Photocatalyst releasing hydrogen from water

Direct splitting of water using a particulate photocatalyst would be a good way to produce clean and recyclable hydrogen on a large scale, and in the past 30 years various photocatalysts have been found that function under visible light. Here we describe an advance in the catalysis of the overall splitting of water under visible light: the new catalyst is a solid solution of gallium and zinc nitrogen oxide, (Ga(1-x)Zn(x))(N(1-x)O(x)), modified with nanoparticles of a mixed oxide of rhodium and chromium. The mixture functions as a promising and efficient photocatalyst in promoting the evolution of hydrogen gas.     

Millennial-scale paleoceanography in Okinawa Trough during Late Quaternary period

Based on the analyses of foraminifer and accelerator mass spectrometer radiocarbon dating in DGKS9603 core from mid-Okinawa Trough close to bottom, oscillation curve, which expressed the relation between the surface water temperature and the depth, has been obtained by using foraminifer analysis and calculation of FP-12E transfer function. The whole core indicated seven cold phases and eight warm phases. Obvious expression of low temperature event during Middle and Late Holocene, YD,H1,H2,H3 and H4 events, as well as the short cold phase during the middle last glacial period, implied that short shifts since 50 kaBP would have been global significance. Sedimentation rate during cold phases is usually faster than that in warm stages, with the lowest rate in Holocene, which may be connected with rising sea level and principal axial of Kuroshio Current moving to west. Volcanic activities highly developed in Okinawa Trough during the Quaternary period, thus abundant volcanic glass and pumice were well preserved.     

Disaccharidase rhythm in rat small intestine; no relationship with mitosis rhythm.

Same circadian difference in the specific activities of sucrase and maltase was observed in the purified brush border fraction as in the crude homogenate of the mucosa of rat small intestine, suggesting that the disaccharidase rhythm is not due to the mitosis rhythm of epithelial cells.     

12例日本人T细胞白血病病毒Ⅰ型相关神经脊髓病矮小 …

为研究HAM/TSP矮小患者与假性甲状旁腺功能低下症(PHP)的关系,HTLV-Ⅰ抗体检测采用明胶颗粒凝集试剂法,PHP的诊断根据甲状旁腺激素(PTH)测定值,中手骨短缩,对外因性PTH进行负荷试验.结果表明:3名患者可诊断为PHP.HAM/TSP矮小患者可能并发PHP,其理由尚未完全明了.     

Bile acids induce energy expenditure by promoting intracellular thyroid hormone activation

While bile acids (BAs) have long been known to be essential in dietary lipid absorption and cholesterol catabolism, in recent years an important role for BAs as signalling molecules has emerged. BAs activate mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways, are ligands for the G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) TGR5 and activate nuclear hormone receptors such as farnesoid X receptor alpha (FXR-alpha; NR1H4). FXR-alpha regulates the enterohepatic recycling and biosynthesis of BAs by controlling the expression of genes such as the short heterodimer partner (SHP; NR0B2) that inhibits the activity of other nuclear receptors. The FXR-alpha-mediated SHP induction also underlies the downregulation of the hepatic fatty acid and triglyceride biosynthesis and very-low-density lipoprotein production mediated by sterol-regulatory-element-binding protein 1c. This indicates that BAs might be able to function beyond the control of BA homeostasis as general metabolic integrators. Here we show that the administration of BAs to mice increases energy expenditure in brown adipose tissue, preventing obesity and resistance to insulin. This novel metabolic effect of BAs is critically dependent on induction of the cyclic-AMP-dependent thyroid hormone activating enzyme type 2 iodothyronine deiodinase (D2) because it is lost in D2-/- mice. Treatment of brown adipocytes and human skeletal myocytes with BA increases D2 activity and oxygen consumption. These effects are independent of FXR-alpha, and instead are mediated by increased cAMP production that stems from the binding of BAs with the G-protein-coupled receptor TGR5. In both rodents and humans, the most thermogenically important tissues are specifically targeted by this mechanism because they coexpress D2 and TGR5. The BA-TGR5-cAMP-D2 signalling pathway is therefore a crucial mechanism for fine-tuning energy homeostasis that can be targeted to improve metabolic control.     

