Leptin regulates striatal regions and human eating behavior     

Farooqi IS  Bullmore E  Keogh J  Gillard J  O'Rahilly S  Fletcher PC 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》2007,317(5843):1355

Studies of the fat-derived hormone leptin have provided key insights into the molecular and neural components of feeding behavior and body weight regulation. An important challenge lies in understanding how the rewarding properties of food interact with, and can override, physiological satiety signals and promote overeating. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure brain responses in two human patients with congenital leptin deficiency who were shown images of food before and after 7 days of leptin replacement therapy. Leptin was found to modulate neural activation in key striatal regions, suggesting that the hormone acts on neural circuits governing food intake to diminish the perception of food reward while enhancing the response to satiety signals generated during food consumption.  相似文献   

Atmospheric new particle formation enhanced by organic acids   总被引：4，自引：0，他引：4  

Zhang R  Suh I  Zhao J  Zhang D  Fortner EC  Tie X  Molina LT  Molina MJ 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》2004,304(5676):1487-1490

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.  相似文献   

Experiences and perspectives of farmers from Upstate New York farmers' markets     

Matthew R. Griffin  Edward A. Frongillo 《Agriculture and Human Values》2003,20(2):189-203

Despite the growing popularityof farmers' markets (FMs) across the UnitedStates, the experiences and perspectives offarmers who sell at markets have received verylittle research attention. This study describesthe views of 18 farmers from Upstate New Yorkon the importance of FMs as part of theirlifestyle and livelihood, the challenges theyface selling at markets, and their conceptionsof ideal FMs. Through in-depth, semi-structuredinterviews, farmers expressed economic andsocial motivations for selling at FMs; socialbenefits from interacting with customers; andthe challenges they faced as small-scalefarmers and sellers, including extra-marketcompetition, uncooperative and problematicmarket vendors, rising farm input costs, andchanging consumer trends. Farmers alsodiscussed personal values associated withselling at FMs, such as pride in raising andmarketing one's own products, working togetherwith other farmer-vendors, and providingcustomers with honest information. Visions ofideal FMs were varied among farmers, but therewas general agreement that FMs should provide adiversity of products to attract customers andeducational opportunities for the public tolearn more about FMs and local produce. Theinterdependence of FM farmers was a majoremergent theme across interviews. Findingssuggested that market experiences of FMfarmers, including economic success, are notonly contingent on personal effort, but canalso be affected by the work of fellow vendors.Future research may look to further explore howFM farmers and other vendors interact ascooperative and competitive social and economicunits. At the community level, FM leadershipshould continue to focus on the experiences andperspectives of farmers and other marketvendors, in addition to identifying ways forenhancing cooperative FM enterprises.  相似文献   

Geophysics. A new paradigm for Earth's core-mantle boundary     

Garnero EJ 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》2004,304(5672):834-836

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The role of technology in enhancing low resource agriculture in Africa     

Bruce J. Horwith  Phyllis N. Windle  Edward F. MacDonald  J. Kathy Parker  Allen M. Ruby  Chris Elfring 《Agriculture and Human Values》1989,6(3):68-84

Traditional forms of farming, herding, and fishing are remarkably adapted to African conditions but these traditional approaches are being overtaken by modern pressures, particularly population growth. According to a report published by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), a nonpartisan analytical support agency of the U. S. Congress, one promising way to help African farmers and herders would be for development assistance organizations to focus more attention on the various forms of low-resource agriculture that predominate in Africa. In keeping with OTA's mission and primary audience, “Enhancing Agriculture in Africa: A Role for U. S. Development Assistance” (1988) is a policy-oriented synthesis of available technical information. The report provides Congress with a range of options that, if pursued, could help Africans enhance agriculture, increase their food security, and improve their lives. This paper is drawn from the larger OTA report, and it focuses on the role technology might play in enhancing low-resource agriculture. Readers should see the full assessment (OTA, 1988) for more information on policy considerations; the specific technologies mentioned; or a complete list of advisory panel members, workshops and participants, and commissioned papers. OTA's report comes at a critical time: for a variety of reasons—ranging from changing values to increased budget constraints—U. S. foreign assistance policy is undergoing a fundamental reevaluation. This review of the potential of low-resource agriculture, and options the United States might pursue to enhance this approach, was intended to aid in this reevaluation.  相似文献   

The early years. Preschool influences on mathematics achievement     

Melhuish EC  Sylva K  Sammons P  Siraj-Blatchford I  Taggart B  Phan MB  Malin A 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》2008,321(5893):1161-1162

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Genome-wide experimental determination of barriers to horizontal gene transfer   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Sorek R  Zhu Y  Creevey CJ  Francino MP  Bork P  Rubin EM 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》2007,318(5855):1449-1452

Horizontal gene transfer, in which genetic material is transferred from the genome of one organism to that of another, has been investigated in microbial species mainly through computational sequence analyses. To address the lack of experimental data, we studied the attempted movement of 246,045 genes from 79 prokaryotic genomes into Escherichia coli and identified genes that consistently fail to transfer. We studied the mechanisms underlying transfer inhibition by placing coding regions from different species under the control of inducible promoters. Our data suggest that toxicity to the host inhibited transfer regardless of the species of origin and that increased gene dosage and associated increased expression may be a predominant cause for transfer failure. Although these experimental studies examined transfer solely into E. coli, a computational analysis of gene-transfer rates across available bacterial and archaeal genomes supports that the barriers observed in our study are general across the tree of life.  相似文献   

Screening foreign scholars     

McSweegan E 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》2002,297(5582):771-772

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Slipping magnetic reconnection in coronal loops     

Aulanier G  Golub L  Deluca EE  Cirtain JW  Kano R  Lundquist LL  Narukage N  Sakao T  Weber MA 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》2007,318(5856):1588-1591

Magnetic reconnection of solar coronal loops is the main process that causes solar flares and possibly coronal heating. In the standard model, magnetic field lines break and reconnect instantaneously at places where the field mapping is discontinuous. However, another mode may operate where the magnetic field mapping is continuous but shows steep gradients: The field lines may slip across each other. Soft x-ray observations of fast bidirectional motions of coronal loops, observed by the Hinode spacecraft, support the existence of this slipping magnetic reconnection regime in the Sun's corona. This basic process should be considered when interpreting reconnection, both on the Sun and in laboratory-based plasma experiments.  相似文献   

Early origin and recent expansion of Plasmodium falciparum     

Joy DA  Feng X  Mu J  Furuya T  Chotivanich K  Krettli AU  Ho M  Wang A  White NJ  Suh E  Beerli P  Su XZ 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》2003,300(5617):318-321

The emergence of virulent Plasmodium falciparum in Africa within the past 6000 years as a result of a cascade of changes in human behavior and mosquito transmission has recently been hypothesized. Here, we provide genetic evidence for a sudden increase in the African malaria parasite population about 10,000 years ago, followed by migration to other regions on the basis of variation in 100 worldwide mitochondrial DNA sequences. However, both the world and some regional populations appear to be older (50,000 to 100,000 years old), suggesting an earlier wave of migration out of Africa, perhaps during the Pleistocene migration of human beings.  相似文献