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.     

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.     

Analysis of discrete-time queues with batch renewal input and multiple vacations

This paper analyzes a discrete-time multiple vacations finite-buffer queueing system with batch renewal input in which inter-arrival time of batches are arbitrarily distributed.Service and vacation times are mutually independent and geometrically distributed.The server takes vacations when the system does not have any waiting jobs at a service completion epoch or a vacation completion epoch.The system is analyzed under the assumptions of late arrival system with delayed access and early arrival system.Using the supplementary variable and the imbedded Markov chain techniques, the authors obtain the queue-length distributions at pre-arrival,arbitrary and outside observer’s observation epochs for partial-batch rejection policy.The blocking probability of the first-,an arbitrary-and the last-job in a batch have been discussed.The analysis of actual waiting-time distributions measured in slots of the first-,an arbitrary- and the last-job in an accepted batch,and other performance measures along with some numerical results have also been investigated.     

Which authorities are alike?

This article describes the first results from the recent revision to The ONS classification of local and health authorities of Great Britain to allow for boundary changes. For each local and health authority of Great Britain as at April 1999 it presents 'most similar' authorities as measured by a selection of 37 socioeconomic and demographic variables from the 1991 Census. These results will assist local and health authorities in identifying other appropriate authorities for comparative studies. A second article, to be published in Population Trends 99, will present the results of the analysis to identify groups of authorities in a hierarchy of new Clusters, Groups and Families for the revised classification.     

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.     

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.     

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.