耳蜗核神经元的简化现实性模型

采用我们以前提出的简化现实性神经网络模型［１］的一种修正形式,通过选定适当的参数,仿真了耳蜗核的类初级细胞（Ｐｒｉｍａｒｙ－ｌｉｋｅｃｅｌｌ）,梳状反应细胞（Ｃｈｏｐｐｅｒｒｅｓｐｏｎｓｅｃｅｌｌ）以及给刺激反应细胞（Ｏｎｓｅｔｒｅｓｐｏｎｓｅｃｅｌｌ）对短纯青刺激的刺激后时间直方图。并通过分析参数配置和仿真行为的对应关系,指出模型在生理学上的合理性。     

A comparison of neural networks and partial least squares for deconvoluting fluorescence spectra

This article compares backpropagation neural networks (BNN) with partial least squares (PLS) techniques in terms of their ability to deconvolute fluorescence spectra. Both actual experimental and simulated spectral data are studied for 2 binary systems. These systems consist of mixtures of tryptophan and tyrosine, and NADH and tryptophan over a total concentration range of 10(-7) to 10(-4) M. It is shown that BNN is superior to PLS for both systems.     

A critical evaluation of the relationship between the presynaptic network,synaptic vesicles and dense projections in central synapses

Summary Synapses of the oculomotor nucleus of Echidna have been examined ultrastructurally with the aim of integrating data obtained from osmicated and nonosmicated PTA stained material. Particular emphasis has been laid on the relationship between the synaptic vesicles of the osmicated material and the presynaptic network and vesicular grid of the PTA material. This relationship has been explored qualitatively by examining osmicated material of varying qualities of fixation. Such material contains dense projections in addition to synaptic vesicles, and various vesicular network appearances. A variety of measurement techniques have shown that the PTA network is characterised by reticular strands, spaces, and regular hexagonal units smaller than vesicles, these observations prompting the formulation of a vesicle-network coincidence model of the presynaptic terminal. This model has been tested by tracing the profiles of vesicles within the PTA network and comparing their size and shape frequency distributions with those of osmicated synaptic vesicles. The distributions have been found to be essentially similar, suggesting that vesicles can be located within the network, and that the hexagonal network units are formed only in the presence of an underlying vesicular matrix.Additionally, the following points have emerged: 1) the dense projections in the two types of material appear to be equivalent; 2) a loose correlation exists between dense projections and vesicles in osmicated terminals, increase in the area of the dense projections being associated with a decrease in the area of the vesicles; 3) network and dense projection units are similar. In view of the similarity between network and dense projection units, the demonstrated vesicular basis of the network raises the question of whether dense projections are entirely independent structures, or whether they depend in part for their existence on the nearby presence of synaptic vesicles.This work was supported by the Arnold Yeldham and Mary Raine Research Foundation of the University of Western Australia and by the Australian Research Grants Committee and the Nuffield Foundation     

Extensive size homoplasy at a microsatellite locus in the Japanese bumblebee, Bombus diversus

An extensive size homoplasy was found at microsatellite locus B11 of the bumblebee, Bombus diversus, in northern to central Honshu, Japan. A total of 16 alleles of different nucleotide sequences in five length morphs was obtained at B11 for this species. Of these alleles, five were 141 base pairs (bp) in length, five were 137 bp and four were 133 bp. Allele diversity in each length morph was high compared with previous studies. It is noteworthy that this extensive size homoplasy was found in a relatively small geographic area, in contrast to results from previous studies. Reconstruction of a median‐joining network revealed the complicated evolutionary process of the locus, involving insertion/deletion and point mutations. Preliminary estimation of the mutation rate of the B11 locus in B. diversus gives a value comparable to those estimated from experimental Drosophila populations. Effects of the extensive size homoplasy in population genetic studies is discussed.     

Effects of relaxation of gluten network on rehydration kinetics of pasta

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the relaxation of the gluten network on pasta rehydration kinetics. The moisture content of pasta, under conditions where the effects of the diffusion of water on the moisture content were negligible, was estimated by extrapolating the average moisture content of pasta of various diameters to 0?mm. The moisture content of imaginary, infinitely thin pasta did not reach equilibrium even after 1?h of rehydration. The rehydration of pasta made of only gluten was also measured. The rate constants estimated by the Long and Richman equation for both the pasta indicated that the rehydration kinetics of infinitely thin pasta were similar to those of gluten pasta. These results suggest that the swelling of starch by fast gelatinization was restricted by the honeycomb structural network of gluten and the relaxation of the gluten network controlled pasta rehydration kinetics.     

Complex Genetic Effects on Early Vegetative Development Shape Resource Allocation Differences Between Arabidopsis lyrata Populations

Costs of reproduction due to resource allocation trade-offs have long been recognized as key forces in life history evolution, but little is known about their functional or genetic basis. Arabidopsis lyrata, a perennial relative of the annual model plant A. thaliana with a wide climatic distribution, has populations that are strongly diverged in resource allocation. In this study, we evaluated the genetic and functional basis for variation in resource allocation in a reciprocal transplant experiment, using four A. lyrata populations and F₂ progeny from a cross between North Carolina (NC) and Norway parents, which had the most divergent resource allocation patterns. Local alleles at quantitative trait loci (QTL) at a North Carolina field site increased reproductive output while reducing vegetative growth. These QTL had little overlap with flowering date QTL. Structural equation models incorporating QTL genotypes and traits indicated that resource allocation differences result primarily from QTL effects on early vegetative growth patterns, with cascading effects on later vegetative and reproductive development. At a Norway field site, North Carolina alleles at some of the same QTL regions reduced survival and reproductive output components, but these effects were not associated with resource allocation trade-offs in the Norway environment. Our results indicate that resource allocation in perennial plants may involve important adaptive mechanisms largely independent of flowering time. Moreover, the contributions of resource allocation QTL to local adaptation appear to result from their effects on developmental timing and its interaction with environmental constraints, and not from simple models of reproductive costs.