陈国达矿(Ag9FeTe2S4): 胶东地区金矿床中发现的硫碲化物新矿物

陈国达矿(Ag9FeTe₂S₄), 产于中国胶东金矿区埠南金矿的含金-银的黄铜矿-石英脉中, 呈5~70 μm的半自形-他形粒状与方铅矿、黄铜矿、碲银矿、银金矿、自然银、未定名的Ag₆TeS₂, Ag₁₆FeBiTe₃S₈共生, 并被自然银和螺状硫银矿包围交代. 其平均化学成分(16个EPMA分析值)为Ag_8.97Fe_1.00Te_1.99S_4.04, 理想化学式Ag₉FeTe₂S₄. 利用甘多菲照相及同步辐射迴摆照相技术, 获得陈国达矿的67个衍射线, 主要衍射强线的d值和相对强度(括号中)为: 6.742(69), 6.416(39), 5.951(33), 3.265(100), 2.981(24), 2.649(22), 2.25(24), 2.188(71), 2.142(22), 2.123(31), 2.044(23), 1.949(33). 该衍射数据指标化为斜方晶系, a = 12.769 (2) Å, b = 14.814(2) Å, c = 16.233 (1) Å, V = 3070.6 ų, Z = 9, d_cal = 6.85 g/cm³. 反光显微镜下, 陈国达矿的光学性质与硫银锡矿接近, 浅灰色, 无明显非均质性, 摩氏硬度2~3, 颜色指数: x = 0.3027, y = 0.3076, Y = 25.78%, λ_d = 474 nm, Pe = 3.68%. 该矿物以中国地质学家、地洼学说的创立人陈国达教授的姓名命名. 该矿物及命名经IMA-CNMMN于2004年投票通过. 2005年作者补充数据后, 由CNMMN主席正式公布, 批准号2004-042a.     

地域的履历——浙江省奉化县忠义乡（下）

(接上期)上面提到的非定居移住民,是指从福建及浙江省南部的台州府等地流入奉化县山区的人,即所谓的“棚民”。在位于忠义乡以西的剡源乡,可以见到如下的记事 。剡源向乏水患,亦无劫案。自嘉庆初,闽、台(福建省与浙江省台州府———引用者)棚民相率来剡〔源乡〕,种靛青、种苞芦,日辟日广。如牛山之濯濯水,无所蓄迨。〔嘉庆〕末年,大雨连旬,山水骤注于溪,溪不能容,遂漂没田畴无算。……比年仙居、黄岩无业贫民偕来工作,寓居山厂,一不得食,抢劫之案,层见叠出。由此来看,自嘉庆初年( 1 8世纪末)以降,福建等地的棚民、浙江南部的贫民流入该地山…     

Subtypes of medulloblastoma have distinct developmental origins

Medulloblastoma encompasses a collection of clinically and molecularly diverse tumour subtypes that together comprise the most common malignant childhood brain tumour. These tumours are thought to arise within the cerebellum, with approximately 25% originating from granule neuron precursor cells (GNPCs) after aberrant activation of the Sonic Hedgehog pathway (hereafter, SHH subtype). The pathological processes that drive heterogeneity among the other medulloblastoma subtypes are not known, hindering the development of much needed new therapies. Here we provide evidence that a discrete subtype of medulloblastoma that contains activating mutations in the WNT pathway effector CTNNB1 (hereafter, WNT subtype) arises outside the cerebellum from cells of the dorsal brainstem. We found that genes marking human WNT-subtype medulloblastomas are more frequently expressed in the lower rhombic lip (LRL) and embryonic dorsal brainstem than in the upper rhombic lip (URL) and developing cerebellum. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and intra-operative reports showed that human WNT-subtype tumours infiltrate the dorsal brainstem, whereas SHH-subtype tumours are located within the cerebellar hemispheres. Activating mutations in Ctnnb1 had little impact on progenitor cell populations in the cerebellum, but caused the abnormal accumulation of cells on the embryonic dorsal brainstem which included aberrantly proliferating Zic1(+) precursor cells. These lesions persisted in all mutant adult mice; moreover, in 15% of cases in which Tp53 was concurrently deleted, they progressed to form medulloblastomas that recapitulated the anatomy and gene expression profiles of human WNT-subtype medulloblastoma. We provide the first evidence, to our knowledge, that subtypes of medulloblastoma have distinct cellular origins. Our data provide an explanation for the marked molecular and clinical differences between SHH- and WNT-subtype medulloblastomas and have profound implications for future research and treatment of this important childhood cancer.     

