不同密度樟子松人工林土壤碳氮磷化学计量特征

以科尔沁沙地不同密度(490、750、1550、1930、2560株·hm^-2)樟子松人工林(栽植于1980年)为研究对象,分析林分密度对土壤碳、氮、磷浓度及其计量比的影响,研究林分密度与土壤养分状况的关系。结果表明:随着樟子松林密度增加,各土层(0~10、10~20和20~40 cm)土壤有机碳、全氮、全磷浓度和C∶N呈先增加后降低趋势,而土壤有效磷浓度呈先降低后增加趋势。土壤有机碳浓度在490株·hm^-2密度小于其他密度,而有效磷浓度大于其他密度;土壤C∶P和N∶P在2560株·hm^-2密度显著大于其他密度。各密度樟子松林土壤有机碳、全氮、全磷和有效磷浓度在0~10 cm土层显著大于10~20和20~40cm土层,樟子松人工林土壤养分具有表聚性。通过典范对应分析发现,密度对樟子松林土壤养分影响的主要因子是土壤有机碳、全氮和全磷,且密度为1550株·hm^-2时土壤有机碳、全氮、全磷和碱解氮浓度较高,而C∶P和N∶P较低。因此,当樟子松人工林密度为1550株·hm^-2时,土壤养分浓度较高,林木生长较好,为最佳经营密度。     

THE COMBINED USE OF WHOLE CUPHEA SEEDS CONTAINING MEDIUM CHAIN FATTY ACIDS AND AN EXOGENOUS LIPASE IN PIGLET NUTRITION

In search for an alternative for nutritional antimicrobials in piglet feeding, the effects of adding whole Cuphea seeds, as a natural source of medium chain fatty acids (MCFA), with known antimicrobial effects, and an exogenous lipase to a weaner diet were studied. The foregut flora, the gut morphology, some digestive parameters and the zootechnical performance of weaned piglets were investigated. Thirty newly weaned piglets, initial weight 7.0 ± 0.4 kg, were divided according to litter, sex and weight in two groups (control diet; Cuphea+lipase diet). The Cuphea seeds (lanceolata and ignea) (50 g kg^?1) were substituted for soybean oil (15 g kg^?1), Alphacell (25 g kg^?1) and soy protein isolate (10 g kg^?1) in the control diet. Also 500 mg kg^?1 microbial lipase was added to the Cuphea diet. The piglets were weighted individually on days 0, 3, 7, 14 and 16. Feed intake was recorded per pen during days 0 to 3, 3 to 7, 7 to 14 and 14 to 16. On day 7 five piglets of each experimental group were euthanized for counting the gastric and small intestinal gut flora and for gut morphology at two sites of the small intestine (proximal, distal). The results indicate a trend towards improved performances parameters by feeding Cuphea + lipase. The enzymic released MCFA (1.7 g kg^?1 fresh gastric contents) tended to decrease the number of Coliforms in the proximal small intestine, but increased the number in the stomach and distal small intestine. With Cuphea, the number of Streptococci was significantly lower in small intestine, but not in the stomach, while the number of Lactobacilli was significantly lower in the distal small intestine and tended to be lower in the stomach and proximal small intestine. No differences between the diets were noted for the total anaerobic microbial load in the stomach or in the gut. Feeding Cuphea+lipase resulted in a significantly greater villus height (distal small intestine) and a lesser crypt depth (proximal and distal small intestine) and greater villus/crypt ratio depth (proximal and distal small intestine). The intra-epithelial lymphocyte (IEL) counts per 100 enterocytes were significantly decreased in the proximal small intestine and tended to decrease in the distal small intestine by feeding the Cuphea+lipase diet. Both phenomena are indicative for a more healthy and better functional state of the mucosa. Present results are in line with foregoing research, showing that manipulation of the gut ecosystem by the enzymic in situ released MCFA in the stomach and foregut can result in improved performances of the piglets, which makes the concept a potential alternative for in-feed nutritional antibiotics.     

Detecting Foci of Malaria Transmission with School Surveys: A Pilot Study in the Gambia

Background

In areas of declining malaria transmission such as in The Gambia, the identification of malaria infected individuals becomes increasingly harder. School surveys may be used to identify foci of malaria transmission in the community.

