Purification of bovine conglutinin using pepsin digestion

This paper describes a new method for the purification of bovine conglutinin based on the relative resistance of this protein to pepsin digestion. First, conglutinin is purified by absorption on yeast, then the preparation is treated with 2% pepsin (w/w) at 4°C for 18 hr, and finally gel filtrated on agarose A5m. The yield is 60–75% and conglutinin thus prepared appears physically, immunochemically and functionally intact. This procedure allows for a rapid production of sufficient amounts of conglutinin for immune complex detection or purification methods.     

桡动脉与冠状动脉几何性状和显微结构成份的比较

目的：通过对桡动脉与冠状动脉几何性状和显微结构成份的比较研究，为桡动脉应用于冠状动脉搭桥术提供依据。方法：非心脏病死亡的尸体，在其桡动脉的上端、中点、下端及冠状动脉主干根部，横断取材制作切片，光镜下观察并用图像分析仪对其显微结构成份进行定量研究。结果：桡动脉的内、外径与冠状动脉的前室间支、旋支、右冠状动脉接近，但它的内膜面积和管腔狭窄率均明显低于冠状动脉。桡动脉与冠状动脉的显微结构成份相似；管壁平滑肌的含量二者无显著差异。结论：桡动脉是冠脉搭桥术可供选择的较理想的移植血管。     

基于主成分分析-神经网络的非编码RNA预测

预测非编码RNA对认识其调控功能具有重要意义。选择单核苷酸和二核苷酸出现频率作为神经网络分类特征,运用主成分分析方法降低输入数据的维数,去除数据间的相关性,采用Levenberg-Marquardt算法改善网络训练速度。对数据集的测试结果表明,此方法对细菌混合ncRNA的预测精度达到81.3%,对原核生物tRNA的预测精度达到93.3%,表明该方法能有效预测原核生物ncRNA。预测结果还发现两种古细菌的ORF序列在序列特征上与其它细菌和古细菌存在差别。     

Responses of calves to acute stress: individual consistency and relations between behavioral and physiological measures

The present study examined the consistency over time of individual differences in behavioral and physiological responsiveness of calves to intuitively alarming test situations as well as the relationships between behavioral and physiological measures. Twenty Holstein Friesian heifer calves were individually subjected to the same series of two behavioral and two hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis reactivity tests at 3, 13 and 26 weeks of age. Novel environment (open field, OF) and novel object (NO) tests involved measurement of behavioral, plasma cortisol and heart rate responses. Plasma ACTH and/or cortisol response profiles were determined after administration of exogenous CRH and ACTH, respectively, in the HPA axis reactivity tests. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to condense correlated measures within ages into principal components reflecting independent dimensions underlying the calves' reactivity. Cortisol responses to the OF and NO tests were positively associated with the latency to contact and negatively related to the time spent in contact with the NO. Individual differences in scores of a principal component summarizing this pattern of inter-correlations, as well as differences in separate measures of adrenocortical and behavioral reactivity in the OF and NO tests proved highly consistent over time. The cardiac response to confinement in a start box prior to the OF test was positively associated with the cortisol responses to the OF and NO tests at 26 weeks of age. HPA axis reactivity to ACTH or CRH was unrelated to adrenocortical and behavioral responses to novelty. These findings strongly suggest that the responsiveness of calves was mediated by stable individual characteristics. Correlated adrenocortical and behavioral responses to novelty may reflect underlying fearfulness, defining the individual's susceptibility to the elicitation of fear. Other independent characteristics mediating reactivity may include activity or coping style (related to locomotion) and underlying sociality (associated with vocalization).     

