Identification of up-regulated genes in human uterine leiomyoma by suppression subtractive hybridization

In searching for differentially expressed genes in human uterine leiomyomas (ULs), suppression sub-tractive hybridization was used to construct an UL up-regulated library, which turned out to represent 88genes. After two rounds of screening by reverse Northern analysis, twenty genes were proved to be up-regulated, including seventeen known genes and three genes with unknown function. All these genes werefirstly associated with UL. Three genes with notable difference were selected for Northern confirmationOur results proved the authenticity of the twenty genes. One gene named Phospholipase A2 (PLA2) showedup-regulation in 4/6 of the patients and investigation of tissue distribution indicated that it had obviousexpression in prostate, testis, liver, heart and skeletal muscle.     

Differences in metabolite profile between blood plasma and serum

In metabolomic research, blood plasma and serum have been considered to possess similar compositions and properties. Their perceived equivalence has resulted in researchers choosing arbitrarily between serum and plasma for analysis. Here, routine serum and plasma were prepared and their low-molecular-weight compounds were determined using gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Principal components analysis was applied to process the acquired data, and marked differences in metabolite profiles were observed between serum and plasma. Of the 72 identified compounds, 36 (50%) discriminate serum from plasma, with 29 and 7 metabolites showing a significantly higher abundance (t test, P < 0.05) in serum and plasma, respectively. Incubation of blood had distinct effects on the analyte peak areas, with the effects being more pronounced for plasma than for serum and more pronounced for a shorter incubation than for a longer incubation. These results highlight the importance in choosing serum or plasma as the analytical sample and in stipulating the incubation time. Because incubation affected the analyte peak areas less in serum than in plasma, we recommend serum as the sample of choice in metabolomic studies.     

基于重采样技术的肌电信号动作电位传导速度估计研究

目的：本文针对表面肌电（sEMG）信号探讨动作电位传导速度（APCV）估计问题。方法：以生理学仿真sEMG信号为基础,采用基于互相关分析的时延估计技术来获取相应的APCV估计值,并利用重采样技术来提高估计的精度。结果：实验表明。针对重采样后的仿真信号,其APCV的估计误差得到了明显降低。结论：所采用方法能够有效获取满意的APCV估计效果。     

无距虾脊兰果实发育及其解剖学特征

以授粉后无距虾脊兰不同发育阶段的蒴果为材料,对果实生长动态进行研究,并用石蜡切片法进行果实结构研究。观察结果表明：无距虾脊兰果实授粉至授粉后40 d生长速度最快。果实由3心皮组成,横切面为6瓣,3瓣有胎座,3瓣无胎座,开裂后6瓣于顶端连接。发育的过程中,果皮细胞层数及果实内外表皮细胞体积不变,果实直径的增加主要来自于细胞平周分裂和中果皮细胞体积的增大。果实成熟时只有少数细胞有细胞壁增厚现象,开裂线的前体细胞细胞壁发生木质化并向不同方向收缩导致果实的开裂。     

分子标记技术在玉米育种中的应用

生物技术的发展促进了分子生物学和育种学的交叉融合,极大地推进了育种工作的进程和效率。论述了DNA分子标记技术及其在玉米杂种优势群的划分、品种纯度和真实性检测、功能基因定位、遗传多样性分析以及转基因检测等多个领域中的应用,并对其现阶段存在的问题和今后的发展前景进行了分析讨论,以期为玉米分子育种研究提供相应的参考。     

满天星试管苗与其玻璃化苗的RAPD指纹图谱分析

采用分离群体分组分析法(BSA),用100个随机引物对满天星的正常苗和玻璃化苗进行RAPD分析的结果表明,7个随机引物扩增出多态性差异条带。再用上述7个引物分别对试管苗及其玻璃化苗个体进行DNA的PCR扩增的结果显示,引物J20在2种苗中出现差异条带。     

Environmental controls on water use efficiency during severe drought in an Ozark Forest in Missouri,USA

