Seed bank dynamics of an invasive alien species,Helianthus annuus L.

形成持久种子库的能力是预测物种在新区域成功建群的最佳指标之一。野生向日葵(Helianthus annuus L.)原产于北美，干扰促进了其种子库的形成，并对本地种群的建立和延续起着关键作用。然而，种子库在入侵种群的建立和延续中所起的作用尚不清楚。在本研究中，我们评估了种子库和干扰对几种向日葵生物类型(采集于阿根廷荒地生境中的野生向日葵、野生农田野生向日葵与作物向日葵自然杂交种，以及商业品种的后代)的建立和适应性，以及土壤中种子持久性的作用。在种子库试验中，我们评估了上述材料两年在干扰和未干扰条件下的出苗率、成活率到繁殖率、出苗成活率、每株花序数和每块地的花序数；在种子埋藏试验中，我们评估了其种子在四个春季(6个月、18 个月、30个月和42个月)土壤中的持久性。研究结果表明，总体而言，幼苗在生长期(冬季)出苗较早，且受到干扰促进，尤其是第一年。尽管如此，在两种情况下，每块样地的花序数是相近的，尤其是荒地生境中。第二年，种子库出苗率较低，但成活率较高。在种子掩埋实验中，观察到遗传差异，荒地和野生生境中种子持久性达到42个月，而商业品种后代的种子持久性不超过6个月。在这两项实验中，农田野生型和商业向日葵品种后代生物型表现出一种中间行为。结果表明，野生向日葵和作物野生向日葵杂交种均能在其生长范围之外形成持久的种子库，且干扰可能有助于其在新区域的建立。     

An In Vivo <Superscript>11</Superscript>C-(R)-PK11195 PET and In Vitro Pathology Study of Microglia Activation in Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Microgliosis is part of the immunobiology of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). This is the first report using ¹¹C-(R)-PK11195 PET imaging in vivo to measure 18 kDa translocator protein (TSPO) expression, indexing microglia activation, in symptomatic CJD patients, followed by a postmortem neuropathology comparison. One genetic CJD (gCJD) patient, two sporadic CJD (sCJD) patients, one variant CJD (vCJD) patient (mean ± SD age, 47.50 ± 15.95 years), and nine healthy controls (mean ± SD age, 44.00 ± 11.10 years) were included in the study. TSPO binding potentials were estimated using clustering and parametric analyses of reference regions. Statistical comparisons were run at the regional and at the voxel-wise levels. Postmortem evaluation measured scrapie prion protein (PrP^Sc) immunoreactivity, neuronal loss, spongiosis, astrogliosis, and microgliosis. ¹¹C-(R)-PK11195-PET showed a significant TSPO overexpression at the cortical level in the two sCJD patients, as well as thalamic and cerebellar involvement; very limited parieto-occipital activation in the gCJD case; and significant increases at the subcortical level in the thalamus, basal ganglia, and midbrain and in the cerebellum in the vCJD brain. Along with misfolded prion deposits, neuropathology in all patients revealed neuronal loss, spongiosis and astrogliosis, and a diffuse cerebral and cerebellar microgliosis which was particularly dense in thalamic and basal ganglia structures in the vCJD brain. These findings confirm significant microgliosis in CJD, which was variably modulated in vivo and more diffuse at postmortem evaluation. Thus, TSPO overexpression in microglia activation, topography, and extent can vary in CJD subtypes, as shown in vivo, possibly related to the response to fast apoptotic processes, but reaches a large amount at the final disease course.