Effects of long-time series of data on genetic evaluations for performance of Swedish Warmblood riding horses

For Swedish Warmblood sport horses, breeding values (BVs) are predicted using a multiple-trait animal model with results from competitions and young horse performance tests. Data go back to the beginning of the 1970s, and earlier studies have indicated that some of the recorded traits have changed through the years. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of including all performance data or excluding the older ones compared to a bivariate model (BM) considering performance traits in early and late periods as separate traits. The bivariate approach was assumed to give the most correct BVs for the actual breeding population. Competition results in dressage and show jumping for almost 40 000 horses until 2006 were available. For riding horse quality test (RHQT), data of 14 000 horses judged between 1973 and 2007 were used. Genetic correlations of 0.69 to 1.00 were estimated between traits recorded at different time periods (RHQT data) or different birth year groups (competition data). A cross-validation study and comparison of BVs using different sets of data showed that most accurate and similar results were obtained when BVs were predicted from either the BM or the univariate model including all data from the beginning of the recording. We recommend using all data and applying the univariate model to minimise the computational efforts for genetic evaluations and for provision of reliable BVs for as many horses as possible.     

Intraspecific genome size variation and morphological differentiation of Ranunculus parnassifolius (Ranunculaceae), an Alpine–Pyrenean–Cantabrian polyploid group

The aim of this study was to assess genome size variation and multivariate morphometric analyses to ascertain cytotype distribution patterns and the morphological differentiation within the Ranunculus parnassifolius group in the Pyrenees and the Alps. Although divergences in nuclear DNA content among different species within a genus are widely acknowledged, intraspecific variation is still a somewhat controversial issue. Holoploid and monoploid genome sizes (C‐ and Cx‐values) were determined using propidium iodide flow cytometry in 125 plants of R. parnassifolius s.l. distributed across four European countries. Three different DNA ploidy levels were revealed in the study area: diploid (2n ～ 2x, 57.14%), triploid (2n ～ 3x, 1.19%), and tetraploid (2n ～ 4x, 41.67%). The mean population 2C‐values ranged from 8.15 pg in diploids to 14.80 pg in tetraploids, representing a ratio of 1 : 1.8. Marked intraspecific/interpopulation differences in nuclear DNA content were found. Diploid populations prevail in the Pyrenees, although tetraploid cytotypes were reported throughout the distribution area. In general, mixed‐cytotype populations were not found. The Spearman correlation coefficient did not reveal significant correlations between genome size and altitude, longitude, or latitude. Morphometric analyses and cluster analyses based on genome size variation revealed the presence of three major groups, which exhibited a particular biogeographical pattern. A new cytotype, DNA triploid, was found for the first time. Tetraploid populations showed constant nuclear DNA levels, whereas diploid populations from the Pyrenees, in which introgressive hybridization is suggested as a presumable trigger for genome size variation, did not. Scenarios for the evolution of geographical parthenogenesis in R. parnassifolius s.l. are discussed. Finally, the different levels of effectiveness between plant and animal reference standards are analysed. © 2010 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010, 101 , 251–271.     

1960—2008年阿克苏河流域生态系统服务价值动态

基于遥感与GIS技术,运用中国陆地生态系统服务价值当量表,结合当地粮食产量与粮食平均收购价格,分析了1960—2008年阿克苏河流域生态系统服务价值的变化,探讨了干旱区跨境河流流域生态系统服务变化对土地利用/覆被变化（LUCC）的响应.结果表明：研究期间,阿克苏河流域生态系统服务价值整体变化较小,总价值先减后增,沼泽、林地、草地面积的减少是总服务价值减少的主要原因,耕地和水域面积的增加补偿了总价值的部分损失,但损失略大于收益;各项生态功能的服务价值对总生态系统服务价值贡献大小的等级基本稳定,其中,土壤形成与保护和废物处理功能的贡献率最大;研究区生态系统服务价值大小及变化的空间差异较大,以流域下游的变化最频繁.敏感性分析表明,研究区内生态系统服务价值对服务价值指数缺乏弹性,研究结果具有稳健性.     

视频脑电图联合PEWS评分、NSE、CD4+/CD8+比值对病毒性脑炎患儿病情评估及预后预测的临床价值

摘要 目的：探讨视频脑电图（VEEG）联合儿童早期预警评分（PEWS）、神经元特异性烯醇化酶（NSE）、CD4⁺/CD8⁺比值对病毒性脑炎患儿病情评估及预后预测的价值。方法：选择2020年3月至2022年3月南京医科大学附属儿童医院收治的152例病毒性脑炎患儿，根据病情严重程度将患儿分为重症组（67例）和轻症组（85例），另选择72例无神经系统损伤住院患儿为对照组。治疗2周后，根据儿童格拉斯哥预后量表（CGOS）将其分为预后良好组（4~5级，89例）与预后不良组（1~3级，63例）。所有研究对象均接受PEWS测评和VEEG检查，检测血清NSE水平，计算CD4⁺/CD8⁺比值。采用单因素和多因素Logistic回归分析影响病毒性脑炎患儿预后的因素。采用受试者工作特征（ROC）曲线分析PEWS、VEEG 及血清NSE、CD4⁺/CD8⁺比值预测病毒性脑炎患儿预后的价值。结果：重症组PEWS、VEEG重度异常比例及血清NSE水平高于轻症组和对照组，CD4⁺/CD8⁺比值低于轻症组和对照组（P＜0.05）；轻症组PEWS、VEEG重度异常比例及血清NSE水平高于对照组，CD4⁺/CD8⁺比值低于对照组（P＜0.05）。预后不良组PEWS、VEEG重度异常比例、血清NSE水平高于预后良好组，CD4⁺/CD8⁺比值低于预后良好组（P＜0.05）。多因素Logistic回归分析结果显示，持续惊厥、高PEWS、VEEG重度异常、血清NSE水平升高是病毒性脑炎患儿预后不良的危险因素，CD4⁺/CD8⁺比值升高是保护因素（P＜0.05）。联合PEWS、VEEG 及血清NSE、CD4⁺/CD8⁺比值预测病毒性脑炎患儿预后曲线下面积为0.859，高于各指标单独预测。结论：病毒性脑炎患儿高PEWS、VEEG重度异常、血清NSE水平升高、CD4⁺/CD8⁺比值降低，与病情加重和预后不良有关，联合以上四项指标辅助预测病毒性脑炎患儿预后的价值较高。     

