松山自然保护区各功能区植被动态及变化格局

作为全球生态保育的基石,保护区管理和设计成为研究热点。本研究旨在描述不同功能区在相应保护措施下植被的差异性变化。运用遥感和GIS技术以及景观分析手段,利用两期Landsat5TM影像提取出北京松山国家级自然保护区1987、2001年的归一化差值植被指数(NormalizedDifferenceVegetationIndex,NDVI)信息,对植被动态进行分析,并按变化率分为减少、无变化和增加3种类型,利用景观指数刻画出变化格局,就植被动态及其变化格局在不同功能区的空间分异性进行比较。得到以下主要结论:(1)保护区建立后植被大体稳定并有所改善,形成核心区>缓冲区>实验区的植被覆盖梯度。(2)在绝对保护措施下,核心区植被稳定性高并得到进一步改善。植被稳定类型集中于区域中心,增加类型聚集在区域边缘,减少类型与自然植被动态特征相符呈随机分布状态。(3)受经营、开发措施影响,实验区稳定性低,变化面积大、变幅大、增加与衰退共存,植被覆盖居全保护区最低且有退化趋势。(4)缓冲区植被动态呈现出一定的随机分布格局。     

Human Flt3L Generates Dendritic Cells from Canine Peripheral Blood Precursors: Implications for a Dog Glioma Clinical Trial

Background

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common primary brain tumor in adults and carries a dismal prognosis. We have developed a conditional cytotoxic/immunotherapeutic approach using adenoviral vectors (Ads) encoding the immunostimulatory cytokine, human soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 3 ligand (hsFlt3L) and the conditional cytotoxic molecule, i.e., Herpes Simplex Type 1- thymide kinase (TK). This therapy triggers an anti-tumor immune response that leads to tumor regression and anti-tumor immunological memory in intracranial rodent cancer models. We aim to test the efficacy of this immunotherapy in dogs bearing spontaneous GBM. In view of the controversy regarding the effect of human cytokines on dog immune cells, and considering that the efficacy of this treatment depends on hsFlt3L-stimulated dendritic cells (DCs), in the present work we tested the ability of Ad-encoded hsFlt3L to generate DCs from dog peripheral blood and compared its effects with canine IL-4 and GM-CSF.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Our results demonstrate that hsFlT3L expressed form an Ad vector, generated DCs from peripheral blood cultures with very similar morphological and phenotypic characteristics to canine IL-4 and GM-CSF-cultured DCs. These include phagocytic activity and expression of CD11c, MHCII, CD80 and CD14. Maturation of DCs cultured under both conditions resulted in increased secretion of IL-6, TNF-α and IFN-γ. Importantly, hsFlt3L-derived antigen presenting cells showed allostimulatory potential highlighting their ability to present antigen to T cells and elicit their proliferation.

Conclusions/Significance

These results demonstrate that hsFlt3L induces the proliferation of canine DCs and support its use in upcoming clinical trials for canine GBM. Our data further support the translation of hsFlt3L to be used for dendritic cells'' vaccination and gene therapeutic approaches from rodent models to canine patients and its future implementation in human clinical trials.     

Pre-clinical drug prioritization via prognosis-guided genetic interaction networks

The high rates of failure in oncology drug clinical trials highlight the problems of using pre-clinical data to predict the clinical effects of drugs. Patient population heterogeneity and unpredictable physiology complicate pre-clinical cancer modeling efforts. We hypothesize that gene networks associated with cancer outcome in heterogeneous patient populations could serve as a reference for identifying drug effects. Here we propose a novel in vivo genetic interaction which we call 'synergistic outcome determination' (SOD), a concept similar to 'Synthetic Lethality'. SOD is defined as the synergy of a gene pair with respect to cancer patients' outcome, whose correlation with outcome is due to cooperative, rather than independent, contributions of genes. The method combines microarray gene expression data with cancer prognostic information to identify synergistic gene-gene interactions that are then used to construct interaction networks based on gene modules (a group of genes which share similar function). In this way, we identified a cluster of important epigenetically regulated gene modules. By projecting drug sensitivity-associated genes on to the cancer-specific inter-module network, we defined a perturbation index for each drug based upon its characteristic perturbation pattern on the inter-module network. Finally, by calculating this index for compounds in the NCI Standard Agent Database, we significantly discriminated successful drugs from a broad set of test compounds, and further revealed the mechanisms of drug combinations. Thus, prognosis-guided synergistic gene-gene interaction networks could serve as an efficient in silico tool for pre-clinical drug prioritization and rational design of combinatorial therapies.     

