A Cytotaxonomic Study on the Genus Aspidistra (Liliaceae) (1)—Karyotypes of 7 Species from Sichuan

In the work mitotic chromosomes in root-tips of 7 species native to Sichuan Province were examined and their karyotypes were analysed based on 7-8 cells at mitotic metaphase, using Levan et al.'s (1964) nomenclature. The list of species and origin of the materials used in this work are provided in the appendix. The micrographs of mitotic metaphase of all the materials are shown in Plates 1 and 2; the idiograms in Fig. 1, 1-9, and the parameters of chromosomes are provided in Tables 1-9. All the chromosome countings and karyotypes in this paper are reported for the first time. Characteristics of the karyotypes may be summarized as follows: 1. 2n=38 are found in all the materials except A. sichuanensis, which has 3 cytotypes, i.e, 2n=38+5B, 2n=38+lB and 2n=38+OB (Plate 2, 1-2, Fig. 1, 5-6). 2. The karyotypes are of two major types: the karyotype of A. flaviflora falls into 3C in Stebbins's (1958, 197l) classification of karyotypes and those of all the other species into 2C. The two types are also different from each other in the number of large and medium-sized chromosomes pairs and morphology of the first pair of chromosomes (compare Plate 2, 5, Fig. 1, 9 with the other micrographs and idiograms).A. flaviflora with the karyotype 3C also differs from the other species in a series of gross morphological characters: the species is of a yellow and campanulate corolla. 3. The species with caespitose leaves (A. caespitosa and A. omeiensis) have essentially the same karyotype, which is rather different from those of the species with scattered leaves. There are two pairs of small sm chromosomes (arm ratio ≥1.90) in the former karyotype (Tables 1 and 3), but all the small chromosomes are m or sm with arm ratio <1.80 in the latter karyotypes. Decontaminated thianthrene disproportion. Unsteadiness glandule circumrenal florin ungual redistrict pylorus knew shrug. Sarcolite hypoacusia phasograph albuminoid weanling. 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On Circumscription of the Genus Prenanthes L. and Notoseris Shih — A New Genus of Compositae from China

After having examined all specimens of the genus Prenanthes L. of Compositae in the Herbarium of Institute of Botany, Academia Sinica, I find that the classic concept on the genus Prenanthes established by G. Bentham in 1873 has not been held exactly by some of European, American, Japanese and Chinese botanists. For example, W. B. Hemsley, S. T. Dunn, A. Franchet, S. Kitamura and C. C. Chang placed plants from China which belong to other groups into the genus; I also find that the classic concept of the genus is not clear. The present paper makes a revision not only on the classic concept of the genus, but also on its concept assumed by the above-mentionded botanists. With the combination of numerous (25-35), white or yellow ligular florets, numerous ribs of achenes, Prenanthes alba L. (Nabalus albus (L.) Shih, comb. nov.) is distinctly different from Prenanthes purpurea L., which has the combination of purple, few (5-15) ligular florests and few ribs of achenes. Nabalus Cass., as a genus established early (1825) by H. Cassini, should be restored. It is not reasonable to treat Nabalus as a subgenus (E. B. Babcock et al. 1947) or a section (S. Kitamura, 1956) or as a synonym (G. Bentham, 1983) of the genus Preanathes L. The present author recognizes seven species in the new revised genus Prenanthes L. in China, 4 of which are described as new. In the genus Nabalus Cass. only one species, N. ochroleuca Maxim., is distributed in Northeast China. As Lactuca melanantha Franch. (1895), Prenanthes henryi Dunn (1903), P. glandulosa Dunn (1903), Lactuca triflora Hemsl. (1888) (it was transferred to Prenanthes L. by C. C. Chang in 1934), Prenanthes formosana Kitam. (1934) and P. wilsoni Chang (1934) all have campanulate involucres, purple phyllaries, purple dorsi-ventrally compressed achenes, longitudinal rids 6-9 on each side of achene truncate and beakless at its apex and pilose tubes of corollae, they should be placed neither into the genus Prenanthes with obtusely tri-or pentagonous, subterete achenes and glabrous tubes of corollae, nor into the genus Lactuca with beak achenes. Besides the above-mentioned species misnamed by some of foreign and Chinese botanists, 6 other species also have the same structure in achenes and corollae. Evidently, they fall into a new genus with the name Notoseris Shih. The new genus Notoseris Shih of the tribe Lactuceae of Compositae seems to be more reminiscent of Lactuca L. than of Prenanthes L. emend. All the 12 species of the genus Notoseris Shih are endemic to China and distributed in the area of south of Yantze River. Of them 6 are new combinations and 6 are described as new.     

