Resolving mechanisms of toxicity while pursuing ecotoxicological relevance?

In this age of modern biology, aquatic toxicological research has pursued mechanisms of action of toxicants. This has provided potential tools for ecotoxicologic investigations. However, problems of biocomplexity and issues at higher levels of biological organization remain a challenge. In the 1980s and 1990s and continuing to a lesser extent today, organisms residing in highly contaminated field sites or exposed in the laboratory to calibrated concentrations of individual compounds were carefully analyzed for their responses to priority pollutants. Correlation of biochemical and structural analyses in cultured cells and tissues, as well as the in vivo exposures led to the production and application of biomarkers of exposure and effect and to our awareness of genotoxicity and its chronic manifestations, such as neoplasms, in wild fishes. To gain acceptance of these findings in the greater environmental toxicology community, “validation of the model” versus other, better-established often rodent models, was necessary and became a major focus. Resultant biomarkers were applied to heavily contaminated and reference field sites as part of effects assessment and with investigations following large-scale disasters such as oil spills or industrial accidents.

Over the past 15 years, in the laboratory, small aquarium fish models such as medaka (Oryzias latipes), zebrafish (Danio rerio), platyfish (Xiphophorus species), fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas), and sheepshead minnow (Cyprinodon variegatus) were increasingly used establishing mechanisms of toxicants. Today, the same organisms provide reliable information at higher levels of biological organization relevant to ecotoxicology. We review studies resolving mechanisms of toxicity and discuss ways to address biocomplexity, mixtures of contaminants, and the need to relate individual level responses to populations and communities.     

鄂东丰山矿田卡林型金矿地质地球化学特征

鄂东丰山矿田主要由丰山 (封山洞 )铜矿床、鸡笼山金铜矿床和李家湾铜矿床组成。经野外调查和室内研究 ,确认矿田内存在卡林型金矿 ,金平均品位约 5× 1 0 -6,远景储量在大型以上。该卡林型金矿的主要特征是 :(1 )分布于丰山斑岩体周围的中酸性岩脉发育区 ;(2 )容矿岩石为下三叠统大冶组薄层状 -纹层状和角砾状碳酸盐岩 ;(3)矿体主要受高角度断层控制 ,通常产于岩脉的一侧或附近 ;(4 )矿石普遍具白色细网脉状方解石化和碳泥化 ,裂面上常见黑色碳质被膜 ;(5 )金主要为次显微金 ;(6 )成矿物质主要来自矿源层 ,部分来自岩浆 ,成矿热液水主要来自大气降水     

大兴安岭北部雄关地区倭勒根岩群大网子岩组火山岩地球化学特征

雄关地区的倭勒根岩群大网子岩组主要为变碎屑岩夹变流纹岩和变粗面安山岩.利用ICP-MS仪器对变粗面安山岩进行锆石U-Pb年龄测定,结果显示变粗面安山岩锆石²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U年龄为443.8~783.8 Ma,获得ICP-MS锆石U-Pb同位素谐和年龄为463.7±2.1 Ma,加权平均年龄为463.6±6.4 Ma（ⁿ=10,MSWD=0.073）.所测锆石振荡环带较发育,Th/U值一般为0.42~1.76,具有岩浆成因特征.该年龄代表粗面安山岩形成年龄,认为其形成于中奥陶世,与区域大网子岩组形成时代（寒武纪-早志留世）一致.大网子岩组粗面安山岩属碱钙系列准铝质岩石,铕异常不显著,相对亏损高场强元素,富集大离子亲石元素.岩石具有壳幔混源特征,形成于陆缘环境,与古亚洲洋壳俯冲有关.     

The rate of the reaction between C2H and C2H2 at interstellar temperatures

The reaction between the radical C2H and the stable hydrocarbon C2H2 is one of the simplest neutral-neutral hydrocarbon reactions in chemical models of dense interstellar clouds and carbon-rich circumstellar shells. Although known to be rapid at temperatures > or = 300 K, the reaction has yet to be studied at lower temperatures. We present here ab initio calculations of the potential surface for this reaction and dynamical calculations to determine its rate at low temperature. Despite a small potential barrier in the exit channel, the calculated rate is large, showing that this reaction and, most probably, more complex analogs contribute to the formation of complex organic molecules in low-temperature sources.     

NEW OBSERVATIONS ON THE GENUS POSTSCHIZOTHERIUM VON KOENIGSWALD

Since publishing my note in 1936~2 on the upper and lower jaw(of one and the same individual) of Postschizotherium discovered inthe Pliocene of S.E.Shansi (Yush(?)),two additional fragments of lower     

The Post-Villafranchian Interval in North China

In the course of the past ten years,a constant outpouring of newfacts has continuously improved our views on the Late Cenozoic historyof North China.Hence a constant re-adjustement,not only of the