论分子生物学时代的生理学探索 --微观与宏观的统一

20世纪中期,随着蛋白质空间结构的解析和DNA双螺旋结构的发现,形成了核酸和蛋白质为主要研究对象的分子生物学时代,然而随着科学研究的不断深入微观,越来越多的科学家意识到认为将复杂的生物现象还原称简单的组成部分(细胞或分子)就能充分解释生物现象的观点有失偏颇.分子与整体,微观与宏观必须结合与统一,这一点已显得日益重要和紧迫.由此,生理学作为一门相对古老的研究结构与功能关系,尤其是整体功能的生命学科,在这一时期获得了新的契机.     

人类思维与生物计算机

随着科研手段的不断进步,人类思维研究已从哲学和心理学范畴进入当今世界最前沿科学领域。科学家已经开始从分子水平上来揭示人类思维之谜,并正在利用这些新发现研制生物计算机。在过去40多年中,分子生物学的兴起将生命现象分解成大量基因和蛋白质的组合,目前科学家正在进一步研究这些生物大分子及其组合的功能。科学家从分子层次上发现,生物大分子之间遵循着化学和物理规律发生相互作用,在相互作用过程中一些生物大分子形成了“生物电路”。“生物电路”具有类似计算机的信息传输和处理,甚至逻辑运算的功能。英国《自然》杂志最近刊…     

对热休克反应的哲学思考

生物细胞在受到各种有害因素刺激后,会发生一种应激反应,其间细胞内的正常蛋白质合成受抑,而合成一些新的蛋白质,这种现象及所合成的蛋白质被称之为热休克反应和热休克蛋白。研究发现,热休克反应是生物细胞对环境因素的适应性反应,并广泛存在于从原核到真核生物的生物体内。对人类而言,其功能是多样的,利弊共存,形成了相互联系相互转化的对立统一关系     

分子生物学的发生、发展及其哲学意义

本世纪三十年代开始,物理学、化学等科学向生命科学渗透,以及新技术、新方法的广泛应用,使生物学研究取得了新的突破。它阐明了生物大分子核酸、蛋白质的结构与功能,揭示了生命现象的奥秘,从而使人类对生命有机体的认识从细胞层次深入到分子层次,由定性描述到定量表达,由经典生物学进入到分子生物学,这是继细胞学说、达尔文进化论以后,     

生物分子计算机研究中的哲学问题

随着生物电子学的发展,一个对人类社会具有深远的潜在影响的新的研究领域——生物分子计算机研究正在兴起。生物分子计算机能发挥目前人工智能所难以实现的图象识别和学习之类的脑功能,在某种意义上说,生物分子计算机是一种类似人脑的善于思维的“智能”分子机器。由此,我们就很自然地看出,生物分子计算机的研究会涉及许多重大哲学问题。为便于分析和讨论这些问题,本文拟先简要地介绍一下生物分子计算机研究的目标、生物芯片的概念和有关生物分子计算机的构想及其特点。     

论中西医结合的过程与层次

中西医结合是一个长期困扰人们的难题。中医理论研究人体外部现象的变化规律,以古代哲学思想为指导,具有整体联系、动态把握的合理内核。而目前现代医学对人体结构和功能的认识,并不能完全揭示生命现象本质,因而也不能完全解释中医现象。这种认识有一个不断发展和深化的过程,自然辩证法观点认为层次越低、结合越紧密。分子导次是具有生物意义的最低层次。人类“基因组”计划的实现可能在一个新的高度阐明人体本质,也使中医现象     

引人瞩目的 生物计算机

随着微电子技术的高速发展,作为计算机核心元件的集成电路的制造工艺已经达到了理论极限,半导体硅芯片因电路密集引起的散热问题难以解决,科学家们正致力于寻找新的材料。在科学探索的道路上,引人瞩目的生物计算机已展现在人们眼前。生物计算机的主要原材料,是生物工程技术生产的蛋白质分子,并以此作为生物芯片。在这种芯片中,信息以波的形式传播。由于蛋白质分子比硅芯片上的电子元件小得多,其密度可做得很高,更为可贵的是,     

生物运动加工特异性：整体结构和局部运动的作用

人类具有很强的识别生物体运动信息的能力, 甚至当运动信息仅是由附着在头部和一些重要关节上的光点的运动组成时, 观察者对该信息检测和编码的优势依然存在。光点生物运动信息包含整体信息(如整体形状)和局部信息(如各个点的运动轨迹)。先前的绝大部分研究强调整体形状在生物运动知觉中的作用。最近有研究表明去除了整体结构信息的局部生物运动仍然存在加工优势, 揭示了局部生物运动本身可能包含了一些特异性信息。因此生物运动知觉并非单一现象, 而是一种具有不同加工机制(基于整体结构和基于局部运动)的多水平现象。     