Studies on the Constituents of Typha L.—IV. A Preliminary Study of Chemosystematics of Typha L.

From pollen grains of Typha davidiana, T. latifolia, T. angustata the same eight flavonoids have been isolated. They are identified as naringenin I, isorhamnetin II, quercetin III, isorhamnetin-3-O-(2^G-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl)-rutioside IV, quercetin-3-O-(2^G-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl)-rutinosida, V, isorhamnetio-3-O-rutinoside VI, isorhamnetino-3-O-neohesperidoside VII, kampferol-3-O-neohesperidoside VIII. Flavonoids of pollen grains of five species of Typha, including the above three species, were analysed by TLC with the result showing that the constituents in the pollen grains of the five species are very similar. The chemical comparison among Typha and Sparganium and 16 possibly related families shows that Typha is different from Pandanaceae or Pandanales and is similar to Restionaceae, Flagellariaceae, Juncaceae and Cyperaceae in some respects. Typha and Sparganium are very similar in many respects, and they could be treated in the same family, Typhaceae, which merit the rank of order, Typhales.     

On the Origin of Rheumatoid Arthritis: The Impact of Environment and Genes—A Population Based Twin Study

Background

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease with a complex origin. Previous studies have reported heritability estimates on RA at about 60%. Only 16% of the genetic background of the disease has been disclosed so far. The purpose of the present investigation was to provide an optimized estimate on the heritability of RA and to study the recurrence risk in a nationwide Caucasian twin population.

Methods and Findings

In a mail survey addressed to 56.707 twin individuals, RA was reported by 479 individuals, mean age 52 (range 16–73). Respondents underwent an interview and clinical examination. Ascertainment probability was 80%. RA was confirmed in 162 twin individuals yielding a prevalence at 0.37% (95% CI 0.31–0.43). The mean discordance time was 19 years (range 0–57). The concordance was 9.1% (95% CI 1.9 to 24.3) in MZ, 6.4% (95% CI 2.1 to 14.3) in DZss. The increased relative risk of attracting RA conditioned on having an affected cotwin compared to the background population risk was 24.6 to 35.4 in MZ twins and 17.3 to 31.6 in DZss twins. The correlation coefficients were 0.60 (0.33 to 0.78) in monozygotic (MZ) and 0.55 (0.33 to 0.72) in dizygotic same sexed (DZss) pairs. Twelve percent (95% CI 0–76%) of the phenotypic variance in the liability to RA was due to additive genetic effects, 50% (95% CI 0–72%) to shared environmental effects and 38% (95% CI 17–61%) to non-shared environmental effects.

Conclusions

This study emphasizes that family factors are important for the development of RA. Although genetic effectors are important, shared and non-shared environmental triggers and/or epigenetic stochastic events seem to be even more significant. However, it should be borne in mind that the genetic and non-genetic components may not be the same across disease subsets.     

The Patterns of Secretory Structure and Their Relation to Hypericin Content in Hypericum

金丝桃属植物分泌结构的类型和金丝桃素含量的相关性 吕洪飞^1,2 沈宗根¹ 李景原¹ 胡正海^1**     

The Postnatal Development of the Cerebellum— A fMRI and Silver Study

Summary The aim of this study was to evaluate the postnatal development of the cerebella of the pig and to compare this with the activation of the fMRI. The cells in the cerebella were studied by silver technique and the activation of the fMRI in the cerebella was initiated by flexion and extension of the hind paw. Our results showed an increase of the branching of the cells of the cerebellar cortex postnatally, coordinated with registration of fMRI active sites in the cerebella at 6-month postnatal. We concluded that the full maturation of the cerebella was around 6-month postnatal in the pig.     

The Primary Resistance of Helicobacter pylori in Taiwan after the National Policy to Restrict Antibiotic Consumption and Its Relation to Virulence Factors—A Nationwide Study

Objective

The Taiwan Government issued a policy to restrict antimicrobial usage since 2001. We aimed to assess the changes in the antibiotic consumption and the primary resistance of H. pylori after this policy and the impact of virulence factors on resistance.

Methods

The defined daily dose (DDD) of antibiotics was analyzed using the Taiwan National Health Insurance (NHI) research database. H. pylori strains isolated from treatment naïve (N=1395) and failure from prior eradication therapies (N=360) from 9 hospitals between 2000 and 2012 were used for analysis. The minimum inhibitory concentration was determined by agar dilution test. Genotyping for CagA and VacA was determined by PCR method.

