Aspects of reproduction and their implications for the conservation of the endangered limpet,Patella ferruginea

Summary

The protandric limpet, Patella ferruginea G., is the most endangered marine species in the Western Mediterranean and is at serious risk of extinction. Nevertheless, its biology and ecology are little known. In the present work, several reproductive aspects are studied. Recruitment take place in June and the largest individuals are the most scarce. The sex ratio is slanted towards the largest sizes, and the species seems to show sex change at sizes from 60 mm upwards, although males can be observed up to 80 mm. There is no correlation between size of oocytes and shell length; however, the larger females contribute greatly to the reproductive event, with high fecundity and GSI values. The mean diameter of oocytes was observed to be 149.78 μm, whereas the heads of spermatozoa were 3.78 μm long. The results of the present study increase the maximum length for males by double that cited in previous literature and highlight the importance of strictly protecting females (i.e., most of the largest individuals, >60 mm), since their population percentage is very low, in order to develop adequate strategies to preserve the species.     

中条山油松人工林下物种对群落物种丰富度分布格局的贡献

该研究以中条山油松人工林群落为研究对象,研究林下不同大小的子群落对群落物种丰富度分布格局的贡献,并确定影响该区域群落物种丰富度分布格局的关键种,为区域物种多样性保护提供理论依据.结果 表明:(1)该地区林下物种频度分布格局呈明显右偏,且不同样方物种丰富度存在明显差异.(2)常见种对群落丰富度分布格局的贡献大于稀有种.(...     

Production of endothelial progenitor cells obtained from human Wharton's jelly using different culture conditions

Endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) participate in revascularization and angiogenesis. EPC can be cultured in vitro from mononuclear cells of peripheral blood, umbilical cord blood or bone marrow; they also can be transdifferentiated from mesenchymal stem cells (MSC). We isolated EPCs from Wharton's jelly (WJ) using two methods. The first method was by obtaining MSC from WJ and characterizing them by flow cytometry and their adipogenic and osteogenic differentiation, then applying endothelial growth differentiating media. The second method was by direct culture of cells derived from WJ into endothelial differentiating media. EPCs were characterized by morphology, Dil-LDL uptake/UEA-1 immunostaining and testing the expression of endothelial markers by flow cytometry and RT-PCR. We found that MSC derived from WJ differentiated into endothelial-like cells using simple culture conditions with endothelium induction agents in the medium.     

Environmental controls over carbon exchange of three forest ecosystems in eastern China

Net ecosystem productivity (NEP) was continuously measured using the eddy covariance (EC) technique from 2003 to 2005 at three forest sites of ChinaFLUX. The forests include Changbaishan temperate mixed forest (CBS), Qianyanzhou subtropical coniferous plantation (QYZ), and Dinghushan subtropical evergreen broad‐leaved forest (DHS). They span wide ranges of temperature and precipitation and are influenced by the eastern Asian monsoon climate to varying extent. In this study, we estimated ecosystem respiration (RE) and gross ecosystem productivity (GEP). Comparison of ecosystem carbon exchange among the three forests shows that RE was mainly determined by temperature, with the forest at CBS exhibiting the highest temperature sensitivity among the three ecosystems. The RE was highly dependent on GEP across the three forests, and the ratio of RE to GEP decreased along the North–South Transect of Eastern China (NSTEC) (i.e. from the CBS to the DHS), with an average of 0.77 ± 0.06. Daily GEP was mainly influenced by temperature at CBS, whereas photosynthetic photon flux density was the dominant factor affecting the daily GEP at both QYZ and DHS. Temperature mainly determined the pattern of the interannual variations of ecosystem carbon exchange at CBS. However, water availability primarily controlled the interannual variations of ecosystem carbon exchange at QYZ. At DHS, NEP attained the highest values at the beginning of the dry seasons (autumn) rather than the rainy seasons (summer), probably because insufficient radiation and frequent fog during the rainy seasons hindered canopy photosynthesis. All the three forest ecosystems acted as a carbon sink from 2003 to 2005. The annual average values of NEP at CBS, QYZ, and DHS were 259 ± 19, 354 ± 34, and 434 ± 66 g C m⁻² yr⁻¹, respectively. The slope of NEP that decreased with increasing latitude along the NSTEC was markedly different from that observed on the forest transect in the European continent. Long‐term flux measurements over more forest ecosystems along the NSTEC will further help verify such a difference between the European forest transect and the NSTEC and provide insights into the responses of ecosystem carbon exchange to climate change in China.     

Genetic diversity of chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium vivax parasites from the western Brazilian Amazon

The molecular basis of Plasmodium vivax chloroquine (CQ) resistance is still unknown. Elucidating the molecular background of parasites that are sensitive or resistant to CQ will help to identify and monitor the spread of resistance. By genotyping a panel of molecular markers, we demonstrate a similar genetic variability between in vitro CQ-resistant and sensitive phenotypes of P. vivax parasites. However, our studies identified two loci (MS8 and MSP1-B10) that could be used to discriminate between both CQ-susceptible phenotypes among P. vivax isolates in vitro. These preliminary data suggest that microsatellites may be used to identify and to monitor the spread of P. vivax-resistance around the world.     

地塞美松中间体的C1,4脱氢和11α-羟基化

地塞美松 (Ｄｅｘａｍｅｔｈａｓｏｎｅ)为高效肾上腺皮质激素药物 ,临床上广泛使用。开拓用梯可吉宁 (Ｔｉｇｏｇｅｎｉｎ)为起始原料生产从化学结构和合成技术上讲较为合理 ,而且适合于资源综合利用[1] 。在合成过程中 ,除了Ａ环需引入Ｃ1,2 和Ｃ4 ,5两个双键 (含Ｃ-3 羟基氧化 )外 ,还需用微生物法在Ｃ-11位引入羟基。国外常采用化学法脱氢 ,然后再用霉菌 11α 羟基化[2 ,3 ] 。本文报道用两类微生物菌种 ,节杆菌 (Ａｒｔｈｒｏｂａｃｔｅｒｓｐ .)ＡＸ86和绿僵菌 (Ｍｅｔａｒｈｉｚｉｕｍｓｐ .)Ｍ 88,混合转化一步完成脱氢和羟基化反应…