The community structures of the coniferous and deciduous dead wood‐dwelling arthropods in Korea

We examined the structure of the arthropod community among deciduous and coniferous dead woods along the process of wood decay. We collected dead wood‐dwelling arthropods from April 2010 to October 2011 by using a vacuum aspirator and an electric chain saw in three areas (Mt. Woonak, Mt. Wolchul, Mt. Jingang) in Korea. We identified them to species levels and classified them into functional groups. We collected 8792 arthropods (5 classes, 20 orders, 58 families, and 93 species). The species richness and abundance of arthropods increased with the progress of decay in dead woods. The evenness index seemed to be shown at a lower value at late decay stage than at early‐ and mid‐decay stages. The diversity index (H′) in conifers was lower than that in deciduous dead woods at the early decay stage but this situation was reversed at the late decay stage. Arthropod communities of functional groups, except the xylophagous insects, did not differ in the variables, but the proportion of xylophagous insects increased as the decay stages progressed. The abundance of arthropods and xylophagous was statistically significantly different. The patterns generated by non‐metric multidimensional scaling in the overall arthropod community composition revealed that the species composition between study areas were significantly different. We confirmed that dead woods play very important roles as arthropods' habitats. Thus, we suggest that the role of dead woods should be emphasized in the management of forest ecosystems.     

Recent Findings in the Chemistry of Odorants from Four Baccharis Species and Their Impact as Chemical Markers

Baccharis is a widespread genus belonging to the Asteraceae family that includes almost 400 species exclusively from the Americas. Even when studied in detail, the taxonomic classification among species from this genus is not yet fully defined. Within the framework of our study of the volatile composition of the Baccharis genus, four species (B. trimera, B. milleflora, B. tridentata, and B. uncinella) were collected from the ‘Campos de Cima da Serra’ highlands of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The aerial parts were dried and extracted by the simultaneous distillation extraction (SDE) procedure. This is the first time that SDE has been applied to obtain and compare the volatile‐extract composition in the Baccharis genus. Characterization of the volatile extracts allowed the identification of 180 peaks with many coeluting components; these latter being detailed for the first time for this genus. The multivariate statistical analyses allowed separating the volatile extracts of the four populations of Baccharis into two separate groups. The first one included the B. milleflora, B. trimera, and B. uncinella volatile extracts. The three species showed a high degree of similarity in their volatile composition, which was characterized by the presence of high contents of sesquiterpene compounds, in particular of spathulenol. The second group comprised the extract of B. tridentata, which contained α‐pinene, β‐pinene, limonene, and (E)‐β‐ocimene in high amounts.     

Maximizing collection and minimizing risk: does vacuum suction sampling increase the likelihood for misinterpretation of food web connections?

Molecular tools that characterize the structure of complex food webs and identify trophic connectedness in the field have become widely adopted in recent years. However, characterizing the intensity of predator-prey interactions can be prone to error. Maximizing collection success of small, fast-moving predators with vacuum suction samplers has the potential to increase the likelihood of prey DNA detection either through surface-level contamination with damaged prey or direct consumption within the sampling device. In this study, we used PCR to test the hypothesis that vacuum suction sampling will not cause an erroneous increase in the detection of 'predation', thereby incorrectly assigning trophic linkages when evaluating food web structure. We utilized general (1) Aphidoidea and (2) Collembola primers to measure the predation rates of Glenognatha foxi (Araneae: Tetragnathidae) on these prey collected by hand versus those sampled with a vacuum suction device. With both primer pairs, there was no significant increase in predators screening positive for prey DNA when sampled by vacuum suction versus those predators collected, in parallel, by hand. These results clearly validate the application of vacuum suction sampling during molecular gut-content analysis of predator-prey feeding linkages in the field. Furthermore, we found no evidence that predation was occurring inside the suction sampler because specimens collected were never observed to be feeding nor did they screen positive at greater frequencies than hand-collected individuals. Therefore, it can be concluded that the use of vacuum suction sampling devices (in this case a Modified CDC Backpack Aspirator Model 1412) is suitable for molecular gut-content analysis.     

花椒挥发油的化学成分分析

在实验室条件下,采用常压水蒸气蒸馏法提取花椒中的挥发油并用气相色谱．质谱连用仪分析了挥发油的化学成分及其百分含量,通过测定,从挥发油中分离出了100余种化合物,共鉴定出52种,占挥发油总量的61．47％,其中绝大多数为萜类化合物及其衍生物,萜烯醇含量高达20．03％,桉油精为5．57％,胡椒酮为4．6％。     

Contribution of microwave accelerated distillation in the extraction of the essential oil of Zygophyllum album L.

