Brevetoxin in two planktivorous fishes after exposure to Karenia brevis: implications for food-web transfer to bottlenose dolphins

Brevetoxin uptake was analyzed in 2 common planktivorous fish that are likely foodweb vectors for dolphin mortality events associated with brevetoxin-producing red tides. Fish were exposed to brevetoxin-producing Karenia brevis for 10 h under conditions previously reported to produce optimal uptake of toxin in blood after oral exposure. Striped mullet Mugil cephalus were exposed to a low dose of brevetoxin, and uptake and depuration by specific organs were evaluated over a 2 mo period. Atlantic menhaden Brevoortia tyrannus specimens were used to characterize a higher brevetoxin dose uptake into whole body components and evaluate depuration over 1 mo. We found a high uptake of toxin by menhaden, with a body to water ratio of 57 after a 10 h exposure and a slow elimination with a half life (t1/2) of 24 d. Elimination occurred rapidly from the intestine (t1/2 < 1 wk) and muscle (t1/2 ≈ 1 wk) compartments and redistributed to liver which continued to accumulate body stores of toxin for 4 wk. The accumulation and elimination characteristics of the vectoring capacity of these 2 fish species are interpreted in relation to data from the Florida Panhandle dolphin mortality event of 2004. We show that due to slow elimination rate of brevetoxin in planktivorous fish, brevetoxin-related dolphin mortality events may occur without evidence of a concurrent harmful algal bloom event.

显性雄性核不育小麦不育株与育性近等基因系可育株不同器官的蛋白质比较研究

近年来作物杂种优势利用的研究取得了很大的进展，杂交种的应用带来了巨大的经济效益。作物杂种的生产通常借助于雄性不育系。但是某些植物雄性不育形成的分子机理尚未搞清，不育基因的结构与功能以及不育基因在表达过程中一系列的基因与蛋白质的相互作用有待揭晓。 显性雄性核不育小麦（太谷核不育小麦）是我国特有的显性雄性核不育无花粉型材料，其不育性是由显性单基因Ms2控制的。本论文以显性雄性核不育小麦不育株和可育株近基因系为材料，应用单向电泳（SDS－PAGE）和双向电泳（IEF／SDS－PAGE）方法，分析了不育株和可育株不同器官（种子、旗叶、幼穗及花药）的蛋白质组成。通过研究发现两者之间在蛋质组成上存在一些异同点。在胚乳和旗叶中，未发现不育株和可育株两者之间的蛋白质组成存在明显的差异。在外于减数分裂时期的幼穗和花药中，不育株和可育株之间蛋白质组成上有明显差异。与可育株相比，不育株缺少分子量分别为15.8kD、17kD、17．8kD、38kD、81．2kD的5个碱性蛋白质。另外，还发现不育株增加了一个16．2kD的低分子量酸性蛋白质。在某些特定分子量的蛋白质中，虽然两者都存在该蛋白质，但是在含量上有着明显的不同，可育株含量比不育株高。这些蛋白质组成的变化成为不育株的重要特征。本文首次报告了显性雄性核不育小麦不育株与近等基因系可育株不同器官中蛋白质组成的区别。本研究结果在蛋白质水平上证实了花器官是雄性败育基因表达的主要器官，Ms的表达具有较强的时间性和空间性。 本论文还对双向电泳方法进行了一些探讨。

