Perspectives on the origin of microfilaments, microtubules, the relevant chaperonin system and cytoskeletal motors - a commentary on the spirochaete origin of flagella

The origin of cytoskeleton and the origin of relevant intracellular transportation system are big problems for understanding the emergence of eukaryotic cells. The present article summarized relevant information of evidences and molecular traces on the origin of actin, tubulin, the chaperonin system for folding them, myosins, kinesins, axonemal dyneins and cytoplasmic dyneins. On this basis the authors proposed a series of works, which should be done in the future, and indicated the ways for reaching the targets. These targets are mainly: 1) the reconstruction of evolutionary path from MreB protein of archaeal ancestor of eukaryotic cells to typical actin; 2) the finding of the MreB or MreB-related proteins in crenarchaea and using them to examine J. A. Lake's hypothesis on the origin of eukaryote from "eocytes" (crenarchaea); 3) the examinations of the existence and distribution of cytoskeleton made of MreB-related protein within coccoid archaea, especially in amoeboid archaeon Thermoplasm acidophilum; 4) using Thermoplasma as a model of archaeal ancestor of eukaryotic cells; 5) the searching for the homolog of ancestral dynein in present-day living archaea. During the writing of this article, Margulis' famous spirochaete hypothesis on the origin of flagella and cilia was unexpectedly involved and analyzed from aspects of tubulins, dyneins and spirochaetes. Actually, spirochaete cannot be reasonably assumed as the ectosymbiotic ancestor of eukaryotic flagella and cilia, since their swing depends upon large amount of bacterial flagella beneath the flexible outer wall, but not depends upon their intracellular tubules and the assumed dyneins. In this case, if they had "evolved" into cilia and lost their bacterial flagella, they would immediately become immobile! In fact, tubulin and dynein-like proteins have not been found in any spirochaete.

Amplitude/frequency of spontaneous mEPSC correlates to the degree of long-term depression in the CA1 region of the hippocampal slice

Prior synaptic or cellular activity influences degree or threshold for subsequent induction of synaptic plasticity, a process known as metaplasticity. Thus, the continual synaptic activity, spontaneous miniature excitatory synaptic current (mEPSC) may correlate to the induction of long-teen depression (LTD). Here, we recorded whole-cell EPSC and mEPSC alternately in the Schaffer-CA1 synapses in brain slice of young rats, and found that this recording configuration affected neither EPSC nor mEPSC. Low frequency stimulation (LFS) induced variable magnitudes of LTD. Remarkably, larger magnitudes of LTD were significantly correlated to smaller amplitude/lower frequency of the basal mEPSC. Furthermore, under the conditions reduced amplitude/frequency of the basal mEPSC by exposure to behavioral stress immediately before slice preparation or low concentration of calcium in bath solution, the magnitudes of LTD were still inversely correlated to mEPSC amplitude/frequency. These new findings suggest that spontaneous mEPSC may reflect functional and/or structural aspects of the synapses, the synaptic history ongoing metaplasticity. (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Real-time studies on microalgae under microgravity

Using remote sensing technique, we investigated real-time Nostoc sphaeroides Kiltz (Cyanobacterium) in Closed System under microgravity by SHENZHOU-2 spacecraft in January 2001. The experiments had 1g centrifuges in space for control and ground control group experiments were also carried out in the same equipments and under the same controlled condition. The data about the population growth of Nostoc sp. of experiments and temperature changes of system were got from spacecraft every minute. From the data, we can find that population growth of Nostoc sp. in microgravity group was higher than that of other groups in space or on ground, even though both the control I g group in space and I g group on ground indicated same increasing characteristics in experiments. The growth rate of 1.4g group (centrifuged group on ground) was also promoted during experiment. The temperature changes of systems are also affected by gravity and light. Some aspects about those differences were discussed. From the discussion of these results during experiment, it can be found that gravity is the major factor to lead to these changes. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

