Race, ethnicity, and NIH research awards

We investigated the association between a U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 applicant's self-identified race or ethnicity and the probability of receiving an award by using data from the NIH IMPAC II grant database, the Thomson Reuters Web of Science, and other sources. Although proposals with strong priority scores were equally likely to be funded regardless of race, we find that Asians are 4 percentage points and black or African-American applicants are 13 percentage points less likely to receive NIH investigator-initiated research funding compared with whites. After controlling for the applicant's educational background, country of origin, training, previous research awards, publication record, and employer characteristics, we find that black applicants remain 10 percentage points less likely than whites to be awarded NIH research funding. Our results suggest some leverage points for policy intervention.     

Serotonin transporter genetic variation and the response of the human amygdala

A functional polymorphism in the promoter region of the human serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4) has been associated with several dimensions of neuroticism and psychopathology, especially anxiety traits, but the predictive value of this genotype against these complex behaviors has been inconsistent. Serotonin [5- hydroxytryptamine, (5-HT)] function influences normal fear as well as pathological anxiety, behaviors critically dependent on the amygdala in animal models and in clinical studies. We now report that individuals with one or two copies of the short allele of the serotonin transporter (5-HTT) promoter polymorphism, which has been associated with reduced 5-HTT expression and function and increased fear and anxiety-related behaviors, exhibit greater amygdala neuronal activity, as assessed by BOLD functional magnetic resonance imaging, in response to fearful stimuli compared with individuals homozygous for the long allele. These results demonstrate genetically driven variation in the response of brain regions underlying human emotional behavior and suggest that differential excitability of the amygdala to emotional stimuli may contribute to the increased fear and anxiety typically associated with the short SLC6A4 allele.     

Postsynaptic receptor trafficking underlying a form of associative learning

To elucidate molecular, cellular, and circuit changes that occur in the brain during learning, we investigated the role of a glutamate receptor subtype in fear conditioning. In this form of learning, animals associate two stimuli, such as a tone and a shock. Here we report that fear conditioning drives AMPA-type glutamate receptors into the synapse of a large fraction of postsynaptic neurons in the lateral amygdala, a brain structure essential for this learning process. Furthermore, memory was reduced if AMPA receptor synaptic incorporation was blocked in as few as 10 to 20% of lateral amygdala neurons. Thus, the encoding of memories in the lateral amygdala is mediated by AMPA receptor trafficking, is widely distributed, and displays little redundancy.     

Limulus lateral eye: properties of receptor units in the unexcised eye

Single receptor units in the compound eye of the horseshoe crab were illuminated, and their impulse discharges were recorded without removing the eye from the animal. The receptors were spontaneously active in darkness and responded without saturation over a light intensity range of 10(10) to 1. When the eye was excised, the receptors did not discharge in darkness and had an intensity range of 10(5) to 1, as is usually found. Experiments show that these and other differences result from cutting off the blood supply to the eye when it is excised. In addition, the range and shape of the intensity characteristic suggest that more than one receptor mechanism encodes light intensity in this eye.     

Development of polysensory responses in association cortex of kitten

Sensory responsiveness of single neurons in posterior association cortex of kittens that were 7 to 50 days old was investigated. The percentage of trimodal cells (that is, cells that respond to visual, auditory, and somesthetic stimulation) increased gradually until day 50, when percentages of trimodally responsive cells approached the adult level. In the youngest kittens, cells were predominantly responsive to only visual stimulation. With maturation, responsiveness to auditory and then to somesthetic stimulation was observed in increasing percentages of cells.     

Avoidance learning: long-lasting deficits after temporal lobe seizure

Microinjections of carbachol (carbamylcholine chloride) into the amygdaloid complex of rats produced behavioral and electrophysiological seizures which subsided within 24 hours. A persisting functional change caused a deficit in avoidance learning 1 to 3 weeks after the seizure. A cholinergic system is implicated by the fact that cholinergic blockade (scopolamine) of the amygdala during training reversed the effects of the seizures induced by carbachol.     

