Transfer of a functional human immune system to mice with severe combined immunodeficiency

The pressing need for a better experimental system for AIDS research has brought into sharp focus the shortcomings of available animal models and the practical and ethical limitations of studies of immune responses and viral pathogenesis in humans. Current studies of the human immune responses are limited to relatively restrictive in vivo experiments and several in vitro systems that, although useful, allow only short-term studies and support responses to a few antigens. Neither model is particularly amenable to studies of the pathogenesis of diseases of the immune system. We report here that injection of human peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL) can result in the stable long-term reconstitution of a functional human immune system in mice with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID). Human PBL transplanted to SCID mice increase in number and survive for at least six months; reconstituted mice show spontaneous secretion of human immunoglobulin and a specific human antibody response is induced following immunization with tetanus toxoid. All of the major cell populations present in PBL are found in the lymphoid tissue and blood of SCID recipients, although the relative proportions of B cells, T-cell subsets and monocytes/macrophages in long-term recipients differ from those found in normal PBL and, in mice transplanted with 50 x 10(6) or more PBL from Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-seropositive donors, EBV-positive B-cell lymphomas often develop. Our results suggest that xenogeneic transplantation of human lymphoid cells into SCID mice may provide a useful model for the study of normal human immune function, the response of the immune system to pathogenic agents and early events in lymphomagensis.     

利用基因工程菌去除电解废水中的汞离子

利用构建的基因工程菌生物富集真实电解废水中的汞离子。电解废水中除含有2.58mg/L的汞离子外，还含有十种以上的其它成分，且pH值为9．6。实验表明，与重组菌对只含汞离子的实验室模拟废水的处理结果比较，电解废水中其它组份的存在意外地增大了重组菌富集汞离子的作用速率，但同时却使细菌的最大汞富集是降低了30％。废水pH的变化对重组菌的汞富集行为影响很小，说明该基因工程菌能在很宽的pH范围内有效地富集汞。实验还考察了EDTA及离子强度对富集行为的影响。     

Epitaxy of rare earth element fluorcarbonate minerals from carbonatite dyke at Bayan Obo, Inner Mongolia, China

Rare earth element fluorocarbonate minerals such as bastnaesite and parisite are firstly discovered in carbonatite dykes from Bayan Obo, Inner Mongolia, China. Bastnaesite rarely occurs as homogeneously single crystal, but contains microfine phase of parisite. They form regular intergrowth along (0001) plane net, which is identified as epitaxy. This eptactic texture results from the variation of chemical composition of crystallizing agents of those minerals that crystallize directly from carbonatite magma.     

Melanin-concentrating hormone is the cognate ligand for the orphan G-protein-coupled receptor SLC-1.

The underlying causes of obesity are poorly understood but probably involve complex interactions between many neurotransmitter and neuropeptide systems involved in the regulation of food intake and energy balance. Three pieces of evidence indicate that the neuropeptide melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) is an important component of this system. First, MCH stimulates feeding when injected directly into rat brains; second, the messenger RNA for the MCH precursor is upregulated in the hypothalamus of genetically obese mice and in fasted animals; and third, mice lacking MCH eat less and are lean. MCH antagonists might, therefore, provide a treatment for obesity. However, the development of such molecules has been hampered because the identity of the MCH receptor has been unknown until now. Here we show that the 353-amino-acid human orphan G-protein-coupled receptor SLC-1 expressed in HEK293 cells binds MCH with sub-nanomolar affinity, and is stimulated by MCH to mobilize intracellular Ca2+ and reduce forskolin-elevated cyclic AMP levels. We also show that SLC-1 messenger RNA and protein is expressed in the ventromedial and dorsomedial nuclei of the hypothalamus, consistent with a role for SLC-1 in mediating the effects of MCH on feeding.     

A topographically forced asymmetry in the martian circulation and climate

Large seasonal and hemispheric asymmetries in the martian climate system are generally ascribed to variations in solar heating associated with orbital eccentricity. As the orbital elements slowly change (over a period of >104 years), characteristics of the climate such as dustiness and the vigour of atmospheric circulation are thought to vary, as should asymmetries in the climate (for example, the deposition of water ice at the northern versus the southern pole). Such orbitally driven climate change might be responsible for the observed layering in Mars' polar deposits by modulating deposition of dust and water ice. Most current theories assume that climate asymmetries completely reverse as the angular distance between equinox and perihelion changes by 180 degrees. Here we describe a major climate mechanism that will not precess in this way. We show that Mars' global north-south elevation difference forces a dominant southern summer Hadley circulation that is independent of perihelion timing. The Hadley circulation, a tropical overturning cell responsible for trade winds, largely controls interhemispheric transport of water and the bulk dustiness of the atmosphere. The topography therefore imprints a strong handedness on climate, with water ice and the active formation of polar layered deposits more likely in the north.     

Widespread local house-sparrow extinctions

House-sparrow populations have declined sharply in Western Europe in recent decades, but the reasons for this decline have yet to be identified, despite intense public interest in the matter. Here we use a combination of field experimentation, genetic analysis and demographic data to show that a reduction in winter food supply caused by agricultural intensification is probably the principal explanation for the widespread local extinctions of rural house-sparrow populations in southern England. We show that farmland populations exhibit fine-level genetic structuring and that some populations are unable to sustain themselves (sinks), whereas others act as sources.     

The structure of theAspidosperma alkaloid compactinervine

Zusammenfassung Es wird über die Isolierung eines neuen Alkaloids — Compactinervin — aus der brasilianischen Apocynaceen-ArtAspidosperma compactinervium Kuhlm. berichtet. Durch massenspektroskopische und Kernresonanz-Messungen und chemische Umwandlungen konnte gezeigt werden, dass es sich beim Compactinervin um 19,20-Dihydroxy-19,20-dihydro-akuammicin handelt. Seine vollständige Stereochemie sowie die des verwandten Alkaloids Lochneridin konnte abgeleitet werden. Compactinervin stellt die erste Verbindung vom Akuammicin-Typ dar, die aus einerAspidosperma-Art isoliert worden ist.

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Paper XLI in the seriesAlkaloid Studies. For paper XL seeB. Gilbert, J. A. Brissolese, J. M. Wilson, H. Budzikiewicz, L. J. Durham, andC. Djerassi, Chem. and Ind.1962, 1949.

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Financial assistance in support of the joint research effort on Brazilian plants between Stanford University and the Instituto de Quimica Agricola was provided by the Rockefeller Foundation. Additional financial aid from the National Institutes of Health (grants AM 04257 and 2G-682) is gratefully acknowledged.