Olfactory receptor trafficking to the plasma membrane

Olfactory receptors typically exhibit poor plasma membrane localization and functionality when heterologously expressed in most cell types. It has therefore proven difficult to effectively study olfactory receptor pharmacology and signaling mechanisms using traditional cell culture systems. Over the past few years, a variety of distinct proteins have been reported to interact with olfactory receptors and facilitate olfactory receptor trafficking to the plasma membrane in heterologous cells. Advances in this area have shed significant light on the fundamental factors governing the cell-specific control of olfactory receptor trafficking.     

n维空间中质点之间距离分布及其特征

提出了随机分配的质点之间距离分布的概念,给出了最近距离分布公式,得到了最近距离和k次距离分布的众数,矩及质点空间密度D的充分统计量和极大似然估计.     

A molecular solution to the riddle of the giant panda's phylogeny

Although it is generally agreed that the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is a member of the order Carnivora, there has long been disagreement over whether it should be classified with bears, raccoons or as a single member of its own family. Four independent molecular and genetic measures lead to a consensus phylogeny for the giant and lesser pandas. The lesser panda diverged from New World procyonids at approximately the same time as their departure from ursids, while ancestors of the giant panda split from the ursid lineage much later, just before the radiation which led to modern bears. The giant panda's divergence was accompanied by a chromosomal reorganization which can be partially reconstructed from the ursid karyotype, but not from that of procyonids or the lesser panda. The apparently dramatic, but actually limited, distinctions between the giant panda and the bears in chromosomal and anatomical morphology provide a graphic mammalian example of the discordance of molecular and morphological (and chromosomal) evolutionary change.     

Characterization of prehistoric flint mine products

Trace element analyses of flint show statistically valid differences between products of major British and European Neolithic flint mines.     

Antiandrogenic suppression of lymphocytic blastogenesis: in vitro and in vivo observations

Zusammenfassung Nachweis, dass die Fähigkeit zur Blastogenese der Lymphozyten gesunder junger Männer nach Reizung mit Phytohämagglutinin im peripheren Blut unterdrückt wird, wenn die Lymphozyten zusammen mit östrogen (Diethylstilbestrol-Diphosphat) kultiviert werden.     

Human dorsal anterior cingulate cortex neurons mediate ongoing behavioural adaptation

The ability to optimize behavioural performance when confronted with continuously evolving environmental demands is a key element of human cognition. The dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), which lies on the medial surface of the frontal lobes, is important in regulating cognitive control. Hypotheses about its function include guiding reward-based decision making, monitoring for conflict between competing responses and predicting task difficulty. Precise mechanisms of dACC function remain unknown, however, because of the limited number of human neurophysiological studies. Here we use functional imaging and human single-neuron recordings to show that the firing of individual dACC neurons encodes current and recent cognitive load. We demonstrate that the modulation of current dACC activity by previous activity produces a behavioural adaptation that accelerates reactions to cues of similar difficulty to previous ones, and retards reactions to cues of different difficulty. Furthermore, this conflict adaptation, or Gratton effect, is abolished after surgically targeted ablation of the dACC. Our results demonstrate that the dACC provides a continuously updated prediction of expected cognitive demand to optimize future behavioural responses. In situations with stable cognitive demands, this signal promotes efficiency by hastening responses, but in situations with changing demands it engenders accuracy by delaying responses.     

CaMnO_3和LaMnO_3的电子结构研究

密度泛函理论(DFT)方法通常难以处理强关联体系,而DFT+U方法的计算结果强烈地依赖于U的取值.利用一种混合了部分DFT交换关联势和非局域Hartree-Fock精确交换势的杂化泛函HSE方法,研究了钙钛矿锰氧化物的两个典型反铁磁绝缘体CaMnO3和LaMnO3的电子结构,分析了二者的能隙特征与Mn离子价态和磁有序态的关联.根据ZSA方案CaMnO3可划分为电荷转移型绝缘体.LaMnO3的能隙表现出各向异性特征,其中沿c轴方向及ab面内的自旋多数通道中能隙的Mott-Hubbard特征更为显著,而自旋少数通道显示出完全的电荷转移型特征.