Passage Two Our brains could be hard-wired to be male or female long before we begin to grow testes(丸)or ovaries(卵巢)in the womb. This discovery might explain why some people feel trapped in a body that’s the wrong sex, and could also lead to tests that reveal the true "brain sex" of babies born with ambiguous genitalia(生殖器). Till now, the orthodoxy among developmental biologists has been that embryos develop ovaries and become female unless a gene called SRY on the Y chromosome is switched on. If this gene is active, it makes testes develop instead. This switch is seen as the key event in determining whether a baby is a girl or a boy. Only after the gonads(性腺) form and flood the body with the appropriate hormones, the theory goes, is the sex of our minds and bodies determined. But in a study of mice, a team at the University of California, Los Angeles, has now found that males and females show differences in the expression of no fewer than 50 genes well before SRY switches on. "It’s the first discovery of genes differentially expressed in the brain, "says Eric Vilain, who led the UCLA team. "They may have an impact on the hard-wired development of the brain in terms of sexual differentiation independent of gonadal induction." Vilain is presenting details of seven of the 50 genes to the annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics in Baltimore this week. Three of these genes are dominant in females and four are dominant in males. The next step for Vilain and his team will be to show that the genes in question really do influence brain sexuality—and not just in mice. This is likely to be a much tougher proposition than merely showing there are differences in expression. But if the findings are confirmed, they could one day yield blood tests that allow doctors to establish the brain sex of babies born with genitalia that share features of both sexes. At present doctors and parents have to guess which gender to assign for surgical "correction". What has been found by the study at UCLA
A. We human beings have fewer than fifty genes.
B. Males and females have similar expression genes.
C. Differences in the expression of genes appear before SRY switches on.
D. Sexual differentiation depends mainly on gonadal induction.
After a good 2003, will 2004 be betterThe past year has been a good one for Southeast Asian stocks. Markets in both Singapore and the Philippines have risen by more than 30% in dollar terms; Indonesia has surged more than 70%; and tigerish Thailand has leapt by almost 130%. Investors, needless to say, are keen to know whether lightning will strike again in the same places in 2004. There is indeed something good in store: elections.The gains of the past year are easy to explain. Indonesia, for one, has finally found its feet after years of chaos following the regional crisis in 1997. Inflation and interest rates are failing, and the economy has grown by around 4% in the past year.Thailand’s economy, meanwhile, has been doing even better. It has grown at an annual rate of 6.5% in the year as a whole. Because of low interest rates, consumers have been wildly purchasing cars and houses, helping crisis-hit companies pay off their debts and thus improving the balance sheets of Thailand’s struggling banks.Analysts tell similar tales of asset increase all around the region. Markus Rosgen, of ING, a Dutch bank, notes that Asians have been piling up deposits in their bank accounts since the crisis. With interest rates so low, he argues, they now have an incentive either to consume more or to put their savings into more lucrative investments. Either way, share prices should rise. Even now, ail Southeast Asian markets are still well below their pre-crisis highs. Moreover, points out Christopher Wood of CLSA, an investment bank, all Southeast Asian markets except Singapore serve as useful hedges against America, since they do not rise and fall with Wall Street.Unexpected events might yet upset these rosy prospects. There will be elections in the Philippines and Indonesia in 2004, and probably in Malaysia, too. Thailand goes to the polls at the beginning of 2005. Economically corrupted governments, street protests or bombing campaigns are always a possibility. But the responsible leaders seem likely to get re-elected in all four countries. Furthermore, they will spend a lot of money in the process, out of both the state budget and their own pockets, giving their economies a further boost. As a recent report by ING points out, Indonesian stocks rose in the nm-up to all of the past three elections. About 2004 investors are eager to learn whether()
A. it is the right time to make investment.
B. Southeast Asian stocks will be better.
C. there will be any elections.
男性,32岁。间断上腹痛伴反酸4年,多为空腹痛及夜间痛。近1月又出现腹痛。 如果患者RUT试验阴性,以下哪个药物不会影响该项检查( )
A. De-Nol
B. 多潘立酮
C. 奥美拉唑
D. 甲硝唑
E. 呋喃唑酮
Many students find the experience of attending university lectures to be a confusing and frustrating experience. The lecturer speaks for one or two hours, perhaps (61) the talk with slides, writing up important information on the blackboard, (62) reading material and giving out (63) The new student sees the other students continuously writing on notebooks and (64) what to write. Very often the student leaves the lecture (65) notes which do not catch the main points and (66) become hard even for the students to understand. Most institutions provide courses which (67) new students to develop the skills they need to be (68) listeners and note-takers. (69) these are unavailable, there are many useful study-skills guides which (70) learners to practice these skills independently. In all cases it is important to (71) the problem before actually starting your studies. It is important to (72) that most students have difficulty in acquiring the language skills (73) in college study. One way of (74) these difficulties is to attend the language and study-skills classes which most institutions provide throughout the (75) year. Another basic strategy is to find a study partner with whom it is possible to identify difficulties, exchange ideas and provide support.
A. Because
B. Though
C. Whether
D. If