Comparative analyses of multi-species sequences from targeted genomic regions

The systematic comparison of genomic sequences from different organisms represents a central focus of contemporary genome analysis. Comparative analyses of vertebrate sequences can identify coding and conserved non-coding regions, including regulatory elements, and provide insight into the forces that have rendered modern-day genomes. As a complement to whole-genome sequencing efforts, we are sequencing and comparing targeted genomic regions in multiple, evolutionarily diverse vertebrates. Here we report the generation and analysis of over 12 megabases (Mb) of sequence from 12 species, all derived from the genomic region orthologous to a segment of about 1.8 Mb on human chromosome 7 containing ten genes, including the gene mutated in cystic fibrosis. These sequences show conservation reflecting both functional constraints and the neutral mutational events that shaped this genomic region. In particular, we identify substantial numbers of conserved non-coding segments beyond those previously identified experimentally, most of which are not detectable by pair-wise sequence comparisons alone. Analysis of transposable element insertions highlights the variation in genome dynamics among these species and confirms the placement of rodents as a sister group to the primates.     

Superoxide dismutase activity decreases during erythrocyte aging

Summary Superoxide dismutase activity was determined by the adrenalin method in bovine erythrocytes separated according to age. Progressive loss of the enzyme activity was found, down to ca 65% of that of the youngest cells.     

Suppression of delayed type hypersensitivity of mice by lead

Summary Application of lead suppressed the delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) of mice induced by sheep red blood cells (SRBC). Inhibition of elicitation of DTH in primary as well as in secondary response was correlated with the concentration of lead in the blood of the mice.Acknowledgments. Supported by the Georg-und-Agnes-Blumenthal-Stiftung and the Verein für Wasser-, Boden- und Lufthygiene. We thank Miss Schachtschneider for the excellent technical assistance.     

Michaelis-Menten模型近似回归方法的改进

对在生命科学中广泛应用的Michaelis-Menten模型，人们通常采用Y=1/Y代换，然后用最小二乘法求出近似回归模型，该近似回归模型对原始数据的测量误差较敏感，严重时会使模型无实用价值，通过对该现象的分析，找出了导致模型失败的原因，给出了一个解决问题的简单实用的方法。     

Late Pleistocene／Holocene wetland events recorded in southeast Tengger Desert lake sediments, NW China

The area along the eastern and southeastern margins of the Tengger Desert, NW China, which is sensitive to the summer monsoon variations, was selected for studying the environmental conditions surrounding the transition between Paleolithic foragers and Neolithic farmer/pastoral-ists. Short cores were obtained from four lake basins in the southwestern Tengger using a hand-driven piston coringdevice. Proxies from these cores were supplemented by ra-diocarbon ages obtained from lake sediment cores, shoreline features and spring mound deposits. Together these records provide evidence of millennial-scale climate change eventsfrom the Pleistocene-Holocene transition to the present.Lake/wetland events, representing periods of more intensive summer monsoon, occur in the records at-12.7-11.6,-10.1, -9.3, -8.0, -5.4, -1.5, and -0.8 ka BP. They do suggest that century- to miliennial-seale climatic cycles are characteristic of the Holocene in the southeastern Tengger Desert although the chronology must be considered extremely tentative.     

Cell lineage and cell migration in the developing cerebral cortex

Summary Modern techniques which trace lineages of individual progenitor cells have provided some clues about the processes that determine cell fate in the brain, and have also given us some information about migratory patterns of clonally related cells. In many parts of the central nervous system, progenitors are multipotent; single clones can contain multiple neuronal types or even mixtures of neurons and glia. In addition, one can observe a wide distribution in clone size, even when marking is done in a narrow time window. This suggests that progenitor cells may be fairly plastic and responsive to environmental signals. In the developing cortex, clonally related cells are initially grouped near each other, as in the retina and tectum. However, the subsequent migration of these cells from the ventricular zone to the cortex along glial fibers is accompanied by a progressive dispersion of clonally related neurons.     

Predicting stock index volatility: can market volume help?

This paper explores a number of statistical models for predicting the daily stock return volatility of an aggregate of all stocks traded on the NYSE. An application of linear and non-linear Granger causality tests highlights evidence of bidirectional causality, although the relationship is stronger from volatility to volume than the other way around. The out-of-sample forecasting performance of various linear, GARCH, EGARCH, GJR and neural network models of volatility are evaluated and compared. The models are also augmented by the addition of a measure of lagged volume to form more general ex-ante forecasting models. The results indicate that augmenting models of volatility with measures of lagged volume leads only to very modest improvements, if any, in forecasting performance. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Zum Chemismus der Kadmiumreaktion im Blutserum

Summary The authors have recently introduced a new reaction, which allows to estimate the lability of the Serum Proteins. It is measured by the turbidity caused by a solution of CdSO₄. It is shown by electrophoresis before and after the CdSO₄-reaction has taken place, that the turbidity is not originating from any single protein fraction, but from all of them, though to a different degree.