融合视角下创造力的认知神经机制

创造力的认知神经机制是近年来心理学研究领域的前沿和热点问题。通过融合创造力整体宏观视角和创造性产生过程的微观视角,对创造力的认知神经机制进行了综述。宏观视角下,创造力主要涉及α波和大脑前额叶、内外侧颞叶以及外侧顶叶; 微观视角下,在创造力产生过程中主要涉及α波序列位置效应以及默认网络和执行控制网络的功能耦合。未来研究方向应该结合多模态脑成像数据库,利用机器算法来探究创造力的本质; 关注青少年群体创造力的纵向发展趋势; 结合分子遗传学研究,探究与创造力有关的基因问题。     

创伤中有关细胞因子研究的哲学思考

创伤中有关细胞因子研究的哲学思考第四军医大学博士生（７１００３２）秦军志导师周树夏创伤学研究在当今医学领域中占有重要地位,正处于迅速发展阶段,主要表现为由宏观向微观、由局部向整体、由单一学科向多学科综合发展。特别是随着现代分子生物学技术的发展和广泛应...     

分子生物学视野下结构和功能的关系与临床疾病

分子生物学作为一门新兴学科,代表了生命科学研究领域的前沿,新理论、新技术、新成果层出不穷。生物大分子结构与功能关系的研究对分子生物学的发展起着极其重要的推动作用,是分子生物学科研和教学的主题,也为探索疾病的本质和规律提供了新思路。     

The bioethical structure of a human being

Bioethical debates such as those surrounding the manipulation of human embryos are often based on metaphysical assumptions that lack a foundation in the natural sciences. In this paper we support a gradualist position whereby the embryo progressively takes on the form and associated ethical significance of a human being. We support this position by introducing a concept of biological structure or form to show how the gradualist position has its metaphysical foundations in modern biology. The conceptual basis for form and structure are outlined and their compatibility with and basis in current empirical biology is demonstrated by some recent advances in our understanding of the processes of development from single cell to organism. We then briefly explore the ethical significance of accepting a form or structure based conception of biology for the status of the early embryo.     

Informational Darwinism

The Theory of Evolution has, since Darwin, been sustained by contributions from many sciences, most especially from molecular biology. Philosophers, like biologists and the man in the street, have accepted the idea that the contemporary form of evolutionary theory has arrived at a convincing and final structure. As it now stands, natural selection is thought to work through the information-handling mechanism of the DNA molecule. Variation in the genome?s constructive message is achieved through random errors of processing called mutations. How that mechanism and its revision works, and how much information it can hold are fundamental questions for the Neo-Darwinian theory to face. It is argued here that neither the operation nor the data content of the genome, as science understand them, can underpin the role Darwinism assigns to natural selection. It follows that we cannot put our confidence in the explanatory force of Darwinian reasoning, but neither is there an alternative to it.     

Duchenne型肌营养不良基因诊断技术的发展及其哲学评析

Duchenne型肌营养不良（DMD）是发病率较高的神经系统遗传病,其基因突变机制复杂,探索简便、准确的基因突变检测技术是DMD研究的热点之一。随着分子生物学的进展,DMD基因诊断技术不断发展,经历了DNA印迹杂交、聚合酶链反应、生物芯片、多重连接探针扩增等。其发展过程带给我们许多哲学思考。     

Analogy between language and biology: a functional approach

We adopt here a functional approach to the classical comparison between language and biology. We first parallel events which have a functional signification in each domain, by matching the utterance of a sentence with the release of a protein. The meaning of a protein is then defined by analogy as “the constant contribution of the biochemical material composing the protein to the effects produced by any release of the protein”. The proteome of an organism corresponds to an I-language (the idiolect of an individual), and the proteome of a species is equivalent to an E-language (a language in the common sense). Proteins and sentences are both characterized by a complex hierarchical structure, but the language property of ‘double articulation’ has no equivalent in the biological domain in this analogy, contrary to previous proposals centered on the genetic code. Besides, the same intimate relation between structure and meaning holds in both cases (syntactic structure for sentences and three-dimensional conformation for proteins). An important disanalogy comes from the combinatorial power of language which is not shared by the proteome as a whole, but it must be noted that the immune system possesses interesting properties in this respect. Regarding evolutionary aspects, the analogy still works to a certain extent. Languages and proteomes can be both considered as belonging to a general class of systems, that we call “productive self-reproductive systems”, characterized by the presence of two dynamics: a fast dynamics in an external domain where functional events occur (productive aspect), and a slow dynamics responsible for the evolution of the system itself, driven by the feed-back of events related to the reproduction process.     

