Durability study of eleven years old cement-bentonite cut-off wall material

Comprehensive understanding of the long-term performance of cement-bentonite slurry trench cut-off walls is essential as these mixes may degrade when exposed to aggressive environments or when subjected to prolonged drying. A series of wetting-drying and immersion experiments was carried out to evaluate the durability characteristics of laboratory mixed samples and block field samples from 40 days to 11 years of age. For the wetting-drying tests, the samples buried in medium graded sand were subjected to periodical flooding and drying cycles. They were then used for permeability testing and unconfined compressive strength (UCS) testing. For the immersion tests, the samples confined in perforated molds were submerged in magnesium sulfate solution for 16 weeks and their microstructures were then analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. This paper identifies the effects of contaminant exposure on durability of cement-bentonite and the effects of aging by comparing 11 years old samples to younger samples. Test results showed that young or previously contaminated cement-bentonite mixes are more susceptible to sulfate attack than old or less contaminated mixes. Copyright ASCE 2008.

Comparison of Pax1/9 locus reveals 500-Myr-old syntenic block and evolutionary conserved noncoding regions

Identification of conserved genomic regions within and between different genomes is crucial when studying genome evolution. Here, we described regions of strong synteny conservation between vertebrate deuterostomes (tetrapods and teleosts) and invertebrat

Mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequences of Old World monkeys: With special reference on evolution of Asian colobines

The classification and phylogenetic relationships of the Old World monkeys are still controversial. For Asian colobines, from three to nine genera were recognized by different primatologists. In the present study, we have sequenced a 424 bp mitochondrial tRNA(Thr) gene and cytochrome b gene fragment from Macaca mulatta, Mandrillus sphinx, Mandrillus leucophaeus, Semnopithecus entellus, Trachypithecus vetulus, T. johnii, T. phayrei, T. francoisi, Pygathrix nemaeus, Rhinopithecus roxellanae, R. bieti, R. avunculus, Nasalis larvatus, and Colobus polykomos in order to gain independent information on the classification and phylogenetic relationships of those species. Phylogenetic trees were constructed with parsimony analysis by weighting transversions 5 or 10 fold greater than transitions. Our results support the following conclusions: (1) the Old World monkeys are divided into two subfamilies; (2) that among the colobines, Colobus, the African group, diverged first, and Nasalis and Rhinopithecus form a sister clade to Pygathrix; (3) that there are two clades within leaf monkeys, i.e. 1) S. entellus, T. johnii, and T. vetulus, and 2) T, phayrei and T. francoisi; (4) that Rhinopithecus avunculus, R. roxellanae, and R. bieti are closely related to each other, and they should be placed into the same subgenus; (5) that Rhinopithecus is a distinct genus; and (6) that the ancestors of Asian colobines migrated from Africa to Asia during the late Pliocene or early Pleistocene.

Independent origin of the growth hormone gene family in New World monkeys and Old World monkeys/hominoids

The growth hormone (GH) gene family represents an erratic and complex evolutionary pattern, involving many evolutionary events, such as multiple gene duplications, positive selection, the birth-and-death process and gene conversions. In the present study, we cloned and sequenced GH-like genes from three species of New World monkeys (NWM). Phylogenetic analysis strongly suggest monophyly for NWM GH-like genes with respect to those of Old World monkeys (OWM) and hominoids, indicating that independent gene duplications have occurred in NWM GH-like genes. There are three main clusters of genes in putatively functional NWM GH-like genes, according to our gene tree. Comparison of the ratios of nonsynonymous and synonymous substitutions revealed that these three clusters of genes evolved under different kinds of selective pressures. Detailed analysis of the evolution of pseudogenes showed that the evolutionary pattern of this gene family in platyrrhines is in agreement with the so-called birth-and-death process.

Molecular evolution of growth hormone gene family in old world monkeys and hominoids

Growth hormone is a classic molecule in the study of the molecular clock hypothesis as it exhibits a relatively constant rate of evolution in most mammalian orders except primates and artiodactyls, where dramatically enhanced rate of evolution (25-50-fold) has been reported. The rapid evolution of primate growth hormone occurred after the divergence of tarsiers and simians, but before the separation of old world monkeys (OWM) from new world monkeys (NWM). Interestingly, this event of rapid sequence evolution coincided with multiple duplications of the growth hormone gene, suggesting gene duplication as a possible cause of the accelerated sequence evolution. Here we determined 21 different GH-like sequences from four species of OWM and hominoids. Combining with published sequences from OWM and hominoids, our analysis demonstrates that multiple gene duplications and several gene conversion events both occurred in the evolutionary history of this gene family in OWM/hominoids. The episode of recent duplications of CSH-like genes in gibbon is accompanied with rapid sequence evolution likely resulting from relaxation of purifying selection. GHN genes in both hominoids and OWM are under strong purifying selection. In contrast, CSH genes in both lineages are probably not. GHV genes in OWM and hominoids evolved at different evolutionary rates and underwent different selective constraints. Our results disclosed the complex history of the primate growth hormone gene family and raised intriguing questions on the consequences of these evolutionary events. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Notes on the induced maturation and spawning in four-month-old Penaeus monodon Fabricius by eyestalk ablation

