Absence of association between SERPINE2 genetic polymorphisms and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Han Chinese: a case-control cohort study

Background: Recent studies have proposed that the serine protease inhibitor E2 (SERPINE2) was a novel susceptibility gene for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Caucasians. However, this issue still remained controversial. Additional evidence

Longitudinal prediction of the operational energy use of buildings

Thus far most studies of operational energy use of buildings fail to take a longitudinal view, or in other words, do not take into account how operational energy use changes during the lifetime of a building. However, such a view is important when predicting the impact of climate change, or for long term energy accounting purposes. This article presents an approach to deliver a longitudinal prediction of operational energy use. The work is based on the review of deterioration in thermal performance, building maintenance effects, and future climate change. The key issues are to estimate the service life expectancy and thermal performance degradation of building components while building maintenance and changing weather conditions are considered at the same time. Two examples are presented to demonstrate the application of the deterministic and stochastic approaches, respectively. The work concludes that longitudinal prediction of operational energy use is feasible, but the prediction will depend largely on the availability of extensive and reliable monitoring data. This premise is not met in most current buildings. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.

The sequence and de novo assembly of the giant panda genome

Using next-generation sequencing technology alone, we have successfully generated and assembled a draft sequence of the giant panda genome. The assembled contigs (2.25 gigabases (Gb)) cover approximately 94% of the whole genome, and the remaining gaps (0.05 Gb) seem to contain carnivore-specific repeats and tandem repeats. Comparisons with the dog and human showed that the panda genome has a lower divergence rate. The assessment of panda genes potentially underlying some of its unique traits indicated that its bamboo diet might be more dependent on its gut microbiome than its own genetic composition. We also identified more than 2.7 million heterozygous single nucleotide polymorphisms in the diploid genome. Our data and analyses provide a foundation for promoting mammalian genetic research, and demonstrate the feasibility for using next-generation sequencing technologies for accurate, cost-effective and rapid de novo assembly of large eukaryotic genomes.

Aquaculture marketing

Aquaculture production is meaningless unless distributed and consumed. Most of the time, the technology generated addresses production, never mind distribution and consumption. Experts say that if production is to be increased, distribution 'from the point of production to the point of consumption must complement the increase.' As fish production increases, marketing must be efficient to allow it to expand.

动物标本的收藏及其在科学研究中的意义和作用

我国幅员辽阔，气候条件复杂，自然环境多样，野生动物丰富，蕴藏着许多珍稀种和特有种，是世界上物种最丰富的国家之一，种数占世界动物种数的１０％以上；被ＩＵＣＮ列为全球生物多样性特别丰富的国家之一（名列第八）。有哺乳类５８７种，列世界首位；鸟类１２４５种，...

Treatment of Phaeodactylum tricornutum cells with papain facilitates lipid extraction

Triacylglycerols (TAGs) from microalgae have the potential to be used for biodiesel, but several technical and economic hurdles have to be overcome. A major challenge is efficient extraction of intracellular TAGs from algae. Here we investigate the use of enzymes to deconstruct algal cell walls/membranes. We describe a rapid and simple assay that can assess the efficacy of different enzyme treatments on TAG-containing algae. By this means crude papain and bromelain were found to be effective in releasing TAGs from the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum, most likely because of their cysteine protease activity. Pre-treating algal biomass with crude papain enabled complete extraction of TAGs using heptane/isopropyl alcohol. Heptane as a single solvent was also effective, although complete recovery of TAG was not obtained. Economic implications of these findings are discussed, with the aim to reduce the complexity of, and energy needed in, TAG extraction. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.

亚东鲑的年龄与生长的研究

首次报道了亚东鲑在青藏高原河流中的生长特点。对1999—2002年间在亚东河共采集的462尾亚东鲑(体长范围为93—364mm)进行了年龄与生长的研究。通过鳞片对其中302尾进行年龄鉴定并建立Von Bertalanffy生长方程:雌性(♀)Lt=709.44[1-e-0.1656(t-0.0845)](R2=0.9993,n=132)和Wt=6017.46[1-e-0.1656(t-0.0845)]2.9724(R2=0.9845,n=132);雄性(♂)Lt=797.82[1-e-0.1428(t-0

三倍体萍乡肉红鲫的精子入卵及胚胎发育观察

用扫描(SEM)和透射电子显微镜(TEM)观察了天然三倍体萍乡肉红鲫成熟卵子卵壳、受精孔、精子进入区以 及卵子质膜表面的细微结构,观察了两种不同交配组合:(A组)萍乡肉红鲫(♀)×萍乡肉红鲫(♂)与(B组)萍乡肉 红鲫♀×兴国红鲤♂的受精早期精子入卵的时序,卵子质膜表面和卵子皮层的变化。结果表明,两种不同交配组 合的精子入卵时序、皮层颗粒释放和卵子表面的变化基本类似。同时观察了这两种不同组合的胚胎发育时序,水 温在16℃以上才能正常发育,最适发育水温为20-25℃。结果表明,两种不同组合在出膜时间和胚胎发

厚颌鲂人工繁殖初报及胚胎发育观察

从长江支流泸州龙溪河收集野生厚颌鲂 ,直接或经驯养后进行人工繁殖 ,并对胚胎发育过程进行了描述 ,旨在为厚颌鲂资源的增殖与开发提供参考。 3次未催产的人工授精实验 1次成功 ,受精率 12 0 % ;16次催产试验共注射了 32尾雌鱼 ,平均催产率 6 2 5 % ;12次有效催产的平均受精率 6 2 1% ,孵化率 4 4 7%。每千克鱼注射 3mgPG +3ugLRH A2 ,可以获得较好的催产效果。胚胎发育过程可分为 18个时期 ,温度对发育进程具有显著的影响。

Neural activity associated with the passive prediction of ambiguity and risk for aversive events.

