Joint‐linkage mapping and GWAS reveal extensive genetic loci that regulate male inflorescence size in maize

Both insufficient and excessive male inflorescence size leads to a reduction in maize yield. Knowledge of the genetic architecture of male inflorescence is essential to achieve the optimum inflorescence size for maize breeding. In this study, we used approximately eight thousand inbreds, including both linkage populations and association populations, to dissect the genetic architecture of male inflorescence. The linkage populations include 25 families developed in the U.S. and 11 families developed in China. Each family contains approximately 200 recombinant inbred lines (RILs). The association populations include approximately 1000 diverse lines from the U.S. and China. All inbreds were genotyped by either sequencing or microarray. Inflorescence size was measured as the tassel primary branch number (TBN) and tassel length (TL). A total of 125 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were identified (63 for TBN, 62 for TL) through linkage analyses. In addition, 965 quantitative trait nucleotides (QTNs) were identified through genomewide study (GWAS) at a bootstrap posterior probability (BPP) above a 5% threshold. These QTLs/QTNs include 24 known genes that were cloned using mutants, for example Ramosa3 (ra3), Thick tassel dwarf1 (td1), tasselseed2 (ts2), liguleless2 (lg2), ramosa1 (ra1), barren stalk1 (ba1), branch silkless1 (bd1) and tasselseed6 (ts6). The newly identified genes encode a zinc transporter (e.g. GRMZM5G838098 and GRMZM2G047762), the adapt in terminal region protein (e.g. GRMZM5G885628), O‐methyl‐transferase (e.g. GRMZM2G147491), helix‐loop‐helix (HLH) DNA‐binding proteins (e.g. GRMZM2G414252 and GRMZM2G042895) and an SBP‐box protein (e.g. GRMZM2G058588). These results provide extensive genetic information to dissect the genetic architecture of inflorescence size for the improvement of maize yield.     

低强度周期性静水压力对人膝关节软骨细胞的影响

目的:探讨低强度周期性静水压力对体外培养的人膝关节软骨细胞增殖、凋亡,以及细胞Ⅱ型胶原分泌表达的影响。方法:体外酶消化法分离培养成人膝关节正常软骨细胞,将培养的第3代软骨细胞分为两组:正常对照组、3.0MPa组压力实验组,应用多功能恒温体外细胞培养中高压静水压力加载装置加载低强度周期性压力,共5d,每天2h。Ⅱ型胶原免疫组织化学染色法和甲苯胺蓝染色法鉴定软骨细胞,流式细胞术检测细胞凋亡,四甲基偶氮唑蓝(MTT)法绘制细胞生长曲线,qRT-PCR、Western-Blot检测Ⅱ型胶原的分泌和表达。结果:软骨细胞Ⅱ型胶原免疫组织化学染色和甲苯胺蓝染色均显示为阳性。与正常对照组相比,3.0MPa组表现出促进软骨细胞增殖,抑制细胞凋亡,且Ⅱ型胶原的合成分泌明显升高(P0.05)。结论:通过体外模拟人生理情况下较低强度(3.0MPa)的周期性静水压力对人软骨细胞增殖、凋亡水平及周围基质分泌合成功能的影响,初步证实了较低强度压力有助于软骨自我修复和自身保护作用的发挥。     

Role of gastrocnemius activation in knee joint biomechanics: gastrocnemius acts as an ACL antagonist

Gastrocnemius is a premier muscle crossing the knee, but its role in knee biomechanics and on the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) remains less clear when compared to hamstrings and quadriceps. The effect of changes in gastrocnemius force at late stance when it peaks on the knee joint response and ACL force was initially investigated using a lower extremity musculoskeletal model driven by gait kinematics—kinetics. The tibiofemoral joint under isolated isometric contraction of gastrocnemius was subsequently analyzed at different force levels and flexion angles (0°–90°). Changes in gastrocnemius force at late stance markedly influenced hamstrings forces. Gastrocnemius acted as ACL antagonist by substantially increasing its force. Simulations under isolated contraction of gastrocnemius confirmed this role at all flexion angles, in particular, at extreme knee flexion angles (0° and 90°). Constraint on varus/valgus rotations substantially decreased this effect. Although hamstrings and gastrocnemius are both knee joint flexors, they play opposite roles in respectively protecting or loading ACL. Although the quadriceps is also recognized as antagonist of ACL, at larger joint flexion and in contrast to quadriceps, activity in gastrocnemius substantially increased ACL forces (anteromedial bundle). The fact that gastrocnemius is an antagonist of ACL should help in effective prevention and management of ACL injuries.     

