地域的履历——浙江省奉化县忠义乡（下）

(接上期)上面提到的非定居移住民,是指从福建及浙江省南部的台州府等地流入奉化县山区的人,即所谓的“棚民”。在位于忠义乡以西的剡源乡,可以见到如下的记事 。剡源向乏水患,亦无劫案。自嘉庆初,闽、台(福建省与浙江省台州府———引用者)棚民相率来剡〔源乡〕,种靛青、种苞芦,日辟日广。如牛山之濯濯水,无所蓄迨。〔嘉庆〕末年,大雨连旬,山水骤注于溪,溪不能容,遂漂没田畴无算。……比年仙居、黄岩无业贫民偕来工作,寓居山厂,一不得食,抢劫之案,层见叠出。由此来看,自嘉庆初年( 1 8世纪末)以降,福建等地的棚民、浙江南部的贫民流入该地山…     

Fluoro-Compounds in Electrolytes for Energy Storage Devices

1 Results Electrochemical energy storage devices such as lithium-ion batteries[1-2] and double-layer capacitors[3-4] have attracted a great deal of attention because of their potential application to electric hybrid vehicles. They utilize nonaqueous electrolyte solutions comprising from organic solvents and lithium or quaternary ammonium salts with fluorine-containing anions. This is because the relatively large anions with electron-withdrawing atoms enable ionic dissociation in dipolar aprotic solvents...     

Regulation of IgA production by naturally occurring TNF/iNOS-producing dendritic cells

Immunoglobulin-A has an irreplaceable role in the mucosal defence against infectious microbes. In human and mouse, IgA-producing plasma cells comprise approximately 20% of total plasma cells of peripheral lymphoid tissues, whereas more than 80% of plasma cells produce IgA in mucosa-associated lymphoid tissues (MALT). One of the most biologically important and long-standing questions in immunology is why this 'biased' IgA synthesis takes place in the MALT but not other lymphoid organs. Here we show that IgA class-switch recombination (CSR) is impaired in inducible-nitric-oxide-synthase-deficient (iNOS-/-; gene also called Nos2) mice. iNOS regulates the T-cell-dependent IgA CSR through expression of transforming growth factor-beta receptor, and the T-cell-independent IgA CSR through production of a proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL, also called Tnfsf13) and a B-cell-activating factor of the tumour necrosis factor (TNF) family (BAFF, also called Tnfsf13b). Notably, iNOS is preferentially expressed in MALT dendritic cells in response to the recognition of commensal bacteria by toll-like receptor. Furthermore, adoptive transfer of iNOS+ dendritic cells rescues IgA production in iNOS-/- mice. Further analysis revealed that the MALT dendritic cells are a TNF-alpha/iNOS-producing dendritic-cell subset, originally identified in mice infected with Listeria monocytogenes. The presence of a naturally occurring TNF-alpha/iNOS-producing dendritic-cell subset may explain the predominance of IgA production in the MALT, critical for gut homeostasis.     

Resolvin E1 and protectin D1 activate inflammation-resolution programmes

Resolution of acute inflammation is an active process essential for appropriate host responses, tissue protection and the return to homeostasis. During resolution, specific omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty-acid-derived mediators are generated within resolving exudates, including resolvin E1 (RvE1) and protectin D1 (PD1). It is thus important to pinpoint specific actions of RvE1 and PD1 in regulating tissue resolution. Here we report that RvE1 and PD1 in nanogram quantities promote phagocyte removal during acute inflammation by regulating leukocyte infiltration, increasing macrophage ingestion of apoptotic polymorphonuclear neutrophils in vivo and in vitro, and enhancing the appearance of phagocytes carrying engulfed zymosan in lymph nodes and spleen. In this tissue terrain, inhibition of either cyclooxygenase or lipoxygenases--pivotal enzymes in the temporal generation of both pro-inflammatory and pro-resolving mediators--caused a 'resolution deficit' that was rescued by RvE1, PD1 or aspirin-triggered lipoxin A4 analogue. Also, new resolution routes were identified that involve phagocytes traversing perinodal adipose tissues and non-apoptotic polymorphonuclear neutrophils carrying engulfed zymosan to lymph nodes. Together, these results identify new active components for postexudate resolution traffic, and demonstrate that RvE1 and PD1 are potent agonists for resolution of inflamed tissues.     

Nras loss induces metastatic conversion of Rb1-deficient neuroendocrine thyroid tumor

Mutations in the gene encoding the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor predispose humans and mice to tumor development. Here we have assessed the effect of Nras loss on tumor development in Rb1 heterozygous mice. Loss of one or two Nras alleles is shown to significantly reduce the severity of pituitary tumors arising in Rb1(+/-) animals by enhancing their differentiation. By contrast, C-cell thyroid adenomas occurring in Rb1(+/-) mice progress to metastatic medullary carcinomas after loss of Nras. In Rb1(+/-)Nras(+/-) animals, distant medullary thyroid carcinoma metastases are associated with loss of the remaining wild-type Nras allele. Loss of Nras in Rb1-deficient C cells results in elevated Ras homolog family A (RhoA) activity, and this is causally linked to the invasiveness and metastatic behavior of these cells. These findings suggest that the loss of the proto-oncogene Nras in certain cellular contexts can promote malignant tumor progression.     

Function and evolution of nodulation genes in legumes

Root nodule (RN) symbiosis has a unique feature in which symbiotic bacteria fix atmospheric nitrogen. The symbiosis is established with a limited species of land plants, including legumes. How RN symbiosis evolved is still a mystery, but recent findings on legumes genes that are necessary for RN symbiosis may give us a clue.     

Tristable nematic liquid-crystal device using micropatterned surface alignment

It has long been appreciated that liquid-crystal (LC) devices in which the LC molecules adopt multiple stable orientations could drastically reduce the power consumption required for high-information-content displays. But for the commonly used nematic LCs, which are intrinsically uniaxial in symmetry, no industrially feasible multi-stable LC device has been realized. Recently we demonstrated how bistability can be robustly engineered into a nematic LC device, by patterning a substrate with an orientational chequerboard pattern that enforces orthogonal LC alignment in neighbouring square domains. As a result of the four-fold symmetry of the pattern, the two diagonal axes of the chequerboard become equally stable macroscopic orientations. Here we extend this symmetry approach to obtain a tristable surface-aligned nematic LC. A microscopic pattern exhibiting six-fold symmetry is inscribed on a polyimide surface using the stylus of an atomic force microscope. The hexagonal symmetry of the microscopic orientational domains in turn gives rise to three stable macroscopic LC orientations, which are mutually switchable by an in-plane electric field. The resulting switching mode is surface driven, and hence should be compatible with demanding flexible display applications.