Murine MyaK, a member of a family of yeast YAK1-related genes, is highly expressed in hormonally modulated epithelia in the reproductive system and in the embryonic central nervous system

We have cloned a mouse homologue (designated Myak) of the yeast protein kinase YAK1. The 1210 aa open reading frame contains a putative protein kinase domain, nuclear localization sequences and PEST sequences. Myak appears to be a member of a growing family of YAK1-related genes that include Drosophila and human Minibrain as well as a recently identified rat gene ANPK that encode a steroid hormone receptor interacting protein. RNA blot analysis revealed that Myak is expressed at low levels ubiquitously but at high levels in reproductive tissues, including testis, epididymis, ovary, uterus, and mammary gland, as well as in brain and kidney. In situ hybridization analysis on selected tissues revealed that Myak is particularly abundant in the hormonally modulated epithelia of the epididymis, mammary gland, and uterus, in round spermatids in the testis, and in the corpora lutea in the ovary, Myak is also highly expressed in the aqueduct of the adult brain and in the brain and spinal cord of day 12.5 embryos, Mol. Reprod. Dev. 55:372-378, 2000. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Synchronous chaos in the coupled system of two logistic maps

Synchronous chaos is investigated in the coupled system of two Logistic maps. Although the diffusive coupling admits all synchronized motions, the stabilities of their configurations are dependent on the transverse Lyapunov exponents while independent of the longitudinal Lyapunov exponents. It is shown that synchronous chaos is structurally stable with respect to the system parameters. The mean motion is the pseudo-orbit of an individual local map so that its dynamics can be described by the local map. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Molecular phylogenetics of the family Cyprinidae (Actinopterygii : Cypriniformes) as evidenced by sequence variation in the first intron of S7 ribosomal protein-coding gene: Further evidence from a nuclear gene of the systematic chaos in the family

The family Cyprinidae is the largest freshwater fish group in the world, including over 200 genera and 2100 species. The phylogenetic relationships of major clades within this family are simply poorly understood, largely because of the overwhelming diversity of the group; however, several investigators have advanced different hypotheses of relationships that pre- and post-date the use of shared-derived characters as advocated through phylogenetic systematics. As expected, most previous investigations used morphological characters. Recently, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences and combined morphological and mtDNA investigations have been used to explore and advance our understanding of species relationships and test monophyletic groupings. Limitations of these studies include limited taxon sampling and a strict reliance upon maternally inherited mtDNA variation. The present study is the first endeavor to recover the phylogenetic relationships of the 12 previously recognized monophyletic subfamilies within the Cyprinidae using newly sequenced nuclear DNA (nDNA) for over 50 species representing members of the different previously hypothesized subfamily and family groupings within the Cyprinidae and from other cypriniform families as outgroup taxa. Hypothesized phylogenetic relationships are constructed using maximum parsimony and Basyesian analyses of 1042 sites, of which 971 sites were variable and 790 were phylogenetically informative. Using other appropriate cypriniform taxa of the families Catostomidae (Myxocyprinus asiaticus), Gyrinocheilidae (Gyrinocheilus aymonieri), and Balitoridae (Nemacheilus sp. and Beaufortia kweichotvensis) as outgroups, the Cyprinidae is resolved as a monophyletic group. Within the family the genera Raiamas, Barilius, Danio, and Rasbora, representing many of the tropical cyprinids, represent basal members of the family. All other species can be classified into variably supported and resolved monophyletic lineages, depending upon analysis, that are consistent with or correspond to Barbini and Leuciscini. The Barbini includes taxa traditionally aligned with the subfamily Cyprininae sensu previous morphological revisionary studies by Howes (Barbinae, Labeoninae, Cyprininae and Schizothoracinae). The Leuciscini includes six other subfamilies that are mainly divided into three separate lineages. The relationships among genera and subfamilies are discussed as well as the possible origins of major lineages. (c) 2008 Published by Elsevier Inc.

Shell correction and pairing energies in the dinuclear system model

We investigate the dependences of the potential energy surfaces (PES) and the fusion probabilities for some cold fusion reactions leading to super-heavy elements on the nuclear shell effect and pairing energy. It is found that the shell effect plays an important role in the fusion of the super-heavy element while pairing energy's contribution is insignificant. The fusion probabilities and evaporation residue cross sections as functions of the Ge-isotope projectile bombarding Pb-208 are also investigated. It is found that evaporation residue cross sections do not always increase with the increasing neutron number of Ge-isotope

Electrochemiluminescence in the S2O82- system: Pt-Cd electrodes

The electrochemiluminescence (ECL) in the S2O82- system occurs under conventional cyclic voltammetry, when the Pt working electrode was coated with Cd elementary substance. The ECL mechanism was proposed, due to the reaction between the strongly oxidizing intermediate SO4 center dot- and the transitory production, CdO, generated by oxidation of Cd with SO4 center dot-. Moreover the ECL behavior was studied in different pHs and concentrations of S2O82- solution. It was showed that the ECL signal was strongest at pH 8.0, and its intensity increased with S2O82-. The experimental results verified well with the proposed ECL mechanism.