The ablation technique consisted of making an incision across the eyeball to allow free flow of fluids while holding the prawn under water, squeezing the eyeball contents outwards, and pinching hard the eyestalk tissue. The cut area heals completely in about a week; no application of antibiotics is necessary. Spent spawners were tagged with thin brass rings (Rodriguez, 1976) around the unablated eyestalk for a separate experiment on rematuration. Two spawning yielding approximately 277,000 eggs were obtained three weeks after ablation, followed four days later by two more spawnings with 160,000 eggs; all four spawners weighed more than 100 g. With a hatching rate of 98% and 78% for the first and second batch, respectively, the spawnings produced viable nauplii. Water temperatures as low as 23 degree C due to a delayed cold spell in March depressed molting; weakened larvae had to be discharged at the mysis stage. Although ovarian development continued, no further spawnings were obtained due mainly to the onset of bacterial and fungal disease. Infection is initiated in injured portions of the exoskeleton, sometimes penetrating right through the muscles to the ovarian tissues. The non-flowthrough conditions and mussel meat feeding led to fouling of the culture water resulting in consecutive mortalities caused by disease. Female P.monodon held in maturation pens were ablated at the age of 15 months (Santiago, et al., 1976); they averaged only 16 g body weight after four months growth in ponds. In another experiment, pond-reared P.monodon females ranging from 50 to 80 g were ablated at approximately seven months (Aquacop, 1977). The present results show a minimum age of four months from postlarve that P.monodon is capable of ovarian development and spawning upon ablation. However, maturation is probably affected by size as well as age - the four-month old females weighed an average of 100 g in contrast to the smaller animals in the earlier experiments.

The origin of new genes: Glimpses from the young and old

Genome data have revealed great variation in the numbers of genes in different organisms, which indicates that there is a fundamental process of genome evolution: the origin of new genes. However, there has been little opportunity to explore how genes with new functions originate and evolve. The study of ancient genes has highlighted the antiquity and general importance of some mechanisms of gene origination, and recent observations of young genes at early stages in their evolution have unveiled unexpected molecular and evolutionary processes.

Detour behavior changes associated with prenatal morphine exposure in 11-day-old chicks

The central nervous system exhibits remarkable plasticity in early life. Prenatal morphine exposure may induce adverse behavioral effects on the neonate and the developing offspring. In the present study, we investigated the effect of prenatal morphine exposure (daily from embryonic days 12-16, 20 mg/kg) on 11-day-old chicks using two forms of spatial paradigms: one trial detour behavior task in which animals must bypass an obstacle to reach the desired goal without any training and detour learning task which required several trials of training to reach the detour criterion. The results showed that, on the condition that chicks could successfully detour in the first trial, morphine exposed chicks exhibited longer detour latency to finish the task, coupled by a preference for turning right versus turning left. In contrast, no significant difference in learning and memory was found in detour learning task between morphine exposed chicks and saline chicks. These findings suggest specific behavioral changes associated with prenatal exposure to opioids during mid to late gestation, also raise attention to the possible health hazard from pregnancy drug use in everyday life. (C) 2010 ISDN. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of Prenatal Exposure to a 50-Hz Magnetic Field on One-Trial Passive Avoidance Learning in 1-Day-Old Chicks

We investigated memory impairment in newly hatched chicks following in ovo exposure to a 50-Hz magnetic field (MF) of 2 mT (60 min/day) on embryonic days 12-18. Isolated and paired chicks were used to test the effect of stress during training, and memory retention was tested at 10, 30, and 120 min, following exposure to a bitter-tasting bead (100% methylanthranilate). Results showed that memory was intact at 10 min in both isolated and paired chicks with or without MF exposure. However, while isolated chicks had good memory retention levels at 30 and 120 min, those exposed to MF did not. The results suggest a potential disruption of memory formation following in ovo exposure to MF, with this effect only evident in the more stressed, isolated chicks. Bioelectromagnetics 31:150-155, 2010. (C) 2009 Wiley-Liss. Inc.