Comparative study of the cardioprotective effects of local and remote preconditioning in ischemia/reperfusion injury

AimsThough the cardioprotective effects of local or remote preconditioning have been estimated, it is still unclear which of them is more reliable and provides more cardioprotection. The present investigation was directed to compare, in one study, the cardioprotective effects of different cycles of local or remote preconditioning in ischemia/reperfusion (I/R)-induced electrophysiological, biochemical and histological changes in rats.Main methodsRats were randomly assigned into 10 groups. Groups 1 and 2 were normal and I/R groups, respectively. Other groups were subjected to 1, 2, 3, 4 cycles of local or remote preconditioning before myocardial I/R (40 min/10 min). Heart rate and ventricular arrhythmias were recorded during I/R progress. At the end of reperfusion, plasma creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB) activity and total nitrate/nitrite (NO_x) were determined. In addition, lactate, adenine nucleotides, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), reduced glutathione (GSH) and myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity were estimated in the heart left ventricle. Histological examination was also performed to visualize the protective cellular effects of the effective cycle of local or remote preconditioning.Key findingsIn general, local preconditioning was more effective than remote preconditioning in reducing ventricular arrhythmias, CK-MB release, lactate accumulation and elevated MPO activity as well as preserving adenine nucleotides. Concerning the most effective group in each therapy, 3 cycles of local preconditioning provided more cardioprotection than that of remote preconditioning in the histological examination.SignificanceDespite being invasive, local preconditioning provided more effective cardioprotection than remote preconditioning in ameliorating the overall electrophysiological, biochemical and histological changes.     

Scaling up functional traits for ecosystem services with remote sensing: concepts and methods

Ecosystem service‐based management requires an accurate understanding of how human modification influences ecosystem processes and these relationships are most accurate when based on functional traits. Although trait variation is typically sampled at local scales, remote sensing methods can facilitate scaling up trait variation to regional scales needed for ecosystem service management. We review concepts and methods for scaling up plant and animal functional traits from local to regional spatial scales with the goal of assessing impacts of human modification on ecosystem processes and services. We focus our objectives on considerations and approaches for (1) conducting local plot‐level sampling of trait variation and (2) scaling up trait variation to regional spatial scales using remotely sensed data. We show that sampling methods for scaling up traits need to account for the modification of trait variation due to land cover change and species introductions. Sampling intraspecific variation, stratification by land cover type or landscape context, or inference of traits from published sources may be necessary depending on the traits of interest. Passive and active remote sensing are useful for mapping plant phenological, chemical, and structural traits. Combining these methods can significantly improve their capacity for mapping plant trait variation. These methods can also be used to map landscape and vegetation structure in order to infer animal trait variation. Due to high context dependency, relationships between trait variation and remotely sensed data are not directly transferable across regions. We end our review with a brief synthesis of issues to consider and outlook for the development of these approaches. Research that relates typical functional trait metrics, such as the community‐weighted mean, with remote sensing data and that relates variation in traits that cannot be remotely sensed to other proxies is needed. Our review narrows the gap between functional trait and remote sensing methods for ecosystem service management.     

局域种群的Allee效应和集合种群的同步性

从包含Allee效应的局域种群出发,建立了耦合映像格子模型,即集合种群模型.通过分析和计算机模拟表明:(1)当局域种群受到Allee效应强度较大时,集合种群同步灭绝;(2)而当Allee效应强度相对较弱时,通过稳定局域种群动态(减少混沌)使得集合种群发生同步波动,而这种同步波动能够增加集合种群的灭绝风险;(3)斑块间的连接程度对集合种群同步波动的发生有很大的影响,适当的破碎化有利于集合种群的续存.全局迁移和Allee效应结合起来增加了集合种群同步波动的可能,从而增加集合种群的灭绝风险.这些结果对理解同步性的机理、利用同步机理来制定物种保护策略和害虫防治都有重要的意义.     

