Magnetic shape-memory effects in a crystal

Magnetic fields affect the motion of electrons and the orientation of spins in solids, but are thought to have little impact on crystal structure, particularly in compounds with low magnetic susceptibility, such as antiferromagnets. Here we describe an unexpected magnetic effect on crystal shape, in which the direction of the crystal's axes are swapped and the shape changes when a magnetic field is applied; this in turn induces curious memory effects in resistivity and magnetic susceptibility. Ironically, this phenomenon occurs in one of the most well-studied two-dimensional antiferromagnets, La(2-x)Sr(x)CuO(4).     

Pigment chemistry: the red sweat of the hippopotamus

Within a few minutes of perspiration, the colourless, viscous sweat of the hippopotamus gradually turns red, and then brown as the pigment polymerizes. Here we isolate and characterize the pigments responsible for this colour reaction. The unstable red and orange pigments turn out to be non-benzenoid aromatic compounds that are unexpectedly acidic and have antibiotic as well as sunscreen activity.     

Thyrotrophin in the pars tuberalis triggers photoperiodic response

Molecular mechanisms regulating animal seasonal breeding in response to changing photoperiod are not well understood. Rapid induction of gene expression of thyroid-hormone-activating enzyme (type 2 deiodinase, DIO2) in the mediobasal hypothalamus (MBH) of the Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) is the earliest event yet recorded in the photoperiodic signal transduction pathway. Here we show cascades of gene expression in the quail MBH associated with the initiation of photoinduced secretion of luteinizing hormone. We identified two waves of gene expression. The first was initiated about 14 h after dawn of the first long day and included increased thyrotrophin (TSH) beta-subunit expression in the pars tuberalis; the second occurred approximately 4 h later and included increased expression of DIO2. Intracerebroventricular (ICV) administration of TSH to short-day quail stimulated gonadal growth and expression of DIO2 which was shown to be mediated through a TSH receptor-cyclic AMP (cAMP) signalling pathway. Increased TSH in the pars tuberalis therefore seems to trigger long-day photoinduced seasonal breeding.     

CT Brain Image: Abnormalities Recognition and Segmentation

In order to develop an automated segmentation system for Computed Tomography (CT) brain images, a new approach which consists of several unsupervised segmentation techniques was introduced. The system segments the CT brain images into three partitions, i. e., abnormalities, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and brain matter. Our approach consists of two phase-segmentation methods. In the first phase segmentation, k-means and fuzzy c-means (FCM) methods were implemented to segment and transform the images into the binary images. Based on the connected component in binary images, a decision tree was employed for the annotation of normal or abnormal regions, In the second phase segmentation, the modified FCM with population-diameter independent (PDI) segmentation was applied to segment the images into CSF and brain matter. The experimental results have shown that our proposed system is feasible and yield satisfactory results.     

Germline mutations and sequence variants of the macrophage scavenger receptor 1 gene are associated with prostate cancer risk

Deletions on human chromosome 8p22-23 in prostate cancer cells and linkage studies in families affected with hereditary prostate cancer (HPC) have implicated this region in the development of prostate cancer. The macrophage scavenger receptor 1 gene (MSR1, also known as SR-A) is located at 8p22 and functions in several processes proposed to be relevant to prostate carcinogenesis. Here we report the results of genetic analyses that indicate that mutations in MSR1 may be associated with risk of prostate cancer. Among families affected with HPC, we identified six rare missense mutations and one nonsense mutation in MSR1. A family-based linkage and association test indicated that these mutations co-segregate with prostate cancer (P = 0.0007). In addition, among men of European descent, MSR1 mutations were detected in 4.4% of individuals affected with non-HPC as compared with 0.8% of unaffected men (P = 0.009). Among African American men, these values were 12.5% and 1.8%, respectively (P = 0.01). These results show that MSR1 may be important in susceptibility to prostate cancer in men of both African American and European descent.     

宋代牡丹谱考释

中国宋代涌现了众多谱录类著作,其中牡丹谱共计17种,几乎占花卉谱录总数的一半,它们也是其他花卉谱录出现的前导性著作。目前,仅7部牡丹谱存世,而其他因失传已经难以确切知其具体内容。文章对包括已佚在内的17种牡丹谱进行了详细考释,包括作者经历、成书时间、书中记述的内容和结构。新颖之处在于:(1)通过对作者经历的调查,不仅明确了作者的社会地位、官位和著书环境等问题,还探明了一些作者之间的人际关系。(2)更精确推定成书年代,并按时间顺序将牡丹谱进行排序,从而解析出牡丹的品种以及栽培地域的变化。其结果显示,牡丹谱所载牡丹的品种和数量并不是单纯按照时间的推移而递增的,但考察各种谱录所载的品种名称时,可以了解到各种谱录总载有新的品种。宋代人不断地追求新品牡丹的同时,遗弃旧的品种,因此,各种谱录所载的品数并没有明显的增加。(3)通过研究现存7部牡丹谱的结构及内容,可以大致了解到各种谱录除了大多记载当时的名品之外,还记录了花圃、风俗、栽培技术等内容,以便传于后代。另外,谱录作者主要为宋代士大夫,他们对于出现新品种等问题怀有个人的哲学性思考。这种思考往往涉及到掌管自然现象的"造物"和"造化",并相信它影响了牡丹的变异。文章还从文献学角度介绍了现存7部牡丹谱的早期版本,并指出最可靠的善本。     

A universal scaling relation in high-temperature superconductors

Since the discovery of superconductivity at elevated temperatures in the copper oxide materials there has been a considerable effort to find universal trends and correlations amongst physical quantities, as a clue to the origin of the superconductivity. One of the earliest patterns that emerged was the linear scaling of the superfluid density (rho(s)) with the superconducting transition temperature (T(c)), which marks the onset of phase coherence. This is referred to as the Uemura relation, and it works reasonably well for the underdoped materials. It does not, however, describe optimally doped (where T(c) is a maximum) or overdoped materials. Similarly, an attempt to scale the superfluid density with the d.c. conductivity (sigma(dc)) was only partially successful. Here we report a simple scaling relation (rho(s) proportional, variant sigma(dc)T(c), with sigma(dc) measured at approximately T(c)) that holds for all tested high-T(c) materials. It holds regardless of doping level, nature of dopant (electrons versus holes), crystal structure and type of disorder, and direction (parallel or perpendicular to the copper-oxygen planes).     

Spred is a Sprouty-related suppressor of Ras signalling

Cellular proliferation, and differentiation of cells in response to extracellular signals, are controlled by the signal transduction pathway of Ras, Raf and MAP (mitogen-activated protein) kinase. The mechanisms that regulate this pathway are not well known. Here we describe two structurally similar tyrosine kinase substrates, Spred-1 and Spred-2. These two proteins contain a cysteine-rich domain related to Sprouty (the SPR domain) at the carboxy terminus. In Drosophila, Sprouty inhibits the signalling by receptors of fibroblast growth factor (FGF) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) by suppressing the MAP kinase pathway. Like Sprouty, Spred inhibited growth-factor-mediated activation of MAP kinase. The Ras-MAP kinase pathway is essential in the differentiation of neuronal cells and myocytes. Expression of a dominant negative form of Spred and Spred-antibody microinjection revealed that endogenous Spred regulates differentiation in these types of cells. Spred constitutively associated with Ras but did not prevent activation of Ras or membrane translocation of Raf. Instead, Spred inhibited the activation of MAP kinase by suppressing phosphorylation and activation of Raf. Spred may represent a class of proteins that modulate Ras-Raf interaction and MAP kinase signalling.