A comparison of two commercially available ELISA methods for the quantification of human plasma heat shock protein 70 during rest and exercise stress

This study compared resting and exercise heat/hypoxic stress-induced levels of plasma extracellular heat shock protein 70 (eHSP70) in humans using two commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELIS)A kits. EDTA plasma samples were collected from 21 males during two separate investigations. Participants in part A completed a 60-min treadmill run in the heat (HOT70; 33.0 ± 0.1 °C, 28.7 ± 0.8 %, n = 6) at 70 % V̇O_2max. Participants in part B completed 60 min of cycling exercise at 50 % V̇O_2max in either hot (HOT50; 40.5 °C, 25.4 relative humidity (RH)%, n = 7) or hypoxic (HYP50; fraction of inspired oxygen (F_IO₂) = 0.14, 21 °C, 35 % RH, n = 8) conditions. Samples were collected prior to and immediately upon termination of exercise and analysed for eHSP70 using EKS-715 high-sensitivity HSP70 ELISA and new ENZ-KIT-101 Amp’d™ HSP70 high-sensitivity ELISA. ENZ-KIT was superior in detecting resting eHSP70 (1.54 ± 3.27 ng·mL⁻¹; range 0.08 to 14.01 ng·mL⁻¹), with concentrations obtained from 100 % of samples compared to 19 % with EKS-715 assay. The ENZ-KIT requires optimisation prior to running samples in order to ensure participants fall within the standard curve, a step not required with EKS-715. Using ENZ-KIT, a 1:4 dilution allowed for quantification of resting HSP70 in 26/32 samples, with a 1:8 (n = 3) and 1:16 (n = 3) dilution required to determine the remaining samples. After exercise, eHSP70 was detected in 6/21 and 21/21 samples using EKS-715 and ENZ-KIT, respectively. eHSP70 was increased from rest after HOT70 (p < 0.05), but not HOT50 (p > 0.05) or HYP50 (p > 0.05) when analysed using ENZ-KIT. It is recommended that future studies requiring the precise determination of resting plasma eHSP70 use the ENZ-KIT (i.e. HSP70 Amp’d® ELISA) instead of the EKS-715 assay, despite additional assay development time and cost required.     

基于树干液流及涡动相关技术的葡萄冠层蒸腾及蒸散发特征研究

针对西北干旱区绿洲经济作物葡萄树冠层蒸腾及蒸散发特征的相关问题,在甘肃省敦煌市南湖绿洲开展无核白葡萄树液流速率及蒸散发观测试验,采用基于热平衡原理的包裹式茎流计,详细分析了典型生长季7—9月份葡萄树蒸腾耗水规律,使用"单位叶面积上的平均液流速率SF×叶面积指数LAI"的方法,实现了从单株到林分冠层蒸腾的尺度扩展,并通过与涡动相关技术所测蒸散发数据对比,详细研究了葡萄地冠层蒸腾及蒸散发规律。结果表明:典型生长季中葡萄树液流速率日变化为单峰型曲线,日均耗水量从2.76 kg到10 kg不等,胸径越大的葡萄树日均耗水量越大;冠层蒸腾及蒸散发日变化曲线亦为单峰型,白天8:00—12:00与17:00—20:00期间,葡萄冠层蒸腾与蒸散发曲线均比较吻合,该时间段葡萄地蒸散发绝大部分来源于葡萄冠层蒸腾,而12:00—17:00之间由于午后太阳辐射强烈土壤蒸发量增加,葡萄蒸散发大于冠层蒸腾;典型生长季3个月中,葡萄冠层蒸腾量的变化范围在1.88—8.12 mm/d之间,日均冠层蒸腾量为6.12 mm/d,蒸散发在1.74 mm/d至10.78 mm/d之间,日均蒸散发量为7.13 mm/d;日均土壤蒸发量约为1.01 mm/d,只占总蒸散发量的14.2%,日均冠层蒸腾占日均蒸散发的比重达到85.8%,说明该生长阶段冠层蒸散发以作物蒸腾为主。     

