils (SSF )withaworldwidedistribution .Theyarerepresentedexclu sivelybyisolatedscleritesandareoften presentinaceticacid etchedresiduesfromLowerCambriancar bonates .SincethefirstreportofProtohertzinaMis sarzhevsky 1973fromthebasalCambrianoftheYangtzePlatformin 1977[1] ,andalongwithenthusi asticresearchactivitiesonthesmallshellyfossilsandcandidatesectionsforaglobalPrecamb…     

HIV preferentially infects HIV-specific CD4+ T cells

HIV infection is associated with the progressive loss of CD4(+) T cells through their destruction or decreased production. A central, yet unresolved issue of HIV disease is the mechanism for this loss, and in particular whether HIV-specific CD4(+) T cells are preferentially affected. Here we show that HIV-specific memory CD4(+) T cells in infected individuals contain more HIV viral DNA than other memory CD4(+) T cells, at all stages of HIV disease. Additionally, following viral rebound during interruption of antiretroviral therapy, the frequency of HIV viral DNA in the HIV-specific pool of memory CD4(+) T cells increases to a greater extent than in memory CD4(+) T cells of other specificities. These findings show that HIV-specific CD4(+) T cells are preferentially infected by HIV in vivo. This provides a potential mechanism to explain the loss of HIV-specific CD4(+) T-cell responses, and consequently the loss of immunological control of HIV replication. Furthermore, the phenomenon of HIV specifically infecting the very cells that respond to it adds a cautionary note to the practice of structured therapy interruption.     

Equilibrium Copper Strip Points as a Function of Temperature and Other Operating Parameters： Implications for Commercial Copper Solvent Extraction Plants

Introduction Copper solvent extraction (SX) is a well known proc-ess for copper recovery from a wide variety of leach solutions. Until recently, typical leach solutions con-tained 0.5 to 8 g/L Cu at 15 to 25℃ . In the past 5 years there has been signific…     

Cavity QED with a Bose-Einstein condensate

Cavity quantum electrodynamics (cavity QED) describes the coherent interaction between matter and an electromagnetic field confined within a resonator structure, and is providing a useful platform for developing concepts in quantum information processing. By using high-quality resonators, a strong coupling regime can be reached experimentally in which atoms coherently exchange a photon with a single light-field mode many times before dissipation sets in. This has led to fundamental studies with both microwave and optical resonators. To meet the challenges posed by quantum state engineering and quantum information processing, recent experiments have focused on laser cooling and trapping of atoms inside an optical cavity. However, the tremendous degree of control over atomic gases achieved with Bose-Einstein condensation has so far not been used for cavity QED. Here we achieve the strong coupling of a Bose-Einstein condensate to the quantized field of an ultrahigh-finesse optical cavity and present a measurement of its eigenenergy spectrum. This is a conceptually new regime of cavity QED, in which all atoms occupy a single mode of a matter-wave field and couple identically to the light field, sharing a single excitation. This opens possibilities ranging from quantum communication to a wealth of new phenomena that can be expected in the many-body physics of quantum gases with cavity-mediated interactions.     

用基因芯片技术分析干旱胁迫下生殖生长期大麦的基因表达

耐旱性是干旱地区稳定和增加大麦产量的一个关键因素。鉴定出与耐旱性相关的功能基因,一方面可了解大麦的耐旱机理,同时还可以促进利用生物技术来改良大麦的耐旱性。在研究中,2个在耐旱性上具有明显差异的大麦品种Tadmor(耐旱)和WI2291(干旱敏感)被选作材料,采用22000个ESTs(基因表达序列标签)的Affymetrix大麦基因芯片Barley1来分析生殖生长期干旱胁迫下2个大麦材料的差异表达基因。研究结果表明,干旱胁迫下2个大麦材料中有77个共调节基因,其中部分基因已被报道过可能与抗旱性相关。这些基因中已有功能注释的基因按其生物学功能被分为14组,猜测它们是干旱胁迫的响应基因,在抗旱性上可能不起重要作用,或者是必需的但单独不足以提高大麦的抗旱性。进一步比较2个材料差异表达的基因,发现二材料之间有372个受干旱调节基因的差异。这些基因中有功能注释基因的生物学功能中可分为15组,其中一些已被认为与抗旱性相关;而对那些未知功能的基因,推测可能亦在大麦的抗旱性上扮演一定的角色。研究所得结果可为阐述生殖生长期大麦的耐旱性机理提供新的认识。     

Prediction in the two‐way random‐effect model with heteroskedasticity

In this paper we extend Taub (1979) approach for prediction in the context of the variance components model. The extension obtained is based on the two‐way random‐effect model with heteroskedasticity. Prediction functions are then obtained in three heteroskedasticity cases (heteroskedasticity on the individual term , heteroskedasticity on the composite term ?_it, and heteroskedasticity on the temporal term ). Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Selectivity determinants of the aldose and aldehyde reductase inhibitor-binding sites

Aldose reductase and aldehyde reductase belong to the aldo-keto reductase superfamily of enzymes whose members are responsible for a wide variety of biological functions. Aldose reductase has been identified as the first enzyme involved in the polyol pathway of glucose metabolism which converts glucose into sorbitol. Glucose over-utilization through the polyol pathway has been linked to tissue-based pathologies associated with diabetes complications, which make the development of a potent aldose reductase inhibitor an obvious and attractive strategy to prevent or delay the onset and progression of the complications. Structural studies of aldose reductase and the homologous aldehyde reductase in complex with inhibitor were carried out to explain the difference in the potency of enzyme inhibition. The aim of this review is to provide a comprehensive summary of previous studies to aid the development of aldose reductase inhibitors that may have less toxicity problems than the currently available ones. Received 4 December 2006; received after revision 12 February 2007; accepted 20 April 2007