Controls on the preservation of biogenic opal in sediments of the eastern tropical pacific

A map of the preservation pattern of siliceous microfossils was constructed from an examination of 125 piston and gravity cores of Quaternary sediments from throughout the eastern tropical Pacific. Preservation is enhanced where high surface water productivity supplies a high input rate of siliceous tests to the sea floor, except in a large area north of 5 degrees N, east of the East Pacific Rise. Here a high input rate of terrigenous silicates may adversely affect preservation of biogenic opal in the sea-floor sediments.     

Human breast cancer: androgen action mediated by estrogen receptor

Growth of the human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 is enhanced by androgens, but only at pharmacological concentrations. Although physiological concentrations of androgens translocate the androgen receptor into the nucleus, no mitogenic effects are observed. By contrast, pharmacological androgens translocate not only the androgen receptor but also the estrogen receptor, and at these high doses significantly increase both DNA and estrogen-dependent protein synthesis. We therefore propose that androgens stimulate MCF-7 cell growth not through the androgen receptor but rather through the estrogen receptor.     

Hormone-sensitive lipase: sequence, expression, and chromosomal localization to 19 cent-q13.3

Hormone-sensitive lipase, a key enzyme in fatty acid mobilization, overall energy homeostasis, and possibly steroidogenesis, is acutely controlled through reversible phosphorylation by catecholamines and insulin. The 757-amino acid sequence predicted from a cloned rat adipocyte complementary DNA showed no homology with any other known lipase or protein. The activity-controlling phosphorylation site was localized to Ser563 in a markedly hydrophilic domain, and a lipid-binding consensus site was tentatively identified. One or several messenger RNA species (3.3, 3.5, or 3.9 kilobases) were expressed in adipose and steroidogenic tissues and heart and skeletal muscle. The human hormone-sensitive lipase gene mapped to chromosome 19 cent-q13.3.     

Crop productivity and photoassimilate partitioning

The photosynthetic basis for increasing the yield of major field crops is examined in terms of improving the interception of seasonal solar radiation by crop foliage, the efficiency of conversion of intercepted light to photosynthetic assimilates, and the partitioning of photoassimilates to organs of economic interest. It is concluded that, in practice, genetic and chemical manipulation of light interception over the season and of partitioning offer the most potential for achieving further increases in yield. During the history of improvement of genetic yield potential of crops, increase in the partitioning of photoassimilates to harvested organs has been of primary importance.     

Marine lava cave fauna: composition, biogeography, and origins

An assemblage of endemic cavernicolous marine invertebrates, including taxa found on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean of great phylogenetic age or with affinities to deep sea organisms, inhabits the Jameos del Agua cave, a sea waterflooded Holocene lava tube cave on Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. This marine cave contains both relicts from Tethyan times, such as an apparently new crustacean family belonging to what had been the monotypic class Remipedia, and relicts of groups that are now common only in the deep sea as well as species that occur outside the cave.     

Fish population and behavior revealed by instantaneous continental shelf-scale imaging

Until now, continental shelf environments have been monitored with highly localized line-transect methods from slow-moving research vessels. These methods significantly undersample fish populations in time and space, leaving an incomplete and ambiguous record of abundance and behavior. We show that fish populations in continental shelf environments can be instantaneously imaged over thousands of square kilometers and continuously monitored by a remote sensing technique in which the ocean acts as an acoustic waveguide. The technique has revealed the instantaneous horizontal structural characteristics and volatile short-term behavior of very large fish shoals, containing tens of millions of fish and stretching for many kilometers.     

土壤有机矿质复合体的表面电荷特性及对锌的吸附

供试土样为中国的棕壤、红壤和赤红壤及巴基斯坦的ｇｕｊｒａｎｗａｌａｓｅｒｉｅｓ和ｋｏｔｌｉｓｅｒｉｅｓ．与Ｈ－粘粒比，Ｈ－粘粒复合体有较多的净负电荷和较少的正电荷。在红壤和赤红壤中，Ｈ－粘粒复合体的表面积比Ｈ－粘粒大，但在棕壤，ｇｕｊｒａｎｗａｌａｓｅｒｉｅｓ和ｋｏｔｌｉｓｅｒｉｅｓ中则相反。在ｐＨ近７．０时，因有机质而使负电荷百分数增加的次序为赤红壤＞红壤＞ｇｕｊｒａｎｗａｌａｓｅｒｉｅｓ＞ｋｏｔｌｉｓｅｒｉｅｓ＞棕壤。当ｐＨ＜７时有机质可以提高赤红壤、红壤和ｋｏｔｌｉｓｅｒｉｅｓ对锌的吸附，在各种锌浓度下，有机质均能提高棕壤和ｇｕｊｒａｎｗａｌａｓｅｒｉｅｓ对锌的吸附。与Ｌａｎｇｍｕｉｒ和Ｔｅｍｋｉｎ方程比较，Ｆｒｅｕｎｄｌｉｃｈ方程最适合描述Ｈ－粘粒复合体对锌的吸附行为，但Ｌａｎｇｍｕｉｒ方程最适合于自然粘粒复合体。     

Causes of Decadal Climate Variability over the North Pacific and North America

The cause of decadal climate variability over the North Pacific Ocean and North America is investigated by the analysis of data from a multidecadal integration with a state-of-the-art coupled ocean-atmosphere model and observations. About one-third of the low-frequency climate variability in the region of interest can be attributed to a cycle involving unstable air-sea interactions between the subtropical gyre circulation in the North Pacific and the Aleutian low-pressure system. The existence of this cycle provides a basis for long-range climate forecasting over the western United States at decadal time scales.     

Atmospheric new particle formation enhanced by organic acids

Atmospheric aerosols often contain a substantial fraction of organic matter, but the role of organic compounds in new nanometer-sized particle formation is highly uncertain. Laboratory experiments show that nucleation of sulfuric acid is considerably enhanced in the presence of aromatic acids. Theoretical calculations identify the formation of an unusually stable aromatic acid-sulfuric acid complex, which likely leads to a reduced nucleation barrier. The results imply that the interaction between organic and sulfuric acids promotes efficient formation of organic and sulfate aerosols in the polluted atmosphere because of emissions from burning of fossil fuels, which strongly affect human health and global climate.