Speciation with gene flow in whiptail lizards from a Neotropical xeric biome

Two main hypotheses have been proposed to explain the diversification of the Caatinga biota. The riverine barrier hypothesis (RBH) claims that the São Francisco River (SFR) is a major biogeographic barrier to gene flow. The Pleistocene climatic fluctuation hypothesis (PCH) states that gene flow, geographic genetic structure and demographic signatures on endemic Caatinga taxa were influenced by Quaternary climate fluctuation cycles. Herein, we analyse genetic diversity and structure, phylogeographic history, and diversification of a widespread Caatinga lizard (Cnemidophorus ocellifer) based on large geographical sampling for multiple loci to test the predictions derived from the RBH and PCH. We inferred two well‐delimited lineages (Northeast and Southwest) that have diverged along the Cerrado–Caatinga border during the Mid‐Late Miocene (6–14 Ma) despite the presence of gene flow. We reject both major hypotheses proposed to explain diversification in the Caatinga. Surprisingly, our results revealed a striking complex diversification pattern where the Northeast lineage originated as a founder effect from a few individuals located along the edge of the Southwest lineage that eventually expanded throughout the Caatinga. The Southwest lineage is more diverse, older and associated with the Cerrado–Caatinga boundaries. Finally, we suggest that C. ocellifer from the Caatinga is composed of two distinct species. Our data support speciation in the presence of gene flow and highlight the role of environmental gradients in the diversification process.     

个性化后侧入路治疗胫骨平台后髁冠状面骨折

目的:探讨个性化后侧入路治疗单纯性胫骨平台后髁冠状面骨折手术方法。方法:12例单纯性胫骨平台后髁冠状面骨折的患者,采用后内侧或后外侧以及后内后外联合入路切开复位内固定治疗。结果:12例均获随访,随访时间8-24个月,平均13个月。患者膝关节功能评定按Hohl评分标准:优10例,良2例。复查X线片:骨折复位良好,关节面未见明显塌陷。结论:个性化后侧入路治疗单纯性胫骨平台后髁骨折冠状面可直视下暴露胫骨平台后髁,提供了更广阔的操作空间,有利于骨折的解剖复位内固定。     

免培养法对一热泉细菌多样性的初步研究

应用免培养法（Cultureindependent）对云南腾冲热海大滚锅高温热泉中细菌的多样性进行初步的分析。经过克隆筛选,测定了5个克隆的16S rDNA插入片段的近全序列,系统发育分析的结果表明,它们分属于Bacillus、Hydrogenobacter和Pseudomonas,有一个克隆尚难确定其分类地位,它属于Thermodesulfobacteriaceae科,介于Geothermbacterium属和Thermodesulfobacteria属之间。经PCR扩增出上述5个克隆16S rDNA插入序列中及环境样品总DNA中的16S rDNA V8高变区约600bp片段,进行变性梯度电泳（DGGE）。所得电泳图谱和5个序列的系统发育树不仅表明该高温热泉存在着丰富的细菌多样性,还显示了它们是该高温热泉中细菌的优势物种。     

Thick Binder‐Free Electrodes for Li–Ion Battery Fabricated Using Templating Approach and Spark Plasma Sintering Reveals High Areal Capacity

The templating approach is a powerful method for preparing porous electrodes with interconnected well‐controlled pore sizes and morphologies. The optimization of the pore architecture design facilitates electrolyte penetration and provides a rapid diffusion path for lithium ions, which becomes even more crucial for thick porous electrodes. Here, NaCl microsize particles are used as a templating agent for the fabrication of 1 mm thick porous LiFePO₄ and Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ composite electrodes using spark plasma sintering technique. These sintered binder‐free electrodes are self‐supported and present a large porosity (40%) with relatively uniform pores. The electrochemical performances of half and full batteries reveal a remarkable specific areal capacity (20 mA h cm^?2), which is 4 times higher than those of 100 µm thick electrodes present in conventional tape‐casted Li–ion batteries (5 mA h cm^?2). The 3D morphological study is carried out using full field transmission X‐ray microscopy in microcomputed tomography mode to obtain tortuosity values and pore size distributions leading to a strong correlation with their electrochemical properties. These results also demonstrate that the coupling between the salt templating method and the spark plasma sintering technique turns out to be a promising way to fabricate thick electrodes with high energy density.     

