华北驼绒藜开花生物学特性研究

对华北驼绒藜的开花生物学特性进行了具体调查统计研究.结果显示,华北驼绒藜种群形成了一系列适应风媒传粉的花部特征:单性花,雌雄同株;雄花序细长而柔软,雄蕊4枚,无苞片;雌花小,无花冠,柱头指状,具有大量乳突细胞,便于捕捉花粉;居群内同一植株雌、雄花花期不一致性较高,花期不遇;每枝条雄花开花持续时间频率最高为7 d,而雌花开花持续时间频率最高为6 d;雌、雄花序呈单峰连续集中开花式样;雌、雄花始花时间与花期长度均呈极显著负相关(雌花r=-0.569,P＜0.01;雄花r=-0.665,P＜0.01),开花数与花期长度则为显著正相关关系(r=0.083,P＜0.01),(r=0.346,P＜0.01).研究表明,华北驼绒藜在长期的进化过程中,形成了同株雌、雄花花期不遇的生殖策略,因而减少了同株授粉的比例,提高了结实率.     

Low-Vision Rehabilitation by Means of MP-1 Biofeedback Examination in Patients with Different Macular Diseases: A Pilot Study

Macular disease is one of the main causes of visual impairment. We studied the efficacy of low-vision rehabilitation by means of MP-1 biofeedback examination in patients with different macular disease. Five patients were enrolled (3 female and 2 male, mean age 53.8 years) and a total of 9 eyes was examined: 2 eyes with vitelliform dystrophy, 1 with a post-traumatic macular scar, 2 with Stargardt disease, 2 with myopic macular degeneration, 2 with cone dystrophy. All the patients underwent the following tests: visual acuity, reading speed, fixation test, MP-1 microperimetry. Low-vision rehabilitation, which lasted 10 weeks, consisted of 10 training sessions of 10 min for each eye, performed once a week using the MP-1 biofeedback examination. Statistical analysis was performed using Student’s t-test. p values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. After training all patients displayed an improvement in visual acuity, fixation behaviour, retinal sensitivity and reading speed. Fixation behaviour within the 2° diameter circle improved and was statistically significant for reading speed (p = 0.01). Reading speed improved from a mean value of 64.3 to 92 words/min. Our results show that audio feedback can, by increasing attentional modulation, help the brain to fix the final preferred retinal locus. Audio feedback facilitates stimuli transmission between intraretinal neurons as well as between the retina and brain, which is where the highest level of stimuli processing occurs, thereby probably supporting a “remapping phenomenon”.     

Collapse of an avifauna: climate change appears to exacerbate habitat loss and degradation

Aim  We characterized changes in reporting rates and abundances of bird species over a period of severe rainfall deficiency and increasing average temperatures. We also measured flowering in eucalypts, which support large numbers of nectarivores characteristic of the region.
Location  A 30,000-km² region of northern Victoria, Australia, consisting of limited amounts of remnant native woodlands embedded in largely agricultural landscapes.
Methods  There were three sets of monitoring studies, pitched at regional (survey programmes in 1995–97, 2004–05 and 2006–08), landscape (2002–03 and 2006–07) and site (1997–2008 continuously) scales. Bird survey techniques used a standard 2-ha, 20-min count method. We used Bayesian analyses of reporting rates to document statistically changes in the avifauna through time at each spatial scale.
Results  Bird populations in the largest remnants of native vegetation (up to 40,000 ha), some of which have been declared as national parks in the past decade, experienced similar declines to those in heavily cleared landscapes. All categories of birds (guilds based on foraging substrate, diet, nest site; relative mobility; geographical distributions) were affected similarly. We detected virtually no bird breeding in the latest survey periods. Eucalypt flowering has declined significantly over the past 12 years of drought.
Main conclusions  Declines in the largest woodland remnants commensurate with those in cleared landscapes suggest that reserve systems may not be relied upon to sustain species under climate change. We attribute population declines to low breeding success due to reduced food. Resilience of bird populations in this woodland system might be increased by active management to enhance habitat quality in existing vegetation and restoration of woodland in the more fertile parts of landscapes.     

