Livestock Browsing,Not Water Limitations,Contributes to Recruitment Failure of Dobera glabra in Semiarid Ethiopia

The study used nursery and field experiments to investigate why recruitment of Dobera glabra (Forssk) Poir., a native food source for both humans and livestock, often fails in the semiarid rangelands of Afar, Ethiopia. We hypothesized that soil water limitations and browsing by livestock would be the primary mechanisms accounting for the failure of natural regeneration. We used three sets of experiments—1) seedling performance in response to shade and watering in a nursery, 2) field regeneration with and without browsing, and 3) regeneration beneath trees with and without browsing—to examine regeneration success. Seedlings were established in plots from seeds sown directly into the soil for nursery and field experiments, but natural germination occurred beneath trees. Survival and relative growth rates (RGR) were used to monitor seedling performance. Seedlings that received neither shade nor watering treatments had lower seedling survival (53 ± 15%) as compared with other treatment combinations. Highest seedling survival was recorded under shade and 1 d watering s wk^-1 treatment combinations (92 ± 1%). However, shade treatments had a minimal increase on seedling RGR. Water limitation is not a crucial limiting factor for D. glabra recruitment, as 53% of the seedlings survived without both shade and supplemental water for 1 yr. Field experiments, however, demonstrated that browsing greatly reduced seedling survival (below 15%) and suppressed growth of surviving seedlings, suggesting that browsing is the major factor preventing natural recruitment. Natural recruitment of D. glabra is unlikely with the existing continuous and intensive grazing/browsing in Afar rangelands, where the mobility of pastoralists is restricted. We suggest that planting nursery-raised seedlings in home gardens of settled pastoralists and establishment of grazing reserves in some key range sites that contain D. glabra could help offset the recruitment failure of native food species D. glabra in Afar rangelands.     

Vaccination of calves with Mycobacteria bovis Bacilli Calmete Guerin (BCG) induced rapid increase in the proportion of peripheral blood γδ T cells

Changes in the proportion of peripheral blood T cell subsets after subcutaneous inoculation of cattle with Mycobacterium bovis Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) were studied. Calves were injected with approximately 8 × 10⁶ BCG bacillus and blood samples collected at weekly intervals for flow-cytometric analyses to determine the proportion of CD4⁺, CD8⁺ and γδ T cells. In addition, whole blood samples were stimulated in vitro with M. bovis purified protein derivative (PPD) and the secreted IFN-γ quantified by ELISA. Results showed cellular and cytokine changes which could be categorized into three phases. The first phase occurred within the first 2 weeks after vaccination involving an increase in proportion of WC1⁺ γδ T cells and a concomitant increase in the secretion of IFN-γ. These two responses peaked at 2 weeks and waned thereafter. The second phase involved an increase in the CD4/CD8 ratio as a result of an increase in the proportion of CD4⁺ T cells between 4 and 6 weeks. The third phase involved a decrease in the CD4/CD8 ratio due to an increase in the proportion of CD8⁺ T cells between 8 and 10 weeks. Surprisingly, the IFN-γ response was associated with changes in the γδ rather than the CD4⁺ or CD8⁺ T cells, suggesting that this cytokine was secreted by γδ-T cells. These results are consistent with the reported ability of γδ T cells to act rapidly and bridging the innate and classically adaptive immune responses.     

食品科学与工程专业导论课程的构建与实践

通过开设专业导论课,探索大学新生中普遍存在的学习动力不足和学习适应困难问题的解决途径。分析了专业导论课的现状和开设课程的目的、意义,构建了食品专业导论课的课程体系,并对教师选择、教学方式、教学重点、重点内容剖析方法、课程定位、教材建设等教学实践中的关键问题作了分析总结,提出了18个字"是什么、学什么、为什么、怎么样、怎样学、干什么"(关键是9个字"学什么,为什么,怎样学")教学的基本思路。     

Genetic variation among and within populations of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cordia africana</Emphasis> in seed size and germination responses to constant temperatures

Cordia africana Lam. is a commercial timber species that grows naturally throughout sub-Saharan Africa and tropical Arabia. At present very little is known about genetic variation in this species and baseline information is needed to initiate improvement programs in Ethiopia. Thus, the objectives of the study were to quantify the inter- and intra-population variations in seed size traits and germination responses to different constant temperature regimes. Seeds were collected from 30 open-pollinated families within each of the five populations representing the natural distribution of the species in Ethiopia. To examine seed size variations, seed length, seed width, and 1,000-seed weight were quantified. Inter- and intra-population variations in seed germination were investigated under different constant temperature regimes from 20 to 35°C in climate chambers. Significant variations in seed length, width and weight were detected both at inter- and intra-population levels, and family heritabilities of 0.63–0.76 showed that much of the phenotypic variation in seed size traits were additive genetic variation. Significant variation in germination was also found among and within populations as well as between the different constant temperature regimes. Generally the variation in germination was considerably higher within population than between populations. The optimal temperature for germination of C. africana seeds was 25–30°C with family heritabilities for germination ranging between 0.20 and 0.33, depending on the germination temperature.     

