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Sepsis-induced cerebral injury is a systemic inflammatory response associated with high mortality rate and cognitive impairment. Rho/ROCK pathway activation is involved in initiating the inflammatory response and promoting cerebral dysfunction. The present study explored the beneficial effects of ROCK inhibitors in sepsis-induced cerebral injury and cognitive impairment in rats. The model of sepsis was established by employing cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). CLP significantly augmented cerebral injury assessed in terms of intensified activity of caspases-3 and decrease in BCL-2 in the brain along with the release of S100β and NSE, and assessed on day 7. Significant increase in inflammatory biomarkers IL-1β and TNF-α as well as increase in the protein levels of ROCK1 and ROCK2 was observed in the brain. A significant decrease in learning and memory ability was observed because of increased escape latency time on day 4 and significant decrease in time spent in the target quadrant on day 7 in CLP-subjected rats. Administration of nonselective ROCK inhibitor, fasudil (10 and 30 mg/kg), and selective ROCK1 inhibitor, Y27632 (10 and 30 mg/kg), attenuated the sepsis-induced increase in the S100β and NSE, IL-1β, TNF-α, BCL-2, caspase-3, ROCK1 and ROCK2 in septic rats and significantly memory and learning.The beneficial effects of Y27632 and fasudil were comparable suggesting the key role of ROCK1 in sepsis-induced deleterious effects. It may be concluded that sepsis may increase cerebral and cognitive injury through Rho-kinase/ROCK pathway in septic rats, and ROCK inhibitors may be potentially employed to overcome sepsis-induced deleterious effects in the brain.

By setting extreme boundary conditions, the working behaviour of expansive soil embankment under atmospheric action is analyzed. The embankment is subjected to continuous rainstorm for 6 days after 3 months evaporation under hot weather. On the basis of fracture description, the deformation process considering infiltration is calculated. The deformation of embankment treated with lime-soil and without lime-soil is compared, and the influence of different water levels is taken into account. The results show that expansive soil embankment will produce large deformation in evaporation and rainfall environment. When expansive soil embankment is treated with lime-soil enclosure, the deformation becomes small. This treating method can effectively reduce the influence of extreme environment, and ensure the deformation of embankment stably.

Suzhou Creek is an urban river across Shanghai City and its adjacent areas. In the present study the river environmental quality was assessed based on fish communities. The specimens sampled in the year 2001 were compared with those collected in Shanghai Science and Technology Museum (formerly Shanghai Museum of Natural History) in the 1960s. The number of species decreased from 62 in the 1960s to 44 in 2001, with the most prominent decrease in the species of Gobioninae that are benthos and insectivores. Marked change was also seen in trophic dominance. Percentage of species as piscivores decreased from 27.4% in the 1960s to 22.7% in 2001, and insectivores from 24.2% in the 1960s to 11.4% in 2001. On the other hand, the percentage of species as omnivores increased from 25.8% in the 1960s to 38.6% in 2001 and turned to be prominent dominance. The diversity of species in the upper stream is higher than that in the downstream. Such changes indicate that the food web was simplified and the biological integrity was decreased. It is inferred that the creek substrate degrading has caused the changes in the habitats of the aquatic creatures in Suzhou Creek.

The Late Cenozoic strata are 313 m thick, revealed by the drilling core PD-99 in the south Changjiang delta. Monazite chemical dating shows that 350―500-Ma monazites predominate in the Pliocene and 100―275-Ma monazites in the Quaternary, indicating a great change of their provenance. The first presence horizon of monazites younger than 25 Ma is just above the Matruyama/Gauss boundary (~2.58 Ma), whch is exactly when uplift of the Tibetan Plateau began to influence deposition in the East China Sea. Variations in contents of monazites younger than 25 Ma can be divided into two sections. The Early-Middle Pleistocene with less

Recent ostracode assemblages from the Pacific around Southwest Japan are analyzed and the species described. Six areas are investigated, namely, Kumano-nada, off Tanabe, Tosa Bay, Bungo-suido, Hyuga-nada and off Tanega-shima. From 80 surface sediment samples, a total of 191 species among 80 genera are identified, of which 61 selected species are systematically described and 10 species are described as new. Ostracodes in this region show strong affinities with those of the Sea of Japan and of the East China Sea. The fauna is dominated by subtropical/tropical species associated with widely distributed "Japonic elements". Three cryophilic species are found very rarely, showing a deepening of the distribution of assemblages in the area studied. On the basis of the geographical distributions of shallow water ostracode species, two distinct biogeographical discontinuities are recognized along the Pacific coast of Japan. One is located between Suruga Bay and Sendai Bay, and another between Kyushu and Tanega-shima Islands. The two locations correspond with the boundary of the warm temperate/subtropical zones and that of the subtropical/tropical zones, respectively. As a result many species are characterized as subtropical or tropical. A remarkable degree of downslope transportation of ostracode shells is evident in each area investigated. The frequent condensation of ostracode shells in the sediments, and the varying depth ranges of the same species in different areas, are considered to be the result of postmortem transportation. The preservation states of the ostracode shells are variable. The proportion of fresh, translucent shells is, in general, inversely correlated with water depth and mud content; this fact suggests that the opaqueness of ostracode shells may be the result of dissolution of the calcite crystals by sea water.

The influence of polymer flooding on the quality of crude oil was investigated in this work. No significant differences between the quality indexes of crude oil produced by water flooding and polymer flooding in the same reservoir block have been found.