Water-storage capacity ofThuja,Tsuga andAcer stems measured by dehydration isotherms

Water-storage capacity was measured inThuja occidentalis L.,Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carr., andAcer saccharum Marsh. during the dehydration of stem segments 1.5–2.5 cm in diameter. Stem water potential was measured with a temperature-corrected stem hygrometer and cavitations were detected acoustically. Water loss was measured by weight change. Dehydration isotherms consistently displayed three phases. The first phase, from water potential (Ψ) 0 to about −0.2 MPa, had a high capacitance (C>0.4kg water lost· (1 of tissue)⁻¹· MPa⁻¹) and we have attributed this high C to capillary water as defined by Zimmermann (1983, Xylem structure and the ascent of sap, Springer-Verlag). The second phase from Ψ=−0.5 to about −2.0 had the lowest C values (<0.02 kg·l⁻¹·MPa⁻¹) and was accompanied by a few cavitation events. This phase may have been a transition zone between capillary storage and water released by cavitation events as well as water drawn from living cells of the bark. The third phase also had a high C (about 0.07–0.22kg·l⁻¹·MPa⁻¹) and was associated with many cavitation events while Ψ declined below about −2.5 MPa; we presume the high capacitance was the consequence of water released by cavitation events. We discuss the ecological adaptive advantage of these three phases of water-storage in trees. In moist environments, water withdrawn from capillary storage may be an important fraction of transpiration, but may be of little adaptive advantage. For most of the growth season trees draw mainly on elastic storage, but stem elastic storage is less than leaf elastic storage and therefore unlikely to be important. In very dry environments, water relased by cavitation events might be important to the short-term survival of trees.     

Can cell walls bending round xylem vessels control water flow?

Vascular bundles of petioles below wilted leaves of Nymphoides peltata (S.G. Gmel. O. Kuntze) were frozen intact and freeze-fractured for electron microscopy. Cell walls in them appeared drawn in against the helical thickenings of xylem vessels. By contrast, walls round vessels which had been frozen in vascular bundles below turgid leaves, and walls round vessels which had been fixed, embedded and sectioned, were straight or bulged outwards slightly. Walls bulged outwards slightly also from cut vessels filled with sucrose solution before freezing. Movement of vessel walls could produce the clicks audible when water cavitates in vessels, and might explain a variable resistance to the flow of water through plants.     

贝伐珠单抗联合化疗治疗晚期非鳞非小细胞肺癌的临床观察

目的:观察贝伐珠单抗联合化疗对晚期非小细胞肺癌患者的疗效、安全性及影像学改变。方法:对2007年至2014年于我院治疗的晚期NSNSCLC(非鳞非小细胞肺癌non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer)患者,给予贝伐珠单抗(15 mg/kg或7.5mg/kg)联合化疗(紫杉醇175 mg/m~2,d1,卡铂AUC=5或6,d1,q3 w)6周期及贝伐珠单抗维持治疗(15 mg/kg或7.5 mg/kg,d1,q3w)。观察疗效、不良反应、肺部病灶空洞改变的情况、恶性胸腔积液的治疗效果及部分患者EGFR、KRAS基因突变状况。结果:共观察26例患者,均接受贝伐珠单抗联合化疗,17例行贝伐珠单抗维持治疗。部分缓解(partial response,PR)、疾病稳定(stable disease,SD)、疾病进展(disease progression,PD)率分别为53.8%、42.3%、3.8%。中位无进展生存期(progression free survival,PFS)为11.0个月,中位总生存期(overall survival,OS)达25.8个月。26例患者中15.4%治疗后病变发生空洞改变,空洞组的2年、3年生存率略高于无空洞组,但无统计学差异(P值分别为0.586、0.509)。13例患者伴有恶性胸腔积液,胸腔积液的疾病控制率为100%。11例患者标本可进行EGFR基因检测,敏感突变占36.4%,未突变占63.6%。对10例患者标本行KRAS基因检测,均为突变阴性。不良反应包括骨髓抑制、消化道反应、鼻衄、咯血、高血压、蛋白尿等。大多数不良反应程度较轻,可控制。结论:贝伐珠单抗联合化疗治疗晚期NSNSCLC患者疗效确切,副反应可耐受,控制恶性胸腔积液效果较好。肺部病灶空洞改变的临床意义有待进一步研究。     

医学超声治疗原理及其临床应用研究

本文从超声波对人体特有的生物效应出发,用生物医学工程的观点,阐述了现代超声治疗技术基本原理及最新临床应用成果,特别是在超声外科治疗技术中的最新发展,展望了超声治疗技术的应用发展前景。     

Xylem embolism and stomatal regulation in two rubber clones (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Hevea brasiliensis</Emphasis> Muell. Arg.)

