Evaluation of bleomycin-induced chromosome aberrations under simulated microgravity conditions in human lymphocytes using "FISH" techniques

In the present investigation we report the effects of simulated microgravity conditions (clinostat) on the induction of chromosomal aberrations in human lymphocytes in vitro by (R) Bleomycin. Chromosomal aberrations have been analysed by means of fluorescent in situ hybridisation (FISH) and chromosome-specific composite DNA probes (chromosome painting). The results obtained show that, under simulated microgravity conditions, the levels of both symmetrical and asymmetrical (dicentrics, rings), the number of cells bearing "complex" aberrations and hence the total numbers of aberrations were significantly elevated at any of the dose-levels assayed, compared to the parallel treatments performed as 1g control ("ground"). Furthermore, the ratio symmetrical:asymmetrical translocations was markedly elevated under simulated microgravity conditions, compared to the findings usually observed under "normal" 1g conditions. On these bases, we are much inclined to believe that simulated microgravity, rather than limiting the resealing of DNA double strand breaks (DSB's) induced by genotoxic agents is influencing in terms of enhancement the misrejoining of DSB's which is actually responsible for the fixation of the original lesions to DNA into chromosomal aberrations. In addition, the possible different misrepair processes leading to the formation of symmetrical and asymmetrical translocations might be differentially influenced by microgravity being the symmetrical translocations significantly more represented.     

中远程巡航导弹突防对抗技术研究

具有精确打击特点的中远程巡航导弹是各国防御 /防空体系重点拦截和摧毁的目标 ,西方强国纷纷加大了在防御巡航导弹方面的投入 ,因此巡航导弹的突防对抗能力成为其能否完成作战使命的关键。从巡航导弹面临的战场环境威胁分析入手 ,指出了巡航导弹可采取的突防对抗技术措施。     

A facility for long-term Mars simulation experiments: the Mars Environmental Simulation Chamber (MESCH)

We describe the design, construction, and pilot operation of a Mars simulation facility comprised of a cryogenic environmental chamber, an atmospheric gas analyzer, and a xenon/mercury discharge source for UV generation. The Mars Environmental Simulation Chamber (MESCH) consists of a double-walled cylindrical chamber. The double wall provides a cooling mantle through which liquid N(2) can be circulated. A load-lock system that consists of a small pressure-exchange chamber, which can be evacuated, allows for the exchange of samples without changing the chamber environment. Fitted within the MESCH is a carousel, which holds up to 10 steel sample tubes. Rotation of the carousel is controlled by an external motor. Each sample in the carousel can be placed at any desired position. Environmental data, such as temperature, pressure, and UV exposure time, are computer logged and used in automated feedback mechanisms, enabling a wide variety of experiments that include time series. Tests of the simulation facility have successfully demonstrated its ability to produce temperature cycles and maintain low temperature (down to -140 degrees C), low atmospheric pressure (5-10 mbar), and a gas composition like that of Mars during long-term experiments.     

新型无电极晶体振荡器的性能

无电极(BVA)石英晶体振荡器已在法国的Besancon研制成功并由瑞士的Neuchat-el oscilloquartz S.A.进行工业化生产。这种谐振器使石英晶体振荡器的长期性能得到改善。由于允许较高的激励电平,所以也保证了较好的短期稳定度[5][6]。已经用三种不同的振荡器获得了实验结     

STARDUST: finessing expensive cometary sample returns

The STARDUST Discovery mission will collect samples of cometary coma and interstellar dust and return them to Earth. Five years after launch in February 1999, coma dust in the 1- to 100-micrometers size range will be captured by impact into ultra-low-density silica aerogel during a 6 kms-1 flyby of Comet Wild 2. The returned samples will be investigated at laboratories where the most critical information on these primitive materials is retained. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory will provide project management with Lockheed Martin Astronauts as the spacecraft industrial partner. STARDUST management will aggressively and innovatively achieve cost control through the use of Total Quality Management principles, the chief of which will be organization in a Project Engineering and Integration Team that "flattens" the traditional hierarchical structure by including all project elements from the beginning, in a concurrent engineering framework focusing on evolving Integrated Mission Capability.     