几种作物非叶器官结构和功能的研究

本论文以小麦、水稻等几种重要经济作物为材料，应用透射电镜、扫描电镜、激光共聚焦显微镜以及氧电极，低温荧光等生理技术手段，对作物非叶器官的结构和主要生理特性进行了较全面和系统的研究。其中，比较分析了非叶器官叶绿体超微结构的差异，测量了非叶器官的放氧和低温荧光等生理指标，尝试从结构与功能相结合的角度，探讨非叶器官在提高作物产量中所起的重要作用。 首先以不同品种的小麦为实验材料，对其主要非叶器官－茎秆，从解剖结构、木质素含量、以及抗倒伏的力学特性等方面做了详细的比较研究。结果表明：高产小麦品种茎秆的秆壁厚度、茎截面积、机械组织厚度及细胞层数、维管束与其韧皮部的截面积等，均明显优于一般小麦品种。在茎秆薄壁组织细胞、机械组织细胞（厚壁组织细胞）和维管束的木质素含量上，高产品种也显著高于对照品种。另外，通过分析证明，小麦植株抗倒伏的能力与其茎秆高度、直径和髓腔直径等均有密切关系。因此，在超高产小麦品种的选育上，重视外源基因的引进，改进茎秆的结构特性及提高其木质素含量，可能是一个重要的选育方向。 气孔是植物器官吸收CO2 和放出O2 的主要通道，对光合作用的强弱有着决定性的作用。因此，对非叶器官表面气孔的研究显得尤为重要。通过对几种作物非叶器官气孔频度、气孔大小和气孔指数的研究，结果发现，非叶器官的气孔频度均较对应功能叶低;而气孔大小和气孔指数则变化较大。另外，本文还着重讨论了非叶器官气孔频度对作物光合作用的影响，并提出了在非叶器官中可能存在与此相适应的未知的光合类型 叶绿体是作物进行光合作用的场所，通过对小麦、水稻非叶器官及功能叶叶绿体超微结构的比较研究，发现非叶器官单个光合细胞中叶绿体的数量较少，体积也较小。其中小麦芒和颖片有发育较好的叶绿体结构，其基粒数可达普通叶的水平，但比旗叶少;外稃和穗轴都有完整的基粒跺叠，只是跺叠的数量较少;而内稃基粒少，基粒内囊体跺叠不整齐。随着小麦芒的衰老过程，其中叶绿体的数量也随之减少，并且这种减少的趋势在旗叶中先发生。非叶器官中叶绿体超微结构的这种变化和差异，暗示着非叶器官可能在作物的不同发育时期，对籽粒有重要作用。 通过对非叶器官和功能叶光合特性的比较研究，发现不同种作物非叶器官具有与功能叶不同的光合特性。在436nm 激发光下，非叶器官的F686／F734 明显高于旗叶;若以放氧为标准，比较功能叶和非叶器官的光合活性，发现以叶绿素为单位，非叶器官的放氧速率与旗叶相当，或甚至高于旗叶;以单穗为单位，最高可相当于旗叶的28％。另外，比较不同发育时期芒和旗叶的放氧速率，发现芒在作物的衰老后期，仍保持较高的光合活性。

The reproductive biology of the porbeage shark (Lamna nasus) in the western North Atlantic Ocean

Reproductive organs from 393 male and 382 female porbeagles (Lamna nasus), caught in the western North Atlantic Ocean, were examined to determine size at maturity and reproductive cycle. Males ranged in size from 86 to 246 cm fork length (FL) and females ranged from 94 to 288 cm FL. Maturity in males was best described by an inflection in the relationship of clasper length to fork length when combined with clasper calcification. Males matured between 162 and 185 cm FL and 50% were mature at 174 cm FL. In females, all reproductive organ measurements related to body length showed a strong inflection around the size of maturity. Females matured between 210 and 230 cm FL and 50% were mature at 218 cm FL. After a protracted fall mating period (September–November), females give birth to an average of 4.0 young in spring (April−June). As in other lamnids, young are nourished through oophagy. Evidence from this study indicated a one-year reproductive cycle and gestation period lasting 8–9 months.