人工绿洲对夏季气候变化趋势的影响

在绿洲的气候环境效应方面 ,此前的研究主要是基于个别地点的短期 (几天或几个月 )观测资料进行对比 ,分析绿洲与荒漠之间的要素差异和能量交换机制。通过细致筛选那些观测环境变化小、人口密度低、没有进行大规模水土开发地区的气象站 ,建立了反映背景变化的气候序列 ,同时选择不同地区的气象站建立了绿洲气候序列 ,分析背景与绿洲在气温、降水、水汽压、蒸发、风速等 9个气候因子近 5 0 a来气候趋势变化率的差异 ,研究绿洲发展对长年代气候变化的综合影响。结果表明 ,绿洲发展产生的气候环境效应在影响局部地区长期气候变化趋势方面是十分明显的。在夏季 ,绿洲平均气温的增温变化趋势要小于背景变化趋势 ,有些绿洲地区如吐 -善 -托盆地和叶尔羌河流域绿洲气温变化趋势还略呈下降趋势。绿洲地区对最高气温的变化趋势有着明显的抑制作用。其中 ,叶尔羌河流域绿洲和塔里木河中游地区绿洲最高气温变化趋势略呈下降趋势。绿洲地区对最低气温上升的变化趋势有一定的加强影响 ,绿洲效应使日较差正在变的越来越小。夏季绿洲对空中水汽压的增加十分明显 ,使蒸发潜力变得越来越弱 ,对降水有一定程度的增加作用。绿洲效应最为显著的一个方面是风速的变化 ,绿洲使平均风速和大风日数大幅度减少     

基于CFD的城市绿地空间格局热环境效应分析

运用CFD数值模拟方法,结合RS技术,对城市中五类常见的绿地空间格局在垂直和水平方向上进行温度场和风速场数值模拟,以探讨绿地空间格局对城市热环境的影响程度及方式。在绿地的垂直结构上,灌木层对流场的影响要大于乔木层;而乔木层对绿地内部的降温作用更为明显。在绿地的水平布局形式中,在绿地率相当的情况下,楔状格局具有较好的热环境效应,即该格局在城市中的降温效果最为明显;放射状和条带状的次之,点状格局对周边环境的降温效果要弱些,但各"绿点"(即组成该格局的各块绿地)在小范围内降温效果比较明显,可以作为改善局部小气候的手段;环状格局热环境效应最弱。将CFD技术引入城市热环境研究,利用遥感技术对其进行参数修正,使热环境研究更加准确完整,具有经济高效方便等优点。     

Construction and Analysis of an Augmented Lattice Square Design

Augmented designs are useful for screening experiments involving large numbers of new and untried treatments. Since resolvable row‐column designs are useful for controlling extraneous variation, it is desirable to use such designs for the check or standard treatments to construct augmented lattice square experiment designs. A simple procedure is described for constructing such designs using c = 2k and c = 3k check treatments and n = rk(k ‐— 2) and n = rk(k — 3) new treatments, respectively, r being the number of complete blocks. A trend analysis for these designs, which allows for solutions of fixed effects, is presented. The random effects case is also discussed. A SAS computer code and the output from this code illustrated with a small numerical example are available from the author.     

Temporal changes of local and regional processes in the assembly of herbivorous insect communities

Herbivorous insect communities are structured by multiple processes operating locally (e.g. bottom–up effects of plants) and regionally (e.g. dispersal limitation). Although the relative strength of these processes has been well documented, how it varies in time is less understood, especially in relation with the temporal dynamics of plant communities. If temporal turnover of local plant species composition is too rapid for insect community assembly to keep up with, bottom–up effects are expected to be weak. Here, in plant and herbivorous insect communities in Japanese grasslands, we studied how the relative importance of local (bottom–up effects of plants, structures of plant communities and top–down effects of predators) and regional (dispersal limitation) processes varies over the growing season. In addition, we tested the hypothesis that larger temporal turnover of plant species composition is related to the weaker bottom–up effects, that is, the lower explanation power of plant communities for insect communities. We found that, throughout the growing season, the insect species composition was mainly explained by local variables (plant species composition, vegetation height and predator abundance), and their explanation power was higher during later phases of the season (late summer). Furthermore, the variation not explained by plant species composition was correlated with the degree of temporal turnover of plants, suggesting that insect communities failed to track the temporal turnover of plant species. These results were pronounced when we focused on leaf sucker insects, whose host plant range is presumably more limited. We conclude that herbivorous insect communities are mainly regulated by local processes, especially bottom–up effects from plants, while stochasticity may have played a role in early phases of the season. Furthermore, we underscore the importance of considering relative time scale of community assembly and environmental shifts, especially in systems characterized by dynamic changes.     

Remote Excited Raman Optical Activity of Adenine Along Ag Plasmonic Waveguide

We report the remote excited Raman optical activity (ROA) of adenine along Ag plasmonic waveguide. First, the surface plasmons that propagate along Ag nanowire is demonstrated experimentally. Second, the Raman spectra of adenine are measured experimentally. Third, the remote exited ROA by plasmonic waveguide are measured and compared. It is found that the plasmon chirality strongly influenced the molecular ORA by the local surface plasmon and remote plasmon waveguide. The plasmon chirality of nanostructures and the chirality plasmon waveguide should be considered in the experiments for the local and remote measurement.     

