AIMS AND SCOPE

The Journal of Bionic Engineering publishes original research papers and reviews on all aspects of bionic science and engineering including fundamental understandings of animals and plants for bionic engineering, such as locomotion and behaviors of animals, structures, composites, morphology and physical properties of plants and natural materials, applications of such understandings in engineering, technology and designs.     

CELL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

One of the highest-ranking journals In biology with an Impact factor of 6.787! BioEssays Editor: Adam S. Wilkins, Cambridge, UK BioEssays offers readers in-depth review articles and serves as a resource for education and new ideas by exploring a wide range of biological topics. Researchers and teachers are presented with a unique tool for learning how findings in molecular, cellular,     

QUATERNARY STRATIGRAPHY AND MAMMAL FOSSILS OF YIHE AND SHUHE RIVER DRAINAGES

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SYNTHESIS AND PURIFICATION OF FLUORINATED BENZIMIDAZOLE AND BENZENE NUCLEOSIDE-5′-TRIPHOSPHATES

The expression “universal base” is very often used to express hybridization properties and recognition patterns of nucleosides. Their behaviour in biological applications, however, is of great interest regarding, e.g., their incorporation by polymerases. The 4,6-difluorobenzimidazole and the 2,4-difluorobenzene nucleoside analogues have proven to be universal bases that do not discriminate between the four natural nucleobases in RNA duplexes. Therefore, we synthesized the corresponding triphosphates to evaluate their behavior in polymerase catalyzed reactions and to investigate their ability to serve as substrates for the T7 RNA polymerase.     

CHEMICAL AND ENZYMATIC SYNTHESIS OF 4′-THIO-β-D-ARABINOFURANOSYLCYTOSINE MONOPHOSPHATE AND TRIPHOSPHATE

N⁴-Acetyl-1-(2, 3-di-O-acetyl-4-thio-β-D-arabinofuranosyl)cytosine (2) was synthesized in three steps from 1-(4-thio-β-D-arabinofuranosyl)cytosine (1). The reaction of this partially blocked 4′-thio-ara-C derivative 2 with 2-chloro-4H-1,3,2-benzodioxaphosphorin-4-one gave the 5′-phosphitylate derivative 3, which on reaction with pyrophosphate gave the 5′-nucleosidylcyclotriphosphite 4. Product 4 was then oxidized with iodine/pyridine/water and deblocked with concentrated ammonium hydroxide to provide the desired 4′-thio-ara-C-5′-triphosphate 5. This triphosphate 5 was converted to 4′-thio-ara-C -5′-monophosphate 6 by treatment with snake venom phosphodiesterase I. The details of the synthesis, purification, and characterization of both nucleotides are described.     

THE QUICK AND THE DEAD? SPERM COMPETITION AND SEXUAL CONFLICT IN SEA

Our view of sperm competition is largely shaped by game-theoretic models based on external fertilizers. External fertilization is of particular interest as it is the ancestral mode of reproduction and as such, relevant to the evolution and maintenance of anisogamy (i.e., large eggs and tiny, numerous sperm). Current game-theoretic models have been invaluable in generating predictions of male responses to sperm competition in a range of internal fertilizers but these models are less relevant to marine broadcast spawners, the most common and archetypal external fertilizers. Broadcast spawners typically have incomplete fertilization due to sperm limitation and/or polyspermy (too many sperm), but the effects of incomplete (<100% fertilization rates) fertilization on game-theoretic predictions are unclear particular with regards to polyspermy. We show that incorporating the effects of sperm concentration on fertilization success changes the predictions of a classic game-theoretic model, dramatically reversing the relationship between sperm competition and the evolutionarily stable sperm release strategy. Furthermore, our results suggest that male and female broadcast spawners are likely to be in conflict at both ends of the sperm environment continuum rather than only in conditions of excess sperm as previously thought. Across the majority of the parameter space we explored, males release either too little to too much sperm for females to achieve complete fertilization. This conflict could result in a coevolutionary race that may have led to the evolution of internal fertilization in marine organisms.     

ASSORTATIVE SOCIAL LEARNING AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR HUMAN (AND ANIMAL?) SOCIETIES

Choosing from whom to learn is an important element of social learning. It affects learner success and the profile of behaviors in the population. Because individuals often differ in their traits and capabilities, their benefits from different behaviors may also vary. Homophily, or assortment, the tendency of individuals to interact with other individuals with similar traits, is known to affect the spread of behaviors in humans. We introduce models to study the evolution of assortative social learning (ASL), where assorting on a trait acts as an individual‐specific mechanism for filtering relevant models from which to learn when that trait varies. We show that when the trait is polymorphic, ASL may maintain a stable behavioral polymorphism within a population (independently of coexistence with individual learning in a population). We explore the evolution of ASL when assortment is based on a nonheritable or partially heritable trait, and when ASL competes with different non‐ASL strategies: oblique (learning from the parental generation) and vertical (learning from the parent). We suggest that the tendency to assort may be advantageous in the context of social learning, and that ASL might be an important concept for the evolutionary theory of social learning.     

CAUSALGIA—PATHOGENESIS AND TREATMENT

Gross and microscopic anatomical evidence indicates that pain fibers involved in causalgia are those distributed to blood vessels—possibly to the arterioles—and that, for the greater part, these fibers constitute part of the general visceral afferent system.Several investigators have reported evidence that injury to a peripheral nerve of such a type as to cause damage to the vasomotor control of any area produces the initial pain in an extremity, and it is predicated that the arteriolar constriction causing the pain is then prolonged by the sensitization of arteriolar smooth muscle to the amount of epinephrine normally in the blood. If the condition is not treated, tissue anoxia occurs to such an extent that irreversible changes take place in the affected area.Treatment of causalgia in the lower extremities is directed toward interruption of either the vasomotor or afferent supply of blood vessels by blocking or excision of the second to fourth lumbar ganglia inclusive with the intervening chains. For the upper extremities, the blocking or disconnection of the second and third thoracic ganglia with interruption of the sympathetic chain between the third and fourth ganglia is considered a feasible method of treatment which does not produce the concomitant disability of Horner''s syndrome.