To accurately predict ecosystem responses induced by climate warming at local‐to‐global scales, models are in need of more precise knowledge of response during periods of environmental stress such as drought. In this paper, we studied environmental control of canopy‐level water use efficiency (WUE) during drought at an eddy flux site in an oak‐hickory forest in central Missouri, USA. Two consecutive severe droughts in the summers of 2006 and 2007 afforded coverage of a broad range of environmental conditions. We stratified data to obtain subranges that minimized cross‐correlations among putative WUE‐controlling factors. Our results showed that WUE was subject to control by atmospheric saturation deficit (ASD), soil water potential (SWP) and the ratio of diffuse to total photosynthetically active radiation (I_f/I_t). Generally, WUE was found to scale with 1/(ASD)^0.5, consistent with predictions from stomatal optimization theory. In contrast, SWP and I_f/I_t were related to WUE in a linear fashion. ASD was better correlated with WUE than either of the other two factors. It was also observed that the relationship between WUE and any single controlling factor was subject to influence of the other two. One such example was an opposite response of WUE to SWP between low and high ASD values, suggesting a breakdown of stomatal optimality under severe environmental stresses and a shift from optimal stomatal regulation to nonstomatal regulation at leaf scale. We have demonstrated that different data handling (stratified vs. nonstratified) or selection (hourly vs. daily) could lead to different conclusions on the relationship between WUE and its controls. For this reason, we recommend modelers to be cautious when applying WUE‐response formulas at environmental conditions or at time scales different from those at which they are derived.     

昆明西山滇青冈林内滇青冈种子库动态的研究

通过对昆明西山滇青冈林内滇青冈种子库的跟踪取样调查和种子埋藏试验,对滇青冈种子库的动态进行了研究。昆虫在种子成熟前侵入种子,经种子雨进入种子库时已有71.8%的种子失去萌发能力。种子雨输入种子库的绝大部分种子停留在表面种子库,其中48.55%的种子被虫害,25.36%被某些非生物或生物搬运,17.39%的腐烂,8.7%的被动物当场取食,没有种子萌发,影响种子库动态的各种因子的作用大小在时间上是变化。被搬运的种子中,有4.9%的由表面种子库转移到埋藏种子库。土层是滇青冈种子的安全生境,土壤种子库的存在时间超过250天。埋入土壤的试验种子一直处于静止状态,到6月雨季后有80%种子萌发,20%的腐烂。萌发种子数是当年产种子的0.26%。滇青冈林内的滇青冈种子库是季节性的,种子库对种群个体的补充作用是有限的。     

A New Equation to Estimate Glomerular Filtration Rate in Chinese Elderly Population

Background

We sought to develop a new equation to estimate glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in Chinese elderly population.

Methods

A total of 668 Chinese elderly participants, including the development cohort (n = 433), the validation cohort (n = 235) were enrolled. The new equation using the generalized additive model, and age, gender, serum creatinine as predictor variables was developed and the performances was compared with the CKD-EPI equation.

Results

In the validation data set, both bias and precision were improved with the new equation, as compared with the CKD-EPI equation (median difference, −1.5 ml/min/1.73 m² vs. 7.4 ml/min/1.73 m² for the new equation and the CKD-EPI equation, [P<0.001]; interquartile range [IQR] for the difference, 16.2 ml/min/1.73 m² vs. 19.0 ml/min/1.73 m² [P<0.001]), as were accuracies (15% accuracy, 40.4% vs. 30.6% [P = 0.02]; 30% accuracy, 71.1% vs. 47.2%, [P<0.001]; 50% accuracy, 90.2% vs. 75.7%, [P<0.001]), allowing improvement in GFR categorization (GFR category misclassification rate, 37.4% vs. 53.2% [P = <0.001]).

Conclusions

A new equation was developed in Chinese elderly population. In the validation data set, the new equation performed better than the original CKD-EPI equation. The new equation needs further external validations. Calibration of the GFR referent standard to a more accurate one should be an useful way to improve the performance of GFR estimating equations.