Axonal loss and neuroinflammation caused by peroxisome-deficient oligodendrocytes

Oligodendrocytes myelinate axons for rapid impulse conduction and contribute to normal axonal functions in the central nervous system. In multiple sclerosis, demyelination is caused by autoimmune attacks, but the role of oligodendroglial cells in disease progression and axon degeneration is unclear. Here we show that oligodendrocytes harbor peroxisomes whose function is essential for maintaining white matter tracts throughout adult life. By selectively inactivating the import factor PEX5 in myelinating glia, we generated mutant mice that developed normally, but within several months showed ataxia, tremor and premature death. Absence of functional peroxisomes from oligodendrocytes caused widespread axonal degeneration and progressive subcortical demyelination, but did not interfere with glial survival. Moreover, it caused a strong proinflammatory milieu and, unexpectedly, the infiltration of B and activated CD8+ T cells into brain lesions. We conclude that peroxisomes provide oligodendrocytes with an essential neuroprotective function against axon degeneration and neuroinflammation, which is relevant for human demyelinating diseases.     

地基土对桥梁索塔抗震设计影响的研究与实践(之二)

以火箭式激振器为震源对高大结构物(即云南景洪澜沧江大桥主塔)进行了现场动力测试和分析,利用实测结构体系的动力特性,取得了场地土边界元参数,在考虑了土与结构相互作用的基础上,为选取全桥的抗震设计参数提供合理依据.     

以MDR1基因启动子为靶点的药物筛选模型的建立

通过构建以MDR1启动子为启动序列的荧光素酶报告基因载体,建立基于双荧光素酶报告基因系统的多药耐药抑制剂筛选模型。从HCT-8细胞中提取DNA并克隆含有MDR1基因启动子的序列。将该序列重组到荧光素酶报告基因载体pGL-3-Basic的启动区域中,从而构建报告基因载体pGL-MDR1。将pGL-MDR1和pRL-TK载体共转染到HCT-8和HCT-8/VCR细胞中,建立用于筛选多药耐药抑制剂的方法。通过调节不同载体的比例来优化转染效率。通过MDR1基因激活剂（热诱导）和抑制剂（EGCG）来验证该方法。通过直接测序法验证了pGL-MDR1含有MDR1基因启动子序列且没有出现碱基突变。在n（pGL-MDR1）∶n（pRL-TK）=5∶5时,转染效率最高并具有最高的荧光素酶活性。通过MDR1基因激活处理后表现为时间依赖性地激活MDR1基因的表达,而MDR1基因抑制剂的作用则相反。     

Synchronicity of Antarctic temperatures and local solar insolation on orbital timescales

The Milankovitch theory states that global climate variability on orbital timescales from tens to hundreds of thousands of years is dominated by the summer insolation at high northern latitudes. The supporting evidence includes reconstructed air temperatures in Antarctica that are nearly in phase with boreal summer insolation and out of phase with local summer insolation. Antarctic climate is therefore thought to be driven by northern summer insolation. A clear mechanism that links the two hemispheres on orbital timescales is, however, missing. We propose that key Antarctic temperature records derived from ice cores are biased towards austral winter because of a seasonal cycle in snow accumulation. Using present-day estimates of this bias in the 'recorder' system, here we show that the local insolation can explain the orbital component of the temperature record without having to invoke a link to the Northern Hemisphere. Therefore, the Antarctic ice-core-derived temperature record, one of the best-dated records of the late Pleistocene temperature evolution, cannot be used to support or contradict the Milankovitch hypothesis that global climate changes are driven by Northern Hemisphere summer insolation variations.     

产甘油重组大肠杆菌的构建及其耐高渗透压性能的测定

克隆了酿酒酵母(Saccharomyces cerevisiae) 中的3-磷酸甘油脱氢酶和3-磷酸甘油酯酶基因,通过融合PCR构建了双基因共表达载体,将酵母细胞内应答渗透压变化的甘油合成途径引入大肠杆菌（Escherichia coli）。以葡萄糖为底物对重组大肠杆菌进行摇瓶发酵培养,该重组菌的甘油产量为1g/L。渗透压胁迫测试证明该重组菌的耐渗透压性能较出发菌株有明显提高。     

试论汉语语素的类型及其相关概念

科学研究离不开分类 ,本文通过对汉语中最基本的语法单位语素的分类研究 ,不仅准确地定义了汉语虚词 ,而且理清了汉语语法研究中长期混淆不清的两个概念———汉语虚语与附加成分的界限     

Some difficulties of ecological thinking,considered from a critical systems perspective: A plea for critical holism

We probably have simplified matters too much. We tend to talk about systems thinking and practice as if we knew what they are. The fashionable call for “holistic” or “systems” thinking in ecological issues provides a major example. This much is certain: the quest for comprehensiveness, although it represents an epistemologically necessary idea, is not realizable. If we assume that it is realizable, the critical idea underlying the quest will be perverted into its opposite, i.e., into a false pretension to superior knowledge and understanding—a danger of which the environmental movement does not always appear to be sufficiently aware. My question, therefore, is this: How can we deal critically with the fact that our thinking, and hence our knowledge, designs, and actions, cannot possibly be comprehensive, in the sense that we never “comprehend” all that ought to be understood before we pass to judgment and action? What consequences does this fact imply for a critical systems approach to ecological concerns and, ultimately, for our concepts of rationality in general?