Describing Ordinal Odds Ratios for Stratified r × c Tables

For an r × ctable with ordinal responses, odds ratios are commonly used to describe the relationship between the row and column variables. This article shows two types of ordinal odds ratios where local‐global odds ratios are used to compare several groups on a c‐category ordinal response and a global odds ratio is used to measure the global association between a pair of ordinal responses. When there is a stratification factor, we consider Mantel‐Haenszel (MH) type estimators of these odds ratios to summarize the association from several strata. Like the ordinary MH estimator of the common odds ratio for several 2 × 2 contingency tables, the estimators are used when the association is not expected to vary drastically among the strata. Also, the estimators are consistent under the ordinary asymptotic framework in which the number of strata is fixed and also under sparse asymptotics in which the number of strata grows with the sample size. Compared to the maximum likelihood estimators, simulations find that the MH type estimators perform better especially when each stratum has few observations. This article provides variances and covariances formulae for the local‐global odds ratios estimators and applies the bootstrap method to obtain a standard error for the global odds ratio estimator. At the end, we discuss possible ways of testing the homogeneity assumption.     

Parametric and Nonparametric Analyses of Repeated Ordinal Categorical Data

We compare two models for the analysis of repeated ordinal categorical data: the classical parametric model for means of scores assigned to the categories of the response variable and a nonparametric model based on relative effects derived from the marginal distribution functions of the response. An example in the field of Dentistry is used to illustrate and to compare the models. We also consider a simulation study to evaluate the type‐I error rates and the power of tests under both models in a balanced design setup. The simulation results suggest that both approaches behave similarly for equally spaced scores but may perform differently otherwise. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Mutations in the E1a gene of type 5 adenovirus result in oncogenic transformation of Fischer rat embryo cells

Transformation of a specific clone of Fischer rat embryo (CREF) cells with wild-type 5 adenovirus (Ad5) or the E1a plus E1b transforming gene regions of Ad5 results in epithelioid transformants that grow efficiently in agar but that do not induce tumors when inoculated into nude mice or syngeneic Fischer rats. In contrast, CREF cells transformed by a host-range Ad5 mutant, H5hrl, which contains a single base-pair deletion of nucleotide 1055 in E1a resulting in a 28-kd protein (calculated) in place of the wild-type 51-kd acidic protein, display a cold-sensitive transformation phenotype and an incomplete fibroblastic morphology but surprisingly do induce tumors in nude mice and syngeneic rats. Tumors develop in both types of animals following injection of CREF cells transformed by other cold-sensitive Ad5 E1a mutants (H5dl101 and H5in106), which contain alterations in their 13S mRNA and consequently truncated 289AA proteins. CREF cells transformed with only the E1a gene (0-4.5 m.u.) from H5hrl or H5dl101 also produce tumors in these animals. To directly determine the role of the 13S E1a encoded 289AA protein and the 12S E1a encoded 243AA protein in initiating an oncogenic phenotype in adenovirus-transformed CREF cells, we generated transformed cell lines following infection with the Ad2 mutant pm975, which synthesizes the 289AA E1a protein but not the 243AA protein, and the Ad5 mutant H5dl520 and the Ad2 mutant H2dl1500, which do not produce the 289AA E1a protein but synthesize the normal 243AA E1a protein. All three types of mutant adenovirus-transformed CREF cells induced tumors in nude mice and syngeneic rats. Tumor formation by these mutant adenovirus-transformed CREF cells was not associated with changes in the arrangement of integrated adenovirus DNA or in the expression of adenovirus early genes. These results indicate, therefore, that oncogenic transformation of CREF cells can occur in the presence of a wild-type 13S E1a protein or a wild-type 12S E1a protein when either protein is present alone, but does not occur when both wild-type E1a proteins are present.     