Genetic monitoring reveals temporal stability over 30 years in a small, lake-resident brown trout population

Knowledge of the degree of temporal stability of population genetic structure and composition is important for understanding microevolutionary processes and addressing issues of human impact of natural populations. We know little about how representative single samples in time are to reflect population genetic constitution, and we explore the temporal genetic variability patterns over a 30-year period of annual sampling of a lake-resident brown trout (Salmo trutta) population, covering 37 consecutive cohorts and five generations. Levels of variation remain largely stable over this period, with no indication of substructuring within the lake. We detect genetic drift, however, and the genetically effective population size (N(e)) was assessed from allele-frequency shifts between consecutive cohorts using an unbiased estimator that accounts for the effect of overlapping generation. The overall mean N(e) is estimated as 74. We find indications that N(e) varies over time, but there is no obvious temporal trend. We also estimated N(e) using a one-sample approach based on linkage disequilibrium (LD) that does not account for the effect of overlapping generations. Combining one-sample estimates for all years gives an N(e) estimate of 76. This similarity between estimates may be coincidental or reflecting a general robustness of the LD approach to violations of the discrete generations assumption. In contrast to the observed genetic stability, body size and catch per effort have increased over the study period. Estimates of annual effective number of breeders (N(b)) correlated with catch per effort, suggesting that genetic monitoring can be used for detecting fluctuations in abundance.     

黑河流域生态经济带分异协调规律与耦合发展模式

在西北干旱地区建设黑河流域生态经济带,是从根本上高效配置流域水资源,彻底化解流域上,下游利益冲突,实现利益共享,保护流域生态环境,推进流域可持续发展,全面实施国务院黑河流域分水方案的重要途径,通过对黑河流域生态经济带上－中－下游投入产出效益的比较分析和流域上、中、下游生态－生产、生活系统发展分异及互动协调关系的分析,提出了黑河流域生态经济带上－中－下游多维互动的协调耦合发展模式,进而提出了黑河流域生态经济带建设与发展的主要途径,包括推进黑河流域经济发展一体化和集成管理公司化,大力推行全流域水资源的差异化有偿使用制度,实施流动上、中、下游的水权转让贸易,实行规范的流域财政转移支付制度,建立流域资源与生态环境和经济的整合帐户体系,实行跨行政区域河流边界水量水质达标交接制度,等等。     

Inter-simple-sequence-repeat (ISSR) polymorphisms are useful for finding markers associated with disease resistance gene clusters

 We describe a simple and new approach, based on inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSRs), for finding markers linked to clusters of disease resistance genes. In this approach, simple sequence repeats (SSR) are used directly in PCR reactions, and markers found to be linked to disease resistance genes provide important information for the selection of other sequences which can be used with PCR to find other linked markers. Based on an ISSR marker linked to a gene of interest, many new markers can be identified in the same region. We previously demonstrated that ISSR markers are useful in gene tagging and identified a marker, UBC-855₅₀₀, linked to the gene for resistance to fusarium wilt race 4 in chickpea. This ISSR marker provided the information used in the present study for selecting other primers which amplified a region linked to the gene for resistance to fusarium wilt race 4. The primers were based on homology with the (AC)_n sequence and were used for PCR amplifications. Changes in the sequence were at the anchor region of the primers. The repeat (AC)₈T amplified a marker, UBC-825₁₂₀₀, which was located 5.0 cM from the gene for resistance to fusarium wilt race 4 and was closer than other markers. These results indicated that ISSR markers can provide important information for the design of other primers and that by making changes at the 3′ and 5′ anchors close linkage to the desired gene can be found. The approach allows rapid scanning of the targeted region and may provide important information for genome analysis of plant species. Received: 20 January 1998 / Accepted: 19 March 1998     