Ultrafiltration and Ionic Exchange Purification of ACE Inhibitory Peptides from Hydrolysate of Porphyra yezoensis Protein

对条斑紫菜ACEI抑制肽进行了超滤分离和离子交换纯化的试验研究.先后采用截留分子量分别为10 kDa和3 kDa的超滤膜对条斑紫菜ACEI抑制肽超滤,分子量小于3 kDa的组分对ACE活性抑制最高,多肽的IC50值从超滤前的0.844 mg/mL下降到0.523 mg/mL.南开D61阳离子树脂对分子量小于3 kDa的ACEI抑制肽组分吸附率最大,用不同浓度氨水阶梯洗脱,得到第2个洗脱峰的蛋白回收率和活性回收率最高,分别为45.2％和61.5％,其IC50值最低,为0.127 mg/mL,比纯化前下降了75.7％.     

No evidence for avoidance of black rat scent by the presumably less competitive Natal multimammate mouse in a choice experiment

In Africa, indigenous multimammate mice (Mastomys natalensis) only appear to live commensally in houses when invasive black rats (Rattus rattus) are absent, yet little is known about the underlying mechanism. Avoidance through smell may cause the absence of M. natalensis from areas occupied by R. rattus, but this hypothesis has not yet been tested. We conducted a Y-maze choice experiment where 15 M. natalensis were offered a choice between corridors containing conspecific scent, R. rattus scent and a control scent. Residence time in the R. rattus corridor was greater than that in the control corridor but equal to that in the M. natalensis corridor, suggesting that multimammate mice do not actively avoid the scent of their invasive competitor.     

Comparison of different testing schemes to increase the detection <Emphasis Type="Italic">Mycobacterium bovis</Emphasis> infection in Ethiopian cattle

Host immune responses to Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) infection are variable at the different severity stages of pathology of the disease. In countries like Ethiopia, where routine screening of bovine TB is not undertaken, the use of tests which measure cellular and antibody responses may help for the maximum detection of infection. In the present study, 701 cattle were tested for bovine tuberculosis (BTB) using comparative intradermal tuberculin (CIDT) test, interferon (IFN)-γ test, and lateral flow assay. The apparent prevalence was 32% when all the three tests were used, but varied from 23 to 25% when a pair of tests was used and from 9% to 15% when a single test was used. Agreement was observed between CIDT and IFN-γ tests both at a cut-off >2 mm (Kappa ± standard Error, k ± SE, 0.129 ± 0.045; 95%CI = 0.041,0.216) and a cut-off >4 mm (k ± SE, 0.094 ± 0.044, 95%CI = 0.008,0.179) while no agreement was observed either between CIDT test and lateral flow assay (k ± SE, −0.04 ± 0.033; 95%CI = −0.104,0.024) or between IFN-γ tests and lateral flow assay (k ± SE, −0.031 ± 0.032; 95% CI = −0.093,0.031). Thus, the use of more than one test leads to the detection of the maximum number of infected animals.     

High-flux solar-driven thermochemical dissociation of CO2 and H2O using nonstoichiometric ceria

Because solar energy is available in large excess relative to current rates of energy consumption, effective conversion of this renewable yet intermittent resource into a transportable and dispatchable chemical fuel may ensure the goal of a sustainable energy future. However, low conversion efficiencies, particularly with CO(2) reduction, as well as utilization of precious materials have limited the practical generation of solar fuels. By using a solar cavity-receiver reactor, we combined the oxygen uptake and release capacity of cerium oxide and facile catalysis at elevated temperatures to thermochemically dissociate CO(2) and H(2)O, yielding CO and H(2), respectively. Stable and rapid generation of fuel was demonstrated over 500 cycles. Solar-to-fuel efficiencies of 0.7 to 0.8% were achieved and shown to be largely limited by the system scale and design rather than by chemistry.     

超声复合酸处理促进花生分离蛋白的亚基解离

为了改善蛋白质的功能特性,该研究分析了超声复合酸处理对花生分离蛋白的溶解性、紫外光谱、荧光光谱、二级结构及纳米结构等的影响,并探讨不同处理条件下蛋白聚集体结构变化的机理。结果表明,超声作用可以明显促进花生分离蛋白的不溶性聚集体向可溶性聚集体转变,单独超声及超声复合酸处理使其溶解度相对于对照分别增加了12.9%和15.3%（P<0.05）;电泳、紫外和荧光光谱表明,超声和酸作用均有助于亚基解离及蛋白质结构展开,从而促进更多的酪氨酸、色氨酸和苯丙氨酸等疏水性基团暴露;圆二色谱分析显示,与对照相比,在超声复合酸处理使花生分离蛋白的a-螺旋增加21.9%,β-折叠减少3.6%,无规则卷曲增加1.8%（P<0.05）;纳米结构表明,超声复合酸处理最大程度地降低了花生分离蛋白的颗粒大小。该研究证实,在酸性条件下进行超声处理,能显著促进花生分离蛋白的亚基解离和结构展开。该研究为后期蛋白亚基重新相互作用形成不同功能的改性蛋白提供参考。