Learning chronobiology by improving wikipedia

Although chronobiology is of growing interest to scientists, physicians, and the general public, access to recent discoveries and historical perspectives is limited. Wikipedia is an online, user-written encyclopedia that could enhance public access to current understanding in chronobiology. However, Wikipedia is lacking important information and is not universally trusted. Here, 46 students in a university course edited Wikipedia to enhance public access to important discoveries in chronobiology. Students worked for an average of 9 h each to evaluate the primary literature and available Wikipedia information, nominated sites for editing, and, after voting, edited the 15 Wikipedia pages they determined to be highest priorities. This assignment (http://www.nslc.wustl.edu/courses/Bio4030/wikipedia_project.html) was easy to implement, required relatively short time commitments from the professor and students, and had measurable impacts on Wikipedia and the students. Students created 3 new Wikipedia sites, edited 12 additional sites, and cited 347 peer-reviewed articles. The targeted sites all became top hits in online search engines. Because their writing was and will be read by a worldwide audience, students found the experience rewarding. Students reported significantly increased comfort with reading, critiquing, and summarizing primary literature and benefited from seeing their work edited by other scientists and editors of Wikipedia. We conclude that, in a short project, students can assist in making chronobiology widely accessible and learn from the editorial process.     

环境因子对黄海南部春季帆张网小黄鱼和黄鮟鱇渔获分布的影响

帆张网渔业是黄海南部重要的渔业捕捞方式之一.本文根据2006-2009年春季黄海南部帆张网的渔获数据,利用广义线性模型(GLM)和广义加性模型(GAM)定量研究了年份、位置、水深和海水表层温度(SST)对小黄鱼和黄鮟鱇渔获量分布的影响.结果表明:GAM模型较GLM模型可以更好地解释小黄鱼和黄鮟鱇单位捕捞努力量渔获量(CPUE)时空分布与环境因子之间的关系.小黄鱼和黄鮟鱇CPUE呈显著负相关,小黄鱼CPUE呈现由北向南沿纬度方向逐渐减小的趋势,尤其在长江口周围较小;黄鮟鱇CPUE在长江口附近也较小.SST对小黄鱼和黄鮟鱇CPUE的影响显著,小黄鱼和黄鮟鱇适宜表温范围分别为9～11℃和9～14℃.     

低温木聚糖酶的研究进展

低温木聚糖酶在低温下仍具有较高酶活力及催化效率,在应用中能减少工艺流程,节省加热或冷却费用,降低耗能,有着中高温木聚糖酶无法比拟的优势。针对低温木聚糖酶的研究现状,包括来源、分子结构与适冷机制、基因工程及应用等方面进行综述。     

利用异源生物生产青蒿素及其前体的研究进展

青蒿素是从中药青蒿中分离出来的一种倍半萜内酯类化合物,也是目前最有效的抗疟疾药物,对人类健康意义重大。该文通过对青蒿素生物合成途径及其相关酶的介绍,综述了利用异源生物通过组合生物合成途径生产青蒿素及其前体的最新研究进展。     

一株芝麻香型白酒高温大曲嗜热放线菌的分离与鉴定

自芝麻香型白酒高温大曲中分离到一株嗜热放线菌Zm60,对其进行形态学、生理生化代谢特征鉴定、化学成分分析以及细胞代谢酶活性测定,并结合16S rRNA基因序列分子生物学鉴定及系统发育学分析,结果表明,该菌株归属于高温放线菌属(Thermoactinomyces sp.),并且可鉴定为普通高温放线菌(Thermoactinomyces vulgaris).其最适生长温度为55℃,细胞壁肽聚糖及氨基酸分别为meso-DAP及Ala、Glu,醌为MK-7,主要脂肪酸组成分别为iso-C15∶0(44.01％)、anteiso-C15∶0(22.23％)、iso-C17∶0(14.16％)、anteiso-C17∶0(7.56％)和iso-C16∶0(6.18％),具有碱性磷酸盐酶、酯酶、类脂酯酶及萘酚-AS-BI-磷酸水解酶的活性.该菌株是首次从我国芝麻香型白酒高温大曲中分离并鉴定得到的高温放线菌.     