On Art Education and Testing in a Period of Educational Reform

This interview deals with arts education in Iran. After the Islamic Revolution of 1979, a drastic change occurred in arts education. In terms of aim, arts education in Iran assumed a teleological orientation according to which art should be a process aimed at appreciating the manifestation of God's beauty in the world. As for curricular subjects, some branches of art such as dance are prohibited or used in modified and restricted forms. Arts education has a marginalized position in Iran for two reasons: one, which is more or less global, is that science and mathematics are widely granted a superior position in education, and the other is based on a religious understanding of some arts being inherently associated with sinful activities prohibited in Islam. However, a development in this religious understanding has led to a critical approach according to which the alleged association with sinful activity is denied and thus the prohibited forms of art can be allowed under some conditions. This new approach may have different educational consequences in the realm of arts education.     

直接前方入路与后外侧入路全髋关节置换治疗股骨颈骨折的疗效比较及术后髋关节功能的影响因素分析

摘要 目的：比较直接前方入路与后外侧入路全髋关节置换治疗股骨颈骨折的疗效及术后髋关节功能的影响因素分析。方法：选取2019年5月至2021年12月徐州医科大学附属医院收治并行全髋关节置换治疗股骨颈骨折患者96例,按照手术方法的不同分为直接前方入路组（n=48）和后外侧入路组（n=48）。观察两组围术期指标、并发症发生情况,比较两组治疗前后Harris评分、视觉模拟评分法（VAS）。并应用单因素、多因素Logistic回归分析患者术后髋关节功能的影响因素。结果：直接前方入路组下床时间、切口长度、住院时间显著短于后外侧入路组,术中失血量、术后引流量显著低于后外侧入路组,而手术时间显著长于后外侧入路组（P<0.05）。直接前方入路组术后1、3个月Harris评分显著高于后外侧入路组,VAS评分显著低于后外侧入路组（P<0.05）。两组术后并发症发生率比较,无统计学差异（P＞0.05）。两组治疗6个月后髋关节功能优良率比较,差异无统计学意义（P>0.05）。多因素Logistic回归分析结果显示：体质量指数≥24 kg/m²、术后锻炼时间<3 h/d、合并骨质疏松是接受全髋关节置换治疗的股骨颈骨折患者术后髋关节功能不良的危险因素（P＜0.05）。结论：直接前方入路全髋关节置换术较后外侧入路全髋关节置换术短期内优势明显,表现为对患者的创伤更小,术后疼痛程度较轻,有利于患者的髋关节功能恢复。体质量指数≥24 kg/m²、术后锻炼时间<3 h/d、合并骨质疏松是接受全髋关节置换治疗的股骨颈骨折患者术后髋关节功能不良的危险因素。     

A proposal for using the ensemble approach to understand genetic regulatory networks

Understanding the genetic regulatory network comprising genes, RNA, proteins and the network connections and dynamical control rules among them, is a major task of contemporary systems biology. I focus here on the use of the ensemble approach to find one or more well-defined ensembles of model networks whose statistical features match those of real cells and organisms. Such ensembles should help explain and predict features of real cells and organisms. More precisely, an ensemble of model networks is defined by constraints on the "wiring diagram" of regulatory interactions, and the "rules" governing the dynamical behavior of regulated components of the network. The ensemble consists of all networks consistent with those constraints. Here I discuss ensembles of random Boolean networks, scale free Boolean networks, "medusa" Boolean networks, continuous variable networks, and others. For each ensemble, M statistical features, such as the size distribution of avalanches in gene activity changes unleashed by transiently altering the activity of a single gene, the distribution in distances between gene activities on different cell types, and others, are measured. This creates an M-dimensional space, where each ensemble corresponds to a cluster of points or distributions. Using current and future experimental techniques, such as gene arrays, these M properties are to be measured for real cells and organisms, again yielding a cluster of points or distributions in the M-dimensional space. The procedure then finds ensembles close to those of real cells and organisms, and hill climbs to attempt to match the observed M features. Thus obtains one or more ensembles that should predict and explain many features of the regulatory networks in cells and organisms.