二向性归一化植被指数:概念及应用

最近发布的星载法国地表反射的极化与方向性观测仪(POILDER)与美国中分辨率成像光谱仪(MODIS)的地表二向性反射(BRDF)数据产品,其输入数据的大气纠正未能满足定量遥感的需求.提出了二向性归一化植被指数(BiNDVI)的概念,以同时考虑地表反射的二向性与大气程辐射的影响,并用于定义卫星多角度遥感观测值的大气质量指数.用该指数加权迭代反演,能明显改进MODIS-BRDF的数据产品质量.     

Light in tiny holes

The presence of tiny holes in an opaque metal film, with sizes smaller than the wavelength of incident light, leads to a wide variety of unexpected optical properties such as strongly enhanced transmission of light through the holes and wavelength filtering. These intriguing effects are now known to be due to the interaction of the light with electronic resonances in the surface of the metal film, and they can be controlled by adjusting the size and geometry of the holes. This knowledge is opening up exciting new opportunities in applications ranging from subwavelength optics and optoelectronics to chemical sensing and biophysics.     

The genome sequence of the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe grisea

Magnaporthe grisea is the most destructive pathogen of rice worldwide and the principal model organism for elucidating the molecular basis of fungal disease of plants. Here, we report the draft sequence of the M. grisea genome. Analysis of the gene set provides an insight into the adaptations required by a fungus to cause disease. The genome encodes a large and diverse set of secreted proteins, including those defined by unusual carbohydrate-binding domains. This fungus also possesses an expanded family of G-protein-coupled receptors, several new virulence-associated genes and large suites of enzymes involved in secondary metabolism. Consistent with a role in fungal pathogenesis, the expression of several of these genes is upregulated during the early stages of infection-related development. The M. grisea genome has been subject to invasion and proliferation of active transposable elements, reflecting the clonal nature of this fungus imposed by widespread rice cultivation.     

Inactivation of the apoptosis effector Apaf-1 in malignant melanoma

Metastatic melanoma is a deadly cancer that fails to respond to conventional chemotherapy and is poorly understood at the molecular level. p53 mutations often occur in aggressive and chemoresistant cancers but are rarely observed in melanoma. Here we show that metastatic melanomas often lose Apaf-1, a cell-death effector that acts with cytochrome c and caspase-9 to mediate p53-dependent apoptosis. Loss of Apaf-1 expression is accompanied by allelic loss in metastatic melanomas, but can be recovered in melanoma cell lines by treatment with the methylation inhibitor 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5aza2dC). Apaf-1-negative melanomas are invariably chemoresistant and are unable to execute a typical apoptotic programme in response to p53 activation. Restoring physiological levels of Apaf-1 through gene transfer or 5aza2dC treatment markedly enhances chemosensitivity and rescues the apoptotic defects associated with Apaf-1 loss. We conclude that Apaf-1 is inactivated in metastatic melanomas, which leads to defects in the execution of apoptotic cell death. Apaf-1 loss may contribute to the low frequency of p53 mutations observed in this highly chemoresistant tumour type.     

利用人工智能神经网络和DEM数据进行植被变化探测

适时精确的探测土地利用和覆盖变化是研究其起因、过程和效应的基础.本研究利用人工智能神经网络对两景不同时期的影像(2003和2004年)进行一次性变化探测.并且输入层中增加了DEM和坡度两个额外"波段".在选取训练样区的过程中,共选取了82个亚类型,其中36个为植被变化亚类型,46个为无变化植被亚类型.NDVI差值法被用于探测变化和无变化的区域,该方法为获取精确的和足够的植被变化类型训练样区提供有效的参考.研究结果显示利用人工智能神经网络探测变化技术所产生的植被变化图,其精度明显高于分类后比较法所产生的植被变化图精度.此外将DEM和坡度作为额外波段结合两景影像得的8个主成分作为输入层,能够有效的提高人工智能神经网络进行山区植被变化探测精度.同时在选取训练样区的过程中,将各不同的变化和无变化的植被类型根据其不同的光谱特征分成不同的亚类型进行取样,对提高人工智能神经网络进行山区植被变化探测精度有着非常重要的促进作用,此处理可以降低山区影像的地形效应.     

Soil fertility limits carbon sequestration by forest ecosystems in a CO2-enriched atmosphere

Northern mid-latitude forests are a large terrestrial carbon sink. Ignoring nutrient limitations, large increases in carbon sequestration from carbon dioxide (CO2) fertilization are expected in these forests. Yet, forests are usually relegated to sites of moderate to poor fertility, where tree growth is often limited by nutrient supply, in particular nitrogen. Here we present evidence that estimates of increases in carbon sequestration of forests, which is expected to partially compensate for increasing CO2 in the atmosphere, are unduly optimistic. In two forest experiments on maturing pines exposed to elevated atmospheric CO2, the CO2-induced biomass carbon increment without added nutrients was undetectable at a nutritionally poor site, and the stimulation at a nutritionally moderate site was transient, stabilizing at a marginal gain after three years. However, a large synergistic gain from higher CO2 and nutrients was detected with nutrients added. This gain was even larger at the poor site (threefold higher than the expected additive effect) than at the moderate site (twofold higher). Thus, fertility can restrain the response of wood carbon sequestration to increased atmospheric CO2. Assessment of future carbon sequestration should consider the limitations imposed by soil fertility, as well as interactions with nitrogen deposition.     

Surface molecules regulating rolling and adhesion to endothelium of neutrophil granulocytes and MDA-MB-468 breast carcinoma cells and their interaction

The extravasation of leukocytes and tumor cells is a multi-step process with the involvement of various adhesion molecules depending on the three steps rolling, adhesion, and diapedesis. We have developed an in vitro model, by which we investigated the rolling and adhesion of neutrophil granulocytes and MDA-MB-468 human breast carcinoma cells to lung endothelial cells under physiological flow-conditions. We found that norepinephrine had an inhibitory function on the fMLP-promoted adhesion of neutrophil granulocytes due to a down-regulation of β2-integrin. Furthermore, neutrophil granulocytes serve as linking cells for the interaction of the MDA-MB-468 cells with the endothelium, which are both β2-integrin negative, but express the β2-integrin ligand ICAM-1. In addition, we show here that N-cadherin is up-regulated on the endothelial cells and on neutrophil granulocytes in response to fMLP. This up-regulation resulted in a significant increase of adherent MDA-MB-468 cells, which are also N-cadherin positive. Received 3 September 2007; received after revision 17 October 2007; accepted 22 October 2007     

The human genome and understanding of common disease: present and future technologies

The study of candidate genes over the past three decades has yielded notable successes in common-disease genetics. During this time, however, interpretation of genetic association studies has been hampered by the use of clinical cohorts of inadequate power and insufficient information on genetic variation in candidate genes. The unavailability of highthroughput and low-cost genotyping technologies has also limited the scope of complex-disease genetic studies. More recently, however, the sequencing and characterization of variation within the human genome has revolutionized genetic studies and enabled full genome-wide scans for genes associated with disease. The identification of disease-associated (causative) genes has illuminated disease mechanisms. The translation of this knowledge into direct clinical benefit in diagnosis, prognosis and therapy for an individual’s disease still remains a challenge. Received 11 September 2006; received after revision 17 December 2006; accepted 18 January 2007