Mutational meltdown or controlled chain reaction: The dynamics of rapid plastome evolution in the hyperdiversity of Poaceae

The study of genomic structural evolution associated with accelerated evolutionary rates that result in avoidance of meltdown and increase biodiversity is becoming ever more possible as the number of available plastomes increases. To more comprehensively analyze rate heterogeneity among monocots and within Poaceae, we sequenced plastomes from four Poaceae species, combined them with publicly available data from ~200 plastomes, and conducted comparative analyses to quantify the pattern of rate heterogeneity between different lineages, functional groups, and periods of evolutionary time. We compared structural differences across the Poaceae to quantify how changes in plastome size correspond to different genomic subunits and the evolution of IR–SC junction boundaries. The substitution rates among ancestral Poaceae were inferred to be exceptionally rapid compared to other monocots but slowed after divergence into extant lineages, which could not be sufficiently explained by positive selection. As such, rapid rates in the ancestral lineage leading to Poaceae might be more closely linked to large-scale structural changes like the loss of ycf1 and ycf2. The total increase in plastome size across Poaceae was positively correlated with the total length of intergenic spacers, tandem repeats, and dispersed repeats as well as large single copy, and inverted repeats (IRs). The continuous evolution of IR–SC junction boundaries was asynchronous with sizes of total genome and subunits across Poaceae. Future work is needed to better understand what factors in ancestral Poaceae evolved to harness such rapid rates of plastome evolution, avoid a mutational meltdown, and escape the stagnation of strong purifying selection as well as if these factors could be utilized to synthetically control rates.     

Do urinary mononuclear cells reflect disease activity in lupus nephritis?

Glomerular inflammation is associated with urinary mononuclear cells (UMC) in a number of diseases including IgA nephropathy and glomerulonephritis. We examined UMC from children with lupus nephritis for a number of years to characterize the types of mononuclear cells found in urine and to determine if they were associated with active lupus nephritis. Detailed analysis of UMC by cell counts and by flow cytometry showed that monocytes were the clearly dominant cell type. Evaluation of the smaller number of lymphocytes found in the urine of patients with active lupus nephritis demonstrated a strong predominance of CD8+ lymphocytes, in contrast to the normal CD4+/CD8+ ratio that is found in peripheral blood. The degree of proteinuria strongly correlated with the presence of UMC. The UMC counts decreased as their clinical condition improved as indicated by lower indices of flare. These observations suggest that UMC may be a valuable tool in detecting and monitoring disease activity in patients with severe lupus nephritis. More importantly, this study indicated that both monocytes and cytotoxic CD8+ T cells may play a role in pathogenesis of lupus nephritis.     

Determination of benflumetol in human plasma by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection

A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of benflumetol in human plasma is described. Benflumetol in plasma samples was extracted with a glacial acetic acid-ethyl acetate (1:100, v/v) mixture at pH 4.0. Chromatography was performed on a Spherisorb C₁₈ column using a methanol-water-glacial acetic acid-diethyl amine (93:6:1:0.03, v/v) mixture as the mobile phase and UV-VIS detection at 335 nm. The identity and purity of the benflumetol peak were carefully examined, and the internal standard method was applied for its quantitation. The absolute recovery of benflumetol in spiked plasma samples was 92.91% over the concentration range 5–4000 ng/ml. The recovery of internal standard “8212” at a concentration of 300 ng/ml in spiked plasma was 84.85%. The detection limit of benflumetol was 11.8 ng/ml. Plasma concentration-time profiles in healthy volunteer adults were measured after a single-dose oral administration of 500 mg of benflumetol. The assay procedures were within the quality control limits.     

青海湖裸鲤寄生舌状绦虫的空间格局研究

舌状绦虫裂头蚴只寄生在体长小于２２０ｍｍ的青海湖裸鲤中,其种群在宿主种群中呈聚集分布。其聚集分布的强度随寄生虫种群平均密度的增加而降低。由于舌状绦虫在宿主体腔生长,产生明显的空间拥挤效应,可能导致宿主死亡或被食鱼鸟类捕食而转移到终末宿主中。在体长小于１２０ｍｍ的宿主中,密度依赖的死亡过程可能是使聚集强度降低的原因;而体长１４０－２００ｍｍ的鱼中,则是非密度依赖的全死过程使聚集强度增加．     

超氧化物歧化酶模拟化合物的生物活性研究

根据天然超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)活性部位结构合成了含苯并咪唑的5种配体及其32种分别含Cu（Ⅱ）、Fe（Ⅲ）、Mn（Ⅱ）、Co（Ⅱ）的模拟化合物.经光谱、电化学测试证明这些化合物具有拟S3D活性,其50％抑制率浓度（IC50）为10-6～10-8mol·L-1,催化超氧离子自由基（O-·2）歧化的反应速率常数kq为106～108mol-1·L·s-1.同时观察到几种模拟化合物有抗肿瘤活性或增强水稻抗寒性.     

检测香蕉花叶心腐病病原CMV的PAS—ELISA方法的改进

作为一种快速、敏感的免疫学方法,ELISA已被广泛地用于植物病毒的研究与应用性检测方面。在实验室中用PAS-ELISA检测香蕉花叶心腐病病原CMV已被证明是一种获得无CMV组培苗的有效手段。在香蕉无病毒组培苗工厂化大批量生产中,我们应用此法作为质量控制的手段之一,剔除病苗,保证产品不带CMV,获得一定成效。但同时我们也发现,香蕉组织中含有引起非特异性吸附反应的物     

日粮水平对鲇鱼日总代谢,特殊动力作用和活动代谢的影响

在２５℃不同日粮水平（饥饿─４％体重／ｄ）条件下,采用封闭式呼吸仪测定了３１尾鲇鱼（体重７２．９─１３３．３ｇ）的日总代谢率,然后,将鱼限制在呼吸室中的限动笼内测定了其中２０尾鲇鱼的静止日总代谢率,并计算出了鲇鱼的特殊动力作用（ＳＤＡ）和活动代谢率。日总代谢率和活动代谢率都随日粮水平的升高呈“Ｖ”形变化,分别在约１％和２％体重／ｄ的日粮水平时最低,ＳＤＡ的能量支出占摄入能量的２２．１４％。