Ruminations on twenty-five years of Patricia Hill Collins's Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge,Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment

My review focuses on the impact that Black Feminist Thought has had on my personal and professional life. I weave together lessons I have learned from Patricia Hill Collins with reflections on my own lived experience – from my family of origin to college experiences to my work as the founding director of the Collegium of Black Women Philosophers.     

河南登封寒武系第三统张夏组核形石与遗迹化石的耦合变化

河南登封关口剖面寒武系第三统张夏组下部碳酸盐岩中发育了大量的微生物成因的核形石和后生动物遗迹化石。在野外和显微镜下对核形石和遗迹化石进行观察,并统计它们在地层中所占比例,表明核形石和遗迹化石存在着耦合关系。下部地层以发育凝块石和形状不规则、纹层不连续、代表一种低能弱搅动水体的Ⅰ型核形石为主,不含遗迹化石,表明此时微生物在海洋生态系统中占主导地位。中部地层则以发育浑圆形、纹层连续的Ⅱ型核形石和遗迹化石Planolites为特征;而且随水体能量的增强,Planolites丰度逐渐升高,核形石丰度逐渐降低;二者的丰度变化说明后生动物的存在对核形石的数量有一定影响,但未破坏核形石的生长条件。上部地层发育大量Thalassinoides和生物扰动构造,缺乏核形石;后生动物对沉积基底进行反复扰动,彻底破坏了原始层理以及微生物造岩的环境,核形石消失。可见,在张夏组沉积时期,微生物与后生动物以及环境之间存在着特殊的相互作用关系。     

基于“肝肾失调”探讨阿片类物质心瘾形成的中医病理基础

阿片类物质滥用是目前社会及医学领域的一大难题,其戒断复杂而艰难,关键问题在于阿片类物质心瘾难以戒除。阿片类物质心瘾是指物质滥用者对阿片类物质强烈持久的渴求和难以抑制的用药欲望,其形成的核心机制在于成瘾者对于阿片类物质的异常动机。异常动机的形成在于两个方面,即"产生动机不良"以及"控制不良动机能力下降",本研究即从异常动机形成的两个方面切入,通过类比法、引证法及演绎法进行理论研究,分析认为阿片类物质心瘾的形成与肝肾功能的失调相关相关性,研究认为不良动机形成的关键在于阿片类物质引起的肝失疏泄功能的异常,而控制不良动机能力下降则与肝胆主谋略司决断以及肾所藏之志功能的异常相关。     

Mini-scale bioprocessing systems for highly parallel animal cell cultures

Animal cells have been used extensively in therapeutic protein production. The growth of animal cells and the expression of therapeutic proteins are highly dependent on the culturing environments. A large number of experimental permutations need to be explored to identify the optimal culturing conditions. Miniaturized bioreactors are well suited for such tasks as they offer high-throughput parallel operation and reduce cost of reagents. They can also be automated and be coupled to downstream analytical units for online measurements of culture products. This review summarizes the current status of miniaturized bioreactors for animal cell cultivation based on the design categories: microtiter plates, flasks, stirred tank reactors, novel designs with active mixing, and microfluidic cell culture devices. We compare cell density and product titer, for batch or fed-batch modes for each system. Monitoring/controlling devices for engineering parameters such as pH, dissolved oxygen, and dissolved carbon dioxide, which could be applied to such systems, are summarized. Finally, mini-scale tools for process performance evaluation for animal cell cultures are discussed: total cell density, cell viability, product titer and quality, substrates, and metabolites profiles.     

Effects of changes in the shape of the intracellular action potential on the peak-to-peak ratio of single muscle fibre potentials

In situ recording of the intracellular action potential (IAP) of human muscle fibres is not yet feasible, and consequently, knowledge about certain IAP characteristics of these IAPs is still limited. The ratio between the amplitudes of the second and first phases (the so-called peak-to-peak ratio, PPR) of a single fibre action potential (SFAP) is known to be closely related to the IAP profile. The PPR of experimentally recorded SFAPs has been found to be largely independent of changes in the fibre-to-electrode (radial) distance. The main goal of this paper is to analyze the effect of changes in different aspects of the IAP spike on the relationship between PPR and radial distance. Based on this analysis, we hypothesize about the characteristics of IAPs obtained experimentally. It was found that the sensitivity of the SFAP PPR to changes in radial distance is essentially governed by the duration of the IAP spike. Assuming that, for mammals, the duration of the IAP rising phase lies within the range 0.2-0.4 ms, we tentatively suggest that the duration of the IAP spike should be over approximately 0.75 ms, with the shape of the spike strongly asymmetric. These IAP characteristics broadly coincide with those observed in mammal IAPs.     

Magnesium homeostasis: Mechanisms and inherited disorders

Mechanisms of magnesium homeostasis intensively studied over the last 10–15 years by means of pathophysiological and molecular genetic approaches have been considered. Impairments of magnesium homeostasis causes the development of magnesium-deficient states, which have been found in many common diseases (diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, chronic fatigue syndrome, alcoholism, psychiatric and neurologic diseases, etc.), stress condition, effects of some environmental factors as well as therapy with some drugs. Special attention is paid to familial hypomagnesemias caused by genetic defects of magnesium transport systems. The review considers clinical and biochemical characteristics of twelve familial disorders including mechanisms of their development. Deeper understanding of mechanisms of regulation of magnesium homeostasis will results in the development of new approaches in diagnostics, prophylaxis and treatment of magnesium-deficient conditions.