GOD法测定鸡蛋、鸭蛋及鹌鹑蛋中葡萄糖含量

为测定鸡蛋、鸭蛋、鹌鹑蛋3种蛋中的葡萄糖含量,将试验分为鸡蛋组、鸭蛋组和鹌鹑蛋组,分别分离蛋清和蛋黄,用葡萄糖氧化酶法对3种蛋中葡萄糖进行定量测定,结果表明,鸡蛋组蛋清葡萄糖含量为(3.77±0.14)mg/g、蛋黄葡萄糖含量为(1.95±0.09)mg/g、总蛋葡萄糖含量为(3.11±0.12)mg/g;鸭蛋组蛋清葡萄糖含量为(3.59±0.32)mg/g、蛋黄葡萄糖含量为(2.14±0.25)mg/g、总蛋葡萄糖含量为(2.88±0.27)mg/g;鹌鹑蛋组蛋清葡萄糖含量为(3.65±0.37)mg/g、蛋黄葡萄糖含量为(2.77±0.20)mg/g、总蛋葡萄糖含量为(3.19±0.16)mg/g;3种禽蛋的蛋清葡萄糖含量均高于蛋黄(P<0.05)。3种禽蛋的蛋清葡萄糖含量均要高于蛋黄。因此,在人们日常膳食中,多摄入蛋清不仅能给机体提供优质蛋白,还能提供优质糖源,这在人们日常营养膳食方面具有重要的指导意义。     

毛竹IDD基因家族启动子分析

IDD基因家族编码一种混合型的转录因子,多数参与植物的生长发育.真核基因的表达受多种因素的调控,其中启动子在转录水平上的调节作用至关重要.本研究截取毛竹IDD家族8个基因(Ph IDD1-2,Ph IDD4-8和Ph ID1)起始密码子前2 000 bp序列,顺式作用元件分析显示,这些基因启动子中均存在TATA框和CAAT框,除此之外,上游调控区域还存在光响应元件、激素响应元件、逆境胁迫元件以及其他响应元件,其中有些元件是某个基因所特有的,表现出该基因家族各基因独特的表达模式,也表明该家族基因的功能分化,参与植物发育的各个阶段.     

形态性状对长鳍吻鮈体质量的影响效果分析

[目的]分析形态性状对长鳍吻鮈体质量的影响效果,为长鳍吻鮈的人工选育工作提供理论指导。[方法]随机选取120尾驯养的野生长鳍吻鮈,分别测量其体质量(Y)、全长(X1)、体长(X2)、体高(X3)、体宽(X4)、头长(X5)、头宽(X6)、头高(X7)、吻长(X8)、叉长( X9)、眼径( X10)、眼间距( X11)、尾柄长( X12)、尾柄高( X13)、尾鳍长( X14)、眼后头长( X15)共16个性状指标。采用相关分析、通径分析、复相关分析和多元回归分析方法,分别计算了长鳍吻鮈形态性状对体质量的相关系数、通径系数、复相关系数和决定系数,对各形态性状对体质量的影响大小进行剖分,确定了影响长鳍吻鮈体质量的主要外部形态性状。[结果]各形态性状与体质量的相关性均达到极显著水平(P<0.01),但仅全长、头长、头高、眼径、眼后头长对体质量的通径系数达到显著水平(P<0.05),且复相关系数为0.976,是影响体质量的主要性状,其中全长对体质量的直接作用最大(0.663);决定系数分析结果与通径分析结果的变化趋势一致,即全长、头长、头高、眼径、眼后头长的决定系数较大,其中全长对体质量的决定系数(0.440)最大,其他4个性状主要通过全长影响体质量;应用逐步多元回归分析,经过偏回归系数的显著性检验,建立以体质量的因变量(Y),以全长(X1)、头长(X5)、头高(X7)、眼径(X10)和眼后头长( X15)为自变量的多元回归方程：Y=-30.650+2.534 X1+2.012 X5+2.019 X7+8.716 X10+4.120 X15,经回归预测结果显示估计值与实际值间的差异不显著(P>0.05)。[结论]该方程可用于长鳍吻鮈实际生产中,为长鳍吻鮈选中提供理论依据和测量指标。     

Presence of lateral eye lens crystallins in the median eye of the american chameleon

With the use of immunofluorescence techniques, gamma globulin antibody specific for the crystallins of Anolis carolinensis lateral eye lens was applied to sections through the median (parapineal) eye of Anolis carolinensis. Only the median eye lens exhibited fluorescence specific for the crystallins; other structures were negative. These results indicate that the lens of the reptilean median eye shares tissue-specific antigenic determinants with the lens of the lateral eye. This suggests a possible evolutionary relation between the two structures, based on biochemical, as well as previously reported anatomical, criteria.     

