The age and growth of catfish Rita rita (Ham.) from the River Yamuna in north India

The age of 224 fishes was determined by counting the translucent zone on the opercular bones and otoliths. Back calculated annual growth of the fish revealed that the absolute growth of the female was better than that of the male upto the third year. From the fourth year onwards the growth of the male exceeded the growth of the female.

内蒙古毛乌素沙地不同生境油蒿(Artemisia ordosica Krasch.)灌丛地碳动态研究

油蒿(Artemisia ordosica Krasch.)是内蒙古鄂尔多斯高原特有的半灌木，构成该地区沙地优势植被类型。主要分布在固定、半固定沙丘，同时在流动沙丘也有少量分布。它在当地经济价值、防风固沙环保方面均处于无以取代的地位。在毛乌素沙地沙漠化日益扩大的严峻态势下,研究其群落地上、地下过程对生境变化的响应不仅对维持干旱、半干旱区生态系统稳定的管理措施上有所帮助，而且也有助于了解全球变化背景下物种对环境条件的长期变化适应策略。 为此，本项研究以毛乌素沙地为研究区域，利用异速生长关系确立不同生境油蒿生物量最佳回归方程，并调查、比较了毛乌素沙地固定沙丘、半固定沙丘和流动沙丘三个生境油蒿灌丛地的生物量、土壤和植被的碳储量、生产力和细根周转、土壤微生物生物量碳、氮和土壤呼吸。具体结果如下： 1. 建立并比较了油蒿枝、株两个水平上各部分（不含细根）生物量异速生长关系式，其中枝形态指标（枝直径BD、枝长BL、叶枝长LBL）与油蒿叶、枝、果各部分生物量的异速关系最好;株水平上冠层面积CA与其叶、枝干、果、粗根各部分生物量的回归效果较好。不同生境生物量与其生长变量的异速生长关系存在差异。2004年调查的油蒿灌丛生物量从固定沙丘、半固定沙丘到流动沙丘分别是354.8，178.3和30.4 g m-2;各部分（叶、枝干、果、粗根、不同径级细根的)生物量都呈递减趋势。地下根与总生物量比值排序为固定>半固定>流动沙丘。不同生境细根生物量垂直分布存在差异，在固定沙丘根可至100 cm，半固定沙丘达90 cm，而在流动沙丘仅为60 cm，这些结果有助于使了解不同生境中的相同物种如何通过自身形态及其生物量调整来适应生境的差异。 2. 不同生境油蒿灌丛地植被碳储量和土壤碳储量在P < 0.05水平上差异显著，其中固定沙丘植被碳储量和土壤碳储量分别为224.04和7521 g C m-2，半固定沙丘是119.27和3029 g C m-2，流动沙丘是16.83和2300 g C m-2。可见沙区土壤有机碳远大于植被碳量。 3. 利用最大值减最小值方法、标准取样法和内生长土芯法研究了不同生境油蒿灌丛地的地上、粗根生产力和地下细根生产力。发现各生境生产力、细根周转都随着植被盖度增加而增加，地下根生产力与总生产力之比随着植被盖度增加而减少;不同生境油蒿灌丛地生产力在P < 0.05水平上存在显著差异，2005年总生产力范围在18.23-293.82 g m-2 yr-1之间;细根总周转率在0.16-0.54 yr-1之间。 4. 利用异速生产关系确立不同生境不同水平上油蒿叶面积的最佳回归关系式并对不同生境的比叶面积（SLA）进行了比较，其中枝水平上各生境叶面积与枝直径、枝叶长、枝长相关关系在P < 0.001水平上显著;株水平上各生境叶面积与株高、冠层面积相关关系在P < 0.001水平显著;从固定沙丘、半固定沙丘到流动沙丘SLA由大变小，这可能与生境养分差异有关。 5. 不同生境油蒿灌丛地土壤微生物碳、氮和土壤呼吸范围分别在117.99-153.99 mg kg-1、1.49-3.31mg kg-1和0.54-1.96 μmol m-2 s-1之间，它们从固定沙丘、半固定沙丘到流动沙丘依次下降。

INFLUENCE OF ATMOSPHERIC HUMIDITY ON THE ABRASIVE WEAR OF METALS.

