火箭剩余推进剂排放过程的分析与模拟

为了减少空间碎片的产生，星箭分离后，需要在轨排放火箭末级贮箱内的剩余推进剂．分析表明，排放条件下的推进剂射流进入太空后，立即失稳破碎为大量液滴；液滴在高真空环境下扩散，它们的表面不断有气体分子蒸发，逐渐在箭体周围形成了一个由液滴和蒸气分子组成的羽流场．采取Lagrange方法追踪该流场中每个液滴的运动轨迹以及表面蒸发冷凝过程，利用直接模拟Monte Carlo方法计算蒸气分子的运动和碰撞，然后通过微观量的统计平均获得感兴趣的宏观流场、箭体表面的压力和剪应力分布等．为了检验稀薄蒸气算法、模型和程序，模拟了真空水射流周围水蒸气羽流场，获得的径向Pitot压力分布与Fuchs和Legge的实验数据的符合．在此基础上，分别模拟了CZ-4B火箭末级剩余燃料偏二甲肼在不同排放方式下的三维稀薄蒸气与液滴羽流场．计算表明：原排放方式的扰动力矩相当大，超出了火箭姿控范围，新排放方式的扰动力矩很小，处于火箭姿控范围之内．这些预测得到了飞行遥测数据的支持．

跨大气层飞行器姿态控制相关三维稀薄气体流动的Monte Carlo模拟

本文利用直接模拟Monte Carlo位置元(DSMC-PE)方案模拟了跨大气层飞行器姿态控制相关的两个典型的稀薄气体流动,真空轴对称射流冲击平板和楔形垂直相交平板稀薄气体绕流。真空轴对称射流在附近平板表面的压力、剪应力和热流分布的计算结果,与Legge(1991)和D(?)ring(1990)的测量数据一致;楔形垂直相交平板表面压力分布计算结果,与Allegre和Raffin(1992)实验数据的比较,也令人满意。上述计算表明,DSMC-PE是处理航天领域稀薄气流的有力工具。

Low “penetrance” of phylogenetic knowledge in mitochondrial disease studies

An up-to-date view of the worldwide mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) phylogeny together with an evaluation of the conservation of each site is a reliable tool for detecting errors in mtDNA studies and assessing the functional importance of alleged pathogenic mutations. However, most of the published studies on mitochondrial diseases make very little use of the phylogenetic knowledge that is currently available. This drawback has two inadvertent consequences: first, there is no sufficient a posteriori quality assessment of complete mtDNA sequencing efforts; and second, no feedback is provided for the general mtDNA database when apparently new mtDNA lineages are discovered. We demonstrate, by way of example, these issues by reanalysing three mtDNA sequencing attempts, two from Europe and another one from East Asia. To further validate our phylogenetic deductions, we completely sequenced two mtDNAs from healthy subjects that nearly match the mtDNAs of two patients, whose sequences gave problematic results. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Phantom mutation hotspots in human mitochondrial DNA

Phantom mutations are systematic artifacts generated in the course of the sequencing process. Contra common belief these artificial mutations are nearly ubiquitous in sequencing results, albeit at frequencies that may vary dramatically. The amount of artifacts depends not only on the sort of automated sequencer and sequencing chemistry employed, but also on other lab-specific factors. An experimental study executed on four samples under various combinations of sequencing conditions revealed a number of phantom mutations occurring at the same sites of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) repeatedly. To confirm these and identify further hotspots for artifacts, > 5000 mtDNA electropherograms were screened for artificial patterns. Further, > 30000 published hypervariable segment 1 sequences were compared at potential hotspots for phantom mutations, especially for variation at positions 16085 and 16197. Resequencing of several samples confirmed the artificial nature of these and other polymorphisms in the original publications. Single-strand sequencing, as typically executed in medical and anthropological studies, is thus highly vulnerable to this kind of artifacts. In particular, phantom mutation hotspots could easily lead to misidentification of somatic mutations and to misinterpretations in all kinds of clinical mtDNA studies.

Environmental signals: Synthetic humic substances act as xeno-estrogen and affect the thyroid system of Xenopus laevis

According to outdated paradigms humic substances (HS) are considered to be refractory or inert that do not directly interact with aquatic organisms. However, they are taken up and induce biotransformation activities and may act as hormone-like substances. In the present study, we tested whether HS can interfere with endocrine regulation in the amphibian Xenopus laevis. In order to exclude contamination with phyto-hormones, which may occur in environmental isolates, the artificial HS 1500 was applied. The in vivo results showed that HS 1500 causes significant estrogenic effects on X. laevis during its larval development and results of semi-quantitative RT-PCR revealed a marked increase of the estrogenic biomarker estrogen receptor mRNA (ER-mRNA). Furthermore, preliminary RT-PCR results showed that the thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH beta-mRNA) is enhanced after exposure to HS1500, indicating a weak adverse effect on T3/T4 availability. Hence, HS may have estrogenic and anti-thyroidal effects on aquatic animals, and therefore may influence the structure of aquatic communities and they may be considered environmental signaling chemicals. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Discrimination of Type 2 diabetic patients from healthy controls by using metabonomics method based on their serum fatty acid profiles

Metabonomics, the study of metabolites and their roles in various disease states, is a novel methodology arising from the post-genomics era. This methodology has been applied in many fields, including work in cardiovascular research and drug toxicology. In this study, metabonomics method was employed to the diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) based on serum lipid metabolites. The results suggested that serum fatty acid profiles determined by capillary gas chromatography combined with pattern recognition analysis of the data might provide an effective approach to the discrimination of Type 2 diabetic patients from healthy controls. And the applications of pattern recognition methods have improved the sensitivity and specificity greatly. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.