In economic decision making, outcomes are described in terms of risk (uncertain outcomes with certain probabilities) and ambiguity (uncertain outcomes with uncertain probabilities). Humans are more averse to ambiguity than to risk, with a distinct neural system suggested as mediating this effect. However, there has been no clear disambiguation of activity related to decisions themselves from perceptual processing of ambiguity. In a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment, we contrasted ambiguity, defined as a lack of information about outcome probabilities, to risk, where outcome probabilities are known, or ignorance, where outcomes are completely unknown and unknowable. We modified previously learned pavlovian CS+ stimuli such that they became an ambiguous cue and contrasted evoked brain activity both with an unmodified predictive CS+ (risky cue), and a cue that conveyed no information about outcome probabilities (ignorance cue). Compared with risk, ambiguous cues elicited activity in posterior inferior frontal gyrus and posterior parietal cortex during outcome anticipation. Furthermore, a similar set of regions was activated when ambiguous cues were compared with ignorance cues. Thus, regions previously shown to be engaged by decisions about ambiguous rewarding outcomes are also engaged by ambiguous outcome prediction in the context of aversive outcomes. Moreover, activation in these regions was seen even when no actual decision is made. Our findings suggest that these regions subserve a general function of contextual analysis when search for hidden information during outcome anticipation is both necessary and meaningful.

Fluid-structure interaction simulations of a tension-cone inflatable aerodynamic decelerator

A series of fluid-structure interaction simulations of an aerodynamic tension-cone supersonic decelerator prototype intended for large mass payload deployment in planetary explorations are discussed. The fluid-structure interaction computations combine large deformation analysis of thin shells with large-eddy simulation of compressible turbulent flows using a loosely coupled approach to enable quantification of the dynamics of the vehicle. The simulation results are compared with experiments carried out at the NASA Glenn Research Center. Reasonably good agreement between the simulations and the experiment is observed throughout a deflation cycle. The simulations help to illuminate the details of the dynamic progressive buckling of the tension-cone decelerator that ultimately results in the collapse of the structure as the inflation pressure is decreased. Furthermore, the tension-cone decelerator exhibits a transient oscillatory behavior under impulsive loading that ultimately dies out. The frequency of these oscillations was determined to be related to the acoustic time scale in the compressed subsonic region between the bow shock and the structure. As shown, when the natural frequency of the structure and the frequency of the compressed subsonic region approximately match, the decelerator exhibits relatively large nonaxisymetric oscillations. The observed response appears to be a fluid-structure interaction resonance resulting from an acoustic chamber (pistonlike) mode exciting the structure. Copyright © 2013 by Christopher Porter, R. Mark Rennie, Eric J. Jumper.

藻类蛋白生产基地的平菇高产轮作研究

<正> 迄今尚未见将藻类生产与食用菌生产结合研究的报导。1983年以来,我们在研究发展藻类生物技术,进行藻类蛋白工厂化生产试验的同时,利用生产藻类蛋白的塑料大棚冬闲时间生产食用菌,连续五年获得平菇大面积高产丰收,取得显著效益。1987年平菇培养面积1680平方米,产菇42.1吨,产值5.31万元。同时,我们还发现藻类提取物与菌块提取物在分别促进菌、藻生长中的一些生物学作用。这里,将大棚生产平菇阶段的结果报导如下。材料与方法生产基地位于湖北省黄梅县境内,地处长江中游江汉平原东部。采用菌株系由平菇(Pleur

CNTs & graphene for field emission applications

This paper details the use of carbon nanotubes and graphene for key field emission applications. Herein we describe the growth of nanotubes and their optimization for use in electron microscopes, field emission displays and x-ray sources. We also present a novel edge-emitting graphene based structure for large area electron emission displays.

基于量化权限的门限访问控制方案

研究了在引入量化权限观点后从访问控制角度实现秘密保护的问题.元权限是从哲学上"质"和"量"的角度认识传统意义上的权限所探究出的新概念,较以往访问控制中认识和使用权限而言,它全面而深入地反映了权限这一概念的本质.进一步结合门限思想和基于角色的访问控制机制所提出的基于量化权限的门限访问控制方案,从访问控制的角度研究了秘密保护问题.在秘密保护方面,基于量化权限的门限访问控制方案具有一些独特的优点,比如分发给参与者的秘密分片和要保护的秘密无知识上的联系、可以反映出参与者信任度的差异以及运算量低.