蕲州地区的蕲艾、青蒿、黄花蒿与茵陈的考订

<正> 蕲州是我国中药材主要产地之一,是湖北省蕲春县的一个集镇,,是我国中医药大师李时珍的家乡。该地区生长的菊科蒿属植物Artemisia Linn。颇多,其中入药的有十余种,并在李时珍《本草纲目》中曾有记载。这里仅对该地区常见入药的蕲艾、青蒿、黄花蒿与茵陈结合《本草纲目》记载的材料作初步的考订。     

Chinchilla "big" and "little" gastrins

Gastrin heptadecapeptides (gastrins I and II which differ in the presence of sulfate on the tyrosine of the latter) have been purified and sequenced from several mammalian species including pig, dog, cat, sheep, cow, human and rat. A 34 amino acid precursor ("big" gastrin), generally accounting for only 5% of total gastrin immunoreactivity, has been purified and sequenced only from the pig, human, dog and goat. Recently we have demonstrated that guinea pig (GP) "little" gastrin is a hexadecapeptide due to a deletion of a glutamic acid in the region 6-9 from its NH2-terminus and that GP "big" gastrin is a 33 amino acid peptide. The chinchilla, like the GP, is a New World hystricomorph. This report describes the extraction and purification of "little" and "big" gastrins from 31 chinchilla antra. Chinchilla "little" gastrin is a hexadecapeptide with a sequence identical to that of the GP and its "big" gastrin is a 33 amino acid peptide with the following sequence: (See text)     

大熊猫团团圆圆

2008年12月23日,备受关注的大熊猫团团圆圆正式从中国保护大熊猫研究中心（以下简称研究中心）雅安碧峰峡基地出发,前往台北市立动物园定居。从中央政府宣布赠台大熊猫开始,历时3年半,经历了重重考验的团团圆圆终于成行,在2008年岁末之际画上了圆满的句号。     

"Ant" and "grasshopper" life-history strategies in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

From the evolutionary and ecological points of view, it is essential to distinguish between the genetic and environmental components of the variability of life-history traits and of their trade-offs. Among the factors affecting this variability, the resource uptake rate deserves particular attention, because it depends on both the environment and the genetic background of the individuals. In order to unravel the bases of the life-history strategies in yeast, we grew a collection of twelve strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae from different industrial and geographical origins in three culture media differing for their glucose content. Using a population dynamics model to fit the change of population size over time, we estimated the intrinsic growth rate (r), the carrying capacity (K), the mean cell size and the glucose consumption rate per cell. The life-history traits, as well as the glucose consumption rate, displayed large genetic and plastic variability and genetic-by-environment interactions. Within each medium, growth rate and carrying capacity were not correlated, but a marked trade-off between these traits was observed over the media, with high K and low r in the glucose rich medium and low K and high r in the other media. The cell size was tightly negatively correlated to carrying capacity in all conditions. The resource consumption rate appeared to be a clear-cut determinant of both the carrying capacity and the cell size in all media, since it accounted for 37% to 84% of the variation of those traits. In a given medium, the strains that consume glucose at high rate have large cell size and low carrying capacity, while the strains that consume glucose at low rate have small cell size but high carrying capacity. These two contrasted behaviors may be metaphorically defined as "ant" and "grasshopper" strategies of resource utilization. Interestingly, a strain may be "ant" in one medium and "grasshopper" in another. These life-history strategies are discussed with regards to yeast physiology, and in an evolutionary perspective.     

Nitration in neurodegeneration: deciphering the "Hows" "nYs"

Recent literature has ushered in a new awareness of the diverse post-translational events that can influence protein folding and function. Among these modifications, protein nitration is thought to play a critical role in the onset and progression of several neurodegenerative diseases. While previously considered a late-stage epiphenomenon, nitration of protein tyrosine residues appears to be an early event in the lesions of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease. The advent of highly specific biochemical and immunological detection methods reveals that nitration occurs in vivo with biological selectively and site specificity. In fact, nitration of only a single Tyr residue is often sufficient to induce profound changes in the activity of catalytic proteins and the three-dimensional conformation of structural proteins. Presumably, nitration modifies protein function by altering the hydrophobicity, hydrogen bonding, and electrostatic properties within the targeted protein. Most importantly, however, nitrative injury may represent a unifying mechanism that explains how genetic and environmental causes of neurological disease manifest a singular phenotype. In this review and synthesis, we first examine the pathways of protein nitration in biological systems and the factors that influence site-directed nitration. Subsequently, we turn our attention to the structural implications of site-specific nitration and how it affects the function of several neurodegeneration-related proteins. These proteins include Mn superoxide dismutase and neurofilament light subunit in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, alpha-synuclein and tyrosine hydroxylase in Parkinson's disease, and tau in Alzheimer's disease.     

