Selective gating of visual signals by microstimulation of frontal cortex

Several decades of psychophysical and neurophysiological studies have established that visual signals are enhanced at the locus of attention. What remains a mystery is the mechanism that initiates biases in the strength of visual representations. Recent evidence argues that, during spatial attention, these biases reflect nascent saccadic eye movement commands. We examined the functional interaction of saccade preparation and visual coding by electrically stimulating sites within the frontal eye fields (FEF) and measuring its effect on the activity of neurons in extrastriate visual cortex. Here we show that visual responses in area V4 could be enhanced after brief stimulation of retinotopically corresponding sites within the FEF using currents below that needed to evoke saccades. The magnitude of the enhancement depended on the effectiveness of receptive field stimuli as well as on the presence of competing stimuli outside the receptive field. Stimulation of non-corresponding FEF representations could suppress V4 responses. The results suggest that the gain of visual signals is modified according to the strength of spatially corresponding eye movement commands.     

Differentiation potential of subsets of CD4-8- thymocytes

Precursor T cells in the thymus are contained within a subpopulation of thymocytes that lack the markers CD4 and CD8. We have examined the heterogeneity of these cells by flow cytometric analysis, and defined four subpopulations using the cell surface markers Thy-1, J11d and the IL-2 receptor (IL-2R). The J11d+ subset of CD4-8- cells all bear the antigen Thy-1, and some express the IL-2R. Staining and RNA analysis of J11d+ cells suggest that some express receptors of the CD3 gamma delta type, but none express CD3 alpha beta receptors. In fetal thymus organ culture, the J11d+ cells diversify to form 'cortical type' CD4+8+ cells and 'medullary type' cells expressing either CD4 or CD8; in vivo they repopulate the thymus of an irradiated host and seed the periphery with T cells. In contrast, the J11d- subset of CD4-8- thymocytes do not all bear Thy-1 and none express the IL-2R, but some express antigen receptors of the CD3 alpha beta type. They have more limited diversification potential in organ culture, and in vivo fail to recolonize the irradiated host in a homing-independent assay. We conclude that they are not precursor T cells, but rather a side-branch from the main line of T cell differentiation.     

化学镀镍废液处理新工艺及机理研究

通过化学沉淀法从废液中回收镍离子，继而采用硫酸亚铁为共沉剂，进一步处理上述废液，达到去除剩余镍离子的目的，考察了双氧水、氢氧化钠、硫酸亚铁用量及反应时间对化学镀镍废液处理结果的影响，并对反应机理进行了初步探讨，结果表明，新工艺双氧水用量少、回收镍纯度高，经济可行。     

基于一种扩展分层有限状态机模型的测试生成

为了解决分层有限状态机(HFSM)中数据和约束的问题,对扩展分层有限状态机(E-HFSM)给出了定义对其特征进行了分析,对基于其上的模型所面临的测试问题进行了讨论.考虑了在测试中遇到的控制流和数据流问题,针对其中一种模型(父子EHFSM间不存在数据依赖关系),结合现有的方法工具给出了一种一致性测试生成方法.     

Nd：YAG激光器的光泵效率比较实验研究

在利用IGBT斩波电路控制闪光灯放电波形的Nd:YAG脉冲激光器中,进行了分别采用双脉冲氙灯串联、双脉冲氪灯串联、单支脉冲氙灯和单支脉冲氪灯作为泵浦源的实验。实验结果表明,在储能电容初始放电电压为400V的条件下,采用单支脉冲氪灯泵浦的电光效率最高。     

Molecular mechanisms of spider silk

Spiders spin high-performance silks through the expression and assembly of tissue-restricted fibroin proteins. Spider silks are composite protein biopolymers that have complex microstructures. Retrieval of cDNAs and genomic DNAs encoding silk fibroins has revealed an association between the protein sequences and structure-property relationships. However, before spider silks can be subject to genetic engineering for commercial applications, the complete protein sequences and their functions, as well as the details of the spinning mechanism, will require additional progress and collaborative efforts in the areas of biochemistry, molecular biology and material science. Novel approaches to reveal additional molecular constituents embedded in the spider fibers, as well as cloning strategies to manipulate the genes for expression, will continue to be important aspects of spider biology research. Here we summarize the molecular characteristics of the different spider fibroins, the mechanical properties and assembly process of spidroins and the advances in protein expression systems used for recombinant silk production. We also highlight different technical approaches being used to elucidate the molecular constituents of silk fibers. Received 28 February 2006; received after revision 14 April 2006; accepted 22 May 2006 X. Hu and K. Vasanthavada contributed equally to this work.