Solution structure and dynamics of the I214V mutant of the rabbit prion protein

Background

The conformational conversion of the host-derived cellular prion protein (PrP^C) into the disease-associated scrapie isoform (PrP^Sc) is responsible for the pathogenesis of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). Various single-point mutations in PrP^Cs could cause structural changes and thereby distinctly influence the conformational conversion. Elucidation of the differences between the wild-type rabbit PrP^C (RaPrP^C) and various mutants would be of great help to understand the ability of RaPrP^C to be resistant to TSE agents.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We determined the solution structure of the I214V mutant of RaPrP^C(91–228) and detected the backbone dynamics of its structured C-terminal domain (121–228). The I214V mutant displays a visible shift of surface charge distribution that may have a potential effect on the binding specificity and affinity with other chaperones. The number of hydrogen bonds declines dramatically. Urea-induced transition experiments reveal an obvious decrease in the conformational stability. Furthermore, the NMR dynamics analysis discloses a significant increase in the backbone flexibility on the pico- to nanosecond time scale, indicative of lower energy barrier for structural rearrangement.

Conclusions/Significance

Our results suggest that both the surface charge distribution and the intrinsic backbone flexibility greatly contribute to species barriers for the transmission of TSEs, and thereby provide valuable hints for understanding the inability of the conformational conversion for RaPrP^C.     

大亚湾表层水中溶解无机碳的时空分布

于2010 年12 月～2011 年11 月分4 个季度,对大亚湾海域进行了采样调查,分析了大亚湾表层水体中溶解无机碳(Dissolved inorganic carbon, DIC)含量的时空分布特征,并讨论了大亚湾表层水DIC 与pH、盐度、水温和叶绿素a 等环境因子之间的关系。大亚湾海域表层水DIC 含量的变化范围为19.49～23.20 mg·L^-1,均值为21.13±1.07 mg·L^-1,较黄海及东海水域的DIC 含量低。DIC 的水平分布大致呈现出西部及西北部海域高于东部及湾口海域的趋势。大亚湾表层水DIC 含量呈现出冬季>夏季>秋季>春季的季节变化趋势,但春、夏及秋季差异不大。大亚湾海域表层水的DIC 含量除与盐度呈现了显著的正相关关系外,与pH 值、水温及叶绿素a 显示出负相关,但不显著。大亚湾海域DIC 的时空分布特征是多种因素综合作用的结果,其同时受季风、水温、盐度、水动力、生物地球化学和生物等因子的影响。     

不同覆盖方式对底泥内源营养盐释放的控制效果

通过底泥内源营养盐释放控制室内模拟试验,考察了塑料包被、斜发沸石、方解石、石英砂和硝酸钙5种覆盖材料对底泥氮磷释放效率的影响,系统分析了各自优劣程度,为实际环境中不同污染背景水体选择适宜的控制技术提供科学依据.结果表明: 不同覆盖材料对底泥总磷释放的控制效果依次为:塑料包被>硝酸钙>斜发沸石>方解石>石英砂;不同覆盖材料对底泥总氮释放的控制效果依次为:斜发沸石>塑料包被>方解石>石英砂>硝酸钙;不同覆盖材料对底泥硝态氮释放的控制效果依次为:塑料包被>斜发沸石>方解石>石英砂>硝酸钙;不同覆盖材料对底泥铵态氮释放的控制效果依次为:硝酸钙>石英砂>斜发沸石>方解石>塑料包被;温度和底泥内源营养盐释放有对应关系,水样中总磷、总氮和硝态氮浓度会随着温度上升而增加,而铵态氮浓度呈下降趋势.