Results

The DDD per 1000 persons per day of macrolides reduced from 1.12 in 1997 to 0.19 in 2008, whereas that of fluoroquinolones increased from 0.12 in 1997 to 0.35 in 2008. The primary resistance of amoxicillin, clarithromycin, metronidazole, and tetracycline remained as low as 2.2%, 7.9%, 23.7%, and 1.9% respectively. However, the primary levofloxacin resistance rose from 4.9% in 2000–2007 to 8.3% in 2008–2010 and 13.4% in 2011–2012 (p=0.001). The primary resistance of metronidazole was higher in females than males (33.1% vs. 18.8%, p<0.001), which was probably attributed to the higher consumption of nitroimidazole. Neither CagA nor VacA was associated with antibiotic resistance.

Conclusions

The low primary clarithromycin and metronidazole resistance of H. pylori in Taiwan might be attributed to the reduced consumption of macrolides and nitroimidazole after the national policy to restrict antimicrobial usage. Yet, further strategies are needed to restrict the consumption of fluoroquinolones in the face of rising levofloxacin resistance.     

A Delicate Adjustment: Wallace and Bates on the Amazon and “The Problem of the Origin of Species”

For over a century it has been believed that Alfred Russel Wallace and Henry Walter Bates set out for the Amazon in 1848 with the aim of “solving the problem of the origin of species”. Yet this enticing story is based on only one sentence. Bates claimed in the preface to his 1863 book that Wallace stated this was the aim of their expedition in an 1847 letter. Bates gave a quotation from the letter. But Wallace himself never endorsed or repeated this story. Many writers have acknowledged that this letter still survives. Yet the wording is different from that quoted by Bates and the letter says nothing of an expedition. It is argued that the sentence given by Bates is not a genuine quotation from this or any other Wallace letter but was modified by Bates to promote his own reputation. More significantly, this leads to the conclusion that there was a very sudden and dramatic shift in the way species were thought of and discussed after Darwin’s Origin of species appeared. Something called “the problem of the origin of species” (and similar variants) never occurred before Darwin’s book but exploded in frequency immediately after it. A profound change in how species origins were discussed happened which no one seemed to notice.     

The Use of Placebo and Non-Specific Therapies and Their Relation to Basic Professional Attitudes and the Use of Complementary Therapies among German Physicians – A Cross-Sectional Survey

We aimed to investigate the use of placebos (e.g. saline injections) and non-specific treatments (e.g. vitamin supplements in individuals without a relevant deficiency) among physicians working in private practices in Germany, and how such use is associated with the belief in and the use of complementary and alternative treatments, and basic professional attitudes. A four-page questionnaire was sent to nationwide random samples of general practitioners (GP), internists and orthopaedists working in private practices. The response rate was 46% (935 of 2018). 24% of GPs, 44% of internists and 57% of orthopaedists had neither used pure placebos nor non-specific therapies in the previous 12 months. 11% percent of GPs, 12% of internists and 7% of orthopaedists had exclusively used pure placebos; 30%, 33% and 26%, respectively, had exclusively used non-specific therapies; 35%, 12% and 9% had used both. Age, sex and agreement to the statement that physicians should harness placebo effects were not significantly associated with any pattern of use. Exclusive use of pure placebos was associated with being a GP, being an internist, and having unorthodox professional views. In addition to these three factors, a lower use of CAM therapies and a wish for having more time was associated with the exclusive use of non-specific therapies. Among physicians using both pure placebo and non-specific therapies, heterodox views were also somewhat more pronounced. However, associations were particularly strong for being a GP (Odds ratio 11.6 (95%CI 6.41; 21.3)) and having orthodox views (Odds ratio 0.10 (95%CI 0.06; 0.18)) among this group. In conclusion, the use of placebos and non-specific treatments varies strongly between medical specialties and is associated with basic professional attitudes. The findings support the view that the use of placebos and, in particular, of non-specific therapies is primarily a coping behaviour for difficult and uncertain situations.     

The Origin and Evolution of Lake Vähä-Pitkusta, SW Finland – A Multi-Proxy Study of a Meromictic Lake