系列高频成分节段在正常人中的分布

将１３４例正常人按年龄分为幼儿组、学龄组、青年组和中老年组，分别观察分析了系列高频成分节段的分布特点。其分布无年龄、性别差异（Ｐ＞０．０５），系列高频成分节段对急性病毒性心肌炎的诊断特异性为８２．４１％。各年龄组的特异性分别是幼儿组９０％、学龄组８３．３％、青年组７２．４１％。中老年组８２．０５％。     

Investigation and improved performance of optical fibre probes in laser Doppler blood flow measurement

Laser Doppler flowmetry with optical-fibre beam transmission is a sensitive fast and convenient method of measuring tissue blood flow. However, its sensitivity can also be a problem because of movement artefacts. This study applies some basic considerations of fibre optics and Rayleigh light scattering to the field of laser Doppler blood flow meters. Practical suggestions are given by which movement arterfacts can be reduced by choice of optical fibres, attention to probe geometry, cladding the fibres to reduce their movements and in the method of application. Experiments which test the normalisation circuitry of laser Doppler instruments are described and the effects of movement artefacts on the interpretation of the pulsatile component of laser Doppler records are also discussed. Probe and fibre line movements cause high-frequency intensity fluctuations due to speckle movement. The intensity fluctuations produce an apparent Doppler shift much greater than the Doppler shift produced by the relative movements of probe and tissue. It has been found that it is important to ensure that the fields of view of the illuminating and detecting fibres do not overlap at the skin surface and that probe contact with the skin surface should be maintained.     

Perceptual and Motor Space Representation: An Event-Related Potential Study

The purpose of this experiment was to study the brain potentials generated during spatial tasks related to the “schema corporel” (a mental map of sensory-motor relationships). Seven right-handed subjects performed a choice reaction-time task (Experiment 1), in which the spatial position of a visual stimulus (right or left of a fixation point) was varied independently of the spatial position of the response (right or left hand). The subjects also made self-paced extensions and flexions of the right and left index fingers (Experiment 2). Experiments 1 and 2 were performed with the hands both crossed and uncrossed. Spatio-temporal maps showed that the P300 component elicited by the choice RT situation in Experiment 1 was largest ipsilateral to the hand involved in the response, whether or not the hands were crossed. The later part of the pre-movement potentials during Experiment 2 and the motor potential were significantly larger contralateral to the moving hand under all conditions. Thus this pattern of lateralization can be attributed to the superimposition of a bilateral P300 wave on the asymmetrical motor potential. This suggests that distinct neuronal populations are involved in the generation of these two components. P300 latency and RT reflected the spatial conflict: both were longer when the stimulus and response were on opposite sides than when they were on the same side, even when the hands were crossed. However, the average P300 latency was not increased when the hands were crossed, whereas the average RT was substantially increased. Since the additional time required for programming the movement in the crossed hand situation had no effect on P300 generation, we infer that the P300 does not index this motor programming. However, P300 does reflect the stimulus-response spatial matching, since its latency was delayed by spatial conflict.     

一种独立成分分析的鲁棒算法及其在脑磁图数据分析中的应用

独立成分分析是一种新的信号处理统计方法。被广泛用于各个领域。在信号分析中面临的难题是：源信号的不同特性（既包括超高斯信号又包括亚高斯信号）；未知的独立源数目；传感器信号受到较大的加性噪声污染。针对以上难题，本文提出了一种独立成分分析的鲁棒算法。该方法先对观测数据作预处理，将包含噪声的高维传感器观测信号降维分解到信号子空间和噪声子空间。利用交叉验证法估计出独立源的数目（解决了独立成分分析本身不能确定源数目的缺陷）；然后利用快速稳定的FastICA算法分离独立成分。通过人工合成的数据和实际的脑磁图数据分析。验证了这种方法的功效。     

空间ICA在fMRI数据上的应用与分析

独立成分分析(ICA)技术试图将多维数据分解成若干个相互统计独立的分量。时间ICA和空间ICA都可以用于分析功能核磁共振成像(fMRI)数据。但由于fMRI数据空间维数远远大于时间维数，为计算方便，在分析fMRI数据时。则更多的使用空间ICA方法。本文在单任务激励实验中，利用ICA方法从fMRI数据中分离出若干个与任务相关的独立分量，其中包括与任务相关的恒定分量(CTR)和与任务相关的暂态分量(TTR)；通过将这些独立分量进行空间映射，得到了与任务相关的脑部激活区域。将此结果与SPM的分析比较，得到了一致的结果。在对结果的分析中，我们进一步指出了ICA方法的特点和局限性。