京津唐城市群土地利用变化的区域增温效应模拟

土地利用变化与大气相互作用,影响区域气候,而城市及其周边地区受人类活动影响很大,成为土地利用变化最为强烈的区域。利用耦合了城市冠层模型的中尺度大气模式(WRF/UCM),在2008年的初始大气条件和边界条件下,用20世纪70年代后期和2008年两期京津唐地区土地利用资料替换WRF/UCM模式推荐的地表覆盖数据,模拟分析不同土地利用类型及其变化对应的气候差异情况。在此过程中,利用插值方法(ANUSPLIN)得到京津唐及其周边26个气象站点观测气温的插值数据,并以此在时空尺度上对比验证了模式的模拟结果。结果表明:WRF/UCM较好地模拟出了近地表2 m的气温,无论在空间上还是在时间上都表现良好;由城市扩展主导的土地利用变化导致研究区大部分区域的增温幅度大于0.05℃,且最大的增温区域出现在城市扩展区,可达1.31℃。此外本研究初步探讨了土地利用变化的增温贡献率,结果显示研究区土地利用变化导致增温0.08℃,整体贡献率为9.88%,城市扩展区增温0.29℃,表示出了城市扩展导致的增温贡献率达到32.75%。     

中国西北地区降水量及极端干旱气候变化特征

采用1960—2011年西北地区111个观测站逐日气象资料,利用FAO Penman-Monteith模型,计算出各气象站的潜在蒸散量,由此计算出各站的湿润指数,并对其进行标准化,统计极端干旱发生频率。对西北全区和不同自然区的降水量及极端干旱发生频率的时空变化特征进行了探讨分析。结果表明:近52年来西北全区年降水量变化倾向率表现出微弱的上升趋势,平均每年上升0.17 mm。由该区年降水量变化的空间差异,可将研究区划分为3个部分:明显增加区、轻度增加区、减少区。西北全区极端干旱发生频率的平均值为3.8月/a,气候变化倾向率总体上表现出明显的下降趋势,平均每年下降0.011月。根据西北地区极端干旱发生频率变化的空间差异,也可将研究区划分为3个部分:明显减少区、轻度减少区、增加区。极端干旱发生频率与降水量和平均气温表现为显著的负相关性,与无雨总日数呈现出显著的正相关性。     

基于TM/ETM~+数据的沈阳市各区城市热岛特征

应用2001年8月和2010年8月Landsat TM/ETM+数据,计算沈阳市区及三环内各区的地表热岛强度(SUHI),根据土地利用数据和热岛源汇特征提取源汇信息,分析SUHI与土地利用类型、热岛源汇面积及边界长度、归一化植被指数(NDVI)、归一化建筑指数(NDBI)、改进的归一化差异水体指数(MNDWI)的关系。结果表明:2001年沈阳市区的中等热岛强度以上区域主要集中在三环内和苏家屯区,强热岛地区主要出现在铁西区和皇姑区;2010年中等以上热岛强度地区,与城区发展相一致,主要向西南,南面扩展,弱热岛、中等强度和强热岛地区有较大幅度的增加;城市热岛强度与NDVI存在显著的负相关,与NDBI存在显著的正相关;热岛源在区域内的面积比重与中等强度以上热岛存在较显著的相关关系,源汇边界长度与弱热岛和中等热岛存在较显著的相关关系。     

黄土高原农牧交错带稀疏自然植被生态系统的地表能量特征

基于2011-2012年黄土高原农牧交错带稀疏自然植被生态系统的地表能量通量以及气象数据,对该地区能量平衡各分量(净辐射、感热、潜热和土壤热通量)以及波文比进行日、季节动态的特征分析,研究了潜热通量和感热通量对不同强度降雨事件响应程度的差异,并分析了潜热通量和感热通量的主控因子.结果表明:该地区净辐射、感热、潜热和土壤热通量的日、季节动态曲线均为单峰型曲线,净辐射、感热通量、潜热通量和土壤热通量的年平均值分别为78.19、33.32、24.91和2.65 W·m-2.在全年能量收支平衡中,感热通量占净辐射的43％,潜热通量占32％,土壤热通量占3％,表明对于黄土高原农牧交错带自然稀疏灌木生态系统,全年能量主要以感热的形式交换.生长季感热和潜热占净辐射的比例相同(36％);而在非生长季,感热占主导,占净辐射的比例高达54％.潜热通量在强、弱降雨事件发生后明显升高,感热通量则明显下降.潜热通量与净辐射、水汽压差及植被参数均显著相关,感热通量与净辐射及空气温度梯度显著相关.     