急性ST段抬高型心肌梗死患者血清NT-proBNP、P-selectin联合IMA预测PCI术后心电图ST段回落的临床价值研究

摘要 目的：探讨急性ST段抬高型心肌梗死（ASTEMI）患者血清N末端B型利钠肽前体（NT-proBNP）、P-选择素（P-selectin）联合缺血修饰白蛋白（IMA）预测经皮冠状动脉介入治疗（PCI）术后心电图ST段回落（STR）不良的临床价值。方法：选取2020年1月～2022年7月南京医科大学第二附属医院急诊科收治的100例ASTEMI患者，根据PCI术后心电图STR分为STR不良组和STR良好组，另选取同期50名体检健康志愿者为对照组。采用酶联免疫吸附法检测血清NT-proBNP、P-selectin和IMA水平。采用多因素Logistic回归分析ASTEMI患者PCI术后心电图STR不良的影响因素，采用受试者工作特征（ROC）曲线分析血清NT-proBNP、P-selectin、IMA水平对ASTEMI患者PCI术后心电图STR不良的预测价值。结果：与对照组比较，ASTEMI组PCI术前血清NT-proBNP、P-selectin和IMA水平升高（P＜0.05）。根据心电图STR将ASTEMI患者分为STR不良组35例和STR良好组65例。STR不良组与STR良好组PCI术后血清NT-proBNP、P-selectin和IMA水平低于PCI术前（P＜0.05）；STR不良组PCI术前和PCI术后血清NT-proBNP、P-selectin和IMA水平高于STR良好组（P＜0.05）。STR不良组Killip分级≥2级比例和肌钙蛋白I高于STR良好组，ST段偏差总和低于STR良好组（P＜0.05）。多因素Logistic回归分析显示，Killip分级≥2级和NT-proBNP、P-selectin、IMA升高为ASTEMI患者PCI术后心电图STR不良的独立危险因素（P＜0.05）。ROC曲线分析显示，血清NT-proBNP、P-selectin联合IMA预测ASTEMI患者PCI术后心电图STR不良的曲线下面积（AUC）大于NT-proBNP、P-selectin和IMA单独预测。结论：血清NT-proBNP、P-selectin和IMA水平升高与ASTEMI患者PCI术后心电图STR不良独立相关，三者联合预测ASTEMI患者PCI术后心电图STR不良的价值较高。     

The pro-life argument from substantial identity and the pro-choice argument from asymmetric value: a reply to Patrick Lee

Lee claims that foetuses and adult humans are phases of the same identical substance, and thus have the same moral status because: first, foetuses and adults are the same physical organism, and second, the development from foetus to adult is quantitative and thus not a change of substance. Versus the first argument, I contend that the fact that foetuses and adults are the same physical organism implies only that they are the same thing but not the same substance, much as living adults and their corpses are the same thing (same body) but not the same substance. Against Lee's second argument, I contend that Lee confuses the nature of a process with the nature of its result. A process of quantitative change can produce a change in substance. Lee also fails to show that foetuses are rational and thus have all the essential properties of adults, as required for them to be the same substance. Against the pro-choice argument from asymmetric value (that only the fact that a human has become conscious of its life and begun to count on its continuing can explain human life's asymmetric moral value, i.e. that it is vastly worse to kill a human than not to produce one), Lee claims that foetus's lives are asymmetrically valuable to them before consciousness. This leads to counterintuitive outcomes, and it confuses the goodness of life (a symmetric value that cannot account for why it is worse to kill a human than not produce one) with asymmetric value.     

Sexual selection effects on the evolution of senescence

Although the basic theories concerning evolution of senescence have been generally accepted for a half-century, interpretation of this paradigm has been constrained by an over-reliance on mortality as both the cause and the measure of senescence. Consideration of both survival and fecundity as components of reproductive value, and integration of sexual selection theory with senescence theory allows reconciliation of long-standing, as well as recent, discrepancies between data and theory. This approach demonstrates that sexual selection on males in polygynous mating systems can have significant effects on the evolution of senescence that could overshadow the selection effects of mortality rates among such animals.     

Preferences for masculinity in male bodies change across the menstrual cycle

In human females cyclic shifts in preference have been documented for odour and physical and behavioral male traits. Women prefer the smell of dominant males, more masculine male faces and men behaving more dominantly when at peak fertility than at other times in their menstrual cycle. Here we examine variation in preferences for body sexual dimorphism. Across two studies, both between- and within-participant, we show that women prefer greater masculinity in male bodies at times when their fertility is likely highest, in the follicular phase of their cycle. Shifts were seen when rating for a short-term but not when rating for a long-term relationship. In line with studies showing similar effects for facial sexual dimorphism, we also show that women prefer greater masculinity when they think themselves attractive than when they think themselves less attractive. These results indicate that women's preferences for sexual dimorphism in male bodies follow a similar pattern as found for sexual dimorphism and dominance in other domains and such differences in preference may serve a similar function. Cyclic preferences could influence women to select partners when most likely to become pregnant that possess traits that may be most likely to maximize their offspring's quality via attraction to masculinity or serve to help acquire investment via attraction to femininity.