超临界连续GAS过程制备对苯二酚超细颗粒

建立了一套连续的气体抗溶剂实验装置，以对苯二酚-丙酮-二氧化碳物系为研究对象，利用超临界流体抗溶剂过程制备了对苯二酚超细颗粒并将其结果与文献进行了比较，从而验证了装置的可靠性，同时，对不同的溶液浓度和溶液流量对结晶颗粒形貌与尺寸的影响进行了研究。结果表明，溶液流量增大颗粒粒径减小，而溶液浓度增大颗粒粒径增加；溶液流量较大时（12.00L/min)，产品颗粒为菱形晶体，溶液流量较小时（2.00L/min)，产品颗粒为棒状晶体；溶液浓度对颗粒形貌影响不大。     

一种新的中空纤维液流场流分离装置及其对葡聚糖保留行为的研究

中空纤维液流场流分离法对高分子和小粒子分离效果好,但目前因所使用的中空纤维均为各实验室自制且分子量阻断值不够小,使该技术的推广应用受到限制.设计了一种新的中空纤维液流场流分离装置,该装置的优越性在于其中空纤维分子量阻断值小,可以用于分离较小分子量的分子;并且中空纤维为商业购买,使得该技术的推广成为可能;该装置易于安装,操作简便.应用它获得了高分子物质葡聚糖的保留,并探讨了液流交汇时间、外场强度、流速和进样量对葡聚糖保留行为的影响.研究结果表明,给予足够的液流交汇时间,足够强的外场,葡聚糖能得到很好的保留.超量进样时,被测葡聚糖的保留时间不变,峰的对称性良好,结果重现性好.     

Genome evolution in yeasts

Identifying the mechanisms of eukaryotic genome evolution by comparative genomics is often complicated by the multiplicity of events that have taken place throughout the history of individual lineages, leaving only distorted and superimposed traces in the genome of each living organism. The hemiascomycete yeasts, with their compact genomes, similar lifestyle and distinct sexual and physiological properties, provide a unique opportunity to explore such mechanisms. We present here the complete, assembled genome sequences of four yeast species, selected to represent a broad evolutionary range within a single eukaryotic phylum, that after analysis proved to be molecularly as diverse as the entire phylum of chordates. A total of approximately 24,200 novel genes were identified, the translation products of which were classified together with Saccharomyces cerevisiae proteins into about 4,700 families, forming the basis for interspecific comparisons. Analysis of chromosome maps and genome redundancies reveal that the different yeast lineages have evolved through a marked interplay between several distinct molecular mechanisms, including tandem gene repeat formation, segmental duplication, a massive genome duplication and extensive gene loss.     

Early human occupation of the Red Sea coast of Eritrea during the last interglacial

The geographical origin of modern humans is the subject of ongoing scientific debate. The 'multiregional evolution' hypothesis argues that modern humans evolved semi-independently in Europe, Asia and Africa between 100,000 and 40,000 years ago, whereas the 'out of Africa' hypothesis contends that modern humans evolved in Africa between 200 and 100 kyr ago, migrating to Eurasia at some later time. Direct palaeontological, archaeological and biological evidence is necessary to resolve this debate. Here we report the discovery of early Middle Stone Age artefacts in an emerged reef terrace on the Red Sea coast of Eritrea, which we date to the last interglacial (about 125 kyr ago) using U-Th mass spectrometry techniques on fossil corals. The geological setting of these artefacts shows that early humans occupied coastal areas and exploited near-shore marine food resources in East Africa by this time. Together with similar, tentatively dated discoveries from South Africa this is the earliest well-dated evidence for human adaptation to a coastal marine environment, heralding an expansion in the range and complexity of human behaviour from one end of Africa to the other. This new, wide-spread adaptive strategy may, in part, signal the onset of modern human behaviour, which supports an African origin for modern humans by 125 kyr ago.     

Functional asymmetry in Caenorhabditis elegans taste neurons and its computational role in chemotaxis

Chemotaxis in Caenorhabditis elegans, like chemotaxis in bacteria, involves a random walk biased by the time derivative of attractant concentration, but how the derivative is computed is unknown. Laser ablations have shown that the strongest deficits in chemotaxis to salts are obtained when the ASE chemosensory neurons (ASEL and ASER) are ablated, indicating that this pair has a dominant role. Although these neurons are left-right homologues anatomically, they exhibit marked asymmetries in gene expression and ion preference. Here, using optical recordings of calcium concentration in ASE neurons in intact animals, we demonstrate an additional asymmetry: ASEL is an ON-cell, stimulated by increases in NaCl concentration, whereas ASER is an OFF-cell, stimulated by decreases in NaCl concentration. Both responses are reliable yet transient, indicating that ASE neurons report changes in concentration rather than absolute levels. Recordings from synaptic and sensory transduction mutants show that the ON-OFF asymmetry is the result of intrinsic differences between ASE neurons. Unilateral activation experiments indicate that the asymmetry extends to the level of behavioural output: ASEL lengthens bouts of forward locomotion (runs) whereas ASER promotes direction changes (turns). Notably, the input and output asymmetries of ASE neurons are precisely those of a simple yet novel neuronal motif for computing the time derivative of chemosensory information, which is the fundamental computation of C. elegans chemotaxis. Evidence for ON and OFF cells in other chemosensory networks suggests that this motif may be common in animals that navigate by taste and smell.