A mechanobiological model to study upstream cell migration guided by tensotaxis

Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology - Cell migration is a process of crucial importance for the human body. It is responsible for important processes such as wound healing and tumor...     

Parasitoid behaviour: predicting field from laboratory

Abstract.  1. Most of what is known about parasitoid behaviour comes from laboratory observations: field quantitative observations on searching parasitoids are extremely difficult to do and are rare. The basic components of Aphytis melinus 's response to California red scale ( Aonidiella aurantii ) were studied in the laboratory: encounter, rejection, drumming, probing, oviposition, and host-feeding. It was then asked whether these observations provided a reliable guide to behaviour in the field in a situation that was very different from the laboratory.
2. Field observations were carried out on bark on the trunk and interior branches of trees where live scale density is extremely high in patches, dead scale make up 90% of all scale, and could be expected to interfere with Aphytis search.
3. The laboratory observations predicted well the time taken in the field for each basic event (drumming or probing) and average times spent on a scale. Also well predicted were the distributions of times spent on drumming, probing, and total time on a scale. Rejection rates were much higher in the field. Thus, the laboratory studies predicted foraging behaviour in the field with variable success; potential explanations for observed mismatch between laboratory and field and its possible larger implications are discussed.     

Immobilized cells: behaviour of carrageenan entrapped yeast during continuous ethanol fermentation

Summary Data of cell concentration, viability and microscopic observation of cell distribution inside carrageenan immobilized yeast beads are reported. Results were obtained from a continuous packed-bed reactor performing alcoholic fermentation and the main observations made on cell activity are in agreement with the fermentation profiles inside the fermenter.     

Mathematical modelization of a packed-bed reactor performance with immobilized yeast for ethanol fermentation

The performance of a continuous vertical packed-bed reactor with yeast immobilized in carrageenan gel beads is reported. The study focuses on the mathematical modelling of the steady-state fermentor behavior by means of a tanks-in-series model which includes the intrinsic kinetic model and the external mass transfer and internal diffusion-reaction conditions in the beads.     

Immediate breast reconstruction: reducing the risks

One-hundred and sixty-five consecutive immediate breast reconstructions in 157 patients were reviewed. Reconstructions were performed with tissue expanders (53 percent) or immediate gel prostheses (47 percent). Immediate reconstruction was associated with an 18 percent rate of implant loss. Certain risk factors were identified at the p less than 0.05 level using immediate gel implants: failure to achieve complete muscle coverage of the implant, smoking at the time of surgery, initial gel implants of 400 ml or more volume, and age. Expander loss was increased by detaching the pectoralis major (p less than 0.05) and probably by lack of complete muscle coverage in general. Chemotherapy, history of previous smoking, and clinical stage of the carcinoma did not seem to affect reconstructive success. Smoking and patient age should be considered during patient selection for immediate reconstruction. Muscle coverage of the prosthesis should always be attempted. Muscle coverage is mandatory in the smoker. Gel implants of 400 ml or more volume are to be avoided at the initial operation. This approach should enable all surgeons to achieve lower rates of implant loss.     

田螺科五种螺的核型研究

以早期胚胎细胞为材料,用火焰干燥法制片,对分布于我国湖北省武汉市近郊的常见田螺科(Viviparidae)五种螺的核型进行了分析。结果:两种圆田螺的染色体数和国外报道的同一属的种类的一致。而三种环棱螺的染色体数,则较国外报道的另两种的少得多。在铜锈环棱螺的核型中,其m组的第一对和sm组的第四对染色体上,具有明显的随体,出现频率甚高。     

中国鲤科鱼类染色体组型的研究 Ⅱ.鲴亚科四种鱼的染色体组型

鲴亚科(Xenocyprininae)鱼类多为中小型鱼类,常见于江河湖泊等较宽阔的水域中,我国长江、黑龙江、黄河及珠江诸流域皆有分布,共有10种,隶属4个属(伍献文等,1964)。迄今尚未见有该亚科鱼类染色体组型的研究报道。本文是对其中三属四种鱼的染色体组型的观察结果。这四种鱼是银鲴(Xenocypris argentea)、黄尾鲴(Xenocypris davidi)、细鳞斜颌鲴(Plagiognathops microlepis)和逆鱼(Acanthobrama simoni)。其中黄尾鲴和细鳞斜颌鲴均为新的淡水养殖鱼(沈德长等,1981;陈楚星,1979)。     

植物冷锻炼对于胁强敏感度的影响(英文)

