Metallothionein as a biomarker for mercury in tissues of rat fed orally with cinnabar

Cinnabar, as one of the most widely used mineral drugs in traditional Chinese medicines, has been proven to have prominent curative effects in clinical use for more than 2000 years. But the safety and toxicity of the drug has been under constant debate in clinic usage. Metallothionein (MT) contains about 30% of cysteine in the molecule, and plays an important detoxification role against heavy metals. In this study, it was used as a biomarker to assess mercurial accumulation in rats fed orally with cinnabar. After feeding rats with cinnabar by gastric gavage at different dosages and at different times, the distribution of heavy metals (including mercury, copper and zinc) and MT was investigated among rat tissues, including liver, kidney, heart, brain, testis and blood. Metals and MT determinations were carried out using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP‐MS) and a modified mercury saturation assay technique respectively. The results indicated that mercury was easily accumulated in the tissues of rats exposed to cinnabar, especially in kidney. For example: at a feeding dosage of 5 g kg^?1 (bw) for 4 weeks, the mercury concentrations in kidney were 13, 8.7, 21.6 and 26 times those in liver, testis, brain and heart respectively; and at 2.5 g kg^?1 (bw) for 2 weeks, the mercury concentrations in kidney were 21, 2.1, 3 and 21 times those in liver, testis, brain and heart respectively. In addition, mercury in kidney and liver of all cinnabar groups was significantly higher than that of the control group (P < 0.01). A high positive correlation observed between MT concentrations and mercury levels in both liver and kidney (R² = 0.9299, P < 0.02 for liver; R² = 0.9923, P < 0.0008 for kidney) indicated that MT could be used as a biomarker for mercury in tissues. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Crystallographic report: Crystal structure of tetra(4‐methyl‐5‐imidazole‐carboxyaldehyde)zinc(II) diperchlorate

The central zinc(II) atom in the title complex is tetrahedrally coordinated by four nitrogen atoms derived from 4‐methyl‐5‐imidazolecarboxyaldehyde ligands with Zn? N in the range 2.007(3) to 2.026(4) Å. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

铁磁/ 反铁磁双层膜中交换偏置

铁磁/反铁磁交换偏置在巨磁电阻器件中具有重要的应用。引起了物理学及材料学等领域内广大科学家的浓厚兴趣，本文首先阐述了交换偏置的基本性质。然后简述了交换偏置的实验研究方法；最后，着重介绍了几种主要的理论模型。     

散射体系A+BC的平-振能量传递

用Alhassid与Levine所提出的动力学李代数的方法(简称A-L理论),研究了含有二级非简谐的共线散射体系A+BC的平-振能量传递问题,计算了散射过程含有主要动力学参量的跃迁矩阵和跃迁几率的解析表示式.     

Apparatus for High-Resolution Solid Hydrogen Matrix Isolation Spectroscopy and Its Application

Apparatus integrating a Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer and a mid-infrared difference frequency generation (DFG) laser spectrometer was built for the study of the matrix isolation spectrum in solid molecular hydrogen. A 3-cm-long molecular hydrogen crystal was grown in a liquid-helium Dewar, and its infrared absorption spectrum in the 1-5 μm region was recorded to test the system. The W₀(0) (ν=0←0, J=6←0) line around 2410 cm⁻¹ of solid hydrogen was investigated with the DFG laser spectroscopy. High-resolution matrix isolation spectrum of CO² co-deposited with hydrogen on a BaF₂ cold plate at liquid-helium temperature was studied.     

Optimal volume-corrected laplace-metropolis method

The article provides a refinement for the volume-corrected Laplace-Metropolis estimator of the marginal likelihood of DiCiccioet al. The correction volume of probability α in DiCiccioet al. is fixed and suggested to take the value α=0.05. In this article α is selected based on an asymptotic analysis to minimize the mean square relative error (MSRE). This optimal choice of α is shown to be invariant under linear transformations. The invariance property leads to easy implementation for multivariate problems. An implementation procedure is provided for practical use. A simulation study and a real data example are presented.     

CRYSTAL AND MOLECULAR STRUCTURE OF A NOVEL Au Ag SUPRACLUSTER COMPOUND [Au_13Ag_12(μ-Br)_4(μ_3-Br)_2(Ph_3P)_10-

<正> [Au13Ag12(μ-Br)1(μ3-Br)2 (Ph3P)10Br2] Br, monoclinic. space group C2/m, a = 36. 496(17). b=16. 878(7), c-=19. 772(9) A , β=99. 87(5)°, V=11998. 9 A3.Z=2. The final R(Rw) is 0. 097(0. 109) for 3779 reflections with I>3σ(I). The structure can he considered as two icosahedral cluster units (AurAg6) sharing one vertex and linked hy six bromine atoms. The Au - Au, Au - Ag. and Ag-Ag distances fall in the ranges of 2. 69-2. 96. 2. 84-3. 02. and 2. 92-3. 26 A, respectively.     

软x射线近贴显微技术

软x射线近贴显微技术不但可使活的生物样品成象,分辨率高于光学显微镜,而且人为的样品准备程序在该技术中都可避免。本文描述了用高功率激光打靶产生的等离子体作为软x射线源而进行的近贴显微研究,并得到了分辨率好于1μm的结果。