疏叶骆驼刺的生物生态学研究

盐生草甸是新疆平原草地生物生产力最高的植被类型。而豆科植物疏叶骆驼刺则是盐毕草甸植被的常见种类。此项工作对疏叶骆驼刺天然分布的范围及其生态环境条件，特别是土壤水盐状况和与该植物相联系的植物群落类型进行了调查分析。本文通过对K、Na、Ca、Mg4种金属盐性元素在土壤—疏叶骆驼刺系统中的迁移进行分析，探讨该种植物在盐化土壤环境中的生长状况与主要盐性金属元素的相互关系;通过对包括土壤植物体内元素含量、土壤水盐状况、植株生长状况等指标的综合分析，研究其生态适应关系和种群与土壤水盐状况的关系;通过对植物器官形态解剖学的研究，探讨该种植物与盐生土壤环境生态适应的生物结构基础和耐盐的生理途径;通过对土壤盐化过程影响因素和土壤盐化趋势的分析，结合疏叶骆驼刺的生态学特性，探讨该种植物在新疆盐化土壤的可能利用价值。结果如下： 1、疏叶骆驼刺为中生适弱盐化的潜水草甸植物。在有潜水发育的地带，其生存适应土壤盐化环境的范围较广。 2、在天然条件下，疏叶骆驼刺以根萌生新芽繁殖方式为主。在弱盐化和土壤水分较充足的地带，可以种子繁殖再生新株。 3、作为盐生草甸植被与荒漠植被间过渡类型中常出现的种类，疏叶骆驼刺的种群消长代表了一定的土壤盐化的演替阶段。 4、该种植物的器官组织显微结构显示出其与盐化土壤环境关系上特殊的适应机制。 5、在植物的生长发育过程中，金属盐性元素的迁移积累变化的性质表明，在一定条件下，该种植物对土壤盐性具有改善作用。 6、面对新疆盐化土地使用状况和土壤盐化退化的趋势，疏叶骆驼刺的生态利用潜势很大。

Production and conservation of nutrient-rich small fish (SIS) in ponds and wetlands for nutrition security and livelihoods in South Asia: Proceedings of a World Bank/SAFANSI funded regional workshop on small fish and nutrition, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1st - 2nd March 2014

Small indigenous fish species (SIS) are an important source of essential macro- and micronutrients that can play an important role in the elimination of malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies in the populations of many South and Southeast Asian countries. Of the 260 freshwater fish species in Bangladesh, more than 140 are classified as SIS and are an integral part of the rural Bangladeshi diet. As many SIS are eaten whole, with organs and bones, they contain high amounts of vitamins and minerals, including calcium, and iron and zinc. Some SIS, such as mola, are also rich in vitamin A. SIS are often cooked with vegetables and a little oil, so they contribute to the food diversity of the rural poor.SIS are recognized as a major animal-source food group, contributing to improved food and nutrition security and livelihoods of the people of South and Southeast Asia. The purpose of this workshop is to bring together policy makers, extension agents, researchers, non-governmental and development organizations to share knowledge about small fish, their contribution to better nutrition, production technologies, and strategies for wider dissemination of pond culture and wetland based-production and conservation technologies. The workshop is expected to generate ideas for further research and development of sustainable technologies for production, management and conservation of SIS for the benefit of the people of Bangladesh as well as the South and Southeast Asian region.

Studies on the filtration, feeding and excretion rates in Perna viridis, Marcia cor and Crassostrea gryphoides (Mollusca: Bivalvia) using P³² labelled Ankistrodesmes

The study deals with a series of experiments to investigate feeding and excretion in three species of bivalves: Perna viridis (Linné), Marcia cor (Sowerby) and Cassostrea gryphoides (Gould) from Manora Channel, Karachi. Bivalves were fed with suspensions of Ankistrodesmes labelled with P³². These animals showed a considerable variation in the average filtration rates depending upon species and the body lenght. Exceptionally high content of the P³² introduced with Akistrodesmes, got excreted as pseudofaeces and faeces within first three days following its absorption as a meal. The assimilated P³² is partly released as faecal material and its major proportion is directly transferred to the solution. As expexted the gonad and kidney are the main organs found responsible for excretion as comared to other body parts. Although, the assimilated P³² is mostly concentrated in the digestive glands, the results also show a significant presence of P³² in the gonads. Accumulation of P³² was the least in the foot.

