Pervasive roles of microRNAs in cardiovascular biology

First recognized as regulators of development in worms and fruitflies, microRNAs are emerging as pivotal modulators of mammalian cardiovascular development and disease. Individual microRNAs modulate the expression of collections of messenger RNA targets that often have related functions, thereby governing complex biological processes. The wideranging functions of microRNAs in the cardiovascular system have provided new perspectives on disease mechanisms and have revealed intriguing therapeutic targets, as well as diagnostics, for a variety of cardiovascular disorders.     

Kant on anatomy and the status of the life sciences

This paper contributes to recent interest in Kant's engagement with the life sciences by focusing on one corner of those sciences that has received comparatively little attention: physical and comparative anatomy. By attending to remarks spread across Kant's writings, we gain some insight into Kant's understanding of the disciplinary limitations but also the methodological sophistication of the study of anatomy and physiology. Insofar as Kant highlights anatomy as a paradigmatic science guided by the principle of teleology in the Critique of the Power of Judgment, a more careful study of Kant's discussions of anatomy promises to illuminate some of the obscurities of that text and of his understanding of the life sciences more generally. In the end, it is argued, Kant's ambivalence with regard to anatomy gives way to a pessimistic conclusion about the possibility that anatomy, natural history, and, by extension, the life sciences more generally might one day become true natural sciences.     

Suitability of shrub establishment on Wyoming mined lands reclaimed for wildlife habitat

Restoring coal mined land to pre-mining shrub cover, density, height, community composition, and diversity to renew wildlife habitat quality is a priority for reclamation specialists. Long-term shrub reestablishment success on reclaimed mined land in Wyoming and suitability of these lands for wildlife habitat are unknown. Fourteen reclaimed study sites, 10 yr old or older, were selected on 8 mines in Wyoming to evaluate shrub reestablishment and wildlife habitat value for antelope ( Antilocapra americana ) and sage grouse ( Centrocercus urophasianus ). Five sites were categorized as fourwing saltbush ( Atriplex canescens ) sites and 9 as fourwing saltbush/big sagebrush ( A. canescens/Artemisia tridentata spp. wyomingensis ) sites. Published data describing antelope and sage grouse-preferred habitat requirements in sagebrush-grassland steppe ecosystems were used to evaluate shrub community value of sampled sites for wildlife habitat. Mean shrub canopy cover, density, and height for fourwing saltbush sites were 5.8%, 0.23 m -2 , and 41.6 cm, respectively, compared to 5.6%, 0.61 m -2 , and 31.1 cm for fourwing saltbush/big sagebrush sites. Two fourwing saltbush and 4 fourwing saltbush/big sagebrush sites provided sufficient cover for antelope, while 2 fourwing saltbush and 4 fourwing saltbush/big sagebrush sites were adequate for sage grouse. Only 1 fourwing saltbush/big sagebrush site provided high enough shrub densities for sage grouse. One fourwing saltbush and 7 fourwing saltbush/big sagebrush sites provided ample shrub heights for antelope, while 1 fourwing saltbush and 8 fourwing saltbush/big sagebrush sites were sufficient for sage grouse. One fourwing saltbush and 1 fourwing saltbush/big sagebrush site provided enough grass, forb, and shrub composition for antelope, while no site in either reclamation type was satisfactory for sage grouse. Shrub diversity was 3 times higher for fourwing saltbush/big sagebrush sites (0.984) than for fourwing saltbush sites (0.328). Individually, sites seeded with multiple shrub species had higher canopy cover, density, and diversity compared with single-species shrub seedings. Achieving premining shrub cover, density, height, community composition, and diversity within existing bond-release time frames is unrealistic, considering that some native shrublands require 30-60 yr to reach maturity.     

Forecasting key US macroeconomic variables with a factor‐augmented Qual VAR

In this paper, we first extract factors from a monthly dataset of 130 macroeconomic and financial variables. These extracted factors are then used to construct a factor‐augmented qualitative vector autoregressive (FA‐Qual VAR) model to forecast industrial production growth, inflation, the Federal funds rate, and the term spread based on a pseudo out‐of‐sample recursive forecasting exercise over an out‐of‐sample period of 1980:1 to 2014:12, using an in‐sample period of 1960:1 to 1979:12. Short‐, medium‐, and long‐run horizons of 1, 6, 12, and 24 months ahead are considered. The forecast from the FA‐Qual VAR is compared with that of a standard VAR model, a Qual VAR model, and a factor‐augmented VAR (FAVAR). In general, we observe that the FA‐Qual VAR tends to perform significantly better than the VAR, Qual VAR and FAVAR (barring some exceptions relative to the latter). In addition, we find that the Qual VARs are also well equipped in forecasting probability of recessions when compared to probit models.     

Spontaneous breaking of time-reversal symmetry in the pseudogap state of a high-Tc superconductor

A change in 'symmetry' is often observed when matter undergoes a phase transition-the symmetry is said to be spontaneously broken. The transition made by underdoped high-transition-temperature (high-Tc) superconductors is unusual, in that it is not a mean-field transition as seen in other superconductors. Rather, there is a region in the phase diagram above the superconducting transition temperature Tc (where phase coherence and superconductivity begin) but below a characteristic temperature T* where a 'pseudogap' appears in the spectrum of electronic excitations. It is therefore important to establish if T* is just a cross-over temperature arising from fluctuations in the order parameter that will establish superconductivity at Tc (refs 3, 4), or if it marks a phase transition where symmetry is spontaneously broken. Here we report that, for a material in the pseudogap state, left-circularly polarized photons give a different photocurrent from right-circularly polarized photons. This shows that time-reversal symmetry is spontaneously broken below T*, which therefore corresponds to a phase transition.     

模拟结果为什么比实际更暖:简化气候模型结果（英文）

设计了一个非专业人士能够使用、最简化的气候敏感模型,用来研究人类活动所导致的全球变暖的幅度问题.在1990年的第一次IPCC评估报告中,IPCC对其报告中预测的未来全球变暖幅度很有信心,但是随后的观测结果显示全球的变暖幅度只有预测的一半.而自2001年起,全球变暖出现停滞,但是仅仅考虑到二氧化碳浓度的增加,很少有模型能够模拟出这一变化.在已出版的IPCC第五次评估报告的草稿中,IPCC大幅度削减了近期变暖的幅度,并以专家评估代替了模型预测.但是报告中关于未来气候长期变化的预测仍被保留.如果把IPCC模型的总反馈从1.9 W m–2 K–1调整到1.5 W m–2 K–1,气候敏感模型中模拟的温度将从3.2 K降至2.2 K.同时由于反馈很可能是净负反馈,更合适的估计应该是1.0 K.1.0 K是一个能够实现的增幅,21世纪的实际变暖将会小于1 K.即使燃烧所有可开采的化石燃料也不会使全球变暖的幅度超过2.2 K,这一增加幅度也将趋于平稳.本文认为解决IPCC第四、五次报告中评估方法的差异非常关键.一旦这些差异得到解决,人类活动导致的全球变暖在22世纪以及几个世纪以后的平稳态将有可能不会超过IPCC当前模型预测的1/3~1/2.     

智能流域管理的关键问题与模型技术

在总结流域问题现状及流域管理决策需求的基础上,基于仿生学原理,类比人的思维特征和决策过程,提出了包括流域信息获取、输入-输出因果关联模拟以及优化决策等步骤在内的智能流域管理模式,并对比分析了智能流域管理和传统流域管理的差异性。提出了智能流域管理的4个关键问题：管理目标的确定、基于智能因子关联与流动的模型开发与信息获取、...