Differential expression of iodothyronine deiodinase type 2 in growth plates of chickens divergently selected for incidence of tibial dyschondroplasia

Tibial dyschondroplasia (TD) is a genetic leg defect in broilers with a lesion of avascular, non-calcified cartilage below the growth plate of the proximal tibiatarsus. This disease is considered to result from the inability of chondrocytes to undergo terminal differentiation. Thyroid hormones are required for chondrocyte differentiation. The thyroid gland produces and secrets mostly L-thyroxine or T4 and T4 plays most of its biological activities through conversion to triiodothyronine or T3 in local tissues by iodothyronine deiodinases type 1 or type 2, which are tissue specific. In this study, no differences were found in the plasma concentrations of total T3 and T4 between two chicken lines divergently selected for the incidence of TD. Plasma T4 was higher than T3, especially in older chickens. Younger birds had much higher T3 than older birds, but there were no significant age differences in T4. The expression level of deiodinase type 2 in the growth plates of broilers with TD was one-eighth of those birds without the disease. The expression levels of deiodinase type 2 (DIO2) in commercial broilers without the disease were much higher than those with TD and lower than those without the disease in the susceptible and resistant lines, respectively. These results indicate that the inadequate expression of DIO2 in the growth plates contributes to the pathogenesis of TD in broilers and that TD is a tissue-specific hypothyroidism.     

中国中生代鸟类后肢骨骼的长度比例特征及栖息习性的分析

通过对18目59科137例现生不同栖息习性鸟类的后肢3块骨骼(股骨、胫跗骨和跗跖骨)长度比例的观察和特征分析,推断出鸟类的栖息习性与后肢3块骨骼中各骨骼长度所占总长度的比例存在密切的关系。即在所有鸟类的后肢骨骼中,胫跗骨的长度占3块骨骼的比例为最大;地栖鸟类后肢骨骼中股骨的长度要短于跗跖骨;树栖鸟类后肢骨骼中股骨的长度要长于跗跖骨。鸟类后肢3块骨骼的长度比例特征是鸟类长期对栖息等行为适应的结果。在此基础上,对中国中生代14例鸟类的栖息习性进行了分析,利用三元投影的统计方法,并以国内外新生代(古近纪和新近纪)21例鸟类标本作为对比参考,得出辽西中生代不同类型鸟类的栖息行为特征:基干鸟类以树栖为主要习性,其中个别鸟类还具有攀援的习性,而反鸟类则是典型的树栖鸟类,今鸟类兼有树、地栖的习性。研究表明,在现行的鸟类系统发育框架下,树栖适应(及攀援)代表了鸟类演化历史中最原始的生活方式。这一结论也支持鸟类飞行的树栖起源假说。中生代鸟类栖息习性分异的多样性反映了早期鸟类演化过程中自身以及与其他同期生物在生态空间和食物资源的竞争的加剧和对环境的不断适应。     

A case of bilateral tibial hemimelia type VIIa

Congenital absence of tibia is a rare anomaly, and may be total or partial, unilateral or bilateral. Total absence is more frequent than partial, unilateral absence occurs more often than bilateral, with right limb more commonly affected than the left. In partial defect, almost always the distal end of the bone is affected, and of the bilateral cases, there may be total absence on both sides, or total on one side and partial on the other. Males are slightly more commonly affected than the females. Though, the family history is usually negative for congenital abnormalities and other diseases, there is a considerable chance of occurrence of congenital defect of the tibia or of other abnormalities, in near or remote relatives. We report a case of newborn having bilateral tibial hemimelia type VIIa.     

Understanding ageing effects using complexity analysis of foot–ground clearance during walking

Ageing influences gait patterns which in turn can affect the balance control of human locomotion. Entropy-based regularity and complexity measures have been highly effective in analysing a broad range of physiological signals. Minimum toe clearance (MTC) is an event during the swing phase of the gait cycle and is highly sensitive to the spatial balance control properties of the locomotor system. The aim of this research was to investigate the regularity and complexity of the MTC time series due to healthy ageing and locomotors' disorders. MTC data from 30 healthy young (HY), 27 healthy elderly (HE) and 10 falls risk (FR) elderly subjects with balance problems were analysed. Continuous MTC data were collected and using the first 500 data points, MTC mean, standard deviation (SD) and entropy-based complexity analysis were performed using sample entropy (SampEn) for different window lengths (m) and filtering levels (r). The MTC SampEn values were lower in the FR group compared to the HY and HE groups for all m and r. The HY group had a greater mean SampEn value than both HE and FR reflecting higher complexity in their MTC series. The mean SampEn values of HY and FR groups were found significantly different for m = 2, 4, 5 and r = (0.1–0.9) × SD, (0.3–0.9) × SD and (0.3–0.9) × SD, respectively. They were also significant difference between HE and FR groups for m = 4–5 and r = (0.3–0.7) × SD, but no significant differences were seen between HY and HE groups for any m and r. A significant correlation of SampEn with SD of MTC was revealed for the HY and HE groups only, suggesting that locomotor disorders could significantly change the regularity or the complexity of the MTC series while healthy ageing does not. These results can be usefully applied to the early diagnosis of common gait pathologies.     

