中国盲走螨属一新种和二新纪录：蜱螨亚纲：植绥螨科

本文记述我国植绥螨科盲走螨属Ｔｙｐｈｌｏｄｒｏｍｕｓ一新种和中国二新纪录：鲁盲走螨Ｔ．ｌｕｅｎｓｉｓ ｓｐ．ｎｏｖ．,甲胄盲走螨Ｔ．ｌｏｒｃａｔｕｓ,肥厚盲走螨Ｔ．ｈｉｇｏｅｎｓｉｓ。标本保存于上海复旦大学环境和资源生物系。     

The plant glycosyltransferase clone collection for functional genomics

The glycosyltransferases (GTs) are an important and functionally diverse family of enzymes involved in glycan and glycoside biosynthesis. Plants have evolved large families of GTs which undertake the array of glycosylation reactions that occur during plant development and growth. Based on the Carbohydrate‐Active enZymes (CAZy) database, the genome of the reference plant Arabidopsis thaliana codes for over 450 GTs, while the rice genome (Oryza sativa) contains over 600 members. Collectively, GTs from these reference plants can be classified into over 40 distinct GT families. Although these enzymes are involved in many important plant specific processes such as cell‐wall and secondary metabolite biosynthesis, few have been functionally characterized. We have sought to develop a plant GTs clone resource that will enable functional genomic approaches to be undertaken by the plant research community. In total, 403 (88%) of CAZy defined Arabidopsis GTs have been cloned, while 96 (15%) of the GTs coded by rice have been cloned. The collection resulted in the update of a number of Arabidopsis GT gene models. The clones represent full‐length coding sequences without termination codons and are Gateway^® compatible. To demonstrate the utility of this JBEI GT Collection, a set of efficient particle bombardment plasmids (pBullet) was also constructed with markers for the endomembrane. The utility of the pBullet collection was demonstrated by localizing all members of the Arabidopsis GT14 family to the Golgi apparatus or the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Updates to these resources are available at the JBEI GT Collection website http://www.addgene.org/ .     

An Olfactory Stimulus Modifies Nighttime Sleep in Young Men and Women

Aromatherapy is an anecdotal method for modifying sleep and mood. However, whether olfactory exposure to essential oils affects night‐time objective sleep remains untested. Previous studies also demonstrate superior olfactory abilities in women. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of an olfactory stimulus on subsequent sleep and assessed gender differences in such effects. Thirty‐one young healthy sleepers (16 men and 15 women, aged 18 to 30 yr, mean±SD, 20.5±2.4 yr) completed 3 consecutive overnight sessions in a sleep laboratory: one adaptation, one stimulus, and one control night (the latter 2 nights in counterbalanced order). Subjects received an intermittent presentation (first 2 min of each 10 min interval) of an olfactory (lavender oil) or a control (distilled water) stimulus between 23:10 and 23:40 h. Standard polysomnographic sleep and self‐rated sleepiness and mood data were collected. Lavender increased the percentage of deep or slow‐wave sleep (SWS) in men and women. All subjects reported higher vigor the morning after lavender exposure, corroborating the restorative SWS increase. Lavender also increased stage 2 (light) sleep, and decreased rapid‐eye movement (REM) sleep and the amount of time to reach wake after first falling asleep (wake after sleep onset latency) in women, with opposite effects in men. Thus, lavender serves as a mild sedative and has practical applications as a novel, nonphotic method for promoting deep sleep in young men and women and for producing gender‐dependent sleep effects.     

基于超声心动图的二尖瓣轮廓提取

针对超声心动图噪音大,灰阶少等弱点,采用多阈值的门限法对图象进行正确分割,在通过跟踪特征点进行匹配的基础上,采用匹配后插值的方法,提高了匹配的精度。并利用前一帧的速度解决了粘连在一起的二尖瓣轮廓线的分割问题。实验取得了较满意的结果。     

Sticky anaphase aberrations after G2-phase arrest of gamma-irradiated human skin fibroblasts: TP53 independence of formation and TP53 dependence of consequences