SOLID3: a multiplex antibody microarray-based optical sensor instrument for in situ life detection in planetary exploration

The search for unequivocal signs of life on other planetary bodies is one of the major challenges for astrobiology. The failure to detect organic molecules on the surface of Mars by measuring volatile compounds after sample heating, together with the new knowledge of martian soil chemistry, has prompted the astrobiological community to develop new methods and technologies. Based on protein microarray technology, we have designed and built a series of instruments called SOLID (for "Signs Of LIfe Detector") for automatic in situ detection and identification of substances or analytes from liquid and solid samples (soil, sediments, or powder). Here, we present the SOLID3 instrument, which is able to perform both sandwich and competitive immunoassays and consists of two separate functional units: a Sample Preparation Unit (SPU) for 10 different extractions by ultrasonication and a Sample Analysis Unit (SAU) for fluorescent immunoassays. The SAU consists of five different flow cells, with an antibody microarray in each one (2000 spots). It is also equipped with an exclusive optical package and a charge-coupled device (CCD) for fluorescent detection. We demonstrated the performance of SOLID3 in the detection of a broad range of molecular-sized compounds, which range from peptides and proteins to whole cells and spores, with sensitivities at 1-2?ppb (ng?mL?1) for biomolecules and 10? to 103 spores per milliliter. We report its application in the detection of acidophilic microorganisms in the Río Tinto Mars analogue and report the absence of substantial negative effects on the immunoassay in the presence of 50?mM perchlorate (20 times higher than that found at the Phoenix landing site). Our SOLID instrument concept is an excellent option with which to detect biomolecules because it avoids the high-temperature treatments that may destroy organic matter in the presence of martian oxidants.     

Meteors do not break exogenous organic molecules into high yields of diatomics

Meteoroids that dominate the Earth's extraterrestrial mass influx (50-300 microm size range) may have contributed a unique blend of exogenous organic molecules at the time of the origin of life. Such meteoroids are so large that most of their mass is ablated in the Earth's atmosphere. In the process, organic molecules are decomposed and chemically altered to molecules differently from those delivered to the Earth's surface by smaller (<50 microm) micrometeorites and larger (>10 cm) meteorites. The question addressed here is whether the organic matter in these meteoroids is fully decomposed into atoms or diatomic compounds during ablation. If not, then the ablation products made available for prebiotic organic chemistry, and perhaps early biology, might have retained some memory of their astrophysical nature. To test this hypothesis we searched for CN emission in meteor spectra in an airborne experiment during the 2001 Leonid meteor storm. We found that the meteor's light-emitting air plasma, which included products of meteor ablation, contained less than 1 CN molecule for every 30 meteoric iron atoms. This contrasts sharply with the nitrogen/iron ratio of 1:1.2 in the solid matter of comet 1P/Halley. Unless the nitrogen content or the abundance of complex organic matter in the Leonid parent body, comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, differs from that in comet 1P/Halley, it appears that very little of that organic nitrogen decomposes into CN molecules during meteor ablation in the rarefied flow conditions that characterize the atmospheric entry of meteoroids approximately 50 microm-10 cm in size. We propose that the organics of such meteoroids survive instead as larger compounds.     

天线系统的计算机辅助设计（CAD）

介绍了解决天线问题的计算机方法，讨论了这些方法的利与弊，没有一种计算机程序能解决所有的天线问题，这就需要用户用经验来判断选用哪种方法适于解决遇到的问题，虽然计算机的配置越好，就能解决复杂程度越深的问题，但是，所有电磁（CEM）计算软件在主要物理特性上却丰在一些根本限制，在易于使用和用户友好方面也还存在不足。     

先进的航天发动机试验

本文报导一种航天发动机的高空模拟点火试验。这种发动机综合利用了几种先进技术:90%固体燃料的端羟基聚丁二烯/铝粉/过氯酸铵/奥克托金推进剂;在凯夫拉壳体内的头端满装药;无支撑的整体喉部和收敛段入口;特轻的喷管和用充气膨胀的作动筒展开的可延伸出口锥。这次试验结束了法国欧洲动力公司和美国联合工艺公司化学系统分部之间为期两年的分工协作的研究和试制工作。所达到的比冲值被认为是复合推进剂在样机发动机中的一个最高记录。