Eine Verallgemeinerung der Stereochemie

The Science of Nature -     

Nova Herculis

The Science of Nature -     

The structure of stereotyped calls reflects kinship and social affiliation in resident killer whales (Orcinus orca)

A few species of mammals produce group-specific vocalisations that are passed on by learning, but the function of learned vocal variation remains poorly understood. Resident killer whales live in stable matrilineal groups with repertoires of seven to 17 stereotyped call types. Some types are shared among matrilines, but their structure typically shows matriline-specific differences. Our objective was to analyse calls of nine killer whale matrilines in British Columbia to test whether call similarity primarily reflects social or genetic relationships. Recordings were made in 1985–1995 in the presence of focal matrilines that were either alone or with groups with non-overlapping repertoires. We used neural network discrimination performance to measure the similarity of call types produced by different matrilines and determined matriline association rates from 757 encounters with one or more focal matrilines. Relatedness was measured by comparing variation at 11 microsatellite loci for the oldest female in each group. Call similarity was positively correlated with association rates for two of the three call types analysed. Similarity of the N4 call type was also correlated with matriarch relatedness. No relationship between relatedness and association frequency was detected. These results show that call structure reflects relatedness and social affiliation, but not because related groups spend more time together. Instead, call structure appears to play a role in kin recognition and shapes the association behaviour of killer whale groups. Our results therefore support the hypothesis that increasing social complexity plays a role in the evolution of learned vocalisations in some mammalian species.     

A multidisciplinary study of archaeological grape seeds

We report here the first integrated investigation of both ancient DNA and proteins in archaeobotanical samples: medieval grape (Vitis vinifera L.) seeds, preserved by anoxic waterlogging, from an early medieval (seventh–eighth century A.D.) Byzantine rural settlement in the Salento area (Lecce, Italy) and a late (fourteenth–fifteenth century A.D.) medieval site in York (England). Pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry documented good carbohydrate preservation, whilst amino acid analysis revealed approximately 90% loss of the original protein content. In the York sample, mass spectrometry-based sequencing identified several degraded ancient peptides. Nuclear microsatellite locus (VVS2, VVMD5, VVMD7, ZAG62 and ZAG79) analysis permitted a tentative comparison of the genetic profiles of both the ancient samples with the modern varieties. The ability to recover microsatellite DNA has potential to improve biomolecular analysis on ancient grape seeds from archaeological contexts. Although the investigation of five microsatellite loci cannot assign the ancient samples to any geographic region or modern cultivar, the results allow speculation that the material from York was not grown locally, whilst the remains from Supersano could represent a trace of contacts with the eastern Mediterranean.     

中国食管癌发病区环境地球化学及相关模型的研究进展

食管癌是一种常见的消化道疾病,在世界许多国家和地区均有发生,其中环境因素是引发地方病食管癌的重要因素。目前,模型被应用于食管癌的研究中,食管癌研究模型主要有食管癌发病率预测模型,食管癌预防模型及食管癌动物模型等。本文主要综述了前人对中国食管癌发病区的土壤、饮用水和食物等环境地球化学因素,以及与食管癌研究相关的土壤模型和食管癌模型的研究进展。     

沈阳地区水环境和生物样品中全氟化合物的污染分布特征

采用高效液相色谱/电喷雾负电离源串联质谱法对沈阳市各类水环境和生物样品中全氟化合物(PFCs)进行测定,研究了PFCs的河流分布及季节分布特征.同时,对通过饮用水及家禽和鱼摄入全氟辛烷磺酸(PFOS)和全氟辛酸(PFOA)的人体健康风险进行了评价.结果表明,沈阳市各类水环境样品中总PFCs浓度范围为nd～6.01ng·L-1,平均浓度为5.23ng·L-1.PFOS和PFOA是沈阳地区所有水环境样品中最主要的PFCs污染物,浓度范围分别为nd～2.83ng·L-1和nd～5.71ng·L-1,平均浓度分别为1.11和2.13ng·L-1.细河的PFOS含量最高,约为浑河PFOS含量的2倍,蒲河PFOS含量的3倍.一些PFCs化合物之间呈正相关关系,说明其可能具有相同的来源.PFOS与PFOA之间无相关关系,由此推断沈阳水体中二者具有不同来源.浑河流经沈阳市时,PFOS和PFOA浓度升高.流经沈阳市区后,PFOS和全氟己烷磺酸钾(PFHxS)浓度明显升高.细河中PFHxS也有检出,表明沈阳市是周边水体中PFOS及PFHxS的主要污染来源.丰水期地表水中PFOS和PFOA浓度与枯水期相比没有明显差异,但丰水期水中PFCs组成更为丰富,出现了大量全氟庚酸(PFHpA).沈阳地区自来水中PFOS和PFOA浓度平均值分别为0.39和0.85ng·L-1,最高浓度分别为1.16和2.55ng·L-1,均低于美国饮用水健康参考值.沈阳生物样品中PFOS和全氟十一酸(PFUnDA)是最普遍的化合物.总PFCs平均含量在鱼样品中为6.59ng.g-1(以干重计),鸡和鸭血清样品中分别为1.65和0.69ng·mL-1,鸡和鸭肝脏样品中分别为0.41和1.68ng.g-1(以干重计),与文献报道相比处于较低水平.