Synthetic substrates as amine donors and acceptors in microbial transglutaminase-catalysed reactions

Microbial transglutaminase (EC 2.3.2.13) (mTGase) catalyses a calcium-independent acyl-transfer reaction in which -(γ-glutamyl)lysine bonds are formed using the γ-carboxyamide groups of peptide-bound glutamine residues and the amino group of lysine side-chains. Here we present a comparative study on alternative lysine and glutamine substitutes in mTGase catalysis. A homologous series of ω-amino acids, serving as lysine substitutes, was incorporated into carbobenzoxy-l-glutaminylglycine (CBZ-Gln-Gly). The rate constants and particular conversion rates increased with increasing chain length. As for the glutamine substitutes, adipic diamide, glutaric monoamide, and glutaric diamide were converted with monodansylcadaverine (DNS-cadaverine) under mTGase catalysis. For the synthetic glutamine substitutes, the substrates of natural chain length, glutaric mono- and diamide, are better converted than the longer adipic diamide indicating that the window of opportunity seems to be smaller. Synthetic substrates, serving as amine acceptors, offer new opportunities in the field of transglutaminase-catalysed reactions.     

The nucleotide analogue 3-deazaadenosine prevents neointima-formation after balloon injury

We have recently shown that 3-deazaadenosine (c3Ado) inhibits atherogenesis in mice. We studied whether its anti-inflammatory capacity would also affect neointima-formation after balloon injury. Sprague Dawley rats underwent balloon angioplasty. C3Ado was administered orally, starting 5 days prior to the balloon injury and continued for 2 weeks. Fourteen days after balloon injury the intima/media ratio in the c3Ado-treated group was reduced by 67% (p < 0.001) and luminal stenosis by 50% (p < 0.001). Neointimal cellular density was decreased by 25% (p < 0.001) and the induction of c-Jun and ki67 was markedly lower. The reduction of the intima/media ratio was still observed 3 months after balloon injury. Furthermore, a c3Ado-dependent inhibition of PDGF-mediated ERK-activation and proliferation could be demonstrated.Short-term administration of C3Ado inhibits neointima-formation in rats for at least 3 months after injury. The present findings implicate that c3Ado may be useful as an inhibitor of restenosis-formation after balloon angioplasty in humans.     

Propofol protects against hydrogen peroxide-induced injury in cardiac H9c2 cells via Akt activation and Bcl-2 up-regulation

Propofol is a widely used intravenous anesthetic agent with antioxidant properties secondary to its phenol based chemical structure. Treatment with propofol has been found to attenuate oxidative stress and prevent ischemia/reperfusion injury in rat heart. Here, we report that propofol protects cardiac H9c2 cells from hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂)-induced injury by triggering the activation of Akt and a parallel up-regulation of Bcl-2. We show that pretreatment with propofol significantly protects against H₂O₂-induced injury. We further demonstrate that propofol activates the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. The protective effect of propofol on H₂O₂-induced injury is reversed by PI3K inhibitor wortmannin, which effectively suppresses propofol-induced activation of Akt, up-regulation of Bcl-2, and protection from apoptosis. Collectively, our results reveal a new mechanism by which propofol inhibits H₂O₂-induced injury in cardiac H9c2 cells, supporting a potential application of propofol as a preemptive cardioprotectant in clinical settings such as coronary bypass surgery.     

Localization of multiple pleiotropic genes for lipoprotein metabolism in baboons

We employed a novel approach to identify the key loci that harbor genes influencing lipoprotein metabolism in approximately 2,000 pedigreed baboons fed various diets differing in levels of fat and cholesterol. In this study, 126 overlapping traits related to both LDL and HDL metabolism were normalized and subjected to genome-wide linkage screening. As was expected, the traits were highly, but not completely, correlated. We exploited the information in these correlated traits by focusing on those genomic regions harboring quantitative trait loci (QTL) for multiple traits, reasoning that the more influential genes would impact a larger number of traits. This study identified five major QTL clusters (each with at least two significant logarithm of the odds scores >4.7), two of which had not been previously reported in baboons. One of these mapped to the baboon ortholog of human chromosome 1p32-p34 and influenced concentrations of LDL-cholesterol on Basal and high-fat, low-cholesterol diets. The other novel QTL cluster mapped to the baboon ortholog of human chromosome 12q13.13-q14.1 and influenced LDL size properties on high-fat, low-cholesterol and high-fat, high-cholesterol, but not Basal, diets. Confirming the value of this approach, three of the QTL clusters replicated published linkage findings for the same or similar traits.