On the stabilization of animal numbers. Problems of testing

Summary When testing for regulation of population numbers, rather than using Bulmer's second test in cases where population numbers are estimated instead of measured, we prefer to correct Bulmer's first test for estimation error. A correction method is expounded, discussed, and applied to two series of census data: the pine looper of Klomp and the garden chafer of Milne. In neither case the tentative conclusion from using the uncorrected test was changed after correction. Therefore, in practice Bulmer's first test without correction can be used well as a first orientation. Twelve long series (more than 10 years) of census data of both univoltine and semelparous (a necessary condition) insects were tested for significant density dependence in the fluctuations of numbers with the randomization test of Pollard et al. None of the series, all we could find to meet the necessary condition as well as being longer than 10 years, showed significant density dependence at the 0.05 level, though the pine looper of Klomp did so at the 0.1 level. Next, the same series were tested for regulation in the sense of keeping density within limits with both the first test of Bulmer and the permutation test of Reddingius and Den Boer. Onky Klomp's pine looper population at Hoge Veluwe scored significantly. In a following paper this population will be considered more closely, in order to enable understanding of this test result.Communication No. 362 of the Biological Station, Wijster     

Physiological integration in Cassia fasciculata Michx.: inflorescence removal and defoliation experiments

Summary In the annual herb Cassia fasciculata virtually every leaf subtends an axillary inflorescence. We examined the degree to which these leaf-inflorescence units (reproductive nodes) were physiologically independent of each other in the production of flowers, fruits, and seeds. Removal of up to 4 of every 5 inflorescences resulted in substantial increases in fruit and seed production by remaining, intact reproductive nodes. These increases nearly compensated for and manipulated reproductive nodes were associated with different vascular strands. When 2 of every 3 leaves were removed, fruit and seed production were reduced at both intact and defoliated reproductive nodes. Taken together, these results suggest that neighboring reproductive nodes in C. fasciculata are not physiologically independent of one another, and that competition among fruits and seeds for parental resources occurs over several reproductive nodes.Scientific contribution no. 1595 from the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station     

在双脉冲光刺激下瞳孔系统的采样控制特性

本文用实验揭示了瞳孔对光动态反应具有采样控制特性。实验中采用各种不同时间间隔的双脉冲光,以开环的方式(Maxwellian View)刺激瞳孔,当双脉冲之间间隔较长时,瞳孔反应相当于对双脉冲光的两次脉冲分别产生瞬态收缩;当双脉冲时间间隔短于0.6s 时,其反应就成了一次瞬态收缩,与单个光脉冲所引起的瞳孔反应一样。同—受试者的多次实验结果相同,不同受试者所得结果也基本一致。故瞳孔对脉冲刺激光引起反应后,必须至少约隔0.6s 才能对另一次脉冲光产生反应,这就说明了瞳孔动态反应具有离散的采样控制特性。实验还进一步证明,瞳孔系统的控制机制是双重模式的控制:不同的刺激条件下,瞳孔反应可呈现为瞬态反应(AC)或持续反应(DC),瞬态反应的 AC 通道为离散的采样控制,持续反应的 DC 通道为连续控制。     

Efficient integrative transformation of the phytopathogenic fungus Alternaria alternata mediated by the repetitive rDNA sequences

An attempt was made to transform Alternaria alternata protoplasts using a plasmid vector, pDH25, bearing the Escherichia coli hygromycin B (Hy) phosphotransferase gene (hph) under the control of the Aspergillus nidulans trpC promoter. Transformants arose on a selective medium containing 100 μg Hy/ml. There were two types of transformants, forming large and small colonies on the selective medium. Transformation with one μg of the vector produced an average of 4.5 large colonies and 600 small ones. In large-colony transformants, the vector often integrated into the recipient chromosome in the form of highly rearranged tandem arrays. To increase transformation efficiency, fragments of the highly repetitive ribosomal RNA gene cluster (rDNA) of A. alternata were used to construct four new vectors for homologous recombination system. Use of these vectors gave higher transformation efficiency than the original plasmid. The best vector, pDH25r1a, gave rise to large-colony transformants at a frequency 20 times higher than pDH25. Transformation events in A. alternata with pDH25r1a occured by homologous recombination as a single crossover between the plasmid-borne rDNA segment and its homologue in the chromosome, often giving rise to tandemly repeated vector DNA.