The promise of fuel cell-based automobiles

Fuel cell-based automobiles have gained attention in the last few years due to growing public concern about urban air pollution and consequent environmental problems. From an analysis of the power and energy requirements of a modern car, it is estimated that a base sustainable power ofca. 50 kW supplemented with short bursts up to 80 kW will suffice in most driving requirements. The energy demand depends greatly on driving characteristics but under normal usage is expected to be 200 Wh/km. The advantages and disadvantages of candidate fuel-cell systems and various fuels are considered together with the issue of whether the fuel should be converted directly in the fuel cell or should be reformed to hydrogen onboard the vehicle. For fuel cell vehicles to compete successfully with conventional internal-combustion engine vehicles, it appears that direct conversion fuel cells using probably hydrogen, but possibly methanol, are the only realistic contenders for road transportation applications. Among the available fuel cell technologies, polymer-electrolyte fuel cells directly fueled with hydrogen appear to be the best option for powering fuel cell vehicles as there is every prospect that these will exceed the performance of the internal-combustion engine vehicles but for their first cost. A target cost of $ 50/kW would be mandatory to make polymer-electrolyte fuel cells competitive with the internal combustion engines and can only be achieved with design changes that would substantially reduce the quantity of materials used. At present, prominent car manufacturers are deploying important research and development efforts to develop fuel cell vehicles and are projecting to start production by 2005.     

心肌细胞电位传感器在海洋生物毒素检测中的研究

目前海洋毒素对人类健康的威胁越加严重,尤其是麻痹性毒素。提出了一种基于细胞电位传感器检测贝类的生物毒性的新方法,采用心肌细胞与微电子加工技术的微阵列芯片（MEA）相结合,构建了新型的心肌细胞电位传感器。通过心肌细胞与MEA芯片的紧密耦合,实现了实时监测心肌细胞电位的变化,输出稳定和一致性好的胞外场电位信号。通过检测海洋中危害较大的石房蛤麻痹性毒素（STX）,分析细胞的信号特征参数,实验结果表明,STX毒素对心肌细胞的电生理活动有明显的抑制作用,对脉冲幅值和脉冲频率有明显的浓度依赖性抑制作用。常规标准的生物毒性检测方法小鼠生物法的检出限为40 g/100 g,而心肌细胞电位传感器可检测的下限为1.004 ng/mL,检测范围为25 nmol/L~1600 nmol/L,通过对比表明该方法具有较好的检出限且检测方法相对简单,易于规范化和标准化。通过进一步的完善,该方法在海洋毒素的快速检测应用方面具有良好的发展前景。     

生物培育肉补充传统养殖业肉类供应的可行性及挑战分析

畜牧业占据了全球土地使用和温室气体排放的很大比例,并且大规模饲养动物过程中普遍使用预防性抗生素,导致抗药性细菌及其他致病因子及人畜共患病泛滥。更重要的是,随着人口的增长,传统的动物养殖业可能无法满足日益增长的人口对肉类和膳食蛋白的需求。因此,生物培育肉技术应运而生并得到快速发展,它具有提供肉类蛋白产品的潜力,并且没有相关环境、道德和技术问题。尽管培育肉具有减缓日益增长的世界人口对蛋白质需求增长所面临的供应问题,但目前针对生物培育肉的各方面的突破性技术仅限于实验室的研究生产,而商业化的生物培育肉生产仍有很多技术瓶颈有待突破。该综述基于目前国内传统养殖业的发展现状及生物培育肉的技术发展趋势,阐述了生物培育肉的补充传统肉类的潜力,市场定位及未来主要技术的发展趋势。     