Introduction – The aerial parts of Zygophyllum album L. are used in folk medicine as an antidiabetic agent and as a drug active against several pathologies. In this work we present the chemical composition of Algerian essential oils obtained by microwave accelerated distillation (MAD) extraction, a solventless method assisted by microwave. Objective – Under the same analytical conditions and using GC‐FID and GC‐MS, the chemical composition of the essential oil of Zygophyllum album L. extracted by MAD was compared with that achieved using hydrodistillation (HD). Methodology – The extracted compounds were hydrosoluble, and they were removed from the aqueous solution by a liquid extraction with an organic solvent. Results – Employing MAD (100°C, 30 min), the essential oil contained mainly oxygenated monoterpenes with major constituents: carvone and α‐terpineol. However, most of the compounds present in the hydrodistilled volatile fraction were not terpene species, with β‐damascenone as a major constituent. Conclusion – The MAD method appears to be more efficient than HD: after 30 min extraction time, the obtained yields (i.e. 0.002%) were comparable to those provided by HD after 3 h extraction. MAD seems to be more convenient since the volatile fraction is richer in oxygenated monoterpenes, species that are recognised for their olfactory value and their contribution to the fragrance of the essential oil. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

肉制品腐败变质原因分析

对真空软包装肉制品腐败变质原因分析表明：生物性因素是主要原因之一,污染微生物是乳酸球菌和芽胞杆菌;变质产品中的微生物数量及因此造成的酸化,不足以单方面造成产品变质,与产品含水量有关,是生物因素与非生物因素联合作用导致产品液化胀袋而变质;乳酸球菌由污染的冻结肉携带,而污染的芽胞杆菌是生产器具消毒不彻底造成的。     

Cytoenzymological analysis of adenylyl cyclase activity and 3':5'-cAMP immunolocalization in chloroplasts of Nicotiana tabacum

In this study a combination of cytoenzymological and immunocytochemical techniques was used in order to demonstrate the presence of cyclic nucleotide metabolism in chloroplasts of higher plants. Catalytic cytochemistry was used to localize adenylyl cyclase activity by means of electron microscope investigation on Nicotiana tabacum cv. Petit Havana leaf fragments. Various immunocytochemical techniques were explored to visualize the presence of the second messenger adenosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate. Making use of adenylyl imidodiphosphate as a substrate, the enzyme activity was predominantly located at the intermembrane space of the chloroplast envelope. In order to provide further topographical information, intact, isolated chloroplasts were submitted to the same cytoenzymological procedure and revealed stromal adenylyl cyclase activity. Using high-pressure freezing as a physical fixative to obtain an instantaneous metabolic arrest the cellular vitrified water phase was sublimed under ultra-high vacuum by means of molecular distillation drying, avoiding recrystallization and hence redistribution of small highly diffusible molecules. This sequential combination preserved 3':5'-cAMP epitope retention in chloroplasts as was demonstrated by immunogold labelling. These results further substantiate in a unique way the growing evidence of the presence of an organelle-specific cAMP metabolism in higher plants. Furthermore the data presented support the status of chloroplasts as an excellent model to further investigate cAMP metabolism and to correlate it with a variety of physiological functions.     

Prevention of trauma to edentulous ridge from opposing natural teeth

doi: 10.1111/j.1741‐2358.2010.00397.x Prevention of trauma to edentulous ridge from opposing natural teeth Objective: To suggest a technique to prevent trauma of the edentulous ridge from opposing natural or restored teeth. Background: The prevalence of the condition where one edentulous arch opposes a natural or restored dentition is quite common. In most of cases, the maxillary arch is completely edentulous and either all teeth or only anterior teeth are present in the mandibular arch. These remaining teeth may continuously cause trauma to the opposing edentulous ridge during the night when a removable prosthesis is kept out of the mouth. Materials and methods: A thermoplastic acrylic resin mouthguard was fabricated on a cast of the remaining teeth dentition. Conclusion: This article presents a simple and inexpensive procedure to prevent self‐induced trauma of the edentulous ridge from opposing natural teeth by using a thermoplastic acrylic resin mouthguard.     

Reduction of the background magnetic field inhibits ability of Drosophila melanogaster to survive ionizing radiation

The effects of exposure to an environment where the background magnetic field (BMF) has been reduced were studied on wild‐type Drosophila melanogaster by measuring its ability to survive a single exposure to ionizing radiation (IR) during its larval stage. The experimental design presented shows a timeframe, IR dose, and BMF parameters that will cause a significant and reproducible reduction of survival on this insect model. These results suggest that BMFs may play a fundamental role in the recovery or harm of a biological system that is exposed to single doses of IR. Bioelectromagnetics 33:706–709, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

巴戟天挥发性成分研究

目的：研究巴戟天中的挥发性成分。方法：利用水蒸气蒸馏法提取巴戟天（Radix morindae offtcinalis）挥发油,用GC—MS进行测定,结合计算机检索技术对分离的化合物进行结构鉴定,应用色谱峰面积归一化法计算各成分的相对百分含量。结果：鉴定出34个化学成分,其中相对百分含量大于2％的分别确定为L-龙脑（Bomeol L）29．28％,α-姜烯（Alpha—Zingiberene）4．88％,2-甲基-6-对甲基苯基-2-庚烯（Ar-Cureumene）4．49％,1-己醇（1-Hexanol）3．40％,β-倍半水芹烯（beta—sesquiphellandrene）3．34％,2-戊基呋喃（2-Amylfuran）3．32％,正壬醛（n—nonanal）2．17％,樟脑（L—camphor）2．07％,β-没药烯（bete—Bisabolene）2．06％。结论：34个挥发性成分均为首次从该植物中得到。