悬崖上的玫瑰园

<正>几片玫瑰花瓣飘到了艾茵村的坎儿井中。这是一种具有典型的阿曼风格的水渠。玫瑰花瓣随着水渠中的水流漂荡,绕过一片片种植着玫瑰花的土地。正是因为有了这些植物,阿卡达尔才远近驰名。要知道,阿卡达尔直译过来便是"绿山"。继续漂流的花瓣迅速绕过种满了石榴树、桃树、杏树的园子。最后,花瓣在重力的作用下逐渐消失不见了。几千年来,在阿卡达尔村得益于     

美国人重拾家庭影院梦

在美国富裕群体中,家庭影院的普及率较高.金融危机迫使美国人暂时放弃这一爱好.如今,随着美国经济逐渐复苏,家庭影院又一次受到追捧.不过,在家里享受极致观影体验的花费确实不菲.     

卡塔尔之夜

正多哈是一座不断给人惊喜的城市。从踏入多哈的科尼什大道开始便令人心醉神迷。科尼什大道是一条与法国蓝色海岸的盎格鲁滨海步行道相仿的海滨大道,全长8千米,沿海湾展开的科尼什大道两旁也种满了棕榈树,不同的是,走在科尼什大道上能感觉来到了22世纪,耸立     

救荒野豌豆对根竞争的响应及其识别机制

以救荒野豌豆为材料,研究其对邻体根的响应机制以及根之间的识别方式.结果表明:邻体根存在时,叶、茎、冠、根生物量,根冠比和花数量均没有变化,而繁殖生物量明显增加,表明根的生长与繁殖不存在权衡,也表明救荒野豌豆能够检测到邻体根的存在并做出响应;根之间的识别方式既有直接接触,也有间接的化感作用.     

城市给水和污水系统:历史、现状和未来

回顾了城市水系统及其管理思想的发展历史;分析了传统的集中式城市水系统的缺点和局限性:城市水环境和水文循环的破坏、污水处理的困难、巨大的资金需求和建设周期的漫长;指出了现代和未来城市水系统管理所面临的挑战和发展机遇:干旱和洪涝灾害、城市化加剧、技术的进步和组织管理上的需求;阐述了未来城市水系统管理的思想,即必须用整体论的思想作指导,实行节约用水,实行全球性的资金、技术和经验的共享。这种思想给中国城市水系统的管理和改革以重要启迪。     

Aminoglycoside antibiotics: old drugs and new therapeutic approaches

Aminoglycoside antibiotics kill bacteria by binding to the ribosomal decoding site and reducing fidelity of protein synthesis. Since the discovery of these natural products over 50 years ago, aminoglycosides have provided a mainstay of antibacterial therapy of serious Gram-negative infections. In recent years, aminoglycosides have become important tools to study molecular recognition of ribonucleic acid (RNA). In an ingenious exploitation of the aminoglycosides’ mechanism of action, it has been speculated that drug-induced readthrough of premature stop codons in mutated messenger RNAs might be used to treat patients suffering from certain heritable genetic disorders. Received 23 January 2007; received after revision 25 February 2007; accepted 29 March 2007     

Biochemistry and biology of mammalian DNA methyltransferases

DNA methylation is a stable but not irreversible epigenetic signal that silences gene expression. It has a variety of important functions in mammals, including control of gene expression, cellular differentiation and development, preservation of chromosomal integrity, parental imprinting and X-chromosome inactivation. In addition, it has been implicated in brain function and the development of the immune system. Somatic alterations in genomic methylation patterns contribute to the etiology of human cancers and ageing. It is tightly interwoven with the modification of histone tails and other epigenetic signals. Here we review our current understanding of the molecular enzymology of the mammalian DNA methyltransferases Dnmt1, Dnmt3a, Dnmt3b and Dnmt2 and the roles of the enzymes in the above-mentioned biological processes.     

Viral infection switches non-plasmacytoid dendritic cells into high interferon producers

Type I interferons (IFN-I) are important cytokines linking innate and adaptive immunity. Plasmacytoid dendritic cells make high levels of IFN-I in response to viral infection and are thought to be the major source of the cytokines in vivo. Here, we show that conventional non-plasmacytoid dendritic cells taken from mice infected with a dendritic-cell-tropic strain of lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus make similarly high levels of IFN-I on subsequent culture. Similarly, non-plasmacytoid dendritic cells secrete high levels of IFN-I in response to double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), a major viral signature, when the latter is introduced into the cytoplasm to mimic direct viral infection. This response is partially dependent on the cytosolic dsRNA-binding enzyme protein kinase R and does not require signalling through toll-like receptor (TLR) 3, a surface receptor for dsRNA. Furthermore, we show that sequestration of dsRNA by viral NS1 (refs 6, 7) explains the inability of conventional dendritic cells to produce IFN-I on infection with influenza. Our results suggest that multiple dendritic cell types, not just plasmacytoid cells, can act as specialized interferon-producing cells in certain viral infections, and reveal the existence of a TLR-independent pathway for dendritic cell activation that can be the target of viral interference.     

Dual effect of cannabinoid CB<Subscript>1</Subscript> receptor stimulation on a vanilloid VR1 receptor-mediated response

Cannabinoid CB1 receptors and vanilloid VR1 receptors are co-localized to some extent in sensory neurons of the spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia. In this study, we over-expressed both receptor types in human embryonic kidney (HEK)-293 cells and investigated the effect of the CB1 agonist HU-210 on the VR1-mediated increase in intracellular Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i), a well-known response of the prototypical VR1 agonist capsaicin. After a 5-min pre-treatment, HU-210 (0.1 microM) significantly enhanced the effect of several concentrations of capsaicin on [Ca2+]i in HEK-293 cells over-expressing both rat CB1 and human VR1 (CB1-VR1-HEK cells), but not in cells over-expressing only human VR1 (VR1-HEK cells). This effect was blocked by the CB1 receptor antagonist SR141716A (0.5 microM), and by phosphoinositide-3-kinase and phospholipase C inhibitors. The endogenous agonist of CB1 and VR1 receptors, anandamide, was more efficacious in inducing a VR1-mediated stimulation of [Ca2+]i in CB1-VR1-HEK cells than in VR1-HEK cells, and part of its effect on the former cells was blocked by SR141716A (0.5 microM). Pre-treatment of CB1-VR1-HEK cells with forskolin, an adenylate cyclase activator, enhanced the capsaicin effect on [Ca2+]i. HU-210, which in the same cells inhibits forskolin-induced enhancement of cAMP levels, blocked the stimulatory effect of forskolin on capsaicin. Our data suggest that in cells co-expressing both CB1 and VR1 receptors, pre-treatment with CB1 agonists inhibits or stimulates VR1 gating by capsaicin depending on whether or not cAMP-mediated signalling has been concomitantly activated.