Consumption of fa cai Nostoc soup: A Potential for BMAA exposure from Nostoc cyanobacteria in China?

Grown in arid regions of western China the cyanobacterium Nostoc flagelliforme - called fa cai in Mandarin and fat choy in Cantonese - is wild-harvested and used to make soup consumed during New Year's celebrations. High prices, up to $125 USD/kg, led to overharvesting in Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, and Xinjiang. Degradation of arid ecosystems, desertification, and conflicts between Nostoc harvesters and Mongol herdsman concerned the Chinese environmental authorities, leading to a government ban of Nostoc commerce. This ban stimulated increased marketing of a substitute made from starch. We analysed samples purchased throughout China as well as in Chinese markets in the United States and the United Kingdom. Some were counterfeits consisting of dyed starch noodles. A few samples from California contained Nostoc flagelliforme but were adulterated with starch noodles. Other samples, including those from the United Kingdom, consisted of pure Nostoc flagelliforme. A recent survey of markets in Cheng Du showed no real Nostoc flagelliforme to be marketed. Real and artificial fa cai differ in the presence of beta-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA). Given its status as a high-priced luxury food, the government ban on collection and marketing, and the replacement of real fa cai with starch substitutes consumed only on special occasions, it is anticipated that dietary exposure to BMAA from fa cai will be reduced in the future in China.

Micro Insert: A Prototype Full-Ring PET Device for Improving the Image Resolution of a Small-Animal PET Scanner

A full-ring PET insert device should be able to enhance the image resolution of existing small-animal PET scanners. Methods: The device consists of 18 high-resolution PET detectors in a cylindric enclosure. Each detector contains a cerium-doped lutetium oxyorthosilicate array (12 x 12 crystals, 0.72 x 1.51 x 3.75 mm each) coupled to a position-sensitive photomultiplier tube via an optical fiber bundle made of 8 x 16 square multiclad fibers. Signals from the insert detectors are connected to the scanner through the electronics of the disabled first ring of detectors, which permits coincidence detection between the 2 systems. Energy resolution of a detector was measured using a Ge-68 point source, and a calibrated 68Ge point source stepped across the axial field of view (FOV) provided the sensitivity profile of the system. A Na-22 point source imaged at different offsets from the center characterized the in-plane resolution of the insert system. Imaging was then performed with a Derenzo phantom filled with 19.5 MBq of F-18-fluoride and imaged for 2 h; a 24.3-g mouse injected with 129.5 MBq of F-18-fluoride and imaged in 5 bed positions at 3.5 h after injection; and a 22.8-g mouse injected with 14.3 MBq of F-18-FDG and imaged for 2 h with electrocardiogram gating. Results: The energy resolution of a typical detector module at 511 keV is 19.0% +/- 3.1 %. The peak sensitivity of the system is approximately 2.67%. The image resolution of the system ranges from 1.0- to 1.8-mm full width at half maximum near the center of the FOV, depending on the type of coincidence events used for image reconstruction. Derenzo phantom and mouse bone images showed significant improvement in transaxial image resolution using the insert device. Mouse heart images demonstrated the gated imaging capability of the device. Conclusion: We have built a prototype full-ring insert device for a small-animal PET scanner to provide higher-resolution PET images within a reduced imaging FOV. Development of additional correction techniques are needed to achieve quantitative imaging with such an insert.

A Global Crisis for Seagrass Ecosystems

Seagrasses, marine flowering plants, have a long evolutionary history but are now challenged with rapid environmental changes as a result of coastal human population pressures. Seagrasses provide key ecological services, including organic carbon production and export, nutrient cycling, sediment stabilization, enhanced biodiversity, and trophic transfers to adjacent habitats in tropical and temperate regions. They also serve as “coastal canaries,” global biological sentinels of increasing anthropogenic influences in coastal ecosystems, with large-scale losses reported worldwide. Multiple stressors, including sediment and nutrient runoff, physical disturbance, invasive species, disease, commercial fishing practices, aquaculture, overgrazing, algal blooms, and global warming, cause seagrass declines at scales of square meters to hundreds of square kilometers. Reported seagrass losses have led to increased awareness of the need for seagrass protection, monitoring, management, and restoration. However, seagrass science, which has rapidly grown, is disconnected from public awareness of seagrasses, which has lagged behind awareness of other coastal ecosystems. There is a critical need for a targeted global conservation effort that includes a reduction of watershed nutrient and sediment inputs to seagrass habitats and a targeted educational program informing regulators and the public of the value of seagrass meadows.

Complex organization of the Streptomyces avermitilis genes encoding the avermectin polyketide synthase

The avermectin (Av) polyketide synthase (PKS) and erythromycin (Er) PKS are encoded by modular repeats of DNA, but the genetic organization of the modules encoding Av PKS is more complex than Er PKS. Sequencing of several related DNA fragments from Streptomyces avermitilis that are part of the Av biosynthetic gene cluster, revealed that they encode parts of large multifunctional PKS proteins. The Av PKS proteins show strong similarity to each other, as well as similarity to Er PKS proteins [Donadio et al., Science 252 (1991) 675–679] and fatty acid synthases. Partial DNA sequencing of the 65-kb region containing all the related sequence elements in the avr genes provides evidence for twelve modular repeats encoding FAS-like domains. The genes encoding the Av PKS are organized as two sets of six modular repeats which are convergently transcribed.

