Effects of the "all-fish" growth hormone transgene expression on non-specific immune functions of common carp, Cyprinus carpio L.

This study investigated non-specific immune functions of the F-2 generation of "all-fish" growth hormone transgenic carp, Cyprinus carpio L. Lysozyme activity was 145.0 (+/- 30.7) U ml(-1) in the transgenic fish serum and 105.0 (+/- 38.7) U ml(-1) in age-matched non-transgenic control fish serum, a significant difference (P < 0.01). The serum bactericidal activity in the transgenics was significantly higher than that in the controls (P < 0.05), with the percentage serum killing of 59.5% (6.83%) and 50.8% (8.67%), respectively. Values for leukocrit and phagocytic percent of macrophages in head kidney were higher in transgenics than controls (P < 0.05). However, the phagocytic indices in the transgenics and the controls were not different. In addition, the mean body weight of the transgenics was 63.4 (6.65) g, much higher than that of the controls [39.2 (+/- 3.30) g, P < 0.01]. The absolute weight of spleen of the transgenics [0.13 (+/- 0.03) g] was higher than that of the controls [0.08 (+/- 0.02) g, P < 0.01]. However, there was no difference in the relative weight of spleen between the transgenics and the controls, with the spleen mass index being 0.21% (+/- 0.02%) and 0.20% (+/- 0.03%), respectively. This study suggests that the "all-fish" growth hormone transgene expression could stimulate not only the growth but also the non-specific immune functions of carp. (c) 2006 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Effects of intraperitoneal injection of cortisol on nonspecific immune functions of Ctenopharyngodon idella

After grass carps Ctenopharyngodon idellus were injected with cortisol, with (CBC) and without (C) a cocoa butter carrier, the effects of both slowly and rapidly acting exogenous cortisol oil their non-specific immune functions were investigated. On the one hand, after injection with CBC, the cortisol concentration and lysozyme activity in fish serum were enhanced and were sustained at high levels for a long period (30 days). The killing activity in the serum declined with time, and phagocytosis of head kidney macrophages diminished significantly (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). The leukocrit values in the high dose group (31-8 mg cortisol fish(-1)) increased over time, however, with the maximum average being 5.6% at day 30. The spleen mass index in the high dose group was 0.93 x 10(-3) after 30 days, notably lower (P < 0.05) than that in the control group. In addition, a decrease in resistance to Aeronionas hydrophilo infection in cortisol-treated fish was shown, with the final cumulative mortalities being 54.5 and 66.7% in the low and high dose groups, respectively. On the other hand, there was a decrease in both serum cortisol concentration and lysozyme activity of the experimental fish within 2 weeks after injection with C, where plasma bactericidal activities in the high dose group (31-8 mg cortisol fish(-1)) were remarkably lower (P < 0.01) than those in the control group at each sampling, but were increased slightly over time. The results of which were different from those in the CBC trial. Phagocytic activity of head kidney macrophages and spleen mass index decreased significantly (P < 0.05), while there were increases in leukocrit value and cumulative mortality due to A. hydrophila. The results of which were similar to those in the CBC trial. This study indicated that the injection of cortisol depressed the non-specific immune functions of the grass carp and increased its susceptibility to disease. (c) 2005 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

Silica-based 64-channel arrayed waveguide gratings with double functions

Silica-based 64-channel arrayed waveguide gratings (AWGs) with double functions and 0.4 nm (50 GHz) channel spacing have been designed and fabricated. On the same component, Gauss and flat-top output response spectra are obtained simultaneously. The test results show that when the insertion loss ranges from 3.5 dB to 6 dB,the crosstalk is better than -34 dB, the 1 dB bandwidth is 0.12 nm, the 3 dB bandwidth is 0,218 nm, and the polarization-dependent loss (PDL) is less than 0.5 dB for Gauss response. When the insertion loss ranges,from 5.8 dB to 7.8 dB, the crosstalk is better than -30 dB, the 1 dB bandwidth is 0.24 nm, the 3 dB bandwidth is 0.33 nm, and the PDL is less than 0.2 dB for flat-top response.

practical type checking of functions defined on context-free languages

A type checking method for the functional language LFC is presented. A distinct feature of LFC is that it uses Context-Free (CF) languages as data types to represent compound data structures. This makes LFC a dynamically typed language. To improve efficiency, a practical type checking method is presented, which consists of both static and dynamic type checking. Although the inclusion relation of CF.languages is not decidable,a special subset of the relation is decidable, i.e., the sentential form relation, which can be statically checked.Moreover, most of the expressions in actual LFC programs appear to satisfy this relation according to the statistic data of experiments. So, despite that the static type checking is not complete, it undertakes most of the type checking task. Consequently the run-time efficiency is effectively improved. Another feature of the type checking is that it converts the expressions with implicit structures to structured representation. Structure reconstruction technique is presented.

pattern matching compilation of functions defined in context-free languages

LFC is a functional language based on recursive functions defined in context-free languages. In this paper, a new pattern matching algorithm for LFC is presented, which can represent a sequence of patterns as an integer by an encoding method. It is a rather simple method and produces efficient case-expressions for pattern matching definitions of LFC. The algorithm can also be used for other functional languages, but for nested patterns it may become complicated and further studies are needed.

facilitating formal specification acquisition by using recursive functions on context-free languages

Although formal specification techniques are very useful in software development, the acquisition of formal specifications is a difficult task. This paper presents the formal specification language LFC, which is designed to facilitate the acquisition and validation of formal specifications. LFC uses context-free languages for syntactic aspect and relies on a new kind of recursive functions, i.e. recursive functions on context-free languages, for semantic aspect of specifications. Construction and validation of LFC specifications are machine-aided. The basic ideas behind LFC, the main aspects of LFC, and the use of LFC and illustrative examples are described.

combining cfg and recursive functions to get a new language

We propose a new functional programming language(FPL) which differs in some aspects from most well known FPLs[l].We descrihc the prohlmm domain,the language,explain why we need it.

on a class of pseudorandom sequences from elliptic curves over finite fields

Following the idea of Xing et al., we investigate a general method for constructing families of pseudorandom sequences with low correlation and large linear complexity from elliptic curves over finite fields in this correspondence. With the help of the tool of exponential sums on elliptic curves, we study their periods, linear complexities, linear complexity profiles, distributions of r-patterns, periodic correlation, partial period distributions, and aperiodic correlation in detail. The results show that they have nice randomness.

on quadratic bent functions in polynomial forms

In this correspondence, we construct some new quadratic bent functions in polynomial forms by using the theory of quadratic forms over finite fields. The results improve some previous work. Moreover, we solve a problem left by Yu and Gong in 2006.