Tristable nematic liquid-crystal device using micropatterned surface alignment

It has long been appreciated that liquid-crystal (LC) devices in which the LC molecules adopt multiple stable orientations could drastically reduce the power consumption required for high-information-content displays. But for the commonly used nematic LCs, which are intrinsically uniaxial in symmetry, no industrially feasible multi-stable LC device has been realized. Recently we demonstrated how bistability can be robustly engineered into a nematic LC device, by patterning a substrate with an orientational chequerboard pattern that enforces orthogonal LC alignment in neighbouring square domains. As a result of the four-fold symmetry of the pattern, the two diagonal axes of the chequerboard become equally stable macroscopic orientations. Here we extend this symmetry approach to obtain a tristable surface-aligned nematic LC. A microscopic pattern exhibiting six-fold symmetry is inscribed on a polyimide surface using the stylus of an atomic force microscope. The hexagonal symmetry of the microscopic orientational domains in turn gives rise to three stable macroscopic LC orientations, which are mutually switchable by an in-plane electric field. The resulting switching mode is surface driven, and hence should be compatible with demanding flexible display applications.     

Photomechanics: directed bending of a polymer film by light

Polymer solutions and solids that contain light-sensitive molecules can undergo photo-contraction, whereby light energy is converted into mechanical energy. Here we show that a single film of a liquid-crystal network containing an azobenzene chromophore can be repeatedly and precisely bent along any chosen direction by using linearly polarized light. This striking photomechanical effect results from a photoselective volume contraction and may be useful in the development of high-speed actuators for microscale or nanoscale applications, for example in microrobots in medicine or optical microtweezers.     

Suppression of basal autophagy in neural cells causes neurodegenerative disease in mice

Autophagy is an intracellular bulk degradation process through which a portion of the cytoplasm is delivered to lysosomes to be degraded. Although the primary role of autophagy in many organisms is in adaptation to starvation, autophagy is also thought to be important for normal turnover of cytoplasmic contents, particularly in quiescent cells such as neurons. Autophagy may have a protective role against the development of a number of neurodegenerative diseases. Here we report that loss of autophagy causes neurodegeneration even in the absence of any disease-associated mutant proteins. Mice deficient for Atg5 (autophagy-related 5) specifically in neural cells develop progressive deficits in motor function that are accompanied by the accumulation of cytoplasmic inclusion bodies in neurons. In Atg5-/- cells, diffuse, abnormal intracellular proteins accumulate, and then form aggregates and inclusions. These results suggest that the continuous clearance of diffuse cytosolic proteins through basal autophagy is important for preventing the accumulation of abnormal proteins, which can disrupt neural function and ultimately lead to neurodegeneration.     

Regulation of IgA production by naturally occurring TNF/iNOS-producing dendritic cells