Palatability of tissues in Holothuria leucospilota (Brandt) from central west coast of India

The palatability of various organs (body wall, cuvierian gland, viscera, longitudinal muscle bands and gonads) of sea cucumber Holothuria leucospilota (Brandt) was studied by feeding experiments, performed on a freshwater fish Sarotherodon mossambicus and a marine fish Therapon jarbua. The result shows that the food pellets of the body wall were less toxic and more palatable than the gonads, viscera and cuvierian gland (p<0.001).

Pathology of mixed infections of saprolegniasis-myxosporidiosis in Indian major carp (Catla catla Ham.)

An outbreak of saprolegniasis in Catla catla in composite carp culture ponds were recorded during winter season. The typical cotton wool growths were observed on whole body surfaces of catla along with sporadic mortality. The fungal invasion was only restricted to skin and no fungal elements were visible in any internal organs after periodic acid schiff staining. On histology, periportal accumulation of mononuclear cells in liver, presence of myxosporidean cysts in antieror kidney, eosinophilic granular cells reaction in submucosa of stomach and intestine, dilated and engorged blood vessels of brain along with sloughing of epidermis and hyperplasia at gill lamellar base were pronounced changes. The possible role of release of Saprolegnia toxin in producing internal organs pathology has been discussed.

Pitman-Yor Diffusion Trees

We introduce the Pitman Yor Diffusion Tree (PYDT) for hierarchical clustering, a generalization of the Dirichlet Diffusion Tree (Neal, 2001) which removes the restriction to binary branching structure. The generative process is described and shown to result in an exchangeable distribution over data points. We prove some theoretical properties of the model and then present two inference methods: a collapsed MCMC sampler which allows us to model uncertainty over tree structures, and a computationally efficient greedy Bayesian EM search algorithm. Both algorithms use message passing on the tree structure. The utility of the model and algorithms is demonstrated on synthetic and real world data, both continuous and binary.

