桃儿七传粉生物学特性及其在进化上的意义

对分布于云南中甸县不同居群的桃儿七进行了传粉生物学特性研究,结果如下：（１）首次发现其具有一种适应于自花授粉的传粉机制。即在花尚未开放或刚开放时,雌蕊呈直立状,而一旦花完全开放时,子房柄会发生弯曲,以致整个雌蕊靠向某一花药,从而使柱头与花药贴合实现传粉;当完成传粉后,雌蕊又重新直立,此时受精作用也随之完成。整个传粉、受精过程仅需４￣６ｈ。（２）其生殖节律快,有效率高。从孢子母细胞减数分裂开始到双受     

Cultural, practical, and economic value of wild plants: A quantitative study in the Bolivian Amazon

Researchers have developed several indices to estimate the significance of plant species for humans. We build on previous methods in ethnobotany and anthropology to develop a new way to value plant species along three dimensions: cultural, practical, and economic. We used interview and observational data on the use of wild plants by the Tsimane’, a foraging-horticultural society in the Bolivian Amazon. We calculated the cultural, practical, economic, and total values of 114 plant species from 46 families. We found a low correlation between the practical and the cultural values of species: some species rarely used were frequently mentioned in interviews, whereas some species frequently used were rarely mentioned in interviews. Indices of cultural, practical, and economic value measure different dimensions of the importance of plant species to society. The combination of the three indices offers a more comprehensive valuation of the significance of plants for humans than the use of only one index.     

Pollen Morphology of Neottianthe (Orchidaceae) and Its Taxonomic Significance

The genus Neottianthe (Orchidaceae) consists of about 12 species in the world, of which all are found in China and nine are endemic to China. The pollen morphology of this genus is very specific in shape and composition. All pollen grains in Neottianthe are of a compound pollen grain, called massula, in which of many monad pollen grains adhere togeth er. A massula is usually long and narrow trigonous cone in shape. Pollen grains can be divid ed into five types according to ornamentation, of exine surface: (A) pollen surface almost smooth, or very obscurely fossete, (B)perforate, (C) fossulate or foveolate, (D) reticuloid, and (E)typically reticulate. Neottianthe. calcicola, N. monophylla, N.pseudo-diphylax and N. cucullata have been merged into one species, N. cucullata, by some taxonomists. This treatment is not supported by the pollen morphological data, because pollen morphological characteristics of above-mentioned four species are different from each other. Therefore, pollen morphology shows that they are all independent at the specific level. Finally, it must be stressed that N. camptoceras is uniquite in the genus Neottianthe for its pollen shape,size and surface ornamentation of pollen exine.     

淫羊藿属植物中的黄酮类成分及其分类学意义

用HPLC法研究了具8位异戊烯基的黄酮醇甙类(A类)及一般结构的黄酮醇甙类(B类)在淫羊 藿属Epimedium L.中的存在和含量情况,得到一些具分类学意义的结论。1)依据化学成分可将 Epimedium 分为3群：A群,主要含A类成分;B群,主要含B类成分;AB群,两类化合物含量都高。B 群的8个类群(种或亚种)有多项演化程度较高的形态特征,它可能是Epimedium发展演化中较为进化 的一个分支群。—朋群的种类为本屑较原始的类群,因而在化学性状上有朋群→A群、AB群→B群的 演化趋势,与形态演化趋势基本相关。A、B、AB群的划分与现有分类系统不一致,也与花粉、染色体C 带的结果不很吻合。2)分布于地中海的E. alpinum因有较高含量的厶2类成分(A类中4'-OH的一类 化合物)而体现了与中国的原始类群的一些联系。3)E. davidii和E. ecalcaratum的化学成分几乎相 同,表明花瓣距的有无在Epimedium中的原始类群可能不具重要的分类价值。4)HPLC图谱为E.Х fanjingshanense这一杂交种的亲本来源提供了可靠的证据。本研究结果为建立一个合理的Epimedium的分类系统提供了新的依据。     

过敏性鼻炎患儿淋巴细胞亚群与血清IgE水平变化及意义

目的:研究过敏性鼻炎患儿淋巴细胞亚群与血清免疫球蛋白E(IgE)水平变化及其临床意义,为临床诊疗提供依据。方法:选取2015年6月到2016年6月我院收治的过敏性鼻炎患儿103例为研究组,另选取同期健康体检者103例为对照组,应用流式细胞技术检测CD3~+、CD4~+、CD19~+、CD8~+、CD4~+CD25~+水平,应用酶联免疫吸附法检测白介素-4(IL-4)、白介素-5(IL-5)和干扰素-γ(IFN-γ)水平,应用免疫比浊法检测IgE水平,对比两组淋巴细胞亚群水平、血清中IL-4、IL-5、IFN-γ水平及IgE水平的变化,并分析其相关性。结果:研究组CD3~+、CD4~+、CD8~+、CD4~+CD25~+显著低于对照组,CD19~+显著高于对照组,比较差异具有统计学意义(P0.05);研究组IL-4、IL-5水平显著高于对照组,IFN-γ水平显著低于对照组,比较差异具有统计学意义(P0.05);研究组IgE水平显著高于对照组,比较差异具有统计学意义(P0.05);相关性分析显示:CD19~+与IgE水平呈正相关关系(P0.05)。结论:淋巴细胞亚群失衡、血清IgE均与过敏性鼻炎有关,在过敏性鼻炎发生和发展中发挥重要作用。     

A framework for exhaustively mapping functional missense variants

Although we now routinely sequence human genomes, we can confidently identify only a fraction of the sequence variants that have a functional impact. Here, we developed a deep mutational scanning framework that produces exhaustive maps for human missense variants by combining random codon mutagenesis and multiplexed functional variation assays with computational imputation and refinement. We applied this framework to four proteins corresponding to six human genes: UBE2I (encoding SUMO E2 conjugase), SUMO1 (small ubiquitin‐like modifier), TPK1 (thiamin pyrophosphokinase), and CALM1/2/3 (three genes encoding the protein calmodulin). The resulting maps recapitulate known protein features and confidently identify pathogenic variation. Assays potentially amenable to deep mutational scanning are already available for 57% of human disease genes, suggesting that DMS could ultimately map functional variation for all human disease genes.     