We have studied the impact of TP53 status on the extent and nature of chromosome damage seen in human skin fibroblasts after gamma irradiation beyond the G1-phase checkpoint but prior to the G2-phase checkpoint. Mitotic cells were examined in the absence and presence of treatment with nocodazole and the yield of aberrations was scored as a function of time postirradiation. The results revealed substantially greater damage in the absence of nocodazole, indicating that damage was being masked in its presence. While metaphase aberrations were seen exclusively in the presence of nocodazole, anaphase aberrations were seen principally in its absence. Furthermore, these were mostly of an unseparated, or "sticky", type that showed separation of the chromatids in the centromeric region, indicating normal degradation of cohesin, with retention of adhesion further out on the chromatid arms. Using postirradiation BrdU labeling and the absence of nocodazole, we were able to identify mitotic figures up to the third postirradiation mitosis. Analysis of the data revealed that in cells wild-type for TP53 the aberrant anaphases were lost after the first postirradiation mitosis, although they were still found in gradually decreasing amounts into the second and third postirradiation mitoses in E6-expressing cells. The data indicate that the formation of these sticky anaphases is independent of TP53 status, an observation that is consistent with the TP53 independence of transient G2-phase arrest. However, the consequences of the formation of these lesions appear to be very different. In the case of cells wild-type for TP53 this is chronic G1-phase arrest, while in E6 cells it is anaphase catastrophe.     

Differential metabolic responses of perennial grass Cynodon transvaalensis×Cynodon dactylon (C₄) and Poa Pratensis (C₃) to heat stress

Differential metabolic responses to heat stress may be associated with variations in heat tolerance between cool‐season (C₃) and warm‐season (C₄) perennial grass species. The main objective of this study was to identify metabolites associated with differential heat tolerance between C₄ bermudagrass and C₃ Kentucky bluegrass by performing metabolite profile analysis using gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry. Plants of Kentucky bluegrass (Poa Pratensis‘Midnight’) and hybrid bermudagrass (Cynodon transvaalensis×Cynodon dactylon‘Tifdwarf’) were grown under optimum temperature conditions (20/15°C for Kentucky bluegrass and 30/25°C for bermudagrass) or heat stress (35/30°C for Kentucky bluegrass and 45/40°C for bermudagrass). Physiological responses to heat stress were evaluated by visual rating of grass quality, measuring photochemical efficiency (variable fluorescence to maximal fluorescence) and electrolyte leakage. All of these parameters indicated that bermudagrass exhibited better heat tolerance than Kentucky bluegrass. The metabolite analysis of leaf polar extracts revealed 36 heat‐responsive metabolites identified in both grass species, mainly consisting of organic acids, amino acids, sugars and sugar alcohols. Most metabolites showed higher accumulation in bermudagrass compared with Kentucky bluegrass, especially following long‐term (18 days) heat stress. The differentially accumulated metabolites included seven sugars (sucrose, fructose, galactose, floridoside, melibiose, maltose and xylose), a sugar alcohol (inositol), six organic acids (malic acid, citric acid, threonic acid, galacturonic acid, isocitric acid and methyl malonic acid) and nine amino acids (Asn, Ala, Val, Thr, γ‐Aminobutyric acid, IIe, Gly, Lys and Met). The differential accumulation of those metabolites could be associated with the differential heat tolerance between C₃ Kentucky bluegrass and C₄ bermudagrass.     

Nicotine-Induced Neuroprotection Against Ischemic Injury Involves Activation of Endocannabinoid System in Rats

Nicotine has been reported to exert certain protective effect in the Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. Whether it has a similar action in focal cerebral ischemia was unclear. In the present study, rats received either an injection of (?)-nicotine hydrogen tartrate salt (1.2 mg/kg, i.p.) or the vehicle 2 h before the 120 min middle cerebral artery occlusion. Neurological deficits and histological injury were assessed at 24 h after reperfusion. The content of endocannabinoids and the expression of cannabinoid receptor CB1 in brain tissues were determined at different time points after nicotine administration. Results showed that nicotine administration ameliorated neurological deficits and reduced infarct volume induced by cerebral ischemia in the rats. The neuroprotective effect was partially reversed by CB1 blockage. The content of the endocannabinoids N-arachidonylethanolamine and 2-arachidonoylglycerol, as well as the expression of cannabinoid receptor CB1 were up-regulated in brain tissues after nicotine delivery. These results suggest that endogenous cannabinoid system is involved in the nicotine-induced neuroprotection against transient focal cerebral ischemia.