Vulnerability to water-stress-induced embolism of stems, petioles, and leaf midribs was evaluated for two rubber clones (RRIM600 and RRIT251). The xylem conduits were relatively vulnerable to cavitation with 50% of embolism measured for xylem pressures between –1 and –2 MPa. This feature can be related to the tropical-humid origin of the species. A distinct basipetal gradient of vulnerability was found, leaf midribs being the least vulnerable. Substantial variation in vulnerability to cavitation was found between the two clones only at the petiole level. A correlation was found between the stomatal behavior and the development of cavitation. Stomata were nearly closed when the xylem pressure reached the point of xylem dysfunction. Stomata may thus contribute to controlling the risk of cavitation. However, for one clone a poor correlation was found between stomatal regulation and petiole vulnerability. This was consistent with a high degree of embolism measured in the petioles after a soil drought event. Therefore, xylem cavitation might represent a promising criterion to evaluate the performance of rubber clones under drought conditions.     

Ultrasound and matter--physical interactions

The basic physical characteristics of ultrasound waves are reviewed in terms of the typical displacements, velocities, accelerations and pressures generated in various fluid media as a function of frequency. The effects on wave propagation of interfaces are considered, and the way in which waves are reflected, transmitted and mode converted at interfaces introduced. Then the nonlinear propagation of high amplitude ultrasound is explained, and its consequences, including the generation of harmonic frequencies and enhanced attenuation, considered. The absorption of ultrasonic waves and the resulting heat deposition in absorbing media are described together with factors determining the resulting temperature rises obtained. In the case of tissue these include conduction and perfusion. The characteristics of cavitation in fluid media are also briefly covered. Finally, secondary nonlinear physical effects are described. These include radiation forces on interfaces and streaming in fluids.     

Phosphorylation of ezrin on threonine T567 plays a crucial role during compaction in the mouse early embryo

The preimplantation development of the mouse embryo leads to the divergence of the first two cell lineages, the inner cell mass and the trophectoderm. The formation of a microvillus pole during compaction at the eight-cell stage and its asymmetric inheritance during mitosis are key events in the emergence of these two cell populations. Ezrin, a member of the ERM protein family, seems to be involved in the formation and stabilization of this apical microvillus pole. To further characterize its function in early development, we mutated the key residue T567, which was reported to be essential for regulation of ezrin function through phosphorylation. Here, we show that expression of ezrin mutants in which the COOH-terminal threonine T567 was replaced by an aspartate (to mimic a phosphorylated residue; T567D) or by an alanine (to avoid phosphorylation; T567A) interferes with E-cadherin function and disrupts the first morphogenetic events of development: compaction and cavitation. The active mutant ezrin-T567D induces the formation of numerous and abnormally long microvilli at the surface of blastomeres. Moreover, it localizes all around the cell cortex and inhibits cell-cell adhesion and cell polarization at the eight-cell stage. During the following stages, only half of the embryos are able to compact and finally to cavitate. In those embryos, the amount of ezrin-T567D decreases in the basolateral areas, while the proportion of adherens junctions increases. The reverse inactive mutant ezrin-T567A is mainly cytoplasmic and does not perturb compaction at the eight-cell stage. However, at the 16-cell stage, it relocalizes at the basolateral cortex, leading to a strong decrease in the surface of adherens junctions, and finally, embryos abort development. Our results show that ezrin is directly involved in the formation of microvilli in the early mouse embryo. Moreover, they indicate that maintenance of ezrin in basolateral areas prevents microvilli breakdown and inhibits the formation of normal cell-cell contacts mediated by E-cadherin, thereby impairing blastomeres polarization and morphogenesis of the blastocyst.     

A variational constitutive model for soft biological tissues

In this paper, a fully variational constitutive model of soft biological tissues is formulated in the finite strain regime. The model includes Ogden-type hyperelasticity, finite viscosity, deviatoric and volumetric plasticity, rate and microinertia effects. Variational updates are obtained via time discretization and pre-minimization of a suitable objective function with respect to internal variables. Genetic algorithms are used for model parameter identification due to their suitability for non-convex, high dimensional optimization problems. The material behavior predicted by the model is compared to available tests on swine and human brain tissue. The ability of the model to predict a wide range of experimentally observed behavior, including hysteresis, cyclic softening, rate effects, and plastic deformation is demonstrated.