Highly repetitive DNA in the Baleen whale generaBalaenoptera andMegaptera

Summary Three non-cross-hybridizing highly repetitive DNA components were studied in six whalebone and two toothed whale species. In one of the components, composition and repeat lengths have been preserved through the evolution of all cetaceans. Another component, primarily a whalebone whale characteristic, also has slow evolution. In the family Balaenopteridae the length of the repeat is about 420 bp. The component occurs in terminal chromosome positions. About half the component is composed of subrepeats having the motif TTAGGG, the same as has been described by other workers in the telomeres ofTrypanosoma brucei. Among the whalebone whales the third highly repetitive component was found only in the family Balaenopteridae. It is conceivably younger than the other two components. No common monomeric unit was identified, and the hybridization patterns were species specific, indicating that it evolves considerably faster than the other two components.     

Reproducibility of electromyographic patterns in stretch-shortening type contractions

Within a set of repeated measurements, 12 male subjects performed the following types of muscle contraction: (1) running at constant velocity (12 km.h-1); (2) one-leg hopping at the frequency preferred; (3) both-legs hopping at the frequency preferred; (4) drop jumps from a height of 0.40 m. The surface electromyographs (EMG) from the left and right legs were recorded, together with the averaged signals from vertical ground reaction forces and angular displacement of the ankle joint. Reliability coefficients for the day to day and the week to week comparison were calculated. In addition, on any one test day the positions of the electrodes were systematically changed. The analysis of various EMG parameters (integrated-EMG) revealed high coefficients for both comparisons as well as for the total set of measurements. Qualitative comparisons of the EMG showed a high reproducibility of the shape of the patterns. If the relative position of the electrodes with respect to the belly of the muscle is changed, the amplitudes of the EMG recordings are markedly reduced. It is concluded that surface EMG is a reliable method for studies of the neuromuscular system. On the basis of the data presented, it is suggested that the term "reliability" should be replaced by the term "reproducibility" in order to cover both the aspect of the relative stability plus the aspects of linear changes and the scattering of the data in repeated measurements.     

核酸序列重复片段的统计分析

对核酸序列编码区的重复片段进行了统计分析。发现不同物种的序列具有近似相等的约化重复长度和次数,研究了重复区内碱基分布的特点,并讨论了此结果可能的生物学涵义。     

Profile Analysis of Variance as a Tool for Analyzing Correlated Responses in Experimental Ecology

In ecological studies experiments are often designed in which the variables to be compared are not statistically independent. Examples include repeated measures of the same response by the same individual at different times, measurement of several traits on the same individual, and measurements taken from two or more types of organisms present together in the same experimental unit (e.g.) plot, cage, pond, etc.). This type of design violates several assumptions of the standard analysis of variance. These assumptions are examined and profile analysis, a modification of the standard analysis of variance which does not depend upon these assumptions, is presented. Simple instructions for performing profile analysis of variance using two common statistical packages for mainframe computers are provided in an appendix.     

Spatial Cluster Detection for Repeatedly Measured Outcomes while Accounting for Residential History

Spatial cluster detection has become an important methodology in quantifying the effect of hazardous exposures. Previous methods have focused on cross‐sectional outcomes that are binary or continuous. There are virtually no spatial cluster detection methods proposed for longitudinal outcomes. This paper proposes a new spatial cluster detection method for repeated outcomes using cumulative geographic residuals. A major advantage of this method is its ability to readily incorporate information on study participants relocation, which most cluster detection statistics cannot. Application of these methods will be illustrated by the Home Allergens and Asthma prospective cohort study analyzing the relationship between environmental exposures and repeated measured outcome, occurrence of wheeze in the last 6 months, while taking into account mobile locations.     

Heterogeneous Variances in Repeated Measures

A general approach to repeated measures analysis described in MCGILCHRIST and CULLIS (1991) is extended to general linear models in which there is a homogeneous correlation structure such as a stationary process but the variances are heterogeneous over time. Models for the variance heterogeneity are suggested and results are applied to data examining the effect of enzootic pneumonia on young pigs.     

Exact confidence bounds following adaptive group sequential tests

Summary .  We provide a method for obtaining confidence intervals, point estimates, and p-values for the primary effect size parameter at the end of a two-arm group sequential clinical trial in which adaptive changes have been implemented along the way. The method is based on applying the adaptive hypothesis testing procedure of Müller and Schäfer (2001, Biometrics 57, 886–891) to a sequence of dual tests derived from the stage-wise adjusted confidence interval of Tsiatis, Rosner, and Mehta (1984, Biometrics 40, 797–803). In the nonadaptive setting this confidence interval is known to provide exact coverage. In the adaptive setting exact coverage is guaranteed provided the adaptation takes place at the penultimate stage. In general, however, all that can be claimed theoretically is that the coverage is guaranteed to be conservative. Nevertheless, extensive simulation experiments, supported by an empirical characterization of the conditional error function, demonstrate convincingly that for all practical purposes the coverage is exact and the point estimate is median unbiased. No procedure has previously been available for producing confidence intervals and point estimates with these desirable properties in an adaptive group sequential setting. The methodology is illustrated by an application to a clinical trial of deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease.     

Bird Community Changes in Response to Single and Repeated Fires in a Lowland Tropical Rainforest of Eastern Borneo

Our current understanding of bird community responses to tropical forest fires is limited and strongly geographically biased towards South America. Here we used the circular plot method to carry out complete bird inventories in undisturbed, once burned (1998) and twice burned forests (1983 and 1998) in East Kalimantan (Indonesia). Additionally, environmental variables were measured within a 25 m radius of each plot. Three years after fire the number of birds and bird species were similar for undisturbed and burned forests, but species diversity and turnover were significantly lower in the burned forests. The bird species composition also differed significantly between undisturbed and burned forests, with a strong decline of closed forest preferring bird species accompanied by a strong increase in degraded forest preferring species in burned forests. These differences were strongly related to differences in environmental conditions such as shifts in vegetation cover and layering and differences in ground and understorey vegetation structure. We also found significant shifts in body mass distribution, foraging height and feeding guilds between the bird communities in unburned and burned forests. Surprisingly, repeated burning did not lead to increasing impoverishment of the avifauna, and both once and twice burned forests still contained most of the bird species that were also present in undisturbed forest, even though their densities were considerably lowered.