Galactokinase: evidence for a new racial polymorphism

Activities of galactokinase and galactose-1-phosphate uridyltransferase in red cells were assayed in a mixed racial population of 645 pregnant women. The distribution of individual transferase activities for black subjects was the same as that for whites. In contrast, the distributions of individual galactokinase activities differed significantly in blacks and whites, the mean for the black population being 30 percent lower than the mean for the white population. The same racial difference was found when red cell galactokinase activity was examined in males and in newborns. Because low-, intermediate-, and high-galactokinase activities appear to segregate within several black families, this observed difference suggests a new, racially determined enzyme polymorphism.     

Vasopressin and oxytocin excite distinct neuronal populations in the central amygdala

Vasopressin and oxytocin strongly modulate autonomic fear responses, through mechanisms that are still unclear. We describe how these neuropeptides excite distinct neuronal populations in the central amygdala, which provides the major output of the amygdaloid complex to the autonomic nervous system. We identified these two neuronal populations as part of an inhibitory network, through which vasopressin and oxytocin modulate the integration of excitatory information from the basolateral amygdala and cerebral cortex in opposite manners. Through this network, the expression and endogenous activation of vasopressin and oxytocin receptors may regulate the autonomic expression of fear.     

桂花OfCCD1基因启动子克隆与表达特性

类胡萝卜素裂解双加氧酶（CCDs）参与植物中多种类胡萝卜素的代谢,在桂花Osmanthus fragrans中类胡萝卜素裂解双加氧酶基因1（OfCCD1）对花香物质的合成具有重要作用。根据前期获得的桂花‘堰虹桂’O.fragrans ‘Yanhong Gui’转录组数据库中OfCCD1的序列和前人已发表的OfCCD1序列设计引物,利用染色体步移技术从桂花基因组DNA中扩增获得OfCCD1基因2个拷贝的启动子序列OfCCD1P-L和OfCCD1P-S,其长度分别为2 747 bp和981 bp。2个启动子序列中均含有参与光响应的元件,热激响应元件（HSE）,脱落酸（ABA）响应元件（ABRE）和乙烯响应元件;此外,2个启动子中均含有4个ACGT序列。将2个启动子序列分别替代pBI121上的35 S启动子,将构建的载体通过农杆菌Agrobacterium tumefaciens介导转化烟草Nicotiana tabacum叶片进行瞬时表达,发现2个启动子都具有驱动GUS报告基因表达的功能。     

Encoding predictive reward value in human amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex

Adaptive behavior is optimized in organisms that maintain flexible representations of the value of sensory-predictive cues. To identify central representations of predictive reward value in humans, we used reinforcer devaluation while measuring neural activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging. We presented two arbitrary visual stimuli, both before and after olfactory devaluation, in a paradigm of appetitive conditioning. In amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex, responses evoked by a predictive target stimulus were decreased after devaluation, whereas responses to the nondevalued stimulus were maintained. Thus, differential activity in amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex encodes the current value of reward representations accessible to predictive cues.     

Pattern formation and shape changes in self-oscillating polymer gels

We developed an efficient model for responsive gels that captures large-scale, two-dimensional (2D) deformations and chemical reactions within a swollen polymer network. The 2D calculations allowed us to probe not only volume changes but also changes in sample shape. By focusing on gels undergoing the oscillatory Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction, we observed traveling waves of local swelling that form a rich variety of dynamic patterns and give rise to distinctive oscillations in the gel's shape. The observed patterns depend critically on the gel's dimensions. The approach provides a useful computational tool for probing the dynamics of chemomechanical processes and uncovering morphological transformations in responsive gels.     

Discharge of frontal eye field neurons during eye movements in unanesthetized monkeys

Single unit activity was recorded from the frontal eye fields (area 8) in unanesthetized monkeys seated in a primate chair with the head restrained. The frontal eye field units were identified by antidromic response to stimulation of the cerebral peduncle. The findings indicate that most of the neurons discharge only after initiation of eye movements. These cells showed steady discharge when the eyes were immobile and oriented in a specific direction.     

Corticosteroid responses to limbic stimulation in man: localization of stimulus sites

Corticosteroids in human plasma and urine increase after amygdala stimulation, and plasma corticosteroids decrease after hippocampus stimulation. Five subjects underwent unilateral temporal lobectomy, and histopathologic localization of electrode sites was attempted. Localization was successful for six sites: three in basolateral amygdala and three in hippocampus.     

