金黄地鼠视皮层通过胼胝体顺行和逆行激活的神经元的电活动和分布

用细胞外记录技术研究了金黄地鼠一侧视皮层神经元对电刺激另一侧相应部位的反应及其对视觉刺激反应的特点。(1)在17—18a 交界区大多数(78%)细胞能被电刺激对侧相应点所驱动。在17区内部,被驱动细胞数随离开17—18a 交界距离增加而减少。(2)按对电刺激的反应形式,记录的细胞可分为四类:a.逆行驱动细胞,占17—18a 交界区记录细胞数的20%;b.顺行驱动细胞,占52%中;c.自发发放因电刺激而减少或完全停止的细胞,占6%,d.其余细胞(22%)对电刺激没有可察觉的反应。(3)在17—18a 交界,除了Ⅰ层以外的各层都可记录到顺行驱动细胞,而逆行驱动细胞则主要集中在Ⅲ及Ⅴ层。(4)17—18a 交界细胞感受野(RF)多位于垂直中线附近的对侧视野内,有些 RF 跨越中线,其边界延伸到同侧约10°处。(5)逆行驱动细胞包括刁和 Blakemore 以前在视皮层中记录到的所有细胞类型和各种程度的眼优势,但单眼细胞的比例增加,非对称式 RF 和中心对称式的给-撤型 RF 的比例有所减少。     

Clenbuterol-Induced Insulin Resistance in Calves Measured by Hyperinsulinemic,Euglycemic Clamp Technique

Hyperinsulinemic, euglycemic clamp tests were performed on calves before and after clenbuterol treatment. Clenbuterol was given as 2 intramuscular injections with an interval of about 12 h. The dose used was 1 μg/kg b.w. The treatment resulted in increased plasma levels of insulin and glucose. The results of the clamp tests showed that clenbuterol induced a transient decrease in insulin sensitivity. Both insulin mediated glucose disposal (M), expressed as μmol/kg live b.w./min. and the M/I-index (M divided by the average insulin concentration at steady state) were significantly reduced after treatment. The effect of clenbuterol on carbohydrate metabolism seemed to be rather short-lived, since significant changes occurred only in animals treated 5-6 h prior to the test. According to the literature, the metabolic effects of clenbuterol have been studied only after the high doses used for growth promoting purposes. The results from the present study showed that similar changes occur also after doses at the therapeutic level. The hyperinsulinemic, euglycemic clamp test was considered to be a valuable tool for the study of insulin sensitivity in cattle.     

Subpopulations of fetal thymocytes defined by expression of T cell receptor/CD3 and IL-2 receptor. CD3 and IL-2 receptor alpha-chain are expressed on reciprocal cell populations

The expression of the TCR/CD3 complex and the IL-2R alpha chain (p55) on fetal thymocytes has been analyzed by flow cytometry (FCM). Two-parameter immunofluorescence identified three subpopulations which were respectively IL-2R alpha-/CD3+, IL-2R alpha+/CD3-, or IL-2R alpha-/CD3-; no detectable population of IL-2R alpha+/CD3+ cells was found in unstimulated fetal thymocytes. Fractionation by "panning" and by sterile flow cytometric separation was used to characterize the functional responsiveness of these three subpopulations to a variety of stimuli. All three populations proliferated in response to PMA + ionomycin + rIL-2. In contrast, stimulation with anti-CD3 + IL-2 induced proliferation in IL-2R alpha-/CD3+ and IL-2R alpha-/CD3- but not in IL-2R alpha+/CD3- thymocytes. IL-2R alpha- cells, including sorted IL-2R alpha-/CD3- thymocytes, underwent a phenotypic change in response to in vitro stimulation with anti-CD3 + IL-2, resulting in the appearance of an IL-2R alpha+/CD3+ population that was not detected in freshly isolated thymocytes. The ability of fractionated fetal thymocytes to produce lymphokine in response to PMA + ionomycin was also evaluated. Only the IL-2R alpha-/CD3- fraction generated detectable IL-2. These findings demonstrate for the first time that CD3 and IL-2R alpha are expressed in a mutually exclusive fashion in fetal thymocytes and define three subpopulations of thymocytes that differ significantly in their proliferative and differentiative responses to TCR-mediated, IL-2R-mediated, and pharmacologic stimulation.     

