花粉和资源限制对青阳参坐果率的影响

以生长于自然种群的青阳参植株为材料进行补充授粉试验,以人工种植的青阳参植株为材料进行资源限制试验,探讨花粉和资源限制对青阳参坐果率的影响.结果表明:自花授粉、天然授粉和异株异花授粉植株的结实率分别为1.7％、2.25 ％和24％,花粉来源对青阳参坐果存在显著影响;补充施肥和不补充施肥植株的坐果率分别为5.12％和3.1...     

Quantifying sink and source limitations on dry matter partitioning to fruit growth in peach trees

We describe an approach for determining the degree of sink and source limitations on peach ( Prunus persica L. Batsch) fruit growth during several growth periods. Source limitations on fruit growth may be due to either a shortfall in assimilate supply within the tree (supply limitation) or to a deficiency in the capacity of the translocation system to deliver assimilates in sufficient quantity to support the maximum fruit growth rate (transport/competition limitation). To ascertain the potential maximum rate of fruit growth, fruit thinning treatments were used. One month after bloom, the number of fruits per tree was adjusted to between 50 and 700 on an early and a late maturing peach cultivar (cvs Spring Lady and Cal Red, respectively). Rates of potential sink demand, potential source supply and actual fruit growth were estimated from sequential harvests of all fruits on 42 trees on two (Spring Lady) and three (Cal Red) dates. These values were used to estimate the proportion of potential growth achieved, and the supply and transport/competition limitations on fruit growth. The results indicated that source limitations were significant on trees with moderate to high fruit numbers. These source limitations were due to supply limitations during all harvest intervals and to transport/competition limitations during the early harvest intervals. Sink limitations occurred to the greatest extent during the mid-period of fruit growth on the later maturing cultivar.     

Molecular microbial ecology: land of the one-eyed king

Studies of microbial biodiversity have made astounding discoveries of late due to the use of methodologies based on phylogenetic analyses of small subunit ribosomal RNA sequences. Although there are limitations to these methods, they can nonetheless be very useful if these limitations are kept in mind. These limitations range from technical problems such as obtaining representative genomic DNA and suitable primers, to conceptual problems such as defining and using meaningful taxonomic units of diversity (species). Here we discuss several of the limitations inherent in studies of microbial diversity that must be considered when interpreting the results obtained using these approaches.     

Seed,dispersal, microsite,habitat and recruitment limitation: identification of terms and concepts in studies of limitations

Recently, there is an increase in number of studies concerned with the effect of various types of limitations on species local population size and distribution pattern at the landscape scale. The terminology used to describe these limitations is, however, very inconsistent. Since the different terms often appear in conclusions of the papers, the inconsistency in their use obscures the message of these papers. In this study, we review the current uses of these terms, identify the basic concepts involved in the discussion of a limitation and link the concepts with the currently used terms. Finally, we discuss the experimental approaches used to assess the different types of limitations. We differentiated four basic concepts resulting from the combination of limitation by environment versus ability to grow and spread, and two spatial scales (local and regional scale). The two concepts at each spatial scale are expected to form a gradient of all possible combinations of the two respective types of limitations. In the considerations of various experimental approaches used to assess these limitations, we conclude that sowing experiments, i.e. seed addition into existing populations or seed introduction into unoccupied habitats, are the only reliable types of evidence for the different types of limitations.     

All That Glitters Isn't Gold: A Survey on Acknowledgment of Limitations in Biomedical Studies

Background

Acknowledgment of all serious limitations to research evidence is important for patient care and scientific progress. Formal research on how biomedical authors acknowledge limitations is scarce.

Objectives

To assess the extent to which limitations are acknowledged in biomedical publications explicitly, and implicitly by investigating the use of phrases that express uncertainty, so-called hedges; to assess the association between industry support and the extent of hedging.

Design

We analyzed reporting of limitations and use of hedges in 300 biomedical publications published in 30 high and medium -ranked journals in 2007. Hedges were assessed using linguistic software that assigned weights between 1 and 5 to each expression of uncertainty.