大豆（Glycine max (L)Merr.）叶片和非叶器官光合特性探讨

本论文由三部分组成，一、大豆高产品种黑农40与低产品种黑农37不同发育时期叶片光合功能的比较研究。二、大豆非叶器官豆荚的光合特性。三、不同大豆品种叶片和非叶器官光合特性的比较分析。 一、 黑农40和黑农37不同发育时期叶片的光合特性。 以不同产量水平的东北大豆黑农40和对照品种黑农37为试验材料，研究了从幼苗期到衰老期五个不同发育时期叶片光合作用特性的变化。尤其是比较系统地研究了C4途径的表达，并通过相关分析，发现C4途径酶的活性与大豆的光合效率及其产量密切相关。主要研究结果如下： 1．测定不同发育时期大豆叶片净光合速率、DCIP光还原活力和1,5-二磷酸核酮糖羧化酶(RuBPcase)活力，结果表明，黑农40和黑农37叶片净光合速率均在初荚期达到最高值，而且不同发育时期的黑农40叶片光合能力均强于黑农37。 2．随着大豆叶片的发育和衰老，其叶绿素、类胡萝卜素的含量及Chla/b比值有一个逐渐升高，而后降低的过程。在同一发育时期，高产高光效品种黑农40光合色素含量均高于黑农37，有助于黑农40捕获更多的光能供光合作用所利用。 3．叶绿体吸收光谱及四阶导数光谱表明在整个生育期内以初荚期叶片对光能的吸收能力最强;而每一个发育时期黑农40叶片对光能吸收的能力均比黑农37高。荧光动力学参数表明，高产大豆黑农40叶片PSII活性(Fv/Fo)，光化学猝灭系数(qP)及PSII总的光化学量子产量也均高于对照品种黑农37的相应值：而黑农40的非光化学猝灭系数(qN)低于黑农37。说明高产大豆叶片具有与产量潜力相关的较高光能吸收和原初转化能力。通过对叶片及其叶绿体低温(77K)荧光发射光谱特性的分析表明，黑农40叶绿体对两个光系统之间激发能的调节能力优于黑农37。总之，黑农40对光能的吸收、传递和转化能力高于黑农37，从而能为碳同化提供更多能量。 4．通过研究苗期、开花期、初荚期、鼓粒期和衰老期等发育阶段的黑农40和黑农37叶片中磷酸烯醇式丙酮酸羧化酶(PEPCase)、NADP-苹果酸脱氢酶(NADP-MDH)、NADP-苹果酸酶(NADP-ME)、丙酮酸磷酸双激酶(PPDK)等C4途径的关键酶的活性变化，结合同位素14CO2喂饲试验，证明两种大豆叶片均含有C4途径四种关键酶，其原初产物含有有限的有机酸，说明有C4循环存在;而从PEPCase/RuBPcase的比值看，C4途径的酶在黑农40叶片中表达较高。通过相关分析，我们发现Pn与PSII光化学活性，RuBPCase及C4酶活性密切相关。这些结果还暗示有可能通过检测C4途径酶的表达水平及比例，筛选出具有高产潜力的大豆种质。 二、大豆非叶器官豆荚的光合特性。 通过对大豆非叶器官豆荚光合特性的研究，结果表明大豆豆荚的光合能力在鼓粒期达到最高值。通过叶绿体吸收光谱、荧光动力学和低温荧光等测定技术，我们发现鼓粒期的豆荚对光能的吸收、传递和转化有更高的能力;在鼓粒期不同品种的豆荚色素的含量也较高，从而有利于捕获更多的光能，供光合作用利用。DCIP光还原活力的测定结果表明鼓粒期豆荚也具有较高光合能力。 通过对大豆的初荚期、鼓粒期和衰老期豆荚RuBPCase和四种C4途径酶活性的研究，不仅证明非叶器官中有高活性的C4途径酶和存在有限的C4途径，而且鼓粒期豆荚有较高的碳同化效率。 三、不同大豆叶片和非叶器官光合特性的比较分析。 对三种大豆叶片、豆荚、种皮和子叶的色素含量和Chla/b进行测定，利用光谱技术、荧光技术及RuBPCase活性的测定，分析了大豆不同器官的光合特性。试验结果证明，非叶器官具有与叶器官相似的光合性能。与叶片比较，表明在非叶器官中具有非常高的C4酶活性。有利于补偿叶片开始衰老光合作用衰退的不足，因此非叶器官的这些光合特性有助于增加大豆光合产物的积累。

Theoretical performance of a coiled coil piezoelectric bimorph

The electromechanical coupling behaviour of a novel, highly coiled piezoelectric strip structure is developed in full, in order to expound its performance and efficiency. The strip is doubly coiled for compactness and, compared to a standard straight actuator of the same cross-section, it is shown that the actuator here offers better generative forces and energy conversion, and substantial actuated displacements, however, at the expense of a much lower stiffness. The device is therefore proposed for high-displacement, quasi-static applications. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A preliminary study for establishing Perna viridis (Mollusca:Bivalvia) as a biological monitor for pollution in Karachi coastal water

Adverse effects of toxic substances on the environmental quality have become a subject of concern in recent years. Toxicity of heavy metals has never been in dispute and therefore their presence in our natural environment is undesirable. This study was undertaken to establish the capability of Perna viridis as a monitor for pollution in the Manora channel. Accumulation of Zinc, Copper, Iron and Manganese by marine mussels, sampled from Manora channel, was determined. Metal load varied markedly between individuals from the same populatin. This variability was partly accounted for systematic relationship between metal load and body weight and age. The distribution of metal between the major organs was considered, but the analysis of separate organs showed no advantage for their use as a biological monitor. comparison between Iron, Manganese, Copper and Zinc concentration in ambient sea water and in the mussel showed no clear correspondence. The results suggest that the mussel is capable of acting as a biological monitor, although may not be a good short term monitor of Iron, Manganese, Zinc and Copper. It may have potential as a long term and site comparison monitor for metals, once inherent variability is taken into account