Thermodynamic consequences of disrupting a water-mediated hydrogen bond network in a protein:pheromone complex

The mouse pheromones (+/-)-2-sec-butyl-4,5-dihydrothiazole (SBT) and 6-hydroxy-6-methyl-3-heptanone (HMH) bind into an occluded hydrophobic cavity in the mouse major urinary protein (MUP-1). Although the ligands are structurally unrelated, in both cases binding is accompanied by formation of a similar buried, water-mediated hydrogen bond network between the ligand and several backbone and side chain groups on the protein. To investigate the energetic contribution of this hydrogen bond network to ligand binding, we have applied isothermal titration calorimetry to measure the binding thermodynamics using several MUP mutants and ligand analogs. Mutation of Tyr-120 to Phe, which disrupts a hydrogen bond from the phenolic hydroxyl group of Tyr-120 to one of the bound water molecules, results in a substantial loss of favorable binding enthalpy, which is partially compensated by a favorable change in binding entropy. A similar thermodynamic effect was observed when the hydrogen bonded nitrogen atom of the heterocyclic ligand was replaced by a methyne group. Several other modifications of the protein or ligand had smaller effects on the binding thermodynamics. The data provide supporting evidence for the role of the hydrogen bond network in stabilizing the complex.     

Role of L3T4+ and Lyt-2+ donor cells in graft-versus-host immune deficiency induced across a class I, class II, or whole H-2 difference

The i.v. injection of parental T cells into F1 hybrid mice can result in a graft-vs-host (GVH)-induced immune deficiency that is Ag nonspecific and of long duration. The effect of the GVH reaction (GVHR) on the host's immune system depends on the class of F1 MHC Ag recognized by the donor cells. To determine the role of different subsets of donor-derived T cells in the induction of GVHR, donor spleen cells were negatively selected by anti-T cell mAb and C, and the cells were injected into F1 mice that differed from the donor by both class I and II MHC Ag or by class I or class II MHC only. The induction of GVHR across class I + II differences was found to require both L3T4+ and Lyt-2+ parental cells. Induction of GVHR across a class II difference required only L3T4+ parental T cells in the combination tested [B6-into-(B6 x bm12)F1]. In contrast, B6 Lyt-2+ cells were sufficient to induce GVHR across a class I difference in (B6 x bm1)F1 recipients. In addition, a direct correlation was observed between the cell types required for GVH induction and the parental T cell phenotypes detected in the spleens of the GVH mice. The number of parental cells detected in the unirradiated F1 hosts was dependent upon the H-2 differences involved in the GVHR. Induction of a class I + class II GVHR resulted in abrogation of both TNP-self and allogeneic CTL responses. In contrast, induction of a class II GVHR resulted in only a selective loss of TNP-self but not of allogeneic CTL function. Unexpectedly, the induction of a class I GVHR also resulted in the selective loss of the TNP-self CTL response. Thus, these class I and class II examples of GVH both result in the selective abrogation of L3T4+ Th cell function. The data are discussed in terms of respective roles of killer cells and/or suppressor cells in the induction of host immune deficiency by a GVHR, and of the selective deficiency in host Th cell function induced by different classes of GVHR.     

Life-history responses of larviparous Boettcherisca formosensis (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) to larval competition for food, including comparisons with oviparous Hemipyrellia ligurriens (Calliphoridae)

Abstract. 1 The effect of larval rearing density on life-history parameters of Boettcherisca formosensis Kirner & Lopes (Sarcophagidae) was investigated. Increases in rearing density resulted in lowered larval survivorship, shortened larval development time and production of smaller, shorter-lived adults with reduced fecundity.
2. B. formosensis is larviparous. Average brood size was 17.5±1.0 (mean±M) larvae, which was much less than the average number of mature larvae inside gravid females. Females apparently produced a series of small broods, distributing their offspring over a number of carcasses.
3. Compared with the oviparous species Hemipyrellia ligurriens (Wiedemann) (Calliphoridae), B. formosensis adults were larger and longer-lived, with a longer larval development time but shorter larval feeding period. However, females had a shorter pre-reproductive period, were less fecund, and had a lower life time reproductive investment.
4. B. formosensis had lower relative performance (measured by the composite index of performance, r') than H. ligurriens over the larval rearing density range, and was more sensitive to increases in density. Although the r' values suggest that the sarcophagid may be a competitively inferior species, other features which are not included in the index (such as larvipary, short larval feeding period and spreading of offspring from a single brood among carcasses) may be of significant adaptive value to B. formosensis.     

Polymerase chain reaction primers for polymorphic microsatellite loci from the Korean sandfish,Arctoscopus japonicus

We developed 12 polymorphic microsatellite markers from Arctoscopus japonicus by screening an enriched genomic library using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques. The average of alleles size was 16.2, and the average observed and expected heterozygosities were 0.59 and 0.78, respectively. The observed genotypic frequencies in five loci were significantly deviated from Hardy–Weinberg expectations. The high variability revealed in this study suggested that these microsatellite loci should provide useful markers for population genetics of A. japonicus.     