Results

Twenty-seven percent of publications (81/300) did not mention any limitations, while 73% acknowledged a median of 3 (range 1–8) limitations. Five percent mentioned a limitation in the abstract. After controlling for confounders, publications on industry-supported studies used significantly fewer hedges than publications not so supported (p = 0.028).

Limitations

Detection and classification of limitations was – to some extent – subjective. The weighting scheme used by the hedging detection software has subjective elements.

Conclusions

Reporting of limitations in biomedical publications is probably very incomplete. Transparent reporting of limitations may protect clinicians and guideline committees against overly confident beliefs and decisions and support scientific progress through better design, conduct or analysis of new studies.     

Individual variation in the development of the common toad, Bufo bufo (Anura, Bufonidae): 3. Limitations of individual variation and their causes

The results of studies on the axial skeleton of the common toad (a model species) have been used to analyze factual limitations of individual variation. The results show that the states of the studied characters do not freely combine with each other but are subject to certain morphogenetic limitations. The causes of most these limitations have been revealed during the study. Classification of the main factors limiting individual variation in the course of development is presented.     

田间冬小麦叶片光合午休过程中的非气孔限制

1　引　　言作物的光合午休是近几年作物栽培生理研究的热点之一 ,研究大都从生态、生理的各个方面阐述光合午休的成因与机理 ,如土壤水分降低 ,ＣＯ2 浓度下降 ,ＶＰＤ过高 ,气孔限制与非气孔限制 ,羧化效率降低等[4 ,6,10 ] .其中有关作物光合午休过程中的非气孔限制问题 ,多数研究仅根据Ｆａｒｑｕｈａｒ判据[2 ] 判断发生了非气孔限制即止 ,至于非气孔限制的具体内容 ,多见于讨论 ,缺乏直接的实验证据 .本文对大田生态条件下 ,冬小麦生育后期旗叶光合午休过程中的非气孔限制问题进行了较深入的研究 .2　材料与方法2 1　供试材料选用冬…     

Wiener-like system identification in physiology

Summary Applications of Wiener-like identification methods to biological systems have revealed several limitations of this technique. These practical limitations correspond to conceptual and mathematical problems intrinsic to this kind of identification of nonlinear systems.     

Effect of mass-transfer limitations on the selectivity of immobilized alpha-chymotrypsin biocatalysts prepared for use in organic medium

The selectivity of preparations of alpha-chymotrypsin immobilized on Celite or polyamide and carrying out syntheses of di- and tripeptides in acetonitrile medium were studied. The study concerns the effect of mass-transfer limitations on three different kinds of selectivity: acyl donor, stereo- and nucleophile selectivities, defined respectively as the ratio of initial rates with different acyl donors; the enantioselectivity factor (E); and the ratio of initial rates of peptide synthesis and hydrolysis of the acyl donor. Strong mass-transfer limitations caused by increased enzyme loading had a very strong effect on acyl donor selectivity, with reductions of up to 79%, and on stereoselectivity, with reductions of up to 77% in relation to optimum values, both on Celite. Nucleophile selectivity was not affected as strongly by mass-transfer limitations. Using a small molecule (AlaNH(2)) as nucleophile, the onset of these limitations caused only minor reductions in selectivity, while when using a larger nucleophilic species (AlaPheNH(2)) it was reduced by up to 60% when increasing enzyme loading on Celite from 2 to 100 mg/g. The different way these kinds of selectivity are affected by the onset of mass-transfer limitations can be explained by a combination of different aspects: the kinetic behavior of the enzyme toward nucleophile and acyl donor concentrations, the relative concentrations of reagents used in the reaction media, and their relative diffusion coefficients. In short, higher concentrations of nucleophile than acyl donor are generally used, and the nucleophile most often used in the experiments hereby described (AlaNH(2)) diffuses faster than the acyl donors employed. These factors combined are expected to give rise to concentration gradients inside porous biocatalyst particles higher for acyl donor than for nucleophile under conditions of mass-transfer limitations. This explains why acyl donor selectivity and stereoselectivity are much more influenced by mass transfer limitations than nucleophile selectivity.     

