Joint Report of the First International Comparison Test on Swine Lymphocyte Alloantigens (SLA)

The first international comparison test on swine lymphocyte alloantigens (SLA) was held in Helsinki, Finland in July 1986. The results reported were based on a comparison of 157 alloantisera originating from six laboratories. The antisera were tested against a selected panel of 264 lymphocyte samples belonging to four laboratories. The most common breeds in Europe were chosen for this first comparison test (Landrace and Large White). Eighteen of the 31 previously known specificities were confirmed and a new nomenclature was established.     

通往风景园林行业的BIM之路——数字化竖向设计教育

随着全球建造业向数字化全面转型,建筑信息模型（BIM)的教学将是未来几年风景园林设计与实施的重要主题。介绍了风景园林专业BIM的教学方法和数字化竖向设计及其应用在BIM场地设计项目中的重要性。数字化竖向设计是实现BIM的途径。风景园林教育必须在其教学中讲解BIM建模方法和过程。     

Experimental silicification of the extremophilic Archaea Pyrococcus abyssi and Methanocaldococcus jannaschii: applications in the search for evidence of life in early Earth and extraterrestrial rocks

Hydrothermal activity was common on the early Earth and associated micro‐organisms would most likely have included thermophilic to hyperthermophilic species. 3.5–3.3 billion‐year‐old, hydrothermally influenced rocks contain silicified microbial mats and colonies that must have been bathed in warm to hot hydrothermal emanations. Could they represent thermophilic or hyperthermophilic micro‐organisms and if so, how were they preserved? We present the results of an experiment to silicify anaerobic, hyperthermophilic micro‐organisms from the Archaea Domain Pyrococcus abyssi and Methanocaldococcus jannaschii, that could have lived on the early Earth. The micro‐organisms were placed in a silica‐saturated medium for periods up to 1 year. Pyrococcus abyssi cells were fossilized but the M. jannaschii cells lysed naturally after the exponential growth phase, apart from a few cells and cell remains, and were not silicified although their extracellular polymeric substances were. In this first simulated fossilization of archaeal strains, our results suggest that differences between species have a strong influence on the potential for different micro‐organisms to be preserved by fossilization and that those found in the fossil record represent probably only a part of the original diversity. Our results have important consequences for biosignatures in hydrothermal or hydrothermally influenced deposits on Earth, as well as on early Mars, as environmental conditions were similar on the young terrestrial planets and traces of early Martian life may have been similarly preserved as silicified microfossils.     

Reducing Stock-Outs of Life Saving Malaria Commodities Using Mobile Phone Text-Messaging: SMS for Life Study in Kenya

Background

Health facility stock-outs of life saving malaria medicines are common across Africa. Innovative ways of addressing this problem are urgently required. We evaluated whether SMS based reporting of stocks of artemether-lumefantrine (AL) and rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) can result in reduction of stock-outs at peripheral facilities in Kenya.

Methods/Findings

All 87 public health facilities in five Kenyan districts were included in a 26 week project. Weekly facility stock counts of four AL packs and RDTs were sent via structured incentivized SMS communication process from health workers’ personal mobile phones to a web-based system accessed by district managers. The mean health facility response rate was 97% with a mean formatting error rate of 3%. Accuracy of stock count reports was 79% while accuracy of stock-out reports was 93%. District managers accessed the system 1,037 times at an average of eight times per week. The system was accessed in 82% of the study weeks. Comparing weeks 1 and 26, stock-out of one or more AL packs declined by 38 percentage-points. Total AL stock-out declined by 5 percentage-points and was eliminated by the end of the project. Stock-out declines of individual AL packs ranged from 14 to 32 percentage-points while decline in RDT stock-outs was 24 percentage-points. District managers responded to 44% of AL and 73% of RDT stock-out signals by redistributing commodities between facilities. In comparison with national trends, stock-out declines in study areas were greater, sharper and more sustained.

Conclusions

Use of simple SMS technology ensured high reporting rates of reasonably accurate, real-time facility stock data that were used by district managers to undertake corrective actions to reduce stock-outs. Future work on stock monitoring via SMS should focus on assessing response rates without use of incentives and demonstrating effectiveness of such interventions on a larger scale.     

Fruit structure of Amborella trichopoda (Amborellaceae)

The indehiscent fruitlets of the apparently basalmost extant angiosperm, Amborella trichopoda, have a pericarp that is differentiated into five zones, a thin one‐cell‐layered skin (exocarp), a thick fleshy zone of 25–35 cell layers (outer mesocarp), a thick, large‐celled sclerenchymatous zone (unlignified) of 6–18 cell layers (middle mesocarp), a single cell layer with thin‐walled (silicified?) cells (inner mesocarp), and a 2–4‐cell‐layered, small‐celled sclerenchymatous zone (unlignified) derived from the inner epidermis (endocarp). The border between inner and outer mesocarp is not even but the inner mesocarp forms a network of ridges and pits; the ridges support the vascular bundles, which are situated in the outer mesocarp. In accordance with previous observations by Bailey & Swamy, no ethereal oil cells were observed in the pericarp; however, lysigenous cavities as mentioned by these authors are also lacking; they seem to be an artefact caused by re‐expanding dried fruits. The seed coat is not sclerified. The fruitlets of Amborella differ from externally similar fruits or fruitlets in other basal angiosperms, such as Austrobaileyales or Laurales, in their histology. © 2005 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2005, 148 , 265–274.     

Cell Wall Solubilization in Pedicel Abscission of Begonia Flower Buds

Effects of metabolic inhibitors and growth regulators on the course of abscission and on the activities of cell wall solubilizing enzymes were studied in pedicel explants of Begonia flower buds. Actinomycin D, chloramphenicol and 2,4-dinitrophenol slightly retarded abscission, whereas cycloheximide exerted a strong inhibition if applied until 10.5 h after explant excision. Indoleacetic acid retarded and ethylene promoted abscission and cell wall solubilization. However, the activities of cell wall solubilizing enzymes did not correspond with the course of abscission. No polygalacturonase and pectic acid and pectin transeliminases could be detected in the abscission zone during abscission, whereas a low pectin methylesterase activity did not change. Endo- and exocellulase activities did not increase until about 10 h after the onset of abscission, indicating that they are the result rather than the cause of abscission.     

Hormonal Regulation of Pedicel Abscission in Begonia Flower Buds

In order to analyse the hormonal regulation of flower bud shedding in Begonia, levels of indoleacetic acid (IAA), abscisic acid (ABA) and ethylene were determined in buds and pedicels. The translocation and metabolism of ¹⁴C-labeled IAA in pedicel segments were also studied. In a monoecious Begonia fuchsioides hybrid, abscising male flower buds contain about 1% of the IAA present in non-abscising female flowers. In a male Begonia davisii hybrid, the seasonal variation in bud drop coincides with changes in the IAA content of the buds, while also the release of IAA from the bud to the pedicel is hampered. Abscission zones of these pedicels always contain abscission promoting ethylene concentrations. The tissue is prevented from responding with abscission by IAA from the flower buds. The buds also contain ABA but without influencing abscission considerably. Pretreatment with ethylene or ABA does not affect IAA transport in pedicel segments. The rate of this transport is 4–6 mm × h^–1:; the capacity increases with the transverse area. In young segments, IAA is decarboxylated and also otherwise metabolized.