Comment on drag and reconfiguration of macrophytes

1. The experimental approach of Sand‐Jensen (2003) , designed to examine quantitatively the response of freshwater macrophytes to physical forcing by moving water, is discussed. Specifically, it is emphasised that neglecting the principal difference between the wetted and the frontal area of the aquatic plants necessarily provides unacceptably large errors in estimates of drug coefficient. 2. The empirical methodology employed in the study to generalise the data ( Sand‐Jensen, 2003 ) suffers from a dimensional problem and can potentially lead to misleading conclusions. The methodology could be improved by using the relationship between dimensionless values of drag coefficient and dimensionless Reynolds number.     

蛋白质折叠速度与其拓扑结构关系的研究

以6种不同的方式来定义蛋白质内存在的接触,进而运用分子动力学模拟等不同方法,对10个小蛋白进行分析,研究了不同的接触定义及不同的拓扑参数计算方法下,蛋白质的折叠速度与其拓扑参数的关系.结果表明,用含主链重原子的方式定义接触,所计算的拓扑参数与蛋白质折叠速度的相关性较好;用含侧链原子的方式定义接触,得到的拓扑参数与β型蛋白质的折叠速度的相关性较好.对不同的蛋白质,其拓扑结构与相应折叠速度间的相关程度不同。     

使用多特征联合变量的支持向量机方法预测外膜蛋白

外膜蛋白(Outer Membrane Proteins, OMPs)是一类具有重要生物功能的蛋白质, 通过生物信息学方法来预测OMPs能够为预测OMPs的二级和三级结构以及在基因组发现新的OMPs提供帮助。文中提出计算蛋白质序列的氨基酸含量特征、二肽含量特征和加权多阶氨基酸残基指数相关系数特征, 将三类特征组合, 采用支持向量机(Support Vector Machine, SVM)算法来识别OMPs。计算了包括四种残基指数的多种组合特征的识别结果, 并且讨论了相关系数的阶次和权值对预测性能的影响。在数据集上的十倍交叉验证测试和独立性测试结果显示, 组合特征识别方法对OMPs和非OMPs的识别精度最高分别达到96.96%和97.33%, 优于现有的多种方法。在五种细菌基因组内识别OMPs的结果显示, 组合特征方法具有很高的特异性, 并且对PDB数据库中已知结构的OMPs识别准确度超过99%。表明该方法能够作为基因组内筛选OMPs的有效工具。     

广东省城市资源环境基尼系数

广东省经济的快速发展与资源消耗、污染物排放是密切相关的,如何对资源消耗和污染物排放的公平性、合理性进行评价一直是个难题.构建资源环境基尼系数,用来评价广东省资源消耗和污染物排放的公平性、合理性.资源环境基尼系数是反映在经济贡献率相同的情况下,资源消耗、污染物排放公平程度的一个指标.选取广东省2005年能源消耗、COD排放、SO2排放和工业固体废物排放作为评价指标,计算其资源环境基尼系数,并以绿色贡献系数来判断资源消耗和污染物排放的不公平因子.结果表明,上述 4 项指标的资源环境基尼系数分别为 0.15,0.39,0.38,0.87.能源消耗处于绝对平均的范围内,COD和SO2排放处于相对合理的范围内,工业固废排放处于差距悬殊状态.广东省资源环境的分配差异较大,21个地市中,不公平因子主要集中在清远、韶关、云浮、河源这4个城市,而深圳、广州、中山3个城市体现出的是一种绿色发展模式.为缩小广东资源环境分配的空间差异,清远、韶关、云浮、河源等城市需要转变发展模式,实现经济与资源环境的协调发展.     

全国大豆食心虫发生面积与大气环流、海温的关系及其长期预测预报

对1952-2001年中国大豆食心虫发生面积与食心虫发生前一年1月至当年4月中74个环流特征量及286个网格点海温逐月及不同组合时段距平值进行相关分析,筛选出了大气环流和海温因子,通过逐步回归,分别建立了中国大豆食心虫发生面积的大气环流和海温预报模型,并对模型进行了拟合和延伸预报.结果表明:模型的拟合和延伸预报效果均较好,2002-2004年大气环流模型延伸预报平均准确率达88%,海温模型延伸预报准确率达86%.     

镉在黄瓜和油菜中的运输与分布规律

采用水培方法,研究了黄瓜和油菜中镉的分配特点及根细胞壁对镉的亲和力,了解不同蔬菜根细胞壁对镉的吸收和运输的影响.结果表明:随着营养液中镉浓度的增加,黄瓜和油菜根中水和氯化钙提取镉的比例增加,而根中镉的比例降低;营养液中镉浓度在10 μmol·L-1时,根中水和氯化钙提取镉的比例占根中镉总量的10%以上;而营养液中镉浓度在1 μmol·L-1时,油菜根中水和氯化钙提取镉的比例仅占根中镉总量的2%;黄瓜根中氯化钙提取镉的比例高于油菜;在相同镉浓度处理下,油菜根和地上部镉的浓度明显高于黄瓜,并且油菜地上部与根部镉的比例高于黄瓜;植物根中镉的浓度是地上部的8～66倍,根细胞壁对镉有一定的固定作用,限制了镉从根向地上部的转移.     