Quantifying effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning across times and places

Biodiversity loss decreases ecosystem functioning at the local scales at which species interact, but it remains unclear how biodiversity loss affects ecosystem functioning at the larger scales of space and time that are most relevant to biodiversity conservation and policy. Theory predicts that additional insurance effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning could emerge across time and space if species respond asynchronously to environmental variation and if species become increasingly dominant when and where they are most productive. Even if only a few dominant species maintain ecosystem functioning within a particular time and place, ecosystem functioning may be enhanced by many different species across many times and places (β‐diversity). Here, we develop and apply a new approach to estimate these previously unquantified insurance effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning that arise due to species turnover across times and places. In a long‐term (18‐year) grassland plant diversity experiment, we find that total insurance effects are positive in sign and substantial in magnitude, amounting to 19% of the net biodiversity effect, mostly due to temporal insurance effects. Species loss can therefore reduce ecosystem functioning both locally and by eliminating species that would otherwise enhance ecosystem functioning across temporally fluctuating and spatially heterogeneous environments.     

大坝的生态效应:概念、研究热点及展望

大坝产生的生态效应涉及范围广、周期长,在对社会经济发展起到积极作用的同时,也对生态、环境造成了一定的影响。在评述国内外对大坝生态效应概念和内涵理解的基础上,提出了大坝生态效应链和生态效应网的概念。依据大坝建设和运行的特点,结合流域生态系统的特征分别论述了大坝对水文、局地生态的调节效应以及屏障效应和岛屿化、截留效应、边缘效应、水温效应等国内外研究的热点。最后,提出了今后大坝生态效应的研究方向:1)生态正效应、生态效应链和生态效应网;2)生态系统过程和状态生态效应;3)不同时空尺度下生态效应及其尺度推绎方法等3个方面的研究。     

地形校正对森林生物量遥感估测的影响

基于常用的4种地形校正模型（Cosine模型、C模型、C+SCS模型、Minnaert模型）,以IDL语言为二次开发平台,对黑龙江省帽儿山地区2007年7月21日TM图像进行地形校正,从视觉差异、图像的定量统计特征两方面评价了4种地形校正模型的修正效果,并比较了地形校正后几种遥感因子与森林生物量的相关性,建立了森林生物量的遥感反演模型,分析了不同地形校正模型对森林生物量反演的影响.结果表明：由于K-T变换采用线性变换方式,地形校正后遥感数据与森林生物量的相关性出现了较大波动,应根据地表信息调整变换参数,因此该变换方式不适合与地形校正结合使用;植被指数的信息量在地形校正后明显提高,其与森林生物量的相关性显著增强;4种地形校正模型中,Cosine校正过度,不宜采用,C模型和C+SCS模型通过引入半经验参数,较好地消除了地形效应,Minnaert模型校正后降低了森林生物量估测的误差,有效地提高了遥感反演模型的精度.     

Integration of data from remote monitoring systems and programmers into the hospital electronic health record system based on international standards

Remote follow-up of implanted ICDs may offer a solution to the problem of overcrowded outpatient clinics. All major device companies have developed a remote follow-up solution. Data obtained from the remote follow-up systems are stored in a central database system, operated and owned by the device company and accessible for the physician or technician. However, the problem now arises that part of the patient's clinical information is stored in the local electronic health record (EHR) system in the hospital, while another part is only available in the remote monitoring database. This may potentially result in patient safety issues. Ideally all information should become available in the EHR system. IHE (Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise) is an initiative to improve the way computer systems in healthcare share information. To address the requirement of integrating remote monitoring data in the local EHR, the IHE Implantable Device Cardiac Observation (IDCO) profile has been developed. In our hospital, we have implemented the IHE IDCO profile to import data from the remote databases from two device vendors into the departmental Cardiology Information System. Data are exchanged via an HL7/XML communication protocol, as defined in the IHE IDCO profile.     

