BACKGROUND Asymmetric cell division (ACD) is a key process that allows different cell types to be generated at precisely defined times and positions. In Drosophila, neural precursor cells rely heavily on ACD to generate the different cell types in the nervous system. A conserved protein machinery that regulates ACD has been identified in Drosophila, but how this machinery acts to allow the esta...

Asymmetric stem cell division, as a means of maintaining adequate numbers of stem cells, has attracted widespread attention from researchers in the stem cell biology field. Yet, the molecular and cellular mechanisms that govern asymmetric stem cell division remain poorly understood. Stem cells are not the only cell population that divides asymmetrically, and fortunately, great progress has been...

In Caenorhabditis elegans, Wnt signaling regulates many asymmetric cell divisions. During embryogenesis, the C. elegans Dishevelled (Dsh) homolog, DSH-2, regulates asymmetric neuroblast division of the ABpl/rpppa blast cell. Dsh is a key intracellular component of both beta-catenin dependent and beta-catenin independent Wnt pathways. In C. elegans, most of the well-characterized asymmetric cell...

Crying is a powerful solicitation of caregiving, yet little is known about the cognitive processes underpinning caring responses to crying others. This study examined (1) whether crying (compared to sad and happy) faces differentially elicited semantic activation of caregiving, and (2) whether individual differences in cognitive and emotional empathy moderated this activation. Ninety participan...

It is commonly held that there exists some prosodic differences between standard Chinese and accented Mandarin. In this paper, a perceptual test was first made by filtering the signal above 500Hz to conceal the segmental information and make utterances meaningless. It is proven that people could identify Standard Chinese (SC) and Shanghai-accented Mandarin (ASH) only by the prosodic features. T...

This investigation was performed to establish the effects of the source and amount of fly ash on abrasion resistance of concrete. A reference concrete was proportioned to have a 28day age strength of 41 MPa. Three sources of Class C fly ash were used in this research. From each source, three levels of fly ash to total cementitious materials content (40, 50, and 60%) were used in producing the c...

After light touch to its nose, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans halts forward locomotion and initiates backing. Here we show that three classes of neurons (ASH, FLP, and OLQ) sense touch to the nose and hence are required for this avoidance response. ASH, FLP, and OLQ have sensory endings that contain axonemal cilia. Mutant animals that have defective ciliated sensory endings as well as lase...

Towards a single-molecule study of asymmetric cell division

Biochar is considered to be a promising material for heavy metal immobilization in soil. However, the immobilization mechanisms of Zn(2+) on biochars derived from many common waste biomasses are not completely understood. Herein, biochars (denoted as PN350, PN550, WS350, and WS550) derived from pine needle (PN) and wheat straw (WS) were prepared at two pyrolysis temperatures (350 °C and 550 °C)...

Activities of titanite (Ttn, CaTiSiO5) and ⁄or rutile (Rt, TiO2) phase components were calculated for 45 well-characterized natural titaniteor rutile-undersaturated epidote–amphibolites by using the equilibria: (i) 3 anorthite + 2 zoisite ⁄ clinozoisite + rutile + quartz = 3 anorthite + titanite + water (referred to as TZARS) and (ii) anorthite + 2 titanite = grossular + 2 rutile + quartz (refe...