Neuronal circuits: an evolutionary perspective

To understand neural circuits completely, it is necessary to know not only how they work, but also why they work that way. Answers to the latter question have been almost teleological in their assumption of optimal design. However, close examination of certain systems has revealed features that apparently lack adaptive value. Their existence can be understood only if the evolution of these circuits is considered and, in particular, how nonadaptive determinants have guided that evoluton.     

Fission power: an evolutionary strategy

Motivated by concerns about the difficulty of safeguarding the large flows of plutonium in a breeder reactor fuel cycle, we explore the resource and economic implications of a strategy in which there is no nuclear weapons-usable material in fresh reactor fuel. The strategy involves the deployment of already developed types of advanced converter reactors which, unlike the breeder, can be operated effectively on proliferation-resistant once-through fuel cycles. Advanced converter reactors could be much more uranium-efficient on once-through fuel cycles than current systems and therefore could compete economically with breeders up to very high uranium prices. If necessary, the uranium requirements of an advanced converter reactor system could be reduced much further with the recycling of isotopically denatured uranium, but any commitment to a closed fuel cycle would be unnecessary for many decades.     

Sentence perception as an interactive parallel process

The restoration of disrupted words to their original form in a sentence shadowing task is dependent upon semantic and syntactic context variables, thus demonstrating an on-line interaction between the structural and the lexical and phonetic levels of sentence processing.     

Buffered tree population changes in a quaternary refugium: evolutionary implications

A high-resolution pollen record from western Greece shows that the amplitude of millennial-scale oscillations in tree abundance during the last glacial period was subdued, with temperate tree populations surviving throughout the interval. This provides evidence for the existence of an area of relative ecological stability, reflecting the influence of continued moisture availability and varied topography. Long-term buffering of populations from climatic extremes, together with genetic isolation at such refugial sites, may have allowed lineage divergence to proceed through the Quaternary. Such ecologically stable areas may be critical not only for the long-term survival of species, but also for the emergence of new ones.     

Skin color and nutrient photolysis: an evolutionary hypothesis

Human populations native to areas of intense sunlight tend to be heavily melanized. Previous explanations for this relationship have invoked only weak selective pressures. To test the hypothesis that dark pigmentation may protect against photolysis of crucial light-sensitive vitamins and metabolites by ultraviolet light, folate was used as a model. It was found that exposure of human plasma in vitro to simulated strong sunlight causes 30 to 50 percent loss of folate within 60 minutes. Furthermore, light-skinned patients exposed to ultraviolet light for dermatologic disorders have abnormally low serum folate concentrations, suggesting that photolysis may also occur in vivo. Deficiency of folate, which occurs in many marginally nourished populations, causes severe anemia, fetal wastage, frank infertility, and maternal mortality. Prevention of ultraviolet photolysis of folate and other light sensitive nutrients by dark skin may be sufficient explanation for the maintenance of this characteristic in human groups indigenous to regions of intense solar radiation.     

Eukaryotes versus prokaryotes: an estimate of evolutionary distance

The divergence of nucleated organisms and bacteria was 2.6 times more remote in evolution than the divergences of the nucleated organisms into sparate kingdoms, as evidenced by genetic changes in cytochrome c and transfer RNA. The development of the genetic code through the differentiation of transfer RNA's for different amino acids was still more remote in evolution. The overall states of transfer RNA evolution in bacteria and nucleated organisms were comparable.     

放流前的大麻哈鱼消化系统发生发育的组织学研究

采用形态学观察与连续组织切片技术,对放流前的大麻哈鱼Oncorhynchus keta胚胎期（水温为8～10℃）和胚后期（水温为9～11℃）消化系统的发生发育进行观察和研究。结果表明：大麻哈鱼受精后第16天形成原始的消化管及致密的小肝细胞团;受精后第18天V型胃及口裂雏型形成,胰细胞出现;受精后第25天,肛门形成,消化道贯通;受精后第38天V型胃及胆囊发育形成;受精后第50天幽门盲囊出现;受精后第60天鱼体破膜,口能自由闭合,上、下颌及舌部出现早期齿,原始的胃腺细胞出现。破膜后第10天,消化道初步形成口咽腔、食道、V型胃、肠、肛门和幽门盲囊,仔鱼消化系统初步具备了摄食和消化外源性食物的能力;破膜后第70天,卵黄完全被吸收,各消化器官和结构逐步发育。此后随着鱼体的生长,消化器官逐步发育成熟,结构和功能逐渐完善。     

油料作物种子形成及老化过程中的生理生化变化

油料作物种子形成过程首先是积累糖、淀粉,接着大量形成脂肪、蛋白质等,从糖类的积累转入脂肪积累伴随着EMP和HMP两条途径;主要物质的合成和积累速率与各自相关调控酶活性变化基本一致。种子老化能导致种子活力下降,影响发芽出苗、植株生长发育和产量、品质。抗氧化相关酶活力下降,质膜过氧化作用及其产物增加,导致膜结构和功能受损,内溶物质外渗,有害物质积累,代谢作用紊乱,是种子老化、活力丧失的生理因素。本文提出了油料作物种子形成及老化过程生理生化研究中存在的不足及今后的重点。     

树木年轮所标志的气候演变过程的动力学特征

对华山地区1544-1989年共446年的5-6月降雨量代用资料树木年轮非线性系统时间序列进行 了动力系统特征的分析。结果表明,代用资料树轮时间序列是非线性系统的混沌时间序列,混沌吸引子在时滞参数 为9,嵌入维数为3的重构向量空间中恰好打开。其Kolmogorov熵为0．032,表明华山地区现在5-6月降雨量的 大小对将来5-6月的降雨量有一定影响。Hurst指数为0．555 6,说明华山地区5-6月降水量时间序列的突变性 不强,即该时间序列具有持久性。     

太平洋鳕仔鱼消化系统发育形态学和组织学观察

采用切片技术和光学显微镜对1~50日龄太平洋鳕Gadus macrocephalus仔鱼的消化系统进行组织学和形态学观察。结果表明:初孵仔鱼消化系统基本没有分化,口和肛门尚未与外界相通,可见肝脏和胰脏;3日龄时,口裂形成,肠道开始分化;6日龄时,消化道已经分化出口咽腔、食道、胃前体、肠和直肠,上下颌可张合,初步具备摄食能力;12日龄时,卵黄囊完全消失,肠道皱褶和黏液细胞数量逐渐增多,消化系统逐渐发育完成,营外源性营养;仔鱼发育至47日龄时,肠道呈螺旋状,消化器官和消化腺趋于完善,接近成鱼。本研究可为太平洋鳕苗种的科学管理和营养饲料学方面的深入研究提供理论依据。     

Humans as the world's greatest evolutionary force

In addition to altering global ecology, technology and human population growth also affect evolutionary trajectories, dramatically accelerating evolutionary change in other species, especially in commercially important, pest, and disease organisms. Such changes are apparent in antibiotic and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) resistance to drugs, plant and insect resistance to pesticides, rapid changes in invasive species, life-history change in commercial fisheries, and pest adaptation to biological engineering products. This accelerated evolution costs at least $33 billion to $50 billion a year in the United States. Slowing and controlling arms races in disease and pest management have been successful in diverse ecological and economic systems, illustrating how applied evolutionary principles can help reduce the impact of humankind on evolution.     

Brain hyaluronidase: changes in activity during chick development

Development of embryonic chick brain is characterized by high levels of hyaluronidase activity and of hyaluronate, both of which decrease rapidly soon after the chick hatches. By analogy to other systems, it is proposed that the sequence of hyaluronate production and its enzymatic removal may have a developmental role in brain formation.