前文由柑桔枝条在不同低温下、不同冷冻时间的电解质外渗测定,提出胁强(stress)、作用时间与胁变(strain)之间关系的数学模型。在这个模型中共有3个参数:屈服点温度(yield point temperature),胁强敏感度(stress sensitivity)和作用时间敏感度(sensitivity to duration),用以描述植物的抗性。抗性强的植物应表现为屈服点温度较低,胁强敏感度或者时间敏感度较低。为验证此数学模型,本工作以经冷锻炼与未经冷锻炼的盆栽柑桔枝条为材料,作不同温度与时间处理的电解质外渗率的测定,研究了冷锻炼对于上述3个参数的影响。发现胁强敏感度和屈服点温度受冷锻炼影响而下降,时间敏感度未表现明显变化。对于田间柑桔、油桐与毛竹的定期测定,在固定冷冻时间下,得到了类似于盆栽柑桔的结果。入冬时,植物抗冻性提高,3种植物都表现出下列两种变化:1.胁强敏感度的明显下降;2.屈服点温度和/或时间敏感度亦下降。开春时的变化则相反。胁强敏感度的变化与后一种变化有各自的规律,且因植物种类而不同。拐点胁强(stress at inflection point)具有与半致死温度(50％killing point temperature)不同的意义,它的变化是上述两种变化的综合结果。本试验结果表明,冷锻炼对于植物胁强敏感度有明显影响,用本数学模型的3个抗性指标描述     

Phytoplankton biomass and production in shelf waters off NW Spain: spatial and seasonal variability in relation to upwelling

Summary Chlorophyll-a and primary production on the euphotic zone of the N-NW Spanish shelf were studied at 125 stations between 1984 and 1992. Three geographic areas (Cantabrian Sea, Rías Altas and Was Baixas), three bathymetric ranges (20 to 60 m, 60 to 150 m and stations deeper than 200 m), and four oceanographic stages (spring and autumn blooms, summer upwelling, summer stratification and winter mixing) were considered. One of the major sources of variability of chlorophyll and production data was season. Bloom and summer upwelling stages have equivalent mean and maximum values. Average chlorophyll-a concentrations approximately doubled in every step of the increasing productivity sequence: winter mixing — summer stratification — high productivity (upwelling and bloom) stages. Average primary production rates increased only 60% in the described sequence. Mean (± sd) values of chlorophyll-a and primary production rates during the high productivity stages were 59.7 ± 39.5 mg Chl-a m^–2 and 86.9 ± 44.0 mg C m^–2 h^–1, respectively. Significant differences in both chlorophyll and primary production resulted between geographic areas in most stages. Only 27 stations showed the effects of the summer upwelling that affected coastal areas in the Cantabrian Sea and Rías Baixas shelf, but also shelf-break stations in the Rías Altas area. The Rías Baixas area had lower chlorophyll than both the Rías Altas and the Cantabrian Sea areas during spring and autumn blooms, but higher during summer upwelling events. On the contrary, primary production rates were higher in the Rías Baixas area during blooms in spring and autumn. Mid-shelf areas showed the highest chlorophyll concentrations during high productivity stages, probably due to the existence of frontal zones in all geographic areas considered. The estimated phytoplankton growth rates were comparable to those of other coastal upwelling systems, with average values lower than the maximum potential growth rates. Doubling rates for upwelling and stratification stages in the northern and Rías Altas shelf areas were equivalent, despite larger biomass accumulations during upwelling events. Low turnover rates of the existing biomass in the Rías Baixas shelf in upwelling stages suggests that the accumulation of phytoplankton was due mainly to the export from the highly productive rías, while the contribution of in situ production to these accumulations was relatively lower.     

Degenerative Joint Disease and enthesopathies in a Bronze Age population from Sindou cave (Senaillac-Lauzes,Lot, France)

The anthropological characteristics of the people who lived during the cultural period of the Late Bronze Age in South West France still remain practically unknown because very few sites have provided skeletal remains which permit of an exhaustive study. The cave of Sindou is, in that sense, one of the scarce exceptions. Although the sample of Sindou cannot be considered as representative of the whole regional population (N=50), we studied the presence and severity of DJD and enthesopathies of microtraumatic origin with the aim of finding some data which contribute to the knowledge of several biological aspects of this human group. From the results of the comparisons of the Sindou remains with two different medieval samples, a great similarity is deduced for these skeletal markers, but the higher frequency and severity of Achilles tendon enthesopathy in Sindou is a probable index of a higher level of physical stress at this specific localisation.