气象因子与地表植被生长相关性分析

降水和气温是影响地表植被覆盖状况的两个重要的气象要素,地表植被的生长对它们的响应又存在一定的滞后效应。利用我国334个气象台站和1982-1994年NOAA-AVHRR卫星数据,通过相关分析研究了我国4-7月份气候区域降水和活动积温对地表植被的影响。结果显示,不同的气候区域和月份,降水和积温对地表植被的作用程度明显不同;前期降水和活动积温对植被作用的有效时间尺度也分布不均,并与土壤质地类型分布有关,因此,通过某一固定时间尺度的降水或活动积温不能准确的预测大区域地表植被的生长状况。     

人胚与鼠胚神经干细胞体外培养的差异

为比较人胚与鼠胚神经干细胞体外培养的差异。实验采用具有丝裂原作用的细胞生长因子。结合无血清细胞培养技术从人胚和鼠胚皮层分离神经干细胞。在连续传代过程中观察其体外培养特性,免疫荧光染色检测Nestin抗原和分化后特异性成熟神经细胞抗原的表达,并用流式细胞仪检测神经干细胞分化情况。结果表明：（1）使用单一生长因子即可从鼠胚皮层分离神经干细胞,但在人胚却需同时使用多种生长因子,协同使用bFGF,EGF和LIF是人胚神经干细胞体外培养的较佳条件;（2）鼠胚皮层神经干细胞在连续传代过程中增殖速度快于人胚,其Nestin阳性率和BrdU标记的阳性率亦高于人胚,表明其增殖能力明显高于人胚,（3）人胚神经干细胞较鼠胚更易分化为神经元。     

Damp Rooms and Saying ‘Please’: Mimesis and Alterity in the Host Family Space in Study-Abroad Experiences

Study-abroad programs are a ‘globalizing project’ developed at the intersection of educational institutions seeking new income sources and the ideologies that the world is comprised of a mosaic of cultures and that ‘intercultural experience’ is valuable. While research on study-abroad programs often focuses on their effect on the students’ ‘global competence’ and language proficiency, this article focuses on the space, the space of host family in particular, produced in study-abroad programs. Study-abroad programs here are perceived in a wide sense to include various programs for students to go to another country to study.

Study-abroad guidebooks and researchers portray the host family's life as constituting a quintessential ‘native life’, in which study-abroad students should be immersed. However, based on ethnographic fieldwork in Aotearoa/New Zealand, this article argues that the distinction between ‘cultural difference’ and ‘cultural sameness’ is a construction, resulting in mutual accommodation and intolerant judgments, respectively. That is, when host parents recognised the ‘cultural difference’ of the foreign students’ behaviour, they often sought to understand meanings behind the behaviour, resulting in mutual accommodation. It turned the space into what Michael Taussig calls the ‘space between’, in which it is unclear who is imitating whom. When the host parents recognised ‘cultural sameness’ based on superficial similarity, however, their efforts to understand meanings behind behaviour was halted and, when the behaviour was considered problematic, led to the student being asked to move out. This article details an ironic space of study abroad where alterity inspired tolerance and similarity inspired intolerance.     

Mg-nucleotides induced dissociation of liposome-bound creatine kinase: reversible changes in its secondary structure and in the fluidity of the bilayer

