Ecotoxicity of soils contaminated with industrial and domestic wastewater in western Shenyang, China

Soil samples were collected from 7 sites in the up-, mid- and down-reach along and nearby the wastewater irrigation channel, western Shenyang of China. The concentrations of selected pollutants (mineral oil, PAHs - polycycle aromatic hydrocarbons and Cd) were determined by UV spectrometer, HPLC and AAS (atomic adsorption spectrometer) spectrometer, respectively. Toxicity effects of soils were evaluated by seedling emergence test with root length of wheat as the end-point and by earthworms test with the mortality rate and inhibition rates of body weight as endpoints. Results showed accumulation of pollutants for most soils with concentration of 200.2 mg·kg-1-1600 mg·kg-1 for mineral oil, 0.33 mg·kg-1-1.81 mg·kg-1 for Cd and 900.16 mg·kg-1 -2737.91 mg·kg-1 for PAHs. The inhibition rates of root elongation were from -20% up to 40 %, and mortality rates of earthworms ranged from 0%-40% from the exposure period of two weeks to eight weeks by sampling interval of two weeks, the inhibition rates of earthw     

Independent Component Analysis-Based Identification of Covariance Patterns of Microstructural White Matter Damage in Alzheimer’s Disease

The existing DTI studies have suggested that white matter damage constitutes an important part of the neurodegenerative changes in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The present study aimed to identify the regional covariance patterns of microstructural white matter changes associated with AD. In this study, we applied a multivariate analysis approach, independent component analysis (ICA), to identify covariance patterns of microstructural white matter damage based on fractional anisotropy (FA) skeletonised images from DTI data in 39 AD patients and 41 healthy controls (HCs) from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative database. The multivariate ICA decomposed the subject-dimension concatenated FA data into a mixing coefficient matrix and a source matrix. Twenty-eight independent components (ICs) were extracted, and a two sample t-test on each column of the corresponding mixing coefficient matrix revealed significant AD/HC differences in ICA weights for 7 ICs. The covariant FA changes primarily involved the bilateral corona radiata, the superior longitudinal fasciculus, the cingulum, the hippocampal commissure, and the corpus callosum in AD patients compared to HCs. Our findings identified covariant white matter damage associated with AD based on DTI in combination with multivariate ICA, potentially expanding our understanding of the neuropathological mechanisms of AD.     

SUMO E3 Ligase AtMMS21 Regulates Drought Tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana

Post-translational modifications of proteins by small ubiquitin-like modifiers (SUMOs) play crucial roles in plant growth and development, and in stress responses. The MMS21 is a newly-identified Arabidopsis thaliana L. SUMO E3 ligase gene aside from the SIZ1, and its function requires further elucidation. Here, we show that MMS21 deficient plants display improved drought tolerance, and constitutive expression of MMS21 reduces drought tolerance. The expression of MMS21 was reduced by abscisic acid (ABA), polyethylene glycol (PEG) or drought stress. Under drought conditions, mms21 mutants showed the highest survival rate and the slowest water loss, and accumulated a higher level of free proline compared to wild-type (WT) and MMS21 over-expression plants. Stomatal aperture, seed germination and cotyledon greening analysis indicated that mms21 was hypersensitive to ABA. Molecular genetic analysis revealed that MMS21 deficiency led to elevated expression of a series of ABA-mediated stress-responsive genes, including COR15A, RD22, and P5CS1 The ABA and drought-induced stress-responsive genes, including RAB18, RD29A and RD29B, were inhibited by constitutive expression of MMS21. Moreover, ABA-induced accumulation of SUMO-protein conjugates was blocked in the mms21 mutant. We thus conclude that MMS21 plays a role in the drought stress response, likely through regulation of gene expression in an ABA-dependent pathway.     

低温对植物叶片中超氧物歧化酶、过氧化氢酶和过氧化氢水平的影响

番茄和鸡蛋果叶片中可提取的SOD活性不受低温的影响。在电泳谱带上SOD主同工酶带被氰化物而不被低温抑制,次同工酶带在低温下不稳定,且活性很低,它的变化不影响总的SOD活性。一些冷敏感植物叶片中CAT活性被低温抑制,而H_2O_3水平在低温下稳定或有增加,这可能使毒性更强的羟基离子(OH·)易于形成。     

多效唑调节水稻植株生长的作用机理

多效唑处理水稻植株后使株高降低和分蘖增加,植株体内的GA类物质和IAA含量相应下降,乙烯释放率显著增加;用外源GA_3和氮肥能逆转多效唑的抑制作用而使株高增加,同时GA类物质含量也明显增加。因此,多效唑不仅调节体内的GA类物质含量,还能通过调节IAA含量和乙烯释放率而影响植物生长。     

湘西溶溪组的棘鱼化石及其层位

本文介绍了目前我国最低含鱼化石地层,即湘西早志留世(Llandovery 期)溶溪组的地区性地质剖面和产自该组七个类型的棘鱼鳍刺化石,并根据其同层中所产的无脊椎动物化石论证鱼化石层的层位.鱼化石本身所表现出的原始特性与这一结论是谐调的.     

浙江长兴灰岩中的龙鱼化石

本文记述了产自长兴阶层型剖面下部的龙鱼化石,其特征与已知属种皆有区别,而与 Saurichthys madagascariensis Piveteau 比较相似.但在鳍的大小,鳞片行数等方面有所不同,今命名为赵氏始龙鱼 (Eosaurichthys chaoi gen. et sp. nov.). 它代表已知龙鱼中最早的记录,证明古生代末期,亚洲这一区域已有龙鱼分布.始龙鱼的发现对了解该类鱼的分布,二叠三叠纪鱼群的演替,以及古地中海的范围,均有重要意义.本文还讨论了龙鱼类鳞列的演变等.