A pin-on-disc apparatus has been used to obtain continuous simultaneous measurements of the wear and friction (sliding force) behaviour of metals on bonded silicon carbide abrasive paper under conditions of controlled humidity. Iron, mild steel, and copper exhibit qualitatively similar wear behaviour; the wear rate decreases progressively with the number of passes over the same track. In contrast, the wear rate of titanium remains constant. Variation in atmospheric humidity has little effect on the wear rates of copper or titanium, although a slight effect was found in mild steel and iron. Refs.

Y-chromosome evidence of southern origin of the East Asian - Specific haplogroup O3-M122

The prehistoric peopling of East Asia by modern humans remains controversial with respect to early population migrations. Here, we present a systematic sampling and genetic screening of an East Asian-specific Y-chromosome haplogroup (O3-M122) in 2,332 individuals from diverse East Asian populations. Our results indicate that the O3-M122 lineage is dominant in East Asian populations, with an average frequency of 44.3%. The microsatellite data show that the O3-M122 haplotypes in southern East Asia are more diverse than those in northern East Asia, suggesting a southern origin of the O3-M122 mutation. It was estimated that the early northward migration of the O3-M122 lineages in East Asia occurred similar to 25,000-30,000 years ago, consistent with the fossil records of modern humans in East Asia.

The prediction of hot streak migration in a high-pressure turbine

Accurate predictions of combustor hot streak migration enable the turbine designer to identify high-temperature regions that can limit component life. It is therefore important that these predictions are achieved within the short time scales of a design process. This article compares temperature measurements of a circular hot streak through a turning duct and a research turbine with predictions using a three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes solver. It was found that the mixing length turbulence model did not predict the hot streak dissipation accurately. However, implementation of a very simple model of the free stream turbulence (FST) significantly improved the exit temperature predictions on both the duct and research turbine. One advantage of the simple FST model described over more complex alternatives is that no additional equations are solved. This makes the method attractive for design purposes, as it is not associated with any increase in computational time.

大蹼铃蟾神经营养肽及其制备方法和其基因

本发明涉及大蹼铃蟾神经营养肽及其制备方法和其基因，属于生物医学领域。其神经营养肽为从中国两栖类动物大蹼铃蟾(Bombina maxima)皮肤分泌物中分离得到的由77个氨基酸组成的一种单链多肽，分子量8044.7，等电点8.4，多肽氨基酸全序列一级结构为：AVITGVCDRDAQCGSGTCCAASAFSRNIRFCVPLGNNGEECHPASHKVPYNGKRLSSLCPCNTGLTCSKSGEKFQCS。制备方法是收集大蹼铃蟾皮肤分泌物，离心去除沉淀、冷冻干燥后，经凝胶过滤、高压液相反相柱层析分离纯化后即得到。编码神经营养肽的基因由404个核苷酸组成，其中编码成熟神经营养肽为第102-332位核苷酸。其基因作为基因工程制备神经营养肽的应用。

大蹼铃蟾缓激肽及其制备方法和其基因

本发明涉及大蹼铃蟾缓激肽及其制备方法和其基因，属于生物医学领域。其缓激肽为从中国两栖类动物大蹼铃蟾(Bombina maxima)皮肤分泌物中分离得到的由19个氨基酸组成的一种单链多肽，分子量2180，等电点11.7，多肽氨基酸全序列一级结构为：DLPKINRKGPRPPGFSPFR。制备方法是收集大蹼铃蟾皮肤分泌物，离心去除沉淀、冷冻干燥后，经凝胶过滤、高压液相反相柱层析分离纯化后即得到。编码大蹼铃蟾缓激肽基因核苷酸序列由cDNA由829个核苷酸组成，编码成熟大蹼铃蟾缓激肽为第140-196，224-280，308-364，392-448，476-532，560-616位6个核苷酸重复单元片断，从两栖类动物皮肤中得到的缓激肽基因作为基因工程制备缓激肽的应用。

