Dorsal fin in the white shark, Carcharodon carcharias: a dynamic stabilizer for fast swimming

Transverse sections of the skin in the dorsal fin of the white shark, Carcharodon carcharias, tiger shark, Galeocerdo cuvier, and spotted raggedtooth shark, Carcharias taurus, show large numbers of dermal fiber bundles, which extend from the body into the fin. The bundles are tightly grouped together in staggered formation (not arranged in a straight line or in rows). This arrangement of dermal fibers gives tensile strength without impeding fiber movement. Tangential sections indicate that the fibers in all three species are strained and lie at angles in excess of 60 degrees . Of the three species investigated the dermal fibers in C. carcharias are the most densely concentrated and extend furthest distally along the dorsal fin. The overall results indicate that the dorsal fin of C. carcharias functions as a dynamic stabilizer and that the dermal fibers are crucial to this role. The fibers work like riggings that stabilize a ship's mast. During fast swimming, when the problems of yaw and roll are greatest, hydrostatic pressure within the shark increases and the fibers around the body, including in the dorsal fin, become taut, thereby stiffening the fin. During slow swimming and feeding the hydrostatic pressure is reduced, the fibers are slackened, and the muscles are able to exert greater bending forces on the fin via the radials and ceratotrichia. In C. carcharias there is a trade-off for greater stiffness of the dorsal fin against flexibility.     

Multilevel genetic analyses of two European supercolonies of the Argentine ant, Linepithema humile

Some ants have an extraordinary unicolonial social organization, whereby individuals mix freely among physically separated nests. Recently, it was shown that the European population of Linepithema humile consisted of two enormous unicolonial supercolonies. Workers of the same supercolony are never aggressive to each other. In contrast, aggressiveness is invariably high between workers from different supercolonies. Here we investigated whether gene flow occurs between two supercolonies. We identified a contact zone in which we sampled 46 nests. For each nest, aggression tests were conducted against workers from reference nests from both supercolonies. Workers were always very aggressive towards workers of one of the supercolonies but not to workers of the other. Thus, all nests could be clearly assigned to one of the two supercolonies. For 22 of the 46 nests, we genotyped 15-16 workers at five microsatellite loci. A four-level hierarchical analysis of variance revealed very strong genetic differentiation between the two supercolonies (F(SUPERCOLONY-TOTAL) = 0.541) and low differentiation between sectors (i.e. group of nests connected together with trails) within supercolonies (F(SECTOR-SUPERCOLONY) = 0.064). The very high differentiation between the two supercolonies indicates a lack of ongoing gene flow, a conclusion further bolstered by the finding that the two supercolonies share no common alleles at two of the five microsatellite loci. A Bayesian clustering method also revealed the occurrence of two distinct clusters. These clusters exactly match the grouping obtained by aggression tests. None of the 332 genotyped individuals were admixed despite the fact that some nests of the two supercolonies were separated by less than 30 m. These results demonstrate that the two supercolonies have completely separate gene pools.     

Nonparametric estimation of ROC curves in the absence of a gold standard

In the evaluation of diagnostic accuracy of tests, a gold standard on the disease status is required. However, in many complex diseases, it is impossible or unethical to obtain such a gold standard. If an imperfect standard is used, the estimated accuracy of the tests would be biased. This type of bias is called imperfect gold standard bias. In this article we develop a nonparametric maximum likelihood method for estimating ROC curves and their areas of ordinal-scale tests in the absence of a gold standard. Our simulation study shows that the proposed estimators for the ROC curve areas have good finite-sample properties in terms of bias and mean squared error. Further simulation studies show that our nonparametric approach is comparable to the binormal parametric method, and is easier to implement. Finally, we illustrate the application of the proposed method in a real clinical study on assessing the accuracy of seven specific pathologists in detecting carcinoma in situ of the uterine cervix.     

chifish: a computer program testing for genetic heterogeneity at multiple loci using chi‐square and Fisher's exact test

chifish is a 32‐bit Windows/DOS program evaluating divergence at multiple gene loci. It tests the hypothesis of no difference at any locus both by means of Pearson's traditional chi‐square and by using Fisher's method of combining P values obtained by Fisher's exact test. Input data are read from a file formatted for genepop . Commonly used population genetics software do not perform chi‐square tests, and the simultaneous application of both techniques aids in situations where poor power of the ‘exact approach’ may prevent detection of true differentiation (e.g. few populations and few alleles per locus).     

莫诺苷对大鼠局灶性脑缺血再灌注损伤神经功能的影响

目的观察中药山茱萸的有效成分莫诺苷对大鼠局灶性脑缺血再灌注后神经功能的影响。方法Wistar雄性大鼠随机分为假手术组、模型组、莫诺苷小剂量组（30 mg/kg）、莫诺苷中剂量组（90 mg/kg）、莫诺苷大剂量组（270 mg/kg）、维生素E（VE）（35 mg/kg）,采用线栓法制作大鼠局灶性脑缺血再灌注模型,缺血30 min后再灌注3 d,应用Zea Longa法、爬网格、平行木、吊绳、Ludmila Belayev 12分评分法,观察莫诺苷对神经功能缺损的改善作用。结果与模型组比较,莫诺苷给药组（小、中、大剂量）Zea Longa法评分均差异极显著（P〈0.01）;与模型组比较,莫诺苷给药组（小、中、大剂量）吊绳法评分均差异极显著（P〈0.01）;Ludmila Belayev 12分评分法评分与模型组比较,莫诺苷大剂量组差异极显著（P〈0.001）,中剂量组差异极显著（P〈0.01）。结论莫诺苷对局灶性脑缺血再灌注模型大鼠有改善行为学评分的作用。     