Improved optical photoluminescence by charge compensation in the phosphor system CaMoO4: Eu3+

It has been found that charge compensated CaMoO4:Eu3+ phosphors show greatly enhanced red emission under 393 and 467 nm-excitation, compared with CaMoO4:Eu3+ without charge compensation. Two approaches to charge compensation, (a) 2Ca(2+) -> EU3+ + M+, where M+ is a monovalent cation like Li+, Na+ and K+ acting as a charge compensator; (b) 3Ca(2+) -> 2EU(3+) + vacancy, are investigated. The influence of sintering temperature and Eu3+ concentration on the luminescent property of phosphor samples is also discussed.

Active components and mechanism of isobutane alkylation with butenes in the catalytic system of HPAs plus AcOH

The catalytic active phase (CAP) of a novel liquid catalyst for isobutane alkylation with butenes was investigated, the composition of the CAP was analysized, The components of the catalytic active phase were separated and examined by the methods of FTIR, UV and NMR etc., On the basis of these results, a reaction mechanism based on the formation of protonated heteropolyacid as an intial stage in the isobutane alkylation with butenes was postulated, which is in agreement with the experimental results.

Copolymerization of carbon dioxide and propylene oxide with Ln(CCl3COO)(3)-based catalyst: The role of rare-earth compound in the catalytic system

A highly alternative copolymer of carbon dioxide and propylene oxide was obtained using a lanthanide trichloroacetates-based ternary catalyst. The rare-earth compound in the ternary catalyst was critical to dramatically raise the yield and molecular weight of the copolymer in addition to maintaining a high alternating ratio of the copolymer. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

H/D exchange reaction of cyclopropane derivatives in the ion system of CD3OD

The fragmentation properties of the product ions [M + 1](+), [M + 2](+) and [M + 3](+) formed by ion-molecule reaction of four cyclopropane derivatives with the ion system of CD3OD were investigated by using collision-induced dissocation technique. The experiment results indicated that the product ions were produced via the H/D exchange reaction between reactants and reactive reagent ions of CD3OD. There are two exchangable hydrogen atoms on the ring of compounds 1 and 2, and only one for compound 3 and 4.

EFFECT OF V, NB, AND TA DOPING ON THE 2223 PHASE-FORMATION AND THE CRYSTAL-STRUCTURE IN THE BISRCACUO SYSTEM

X-ray diffraction and electrical and diamagnetic analyses revealed that the 2223 phase was significantly enhanced by high-valence cation (V5+, Nb5+, Ta5+, etc.) doping in BiSrCaCuO samples. The optimum nominal composition was Bi1.6M0.4Sr2Ca2Cu3 O(y)(M =

ANALYSIS OF A NEW SUPERCONDUCTING PHASE IN THE BISRCACUO SYSTEM

By doping Sb, Ba and In to the Bi-system and with the variation of nominal atomic ratio of Cu, Sr and Ca, a new possible phase is found with T(c) almost-equal-to 105 K, but with a structure of 2212 phase. Effects of post-sintering treatment from air-quenched to O2-annealed were investigated for the approximately 105 K new phase.

A Profound Role for the Expansion of Trypsin-Like Serine Protease Family in the Evolution of Hematophagy in Mosquito

The trypsin-like serine protease (Tryp_SPc) family is ubiquitous in animals and plays diverse roles, especially in the digestive system, in different phyla. In the mosquito, some Tryp_SPc proteases make important contributions to the digestion of the bloo

Emergy Assessment of a Wheat-Maize Rotation System with Different Water Assignments in the North China Plain

Sustainable water use is seriously compromised in the North China Plain (NCP) due to the huge water requirements of agriculture, the largest use of water resources. An integrated approach which combines the ecosystem model with emergy analysis is presented to determine the optimum quantity of irrigation for sustainable development in irrigated cropping systems. Since the traditional emergy method pays little attention to the dynamic interaction among components of the ecological system and dynamic emergy accounting is in its infancy, it is hard to evaluate the cropping system in hypothetical situations or in response to specific changes. In order to solve this problem, an ecosystem model (Vegetation Interface Processes (VIP) model) is introduced for emergy analysis to describe the production processes. Some raw data, collected by investigating or observing in conventional emergy analysis, may be calculated by the VIP model in the new approach. To demonstrate the advantage of this new approach, we use it to assess the wheat-maize rotation cropping system at different irrigation levels and derive the optimum quantity of irrigation according to the index of ecosystem sustainable development in NCP. The results show, the optimum quantity of irrigation in this region should be 240-330 mm per year in the wheat system and no irrigation in the maize system, because with this quantity of irrigation the rotation crop system reveals: best efficiency in energy transformation (transformity = 6.05E + 4 sej/J); highest sustainability (renewability = 25%); lowest environmental impact (environmental loading ratio = 3.5) and the greatest sustainability index (Emergy Sustainability Index = 0.47) compared with the system in other irrigation amounts. This study demonstrates that application of the new approach is broader than the conventional emergy analysis and the new approach is helpful in optimizing resources allocation, resource-savings and maintaining agricultural sustainability.

Numerical Simulation of the Flow Field and Concentration Distribution in the Bulk Growth of Silicon Carbide Crystals

The physical vapor transport (PVT) method is being widely used to grow large-size single SiC crystals. The growth process is associated with heat and mass transport in the growth chamber, chemical reactions among multiple species as well as phase change at the crystal/gas interface. The current paper aims at studying and verifying the transport mechanism and growth kinetics model by demonstrating the flow field and species concentration distribution in the growth system. We have developed a coupled model, which takes into account the mass transport and growth kinetics. Numerical simulation is carried out by employing an in-house developed software based on finite volume method. The results calculated are in good agreement with the experimental observation.