The Map and the Territory: Complexity in Biology

In business administration or in economics it is absolutely relevant not to consider indexes like profit growth rate or gross domestic product as exhaustive indexes for economic wealth. Likewise, in biology it is important not to confuse the representation of life with life itself. The most important concepts in biology are information, memory, structure, plasticity, and robustness. Information is the difference that makes the difference. Memories are information registered in an organism. Plasticity is the capacity of a living organism to change its own structure/sets of behaviors for having a competitive advantage. Robustness is the ability of a living organism to resist environmental changes without changing its own structure/sets of behavior, and fragility is when a living organism undergoes changes in its own structure without being able to resist non-adaptive changes.     

The New Biology and its Impact in Biomedical Strategies Against HIV/AIDS

Abstract. The sequencing of the human genome and the initiation of the structural genomics projects have ushered in a new age of biology that involves multi‐lab, high‐cost projects with broad task‐oriented goals rather than the more conventional hypothesis‐driven approach of the past. The new biology has led to the development of new sets of tools for the scientist to use in the quest to solve mysteries of human disease, biomolecular structure‐function relationships, and other burning biological questions. Nevertheless, the impact of the new biology on the field of AIDS investigation has been minimal, predominantly because many of the tools in the HIV field of study were developed before the full advance of the new biology was felt in the biomedical community. Many of the high‐cost megaprojects that involve large technological advances and are marketed as projects of promise to the biomedical community are not likely to significantly impact the field of HIV/AIDS research and cannot serve as a substitute for direct funding to the HIV/AIDS scientists working for vaccine development, an understanding of mechanisms of disease causation, and new tools for therapeutic intervention.     

Group life shapes the psychology and biology of health: The case for a sociopsychobio model

Engel presented a compelling case for a biopsychosocial model of health. This challenged a biomedical model that he saw as reductionistic, physicalistic, and exclusionist. Yet despite its laudable goals and popularity, the biopsychosocial model can be faulted for being incremental, imprecise, and individualistic. Ultimately, this means it is no less reductionist than the biomedical model which it sought to supplant. In this paper, we present a reformulation of this model that foregrounds the capacity for social groups—and the social contexts in which those groups are embedded—to structure psychology and, through this, biology and health. This sociopsychobio model argues that the three elements of Engel's framework are not fixed and immutable but rather dynamic and interdependent. The model is consistent with a range of recent approaches to health that have focused on the important role that social class, social inequality, social structure, and social networks play in shaping health outcomes. In this paper, though, the concrete value of this reformulation is illustrated through a discussion of recent research that focuses on the role of group memberships and associated social identities in shaping the psychology and biology of stress. This review underlines two key points that are central to the general case for a sociopsychobio model of health. First, that groups are a force in the world that shape the psychology and biology of their members (as well as members of other groups) in ways that cannot be reduced to those group members' functioning as individuals. Second, that groups provide their members with a basis for seeking to change the world rather than simply accepting it. In this, group life is not merely an appendage to psychology and biology but is instead a basis for collective experiences that have the potential to unleash new expressions of both.     

Syntactic structures in languages and biology

Both natural languages and cell biology make use of one-dimensional encryption. Their investigation calls for syntactic deciphering of the text and semantic understanding of the resulting structures. Here we discuss recently published algorithms that allow for such searches: automatic distillation of structure (ADIOS) that is successful in discovering syntactic structures in linguistic texts and its motif extraction (MEX) component that can be used for uncovering motifs in DNA and protein sequences. The underlying principles of these syntactic algorithms and some of their results will be described.     

Environmental and Behavioral Influences on Gene Activity

The central dogma of molecular biology holds that 'information' flows from the genes to the structure of the proteins that the genes bring about through the formula DNA → RNA → protein. In this view, a set of master genes activates the DNA necessary to produce the appropriate proteins that the organism needs during development. In contrast to this view, probabilistic epigenesis holds that necessarily there are signals from the internal and external environment that activate DNA to produce the appropriate proteins. To support this view, I review a substantial body of evidence showing that external environmental influences on gene activation are normally occurring events in a large variety of organisms, including humans. This demonstrates how genes and environments work together to produce functional organisms, thus extending the model of probabilistic epigenesis.