P pili in uropathogenic E. coli are composite fibres with distinct fibrillar adhesive tips.

Escherichia coli is a frequent cause of several common bacterial infections in humans and animals, including urinary tract infections, bacteraemia and bacteria-related diarrhoea and is also the main cause of neonatal meningitis. Microbial attachment to surfaces is a key event in colonization and infection and results mainly from a stereochemical fit between microbial adhesins and complementary receptors on host cells. Bacterial adhesins required for extracellular colonization by Gram-negative bacteria are often minor components of heteropolymeric fibres called pili which must be oriented in an accessible manner in these structures to be able to bind to specific receptor architectures. P pili mediate the binding of uropathogenic E. coli to a digalactoside receptor determinant present in the urinary tract epithelium. We report here that the adhesin is a component of distinct fibrillar structures present at the tips of the pili. These virulence-associated tip fibrillae are thin, flexible polymers composed mostly of repeating subunits of PapE that frequently terminate with the alpha-D-galactopyranosyl-(1-4)-beta-D-galactopyranose or Gal alpha (1-4)Gal binding PapG adhesin.     

Overcompensation and population cycles in an ungulate.

Although theoretical studies show that overcompensatory density-dependent mechanisms can potentially generate regular or chaotic fluctuations in animal numbers, the majority of realistic single-species models of invertebrate populations are not overcompensatory enough to cause sustained population cycles. The possibility that overcompensation may generate cycles or chaos in vertebrate populations has seldom been considered. Here we show that highly overcompensatng density-dependent mortality can generate recurrent population crashes consistent with those observed in a naturally limited population of Soay sheep. The observed interval of three or more years between crashes points to sharp 'focusing' of mortality over a narrow range of population density.     

巷道底板上锚杆布置形式对预防底鼓效果的模拟研究

本文采用三个边界元模型对巷道底板上锚杆的不同布置形式对防治底鼓的效果进行了模拟研究。根据研究结果,提出采用在巷道底板上分期安装锚杆的方法,可有效地防治巷道底鼓。本文对巷道底鼓产生机理和防治措施的研究结果,具有一定的理论价值和应用参考价值。     

Phenological studies of selected savanna mosses of south-western Nigeria

It was established that there is little diversity of bryophytes in the derived savanna. Mosses were found in the sampling sites, whereas liverworts were rarely observed. The reproductive methods of four dominant sexually reproducing savanna mosses —Archidium ohioense, Bryum coronatum, Fissidens minutifolius andTrachycarpidium tisserantii were monitored over two consecutive rainy seasons. Protonemal and gametophyte production were noticed in the field in March/April, and capsule dehiscence and spore dispersal occurred in September/October. The sequential stages of development, starting with gametangial production and ending with the falling of the dehisced capsules, occurred within the rainy season. However,A. ohioense andT. tisserantii did not discharge their spores easily (cleistocarpous), unlike the stegocarpous speciesB. coronatum andF. minutifolius. Water availability and possibly high humidity may have contributed to growth. The short period between sex organ formation and dehiscence of capsule seen in these studies, compared with the longer period in some temperate mosses, may be an advantage for bryophytes in a savanna environment.     

Activation of a C. elegans Antennapedia homologue in migrating cells controls their direction of migration.

Anterior-posterior patterning in insects, vertebrates and nematodes involves members of conserved Antennapedia-class homeobox gene clusters (HOM-C) that are thought to give specific body regions their identities. The effects of these genes on region-specific body structures have been described extensively, particularly in Drosophila, but little is known about how HOM-C genes affect the behaviours of cells that migrate into their domains of function. In Caenorhabditis elegans, the Antennapedia-like HOM-C gene mab-5 not only specifies postembryonic fates of cells in a posterior body region, but also influences the migration of mesodermal and neural cells that move through this region. Here we show that as one neuroblast migrates into this posterior region, it switches on mab-5 gene expression; mab-5 then acts as a developmental switch to control the migratory behaviour of the neuroblast descendants. HOM-C genes can therefore not only direct region-specific patterns of cell division and differentiation, but can also act within migrating cells to programme region-specific migratory behaviour.     

Effects of vitamin B12 on plasma melatonin rhythm in humans: increased light sensitivity phase-advances the circadian clock?

Vitamin B12 (methylcobalamin) was administered orally (3 mg/day) to 9 healthy subjects for 4 weeks. Nocturnal melatonin levels after exposure to bright light (ca. 2500 lx) were determined, as well as the levels of plasma melatonin over 24 h. The timing of sleep was also recorded. Vitamin B12 was given blind to the subjects and crossed over with placebo. We found that the 24-h melatonin rhythm was significantly phase-advanced (1.1 h) in the vitamin B12 trial as compared with that in the placebo trial. In addition, the 24-h mean of plasma melatonin level was much lower in the vitamin B12 trial than with the placebo. Furthermore, the nocturnal melatonin levels during bright light exposure were significantly lower in the vitamin B12 trial than with the placebo. On the other hand, vitamin B12 did not affect the timing of sleep. These findings raise the possibility that vitamin B12 phase-advances the human circadian rhythm by increasing the light sensitivity of the circadian clock.