Hormonal induction of steroid sulphatase in the mouse

Summary By comparing steroid sulphatase levels per se, and also ratios to -galactosidase, in 6 sets of mice — normal females, entire and castrated males both with and without exogenous testosterone administration — we obtained support for the contention that induction of this enzyme is in part controlled by male hormones.     

Determination of certain physical and chemical characteristics of the activating serum factor from preparturient women and women with habitual abortions

Summary Follow-up investigation of the blood sera from preparturient women and women with habitual, abortions showed the presence of a factor which has an activating effect on smooth muscle preparations because it causes the release of prostaglandins. Gel-chromatographic counter flow separation and microelectrophoresis of the blood sera have shown that the isolated serum factor is a water soluble glycopeptide with a molecular weight of about 2000.     

Patterns of dye coupling in the imaginal wing disk of Drosophila melanogaster

Responses of developing tissues to experimental disruption demonstrate that cell interaction is important both in generating positional information and in controlling growth. However, the mechanism by which cells interact and the range over which the interactions are effective are not known. In the imaginal disks of Drosophila melanogaster, experiments on pattern regulation following surgical ablation suggest that the cell interactions are very local in nature; in fact, most of the data can be explained by assuming that cells interact only with their immediate neighbours. In contrast, studies of cell division patterns in the same tissue indicate that the "local' proliferative response to an ablation extends over a distance of up to about eight cell diameters. Still longer-range interactions have been proposed on the basis of theoretical considerations. It is possible that the interactions are mediated by the transfer of small molecules through gap junctions, as gap junctions are abundant in imaginal disks at the appropriate developmental stages. We have explored the range, timing and directionality of dye coupling between the cells of the wing disk as a test of the possible role of gap junctions in imaginal disk patterning. Our results indicate that interactions over different ranges are possible depending on the nature of the molecule being transferred.     

Adrenocortical metabolism and plasma corticosterone in soman intoxicated rabbits

Summary The organophosphate neurotoxin soman produced impairments in adrenocortical RNA and protein metabolism. Fasciculate and reticular cell RNA and protein contents were supporessed with sublethal to acutely lethal dosages (20, 30 and 40 g/kg, s.c.) during the acute excitatory phase of intoxication and at 6–8 h post injection. All three dosages produced ca 90% inactivation of plasma cholinesterase. A transient elevation of plasma corticosterone occurred with 20 g/kg soman whereas there was a protracted increase with 30 g/kg. Corticosterone was not significantly elevated with 40 g/kg, but death occurred at 13±4 min. Thus, the magnitude and/or nature of soman-induced metabolic impairments does not appear to prevent adrenal activation.Supported by US Army Medical Research and Development Command Contract DAMD 17-81-C-1202.     

Endorcine cells producing regulatory peptides

Summary Recent data on the immunologication of regulatory peptides and related propeptide sequences in endocrine cells and tumours of the gastrointestinal tract pancreas, lung, thyroid, pituitary (ACTH and opioids), adrenals and paraganglia have been revised and discussed. Gastrin, xenopsin, cholecystokinin (CCK), somatostatin, motilin, secretin, GIP (gastric inhibitory beenrevised and discussed. Gastrin, xenopsin, cholecystokinin (CCK), somatostatin, motilin, secretin, GIP (gastric inhibitory polypeptide), neurotensin, glicentin/glucagon-37 and PYY (peptide tyrosine tyrosine) are the main products of gastrointestinal endocrine cells; glucagon, CRF (corticotropin releasing factor), somatostatin, PP (pancreatic polypeptide) and GRF (growth hormone releasing factor), in addition to insulin, are produced in pancreatic islet cells; bombesin-related peptidesare the main markers of pulmonary endocrine cells; calcitonin and CGRP (calcitonin gene-related peptide) occur in thyroid and extrathyroid C cells; ACTH and endorphins in anterior and intermediate lobe pituitary cells, -MSH and CLIP (corticotropoin-like intermediate lobe peptide) in intermediate lobe cells; met- and leu-enkephalins and related peptides in adrenal medullary and paraganglionic cells as well as in some gut (enterochromaffin) cells; NPY (neuropeptide Y) in adrenalin-type adrenal medullary cells, etc.. Both tissue-appropriate and tissue-inappropriate regulatory peptides are produced by endocrine tumours, with inappropriate peptides mostly produced by malignant tumours.     