Transient growth and triggering in the horizontal Rijke tube Matthew

This theoretical paper examines a non-normal and non-linear model of a horizontal Rijke tube. Linear and non-linear optimal initial states, which maximize acoustic energy growth over a given time from a given energy, are calculated. It is found that non-linearity and non-normality both contribute to transient growth and that, for this model, linear optimal states are only a good predictor of non-linear optimal states for low initial energies. Two types of non-linear optimal initial state are found. The first has strong energy growth during the first period of the fundamental mode but loses energy thereafter. The second has weaker energy growth during the first period but retains high energy for longer. The second type causes triggering to self-sustained oscillations from lower energy than the first and has higher energy in the fundamental mode. This suggests, for instance, that low frequency noise will be more effective at causing triggering than high frequency noise.

烙铁头蛇毒L-氨基酸氧化酶的分离、纯化及其生物学活性

通过DEAF Sephadex A-50阴离子交换柱，Sephadex G75分子筛，Resourse Q阴离子交换柱三步层析从湖南产的烙铁头蛇毒中分离、纯化得到一个L-氨基酸氧化酶( T1vf LAO)，它由两个非共价的亚基组成，每个亚基的分子量为55 kD。与台湾产的烙铁头蛇毒L-氨基酸氧化酶分子量(70 kD)不同。T1v+ LAO的N末端氨基酸序列是ADNKNPLEECFRETNYEEFLEIAR，与报 道的蜂科的L-氨基酸氧化酶的相似性比眼镜蛇科的要高。T1vf LAO能抑制大肠杆菌、金黄色葡萄球菌和痢疾杆菌的生长，杀死肿瘤细胞以及诱导血小板聚集。这些活性能被过氧化氢酶所抑制，说明T1vf LAO生理学功能主要是通过酶反应产生的过氧化氢( H202)介导的。

Purification, characterization and biological activity of an L-amino acid oxidase from Trimeresurus mucrosquamatus venom

An L-amino acid oxidase (TM-LAO) from the venom of Hunan Trimeresurus mucrosquamatus was purified to homogenicity by three steps including DEAE Sephadex A-50 ion-exchange chromatography, Sephadex G-75 gel filtration and Resourse Q ion-exchange chromatography. TM-LAO is composed of two identical subunits with a molecular weight of 55 kD by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The molecular weight was different with that of LAO purified from the same species distributed in Taiwan that was 70 kD. The 24 N-terminal ammo acid sequence of TM-LAO is ADNKNPLEECFRETNYEEFLEIAR, which shares high similarity with other Viperid snake venom LAOs and has moderate similarity with Elapid snake venom LAOs. Further studies found that TM-LAO inhibited the growth of E. colt, S. aurues and B. dysenteriae. TM-LAO also showed cytotoxicity and platelet aggregation activity. All the biological activities were eliminated by catalase, a H2O2 scavenger. It shows that these biological effects are possibly due to the formation of H2O2 produced by TM-LAO.

Studies on maturation, spawning, fecundity and sex ratio in Barbus (Puntius) sarana (Hamilton-Buchanan) from Lake Kolleru, Andhra Pradesh

Barbus sarana contains only one batch of mature ova in the mature ovaries to be spawned in one spawning act. It spawns during July-September. The fecundity ranges from 11,201 to 224,248 ova. There is a positive curvilinear correlation between total length and fecundity, the latter increasing with length at a rate of less than cube of length. The stock of this species from Lake Kolleru appears to be more fecund than that inhabiting Loni reservoir. The sex ratio indicates that females outnumber males in all months and in larger length groups. Females appear to reach a larger length than males.