Accelerated evolution of the pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide precursor gene during human origin

Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) is a neuropeptide abundantly expressed in the central nervous system and involved in regulating neurogenesis and neuronal signal transduction. The amino acid sequence of PACAP is extremely conserved across vertebrate species, indicating a strong functional constraint during the course of evolution. However, through comparative sequence analysis, we demonstrated that the PACAP precursor gene underwent an accelerated evolution in the human lineage since the divergence from chimpanzees, and the amino acid substitution rate in humans is at least seven times faster than that in other mammal species resulting from strong Darwinian positive selection. Eleven human-specific amino acid changes were identified in the PACAP precursors, which are conserved from murine to African apes. Protein structural analysis suggested that a putative novel Deuropeptide might have originated during human evolution and functioned in the human brain. Our data suggested that the PACAP precursor gene underwent adaptive changes during human origin and may have contributed to the formation of human cognition.

我国制造业面临的内外形势及对策研究──抓住机遇,参加全球化敏捷生产体系

：本文从信息时代对人们认识上的影响，讨论了信息时代对生产、对统一的世界市场、对社会的影响。列举了世界经济进入新的繁荣期的特征。讨论了世界生产的形成和发展，市场竞争的三准则，市场竞争的各个历史阶段及全球化敏捷制造体系迅速发展的原因。分析了二十一世纪制造业面临的形势。详细地讨论了我国国有大中型企业的主要问题：1．产品问题；2．企业结构不合理；3．管理问题；4．质量问题；5．工艺手段和装备落后；6．历史包袱沉重等。提出了利用世界全球化生产体系发展的大好形势的三条对策：1．利用敏捷制造原理对企业进行重组；2．加速产品设计队伍的重建，增强新产品的设计能力；3．利用现代化手段实现现代化管理。

弈棋问题解决启发式的元策略模型

Problem solving is one of the basic processes of human cognition and heuristic strategy is the key to human problem solving, hence, the studies on heuristic strategy is of great importance in cognitive psychology. Current studies on heuristics in problem solving may be summarized as follows: nature and structure of heuristics, problem structure and representation, expert knowledge and expert intuition, nature and role of image, social cognition and social learning. The present study deals with the nature and structure of heuristics. The Solitaire problem was used in our the experiments. Both traditional experimental method and computer simulation were used to study the nature and structure of heuristics. Through a series of experiments, the knowledge of Solitaire problem solving was summed up, its metastrategy is worked out, and then the the metastrategy by computer simulation and experimental verification are tested.

Functional characterization of the human-specific (type II) form of kallikrein 8, a gene involved in learning and memory

Kallikrein 8 (KLK8) is a serine protease functioning in the central nervous system, and essential in many aspects of neuronal activities. Sequence comparison and gene expression analysis among diverse primate species identified a human-specific splice for