Uncertainty Analysis in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): Case Study on Plant-Protection Products and Implications for Decision Making (9 pp + 3 pp)

Goal, Scope, and Background Uncertainty analysis in LCA is important for sound decision support. Nevertheless, the actual influence of uncertainty on decision making in specific LCA case-studies has only been little studied so far. Therefore, we assessed the uncertainty in an LCA comparing two plant-protection products.Methods Uncertainty and variability in LCI flows and characterization factors (CML-baseline method) were expressed as generic uncertainty factors and subsequently propagated into impact scores using Monte-Carlo simulation. Uncertainty in assumptions on production efficiency for chemicals, which is of specific interest for the case study, was depicted by scenarios. Results and Discussion Impact scores concerning acidification, eutrophication, and global warming display relatively small dispersions. Differences in median impact scores of a factor of 1.6 were sufficient in the case study for a significant distinction of the products. Results of toxicity impact-categories show large dispersions due to uncertainty in characterization factors and in the composition of sum parameters. Therefore, none of the two products was found to be significantly environmentally preferable to the other. Considering the case study results and inherent characteristics of the impact categories, a tentative rule of thumb is put forward that quantifies differences in impact scores necessary to obtain significant results in product comparisons.Conclusion Published LCA case-studies may have overestimated the significance of results. It is therefore advisable to routinely carry out quantitative uncertainty analyses in LCA. If this is not feasible, for example due to time restrictions, the rule of thumb proposed here may be helpful to evaluate the significance of results for the impact categories of global warming, acidification, eutrophication, and photooxidant creation.     

The relationship between trace elements and cardiac markers in acute coronary syndromes

Previous studies have demonstrated increased serum copper and iron levels and decreased selenium and zinc levels in patients with myocardial infarction. Furthermore, the prognostic value of the levels of trace elements in myocardial infarction has been stressed. We examined serum levels of Cu, Fe, Zn and Se, as well as glutathione peroxidase (GPx), a selenoenzyme with antioxidant properties, and C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of inflammation, in acute coronary syndromes (ACS) regarding their relationship to cardiac troponins and creatine kinase-MB mass (CK-MBm), important prognostic markers. Serum trace elements, GPx activity and CRP were determined in 70 patients with ACS who were admitted within 12 h after the onset. Differences in these parameters were evaluated in three groups of patients divided according to the levels of cardiac markers: group III consisted of patients with high increases in cTnT, cTnI and CK-MBm (> or =0.9 ng/mL, > or =1.0 ng/mL, > or =30 ng/mL, respectively), patients with milder increases in these markers were included in groups II and I consisted of patients with values just above the upper reference limits. Serum Fe levels increased significantly in group II and even more prominently in group III compared to group I (p = 0.04, 0.002, respectively). There was no significant difference between groups II and III. The increase in serum Cu was significant in group III compared to both groups II and I (p = 0.04, 0.001, respectively). There was no significant difference between groups I and II regarding Cu and Zn. The decrease in serum Se and GPx levels was significant only between groups III and I (p = 0.004 for Se and p = 0.0001 for GPx). CRP levels showed a significant increase in group III compared to groups II and I (p = 0.03 and 0.001). CRP showed a significant positive and GPx a significant negative correlation to the cardiac markers cTnT, cTnI and CK-MBm. Cu was positively correlated to all cardiac markers, while the positive correlation between Fe and cardiac markers was significant only for cTnI. Both Zn and Se were negatively correlated to cTnT, and Se was also to cTnI. In conclusion, the increase in serum levels of Cu and Fe and the decrease in serum levels of Zn and Se in patients with higher levels of troponins and CK-MBm imply that trace element levels are related to the degree of myocardial damage and thus may play a role in the pathogenesis of ischemic heart disease. The strong correlations between cardiac markers and both CRP and GPx suggest that these parameters are promising prognostic factors in acute coronary syndromes.     

Biological Flora of Central Europe: Baldellia ranunculoides (Alismataceae)

Baldellia ranunculoides (L.) Parl. (Alismataceae) is a taxonomically problematic aquatic plant with an historically ill-defined distribution and global conservation status. This paper finds morphological, ecological and molecular evidence for two distinct taxa, probably best described as subspecies: (1) B. ranunculoides subsp. ranunculoides and (2) B. ranunculoides subsp. repens and provides detailed distribution data on their overlapping range, in different habitats, across the cool, high rainfall areas of western Europe and west Mediterranean. The two subspecies are amongst the relatively large number of threatened European and north Africa aquatic plants and this paper provides a systematic review of their relative conservation pressures and management needs, with particular emphasis on the status of both taxa in central Europe. Other observations indicate probable evolutionary relationships within B. ranunculoides s.l. and its associated taxa and the review points out where these and other research topics could potentially be pursued.