The intrinsic mechanisms underlying the maturation of programming sequential spikes at cerebellar Purkinje cells

Cerebellum is involved in the motion coordination and working memory, to which the programming of sequential spikes at Purkinje cells is essential. It is not clear about the intrinsic mechanisms underlying spike capacity and timing precision as well as their postnatal maturation. We investigated the programming and intrinsic property of sequential spikes at Purkinje neurons during postnatal development by whole-cell recording in cerebellar slices. Cerebellar Purkinje neurons demonstrate the increasing of spike capacity and timing precision, as well as the lowering of refractory periods and threshold potentials during the postnatal maturation. In addition, the correlation between spike parameters and intrinsic properties converts to be more linear. This postnatal plasticity of neuronal intrinsic properties improves the timing precision and capacity of spike programming at cerebellar Purkinje neurons.     

紫檀芪对小鼠缺血性脑损伤后脑水肿期神经细胞凋亡的影响

摘要 目的：探索紫檀芪（PTE）对小鼠缺血性脑损伤后脑水肿期神经细胞凋亡的影响。方法：将实验小鼠分为3组即假手术组（sham组）、脑缺血再灌注损伤组（IR组）和紫檀芪治疗组（PTE+IR组）,其中PTE于造模前连续5天每天腹腔给药（5 mg/kg）1次;然后于造模后3 d进行脑组织TTC染色并计算脑梗死体积比;于造模后2 h、12 h和1、2、4、6、8、10、12及14 d进行小鼠神经行为学评分;使用TUNEL试剂盒于造模后3、7和14 d检测缺血半暗带和海马的凋亡神经细胞。结果：PTE可减轻脑梗死体积、改善神经行为学评分以及抑制缺血半暗带和海马的神经细胞凋亡。结论：PTE在小鼠缺血性脑损伤后脑水肿期具有明确的神经保护作用,其机制与抑制细胞凋亡有关。     

Decision analysis approach to risk/benefit evaluation in the ethical review of controlled human infection studies

Risks and benefit evaluation for controlled human infection studies, where healthy volunteers are deliberately exposed to infectious agents to evaluate vaccine efficacy, should be explicit, systematic, thorough, and non-arbitrary. Decision analysis promotes these qualities using four steps: (1) determining explicit criteria and measures for evaluation, (2) identifying alternatives to the study, (3) defining the models used to estimate the measures for each alternative, and (4) running the models to produce the estimates and compare the alternatives. In this paper, we describe how decision analysis might be applied by funders and regulators, as well as by others contemplating the use of novel controlled human infection studies for vaccine development and evaluation.     

城市生态规划的回顾与展望

回顾了城市生态规划的发展情况,对其发展前景进行了展望。从19世纪末至今,从Howard的“田园城市”到MacHarg的土地利用生态规划方法,再到基于生态系统理论的城市生态对策规划,城市生态规划的理论和方法在实践中不断完善。全球城市化进程的加快带来了一系列的生态环境问题。城市生态规划作为实现城市可持续发展的途径之一,越来越受到人们的关注,为生态城市建设服务是城市生态规划的发展方向。     

Adaptive changes in lipid composition of rat liver plasma membrane during postnatal development following maternal ethanol ingestion

The fatty acid composition of constituent phospholipids and the cholesterol content of rat liver plasma membranes were determined subsequent to maternal alcohol ingestion during pregnancy and lactation. The alcoholic group was given a liquid Metrecal diet containing 37% ethanol-derived calories. The control group was pair-fed an isocaloric sucrose/Metrecal diet. Litters were killed for lipid analyses at days 5, 15 and 25 after birth. These studies revealed that the total phospholipid phosphorus was similar and increased significantly with age in both groups. Cholesterol also increased significantly with age in both groups but was greater in the alcoholic pups, resulting in a higher cholesterol/phospholipid molar ratio. While the phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) content increased with age in both groups, that of sphingomyelin decreased. Phosphatidylserine + phosphatidylinositol (PS + PI) was significantly higher in the control group at all ages studied. A consistent increase of C22:6 in phosphatidylcholine (PC), sphingomyelin, PS + PI and in the total phospholipid fraction from alcoholic pups was observed. Although other fatty acid changes were found in PC, PS + PI and sphingomyelin, PE was not affected. These results suggest that specific adaptive changes were induced in the liver plasma membrane lipids of the progeny from alcoholic rats.     