Methods

The survey was carried out in May–June 2011, before the beginning of the malaria transmission season. Thirty two schools in the Upper River Region of The Gambia were selected with probability proportional to size; in each school approximately 100 children were randomly chosen for inclusion in the study. Each child had a finger prick blood sample collected for the determination of antimalarial antibodies by ELISA, malaria infection by microscopy and PCR, and for haemoglobin measurement. In addition, a simple questionnaire on socio-demographic variables and the use of insecticide-treated bed nets was completed. The cut-off for positivity for antimalarial antibodies was obtained using finite mixture models. The clustered nature of the data was taken into account in the analyses.

Results

A total of 3,277 children were included in the survey. The mean age was 10 years (SD = 2.7) [range 4–21], with males and females evenly distributed. The prevalence of malaria infection as determined by PCR was 13.6% (426/3124) [95% CI = 12.2–16.3] with marked variation between schools (range 3–25%, p<0.001), while the seroprevalence was 7.8% (234/2994) [95%CI = 6.4–9.8] for MSP1₁₉, 11.6% (364/2997) [95%CI = 9.4–14.5] for MSP2, and 20.0% (593/2973) [95% CI = 16.5–23.2) for AMA1. The prevalence of all the three antimalarial antibodies positive was 2.7% (79/2920).

Conclusions

This survey shows that malaria prevalence and seroprevalence before the transmission season were highly heterogeneous.     

OsRAN2, essential for mitosis,enhances cold tolerance in rice by promoting export of intranuclear tubulin and maintaining cell division under cold stress

With global climate change, abnormally low temperatures have affected the world's rice production. Many genes have been shown to be essential for molecular improvement of rice cold‐tolerance traits. However, less is known about the molecular cellular mechanism of their response to cold stress. Here, we investigated OsRAN2 involved in regulation of cell division during cold stress in rice. Expression of OsRAN2 was increased under cold treatment, but not during salt and drought stress. The mean root mitotic index was closely related to the expression level of OsRAN2. Knockdown transgenic rice lines showed an aberrant organization of spindles during mitosis and stunted growth during development. Overexpression of OsRAN2 enhanced cold tolerance in rice. The transgenic rice overexpressing OsRAN2 showed maintained cell division, decreased proportion of cells with intranuclear tubulin and formation of a normal nuclear envelope under the cold condition. Our study suggests a mechanism for OsRAN2 in regulating cold resistance in rice by maintaining cell division through promoting the normal export of intranuclear tubulin at the end of mitosis. This insight could help improve the cold‐tolerance trait in rice.     

Evolutionary process of a tetranucleotide microsatellite locus in Acipenseriformes

The evolutionary dynamics of the tetra-nucleotide microsatellite locus Spl-106 were investigated at the repeat and flanking sequences in 137 individuals of 15 Acipenseriform species, giving 93 homologous sequences, which were detected in 11 out of 15 species. Twenty-three haplotypes of flanking sequences and three distinct types of repeats, type I, type II and type III, were found within these 93 sequences. The MS-Align phylogenetic method, newly applied to microsatellite sequences, permitted us to understand the repeat and flanking sequence evolution of Spl-106 locus. The flanking region of locus Spl-106 was highly conserved among the species of genera Acipenser, Huso and Scaphirhynchus, which diverged about 150 million years ago (Mya). The rate of flanking sequence divergence at the microsatellite locus Spl-106 in sturgeons is between 0.011% and 0.079% with an average at 0.028% per million years. Sequence alignment and phylogenetic trees produced by MS-Align showed that both the flanking and repeat regions can cluster the alleles of different species into Pacific and Atlantic lineages. Our results show a synchronous evolutionary pattern between the flanking and repeat regions. Moreover, the coexistence of different repeat types in the same species, even in the same individual, is probably due to two duplication events encompassing the locus Spl-106 that occurred during the divergence of Pacific lineage. The first occured before the diversification of Pacific species (121–96 Mya) and led to repeat types I and II. The second occurred more recently, just before the speciation of A. sinensis and A. dabryanus (69–10 Mya), and led to repeat type III. Sequences in the same species with different repeat types probably corresponds to paralogous loci. This study sheds a new light on the evolutionary mechanisms that shape the complex microsatellite loci involving different repeat types.     

