Impact of light intensity on flowering time and plant quality of Antirrhinum majus L. cultivar Chimes White

Shades of different light intensities (29%, 43%, 54%,60% or 68%) along with control (no shade) were studied to observe their effects on the flowering time and plant quality. A hyperbolic relationship was observed between different light intensities under shade,and time to flowering.The total number of flower buds showed a curvilinear relationship with light intensities. Growth parameters related to the plant characteristics such as plant height,leaf area and plant fresh weight were improved under shading treatments at the expense of flowering time and number of flower buds.However,both linear and polynomial models applied assumed that cultivar Chimes White was equally sensitive to light intensity throughout development.     

与删除卷积码相结合的非均匀16-DAPSK在无线广播信道上的性能

导出了加性高斯白噪声和Rayleigh衰落信道上非均匀16-DAPSK错误概率的简单闭合表达式.对于多媒体通信和组播传输而言,非均匀16-DAPSK是有用的.给出了带有删除卷积编码的非均匀16-DAPSK调制的性能.结果表明卷积编码可与非均匀16-DAPSK调制用于在无线电广播系统中传输附加消息,而对于基本消息几乎没有损伤.     

Patterns and rates of exonic de novo mutations in autism spectrum disorders

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are believed to have genetic and environmental origins, yet in only a modest fraction of individuals can specific causes be identified. To identify further genetic risk factors, here we assess the role of de novo mutations in ASD by sequencing the exomes of ASD cases and their parents (n = 175 trios). Fewer than half of the cases (46.3%) carry a missense or nonsense de novo variant, and the overall rate of mutation is only modestly higher than the expected rate. In contrast, the proteins encoded by genes that harboured de novo missense or nonsense mutations showed a higher degree of connectivity among themselves and to previous ASD genes as indexed by protein-protein interaction screens. The small increase in the rate of de novo events, when taken together with the protein interaction results, are consistent with an important but limited role for de novo point mutations in ASD, similar to that documented for de novo copy number variants. Genetic models incorporating these data indicate that most of the observed de novo events are unconnected to ASD; those that do confer risk are distributed across many genes and are incompletely penetrant (that is, not necessarily sufficient for disease). Our results support polygenic models in which spontaneous coding mutations in any of a large number of genes increases risk by 5- to 20-fold. Despite the challenge posed by such models, results from de novo events and a large parallel case-control study provide strong evidence in favour of CHD8 and KATNAL2 as genuine autism risk factors.     

G protein-coupled receptor P2Y5 and its ligand LPA are involved in maintenance of human hair growth

Hypotrichosis simplex is a group of nonsyndromic human alopecias. We mapped an autosomal recessive form of this disorder to chromosome 13q14.11-13q21.33, and identified homozygous truncating mutations in P2RY5, which encodes an orphan G protein-coupled receptor. Furthermore, we identified oleoyl-L-alpha-lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), a bioactive lipid, as a ligand for P2Y5 in reporter gene and radioligand binding experiments. Homology and studies of signaling transduction pathways suggest that P2Y5 is a member of a subgroup of LPA receptors, which also includes LPA4 and LPA5. Our study is the first to implicate a G protein-coupled receptor as essential for and specific to the maintenance of human hair growth. This finding may provide opportunities for new therapeutic approaches to the treatment of hair loss in humans.     

Interaction between seed size and NaCl on germination and early seedling growth of some Turkish cultivars of chickpea （Cicer arietinum L.）

Chickpea is an important food legume crop of Turkey and is largely grown for human consumption on low moisture or salt-affected soils. The objective of the study was to find the effects of NaCl stress at electrical conductivities of 4.5, 8.6, 12.7 and 16.3 dS/m and seed sizes （7, 8 and 9 mm） on germination and early seedling growth of three popular chickpea cultivars （AKN-97, Gokce and Uzunlu-99）. Mean frequency of germination, germination time, germination index, root length, shoot length and seedling fresh weight showed seed size-dependent responses ofcultivars to salt stress. In general, small seeds germinated and grew more rapidly compared to medium and large seeds of the same cultivars against all levels of salt stress, with the best results in cultivar Uzunlu-99. No effect of NaCl treatments was observed on frequency of germination; however, a drastic decrease in early seedling growth was recorded at increased NaC1 concentrations. Regression analysis results showed a significantly positive relationship （P〈0.01） between seed size and mean germination time, whereas a significantly negative relationship was recorded between seed size and germination index, root length, shoot length. Moreover, linear regression values apparently confirmed that increased seed size in each cultivar affected decreased germination index, root and shoot lengths with enhanced mean germination time. Thus, it was concluded that the use of small seeds could considerably reduce the production costs of chickpea in salt-affected soils.     

Anti-allergic effects of ethanol extracts from brown seaweeds

Ethanol extracts of brown seaweeds from Pakistan and China were isolated and compared for their antiallergenic activities. They included Sargassum tennerimum (ST) and Sargassum cervicorne (SC) from Pakistan, and Sargassum graminifolium turn (SG), Sargassum thunbergii (STH), and Laminaria japonica (LJ) from China. The ethanol extracts of these brown seaweeds were optimized at 85% (v/v) ethanol for the maximum yield of phlorotannin, an inhibitor against hyaluronidase. Total phlorotannins contained in the crude extracts were measured as 1.71% (SG), 0.74% (STH), 0.97% (LJ), 3.30% (SC), and 5.06% (ST). The 50% inhibitory concentrations (IC₅₀) of Pakistani SC and ST were 109.5 and 21 μg/ml, respectively, lower than those of Chinese SG, STH, and LJ (134, 269, and 148 μg/ml, respectively). An antiallergic drug, disodium cromoglycate (DSCG), had an IC₅₀=39 μg/ml, and a natural inhibitor of hyaluronidase, catechin, had an IC₅₀=20 μg/ml. The IC₅₀ of ST extract was found similar to that of catechin (21 vs 20 μg/ml) and lower than that of DSCG (21 vs 39 μg/ml). This suggests that ST is a potent inhibitor of hyaluronidase, indicating a promising future development of natural antiallergic medicines or functional foods.     

Characteristic spectral studies and in vitro antifungal activity of some Schiff bases and their organotin (Ⅳ) complexes

The synthesis and in vitro antifungal activity of some Schiff bases and their Sn (Ⅳ) complexes has been tested against plant pathogenic fungi and it is found that they possess excellent fungicidal activity. On the basis of ^1H-, ^13C-,^119Sn NMR-, ^119Sn Mǒssbauer, IR and Elemental analysis the tetrahedral geometry is proposed for the synthesized compounds.