An intersexual migratory (silver) longfinned New Zealand eel and its gonadal response to treatment with salmon pituitary homogenate

An intersexual adult New Zealand longfinned eel Anguilla dieffenbachii , displaying testicular tissue within its ovaries, is described. Gonad samples were collected at 0, 21, 42 (by biopsy) and 54 days (autopsy) after the start of an experiment that aimed to induce ovarian maturation by repeated treatment with 5 mg kg⁻¹ salmon pituitary homogenate (SPH). Very small patches of testicular tissue (almost always single seminiferous tubules), not visible macroscopically, were observed on all sampling dates. Treatment with SPH resulted in advanced stages of spermatogenesis in these seminiferous tubules, synchronous with the development of oocytes, which reached the migratory nucleus stage after 53 days. This finding is discussed in relation to current knowledge on sexual development in anguillid eels.     

Modeling of dynamical systems through deep learning

This review presents a modern perspective on dynamical systems in the context of current goals and open challenges. In particular, our review focuses on the key challenges of discovering dynamics from data and finding data-driven representations that make nonlinear systems amenable to linear analysis. We explore various challenges in modern dynamical systems, along with emerging techniques in data science and machine learning to tackle them. The two chief challenges are (1) nonlinear dynamics and (2) unknown or partially known dynamics. Machine learning is providing new and powerful techniques for both challenges. Dimensionality reduction methods are used for projecting dynamical methods in reduced form, and these methods perform computational efficiency on real-world data. Data-driven models drive to discover the governing equations and give laws of physics. The identification of dynamical systems through deep learning techniques succeeds in inferring physical systems. Machine learning provides advanced new and powerful algorithms for nonlinear dynamics. Advanced deep learning methods like autoencoders, recurrent neural networks, convolutional neural networks, and reinforcement learning are used in modeling of dynamical systems.     

Early embryonic development of the vulnerable Shalyni barb,Pethia shalynius (Yazdani & Talukdar, 1975)

The present study provides the first detailed early embryonic development of the Shalyni barb, Pethia shalynius (Yazdani & Talukdar, 1975), a vulnerable cyprinid fish occurring in streams and lentic waters of Meghalaya, northeast India. Induced spawning by synthetic hormone injection in May 2019 was conducted to a pair of mature female and male P. shalynius under controlled conditions in a well-aerated aquarium. Fertilized eggs were spherical, 0.75–0.80 mm (approx.) in diameter, transparent, unpigmented and non-adhesive. A total of 22 developmental stages could be categorized under seven broad periods, viz. the zygote, cleavage, blastula, gastrula, segmentation, pharyngula and hatchling. The first cleavage occurred at 15 min post fertilization (mpf), followed by blastulation at 01:23 hr post-fertilization (hpf), gastrulation at 04:20 hpf, initial somite formation at 07:00 hpf, and pharyngula period at 19:20 hpf, respectively. Embryos hatched between 26–27 hpf and the newly-hatched larvae ranged 2.2–2.5 mm in total length. For naturally-declining populations of this vulnerable fish species, inferences drawn from the present study will help provide a baseline data for its conservation and management, and aid the research fields of developmental biology, biotechnology, molecular biology as well as taxonomy of this species.     

Reproductive biology of the white marlin (Kajikia albida) in the southwestern and equatorial Atlantic Ocean

The present work describes the reproductive biology of the white marlin (Kajikia albida) caught in the southwestern and equatorial Atlantic Ocean. The gonads of 924 fish were collected by observers on board Brazilian tuna longliners, between November 2004 and December 2006. The spawning season was assessed by the monthly frequency distribution of distinct stages of maturity and monthly mean female gonadosomatic index GSI. Sixty-one percent (n = 656) of the fish examined were female, with a Lower Jaw Fork Length (LJFL) between 83 and 236 cm (mean = 155.5 ± 16.63). The 268 males had a LJFL between 90 and 220 cm (mean = 152.3 ± 34.62). Although the northeastern region of Brazil does not appear to be a significant spawning area for the species, the results suggest a higher reproductive activity in the third quarter of the year. Using a Bayesian logistic model approach, length at 50% maturity was estimated at 145.04 cm (credibility interval of 95%, 143.94–146.09 cm), for females, and at 140.03 cm (credibility interval of 95%, 137.28–142.52 cm), for males.     

The Bio3D packages for structural bioinformatics

Bio3D is a family of R packages for the analysis of biomolecular sequence, structure, and dynamics. Major functionality includes biomolecular database searching and retrieval, sequence and structure conservation analysis, ensemble normal mode analysis, protein structure and correlation network analysis, principal component, and related multivariate analysis methods. Here, we review recent package developments, including a new underlying segregation into separate packages for distinct analysis, and introduce a new method for structure analysis named ensemble difference distance matrix analysis (eDDM). The eDDM approach calculates and compares atomic distance matrices across large sets of homologous atomic structures to help identify the residue wise determinants underlying specific functional processes. An eDDM workflow is detailed along with an example application to a large protein family. As a new member of the Bio3D family, the Bio3D‐eddm package supports both experimental and theoretical simulation‐generated structures, is integrated with other methods for dissecting sequence‐structure–function relationships, and can be used in a highly automated and reproducible manner. Bio3D is distributed as an integrated set of platform independent open source R packages available from: http://thegrantlab.org/bio3d/ .     

