The structural gene coding for myelin-associated proteolipid protein is mutated in jimpy mice

Mutations affecting developmental processes may allow some insight into the complexity of the biological processes involved. In mice, two mutants that affect myelin formation in the central nervous system, jimpy and shiverer, have proved to be useful models for the study of this process. The predominant proteins in myelin are the major myelin proteolipid (PLP) and the myelin basic proteins (MBP), which together account for 80-90% of total myelin proteins. It has recently been shown that the shiverer mutation is located in the MBP structural gene, but the site of the jimpy mutation, which is X-chromosome-linked and may be similar to the sex-linked dismyelinization human disease, Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease, remains unclear. Here we provide evidence, based on a combined genetic and biochemical approach, that the sex-linked recessive mutation jimpy is located in the structural gene coding for PLP.     

Hadean diamonds in zircon from Jack Hills, Western Australia

Detrital zircons more than 4 billion years old from the Jack Hills metasedimentary belt, Yilgarn craton, Western Australia, are the oldest identified fragments of the Earth's crust and are unique in preserving information on the earliest evolution of the Earth. Inclusions of quartz, K-feldspar and monazite in the zircons, in combination with an enrichment of light rare-earth elements and an estimated low zircon crystallization temperature, have previously been used as evidence for early recycling of continental crust, leading to the production of granitic melts in the Hadean era. Here we present the discovery of microdiamond inclusions in Jack Hills zircons with an age range from 3,058 +/- 7 to 4,252 +/- 7 million years. These include the oldest known diamonds found in terrestrial rocks, and introduce a new dimension to the debate on the origin of these zircons and the evolution of the early Earth. The spread of ages indicates that either conditions required for diamond formation were repeated several times during early Earth history or that there was significant recycling of ancient diamond. Mineralogical features of the Jack Hills diamonds-such as their occurrence in zircon, their association with graphite and their Raman spectroscopic characteristics-resemble those of diamonds formed during ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism and, unless conditions on the early Earth were unique, imply a relatively thick continental lithosphere and crust-mantle interaction at least 4,250 million years ago.     

肿瘤放疗并发症概率预测模型参数拟合方法

为了建立具有群体特异性的肿瘤放疗NTCP预测模型,提出了一种模型参数拟合方法.首先,基于NTCP模型的特点构建最大似然函数;然后,分别采用确定性优化方法和随机性优化方法对最大似然函数进行优化,分析优化过程的时间成本及优化结果,探讨用于拟合NTCP模型参数的最优方法.实验结果表明,用于拟合NTCP模型参数的最大似然函数是非凸的,存在局部最优解;遗传算法是一种最稳定的最大似然函数优化方法,其运行时间比模拟退火算法短,而且可以在每次优化结束后给出全局最优解,以作为NTCP模型参数.所提方法可以帮助肿瘤放疗工作者在临床随访数据的基础上建立具有群体特异性的放疗并发症预测模型.