PseqIP: a nonredundant and exhaustive protein sequence data bank generated from 4 major existing collections

Four major protein sequence data collections (NBRF-PIR, PSD-Kyoto, PGtrans, and NEWAT) have been merged into a single nonredundant data bank called PseqIP. The data bank entries were automatically matched by a heuristic computer program relying on the fast computation of the number of tetrapeptides shared by two sequences. PseqIP 1.0 includes 6,068 different protein sequences for a total of 1,357,067 residues, representing most of the available sequence information to date. During the course of this work, we found about 600 occurrences of a protein sequence recorded with a one-amino-acid variation in at least two different data banks. A flat file (ASCII computer-readable format) version of PseqIP 1.0, well-suited for exhaustive homology searches and statistical sequence analysis, is available from our laboratory.     

A Type of Orthogonal Contrasts for Unbalanced Data

A simple method of making a type of orthogonal contrasts among treatments for unbalanced two-way classification data has been described. The method begins with the direct use of absorbing equations, derived from normal equations. Then it is shown that the single components of the treatment sum of squares, adjusted for blocks, are independently distributed.     

Epilogue — Demography and anthropology

As a conclusion, this paper reviews briefly the content of the volume. The wealth of demographic data has not been adequately exploited in anthropology; this is why this publication is valuable in showing attempts to apply demographic data in a variety of anthropological problems. This symposium has explored many interesting points which we recall here. Yet it has also opened up a whole range of further questions on the material presented as well as in this broad field. Several directions of research could be developed, for instance, testing among human populations, over long periods, the ecological thoughts of ecosystems evolving as a cascade of instabilities, rather than a succession of equilibrium states. Let us also recall the pervasive nature of demographic facts in topics such as the energy cycle or the genetic structure and evolution of human populations.     

Analysis of Rates Using a Generalized Poisson Regression Model

In this paper a generalization of the Poisson regression model indexed by a shape parameter is proposed for the analysis of life table and follow-up data with concomitant variables. The model is suitable for analysis of extra-Poisson variation data. The model is used to fit the survival data given in Holford (1980). The model parameters, the hazard and survival functions are estimated by the method of maximum likelihood. The results obtained from this study seem to be comparable to those obtained by Chen (1988). Approximate tests of the dispersion and goodness-of-fit of the data to the model are also discussed.     

Data acquisition in thermal physiology: Measurements of shivering

1. 1.|Simple electronics for measurement of shivering, which include direct and mean rectified EMG (U_mrv), are suggested.

2. 2.|A software system (LabGraph) for measurement and analysis is described.

3. 3.|Three different electrode designs were tested with the system by recording electromyography (EMG) from m. iliotibialis with subdermal, intramuscular and safety pin electrodes in bantam hens exposed to cold eggs. The signal characteristics of EMG are discussed in relation to electrode design and signal processing.

4. 4.|A method for normalizing EMG activity within an experiment to units of heat production is presented and was tested successfully in bantam hens.