IkappaB kinase-alpha is critical for interferon-alpha production induced by Toll-like receptors 7 and 9

The Toll-like receptor (TLR) family has important roles in microbial recognition and dendritic cell activation. TLRs 7 and 9 can recognize nucleic acids and trigger signalling cascades that activate plasmacytoid dendritic cells to produce interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) (refs 7, 8). TLR7/9-mediated dendritic cell activation is critical for antiviral immunity but also contributes to the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus, a disease in which serum IFN-alpha levels are elevated owing to plasmacytoid dendritic cell activation. TLR7/9-induced IFN-alpha induction depends on a molecular complex that contains a TLR adaptor, MyD88, and IFN regulatory factor 7 (IRF-7) (refs 10-14), but the underlying molecular mechanisms are as yet unknown. Here we show that IkappaB kinase-alpha (IKK-alpha) is critically involved in TLR7/9-induced IFN-alpha production. TLR7/9-induced IFN-alpha production was severely impaired in IKK-alpha-deficient plasmacytoid dendritic cells, whereas inflammatory cytokine induction was decreased but still occurred. Kinase-deficient IKK-alpha inhibited the ability of MyD88 to activate the Ifna promoter in synergy with IRF-7. Furthermore, IKK-alpha associated with and phosphorylated IRF-7. Our results identify a role for IKK-alpha in TLR7/9 signalling, and highlight IKK-alpha as a potential target for manipulating TLR-induced IFN-alpha production.     

Central IL-1 differentially regulates peripheral IL-6 and TNF synthesis

Centrally given interleukin (IL)-1 is known to induce a rapid rises in blood IL-6. To extend this and to examine the mechanism by which this occurs, the effects of intracerebroventricular (icv) injection of human recombinant IL-1β on mRNA expression of IL-6 and tumour necrosis factor (TNF) in the spleen and liver were examined in rats. Icv injection of IL-1 produced a rapid rise of the tissue mRNA levels of IL-6 and TNF in both organs, prior to and/or in parallel with an increase in their serum levels. Pretreatment with chlorisondamine, a ganglionic blocking agent, inhibited the IL-6 responses, while it had little influence on the TNF responses. The results suggest that brain IL-1 induces peripheral production of IL-6, but not of TNF, through autonomic nervous system activation. Received 27 October 1997; received after revision 15 December 1997; accepted 12 January 1998     

The decline and fate of an iron-induced subarctic phytoplankton bloom

Iron supply has a key role in stimulating phytoplankton blooms in high-nitrate low-chlorophyll oceanic waters. However, the fate of the carbon fixed by these blooms, and how efficiently it is exported into the ocean's interior, remains largely unknown. Here we report on the decline and fate of an iron-stimulated diatom bloom in the Gulf of Alaska. The bloom terminated on day 18, following the depletion of iron and then silicic acid, after which mixed-layer particulate organic carbon (POC) concentrations declined over six days. Increased particulate silica export via sinking diatoms was recorded in sediment traps at depths between 50 and 125 m from day 21, yet increased POC export was not evident until day 24. Only a small proportion of the mixed-layer POC was intercepted by the traps, with more than half of the mixed-layer POC deficit attributable to bacterial remineralization and mesozooplankton grazing. The depletion of silicic acid and the inefficient transfer of iron-increased POC below the permanent thermocline have major implications both for the biogeochemical interpretation of times of greater iron supply in the geological past, and also for proposed geo-engineering schemes to increase oceanic carbon sequestration.     

Reconstructing sea surface temperature,sea surface salinity and partial pressure of carbon dioxide in atmosphere in the Okinawa Trough during the Holocene and their paleoclimatic implications

The sediment core DGKS9603 collected from the Okinawa Trough was used as research target. By use of unsaturated indexU ^k₃₇ of long-chain alkenone, δ¹³C of POC and of planktonic foraminifera (G. sacculifer), the evolutions of sea surface temperature and partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere during the Holocene were reconstructed in the Okinawa Trough. And in combination of δ¹⁸O of planktonic foraminifera, the relative difference of sea surface salinity during the Holocene was also reconstructed. Consequently, three cooling events (E₁-E₃) were identified, each of which occurred at 1.7-1.6, 5.1-4.8 and 8.1-7.4 kaBP (cal), respectively. Of the three events, E₂ and E₃ are globally comparable, their occurrence mechanism would be that the main stream of the Kuroshio Current shifted eastward due to the enhanced circulation of the northeastern Pacific Ocean, which was driven in turn by amplified intensity of sunshine and subsequent enhancement of subtropical high pressure; E₁ corresponds to the Small Ice-Age Event occurring between 1550 and 1850AD in China. In the Oki-nawa Trough, E₁ might be also related to the eastward shift of main stream of the Kuroshio current driven by powerful Asia winter monsoon.