Abnormal pattern detected in fragile-X patients by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis.

The fragile-X syndrome is the most frequent inherited form of mental retardation, with an incidence of 1 in 1,500 males. It is characterized by the presence of a fragile site at Xq27.3 induced in vitro by folate deprivation or by inhibitors of deoxynucleotide synthesis. Its mode of inheritance is unusual for an X-linked trait, with incomplete penetrance in both males and females. Some phenotypically normal males transmit the mutation to all their daughters who rarely express any symptoms, but penetrance is high in sons and daughters of these carrier women. Genetic and physical mapping of the Xq27-q28 region has confirmed that the disease locus is located at or very near the fragile site. Hypotheses proposed to account for the abnormalities in the inheritance of the disease include sequence rearrangements by meiotic recombination or a mutation that affects reactivation of an inactive X chromosome during differentiation of female germ cells. To detect such rearrangements, or methylation changes that may reflect a locally inactive X chromosome, we used pulsed-field gel analysis of DNA from fragile-X patients with probes close to the fragile-X locus. The probe Do33 (DXS465) detected abnormal patterns in fragile-X patients, but not in normal controls or in non-expressing male transmitters.     

用测量模态阻尼和振型的方法对复合材料薄平板进行无损质量检测

复合材料薄平板经热压制成后,都需要进行质量检测。本文探索用测量模态阻尼和振型的方法,对复合材料薄平板的制作质量进行无损检测,作为对其它昂贵的无损检测方法的补充。略述用振动方法进行无损检测的原理,测量薄平板阻尼的方法以及提高测量精度的措施。还讨论在测量薄平板阻尼时可能遇到的一些特殊问题(如非线性刚度、拍、模态密集等问题);以云母基复合材料薄平板作为例子,从测量其阻尼和振型的结果,对这种板的制作质量进行讨论。     

Observation of conformation-specific pathways in the photodissociation of 1-iodopropane ions.

Many molecules can rotate freely around single bonds and thereby interconvert between different conformations, such as gauche and anti 1,2-disubstituted ethane, a classic example of conformational isomerism. Even though rotation occurs rapidly at room temperature, the product selectivity seen in some reactions has been explained by conformation-dependent reaction mechanisms: if reactant molecules differing only in their conformation are located at different positions on the reaction path, they may undergo different reactions. But a direct verification of this effect is difficult, because the energy barrier separating conformational isomers is so low that under ambient conditions reactants with more than one conformation will be present. But by using temperatures low enough to suppress the interconversion between different conformations, gauche-1-iodopropane ions and anti-1-iodopropane ions have been selectively generated. Here we show that the kinetic energy released during the photodissociation of 1-iodopropane ions depends strongly on the conformation of the ions. Thermodynamic arguments and ab initio calculations indicate that this difference in kinetic energy release results from differences in the reaction mechanism, with gauche-1-iodopropane ions forming 2-propyl ions and anti-1-iodopropane ions forming protonated cyclopropane ions. These findings suggest that the well-known concept of conformation selection forms the basis of a simple scheme for reaction control, thus providing in some cases an attractive alternative for more involved schemes that utilize the phase and pulse shape of laser beams to control chemical reactions.     

Leaning Towards Agile in 21~(st) Century

Background: During the last fifteen years there ha s been an increased drive for organisations to reduce costs. From a production po int, this has often centred on lean manufacturing and JIT waste elimination proc esses. However, in 1991, the Iaccocca Institute Bethlehem P.A commissioned a re port specifically to analyse the changing nature of the marketplace. As a result , in the following year, the Agile Manufacturing Forum was initiated and the ter m ‘agile or responsive manufacturing‘ was first intr...     

无格式设计观

当 Kjell Ekhorn 还在学校学习图形设计,Jon Forss 已在这个行业里工作了不少年头。1989年 Jon Forss 于1LeicesterPolytechnic 毕业后就在 Bath 为一家广告代理商工作,四年之后他移居伦敦为 namara 设计公司设计图书封面。五年以后,他遇到从伦敦 Centrl St.Martins 学校毕业不过两年,正以自由职业者身份从事图书封面设计、图片制作和摄影工作的 Kjell Ekhorn。两人惊讶于互相对图书封面设计的看法,一时相见恨晚,然后自然而然的开始了两人合作的NON-FORMAT 时代。     

在线WOM内容和效果的关系:产品知识和相关的影响

以证明在线口传内容对口传效果的影响及收信者的特性的作用为目的。通过已有的研究,把口传内容划分为商品信息和个人经验,把口传效果划分为口传受用和口传行为。以大学生为对象,对MP3购买活动和相关在线口传活动进行了268个问卷调查,并用SPSS 10.0统计法进行了分析。研究结果表明:第一,口传信息的受用度使商品资讯更高,口传行为使个人体验资讯更为受用。第二,商品资讯和个人体验对口传内容的效果(口传受用,口传行为)决定于收信者的产品知识,即对在线的口传内容和口传信息受用的关系有调节作用,而且,对口传行为的影响也有调节效果。最后,关联度变数如先前所设的口传内容和口传效果的关系,对它们的关系有调节作用。     

The Huntington's disease candidate region exhibits many different haplotypes.

Analysis of 78 Huntington's disease (HD) chromosomes with multi-allele markers revealed 26 different haplotypes, suggesting a variety of independent HD mutations. The most frequent haplotype, accounting for about one third of disease chromosomes, suggests that the disease gene is between D4S182 and D4S180. However, the paucity of an expected class of chromosomes that can be related to this major haplotype by assuming single crossovers may reflect the operation of other mechanisms in creating haplotype diversity. Some of these mechanisms sustain alternative scenarios that do not require a multiple mutational origin for HD and/or its positioning between D4S182 and D4S180.     

Structure of the detoxification catalyst mercuric ion reductase from Bacillus sp. strain RC607

Several hundred million tons of toxic mercurials are dispersed in the biosphere. Microbes can detoxify organo-mercurials and mercury salts through sequential action of two enzymes, organomercury lyase and mercuric ion reductase (MerA). The latter, a homodimer with homology to the FAD-dependent disulphide oxidoreductases, catalyses the reaction NADPH + Hg(II)----NADP+ + H+ + Hg(0), one of the very rare enzymic reactions with metal substrates. Human glutathione reductase serves as a reference molecule for FAD-dependent disulphide reductases and between its primary structure and that of MerA from Tn501 (Pseudomonas), Tn21 (Shigella), p1258 (Staphylococcus) and Bacillus, 25-30% of the residues have been conserved. All MerAs have a C-terminal extension about 15 residues long but have very varied N termini. Although the enzyme from Streptomyces lividans has no addition, from Pseudomonas aeruginosa Tn501 and Bacillus sp. strain RC607 it has one and two copies respectively of a domain of 80-85 residues, highly homologous to MerP, the periplasmic component of proteins encoded by the mer operon. These domains can be proteolytically cleaved off without changing the catalytic efficiency. We report here the crystal structure of MerA from the Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus sp. strain RC607. Analysis of its complexes with nicotinamide dinucleotide substrates and the inhibitor Cd(II) reveals how limited structural changes enable an enzyme to accept as substrate what used to be a dangerous inhibitor. Knowledge of the mode of mercury ligation is a prerequisite for understanding this unique detoxification mechanism.