Immunoglobulin-A has an irreplaceable role in the mucosal defence against infectious microbes. In human and mouse, IgA-producing plasma cells comprise approximately 20% of total plasma cells of peripheral lymphoid tissues, whereas more than 80% of plasma cells produce IgA in mucosa-associated lymphoid tissues (MALT). One of the most biologically important and long-standing questions in immunology is why this 'biased' IgA synthesis takes place in the MALT but not other lymphoid organs. Here we show that IgA class-switch recombination (CSR) is impaired in inducible-nitric-oxide-synthase-deficient (iNOS-/-; gene also called Nos2) mice. iNOS regulates the T-cell-dependent IgA CSR through expression of transforming growth factor-beta receptor, and the T-cell-independent IgA CSR through production of a proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL, also called Tnfsf13) and a B-cell-activating factor of the tumour necrosis factor (TNF) family (BAFF, also called Tnfsf13b). Notably, iNOS is preferentially expressed in MALT dendritic cells in response to the recognition of commensal bacteria by toll-like receptor. Furthermore, adoptive transfer of iNOS+ dendritic cells rescues IgA production in iNOS-/- mice. Further analysis revealed that the MALT dendritic cells are a TNF-alpha/iNOS-producing dendritic-cell subset, originally identified in mice infected with Listeria monocytogenes. The presence of a naturally occurring TNF-alpha/iNOS-producing dendritic-cell subset may explain the predominance of IgA production in the MALT, critical for gut homeostasis.     

Cyclic AMP/GMP-dependent modulation of Ca2+ channels sets the polarity of nerve growth-cone turning

Signalling by intracellular second messengers such as cyclic nucleotides and Ca2+ is known to regulate attractive and repulsive guidance of axons by extracellular factors. However, the mechanism of interaction among these second messengers in determining the polarity of the guidance response is largely unknown. Here, we report that the ratio of cyclic AMP to cyclic GMP activities sets the polarity of netrin-1-induced axon guidance: high ratios favour attraction, whereas low ratios favour repulsion. Whole-cell recordings of Ca2+ currents at Xenopus spinal neuron growth cones indicate that cyclic nucleotide signalling directly modulates the activity of L-type Ca2+ channels (LCCs) in axonal growth cones. Furthermore, cGMP signalling activated by an arachidonate 12-lipoxygenase metabolite suppresses LCC activity triggered by netrin-1, and is required for growth-cone repulsion mediated by the DCC-UNC5 receptor complex. By linking cAMP and cGMP signalling and modulation of Ca2+ channel activity in growth cones, these findings delineate an early membrane-associated event responsible for signal transduction during bi-directional axon guidance.     

Endothelial tubes assemble from intracellular vacuoles in vivo

The formation of epithelial tubes is crucial for the proper development of many different tissues and organs, and occurs by means of a variety of different mechanisms. Morphogenesis of seamless, properly patterned endothelial tubes is essential for the development of a functional vertebrate circulatory system, but the mechanism of vascular lumenization in vivo remains unclear. Evidence dating back more than 100 years has hinted at an important function for endothelial vacuoles in lumen formation. More than 25 years ago, in some of the first endothelial cell culture experiments in vitro, Folkman and Haudenschild described "longitudinal vacuoles" that "appeared to be extruded and connected from one cell to the next", observations confirmed and extended by later studies in vitro showing that intracellular vacuoles arise from integrin-dependent and cdc42/Rac1-dependent pinocytic events downstream of integrin-extracellular-matrix signalling interactions. Despite compelling data supporting a model for the assembly of endothelial tubes in vitro through the formation and fusion of vacuoles, conclusive evidence in vivo has been lacking, primarily because of difficulties associated with imaging the dynamics of subcellular endothelial vacuoles deep within living animals. Here we use high-resolution time-lapse two-photon imaging of transgenic zebrafish to examine how endothelial tubes assemble in vivo, comparing our results with time-lapse imaging of human endothelial-cell tube formation in three-dimensional collagen matrices in vitro. Our results provide strong support for a model in which the formation and intracellular and intercellular fusion of endothelial vacuoles drives vascular lumen formation.     

Fluoro-Compounds in Electrolytes for Energy Storage Devices

1 Results Electrochemical energy storage devices such as lithium-ion batteries[1-2] and double-layer capacitors[3-4] have attracted a great deal of attention because of their potential application to electric hybrid vehicles. They utilize nonaqueous electrolyte solutions comprising from organic solvents and lithium or quaternary ammonium salts with fluorine-containing anions. This is because the relatively large anions with electron-withdrawing atoms enable ionic dissociation in dipolar aprotic solvents...