Coreceptor signal strength regulates positive selection but does not determine CD4/CD8 lineage choice in a physiologic in vivo model

TCR signals drive thymocyte development, but it remains controversial what impact, if any, the intensity of those signals have on T cell differentiation in the thymus. In this study, we assess the impact of CD8 coreceptor signal strength on positive selection and CD4/CD8 lineage choice using novel gene knockin mice in which the endogenous CD8alpha gene has been re-engineered to encode the stronger signaling cytoplasmic tail of CD4, with the re-engineered CD8alpha gene referred to as CD8.4. We found that stronger signaling CD8.4 coreceptors specifically improved the efficiency of CD8-dependent positive selection and quantitatively increased the number of MHC class I (MHC-I)-specific thymocytes signaled to differentiate into CD8+ T cells, even for thymocytes expressing a single, transgenic TCR. Importantly, however, stronger signaling CD8.4 coreceptors did not alter the CD8 lineage choice of any MHC-I-specific thymocytes, even MHC-I-specific thymocytes expressing the high-affinity F5 transgenic TCR. This study documents in a physiologic in vivo model that coreceptor signal strength alters TCR-signaling thresholds for positive selection and so is a major determinant of the CD4:CD8 ratio, but it does not influence CD4/CD8 lineage choice.     

Modeling Age-Specific Mortality for Countries with Generalized HIV Epidemics

Background

In a given population the age pattern of mortality is an important determinant of total number of deaths, age structure, and through effects on age structure, the number of births and thereby growth. Good mortality models exist for most populations except those experiencing generalized HIV epidemics and some developing country populations. The large number of deaths concentrated at very young and adult ages in HIV-affected populations produce a unique ‘humped’ age pattern of mortality that is not reproduced by any existing mortality models. Both burden of disease reporting and population projection methods require age-specific mortality rates to estimate numbers of deaths and produce plausible age structures. For countries with generalized HIV epidemics these estimates should take into account the future trajectory of HIV prevalence and its effects on age-specific mortality. In this paper we present a parsimonious model of age-specific mortality for countries with generalized HIV/AIDS epidemics.

Methods and Findings

The model represents a vector of age-specific mortality rates as the weighted sum of three independent age-varying components. We derive the age-varying components from a Singular Value Decomposition of the matrix of age-specific mortality rate schedules. The weights are modeled as a function of HIV prevalence and one of three possible sets of inputs: life expectancy at birth, a measure of child mortality, or child mortality with a measure of adult mortality. We calibrate the model with 320 five-year life tables for each sex from the World Population Prospects 2010 revision that come from the 40 countries of the world that have and are experiencing a generalized HIV epidemic. Cross validation shows that the model is able to outperform several existing model life table systems.

Conclusions

We present a flexible, parsimonious model of age-specific mortality for countries with generalized HIV epidemics. Combined with the outputs of existing epidemiological and demographic models, this model makes it possible to project future age-specific mortality profiles and number of deaths for countries with generalized HIV epidemics.     

长期不同施肥制度下几种土壤微生物学特征变化

 为阐明土壤微生物对土壤健康的生物指示功能, 以国家褐潮土肥力与肥料效益监测基地的长期肥料试验为平台, 应用BIOLOG ECO微平板培养法与常规分析法研究了长期施肥15年后不同施肥制度对土壤微生物生物量、活性、群落代谢功能多样性及土壤肥力的影响。研究结果表明, 与对照(CK)相比, 长期化肥与有机肥配施土壤中土壤有机质(SOM)、全氮(STN)、全磷(STP)含量升高, 土壤C/N与pH值降低, 土壤微生物量碳(Soil microbial biomass carbon, SMBC)、生物微生物量氮(Soil microbial biomass nitrogen, SMBN)、微生物商(qMB)及脲酶(Urease)活性升高, BIOLOG ECO微平板平均颜色变化率(Average well color development, AWCD)、土壤微生物代谢功能多样性指数变化不明显。和长期单施化肥处理(NPK)相比, 长期化肥与有机肥配施处理中上述几种微生物学特征(SMBC、SMBN、qMB、Urease及AWCD、代谢功能多样性指数)均呈极显著增加。NPK处理与CK相比虽然SOM、STN、STP含量稍有升高, 土壤C/N与pH值降低, SMBC、SMBN、qMB及Urease活性增高, 但是AWCD、土壤微生物代谢功能多样性指数却显著下降。过氧化氢酶活性(Catalase)在各处理土壤中的差异不显著。土壤微生物碳源利用的主成分分析表明, 长期不同施肥各处理在土壤微生物利用碳源的种类和能力上有差异。此试验说明, 土壤微生物受农业管理措施和多种环境因素的影响, 土壤微生物学特征可作为土壤质量的敏感指标, 为提高作物产量、增强肥力提供理论参考。