Vertical community structure and resource utilization in neotropical forest cockroaches

ABSTRACT.

• 1 Patterns of vertical habitat use of ten species of cockroaches are examined. Three assemblages of cockroaches are recognized on the basis of morphology, foraging behaviour, foraging heights, and overlaps and breadths of vertical distributions.
• 2 Three apterous and brachypterous species occur near the ground and comprise one assemblage. They feed mainly on material in the leaf-litter.
• 3 Species that perch higher either migrate into the leaf-litter on a diel basis and feed on both leaf-litter and epiphyllic materials, or some are strictly arboreal and forage on algae, liverworts, lichens, spores, pollen and trichomes on the surfaces of leaves.
• 4 Trophic and behavioural correlations with perch height are described and the functions of perching are examined.
• 5 We conclude that studies of interactions among species are confounded by our lack of understanding of stage- and sex-specific interactions of coexisting species. A simplistic ‘species’approach to such interactions is inadequate because it does not recognize intraspecific variation.

     

Bird-Flowers: Hovering Versus Perching Exploitation

Usually, bird-flowers are classified into New World flowers (used by hovering hummingbirds) and Old World species (adapted to perching birds). Since there are many observations which violate this classification the proposal is made to distinguish between blossoms adapted to hovering birds and those providing a well-defined perch. Characters and examples are given for both groups including the different ways a perch is provided by the plant and the distinct methods of hover-flight in birds. The diverse adaptive solutions for bird pollination within some taxa are exemplified. To understand bird-flowers the actual functioning of flowers must be in focus, and not the geographic distribution nor the systematic affiliation of their visitors.     

单核苷酸多态性检测方法的研究进展

单核苷酸多态性（single nucleotide polymorphism, SNP）的研究已成为人类后基因组时代的主要内容之一。因此建立高度自动化和高通量的SNP检测分析技术十分重要。文章系统地介绍了最新发展的几种SNP检测技术的原理和检测平台,详细阐述了等位基因特异性杂交、内切酶酶切技术、引物延伸法、寡核苷酸连接反应等SNP检测原理,以及平板读数仪、基因芯片、微球阵列技术和质谱仪等检测平台,并对SNP高通量检测技术的发展进行了展望。     

O_3与CO_2浓度倍增对油松针叶抗氧化酶活性的影响

以4年生的油松幼苗为试材,采用开顶箱内气体熏蒸实验,对经高浓度O_3(80nmol·mol~(-1))和CO_2(700 μmol·mol~(-1))单一及复合处理3年后,油松当年生针叶内丙二醛(MDA)含量、活性氧自由基和抗氧化酶等逆境生理指标进行了分析.结果表明:超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)、抗坏血酸过氧化物酶(APX)、过氧化氢酶(CAT)和脱氢抗坏血酸还原酶(DHAR)活性经O_3处理后显著升高,分别比对照上升了43.1%、18.9%、283.5%和142.6%,而CO_2和复合处理仅对APX和CAT活性有明显的诱导作用,但均低于O_3处理;O_3处理导致MDA含量上升51.8%,而外加CO_2则能有效逆转这一趋势;超氧阴离子(O_2~-·)产生速率和H_2O_2含量在所有处理组合间均无显著差异.上述结果说明,O_3能有效地激活油松当年生针叶内的抗氧化酶系统,而CO_2能缓解O_3所带来的不利影响,但并非通过提高抗氧化酶活性这一途径.

Abstract：

Four-year-old Pinus tabulaeformis seedlings were planted in open-topped chambers and treated with elevated O_3(80 nmol·mol~(-1)) and/or CO_2(700 μmol·mol~(-1)). After treated for three years, the malondialdehyde (MDA) content, reactive oxygen species, and antioxidant enzyme activities in the current year needles were analyzed. In treatment elevated O_3, the activi-ties of superoxide dismutase (SOD), aseorbate peroxidase (APX), catalase (CAT) and de-hydroaseorbate reductase (DHAR) increased significantly, being 43. 1%, 18.9%, 283.5% and 142. 6% higher than the control; and in treatments elevated CO_2 and its combination with el-evated O_3, only APX and CAT activities were induced remarkably but still lower than those in treatment elevated O_3. Elevated O_3 increased the MDA content by 51.8%, whereas the combina-tion of elevated O_3 and CO_2 reversed this increase efficiently. No significant differences were ob-served in the superoxide anion (O_2~-·) generating rate and H_2O_2 content among all treatments. All the results demonstrated that elevated O_3 was able to effectively activate the antioxidant enzyme system in P. Tabulaeformis current year needles, while elevated CO_2 could mitigate the negative effects of elevated O_3 through the actions other than enhancing the antioxidant enzyme activities.