双斑蟋若虫后足的再生观察

研究蟋蟀若虫是否具有再生的能力,在实验室内对直翅目蟋蟀科的双斑蟋Gryllus bimaculata de Geer若虫后足的再生情况进行初步观察。结果表明:双斑蟋若虫的后足确实具有再生的能力,且再生足的伸长生长与正常足一样,均出现于虫体蜕皮时。再生的过程主要分为3个阶段:突起期、“肢芽”期、短小足期。实验结果还表明:再生能力与断肢发生的时间及断肢部位有关;断肢部位离肢体越远,再生能力越强;断肢发生的时间越早,再生能力越强。     

绵羊fertilin β基因编码区的钓取与结构分析

Fertilin β与精卵的结合和融合有密切关系。为探讨fertilin β蛋白在绵羊受精过程中的作用机理, 采用RACE技术, 首次钓取了该基因的编码区。结果绵羊fertilin β基因的编码区cDNA全长为2,217 bp。同源性分析显示, 绵羊的fertilin β氨基酸序列与牛、猪和人的fertilin β具有79.4%、66.7%和58.1%的同源性。系统发育分析表明, 绵羊fertilin β与牛属于同一分支, 并且也显示了绵羊和牛分类地位最近, 这和传统的分类一致。Fertilin β蛋白结构域分析显示, 绵羊fertilin β去整合素识别序列为TDE, 与牛的序列相同。除了上述三肽序列外, 紧随X-D/E-E的ECD保守序列, 从而形成了X-D/E-ECD五肽保守序列, 在绵羊fertilin β中该五肽序列为TDECE。     

西双版纳苦丁茶挥发油的化学成分

苦丁茶为中国南部及西南部的民间传统药用植物,经两千多年的应用和医学临床试验证明,苦丁茶具有清热解毒、抑菌消炎、抗衰老、降血脂、改善血液粘稠度和微循环、清除人体自由基及增强人体免疫能力等功效,被誉为保健茶、美容茶、降压茶和益寿茶[1,2]。苦丁茶来源较复杂,共有5科1     

The JAK–STAT Pathway Is Critical in Ventilator-Induced Diaphragm Dysfunction

Mechanical ventilation (MV) is one of the lynchpins of modern intensive-care medicine and is life saving in many critically ill patients. Continuous ventilator support, however, results in ventilation-induced diaphragm dysfunction (VIDD) that likely prolongs patients’ need for MV and thereby leads to major associated complications and avoidable intensive care unit (ICU) deaths. Oxidative stress is a key pathogenic event in the development of VIDD, but its regulation remains largely undefined. We report here that the JAK–STAT pathway is activated in MV in the human diaphragm, as evidenced by significantly increased phosphorylation of JAK and STAT. Blockage of the JAK–STAT pathway by a JAK inhibitor in a rat MV model prevents diaphragm muscle contractile dysfunction (by ~85%, p < 0.01). We further demonstrate that activated STAT3 compromises mitochondrial function and induces oxidative stress in vivo, and, interestingly, that oxidative stress also activates JAK–STAT. Inhibition of JAK–STAT prevents oxidative stress-induced protein oxidation and polyubiquitination and recovers mitochondrial function in cultured muscle cells. Therefore, in ventilated diaphragm muscle, activation of JAK–STAT is critical in regulating oxidative stress and is thereby central to the downstream pathogenesis of clinical VIDD. These findings establish the molecular basis for the therapeutic promise of JAK–STAT inhibitors in ventilated ICU patients.     

The polymorphism analysis of CD169 and CD163 related with the risk of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) infection

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) could infect porcine alveolar macrophages (PAM), and the CD169 and CD163 are identified as critical receptors on the surface of PAM, but whether the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of these genes could influence the infection is remain unclear. In this study, we identified totally 6 SNPs for CD169 (G1640T, C1654A, C4175T) and CD163 (G2277A, A2552G and C2700A), and evaluated their associations with PRRSV infection using two classified methods in a 524 pig population to investigate the effects of mutations on the PRRSV receptors. The pigs with genotypes of AA of CD169-C1654A, CT of CD169-C4175T and AA of CD163-A2552G appeared to resistant to the PRRSV infection by the combination of two classified results. The results provided fundamental molecular investigation to promote pig breeding with disease resistance. However, the identification of functional changes induced by SNPs and molecular mechanism were need further research.