Market Affections: Moral Encounters with Kenyan Fairtrade Flowers

This paper explores commodity exchange as a morally inflected practice, one that mediates competing tensions of greed and generosity, the sacred and profane, and affection and estrangement through the fairtrade flower. Using the UK–Kenya fairtrade flower commodity chain to examine the cultural economy of fairtrade, I suggest that like the charity business and the international development industry, fairtrade complicates the distinction between the sacred and secular and the gift and commodity as Northern consumers and NGOs weave webs of obligation through the medium of the market. Further, I argue that while fairtrade is predicated on values of partnership and interdependence, it also operates within commodity chains that advance liberal ethics as a mode of ‘governmentality’ over African producers, translating consumers' sympathy-based humanism into new technologies of regulation and surveillance.     

Constructing China's greenways naturally

Roads are a prominent feature of many landscapes, and high road densities create correspondingly high ecological impacts by altering landscape patterns, interrupting ecological flows, increasing erosion, fragmenting habitat, and facilitating the spread of invasive species. Here, we describe the construction of “near-natural greenways” that produce environmentally and socially harmonious road systems that meet the needs of both the environment and the socioeconomic development in China and that satisfy environmental, ecological, educational, traffic safety, economic, and sustainable developmental goals. In the last decade, China has embarked upon the implementation of a network of near-natural greenways with the vision of linking economic development with nature conservation by means of improved rehabilitation of existing road systems and improved construction of new roads. Ecological science, and especially landscape ecology, will play an important role in the planning and implementation of future near-natural greenways in China and around the world.     

Silencing of the ADNP-family member, ADNP2, results in changes in cellular viability under oxidative stress

Activity-dependent neuroprotective protein (ADNP) 2 (KIAA0863; ZNF508) gene, a homeobox-profile containing gene, was identified in a screen for homologous proteins to ADNP. The human ADNP2 contains 1131 amino acid residues with a molecular weight of 122.8 KDa. In silico analysis indicated that ortholgs to ADNP2 exist in different phyla, suggesting that ADNP2 might be evolutionary conserved. Here, we began to explore the molecular and functional characterization of ADNP2. Results showed that the mouse ADNP2 mRNA is ubiquitously expressed in distinct normal tissues with increased expression in the brain, particularly in the cerebral cortex. During development, a relatively high level of ADNP2 gene expression was found in the embryonic mouse brain and was sustained throughout embryogenesis and adulthood. An increase in the mRNA was detected in differentiated P19 neuronal/glial-like cells as compared with the non-differentiated cells. To gain insight into ADNP2 function, ADNP2-deficient cell lines were established by the RNA silencing (small interfering RNA) technology. ADNP2 deficiency significantly changed the toxicity induced by hydrogen peroxide in P19 embryonic carcinoma cells, similar to what would be predicted for ADNP deficiency. These findings represent an initial characterization of ADNP2 and suggest that this gene product may have an important function in brain by playing a role in cellular survival pathways.     

Establishment of compatibility in the Ustilago maydis/maize pathosystem

The fungus Ustilago maydis is a biotrophic pathogen parasitizing on maize. The most prominent symptoms of the disease are large tumors in which fungal proliferation and spore differentiation occur. In this study, we have analyzed early and late tumor stages by confocal microscopy. We show that fungal differentiation occurs both within plant cells as well as in cavities where huge aggregates of fungal mycelium develop. U. maydis is poorly equipped with plant CWDEs and we demonstrate by array analysis that the respective genes follow distinct expression profiles at early and late stages of tumor development. For the set of three genes coding for pectinolytic enzymes, deletion mutants were generated by gene replacement. Neither single nor triple mutants were affected in pathogenic development. Based on our studies, we consider it unlikely that U. maydis feeds on carbohydrates derived from the digestion of plant cell wall material, but uses its set of plant CWDEs for softening the cell wall structure as a prerequisite for in planta growth.