Intervertebral reaction force prediction using an enhanced assembly of OpenSim models

OpenSim offers a valuable approach to investigating otherwise difficult to assess yet important biomechanical parameters such as joint reaction forces. Although the range of available models in the public repository is continually increasing, there currently exists no OpenSim model for the computation of intervertebral joint reactions during flexion and lifting tasks. The current work combines and improves elements of existing models to develop an enhanced model of the upper body and lumbar spine. Models of the upper body with extremities, neck and head were combined with an improved version of a lumbar spine from the model repository. Translational motion was enabled for each lumbar vertebrae with six controllable degrees of freedom. Motion segment stiffness was implemented at lumbar levels and mass properties were assigned throughout the model. Moreover, body coordinate frames of the spine were modified to allow straightforward variation of sagittal alignment and to simplify interpretation of results. Evaluation of model predictions for level L1–L2, L3–L4 and L4–L5 in various postures of forward flexion and moderate lifting (8 kg) revealed an agreement within 10% to experimental studies and model-based computational analyses. However, in an extended posture or during lifting of heavier loads (20 kg), computed joint reactions differed substantially from reported in vivo measures using instrumented implants. We conclude that agreement between the model and available experimental data was good in view of limitations of both the model and the validation datasets. The presented model is useful in that it permits computation of realistic lumbar spine joint reaction forces during flexion and moderate lifting tasks. The model and corresponding documentation are now available in the online OpenSim repository.     

Three dimensional patient-specific collagen architecture modulates cartilage responses in the knee joint during gait

Site-specific variation of collagen fibril orientations can affect cartilage stresses in knee joints. However, this has not been confirmed by 3-D analyses. Therefore, we present a novel method for evaluation of the effect of patient-specific collagen architecture on time-dependent mechanical responses of knee joint cartilage during gait. 3-D finite element (FE) models of a human knee joint were created with the collagen architectures obtained from T₂ mapped MRI (patient-specific model) and from literature (literature model). The effect of accuracy of the implementation of collagen fibril architecture into the model was examined by using a submodel with denser FE mesh. Compared to the literature model, fibril strains and maximum principal stresses were reduced especially in the superficial/middle regions of medial tibial cartilage in the patient-specific model after the loading response of gait (up to ?413 and ?26%, respectively). Compared to the more coarsely meshed joint model, the patient-specific submodel demonstrated similar strain and stress distributions but increased values particularly in the superficial cartilage regions (especially stresses increased >60%). The results demonstrate that implementation of subject-specific collagen architecture of cartilage in 3-D modulates location- and time-dependent mechanical responses of human knee joint cartilage. Submodeling with more accurate implementation of collagen fibril architecture alters cartilage stresses particularly in the superficial/middle tissue.     

Custom sizing of lower limb exoskeleton actuators using gait dynamic modelling of children with cerebral palsy

The use of exoskeletons as an aid for people with musculoskeletal disorder is the subject to an increasing interest in the research community. These devices are expected to meet the specific needs of users, such as children with cerebral palsy (CP) who are considered a significant population in pediatric rehabilitation. Although these exoskeletons should be designed to ease the movement of people with physical shortcoming, their design is generally based on data obtained from healthy adults, which leads to oversized components that are inadequate to the targeted users. Consequently, the objective of this study is to custom-size the lower limb exoskeleton actuators based on dynamic modeling of the human body for children with CP on the basis of hip, knee, and ankle joint kinematics and dynamics of human body during gait. For this purpose, a multibody modeling of the human body of 3 typically developed children (TD) and 3 children with CP is used. The results show significant differences in gait patterns especially in knee and ankle with respectively 0.39 and ?0.33 (Nm/kg) maximum torque differences between TD children and children with CP. This study provides the recommendations to support the design of actuators to normalize the movement of children with CP.     