The influence of phylogenetic uncertainty on the detection of positive Darwinian selection

The power of maximum likelihood tests of positive selection on protein-coding genes depends heavily on detecting and accounting for potential biases in the studied data set. Although the influence of transition:transversion and codon biases have been investigated in detail, little is known about how inaccuracy in the phylogeny used during the calculations affects the performance of these tests. In this study, 3 empirical data sets are analyzed using sets of simulated topologies corresponding to low, intermediate, and high levels of phylogenetic uncertainty. The detection of positive selection was largely unaffected by errors in the underlying phylogeny. However, the number of sites identified as being under positive selection tended to be overestimated.     

Media- and method-dependent variations in minimal inhibitory concentrations of antiplaque agents on oral bacteria

AIMS: To determine minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) and the percentage of nonsusceptible bacteria-- those still cultivable above a threshold concentration--in human supragingival dental plaque and saliva for antiplaque/antimicrobial agents including triclosan (TCS) and trichlorocarbanilide (TCC), and a new potential antimicrobial, 2-t-butyl-5-(4-t-butylphenyl)-phenol (DTBBP). METHODS AND RESULTS: Broth and agar dilution-based MIC tests were performed using 28 oral and nonoral bacterial strains representing 17 species. MICs for TCS were lowest and more than 100-fold lower than DTBBP (P < 0.0005) by both methods. MICs for TCS were lower in broth-based tests compared with TCC. The additions of defibrinated blood to agar and horse serum to broth increased MICs--in the case of TCS, 10- to 15-fold. Significantly higher proportions of nonsusceptible plaque and salivary bacteria were recovered from agar media containing DTBBP or TCC compared with TCS (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: TCS is a more effective antimicrobial agent than either TCC or DTBBP as determined by in vitro testing. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The utility of in vitro testing for antiplaque agents as a predictor of in vivo efficacy is affected by the methods used.     

An adaptive test for a subset of coefficients in a multivariate regression model

An adaptive multivariate test is proposed for a subset of regression coefficients in a linear model. This adaptive method uses the studentized deleted residuals to calculate an appropriate weight for each observation. The weights are then used to compute Wilk's lambda for the weighted model. The adaptive test is performed by permuting the independent variables corresponding to those parameters that are assumed to equal zero in the null hypothesis. The permuted variables are then weighted to obtain a permutation test statistic that is used to estimate the p-value. An example is presented of a multivariate regression that uses systolic and diastolic blood pressure as dependent variables with age and body mass index as independent variables. The simulation results show that the adaptive test maintains its size for the three multivariate error distributions that were used in the study. For normal error models the power of the adaptive test nearly equaled that of the non-adaptive test. For models that used non-normal errors the adaptive test was considerably more powerful than the traditional non-adaptive test.     

Host suitability and preference studies of Trichogramma cordubensis (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae)

Studies of host suitability and preferences of Trichogramma cordubensis Vargas and Cabello (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) were performed with eggs of six Lepidoptera (Noctuidae) species: Thysanoplusia orichalcea Fabricius, Peridroma saucia (Hübner), Xestia c-nigrum L., Phlogophora meticulosa (L.), Noctua pronuba (L.), and N. atlantica (Warren). Host suitability was studied by analysing separately the effects of the attacked host species and the influence of the rearing host species on different biological parameters of T. cordubensis. Host preference was analysed by offering eggs of two host species simultaneously to a single female wasp without previous oviposition experience (dual-choice tests). Results show that P. saucia, followed by P. meticulosa were the least suitable hosts for T. cordubensis, since on these species the preimaginal development of the parasitoids was significantly longer and, the number of parasitized eggs as well the number of offspring per female were significantly lower. Contrarily, T. cordubensis parasitized at a higher rate the eggs of the endemic non-target species, N. atlantica. Dual choice tests showed that the option of the first host to be accepted by the wasp was random; however, the mean number of parasitized eggs differed significantly when two host species were offered simultaneously to T. cordubensis, always being the host species with heavier eggs the most parasitized.     

Tools and Techniques for the Assessment of Ecotoxicological Impacts of Contaminants in the Terrestrial Environment

Until recently, only a small number of standardized (mainly acute) tests with earthworms and plants were available for terrestrial risk assessment. However, during the last years various new methods (especially with chronic endpoints such as reproduction) were developed and standardized. Moreover, beyond structural aspects (e.g., the effect on individuals), the question of influences of chemicals on ecological soil functions like litter decomposition has been raised. Later, biological test methods were used in the area of Soil Quality Assessment, where an often unknown and complex contamination of a site-specific field soil has to be evaluated. Due to the variety of soils to be tested, the existing methods had to be adapted. This article briefly summarizes basic principles of method standardization before providing an overview of existing standardized tests for the compartment soil (mainly from Europe), focusing on zoological, plant, and functional methods. After presenting the main features of already standardized tests (in particular those used in soil quality assessment so far) the development of new tests for specific purposes, ideas for a battery of tests and a new, community-based approach assessing the biological quality of field soils are discussed.