Deprivation payments to general practitioners: limitations of census data.

The census data from which deprivation payments have been calculated since June 1995 suffer from limitations including underenumeration; under counting of homeless people and refugees, and artefactual errors because of the way in which the 1991 census data were tabulated. These limitations reduced the fairness of the changes that many practices experienced in their deprivation payments. The validity of the current system of deprivation payments would be improved if these limitations were borne in mind when allocating payments to practices and if enumeration districts were used as the basis of payments rather than electoral wards.     

Burrow limitations and group living in the communally rearing rodent, Octodon degus

Group living is thought to evolve whenever individuals attain a net fitness advantage due to reduced predation risk or enhanced foraging efficiency, but also when individuals are forced to remain in groups, which often occurs during high-density conditions due to limitations of critical resources for independent breeding. The influence of ecological limitations on sociality has been studied little in species in which reproduction is more evenly shared among group members. Previous studies in the caviomorph rodent Octodon degus (a New World hystricognath) revealed no evidence that group living confers an advantage and suggest that burrow limitations influence formation of social groups. Our objective was to examine the relevance of ecological limitations on sociality in these rodents. Our 4-year study revealed no association between degu density and use of burrow systems. The frequency with which burrow systems were used by degus was not related to the quality of these structures; only in 1 of the 4 years did the frequency of burrow use decrease with decreasing abundance of food. Neither the number of females per group nor total group size (related measures of degu sociality) changed with yearly density of degus. Although the number of males within social groups was lower in 2008, this variation was not related clearly to varying density. The percentage of females in social groups that bred was close to 99% and did not change across years of varying density. Our results suggest that sociality in degus is not the consequence of burrow limitations during breeding. Whether habitat limitations contribute to variation in vertebrate social systems is discussed.     

植物光合作用限制因素与植被生产力研究进展

随着全球气候变化的加剧,陆地生态系统中植物光合作用限制影响程度的增加已成为降低全球植被净初级生产力的主要因素。系统了解植物光合作用限制因素是科学评估植被生产力的重要前提,也是缓解植物光合作用限制,增加植物光合碳同化能力的先决条件。对植物光合作用限制因素进行了系统解析,分析了光合作用三种限制因素生化限制(Biochemical limitation,l_b)、气孔限制(Stomatal limitation,l_s)、叶肉限制(Mesophyll limitation,l_m)的环境响应,重点讨论了叶肉限制及其影响机理,述评了光合作用限制定量分析方法及改善措施,最后以提高植被生产力为驱使目标,对未来植物光合作用限制因素研究提出以下内容：(1)基因工程技术与系统生物学数据相结合提高植被生产力;(2)气孔响应速度对植物光合作用的影响机制;(3)水通道蛋白(Aquaporin, AQPs)和碳酸酐酶(Carbonic anhydrase, CAs)感知环境信号变化的驱动基因。以期为未来气候变化背景下,深入认识和降低植物光合作用限制,提...     

Grammatical Difficulties in Children with Specific Language Impairment: Is Learning Deficient?

Theoretical accounts of grammatical limitations in specific language impairment (SLI) have been polarized between those that postulate problems with domain-specific grammatical knowledge, and those that regard grammatical deficits as downstream consequences of perceptual or memory limitations. Here we consider an alternative view that grammatical deficits arise when the learning system is biased towards memorization of exemplars, and is poor at extracting statistical dependencies from the input. We examine evidence that SLI involves deficits in extracting nonadjacent dependencies from input, leading to reliance on rote learning, and consider how far this may be part of a limitation of procedural learning, or a secondary consequence of memory limitations.     

The use of hydrolysis and hairpin probes in real-time PCR

In this review we discuss the limitations of traditional PCR methods and introduce real-time PCR, a fluorescence-based detection system, as a method that overcomes these limitations. We describe the technologies involved in real-time PCR including the design of hydrolysis and hairpin probes and the practical applications of such systems.     