关节镜下前交叉韧带重建术的手术时机对患者膝关节功能恢复的影响

目的:研究关节镜下前交叉韧带(ACL)重建术的手术时机对患者膝关节功能恢复的影响。方法:选取2016年1月至2017年8月我院收治的膝关节ACL损伤患者65例为研究对象,所有患者均接受关节镜下ACL重建术治疗,并按照患者受伤至接受手术的时间分为研究组(n=35,受伤至接受手术的时间≤3周)和对照组(n=30,受伤至接受手术的时间3周),术后对患者进行为期6个月的随访,对比两组患者术前和术后6个月的膝关节活动度、膝关节功能以及ACL恢复情况,并比较随访期间两组并发症发生情况。结果:术前,两组膝关节活动度、国际膝关节文献委员会膝关节评估表(IKDC)和Lysholm膝关节评分比较差异无统计学意义(P0.05),术后6个月,两组膝关节活动度、IKDC评分和Lysholm膝关节评分均较术前升高,且研究组高于对照组,差异有统计学意义(P0.05)。术前与术后6个月,两组前抽屉(ADT)试验和Lachman试验阴性率比较差异无统计学意义(P0.05),但与术前比较,术后6个月两组ADT试验和Lachman试验阴性率均升高,差异有统计学意义(P0.05)。与对照组比较,研究组并发症总发生率降低,差异有统计学意义(P0.05)。结论:膝关节ACL损伤患者在不同时间内接受关节镜下ACL重建术治疗均具有较好的效果,但是在受伤后3周内接受手术对患者膝关节功能恢复效果更明显,同时并发症发生率也相对更低。     

A screening method to analyse the sensitivity of a lower limb multibody kinematic model

The study presents a screening method used to identify the influential parameters of a lower limb model including ligaments, at low numerical cost. Concerning multibody kinematics optimisation, the ligament parameters (isometric length) were found the most influential ones in a previous study. The screening method tested if they remain influential with minimised length variations. The most important parameters for tibiofemoral kinematics were the skin markers, segment lengths and joint parameters, including two ligaments. This was confirmed by a quantitative sensitivity analysis. The screening method has the potential to be used as a stand-alone procedure for a sensitivity analysis.     

长白落叶松半同胞家系生长和木材性状遗传变异与联合选择

长白落叶松（Larix olgensis）是我国东北重要的用材树种,根据生长和木材性状对其进行综合选择至关重要。本研究以吉林省延边自治区汪清林业局32年生的49个长白落叶松半同胞家系为材料,对其9个生长性状（树高、地径、胸径、3 m径、材积、尖削度、冠幅、分枝角和通直度）和4个木材性状（木材基本密度、管胞长度、管胞宽度和管胞长宽比）进行测定与分析。结果表明：不同变异来源间所有性状差异均达极显著水平（P<0.01）;各性状家系遗传力均较高（0.51~0.96）;表型变异系数为3.04%（分枝角）~23.15%（冠幅）;各性状相关系数为-0.367（管胞宽度与管胞长宽比）~0.994（胸径与材积）;主成分分析结果表明,4个主成分的累计贡献率达到78.46%,包含了家系生长性状和木材性状的大部分信息;分别以生长和木材性状对家系进行综合评价,初步筛选出5个生长性状优良家系（S78、S81、S80、S84和S83）和5个木材性状优良家系（S37、S51、S6、S30和S19）,结合生长和木材性状初步筛选出5个优良家系（S89、S74、S76、S82和S83）。本研究初选的材料可以为良种选育提供基础,亲本可以为改良种子园营建提供材料。