核心稳定性训练对痉挛型脑性瘫痪患儿爬行能力及日常生活活动能力的影响

目的:研究核心稳定性训练(CST)对痉挛型脑性瘫痪(SCP)患儿爬行能力及日常生活活动能力的影响。方法:选择从2015年1月到2017年2月期间在我院接受治疗的SCP患儿134例纳入本次研究,根据随机数字表法将患儿分成观察组及对照组,各67例,对照组给予常规训练,观察组则给予CST,两组均治疗3个月。对比两组疗效、治疗前及治疗3个月后的爬行能力评分以及日常生活活动能力评分。结果:观察组的总有效率是95.52%,明显高于对照组的85.07%,差异有统计学意义(P0.05)。治疗3个月后两组的爬行能力评分均分别高于治疗前,且观察组高于对照组,差异均有统计学意义(均P0.05)。治疗3个月后两组的日常生活活动能力各项评分均分别高于治疗前,且观察组高于对照组,差异均有统计学意义(均P0.05)。结论:CST对SCP患儿的爬行能力及日常生活活动能力具有较好的改善作用,临床治疗过程中可应用此种训练措施强化患儿的运动功能,从而促进其获得更好的预后,值得给予推广。     

How the expression of green fluorescent protein and human cardiac actin in the heart influences cardiac function and aerobic performance in zebrafish Danio rerio

The present study examined how the expression of enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) and human cardiac actin (ACTC) in zebrafish Danio rerio influences embryonic heart rate (R_H) and the swim performance and metabolic rate of adult fish. Experiments with the adults involved determining the critical swimming speed (U_crit, the highest speed sustainable and measure of aerobic capacity) while measuring oxygen consumption. Two different transgenic D. rerio lines were examined: one expressed eGFP in the heart (tg(cmlc:egfp)), while the second expressed ACTC in the heart and eGFP throughout the body (tg(cmlc:actc,ba:egfp)). It was found that R_H was significantly lower in the tg(cmlc:actc,ba:egfp) embryos 4 days post‐fertilization compared to wild‐type (WT) and tg(cmlc:egfp). The swim experiments demonstrated that there was no significant difference in U_crit between the transgenic lines and the wild‐type fish, but metabolic rate and cost of transport (oxygen used to travel a set distance) was nearly two‐fold higher in the tg(cmlc:actc,ba:egfp) fish compared to WT at their respective U_crit. These results suggest that the expression of ACTC in the D. rerio heart and the expression of eGFP throughout the animal, alters cardiac function in the embryo and reduces the aerobic efficiency of the animal at high levels of activity.     

Hunting flight speeds of five southern African raptors

The flight speeds of hunting falconry birds were determined using global positioning system data loggers. Until now, the hunting flight speed of African raptors has not been directly measured. We predicted that hunting flight speeds would differ between species and that flight dynamics, such as altitude, and bird morphology, particularly wing surface area, would influence maximum and mean flight speeds. This study considered five African raptor species, which included two long-wing species, Lanner Falcon Falco biarmicus and Peregrine Falcon F. peregrinus, one short-wing species, Black Sparrowhawk Accipiter melanoleucus, and two broad-wing species, African Hawk-eagle Aquila spilogaster and Jackal Buzzard Buteo rufofuscus. Maximum and mean hunt speeds differed significantly between the long- and short-wing species. There was no difference in acceleration or deceleration rates between these species, but this could be due to small sample sizes. There was a significant positive correlation between maximum hunt speed and maximum flight height for the long-wing species. Maximum and mean flight speeds were significantly negatively correlated with wing area for all five species in this study. However, following phylogenetic correction, no significant relationship between wing area and maximum hunt speeds was found. This study presents baseline data of hunting speeds in African raptors and further highlights the importance of inter-species variation, which can provide accuracy to flight speed models and the understanding of hunting strategies.     

Why does slug length correlate with speed during migration inDictyostelium discoideum?

Taking advantage of the fact that static electricity in plastic Petri dishes will produce very long, thin migrating slugs ofDictyostelium discoideum, it was shown that these slugs moved particularly rapidly. This is consistent with the demonstration of Inouye and Takeuchi that speed varies with length for slugs migrating on agar. Based on these observations it is suggested that slug speed is controlled by both the resistance at the tip and some factor that correlates With slug size, such as the concentration of endogenously produced ammonia     

Patterns of feeding behaviour in adult male riodinid butterflies and their relationship to morphology and ecology