Local and Remote Sequelæ of Infection in the Parodontal Sulcus: (Section of Odontology)

(1) It is shown in this paper that the infecting organisms in the parodontal sulcus are confined to the surface, but may be forced into the blood and lymph stream by traumatic interference.2. Local and general disturbances may therefore arise both as a result of the absorption of soluble toxic matter from the pocket into the tissues and also as a result of this traumatic introduction of organisms into the blood-stream.3. The effect of toxic absorption on the local tissues is destruction of the attachment of the tooth-pyorrh?a.4. The remote effects of toxic absorption may be a similar destruction of the connective tissue generally-arthritis and fibrositis. The liver and kidney may suffer since they excrete the toxic matter, and other susceptible tissues may also be involved.5. Traumatic bacter?mia may produce local bone necrosis or "dry" socket. Acute suppurative lymphangitis produces the "pyorrh?tic abscess".6. The remote effect of bacter?mia may be to produce osteomyelitis (e.g. of the tibia) or to convert a simple endocarditis into the bacterial type.7. The mechanism of bone absorption and deposition in response to irritation is discussed.8. Methods of eliminating parodontal infection are referred to and the importance of complete elimination is stressed. It is shown to be not incompatible with the conservation of the teeth.     

A review on substances and processes relevant for optical remote sensing of extremely turbid marine areas, with a focus on the Wadden Sea

The interpretation of optical remote sensing data of estuaries and tidal flat areas is hampered by optical complexity and often extreme turbidity. Extremely high concentrations of suspended matter, chlorophyll and dissolved organic matter, local differences, seasonal and tidal variations and resuspension are important factors influencing the optical properties in such areas. This review gives an overview of the processes in estuaries and tidal flat areas and the implications of these for remote sensing in such areas, using the Wadden Sea as a case study area. Results show that remote sensing research in extremely turbid estuaries and tidal areas is possible. However, this requires sensors with a large ground resolution, algorithms tuned for high concentrations of various substances and the local specific optical properties of these substances, a simultaneous detection of water colour and land–water boundaries, a very short time lag between acquisition of remote sensing and in situ data used for validation and sufficient geophysical and ecological knowledge of the area.     

Effects of prey refuges on a predator-prey model with a class of functional responses: The role of refuges

In this paper, the effects of refuges used by prey on a predator-prey interaction with a class of functional responses are studied by using the analytical approach. The refuges are considered as two types: a constant proportion of prey and a fixed number of prey using refuges. We will evaluate the effects with regard to the local stability of the interior equilibrium point, the values of the equilibrium density and the long-term dynamics of the interacting populations. The results show that the effects of refuges used by prey increase the equilibrium density of prey population while decrease that of predators. It is also proved that the effects of refuges can stabilize the interior equilibrium point of the considered model, and destabilize it under a very restricted set of conditions which is disagreement with previous results in this field.     

Local T cell responses induce widespread MHC expression. Evidence that IFN-gamma induces its own expression in remote sites.

Local inflammation induces increased expression of MHC and other genes in the affected tissue because of the paracrine effects of cytokines such as IFN-gamma. We previously reported that one such process--local allograft rejection--was accompanied by increased expression of MHC in a remote tissue, namely kidney. To explore how local inflammation affects gene expression in remote tissues, we studied MHC, beta 2-microglobulin, and IFN-gamma expression in mice undergoing either of two T cell-dependent localized inflammatory processes: rejection of an ascites tumor allograft, and skin sensitization by oxazalone. As assessed by binding of radiolabeled mAb and by immunohistology, each stimulus increased MHC expression in many remote tissues, including liver, heart, pancreas, and kidney. This was associated with increases in steady state mRNA for class I, class II, and beta 2-microglobulin. MHC induction was inhibited by the in vivo administration of cyclosporine or anti-IFN-gamma mAb and did not occur in nude mice, confirming the key role of IFN-gamma released from T cells. When we examined tissues of mice with these localized inflammatory lesions for IFN-gamma mRNA levels by polymerase chain reaction, we found that IFN-gamma steady state mRNA levels were increased in the spleen and, more surprisingly, in the kidney, and in uninvolved skin. Moreover, anti-IFN-gamma inhibited the induction of IFN-gamma mRNA in the kidney, suggesting that IFN-gamma expression was induced by IFN-gamma in an autoregulatory fashion. Thus the systemic MHC induction accompanying local T cell-mediated inflammation reflects the release of IFN-gamma from the site of inflammation, but may be amplified by the ability of IFN-gamma to induce its own expression in remote tissues. This self-amplification of IFN-gamma may contribute to the ability of local inflammation to induce extensive systemic effects.     