A simple model analysis of product transfer through a non-impervious enzymic membrane

Summary Taking into account substrate diffusion limitations, computer simulation profiles of product distribution on both sides of a porous enzymic membrane are presented. In compartmentalized enzyme membrane systems like biosensors, the geometry of the system, membrane characteristics and hydrodynamic conditions play a prominent role in the product distribution relative to the substrate diffusional limitations.     

New dimensions for VIGS in plant functional genomics

Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) is an efficient tool for gene function studies. It has been used to perform both forward and reverse genetics to identify plant genes involved in several plant processes. However, this technology has not yet been used to its full potential. This can be attributed to several of its limitations such as inability to silence genes during seed germination and the non-stable nature of silencing. However, several recent studies have shown that these limitations can now be overcome. In this review, we will discuss the limitations of VIGS and suitable solutions. In addition, we also describe the recent improvements and future prospects of using VIGS in plant biology.     

Oral health-related well-being of the long-term hospitalised elderly

Objective: To investigate oral health‐related well‐being of the long‐term hospitalised elderly as reported by their primary nurses in relation to subject's oral health assessed either by primary nurses or by a clinical dental examination. Background data: Little is known about oral health‐related well‐being of the medically compromised, long‐term hospitalised elderly, most of whom are unable to express their feelings and opinions. Materials and methods: A cross‐sectional study using a questionnaire for primary nurses about oral health and oral health‐related well‐being regarding functional, pain/discomfort‐related, and psychosocial limitations of the subjects (n = 255) and assessment of oral health by clinical examination. The total number of limitations and the number of limitations in each category was calculated. Results: Most (77%) of our subjects were unable to eat normal food. Functional limitations dominated followed by psychosocial and pain/discomfort‐related limitations. Overall assessment by each subject's primary nurse ranked oral health of as good for 9% of subjects, as moderate for 44%, and as poor for 47%. Clinical examination‐based assessment ranked oral health as good for 19%, as moderate for 33%, and as poor for 48% of our subjects, with good oral health being ranked as good for more men than women (26% vs. 16%; p = 0.045). Fewer limitations were recorded for those with better oral health assessed both by primary nurse and by clinical examination. Conclusion: More efforts are called for to maintain the oral health of the long‐term hospitalised elderly so as to improve their well‐being.     

Mass transfer studies on immobilized alpha-chymotrypsin biocatalysts prepared by deposition for use in organic medium

Mass transfer limitations were studied in enzyme preparations of alpha-chymotrypsin made by deposition on different porous support materials such as controlled pore glasses, Celite, and polyamides of different particle sizes. It is the onset of mass transfer limitations that determines the position of the activity optimum with respect to enzyme loading on each support. The evidence of various experiments indicates that internal diffusional limitations are the important mechanism for the observed mass transfer limitations. External diffusion was not found to play an important role under the conditions used, and it was also found that when immobilizing multilayers of enzyme the buried enzyme molecules are active to a large extent. An extreme situation is observed on Celite at very high loadings. Under these conditions, this support is expected to have its pores completely filled with packed enzyme molecules, and then it is the diffusion within the enzyme layer that determines the observed rate. As the enzyme loading increases, the area of contact between the deposited enzyme layers and the liquid solution inside the pores diminishes, causing a decrease on the observed rate of an intrinsically fast reaction which apparently is incongruous with the presence of more enzyme in the system. This work shows that mass transfer limitations can be an important factor when working with immobilized enzymes in organic media, and its study should be carried out in order to avoid undesired reduced enzyme activities and specificities.     

Modifying secretion and post-translational processing in insect cells

The baculovirus-insect cell system is a valuable tool for the expression of heterologous proteins. Due to limitations in the intracellular processing environment, however, heterologous secreted and membrane proteins are often insoluble, poorly processed, or contain 'non-human' modifications. Recent attempts to modify the insect cell secretory pathway by overexpressing processing factors have demonstrated the potential to overcome these limitations.