Systemic lupus erythematosus: molecular cloning and analysis of 22 individual recombinant monoclonal kappa light chains specifically hydrolyzing human myelin basic protein

Antibodies hydrolyzing myelin basic protein (MBP) can play an important role in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). An immunoglobulin light chain phagemid library derived from peripheral blood lymphocytes of patients with SLE was used. Small pools of phage particles displaying light chains with different affinities for MBP were isolated by affinity chromatography on MBP‐Sepharose, and the fraction eluted with 0.5 M NaCl was used for preparation of individual monoclonal light chains (MLChs, 26–27 kDa). Seventy‐two of 440 individual colonies were randomly chosen, expressed in Escherichia coli in a soluble form, and MLChs were purified by metal chelating chromatography. Twenty‐two of 72 MLChs have high affinity and efficiently hydrolyze only MBP (not other control proteins) demonstrating various pH optima in a 5.7–9.0 range and different substrate specificity in the hydrolysis of four different MBP oligopeptides. Four MLChs demonstrated serine protease‐like and three thiol protease‐like activities, while 11 MLChs were metalloproteases. The activity of three MLChs was inhibited by both phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (PMSF) and Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), two other by EDTA and iodoacetamide, and one by PMSF, EDTA, and iodoacetamide. The ratio of relative activity in the presence of Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺_, Mn²⁺, Ni²⁺, Zn²⁺, Cu²⁺, and Co²⁺ was individual for each of 22 MLCh preparations. It is the first examples of human MLChs, which probably can possess two or even three different proteolytic activities. These observations suggest an extreme diversity of anti‐MBP abzymes in SLE patients. The immune systems of individual SLE patients can generate a variety of anti‐MBP abzymes, which can attack MBP of myelin‐proteolipid sheath of axons and play an important role in MS and SLE pathogenesis. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Decimal growth stages for precision wheat production in changing environments?

The utility of the decimal growth stage (DGS) scoring system for cereals is reviewed. The DGS is the most widely used scale in academic and commercial applications because of its comprehensive coverage of cereal developmental stages, the ease of use and definition provided and adoption by official agencies. The DGS has demonstrable and established value in helping to optimise the timing of agronomic inputs, particularly with regard to plant growth regulators, herbicides, fungicides and soluble nitrogen fertilisers. In addition, the DGS is used to help parameterise crop models, and also in understanding the response and adaptation of crops to the environment. The value of the DGS for increasing precision relies on it indicating, to some degree, the various stages in the development of the stem apex and spike. Coincidence of specific growth stage scores with the transition of the apical meristem from a vegetative to a reproductive state, and also with the period of meiosis, is unreliable. Nonetheless, in pot experiments it is shown that the broad period of booting (DGS 41–49) appears adequate for covering the duration when the vulnerability of meiosis to drought and heat stress is exposed. Similarly, the duration of anthesis (61–69) is particularly susceptible to abiotic stresses: initially from a fertility perspective, but increasingly from a mean grain weight perspective as flowering progresses to DGS 69 and then milk development. These associations with DGS can have value at the crop level of organisation: for interpreting environmental effects, and in crop modelling. However, genetic, biochemical and physiological analysis to develop greater understanding of stress acclimation during the vegetative state, and tolerance at meiosis, does require more precision than DGS can provide. Similarly, individual floret analysis is needed to further understand the genetic basis of stress tolerance during anthesis.     

Mating success at high temperature in highland‐ and lowland‐derived populations as well as in heat knock‐down selected Drosophila buzzatii

Thermal‐stress selection can affect multiple fitness components including mating success. Reproductive success is one of the most inclusive measures of overall fitness, and mating success is a major component of reproduction. However, almost no attention has been spent to test how mating success can be affected by thermal‐stress selection. In this study, we examine the mating success in the cactophilic Drosophila buzzatii Patterson & Wheeler (Diptera: Drosophilidae) derived from two natural populations that nearly represent the ends of an altitudinal cline for heat knock‐down resistance. Furthermore, we extended the analysis using laboratory lines artificially selected for high and low heat knock‐down resistance. Mating success at high temperature was found to be higher in the lowland than the highland population after a heat pre‐treatment. Moreover, individuals selected for heat knock‐down resistance showed higher mating success at high temperature than did individuals selected for low knock‐down resistance. These results indicate that adaptation to thermal stress can confer an advantage on fitness‐related traits including mating success and highlight the benefits of earlier heat exposure as an adaptive plastic response affecting mating success under stress of higher temperature.