"I" becomes "L": modification of vertical mammaplasty

The problems of the vertical mammaplasty by Lejour (i.e., gathering the skin envelope in one vertical suture, frequent secondary healing problems, and later sagging of the inferior glandular part in the case of large and very large breasts) are well known. A simple modification of the Lejour technique, that is, adding a lateral inframammary scar to shorten the vertical scar length, is presented. The modified L technique was used in 45 patients (90 breasts) between October of 1999 and August of 2001. With an average follow-up of 13 months, the jugular notch-to-nipple distance was 21 cm, the vertical scar length was 8.4 cm, the lateral inframammary scar length was 11 cm, and the average resection weight was 625 g per breast (range, 200 g to 2080 g). Even among patients who had very large glandular bases and resection weights it was possible to achieve a breast base reduction, modeling the glandular corpus to a harmonic, well-projecting, and youthful shape. Slight wound-healing problems with spontaneous cicatrization within 2 weeks occurred in six patients. In two patients who exhibited gigantomastia up to 2080 g per breast, partial mamilla necrosis occurred on one side. Ninety-one percent of the patients reported being "very satisfied" with the outcome, and 9 percent reporting being "satisfied." The authors' modification of the vertical mammaplasty to an L-shaped scar technique enables the surgeon to apply the principles of the Lejour technique for higher resection weights and diminishes wound-healing problems, and it is still a scar-minimizing technique that results in a scar-free cleavage. It is easy to learn and an ideal standard technique for a teaching hospital.     

The "Moi-peau"

To construct a coherent identity, humans must distinguish what belongs to the external, perceived world from what belongs to their own inner world and the inner world of other individuals. Based on the theory developed by S. Freud and on work by ethologists, a number of psychoanalysts (J. Bowlby, R.A. Spitz, D.W. Winnicott, etc.) have underlined the importance of early tactile exchanges with the mother if a child is to become an autonomous individual who feels secure within what he or she perceives to be sound and reliable mental and physical boundaries. More recently, other psychoanalysts (E. Bick, W.R. Bion, etc.) have studied the fantasized mental structures that form the limits between an individual's inner mental space and the external world (including other individuals). As part of this theoretical psychoanalytical movement, Didier Anzieu, a French psychoanalyst, started to develop the concept of the "Moi-peau" in 1974. The "Moi-peau" designates a fantasized reality that a child uses during its early development to represent itself as "me", based on its experience of the body surface. The child, enveloped in its mother's care, fantasizes of a skin shared with its mother: on one side the mother (the outer layer of the "Moi-peau"), and on the other side the child (the inner layer of the "Moi-peau"). These two layers must separate gradually if the child is to acquire its own me-skin. D. Anzieu's work allowed dermatologists and other specialists, such as pediatricians, to focus on the quality of early tactile exchanges between a mother and her child, including the child with a chronic skin disorder. It also helped dermatologists to recognize patients with "borderline" states, which are particularly frequent in dermatology (ereutophobia, dysmorphophobia, tattooing, self-mutilation, artefacta dermatitis). These borderline patients are adults who, as a result of their mental conflicts, adopt defense mechanisms derived from both neurotic and psychotic functioning. Their complaints reflect difficulties with the solidity of their mental and physical limits: their real skin is metaphorically linked to the fantasized mental structure that delimits the individual mental space. Among other clinical characteristics, they have a "pathology of action" and frequently attack their own skin, paradoxically, in order to test the solidity and reliability of their own limits. Finally, D. Anzieu's work encouraged dermatologists to use psychotherapeutic approaches in parallel to classical dermatologic approaches, when necessary, and helped them better understand how psychoanalysts work with patients who have not yet acquired their own "Moi-peau". As a result, D. Anzieu was among the first to reconcile dermatologists and psychoanalysts.