A Bayesian framework for comparative quantitative genetics

Bayesian approaches have been extensively used in animal breeding sciences, but similar approaches in the context of evolutionary quantitative genetics have been rare. We compared the performance of Bayesian and frequentist approaches in estimation of quantitative genetic parameters (viz. matrices of additive and dominance variances) in datasets typical of evolutionary studies and traits differing in their genetic architecture. Our results illustrate that it is difficult to disentangle the relative roles of different genetic components from small datasets, and that ignoring, e.g. dominance is likely to lead to biased estimates of additive variance. We suggest that a natural summary statistic for G-matrix comparisons can be obtained by examining how different the underlying multinormal probability distributions are, and illustrate our approach with data on the common frog (Rana temporaria). Furthermore, we derive a simple Monte Carlo method for computation of fraternity coefficients needed for the estimation of dominance variance, and use the pedigree of a natural Siberian jay (Perisoreus infaustus) population to illustrate that the commonly used approximate values can be substantially biased.     

Evolution and functional divergence of monocarboxylate transporter genes in vertebrates

Monocarboxylate transporters (MCTs) form a gene family with an ancient past. The identification of MCTs (MCHs) from bacteria, protozoa, fungi, invertebrates, as well as vertebrates, but not from plants and virus, allowed illuminating the phylogenetic and evolutionary history of this gene family. The significant expansion of vertebrate MCT genes should have primarily occurred after the divergence of vertebrates and invertebrates, but before the divergence time between ray-finned fish and mammals. The divergence of insect MCTs should have at least occurred in the common ancestor of fruit fly, beetle, and honeybee. Fungi monocarboxylate transporter homologues (MCHs) might evolve independently from an ancient ancestor. The results of functional divergence analysis provided statistical evidences for shifted evolutionary rate and/or changes of amino acid property after gene duplication. The sliding window analysis of the d(N)/d(S) ratio values showed that strong functional constraints must impose on the N- and C-terminal domains of vertebrate MCTs. These corresponding regions may play crucial roles for functionality of MCT proteins.     

不同龄组的热带森林植被生物量与遥感地学数据之间的相关性分析

 在森林植被生物量遥感动态监测方面最基础性的研究是探讨生物量与遥感数据及其派生数据、地形数据和气象数据之间的相关性。为此,以我国云南省西双版纳的热带森林植被为例,分别对幼龄林、中龄林、近熟林和成过熟林的生物量与其对应的LANDSAT TM数据及其派生数据、气象数据和地形数据之间的相关性进行了分析。首先,利用森林资源连续清查的林业固定样地数据,通过各树种组的各器官生物量估算模型计算出各样地森林植被的生物量,并根据样地的坐标来建立样地GIS数据库。然后,利用地形图对遥感图像进行几何校正,并对遥感图像进行主成分变换、缨帽变换以及植被指数的计算来产生其派生数据。其次,将栅格样地数据、遥感数据（如LANDSAT TM数据）及其派生数据（如各种植被指数数据、主成分数据、缨帽变换的亮度、绿度和湿度数据）、栅格地形数据（如DEM和坡向）和栅格气象数据（包括年平均温度、大于0 ℃的积温、年平均降雨量和湿润度）统一到同一坐标系和投影下,并将所有的数据内插为30 m分辨率的格网数据,利用样地数据与遥感数据及其派生数据、地形数据和气象数据进行栅格空间叠加分析,从而得到各样地的样地数据、遥感数据及其派生数据、地形数据和气象数据。再次,根据各样地优势树种所属的龄组将所有的数据层化为幼龄林、中龄林、近熟林和成过熟林等几个不同龄组的样本数据。最后,分别对幼龄林、中龄林、近熟林和成过熟林的样地生物量与其对应的遥感数据和派生数据、气象数据和地形数据进行相关性分析。研究表明,在所有的因子中,幼龄林的生物量与LANDSAT 的TM1和TM6波段的亮度值在0.05的水平上呈显著相关,其相关系数均为-0.33;中龄林的生物量与降雨量在0.05的水平上呈显著相关,其相关系数为0.33;近熟林的生物量与LANDSAT TM的派生数据VI3、LANDSAT的TM4和缨帽变换的亮度值在0.05的水平上呈显著相关,其相关系数分别为0.50、-0.45和-0.45;成过熟林的生物量与主成分变换的第二主成分（PC2）在0.05的水平上呈显著相关,其相关系数为-0.46。在0.05的水平上,近熟林的生物量与LANDSAT TM的派生数据VI3的相关系数最高,达到0.50,其次是成过熟林的生物量与主成分变换的第二主成分的相关系数,为-0.46。     

Trace elements in human milk: Correlation with blood levels, inter-element correlations and changes in concentration during the first month of lactation

Using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) based analytical procedures, the concentration of several trace elements (Mn, As, Pb, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn and Se) was determined in human milk samples collected from a group of healthy lactating Portuguese women (n=44), both on the 2nd day postpartum (i.e., colostrum; n=34) and at 1 month postpartum (i.e., mature milk; n=19). Blood samples (n=44), collected on the 2nd day after parturition, were also analyzed for the same trace elements. No major correlations were observed between the levels of the analyzed trace elements in blood and colostrum samples. All the studied elements, except for Co, Pb and Ni, showed a significant trend for a decrease in concentration in milk during the first month of lactation. This trend was more pronounced for Zn and Se, whose levels decreased to approximately 23% and 44% of their initial mean concentration, respectively. With the exception of Co (r=0.607) and Zn (r=0.487), no significant correlations were observed when comparing the levels of each trace element between samples of colostrum and mature milk. Several inter-element correlations were found within each type of milk sample. The most significant were: (i) Se vs Cu (r=0.828) and Se vs Co (r=0.605) in colostrum samples and (ii) Ni vs Pb (r=0.756), Ni vs Mn (r=0.743) and Se vs Co (r=0.714) in mature milk samples. An inverse correlation between Zn and Se was also found in both types of milk sample; however, it only reached statistical significance for mature milk (r=-0.624).