Fibulin-5/DANCE is essential for elastogenesis in vivo.

The elastic fibre system has a principal role in the structure and function of various types of organs that require elasticity, such as large arteries, lung and skin. Although elastic fibres are known to be composed of microfibril proteins (for example, fibrillins and latent transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta-binding proteins) and polymerized elastin, the mechanism of their assembly and development is not well understood. Here we report that fibulin-5 (also known as DANCE), a recently discovered integrin ligand, is an essential determinant of elastic fibre organization. fibulin-5-/- mice generated by gene targeting exhibit a severely disorganized elastic fibre system throughout the body. fibulin-5-/- mice survive to adulthood, but have a tortuous aorta with loss of compliance, severe emphysema, and loose skin (cutis laxa). These tissues contain fragmented elastin without an increase of elastase activity, indicating defective development of elastic fibres. Fibulin-5 interacts directly with elastic fibres in vitro, and serves as a ligand for cell surface integrins alphavbeta3, alphavbeta5 and alpha9beta1 through its amino-terminal domain. Thus, fibulin-5 may provide anchorage of elastic fibres to cells, thereby acting to stabilize and organize elastic fibres in the skin, lung and vasculature.     

Role of Staphylococcus protease in the development of influenza pneumonia

In influenza the combined virus-bacterial pneumonia is approximately three times more common than primary viral pneumonia. The bacteria most commonly involved are Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae. S. aureus co-infection is reported to have a fatality rate of up to 42% (ref. 2). It is thought that virus infection in the respiratory tract favours growth conditions for bacteria. In this letter data are presented which show that some S. aureus strains secrete a protease which exerts a decisive influence on the outcome of influenza virus infection in mice by cleavage activation of the virus haemagglutinin.     

Heterogeneous Round-Trip Trading and the Emergence of Volatility Clustering in Speculation Game

Journal of Systems Science and Complexity - This study is a detailed analysis of Speculation Game, a simple agent-based model of financial markets, in which the round-trip trading and the dynamic...     

高效液相色谱测定鸟氨酸脱羧酶活性方法的改进

对柴彪新等报道的高效液相色谱测定鸟氨酸脱羧酶(ODC)活性的方法作了改进.结果表明,改进后的方法更灵敏,更简便,线性范围明显扩大,相关系数为0.9998,显著高于柴彪新等报道的0.9939.同时,新方法还可使苯甲酸和苯甲酰氯降到很低.     

团簇离子FenPm+结构的量子化学研究

对激光等离子体反应生成的原子团簇 Ｆｅｎ Ｐｍ ＋ （ｎ＝ １～３, ｍ ＝ ２～１２）进行了量子化学从头算研究, 对可能的几何结构进行了试探性计算, 并对其中较稳定构型进行结构优化． 结果表明： Ｆｅ Ｐｍ ＋ 中, Ｆｅ 倾向与 Ｐ形成多配位磷化物． 其中 Ｆｅ Ｐ６＋ 较稳定． 同时, 铁与磷易形成多铁磷化物．讨论了 Ｆｅ２ Ｐ５＋ ～ Ｆｅ２ Ｐ８＋ , Ｆｅ３ Ｐ２＋ ～ Ｆｅ３ Ｐ１２＋ 不同构型对其稳定性的影响．     

具有可变形剪切连接件的连续复合梁的结构行为

对原型双跨复合梁的结构行为给出了详细的有限元研究．由于基本上认为剪切连接件是非刚性的,在高等有限元模型中采用弹簧单元可以将它们的非线性荷载一滑移性质考虑在内．对各种原型双跨复合梁进行了参数研究,并提出了主要的研究结果．主要的结构参数包括剪切连接件在正弯矩和负弯矩区域内的变形韧性和变形程度．总共比较和讨论了9个具有不同类型和剪切件数目的复合梁的结构行为,对目前的设计缺陷进行了鉴定．由于提出的有限元模型对详细调查复合梁的结构行为非常有效,有效地利用所提出的模型将对更具有改善结构精度和效率的细化设计准则的发展有帮助．     

A new cell line (XTY) from a tumor of Xenopus laevis.

A new cell line (XTY) was derived from a tumor of a female Xenopus laevis. This cell line has been proliferating in standard amphibian culture medium for more than 4 years (470 generations) and has a doubling time of 75.5 h at 25 degrees C. The cells aggregate into large groups, and their stellate morphology and the expression of desmin demonstrated by immunocytochemistry suggest that their origin is not epithelial.     

A new cell line (XTY) from a tumor ofXenopus laevis

A new cell line (XTY) was derived from a tumor of a femaleXenopus laevis. This cell line has been proliferating in standard amphibian culture medium for more than 4 years (470 generations) and has a doubling time of 75.5 h at 25°C. The cells aggregate into large groups, and their stellate morphology and the expression of desmin demonstrated by immunocytochemistry suggest that their origin is not epithelial.     

Controlled multiple quantum coherences of nuclear spins in a nanometre-scale device

The analytical technique of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is based on coherent quantum mechanical superposition of nuclear spin states. Recently, NMR has received considerable renewed interest in the context of quantum computation and information processing, which require controlled coherent qubit operations. However, standard NMR is not suitable for the implementation of realistic scalable devices, which would require all-electrical control and the means to detect microscopic quantities of coherent nuclear spins. Here we present a self-contained NMR semiconductor device that can control nuclear spins in a nanometre-scale region. Our approach enables the direct detection of (otherwise invisible) multiple quantum coherences between levels separated by more than one quantum of spin angular momentum. This microscopic high sensitivity NMR technique is especially suitable for probing materials whose nuclei contain multiple spin levels, and may form the basis of a versatile multiple qubit device.