Subtyping of type A influenza by sequencing the variable regions of HA gene specifically amplified with RT-PCR

The outbreak of a novel influenza A （H1N1） virus across the globe poses a threat to human health. It is of paramount importance to develop a rapid, reliable and inexpensive diagnostic procedure. Based on the bioinformatic information from public database, primers specific for influenza A virus surface protein haemagglutinin （HA） of several subtypes （including H1, H2, H3, H5, H7 and H9） were designed. Primer-specific PCR products were subiected to sequencing for accurately distinguishing H1 and H3 subtypes from others. This sequencing-based detection method will not only be applied to rapid detection and simultaneous subtype identification of new influenza A virus H1N1, but also provide the strategies to monitor other new types of influenza virus with explosive potential.     

The mutation network for the hemagglutinin gene from the novel influenza A （H1N1 ） virus

A mutation network for the hemagglutinin gene （HA） of the novel type A （H1N1） influenza virus was constructed. Sequence homology analysis indicated that one HA sequence type from the viruses mainly isolated from Mexico was likely the original type in this epidemic. Based on the 658A and 1408T mutations in HA, the viruses evolving into this epidemic were divided into three categories, the Mexico, the transitional and the New York type. The three groups of viruses presented distinctive clustering features in their geographic distributions.     

Changes in the transthylakoid proton gradient are caused by the movement of phycobilisomes in the cyanobacterium <Emphasis Type="Italic">Synechocystis</Emphasis> sp. strain PCC 6803

Phycobilisomes (PBSs) are the main accessory light-harvesting complexes in cyanobacteria and their movement between photosystems (PSs) affects cyclic and respiratory electron transport. However, it remains unclear whether the movement of PBSs between PSs also affects the transthylakoid proton gradient (ΔpH). We investigated the effect of PBS movement on ΔpH levels in a unicellular cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803, using glycinebetaine to immobilize and couple PBSs to photosystem II (PSII) or photosystem I (PSI) by applying under far-red or green light, respectively. The immobilization of PBSs at PSII inhibited decreases in ΔpH, as reflected by the slow phase of millisecond-delayed light emission (ms-DLE) that occurs during the movement of PBSs from PSII to PSI. By contrast, the immobilization of PBSs at PSI inhibited the increase in ΔpH that occurs when PBSs move from PSI to PSII. Comparison of the changes in ΔpH and electron transport caused by the movement of PBSs between PSs indicated that the changes in ΔpH were most likely caused by respiratory electron transport. This will further improve our understanding of the physiological role of PBS movement in cyanobacteria.     

具有双控制输入通道高阶不确定非线性系统控制设计

本文研究了一类高阶不确定非线性系统的全局渐近稳定控制设计问题.不同于现有结果,本文所研究的高阶非线性系统具有两个控制输入通道,即控制输入直接作用于两个一维子系统.这导致已有的控制设计方法不能或难以用来解决该类控制设计问题,因此,寻求新的控制设计方法,用以解决多控制输入通道高阶非线性系统的控制设计问题,是一个很有意义的研究课题.本文首先引入一个有效的反馈变换,从而在非线性系统满足适当假设条件下,成功地将该类系统的控制设计问题转化为规范的单控制输入通道情况下的控制设计问题.进而借助于已有结果,特别是增加幂次积分方法,给出所研究非线性系统的全局渐近稳定控制器的设计方法.尽管本文所研究的系统是具有多控制输入通道高阶非线性系统的特殊情况,所得结果具有一定的局限性,但对更一般情况具有借鉴和指导作用.最后,仿真算例验证了本文理论结果的有效性.     

Sediment change under climate changes and human activities in the Yuanjiang-Red River Basin

Both the climate change and human activities are the major influence factors to the sediment change in mountainous rivers. Based on the over 40 years’ record, suspended sediment loads (SSL) change at the Manhao gauging station in the lower reaches of Yuanjiang River (upper Red River). In this paper, the variation of the sediment and its drivers were analyzed through different methods such as synchronous data comparison, traditional correlation, linear regression, and Granger causality. The results show that (1) the general trend of the annual average sediment concentration (SSC) and SSL at Manhao station is increasing from the 1960s to the 1990s, and there is a quick change period after 1984; (2) the SSL and SSC at Manhao station, during different periods of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, are 1.87, 2.49, 3.12, 3.63 kg/m³, and 28.7×10⁶, 40.3×10⁶, 44.1×10⁶, 60.3×10⁶ t/a, respectively; (3) the correlation analysis and the Granger causality test proved that the climate changes in the catchment were the main driving factors to the sediment variation in the period of 1960s and 1990s, but the influence by the mountainous human actions on the sediment change is stronger than that by the local climate changes in the 1970s and 1980s; (4) the correlation between the sediment changes and the forest coverage change is negative, which further proves that the sediment changes are strongly affected by the human activities in the basin.

     

Study of the ionospheric anomaly before the Wenchuan earthquake

The behavior of the ionosphere before the Wenchuan earthquake is analyzed with the global TEC and ionospheric foF2 observed at Xiamen. It can be found from TEC maps that in the afternoon (16―18LT) on May 9, 2008, 3 days before the earthquake, there is an enhancement of TEC with an amplitude of 10―15 TECU appearing in the east-south direction of Wenchuan, and another enhancement appears at the conjugate region of the Southern Hemisphere with an amplitude of 10 TECU, but no obvious in-crement or decrement can be seen in other regions on global scale. It can also be found that on May 6 (6 days before the great earthquake), there is a decrement of TEC with small amplitude of 4TECU and larger area with 80° along the longitude in southern China, and there is no synchronous decrement observed at the conjugate region of the Southern Hemisphere. There are also many anomalies ob-served by ionosondes across China. The result shows that foF2 and TEC abnormally increased, which is different from pervious results that ionospheric parameters decreased prior to earthquakes. Pre-liminary results suggest that the enhancement on May 9 maybe has a close relationship with the pos-sible enhancement of ionospheric electric fields, and it may be an ionospheric precursor of earth-quakes. Whereas the decrement on May 6 may be attributed to the geomagnetic disturbance appearing on May 5.