Seeding nets with neutral spores of the red alga Porphyra umbilicalis (L.) Kutzing for use in integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA)

Nets in traditional Porphyra mariculture are seeded with conchospores derived from the conchocelis phase, and spend a nursery period in culture tanks or calm coastal waters until they reach several centimeters in length. Some species of Porphyra can regenerate the foliose phase directly through asexual reproduction, which suggests that the time, infrastructure, and costs associated with conchocelis culture might be avoided by seeding nets with asexual spores. Here, we present work from a short-term mariculture study using nets seeded with asexual spores (neutral spores) of a native Maine species of Porphyra. Porphyra umbilicalis (L.) Kutzing was selected for this proof of concept research because of its reproductive biology, abundance across seasons in Maine, and evidence of its promise as a mariculture crop. We studied the maturation, release, and germination of the neutral spores to develop an appropriate seeding protocol for nets, followed by development of a nursery raceway to provide an easily manipulated environment for the seeded nets. Neutral spores were produced throughout the year on the central Maine coast,however, there was a temporal variability in the number and survival of released neutral spores, depending upon thallus position in the intertidal zone. Small thalli were strictly vegetative, but most thalli reproduced by neutral spores- sexual reproduction was absent. Neutral spores germinated quickly at 10 and 15 'C, but germination was delayed at 5 degrees C. Unlike some algal zygotes and spores, neutral spores of R umbilicalis required light to germinate; however, irradiances of 25 and 100 mu mol photons M-2 S-1 were equally sufficient for germination. Rafts of seeded nets were deployed in Cobscook Bay, Maine, at two distances from salmon aquaculture pens and at a control site on a nearby, fallow aquaculture site (no salmon). There was no difference in nitrogen content of harvested thalli; however, both the density and the surface area of harvested thalli were different among the sites. The possible causes of these differences are discussed in the context of potential use of P umbilicalis in IMTA. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

角点检测及图像匹配算法研究

本文主要研究角点检测算法和图像的匹配算法。角点是目标轮廓上具有高曲率的点，它可以较好的描述目标的特征。角点检测技术在计算机视觉和图像理解等领域应用很广，例如运动跟踪、目标识别、立体视觉等。角点检测技术被广泛应用的原因在于：角点包含丰富的图像信息，能够对视觉处理提供足够的约束，极大地提高运算速度，在图像之间进行可靠的匹配。 本文首先介绍了一些经典的基于几何特征的角点检测算法。随后本文详细描述了SUSAN算法，并针对其不足提出了一种改进算法。算法的仿真实验结果验证：该改进算法在性能上较原算法有很大提高。计算机视觉和图像处理中另一个重要的研究内容是图像的匹配，它的应用领域也很广泛。为了利用前文的角点提取结果，本文选取了Chang的点模式识别方法来完成图像匹配，算法的匹配仿真实验结果验证了算法的有效性。 本文在最后的章节中尝试了整套算法的硬件实现，硬件仿真的平台是基于DSP和FPGA的。结果证明，所设计的系统具有较好的跟踪能力和抗干扰能力。

基于几何特征的快速高精度角点检测算法

角点检测应用十分广泛,是许多计算机视觉任务的基础。本文提出了一种快速、高精度的角点检测算法,算法简单新颖,角点条件和角点响应函数设计独特。和以往不同的是:算法在设计上考虑的是角点的局部几何特征,使得处理的数据量大为减少,同时能够很好地保证检测精度等其他性能指标。通过和广泛使用的SUSAN算法、Harris算法在正确率、漏检、精度、抗噪声、计算复杂度等方面进行综合比较,结果表明该算法无论对人工合成图像还是对自然图像均具有良好的性能。

快速图像特征提取算法研究与应用

快速图像特征提取算法是图像处理和计算机视觉领域的重要研究课题。在复杂背景下基于视频的自动目标识别与跟踪中，目标特征的快速准确提取是实现高概率自动目标识别的关键技术，目标特征的快速提取能简化待识别目标的表示，实现快速准确地识别出感兴趣的目标。在机器人视觉中，快速图像特征提取也有广泛的应用，如视觉里程计技术、机器人自主视觉导航技术等。本文根据视频监控和机器人视觉的实际需求，对此课题开展了研究，主要的研究成果包括如下内容： 1)为消除视频图像的噪声对特征点提取的影响，提出了一种新的基于图像统计信息消除椒盐噪声算法。该算法能在去除噪声同时保持图像的细节特征(边缘和角点等)，并且具有较低的计算复杂度。 2)提出了基于4叉树和色彩迁移理论的光照常恒算法。该算法可对同一场景不同光照下的两幅图像进行光照校正。将一幅图像的亮度特征传递给另一幅图像，使目标图像具有与参照图像相似的亮度统计信息。通过亮度处理之后，两幅图像具有相似的光照背景，有助于后续的特征点检测。 3)提出了基于LBP的角点快速提取算法。该方法与目前流行Harris和SUSAN角点提取算法相比，具有复杂度低、实时性好、灰度伸缩不变性和旋转不变性等优点。 4)从透镜成像模型原理出发，推导出精确的景深计算公式，并将其和传统的景深计算公式进行了深入的比较和分析，最后从计算机视觉角度阐述了本文的景深计算公式的优点。 5)在上述算法研究和试验基础上，研发了森林烟火自动识别软件系统。在该系统中，上述提出的算法得到成功的应用。该软件系统已投入实际使用，实现了24小时全天候森林烟火自动监控和预警，同时也验证了文中所提算法的有效性。论文的最后一章进行了总结，并对今后的研究工作进行了展望。