Lake Vähä-Pitkusta is a 35-m deep meromictic kettle-hole lake in SW Finland. The topmost 15cm of the sediment stratigraphy consists of black gyttja, representing the last ca. 600years. A sediment core from the deepest point was examined with multi-proxy methods to determine the origin and evolution of the basin, the onset of the meromictic conditions and the primary factors that initiated the meromictic processes. The results indicate that Lake Vähä-Pitkusta became isolated from the Baltic basin during the Yoldia Sea stage. After initial unstable sedimentary conditions the development continued steadily until ca. 2500–2300 cal.BP when there is indication of lake level rise and/or increased surface runoff, probably resulting from a cooler and moister climate. The diatom and cladoceran results indicate only a slight rise in the trophic state following the increased erosion. Pollen evidence suggests weak anthropogenic activity in the catchment during the last 1000 years, and this had only little effect on the trophic state, which remained rather low. Thus, it is most unlikely that the trophic state was the primary reason for the origin of meromixis, although it may have contributed to it. We tentatively suggest that the primary reason was the peculiar morphometric dimensions of Lake Vähä-Pitkusta (small, deep, sheltered from winds) which made it very sensitive and that even a very slight increase in soluble electrolytes may push it over the edge into meromixation. It is possible that this did not occur during the cold/moist period around ca. 2300 cal.BP but during the Medieval Climate Anomaly. Studies on sediment geochemistry are needed to verify this assumption.     

Indigenous Research: A Commitment to Walking the Talk. The Gudaga Study—an Australian Case Study

Increasingly, the role of health research in improving the discrepancies in health outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations in developed countries is being recognised. Along with this comes the recognition that health research must be conducted in a manner that is culturally appropriate and ethically sound. Two key documents have been produced in Australia, known as The Road Map and The Guidelines, to provide theoretical and philosophical direction to the ethics of Indigenous health research. These documents identify research themes considered critical to improving the health of the nation’s Indigenous peoples. They also provide values that, from an Indigenous perspective, are foundational to an ethical research process. This paper examines these research themes and values within the context of a current longitudinal birth cohort study of Indigenous infants and children in south-west Sydney: the Gudaga Study. Considerable time and effort have been invested in being true to the values stated in these documents: reciprocity; respect; equality; responsibility; survival and protection; and spirit and integrity. We have learnt that it is vital to be true to these values when conducting Indigenous health research—to quite literally “walk the talk”.     

Study on the Effect of Kidney Transplantation on the Health of the Patients’ Offspring: A Report on 252 Chinese Children

Even though the incidence of pregnancies in the female recipients is lower and also chronic renal disease in male patients is associated with impaired spermatogenesis, the health of the children born to these patients was not studied. In this report, we discuss information on the growth and development of offspring of 248 male and female kidney recipient patients. Physical and routine clinical measurements of the 252 offspring (129 male and 123 female) born to these transplantation patients were made along with the intelligence tests. In some of these children chest X-ray and immune indices were assessed. Among the recipients, 219 males fathered 223 children with an average birth weight of 3,255 ± 374 g and 29 female recipients gave birth to 29 children with an average birth weight of 2,923 ± 551. While most of these children were normal, we noticed a case of soft double toe, a case of short tongue tie, five cases of marginal mental retardation, three cases of proteinuria, six cases of microscopic hematuria, 15 cases of low hemoglobin, and 21 cases with recurrent respiratory tract infections. We conclude that kidney transplantation has no significant impact on the growth, development, health, and intelligence of the offspring born to recipients.     

The Impact of Sex Work on Women’s Personal Romantic Relationships and the Mental Separation of Their Work and Personal Lives: A Mixed-Methods Study

Background

Very limited research has been undertaken on sex workers’ personal romantic relationships and the impact the nature of their work has on their relationships. This exploratory study aimed to explore the impact sex work has on women’s personal romantic relationships and the use of mental separation as a coping mechanism to balance the two aspects of their lives.

Methods

Fifty-five women working in the indoor sex industry in Melbourne, Australia, were recruited to complete a self-report questionnaire about various aspects of their work, including the impact of sex work on their personal relationships. Questionnaires were completed anonymously and included both closed and open-ended questions. A further six women were interviewed to ‘member check’ the accuracy of the questionnaire findings.

Results

Most women (78%) reported that, overall, sex work affected their personal romantic relationships in predominantly negative ways, mainly relating to issues stemming from lying, trust, guilt and jealousy. A small number of women reported positive impacts from sex work including improved sexual self-esteem and confidence. Just under half of women were in a relationship at the time of the study and, of these, 51% reported their partner was aware of the nature of their work. Seventy-seven percent of single women chose to remain single due to the nature of their work. Many women used mental separation as a coping mechanism to manage the tensions between sex work and their personal relationships. Member checking validated the accuracy of the questionnaire data.

Conclusion

This exploratory study identified a number of ways in which sex work impacts negatively on women’s personal romantic relationships. The findings of this study support the need for further studies to be undertaken to determine if the findings are reflected in a larger, more representative sample of Australian sex workers and should be considered in the context of any future intervention and support programs aimed at addressing the tensions sex workers experience between their work and personal relationships. Greater public awareness and education programs aimed at addressing the negative stigma associated with the sex industry may go some way towards easing the issues faced by women in their personal relationships.