The biogeochemical heterogeneity of tropical forests

Tropical forests are renowned for their biological diversity, but also harbor variable combinations of soil age, chemistry and susceptibility to erosion or tectonic uplift. Here we contend that the combined effects of this biotic and abiotic diversity promote exceptional biogeochemical heterogeneity at multiple scales. At local levels, high plant diversity creates variation in chemical and structural traits that affect plant production, decomposition and nutrient cycling. At regional levels, myriad combinations of soil age, soil chemistry and landscape dynamics create variation and uncertainty in limiting nutrients that do not exist at higher latitudes. The effects of such heterogeneity are not well captured in large-scale estimates of tropical ecosystem function, but we suggest new developments in remote sensing can help bridge the gap.     

The extended Moran effect and large-scale synchronous fluctuations in the size of great tit and blue tit populations

1. Synchronous fluctuations of geographically separated populations are in general explained by the Moran effect, i.e. a common influence on the local population dynamics of environmental variables that are correlated in space. Empirical support for such a Moran effect has been difficult to provide, mainly due to problems separating out effects of local population dynamics, demographic stochasticity and dispersal that also influence the spatial scaling of population processes. Here we generalize the Moran effect by decomposing the spatial autocorrelation function for fluctuations in the size of great tit Parus major and blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus populations into components due to spatial correlations in the environmental noise, local differences in the strength of density regulation and the effects of demographic stochasticity. 2. Differences between localities in the strength of density dependence and nonlinearity in the density regulation had a small effect on population synchrony, whereas demographic stochasticity reduced the effects of the spatial correlation in environmental noise on the spatial correlations in population size by 21.7% and 23.3% in the great tit and blue tit, respectively. 3. Different environmental variables, such as beech mast and climate, induce a common environmental forcing on the dynamics of central European great and blue tit populations. This generates synchronous fluctuations in the size of populations located several hundred kilometres apart. 4. Although these environmental variables were autocorrelated over large areas, their contribution to the spatial synchrony in the population fluctuations differed, dependent on the spatial scaling of their effects on the local population dynamics. We also demonstrate that this effect can lead to the paradoxical result that a common environmental variable can induce spatial desynchronization of the population fluctuations. 5. This demonstrates that a proper understanding of the ecological consequences of environmental changes, especially those that occur simultaneously over large areas, will require information about the spatial scaling of their effects on local population dynamics.     

Pairwise alignment incorporating dipeptide covariation

MOTIVATION: Standard algorithms for pairwise protein sequence alignment make the simplifying assumption that amino acid substitutions at neighboring sites are uncorrelated. This assumption allows implementation of fast algorithms for pairwise sequence alignment, but it ignores information that could conceivably increase the power of remote homolog detection. We examine the validity of this assumption by constructing extended substitution matrices that encapsulate the observed correlations between neighboring sites, by developing an efficient and rigorous algorithm for pairwise protein sequence alignment that incorporates these local substitution correlations and by assessing the ability of this algorithm to detect remote homologies. RESULTS: Our analysis indicates that local correlations between substitutions are not strong on the average. Furthermore, incorporating local substitution correlations into pairwise alignment did not lead to a statistically significant improvement in remote homology detection. Therefore, the standard assumption that individual residues within protein sequences evolve independently of neighboring positions appears to be an efficient and appropriate approximation.     

Local and remote arteriolar dilations initiated by skeletal muscle contraction

To investigate the relationship between skeletal muscle metabolism and arteriolar dilations in the region local to contracting muscle fibers as well as dilations at remote arteriolar regions upstream, we used a microelectrode on cremaster muscle of anesthetized hamsters to stimulate four to five muscle fibers lying approximately perpendicular to and overlapping a transverse arteriole. Before, during, and after muscle contraction, we measured the diameter of the arteriole at the site of muscle fiber overlap (local) and at a remote site approximately 1,000 microm upstream. Two minutes of 2-, 4-, or 8-Hz stimulation (5-10 V, 0.4-ms duration) produced a significant dilation locally (8.2 +/- 2.0-, 22.5 +/- 2.4-, and 30.9 +/- 2.1-microm increase, respectively) and at the remote site (4.2 +/- 0.8, 11.0 +/- 1.1, and 18.9 +/- 2.7 microm, respectively). Muscle contraction at 4 Hz initiated a remote dilation that was unaffected by 15-min micropipette application of either 2 microM tetrodotoxin, 0.07% halothane, or 40 microM 18-beta-glycyrrhetinic acid between the local and upstream site. Therefore, at the arteriolar level, muscle contraction initiates a robust remote dilation that does not appear to be transmitted via perivascular nerves or gap junctions.