钻井废水可生化性研究及处理技术探索

钻井废水是油气井开采钻探过程中产生的废水，钻井废水成分复杂，有机物浓度高、色度高、悬浮物浓度高，水质变化大，排放点分散，不经处理排放会污染环境，破坏生态。随着石油工业的不断发展和国家环保法律法规的日益严格，钻井废水的治理也越来越受到重视。如何采用经济有效的方法处理废弃钻井液，对油气井开采业的可持续发展具有重要意义。本论文以遂宁磨153 井的钻井废水为主要研究对象，在对废水进行絮凝沉降预处理和生物法处理探索的基础上，针对钻井废水可生化性差的特点，采用水解酸化和Fenton 试剂改善钻井废水的可生化性，对反应过程进行了比较详细的考察，对可生化性改善的机理进行了探索。主要研究结论如下：1 用PFS 和PAC 配制的混合混凝剂对钻井废水COD 的去除效果比较显著，在最佳条件下COD 的去除率可达75%，且絮体沉降速度较快，出水pH 保持中性；2 水解酸化法处理钻井废水可显著改善废水的可生化性。经48 小时水解酸化处理，钻井废水的理论BOD5可提高约22 倍，表观BOD5/COD值由0.004 提高到0.034。用接触氧化反应器处理经水解酸化处理后的废水，处理效果比较稳定，COD平均去除率达35.5%；3 研究了Fenton反应中各影响因子对废水COD去除率、BOD5/COD的影响并分析其作用机制，确定了最佳条件：初始pH为4.0，H2O2/Fe2+(摩尔浓度比)为20，H2O2/COD（质量浓度比）为1，反应时间为2 个小时。此条件下，废水的COD去除率约为40%，BOD5/COD值从0.002～0.003 提高至0.15～0.2，可生化性得到很大提高。本论文的主要创新点在于：1 以成分复杂、水质变化大的气井钻井废水为研究对象，从理论BOD 和表观BOD 两方面对水解酸化过程中废水可生化性的变化进行了分析；2 对Fenton 试剂改善钻井废水可生化性的过程、主要影响因素进行了比较详细的考察。本论文的研究成果，可为生物法处理钻井废水的深入研究提供理论依据。Drilling wastewater is produced in the process of oil-gas well drilling,because of its complicated composition, high concentrate of organic compound andsuspended solid, high chroma, levity of water quality and decentralization ofdischarge point, it pollutes environment seriously if discharged without treatment.With the development of petroleum industry and the issuing of more strict laws forenvironmental protection, it has been paid more and more attention on drillingwastewater treatment. It is of great importance for the sustainable development ofoil-gas well drilling to treat drilling wastewater by economical and effective methods.In this paper, drilling wastewater of Mo No.153 well in Suining was studied asthe main object. On the basis of research on pre-treatment with flocculant andbiological treatment, and according to the character of poor biodegradability, thedrilling wastewater was treated by hydrolytic acidification and Fenton’s reagent toimprove its biodegradability. The process and mechanism of biodegradabilitychanging were investigated. The primary conclusions are:1 It is effective to treat drilling wastewater with mixing PFS and PAC asflocculant. The removal rates of COD came up to 75% under optimal conditions, thesedimentation rate of flocculation is rapid, and the pH value of treated water remainedneutral;2 The biodegradability of drilling wastewater was highly improved afterhydrolytic acidification process. The theoretic BOD5 of drilling wastewater increasedby 22 times and its detected BOD5/COD ratio increased from 0.004 to 0.034 afterhydrolytic acidification for 48 hours. The wastewater after hydrolytic acidificationwas treated by biological contact oxidation reactor. Stable treatment performance was achieved, and the average removal rates of COD came up to 35.5%;3 The effects of various affection factors on the removal efficiency of COD andBOD5/COD radio in treating drilling wastewater by Fenton’s reagent wereinvestigated and the mechanism was analyzed. The optimal conditions were: initialpH of solution was 4.0, the molar ratio of H2O2 and Fe2+ was 20, the concentrationratio of H2O2 and COD was 1 and the reaction time was 120 min. Under the aboveconditions, the removal efficiency was about 40% and the ratio of BOD5 and CODincreased from 0.002 ¡« 0.003 to 0.15 ¡« 0.2. The biodegradability of drillingwastewater was greatly improved.The innovations of this thesis are:1 The drilling wastewater was taken as the research object which hascomplicated composition and variational water quality, and the changes ofbiodegradability were analyzed from theoretic BOD and detected BOD aspects duringhydrolytic acidification process;2 The biodegradability changing process and primary affection factors of drillingwastewater treating by Fenton’s reagent were investigated.The results of this study could provide theoretic foundation for further researchon biological treatment of drilling wastewater.

Recent advances in the study of biomolecular interactions by capillary electrophoresis

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) has been abundantly used in the study of molecular interactions owing to such advantages as short analysis time, low sample size requirement, high separation efficiency, and flexible applications. The focus of this paper is to 2 review recent studies and advances (mainly from 1998 to now) in biomolecular interactions using CE. Five CE modes: zone migration CE, affinity CE, frontal analysis (FA), Hummel-Dreyer (HD) and vacancy peak (VP) are cited and compared. Quantitative aspects of the thermodynamics and kinetics of biomolecular interaction are reviewed. Several biomolecular binding systems, including protein-protein (polypeptide), protein-DNA (RNA), protein(polypeptide)-carbohydrate, protein-small molecule, DNA-small molecule, small molecule-small molecule, have been well characterized by CE. CE is shown to be a powerful tool for the determination of the binding parameters of various bioaffinity interactions.

Article: Overview of Analytical Methodologies for Sea Water Analysis: Part I-Metals

A comprehensive, critical and up-to-date review of analytical methods developed during the last decade for metals present in sea water is presented. Separate sections are devoted to singular and multimetal determinations. Furthermore, a critical comparison of relative merits or demerits of a particular procedure is made in terms of sensitivity, selectivity and precision. Various aspects of analysis of sea water samples for metals are summarized, and the future trends are discussed.

