彼得森黄群藻孢囊的形成及形态

利用光镜及扫描电镜对彼得森黄群藻的形态结构、孢囊形成进行详细观察和描述.结果显示,彼得森黄群藻分布广泛,营养体形态变化也大,可以分为不同的变种和变型,其孢囊形态也有多种形态.根据鳞片结构,鉴定出其中的2个变型,并对其所产生的孢囊形态进行了对应.     

云南松三种同域共存切梢小蠹梢转干期的空间分布格局

分布在我国西南地区的横坑切梢小蠹,云南切梢小蠹和短毛切梢小蠹同域危害寄主云南松,给林业生产带来巨大损失。为探讨同域切梢小蠹种群在共存下对其空间分布格局的影响,采用传统聚集指标法和地统计学方法研究了三者在梢转干期不同受害云南松纯林树冠中的空间分布型。结果表明重度受害样地中云南切梢小蠹种群密度显著高于横坑切梢小蠹,在轻度受害样地则相反;传统聚集指标法结果显示同域共存的3种切梢小蠹种群在不同受害程度云南松中均为聚集分布,横坑切梢小蠹和云南切梢小蠹聚集是由环境因素和昆虫本身的聚集习性引起;地统计学结果表明除重度受害样地中短毛切梢小蠹呈随机分布外,其余切梢小蠹在不同种群密度下均呈聚集分布;除重度受害样地横坑切梢小蠹外,其他小蠹的空间依赖范围为4.01—7.45 m。横坑切梢小蠹和云南切梢小蠹在不同受害林分中拟合的半变异函数模型在球形模型和高斯模型之间转换。同域共存关系不影响不同种群密度下的切梢小蠹种群空间分布类型,但影响其半变异函数模型和理论参数。     

疏叶骆驼刺和多枝柽柳不同时期光合特性日变化及其与环境因子的关系

在自然条件下,利用Li-6400光合仪测定疏叶骆驼刺(Alhagi sparsifolia Shap.)和多枝柽柳(Tamarix ramosissima Ledeb.)7~9月份的气体交换参数,分析2种植物净光合速率(Pn)与环境因子——光合有效辐射(PAR)、空气温度(Ta)、大气CO2浓度(Ca)、相对湿度(RH)之间的关系,以明确影响其光合作用的主导环境因子,为恢复和重建过渡带植被提供理论依据。结果显示:(1)疏叶骆驼刺不同时期Pn的日变化均为单峰曲线,多枝柽柳7、8月份的Pn日变化为单峰曲线,9月份为双峰曲线,且疏叶骆驼刺Pn的平均值(7.08μmol·m-2·s-1)高于多枝柽柳(5.54μmol·m-2·s-1)。(2)2种植物7~9月份的蒸腾速率(Tr)日变化均为单峰曲线,且疏叶骆驼刺Tr的平均值(5.46mmol·m-2·s-1)高于多枝柽柳(4.40mmol·m-2·s-1);疏叶骆驼刺和多枝柽柳的胞间CO2浓度(Ci)的日变化趋势均呈"倒钟型"曲线,与Pn日变化趋势相反。(3)2种植物7~9月份的WUE日变化进程与各自的Pn日变化规律基本一致,多枝柽柳的WUE日均值(1.21 mmol·mol-1)明显高于疏叶骆驼刺(0.97mmol·mol-1)。(4)偏相关分析显示,骆驼刺和柽柳的Pn与PAR呈显著正相关关系,而与RH呈显著负相关关系;回归分析显示,骆驼刺和柽柳Pn日变化的变异分别有35.6%和42.4%是由环境因子的日变化造成的;通径分析显示,各环境因子对Pn都具有显著的影响,其大小顺序分别为:TaRHPARCa(骆驼刺)和PARCaTaRH(柽柳),且骆驼刺在7~9月份内PAR均为决策变量,RH为限制变量(除7月份外);而柽柳在8、9月份内PAR均是决策变量,RH、Ca是限制变量。研究表明,疏叶骆驼刺属于高光合高蒸腾低水分利用效率型,多枝柽柳属于低蒸腾低光合高水分利用效率型;7月份骆驼刺和柽柳Pn的下降主要是由于气孔限制引起,而8、9月份主要是由非气孔因素限制所致;PAR和RH是影响骆驼刺和柽柳最重要的环境因子,其次是Ca,而Ta在不同时期的影响程度不同;疏叶骆驼刺和多枝柽柳与环境协同进化过程中产生了一定的生态适应性,但柽柳的WUE明显高于骆驼刺,推测柽柳的抗旱能力强于骆驼刺。     