基于苦味受体表达的多组织细胞传感器及其应用

非口腔组织中的苦味受体(TAS2Rs)可能成为相关疾病治疗的新靶点。 该研究将表达有 TAS2Rs 的细胞作为敏感元 件,根据其生理特性与不同的传感器耦合,探究了味觉受体异位表达及其在个性化药物筛选中的应用,构建了针对不同疾病模 型的个性化药物筛选平台。 首先,基于细胞阻抗传感器以及内源性表达 TAS2R38 受体的结肠癌细胞,开发了异硫氰酸酯类物 质特异性药物筛选平台,求得苯硫脲的 EC50 为 157. 6 μM;其次,结合微电极阵列检测系统,探究了 TAS2Rs 激动剂地芬尼多 (5~ 160 μM)和水杨苷(0. 001~ 100 μM)对心肌细胞收缩的抑制作用;此外,基于 3D 呼吸道平滑肌细胞 (ASMCs) 阵列,结合凝 胶成像系统,探究了 TAS2Rs 激动剂桔皮素(20 μM)对呼吸道平滑肌细胞的舒张作用。     

心肌搏动细胞传感器及其在药物分析中的应用

针对产品全生命周期管理的特点，将元数据建模技术与本体相结合建立基于元数据的产品数据本体,提出基于元数据的产品概念模型和面向产品全生命周期的产品数据模型；通过分析元数据建模的元层次，提出了基于元数据的产品数据本体建模体系结构以及通用描述，并给出了某汽轮机产品数据模型实例.实例表明,在产品全生命周期管理中采用基于元数据的产品数据本体，能够有效地保证数据的安全性和一致性，可方便地进行模型集成和信息共享，满足实际产品设计和生产过程中出现的所有可能的情况.     

Evaluation of seafood toxicity in the Australes archipelago (French Polynesia) using the neuroblastoma cell-based assay

Ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP), a disease caused by consuming fish that have accumulated ciguatoxins (CTXs) in their tissue, is regarded as the most prevalent form of intoxication in French Polynesia. Recently, the Australes, one of the least affected archipelago until the early 1980s, has shown a dramatic increase in its incidence rates in 2009 with unusual CFP cases. In the present work, potential health hazards associated with the proliferation of various marine phytoplankton species and the consumption of fish and marine invertebrates highly popular among local population were assessed in three Australes islands: Raivavae, Rurutu and Rapa. Extracts from the marine dinoflagellates Gambierdiscus, Ostreospis and mat-forming cyanobacteria as well as fish, giant clams and sea urchin samples were examined for the presence of CTXs and palytoxin (PLTX) by using the neuroblastoma cell-based assay (CBA-N2a).

Cytotoxic responses observed with both standards (Pacific CTX-3C and PLTX) and targeted marine products indicate that CBA-N2a is a robust screening tool, with high sensitivity and good repeatability and reproducibility. In Rurutu and Raivavae islands, our main findings concern the presence of CTX-like compounds in giant clams and sea urchins, suggesting a second bio-accumulation route for CFP toxins in the ciguatera food chain. In Rapa, the potential CFP risk from Gambierdiscus bloom and fish was confirmed for the first time, with levels of CTXs found above the consumer advisory level of 0.01?ng Pacific CTX-1B?g^?1 of flesh in three fish samples. However, despite the presence of trace level of PLTX in Ostreopsis natural assemblages of Rapa, no sign of PLTX accumulation is yet observed in tested fish samples.

Because this multi-toxinic context is likely to emerge in most French Polynesian islands, CBA-N2a shows great potential for future applications in the algal- and toxin-based field monitoring programmes currently on hand locally.     

细胞生物传感器在食品风味评价中的研究进展

食品风味是优质食品的重要属性,味觉和嗅觉感知很大程度决定了消费者对食品的接受度。传统的食品风味评价方法包括人工感官、智能感官、仪器分析等。人工感官分析可靠性高,但味觉易疲劳且存在主观性;智能感知仪器结构复杂,其工作原理与实际味觉传递也存在一定差异,导致其应用存在一定局限性。基于细胞的传感器法是以活细胞作为敏感元件,与换能器以及信号处理装置结合,从而对食品风味进行检测、评价的一种新方法,具有灵敏度高、选择性好、响应快等特点,是生物传感器的研究热点之一。本文结合近年来研究成果简单阐述细胞传感器的概念与基本结构,重点讨论细胞传感器在味觉及嗅觉评价领域中的研究成果与应用,阐释其在实际应用中感受与传导的机制,总结已获取食品的风味感知信息,最后讨论细胞传感器在发展中存在的问题并提出未来可能的发展思路。