MgADP binding to mitochondrial creatine kinase (mtCK) adsorbed on liposomes was induced by the photorelease of caged ADP. The nucleotide binding produced two types of structural changes. One was related to the well-established release of mtCK from the liposomes. The other corresponded to reversible structural changes induced by nucleotide binding to mtCK as demonstrated here. Infrared spectroscopy data show that the MgADP-induced desorption of mtCK from vesicles led to a slight increase in &#102 -helix structures in mtCK at the expense of a small decrease in &#103 -sheet structures and a concomitant increase in the fluidity of the membranes. The desorption of mtCK induced by MgADP and MgATP was almost complete, as shown by centrifugation and enzymatic activity measurements. The photorelease of MgADP in a reactive medium containing phosphocreatine and mtCK associated with liposomes led to nucleotide binding and to the formation of MgATP and creatine. Addition of phosphocreatine also desorbed mtCK from liposomes, while addition of creatine did not. Interpretation of these results would suggest that ADP, ATP or phosphocreatine induce the release of mtCK from membranes, increase the phospholipid bilayer fluidity, and may also decrease the number of contact sites between inner and outer mitochondrial membranes, thus affecting the activity of other mitochondrial enzymes. It is tempting to propose that membrane mtCK binding regulation by nucleotide and PCr concentrations may serve as a physiological adaptation for energy supply.     

Mapping the Interactions between the Alzheimer’s Aβ-Peptide and Human Serum Albumin beyond Domain Resolution

Human serum albumin (HSA) is a potent inhibitor of Aβ self-association and this novel, to our knowledge, function of HSA is of potential therapeutic interest for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. It is known that HSA interacts with Aβ oligomers through binding sites evenly partitioned across the three albumin domains and with comparable affinities. However, as of this writing, no information is available on the HSA-Aβ interactions beyond domain resolution. Here, we map the HSA-Aβ interactions at subdomain and peptide resolution. We show that each separate subdomain of HSA domain 3 inhibits Aβ self-association. We also show that fatty acids (FAs) compete with Aβ oligomers for binding to domain 3, but the determinant of the HSA/Aβ oligomer interactions are markedly distinct from those of FAs. Although salt bridges with the FA carboxylate determine the FA binding affinities, hydrophobic contacts are pivotal for Aβ oligomer recognition. Specifically, we identified a site of Aβ oligomer recognition that spans the HSA (494–515) region and aligns with the central hydrophobic core of Aβ. The HSA (495–515) segment includes residues affected by FA binding and this segment is prone to self-associate into β-amyloids, suggesting that sites involved in fibrilization may provide a lead to develop inhibitors of Aβ self-association.     

41年罗山自然保护区人地关系的演进与孤立生境的形成

罗山自然保护区孑遗生境具有过渡性、稀有性和脆弱性,其生态走向关乎濒危物种的延续与北方干旱荒漠带宁夏段的生态平衡。利用Landsat MSS/TM/ETM+/OLI(1977—2017年)数据、SRTM DEM和罗山周边气象站点(1977—2017年)年均气温和降水数据,对流域内典型人文要素(人口、耕地、居民建设用地面积)和自然生态要素(NDVI)进行了定量化表达及相关性分析。研究发现:流域视角下罗山保护区一些人文、生态、景观地理学指标发生了变化,41年来(1977—2017年)真形(依比例)居民建设用地面积增加了3.09倍;生态移民使局部地区人口增长了34.30倍;土地利用方式发生了根本变化,旱作耕地大部分退耕还林,小部分转移为水浇地;近5a(2013—2017年)罗山自然保护区NDVI最大值、NDVI总和虽有轻微上升趋势,但仍低于历史较好时期。结果表明:(1)公路、铁路、围栏的建设将狭小的生态保护区分割包围,使景观格局严重破碎化,使动植物栖息环境高度隔离化。(2)红寺堡移民区快速城市化和高强度的农业开发,使流域人-地关系愈加紧张,加重了区域生态风险。     

