Further Implications of Cultural Surgency and Sex-Dominance

In the process of standardizing an Index of Sociocultural Development, it was found that male-dominant and equidominant societies differ significantly in their order of acquisition of developmental traits, their cultural elaboration and cultural surgency, the population of their largest settlement and possibly also its population density. These relationships are discussed in terms of the theoretical meaning of sex-dominance and cultural surgency and their dynamic significance for social change.     

An Index of Sociocultural Development Applicable to Precivilized Societies

An Index of Sociocultural Development constructed by principal-components analysis correlated highly with the logarithm of precivilized societies' scores on Carneiro's Index of Cultural Accumulation, with the results of a Thurstone-type Latent-Distance analysis and with the logarithm of the maximum population of residential settlements in societies. It is suggested that the Indices of Sociocultural Development and Cultural Accumulation measure essentially the same concept on different scales but that the latter index also contains a small independent component, Cultural Elaboration, which it would be worth extracting by a suitable multivariate technique in order to study it separately.     

种群增长的分段指数模型及其参数估计

本文给出了种群增长的分段指数模型其中N（t）是在时刻t种群的密度,No=N（t0）,r0和rl是群群的内禀增长率,t0是转变点,H（t-t0）=1,t≥t0,H（t-t0）=0,t＜t0．利用非线性模型的正割法（DUD,Doesn’tusederivatives）,可同时确定模型的所有参数（包括交点t0在内）．并用于描述长爪沙鼠种群动态．     

Sociocultural Approaches to Language and Literacy: An Interactionist Perspective

Sociocultural Approaches to Language and Literacy: An Interactionist Perspective Vera John-Steiner Carolyn P. Panofsky, and Larry W. Smith, eds. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994. 402 pp.     

The Constitutional Factor of a Child's Growth and Maturation

A longitudinal study of the formation of somatotype and its influence on the rates of body growth and maturation was conducted with 100 subjects between three- to seven-years-old and 68 subjects between seven- to ten-years-old. When the somatotype was stable, these rates were lowest in the subjects of the asthenoid type (according to Shtefko) and highest in those of the digestive type. When it was unstable (in almost a half of the children), the growth and maturation depended on the type change vector, decelerating when the type weakened and accelerating when it strengthened. The most ontogenetically stable types were asthenoid and digestive ones. The boys of the digestive and girls of the muscular types demonstrated the most perfect harmony of different biological maturity criteria, whereas asthenoid children and thoracic type girls were the most dysharmonious.     

Nerve Growth Factor Potentiates the Hormone-Stimulated Intracellular Accumulation of Inositol Phosphates and Ca2+ in Rat PC12 Pheochromocytoma Cells: Comparison with the Effect of Epidermal Growth Factor

The effects of nerve growth factor (NGF) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) on the intracellular accumulation of inositol phosphates and on cytosolic free Ca2+ concentrations were studied in rat PC12 pheochromocytoma cells. Both NGF and EGF potentiate in these cells the increase in the accumulation of inositol phosphates that is elicited by bradykinin and carbachol. A corresponding potentiation was also found for the agonist-induced increase of cytosolic Ca2+ concentrations. The effect of NGF, but not that of EGF, is abolished when the cells are preincubated with 5'-deoxy-5'-methylthioadenosine, an inhibitor of S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase. These results suggest that an increased response to hormones, which act via phosphoinositide-derived second messengers, may be important in the mechanism of action of NGF and EGF.     

表皮生长因子及受体在甲状腺肿瘤中的表达

目的:研究表皮生长因子(Epidermal Growth Factor,EGF)及受体(Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor,EGFR)及在甲状腺肿瘤中的表达。方法:应用免疫组织化学法检测91例甲状腺病变组织中EGFR和EGF的表达情况。结果:结节性甲状腺肿、甲状腺腺瘤、分化型甲状腺癌标本中EGFR表达的阳性率分别为15%、25%、68.62%,EGF表达的阳性率分别为10%、15%、68.62%,其中EGFR、EGF在分化型甲状腺癌与其余两组间差异均有统计学意义(P<0.05)。EGFR和EGF在甲状腺乳头状癌中的表达与性别、年龄、肿瘤大小、淋巴结转移、临床分期等临床因素无明显相关。结论:EGF和EGFR的表达可作为鉴别甲状腺肿瘤良恶性的一个指标。     

Development of an Epidermal Growth Factor Derivative with EGFR Blocking Activity

The members of the epidermal growth factor (EGF)/ErbB family are prime targets for cancer therapy. However, the therapeutic efficiency of the existing anti-ErbB agents is limited. Thus, identifying new molecules that inactivate the ErbB receptors through novel strategies is an important goal on cancer research. In this study we have developed a shorter form of human EGF (EGFt) with a truncated C-terminal as a novel EGFR inhibitor. EGFt was designed based on the superimposition of the three-dimensional structures of EGF and the Potato Carboxypeptidase Inhibitor (PCI), an EGFR blocker previously described by our group. The peptide was produced in E. coli with a high yield of the correctly folded peptide. EGFt showed specificity and high affinity for EGFR but induced poor EGFR homodimerization and phosphorylation. Interestingly, EGFt promoted EGFR internalization and translocation to the cell nucleus although it did not stimulate the cell growth. In addition, EGFt competed with EGFR native ligands, inhibiting the proliferation of cancer cells. These data indicate that EGFt may be a potential EGFR blocker for cancer therapy. In addition, the lack of EGFR-mediated growth-stimulatory activity makes EGFt an excellent delivery agent to target toxins to tumours over-expressing EGFR.     

Antagonism between Retinoic Acid and Fibroblast Growth Factor Signaling during Limb Development

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In VivoEffects of Hepatocyte Growth Factor/Scatter Factor on Mouse Mammary Gland Development

We have recently demonstrated the regulated expression ofHGF/SFand its receptor (c-met) during mouse mammary gland development together with the mitogenic, motogenic and morphogenic effects of exogenous HGF/SF on primary mammary epithelial cells in culture. This study was undertaken to analyze the influence of HGF/SF on reconstituted mouse mammary gland developmentin vivo.Here we report that overexpression of HGF/SF induces a range of alterations in the architecture of virgin mouse mammary gland. These include an enhancement of ductal end bud (mammary gland morphoregulatory control point) size and numbers and hyperplastic branching morphogenesis. These data are the first demonstration of the effects of HGF/SF on mammary epitheliumin vivo.     

Accumulation of Prolamines and Glutelins during Rice Seed Development: a Quantitative Evaluation

The levels of prolamines and glutelins, the storage proteinsof rice, were quantified during seed development by immunoblotanalysis. Although both storage proteins were first detectedin 10 day old seeds and their amounts steadily increased throughoutseed development, the relative proportions of glutelins andprolamines were not constant. The molar ratio of glutelins toprolamines was 1.7 in 10 day old seeds and this ratio steadilydecreased to 1.2 in 25 day old seeds due to the increased synthesisand accumulation of prolamines specifically during the latterstages of seed development. In vivo pulse chase labelling studiesconfirmed that the rate of prolamine synthesis as compared tothat evident for glutelin increased during the latter half ofseed development and that protein turnover was not the basisfor the differences in accumulation patterns of these storageproteins. These results indicate that the storage proteins exhibitdifferent temporal accumulation patterns during seed developmentand, moreover, demonstrate that prolamines comprise a much largerproportion of the total storage protein fraction than previouslyrecognized. (Received August 31, 1992; Accepted November 27, 1992)