Spawning habits and embryonic development of the banded lampeye killifish Aplocheilichthys spilauchen (Duméril 1861) in ex situ fresh and brackish water environments

Aside from ornamental uses, there is growing interest in using killifishes for a multiplicity of purposes including baitfish and mosquito biocontrol. This experiment explored the spawning habits and embryonic development of the banded lampeye, Aplocheilichthys spilauchen in ex situ freshwater (0.04‰) and brackish water (5.01‰) to ascertain the captive breeding prospects for mosquito control in areas where they occur. Significantly higher number of eggs were laid in the brackish water than the freshwater (X² = 1613.0, P < 0.05), and black mop was the most preferred spawning substrate, followed by green, blue and white mops. Microscopic monitoring of embryos revealed that cleavage occurred within the first 30 min after fertilization, organogenesis commenced on average in the 25th hour and hatching in approximately 230 h. Although freshwater eggs were relatively bigger than brackish water eggs and certain embryonic developmental stages occurred faster in the freshwater than brackish water, these differences were overall not significant and had no effects on the development and hatching. The observed outcome that A. spilauchen can be optimally propagated with black mops in brackish water offers a significant step in its use for the mosquito biocontrol programme, as well as other potential uses not yet explored.     

关中平原麦玉轮作体系作物秸秆不同还田模式下土壤有机碳和无机碳库变化特征

为探究不同秸秆还田模式对土壤碳库的影响,以陕西关中平原连续11年麦玉秸秆还田定位试验为基础,选择5种还田模式,即秸秆均不还田(CK)、小麦高留茬-玉米秸秆粉碎还田(WH-MC)、小麦玉米秸秆均粉碎还田(WC-MC)、小麦高留茬-玉米秸秆不还田(WH-MN)和小麦秸秆粉碎还田-玉米秸秆不还田(WC-MN),测定不同模式土壤有机碳(SOC)、活性碳组分和无机碳(SIC)在0～40 cm土层的分布。结果表明: 与CK相比,WH-MC和WC-MC的SOC储量分别增加28.1%和22.2%,SIC储量分别增加20.4%和17.3%;与试验初始土壤碳储量相比,各还田模式SOC固持量变化为-0.84～6.55 t·hm^-2,SIC固持量为-0.26～8.61 t·hm^-2;土壤总固碳效率为7.5%,维持土壤初始碳储量水平的最小碳投入量为4.65 t·hm^-2·a^-1;与CK相比,WH-MC和WC-MC显著提升0～20 cm土层活性碳组分含量。主成分分析表明,不同还田模式下土壤碳库变化主要受秸秆投入量的影响。来源于灌溉水和植物残体的Ca²⁺、Mg²⁺与SOC矿化产生的CO₂可共沉淀形成CaCO₃,可能是本研究SIC增加的主要机制。从提高土壤碳固持角度来看,小麦高留茬-玉米秸秆粉碎还田模式为最佳还田模式。     

分娩方式对婴儿出生后一年内肠道菌群的影响

目的探讨不同分娩方式对婴儿出生后1年内肠道菌群定植的影响。方法选取45例新生儿为研究对象,根据分娩方式分为自然分娩组(n=27)和剖宫产组(n=18)。收集婴儿出生后0(胎粪)、3、6和12个月的粪便标本,应用高通量测序技术分析肠道菌群多样性及组成。结果与自然分娩组比较,在0个月时剖宫产组婴儿粪便标本拟杆菌门的相对丰度显著降低(Z=-2.374 1,P=0.017 6)。2组研究对象中,除自然分娩组和剖宫产组0个月时婴儿粪便标本分别以埃希菌-志贺菌属和克雷伯菌属为优势菌属外,余下均以双歧杆菌属为优势菌属。相比于自然分娩组,在0个月时剖宫产组婴儿粪便标本埃希菌-志贺菌属和肠杆菌属所占比例显著降低(Z=-2.136 4,P=0.032 7;Z=-2.940 8,P=0.003 3),克雷伯菌属和罗氏菌属所占比例显著升高(Z=-2.642 4,P=0.008 2;Z=-2.299 4,P=0.021 5);6个月时罗氏菌属所占比例显著降低(Z=-2.045 0,P=0.040 9),肠球菌属所占比例显著升高(Z=-2.109 2,P=0.034 9)。结论不同分娩方式下的婴儿肠道菌群的构成存在显著差异。     

Empirical Mode Decomposition and Wavelet Transform Based ECG Data Compression Scheme

ObjectiveIn health-care systems, compression is an essential tool to solve the storage and transmission problems. In this regard, this paper reports a new electrocardiogram (ECG) data compression scheme which employs sifting function based empirical mode decomposition (EMD) and discrete wavelet transform.MethodEMD based on sifting function is utilized to get the first intrinsic mode function (IMF). After EMD, the first IMF and four significant sifting functions are combined together. This combination is free from many irrelevant components of the signal. Discrete wavelet transform (DWT) with mother wavelet ‘bior4.4’ is applied to this combination. The transform coefficients obtained after DWT are passed through dead-zone quantization. It discards small transform coefficients lying around zero. Further, integer conversion of coefficients and run-length encoding are utilized to achieve a compressed form of ECG data.ResultsCompression performance of the proposed scheme is evaluated using 48 ECG records of the MIT-BIH arrhythmia database. In the comparison of compression results, it is observed that the proposed method exhibits better performance than many recent ECG compressors. A mean opinion score test is also conducted to evaluate the true quality of the reconstructed ECG signals.ConclusionThe proposed scheme offers better compression performance with preserving the key features of the signal very well.