High secretory activity in the pancreatic B cells of a diabetic strain of the Japanese mouse

Zusammenfassung Elektronenmikroskopische Untersuchung von B-Zellen der Pankreas eines diabetischen Stammes japanischer Mäuse erbrachte den Hinweis gesteigerter Insulin-Synthese, bzw. gesteigerten Insulin-Ausflusses.     

Travel at low energetic cost by swimming and wave-riding bottlenose dolphins.

Over the past 50 years there has been much speculation about the energetic cost of swimming and wave-riding by dolphins. When aligned properly in front of the bow of moving ships in the stern wake of small boats, on wind waves, and even in the wake of larger cetaceans, the animals appear to move effortlessly through the water without the benefit of propulsive strokes by the flukes. Theoretically, body streamlining as well as other anatomical and behavioural adaptations contribute to low transport costs in these animals. The economy of movement permitted by wave-riding has been perceived as an energetic advantage for the swimming dolphin, but has been hard to prove in the absence of physiological data for exercising cetaceans. Here we determine the aerobic and anaerobic costs of swimming and wave-riding in bottlenose dolphins and find that the minimum cost of transport for swimming dolphins is 1.29 +/- 0.05 J kg-1 m-1 at a cruising speed of 2.1 m s-1. Aerobic costs are nearly twice as high for swimming seals and sea lions, and 8-12 times higher for human swimmers. Wave-riding by dolphins provides additional benefits in terms of speed. The results indicate that behavioural, physiological and morphological factors make swimming an economical form of high-speed travel for dolphins.     

Sequencing of Aspergillus nidulans and comparative analysis with A. fumigatus and A. oryzae

The aspergilli comprise a diverse group of filamentous fungi spanning over 200 million years of evolution. Here we report the genome sequence of the model organism Aspergillus nidulans, and a comparative study with Aspergillus fumigatus, a serious human pathogen, and Aspergillus oryzae, used in the production of sake, miso and soy sauce. Our analysis of genome structure provided a quantitative evaluation of forces driving long-term eukaryotic genome evolution. It also led to an experimentally validated model of mating-type locus evolution, suggesting the potential for sexual reproduction in A. fumigatus and A. oryzae. Our analysis of sequence conservation revealed over 5,000 non-coding regions actively conserved across all three species. Within these regions, we identified potential functional elements including a previously uncharacterized TPP riboswitch and motifs suggesting regulation in filamentous fungi by Puf family genes. We further obtained comparative and experimental evidence indicating widespread translational regulation by upstream open reading frames. These results enhance our understanding of these widely studied fungi as well as provide new insight into eukaryotic genome evolution and gene regulation.     

Ultrastructural aspects of the pancreatic islets in carps of spontaneous diabetes mellitus

Zusammenfassung Elektronenmikroskopisch konnten in den Langerhansschen Inseln im Pankreas von normalen und diabetischen Fischen bestimmte Typen von Drüsenzellen differenziert werden, nämlich A-, B- und D-Zellen sowie klare Zellen. Bei diabetischen Fischen ist vor allem die sehr starke Vermehrung sogenannter klarer Zellen typisch.     

新型植物生长调节物质-Lepidimoide的生理作用及其与其它植物激素生理作用的比较

以燕麦、萝卜和水稻幼苗为材料，分析Lepidimoide的生理作用，并与其它激素的生理作用进行比较．研究结果表明：1Lepidimoide促进燕麦胚芽鞘切段的伸长，单侧处理燕麦胚芽鞘能产生弯曲生长，但作用效果略低于生长素；2Lepidimoide处理萝卜子叶能使叶绿素含量增加，但效果略低于BA，混合使用时作用效果高于单独使用BA或Lepidimoide；3Lepidimoide能促进水稻幼苗伸长，效果与GA3相似，但低浓度时效果不佳，混合使用时有一定的增效作用．上述结果表明，Lepidimoide是一种促进型生长调节物质，其作用与BA和GA3相似．