生长季川陕不同地带植被覆盖对气候变化的时空响应

川陕地区处于中国800mm等降水量线过渡带的南北两侧,区内分山、川、原3种地形,是退耕还林(草)最早实施区域。基于2001—2014年的MODIS、气温和降水量数据,选取10种植被地带数据,采用Sen+MK检验和时滞偏相关等方法,结合重分类后的4种地貌类型和6类土地利用/覆盖数据,分年内生长季、年际生长季和非生长季的对比、以及植被生长最好的8月与5月、6月、7月、8月、5—6月、6—7月、7—8月、5—8月共8个时间段的相关性3种时间尺度,对川陕地区植被NDVI与气候因子的关系进行了深入探讨。结果表明:1)川陕、陕西和四川年均气温分别以0.02℃/10a、0.01℃/10a和0.03℃/10a(通过0.01显著性水平)的线性速度增加,低于近50年来(1951—2001年)全国的气温增速(0.22℃/10a);2)川陕、陕西、四川尺度上,植被NDVI与同季气温、降水量的相关性一致,与上季的相关性不具一致性。植被NDVI与上季气温、降水量的相关性均高于同季,相较于降水量,与气温呈现出更多的负相关性,其中陕西地区最为显著;3)川陕地区气温变化趋势与全球变暖不同步,植被生长受气温的影响较小或无影响;降水量相较于气温对陕西地区植被生长的影响更大;气温是四川植被生长的主要限制因素。植被覆盖与气温、降水量的相关性在草地、林地和农耕区最为显著。     

Unconditional Confidence Interval for the Difference between Two Proportions

In applied statistics it is customary to have to obtain a one‐ or two‐tail confidence interval for the difference d = p₂ – p₁ between two independent binomial proportions. Traditionally, one is looking for a classic and non‐symmetric interval (with respect to zero) of the type d ∈ [δ_L;δ_U], d ≤ δ₀ or d ≥ δ₀. However, in clinical trials, equivalence studies, vaccination efficacy studies, etc., and even after performing the classic homogeneity test, intervals of the type |d| ≤ Δ₀ or |d| ≥ Δ₀, where Δ₀ > 0, may be necessary. In all these cases it is advisable to obtain the interval by inverting the appropriate test. The advantage of this procedure is that the conclusions obtained using the test are compatible with those obtained using the interval. The article shows how this is done using the new exact and asymptotic unconditional tests published. The programs for performing these tests may be obtained at URL http://www.ugr.es/~bioest/software.htm.     

Asymptotical Tests on the Equivalence,Substantial Difference and Non‐inferiority Problems with Two Proportions

Let d = p₂ ? p₁ be the difference between two binomial proportions obtained from two independent trials. For parameter d, three pairs of hypothesis may be of interest: H₁: d ≤ δ vs. K₁: d > δ; H₂: d ? (δ₁, δ₂) vs. K₂: d ∈ (δ₁, δ₂); and H₃: d ∈ [δ₁, δ₂] vs. K₃: d ? [δ₁, δ₂], where H_i is the null hypothesis and K_i is the alternative hypothesis. These tests are useful in clinical trials, pharmacological and vaccine studies and in statistics generally. The three problems may be investigated by exact unconditional tests when the sample sizes are moderate. Otherwise, one should use approximate (or asymptotical) tests generally based on a Z‐statistics like those suggested in the paper. The article defines a new procedure for testing H₂ or H₃, demonstrates that this is more powerful than tests based on confidence intervals (the classic TOST – two one sided tests – test), defines two corrections for continuity which reduce the liberality of the three tests, and selects the one that behaves better. The programs for executing the unconditional exact and asymptotic tests described in the paper can be loaded at http://www.ugr.es/~bioest/software.htm. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Allowance for thermodynamic nonideality in the characterization of protein interactions by spectral techniques

Theory is developed for the characterization of protein interactions by spectral techniques, where the constraints of constant temperature and pressure demand that thermodynamic activity be defined on the molal concentration scale. The customary practice of defining the equilibrium constant (K) on a molar basis is accommodated by developing expressions to convert those experimental values (K_molar) to their thermodynamically more rigorous counterparts (K_molal). Such procedures are illustrated by reanalysis of published results for the effects of molecular crowding agents on the isomerisation of α-chymotrypsin and reversible complex formation between catalase and superoxide dismutase. Although those reanalyses have led to only minor refinements of the quantitative interpretation, it is clearly preferable to adopt thermodynamic rigor throughout future spectral studies by employing the molal concentration scale from the outset.