Adult butterflies are known to visit a wide variety of food substrates, but, with the exception of flower visitation, little is known about what substances are being sought or what determines substrate choice. This is especially true for the Riodinidae, a large family [c. 1300 spp.) of almost exclusively Neotropical butterflies. We present adult male feeding records for 124 species in 41 genera of Riodinidae (out of a total of 441 species in 85 genera collected in the study), based on ten months sampling in Ecuador. Records of food substrates visited in this study include flowers, damp sand or mud (‘puddling’) and rotting carrion. Rotting carrion placed in traps was the most frequently recorded food source in terms of numbers of individuals and taxa, attracting 89 species from 32 genera. A correlation is found between food substrate choice and morphology, specifically wing area to thoracic volume ratio (WA: TV ratio). Our data suggest the possible existence of two adaptive syndromes whose species have significantly different mean WA:TV ratios and differing suites of accompanying ecological traits, with lower ratios being significantiy correlated with species that were recorded feeding. Among species recorded feeding, carrion feeders and puddlers have significantly lower mean WA:TV ratios than flower nectarers, and carrion feeders have a lower mean WA:TV ratio than species not recorded on this food source, a correlation that is significant across all tribes and within some tribes (Riodinini and Saratoni). We reanalyse previously published data on flight and morphology for species in other butterfly and moth families and show mat the ratio of wing area to thoracic mass is significantly negatively correlated with flight speed and oxygen consumption (a direct indicator of metabolic rate). We suggest that adult male riodinids may puddle and feed at rotting carrion to supplement nutrient stores from larval feeding, not only to increase reproductive success, but also to provide the necessary nutrients to maintain high metabolic rates during rapid flight.     

Flight activity of the damson–hop aphid, Phorodon humuli.

Flight activity of Phorodon humuli was monitored using suction traps, laboratory studies and mark and recapture experiments. Emigrants were trapped as they flew from a Myrobalan (Prunus cerasifera) hedge and among dwarf hops (Humulus lupulus). Daily flight curves were bimodal with 69% and 38% of emigrants caught in the morning peak near Myrobalan and among hops, respectively. The median period of flight activity was from 2 h after sunrise until 30 min before sunset. The lower temperature for flight was 13.5°C in the field and 14.9°C for take off in the laboratory. Variations in wind speed had little effect on flight activity explaining <2.5% of the total variance among insect counts. The percentage of emigrants on hop declined exponentially with time. The relationship, y= 10.9(±2.0) + 64.3(±2.3) × 0.92(±0.01)^t where t = daylight hours (standard error in parentheses), explained 98.3% of the variance. Hence, 62% of new arrivals flew within 1 day of arrival and 79% within 2 days. Similar numbers arrived as departed at 08:30, 10:30 and 12:30 h, but at 14:30 h twice as many arrived than departed and at 16:30 h, the accumulation was threefold. Daily flight curves of return migrants and males leaving hop were bimodal with 70% and 80%, respectively, trapped in the earlier peak. In the field, the median lower temperature for flight was 13.2°C for return migrants and a nonsignificantly different 12.8°C for males. The mean temperature for take off by return migrants was 15.7°C in the laboratory.     

Wind increases leaf water use efficiency

A widespread perception is that, with increasing wind speed, transpiration from plant leaves increases. However, evidence suggests that increasing wind speed enhances carbon dioxide (CO₂) uptake while reducing transpiration because of more efficient convective cooling (under high solar radiation loads). We provide theoretical and experimental evidence that leaf water use efficiency (WUE, carbon uptake per water transpired) commonly increases with increasing wind speed, thus improving plants' ability to conserve water during photosynthesis. Our leaf‐scale analysis suggests that the observed global decrease in near‐surface wind speeds could have reduced WUE at a magnitude similar to the increase in WUE attributed to global rise in atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. However, there is indication that the effect of long‐term trends in wind speed on leaf gas exchange may be compensated for by the concurrent reduction in mean leaf sizes. These unintuitive feedbacks between wind, leaf size and water use efficiency call for re‐evaluation of the role of wind in plant water relations and potential re‐interpretation of temporal and geographic trends in leaf sizes.     

High speed sCMOS‐based oblique plane microscopy applied to the study of calcium dynamics in cardiac myocytes

Oblique plane microscopy (OPM) is a form of light sheet microscopy that uses a single high numerical aperture microscope objective for both fluorescence excitation and collection. In this paper, measurements of the relative collection efficiency of OPM are presented. An OPM system incorporating two sCMOS cameras is then introduced that enables single isolated cardiac myocytes to be studied continuously for 22 seconds in two dimensions at 667 frames per second with 960 × 200 pixels and for 30 seconds with 960 × 200 × 20 voxels at 25 volumes per second. In both cases OPM is able to record in two spectral channels, enabling intracellular calcium to be studied via the probe Fluo‐4 AM simultaneously with the sarcolemma and transverse tubule network via the membrane dye Cellmask Orange. The OPM system was then applied to determine the spatial origin of spontaneous calcium waves for the first time and to measure the cell transverse tubule structure at their point of origin. Further results are presented to demonstrate that the OPM system can also be used to study calcium spark parameters depending on their relationship to the transverse tubule structure.