Quantification of Cellular NEMO Content and Its Impact on NF-κB Activation by Genotoxic Stress

NF-κB essential modulator, NEMO, plays a key role in canonical NF-κB signaling induced by a variety of stimuli, including cytokines and genotoxic agents. To dissect the different biochemical and functional roles of NEMO in NF-κB signaling, various mutant forms of NEMO have been previously analyzed. However, transient or stable overexpression of wild-type NEMO can significantly inhibit NF-κB activation, thereby confounding the analysis of NEMO mutant phenotypes. What levels of NEMO overexpression lead to such an artifact and what levels are tolerated with no significant impact on NEMO function in NF-κB activation are currently unknown. Here we purified full-length recombinant human NEMO protein and used it as a standard to quantify the average number of NEMO molecules per cell in a 1.3E2 NEMO-deficient murine pre-B cell clone stably reconstituted with full-length human NEMO (C5). We determined that the C5 cell clone has an average of 4 x 10⁵ molecules of NEMO per cell. Stable reconstitution of 1.3E2 cells with different numbers of NEMO molecules per cell has demonstrated that a 10-fold range of NEMO expression (0.6–6x10⁵ molecules per cell) yields statistically equivalent NF-κB activation in response to the DNA damaging agent etoposide. Using the C5 cell line, we also quantified the number of NEMO molecules per cell in several commonly employed human cell lines. These results establish baseline numbers of endogenous NEMO per cell and highlight surprisingly normal functionality of NEMO in the DNA damage pathway over a wide range of expression levels that can provide a guideline for future NEMO reconstitution studies.     

Combining Serum Cystatin C with Total Bilirubin Improves Short-Term Mortality Prediction in Patients with HBV-Related Acute-On-Chronic Liver Failure

Background & Aims

HBV-related acute-on-chronic liver failure (HBV-ACLF) is a severe liver disease which results in a high mortality in China. To early predict the prognosis of the patients may prevent the complications and improve the survival. This study was aimed to develop a new prognostic index to estimate the survival related to HBV-ACLF.

Methods

Consecutive patients with HBV-ACLF were included in a prospective observational study. Serum Cystatin C concentrations were measured by using the particle-enhanced immunonephelometry assay. All of the patients were followed for at least 3 months. Cox regression analysis was carried out to identify which factors were predictive of mortality. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was used to evaluate the efficacy of the variates for early predicting mortality.

Results

Seventy-two patients with HBV-ACLF were recruited between January 2012 and January 2013. Thirty patients died (41.7%) during 3-months followed up. Cox multivariate regression analysis identified serum cystatin C (CysC) and total bilirubin (TBil) were independent factors significantly (P < 0.01) associated with survival. Our results further showed that new prognostic index (PI) combining serum CysC with TBil was a good indicator for predicting the mortality of patients with HBV-ACLF. Specifically, the PI had a higher accuracy than the CTP, MELD, or MELD-Na scoring for early prediction short-term survival of HBV-ACLF patients with normal levels of serum creatinine (Cr). The survival rate in low risk group (PI < 3.91) was 94.3%, which was markedly higher than those in the high-risk group (PI ≥ 3.91) (17.4%, P < 0.001).

Conclusion

We developed a new prognostic index combining serum CysC with TBil which early predicted the short-term mortality of HBV-ACLF patients.