Involvement of p90 ribosomal S6 kinase in termination of cell cycle arrest during development of Artemia-encysted embryos

Artemia has evolved a unique developmental pattern of encysted embryos to cope with various environmental threats. Cell divisions totally cease during the preemergence developmental stage from gastrula to prenauplius. The molecular mechanism of this, however, remains unknown. Our study focuses on the involvement of p90 ribosomal S6 kinase (RSK), a family of serine/threonine kinase-mediating signal transduction downstream of mitogen-activated protein kinase cascades, in the termination of cell cycle arrest during the post-embryonic development of Artemia-encysted gastrula. With immunochemistry, morphology, and cell cycle analysis, the identified Artemia RSK was established to be specifically activated during the post-embryonic and early larval developmental stages when arrested cells of encysted embryos resumed mitoses. In vivo knockdown of RSK activity by RNA interference, kinase inhibition, and antibody neutralization consistently induced defective larvae with distinct gaps between the exoskeleton and internal tissues. In these abnormal individuals, mitoses were detected to be largely inhibited in the affected regions. These results display the requirement of RSK activity during Artemia development and suggest its role in termination of cell cycle (G(2)/M phase) arrest and promotion of mitogenesis. Our findings may, thus, provide insights into the regulation of cell division during Artemia post-embryonic development and reveal further aspects of RSK functions.

Progress of large-scale air-sea interaction studies in China

This paper summarizes the progress of large-scale air-sea interaction studies that has been achieved in China in the four-year period from July 1998 to July 2002, including seven aspects in the area of the air-sea interaction, namely air-sea interaction related to the tropical Pacific Ocean, monsoon-related air-sea interaction, air-sea interaction in the north Pacific Ocean, air-sea interaction in the Indian Ocean, air-sea interactions in the global oceans, field experiments, and oceanic cruise surveys. However more attention has been paid to the first and the second aspects because a large number of papers in the reference literature for preparing and organizing this paper are concentrated in the tropical Pacific Ocean, such as the ENSO process with its climatic effects and dynamics, and the monsoon-related air-sea interaction. The literature also involves various phenomena with their different time and spatial scales such as intraseasonal, annual, interannual, and interdecadal variabilities in the atmosphere/ocean interaction system, reflecting the contemporary themes in the four-year period at the beginning of an era from the post-TOGA to CLIVAR studies. Apparently, it is a difficult task to summarize the great progress in this area, as it is extracted from a large quantity of literature, although the authors tried very hard.

古潜山油藏非均质三维地质建模

The discovery of the highly productive Renqiu buried hill reservoir in Bohai Bay Basin in 1975 started the high tide of finding buried hill reservoirs in China and their research. As the advance of E&P technologies, the study of buried hill reservoir in China had a qualitative leap. The reservoir description and some other aspects of development have reached or approached to the international leading level. However, some core techniques for reservoir study such as structure & faulting system study, formation prediction and connection study and heterogeneous model's construction could not completely carry out the quantitative or accurate reservoir description, e. g. the areal distribution of porosity, permeability and oil saturation. Especially, the modeling for reservoir simulation is still wandering in the stage of simplicity. The inaccurate understanding of geology could not derive 3D heterogeneous geological model that can reveal the actual underground situation thus could not design practical and feasible oilfield development plan. Therefore, the problems of low oil recovery rate, low recovery factor and poor development effectiveness have not been solved. The poor connection of the reservoir determined that waterflooding could not get good development effect and the production had to depend on the reservoir elastic energy, and this will bring big difficulty for development modification and improvement of oil recovery. This study formed a series of techniques for heterogeneous model research that can be used to construct heterogeneous model consistent with the reservoir geology. Thus the development effectiveness, success ratio of drilling and percent of producing reserves can be enhanced. This study can make the development of buried hill reservoir be of high recovery rate and high effect. The achievements of this study are as follows: 1. Evaluated the resources, summarized the geological characteristics and carried out the reservoir classification of the buried hill reservoirs in Shengli petroliferous area; 2. Established the markers for stratigraphical correlation and formed the correlation method for complex buried hill reservoirs; 3. Analyzed the structural features of the buried hill reservoirs, finished the structure interpretation and study of faulting system using synthetic seismograms, horizontal slices and coherent analysis, and clarified structural development history of the buried hill reservoirs in Shengli petroliferous area; 4. Determined the 3 classes and 7 types of pore space and the main pore space type, the logging response characteristics and the FMI logging identified difference between artificial and natural fractures by the comprehensive usage of core analysis, other lab analyses, conventional logging, FMI logging and CMR logging; 5. Determined the factors controlled the growth of the fractures, vugs and cavities, proposed the main formation prediction method for buried hill reservoir and analyzed their technical principium and applicability, and formed the seismic method and process for buried hill reservoir description; 6. Established the reserve calculation method for buried hill reservoirs, i. e. the reserves of fractures and matrix are calculated separately; the recoverable reserves are calculated by decline method and are classified by the SPE criteria; 7. Studied restraining barriers and the sealing of the faults thus clarified the oil-bearing formations of the buried hill reservoirs, and verified the multiple reservoir forming theory; 8. Formed reasonable procedure of buried hill reservoir study; 9. Formed the 3 D modeling technology for buried hill reservoirs; 10. Studied a number of buried hill blocks on the aspects of reservoir description, reservoir engineering and development plan optimization based on the above research and the profit and social effect are remarkable.