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate, a glycolytic intermediate, prevents cells from apoptosis by lowering S-nitrosylation of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate (G-3-P), the substrate of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), is a key intermediate in several metabolic pathways. Recently, we reported that G-3-P directly inhibits caspase-3 activity in a reversible noncompetitive mode, suggesting the intracellular G-3-P level as a cell fate decision factor. It has been known that apoptotic stimuli induce the generation of NO, and NO S-nitrosylates GAPDH at the catalytic cysteine residue, which confers GAPDH the ability to bind to Siah-1, an E3 ubiquitin ligase. The GAPDH-Siah-1 complex is translocated into the nucleus and subsequently triggers the apoptotic process. Here, we clearly showed that intracellular G-3-P protects GAPDH from S-nitrosylation at above a certain level, and consequently maintains the cell survival. In case G-3-P drops below a certain level as a result of exposure to specific stimuli, G-3-P cannot inhibit S-nitrosylation of GAPDH anymore, and consequently GAPDH translocates with Siah-1 into the nucleus. Based on these results, we suggest that G-3-P functions as a molecule switch between cell survival and apoptosis by regulating S-nitrosylation of GAPDH.     

Orchitis: a complication of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus has been known to damage multiple organs; however, little is known about its impact on the reproductive system. In the present study, we analyzed the pathological changes of testes from six patients who died of SARS. Results suggested that SARS caused orchitis. All SARS testes displayed widespread germ cell destruction, few or no spermatozoon in the seminiferous tubule, thickened basement membrane, and leukocyte infiltration. The numbers of CD3+ T lymphocytes and CD68+ macrophages increased significantly in the interstitial tissue compared with the control group (P < 0.05). SARS viral genomic sequences were not detected in the testes by in situ hybridization. Immunohistochemistry demonstrated abundant IgG precipitation in the seminiferous epithelium of SARS testes, indicating possible immune response as the cause for the damage. Our findings indicated that orchitis is a complication of SARS. It further suggests that the reproductive functions should be followed and evaluated in recovered male SARS patients.     

Joint models for multivariate longitudinal and multivariate survival data

Joint modeling of longitudinal and survival data is becoming increasingly essential in most cancer and AIDS clinical trials. We propose a likelihood approach to extend both longitudinal and survival components to be multidimensional. A multivariate mixed effects model is presented to explicitly capture two different sources of dependence among longitudinal measures over time as well as dependence between different variables. For the survival component of the joint model, we introduce a shared frailty, which is assumed to have a positive stable distribution, to induce correlation between failure times. The proposed marginal univariate survival model, which accommodates both zero and nonzero cure fractions for the time to event, is then applied to each marginal survival function. The proposed multivariate survival model has a proportional hazards structure for the population hazard, conditionally as well as marginally, when the baseline covariates are specified through a specific mechanism. In addition, the model is capable of dealing with survival functions with different cure rate structures. The methodology is specifically applied to the International Breast Cancer Study Group (IBCSG) trial to investigate the relationship between quality of life, disease-free survival, and overall survival.     

Comparative genomic analysis links karyotypic evolution with genomic evolution in the Indian Muntjac (Muntiacus muntjak vaginalis)

The karyotype of Indian muntjacs (Muntiacus muntjak vaginalis) has been greatly shaped by chromosomal fusion, which leads to its lowest diploid number among the extant known mammals. We present, here, comparative results based on draft sequences of 37 bacterial artificial clones (BAC) clones selected by chromosome painting for this special muntjac species. Sequence comparison on these BAC clones uncovered sequence syntenic relationships between the muntjac genome and those of other mammals. We found that the muntjac genome has peculiar features with respect to intron size and evolutionary rates of genes. Inspection of more than 80 pairs of orthologous introns from 15 genes reveals a significant reduction in intron size in the Indian muntjac compared to that of human, mouse, and dog. Evolutionary analysis using 19 genes indicates that the muntjac genes have evolved rapidly compared to other mammals. In addition, we identified and characterized sequence composition of the first BAC clone containing a chromosomal fusion site. Our results shed new light on the genome architecture of the Indian muntjac and suggest that chromosomal rearrangements have been accompanied by other salient genomic changes. Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at and is accessible for authorized users.Qi Zhou, Ling Huang, Jianguo Zhang: these authors contributed equally to the paper.Sequence data from this article have been deposited in the GenBank Libraries under Accession No. DQ280153-DQ280188, DQ377335, DQ458964.