Loss of ACTN3 gene function alters mouse muscle metabolism and shows evidence of positive selection in humans

More than a billion humans worldwide are predicted to be completely deficient in the fast skeletal muscle fiber protein alpha-actinin-3 owing to homozygosity for a premature stop codon polymorphism, R577X, in the ACTN3 gene. The R577X polymorphism is associated with elite athlete status and human muscle performance, suggesting that alpha-actinin-3 deficiency influences the function of fast muscle fibers. Here we show that loss of alpha-actinin-3 expression in a knockout mouse model results in a shift in muscle metabolism toward the more efficient aerobic pathway and an increase in intrinsic endurance performance. In addition, we demonstrate that the genomic region surrounding the 577X null allele shows low levels of genetic variation and recombination in individuals of European and East Asian descent, consistent with strong, recent positive selection. We propose that the 577X allele has been positively selected in some human populations owing to its effect on skeletal muscle metabolism.     

Early changes of cyclic nucleotide levels in a mitogenic reaction in the rat mesentery.

By measuring simultaneously cAMP and cGMP we found a biphasic time course with regard to cGMP and the cGMP/cAMP ratio very early in a mitogenic reaction in vivo. This is a new finding.     

Information processing along the course of a visual interneuron.

Locust ocellar retinal cells are innervated by giant second order cells, 2 mm long, which show discrete zones of integration along their course, including a major zone in the axonal length of the neuron. The complex synaptic arrangements which exist between higher-order afferent and efferent cells and these second order cells along their course suggests that transmission takes place by the electrotonic spread of slow potentials. The size and accessibility of these visual interneurons offers a unique preparation for examining mechanisms of graded synaptic transmission.     

Population review of 1999: England and Wales

This article outlines the main features of the population of England and Wales in 1999. Where 1999 figures have not yet been produced, data for the latest available year are given.     

Collaborative Project Management: A Systemic Approach to Heavy Equipment Manufacturing Project Management

Quite often over the last decade, heavy equipment manufacturers are trying to improve their project management performance with the use of effective project management methods. However, the challenges encountered aren’t isolated problems and a systemic approach is required. This paper exemplifies how a systemic approach can be applied to heavy equipment manufacturing project (HEMP) management, through of a multifaceted vision. The findings present in the paper are based on a two-year case study in a metallurgic equipment manufacturing enterprise in China. Based on the analysis of HEMP management problems and the contributions on systemic approach application in project management, the paper enriches existing theory by: (1) interpreting the HEMP management system with the top-down disassembly method; (2) developing the collaborative project management approach with a systems view highlighting the project characteristics management and inter-departmental collaboration; (3) making suggestions for systemic approach application in project management. For practitioners and researchers, the findings are particularly meaningful for manufacturing project management and systemic approach application.     

An Analysis of an SIRS Epidemic Model with General Direct Immunization in Networks北大核心CSCD

We consider an SIRS epidemic model with a general direct immunization rate on networks. By constructing suitable Lyapunov functions, we find that the dynamical behvaior of the model is completely determined by the epidemic threshold λc. When λ≤λc, the disease-free equilibrium is globally asymptotically stable; when λ>λc, the endemic equilibrium is globally asymptotically stable. In addition, we propose a uniform direct immunization and a targeted direct immunization. The results show that under the same average immunization rate s there exists a critical immunization-lost rate δc so that the epidemic threshold of the targeted direct immunization is smaller (larger) than that of the uniform direct immunization if δ<δc(δ>δc). © 2017, The Journal of Agency of Complex Systems and Complexity Science. All right reserved.     

INFORMATION CHARACTERIZATION OF COMMUNICATION CHANNELS FOR SYSTEM IDENTIFICATION

This paper studies identification of systems in which the system output is quantized, transmitted through a digital communication channel, and observed afterwards. The concept of the CR Ratio is introduced to characterize impact of communication channels on identification. The relationship between the CR Ratio and Shannon channel capacity is discussed. Identification algorithms are further developed when the channel error probability is unknown.     

Cellular responses to mild heat stress

Since its discovery in 1962 by Ritossa, the heat shock response has been extensively studied by a number of investigators to understand the molecular mechanism underlying the cellular response to heat stress. The most well characterized heat shock response is induction of the heat shock proteins that function as molecular chaperones and exert cell cycle regulatory and anti-apoptotic activities. While most investigators have focused their studies on the toxic effects of heat stress in organisms such as severe heat stress-induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, the cellular response to fever-ranged mild heat stress has been rather underestimated. However, the cellular response to mild heat stress is likely to be more important in a physiological sense than that to severe heat stress because the body temperature of homeothermic animals increases by only 1–2°C during febrile diseases. Here we provide information that mild heat stress does have some beneficial role in organisms via positively regulating cell proliferation and differentiation, and immune response in mammalian cells.Received 14 May 2004; received after revision 2 August 2004; accepted 16 August 2004