The comparison of increasing doses of a treatment to a negative control is frequently part of toxicological studies. For normally distributed data Williams (1971, 1972) introduced a maximum likelihood test under total order restriction. But until now there seems to have been no solution for the arbitrary unbalanced case. According to the idea proposed by Robertson et al. (1988) we will apply in this article the basic concept of Williams on the class of multiple contrast tests for the general unbalanced parametric set-up. Simulation results for size and power and two examples for estimating the minimal toxic dose (MTD) are given. 相似文献
Abstract: We examined the roles of dispersal mechanism, a biological barrier; light availability, an environmental barrier; and level of disturbance, a physical barrier, in explaining the spatial patterns of exotic plant species along road and stream segments in a forest landscape in the western Cascade Range of Oregon (U.S.A). The presence or absence of 21 selected exotic plant species and light levels were observed along 0.3- to 1.0-km transects within four habitat types. Each habitat represented a different level of disturbance: high-use roads, low-use roads, abandoned roads, and streams in the H. J. Andrews Experimental Forest. Nearly 300 50 × 2–m sampling units were surveyed along five transects in each habitat type. We used ordination (nonmetric multidimensional scaling) and logistic regression to analyze data. All of the nearly 200 sampling units along roads with high and low levels of vehicle traffic contained at least one exotic plant species, and some contained as many as 14. Streams that were most recently disturbed by floods 20–30 years ago and abandoned spur roads with no traffic for 20–40 years also had numerous exotic species. Roads and streams apparently serve multiple functions that enhance exotic species invasion in this landscape: they act as corridors or agents for dispersal, provide suitable habitat, and contain reservoirs of propagules for future episodes of invasion. Species-specific dispersal mechanisms, habitat characteristics, and disturbance history each explain some, but not all, of the patterns of exotic species invasion observed in this study. 相似文献
James E. Lovelock, famed for his Gaia hypothesis, which views the Earth as a living integrated and interconnected self-regulating system whose equilibrium comes about from complex energy-based interactions and feedback loops, ultimately sustaining life, passed away at the end of July, 2022 at the age of 103. Not only are the adaptive mechanisms of Gaia central to the conversation of environmental homeostasis, they lie at the heart of climate change and global warming. Lovelock is also remembered as the co-inventor of the electron capture detector that eventually allowed for the sensitive detection of chlorofluorocarbons and pesticides. Finally, Lovelock’s free-spirited nature and research independence allow academia to rethink current research’s modus operandi. 相似文献
Food loss and waste is a major issue affecting food security, environmental pollution, producer profitability, consumer prices, and climate change. About 1.3 billion tons of food products are yearly lost globally, with China producing approximately 20 million tons of soybean dregs annually. Here, we review food and agricultural byproducts with emphasis on the strategies to convert this waste into valuable materials. Byproducts can be used for animal and plant nutrition, biogas production, food, extraction of oils and bioactive substances, and production of vinegar, wine, edible coatings and organic fertilizers. For instance, bioactive compounds represent approximately 8–20% of apple pomace, 5–17% of orange peel, 10–25% of grape seeds, 3–15% of pomegranate peel, and 2–13% of date palm seeds. Similarly, the pharmaceutical industry uses approximately 6.5% of the total output of gelatin derived from fish bones and animal skin. Animals fed with pomegranate peel and olive pomace improved the concentration of deoxyribonucleic acid and protein, the litter size, the milk yield, and nest characteristics. Biogas production amounts to 57.1% using soybean residue, 53.7% using papaya peel, and 49.1% using sugarcane bagasse.
Summary. Female Photuris fireflies sequester defensive steroidal pyrones (lucibufagins) from male fireflies of the genus Photinus. Lucibufagin analyses of Photuris females and Photinus ignitus males show that the lucibufagin mixtures of predator and prey differ in their composition. Analyses of whole body extracts
showed that P. ignitus males contain a mixture of eight non-glycosylated lucibufagins, composed mostly of compounds with two oxygenated positions
in the steroidal A-ring (C-3, C-5). After feeding on P. ignitus males, Photuris females contain six major lucibufagins. Three of these compounds are not present in the prey, including the novel lucibufagin
glycoside 5β,11α-dihydroxy-12-oxo-3β-O-β-D-xylopyranosylbufalin, and two other lucibufagins with a trioxygenated A-ring (C-2,
C-3, C-5). These results indicate that Photuris females transform the sequestered lucibufagins both by glycosylation and oxidation, which could affect the systemic transportability
of these compounds due to an increase in their polarity.
Received 18 February 1999; accepted 19 April 1999. 相似文献
A key regulatory mechanism underlying the switch between aerobic and anaerobic metabolism amongst anoxia-tolerant marine
molluscs is reversible protein phosphorylation. To assess the role of cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) in aerobic–anaerobic
transitions, the effects of anoxia on the activity and subcellular distribution of PKA were assessed in foot and hepatopancreas
of the marine periwinkle, Littorina littorea. Exposure to N2 gas at 5 °C caused a rapid decline in the percentage of total enzyme present as the free catalytic subunit (PKAc) in both
tissues; the percentage of PKAc fell from ∼30% in controls to 3% after 1 h anoxia and remained low over 72 h. Total PKA also
fell by 30% after 72 h anoxia in hepatopancreas but rebounded during aerobic recovery. Freezing at −8 °C elicited parallel
results for both percentage of PKAc and total PKA, suggesting that PKA responses to freezing were stimulated by the ischemia
that develops when hemolymph freezes. Anoxia also led to a shift in PKA subcellular distribution in hepatopancreas (but not
in foot), the percentage of total PKA activity associated with the nuclear fraction dropping from 25% in controls to 8% in
12 h anoxic snails with opposite changes in the cytosolic fraction. The catalytic subunit (PKAc) of foot PKA was purified
to a final specific activity of 63.5 nmol phosphate transferred per minute per milligram protein. Enzyme properties included
a molecular weight of 33 to 35 kDa, an activation energy from Arrhenius plots of 65.1 ± 4.8 kJ mol−1, and substrate affinity constants of 151 ± 6 μM for the phosphate acceptor, Kemptide, and 72 ± 9 μM for Mg.ATP. Activity was strongly reduced by mammalian PKA inhibitors (H-89, PKA-I), by neutral chloride salts (I50 values 165 to 210 mM) and by NaF (I50 62 mM). Reduced PKA activity under anoxic or freezing conditions would facilitate the observed suppression of the activities of
numerous enzymes that are typically PKA-activated and thereby contribute to the overall anoxia-induced metabolic rate depression.
Received: 19 November 1997 / Accepted: 30 September 1998 相似文献