Coprophagy: an unusual source of essential carotenoids

The rare Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) stands out among the Old World vultures (Family Accipitridae) because of its brightly ornamented head, which is coloured yellow by carotenoid pigments, and its practice of feeding on faeces. Here we show that Egyptian vultures obtain these pigments from the excrement of ungulates. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that faeces can be used as a source of carotenoids by a vertebrate.     

改进Zagoumenny还原法制备二苯甲醇

Zagoumenny是经典的二苯甲醇制备反应,在氢氧化钾存在下,二苯甲酮和乙醇在高压釜中完成反应.以乙二醇代替乙醇,反应能在常压下进行,最佳反应条件为n二苯甲酮∶n乙二醇∶n氢氧化钾=1∶33.3∶2.6,反应温度为178℃,反应时间为3.5h,收率为92.8%.产物结构用熔点仪、元素分析仪、气-质联用仪、红外光谱仪和核磁共振仪进行表征.     

硒水平对食管癌发病率影响的初步研究

对比研究显示食管癌高发区磁县土壤,粮食,水和正常人发硒的质量分数「分别为０．４２＊１０＾－９,０．０８＊１０＾－９,１．２４＊１０＾－９,１．１６＊１０＾－６」最高,中发区临漳县次之「分别为０．１７４＊１０＾－９,０．０４９＊１０＾－９,０．６８＊１０＾－９,０．９７＊１０＾－６」,低发区魏县最低「分别为０．１４８＊１０＾－９,０．０２６＊１０＾－９,０．２４＊１０＾－９,０．９１＊１０＾－６」,     

长白山区次生林恢复过程中天然更新的动态

以长白山区天然次生林为研究对象,采用空间代替时间的方法,分别对不同年度进行择代后形成的天然次生林进行群落学调查,分析择伐后28年恢复期间高度小于3m的幼苗幼树的天然更新过程及特点。结果表明,恢复初期更新幼苗幼树的树种出现比率较低,随着次生林恢复时间的增加,更新幼苗幼树的树种出现比率超过75％,且15年后变化相对较小;次生林内更新幼苗幼树的分布密度随着恢复时间的增加呈增加的趋势,恢复15年时分布密度达7500株／hm^2,此后分布密度的变化相对较小;在次生林内幼苗幼树主要是集中分布在距最近立木1．5～3．5m的范围内,随着次生林恢复时间的增加,幼树的分布范围相对靠近立木,幼苗的分布范围则相对远离立木。     

锰系球墨铸铁成分、组织与性能的研究

应用铸态淬火研究了碳量（２．５～４．０％）、硅量（２．５～３．５％）、锰量（０．５～５．５％） 对球墨铸铁组织与性能的影响。结果表明，锰含量增加。试样中针状组织减少，残余奥氏体　增 多、碳化物也增多．低硅时锰对碳化物数量、中硅时锰对残余奥氏体数量影响突出。针状组织数 量及针状组织含碳量对硬度影响较大。适当的碳量可使试样中石墨球、碳化物、针状组织有较佳 的配合，具有较好的综合机械性能。     

Increased affiliative response to vasopressin in mice expressing the V1a receptor from a monogamous vole.

Arginine vasopressin influences male reproductive and social behaviours in several vertebrate taxa through its actions at the V1a receptor in the brain. The neuroanatomical distribution of vasopressin V1a receptors varies greatly between species with different forms of social organization. Here we show that centrally administered arginine vasopressin increases affiliative behaviour in the highly social, monogamous prairie vole, but not in the relatively asocial, promiscuous montane vole. Molecular analyses indicate that gene duplication and/or changes in promoter structure of the prairie vole receptor gene may contribute to the species differences in vasopressin-receptor expression. We further show that mice that are transgenic for the prairie vole receptor gene have a neuroanatomical pattern of receptor binding that is similar to that of the prairie vole, and exhibit increased affiliative behaviour after injection with arginine vasopressin. These data indicate that the pattern of V1a-receptor gene expression in the brain may be functionally associated with species-typical social behaviours in male vertebrates.