Color defect and color theory; studies of normal and colorblind persons,including a subject color-blind in one eye but not in the other

It is important to find answers to two questions concerning the visual discriminations of dichromatic persons, especially deuteranopes: (i) Do such persons show a loss of sensitivity to various wavelengths of the spectrum as compared with normal subjects? (ii) What colors do they see? A number of experiments were performed on the first question. First, luminosity curves were determined on three groups of subjects, consisting respectively of five protanopes, six deuteranopes, and seven normal individuals. As compared with normal subjects, protanopes show a loss of luminosity in the red, whereas deuteranopes show a loss in the blue-to-green region of the spectrum (See 10). Second, we examined the luminosity curves of a subject whose right eye is classifiable (on the basis of color-mixture determinations) as normal and whose left eye is classifiable as dichromatic. (The hue discrimination curve for her dichromatic eye seemed comparable to the curve of the usual deuteranope except in the violet, where it manifested relatively good discrimination.) The luminosity function for this subject's dichromatic eye, determined by data on threshold and flicker, exhibits the same type of luminosity loss in the blue and green regions of the spectrum as was shown by our group of six deuteranopes. Only unilaterally dichromatic subjects can tell us how colors seen by a dichromatic eye appear to a normal eye. In the color-blind eye, our unilaterally dichromatic subject sees wavelengths below and above her neutral ("grey") point (which occurs at 502 mmicro) as, respectively, a blue equivalent to about 470 mmicro and a yellow equivalent to about 570 mmicro in her normal eye. The results on (i) luminosity loss and (ii) the seeing of wavelengths above 502 mmicro as yellow are considered theoretically. The seeing of yellow by deuteranopes and protanopes may be accounted for by an idea based on Leber-Fick transmation theory. It is proposed that the characteristic sensitivities of the red and green receptors become similar while no change takes place in their central brain connections. Losses may be introduced into the transformed sensitivity curves to indicate appropriate degrees of luminosity deficit for deuteranopes and protanopes.     

Eye-head coordination in monkeys: evidence for centrally patterned organization

Eye-head coordination was investigated by recording from the neck and eye muscles in monkeys. The results show that (i) during eye-head turning, neural activity reaches the neck muscles before the eye muscles, and (ii) all agonist neck muscles are activated simultaneously regardless of the initial head position. Since overt movement of the eyes precedes that of the head, it was concluded that the central neural command initiates the eye-head sequence but does not specify its serial order. Furthermore, it was determined that the compensatory eye movement is not initiated centrally but instead is dependent upon reflex activation arising from movement of the head.     

桃NAC家族基因生物信息学分析及其响应低温胁迫的表达特征

NAC(NAM-ATAF1/2-CUC2)是植物特有的具有多种生物功能的一类重要转录因子,在植物应对非生物胁迫、激素信号应答与器官形成中发挥重要作用。为了解桃NAC蛋白(PpNAC)及其在桃低温胁迫过程中的响应,采用生物信息学方法和qRT-PCR系统分析了桃NAC家族基因的成员、结构、功能和低温胁迫下的表达。结果表明,桃NAC家族共有119个成员,命名为PpNAC001~PpNAC119。PpNACs的氨基酸长度在68~862 aa,平均氨基酸长度为352 aa,分子量为7.2~96.1ku,等电点为4.3~9.5。除PpNAC119定位在染色体骨架上之外,其余基因均定位在桃的8条染色体上。基因结构和保守基序分析表明,位于同一亚族的成员基因结构相似,外显子数量和长度基本相同,并且同一亚族中的成员所含motif的种类和排列顺序基本相似,推测同一亚族的成员可能具有相同的功能,而不同亚族之间的差异可能与他们的功能特异性有关。对PpNACs蛋白启动子区2 000 bp的序列进行顺式作用元件分析,结果表明,脱落酸响应原件、光响应原件、茉莉酸甲酯响应原件、赤霉素响应原件、低温响应原件和生长素响应原件在筛选到的所有原件中占比较大。qRT-PCR结果显示,在4 ℃低温胁迫2、6 h,部分基因表达量上调不明显;低温胁迫12 h,16个NAC基因的表达量均显著上调。