Regulation of cellulose synthesis in Acetobacter xylinum by cyclic diguanylic acid

Cellulose is the most abundant renewable carbon resource on earth and is an indispensable raw material for the wood, paper, and textile industries. A model system to study the mechanism of cellulose biogenesis is the bacterium Acetobacter xylinum which produces pure cellulose as an extracellular product. It was from this organism that in vitro preparations which possessed high levels of cellulose synthase activity were first obtained in both membranous and soluble forms. We recently demonstrated that this activity is subject to a complex multi-component regulatory system, in which the synthase is directly affected by an unusual cyclic nucleotide activator enzymatically formed from GTP, and indirectly by a Ca (2+) -sensitive phosphodiesterase which degrades the activator. The cellulose synthase activator (CSA) has now been identified as bis-(3' 5')-cyclic diguanylic acid (5'G3'p5'G3'p) on the basis of mass spectroscopic data, nuclear magnetic resonance analysis and comparison with chemically synthesized material. We also report here on intermediary steps in the synthesis and degradation of this novel circular dinucleotide, which have been integrated into a model for the regulation of cellulose synthesis.     

边界层对粗糙单裂隙溶质运移影响试验

为探究非费克(non-Fickian)运移表现出的峰值提前到达和拖尾等现象,开展了粗糙单裂隙溶质运移试验,总结了粗糙单裂隙中溶质运移特征及运移机理,结合边界层理论对峰值提前到达和拖尾现象进行了分析和解释。结果表明：峰值时间和拖尾时间与边界层厚度之间存在较好的线性相关关系;边界层对裂隙介质溶质运移有较为显著影响,即水流速度越小,边界层厚度越大,滞留在边界层内部的溶质越多,溶质获取率越低;粗糙单裂隙中溶质穿透曲线的峰值提前和拖尾现象是由裂隙中心处以惯性力主导的主流区和裂隙壁面以黏性力主导的边界层区共同作用造成的,其中峰值时间主要由主流区的对流因素控制,而边界层区域的存在对拖尾时间影响较大。     

基于双重匹配注意力网络的观点型阅读理解

提出一种基于双重匹配注意力网络的方法.先用动态匹配机制迭代综合获取全局观点信息,同时利用多维度匹配机制在不同特征空间上计算全局语义信息,然后交互式多路注意力机制通过两路注意力之间的交互计算对上述全局的观点与语义信息进行融合,最后与选项表示结合预测答案的观点倾向.在观点型阅读理解数据集ReCO和Dureader上面的实验表明,该方法相对于基准模型在准确率上提升了1.18%和0.84%,在加权宏F1上提升了1.16%和0.75%.     

基于机器视觉的车辆时空参数识别

车辆荷载信息是分析桥梁受力和性能评估的重要依据,其中车辆时空信息是准确识别车辆荷载的关键参数。考虑到传统在桥面埋设传感器的方法影响交通、破坏路面,提出了一种基于机器视觉技术的车辆荷载时空参数识别方法,包括车辆的横向定位、车速、车轴数、轴距的识别。基于正面拍摄视频,采用背景差分法来实现车辆检测,进一步通过车牌识别确定车辆在图像中的位置,然后根据车牌与车道线距离来实现车辆横向定位。基于侧面拍摄视频,采用图像标定方法,结合已知长度的辅助检测线来获取车辆的轴距、轴数、车速等车辆参数。通过试验室模型试验和现场试验验证了提出的方法。结果表明,现场试验中车辆横向定位和车速的最大误差分别为2.42%和2.67%,轴距的平均误差为1.63%,识别结果可以为更多其他车辆参数如轴重和总重的识别提供重要的技术支撑。