Genetic variation ofAlnus trabeculosa populations in Japan

Alnus trabeculosa Hand.-Mazz. is classed as “near threatened,” and efforts should be made to conserve the species, but effective action would require understanding of its genetic variation and structure. Therefore, the genetic variation at 12 isozyme loci was examined in seven populations of the species in Japan. The expected heterozygosity within species (H _es=0.222) and the expected heterozygosity within populations (H _ep=0.199) were found to be slightly higher than in most other woody species. The coefficient of genetic differentiation (G _ST=0.146) was also high. The northernmost population had the lowest values for almost all measures of genetic variation, and populations in southern Japan tended to show greater within-population variation than those in northern Japan. The level and distribution of genetic variation in this species might be related to its life history and ecological traits, and distribution history.     

Bow variation in kiln-dried boxed-heart square timber of sugi (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Cryptomeria japonica</Emphasis>) cultivars

To evaluate the bow variation in boxed-heart square timber of sugi (Cryptomeria japonica), bows from kiln-dried timber for five sugi cultivars with different longitudinal shrinkage trends were compared for two stem heights. Two general trends were observed, depending on the cultivar: (1) either the bow was larger at the lower than at the upper part of the stem, or (2) the bows at the lower and the upper parts of the stem were similar. In timber that had larger bow values, the gradients of longitudinal shrinkage were large across the radius and along the length of the timber. There was a positive relationship between the bow and longitudinal shrinkage. These results suggest that the bow variation between the timbers was caused by a variation in longitudinal shrinkage, which was affected by the microfibril angle. Furthermore, the bow was inversely proportional to the modulus of elasticity, which suggests that timber with a low modulus of elasticity is susceptible to a large bow due to large longitudinal shrinkage.     

Application of the Tweedie distribution to zero-catch data in CPUE analysis

We focus on the zero-catch problem of CPUE (catch per unit effort) standardization. Because the traditional CPUE model with a log-normal error structure cannot be applied in this case, three methods have often been utilized as follows:

(1) Ad hoc method adds a small constant value to all response variables.

(2) Catch model with a Poisson or negative-binomial (NB) error structure.

(3) Delta-type two-step method such as the delta-normal model (after estimating the ratio of zero-catch using a logit or probit model, a model such as CPUE log-normal or Catch-Poisson is applied to CPUE without zero-data).

However, there are some statistical problems with each of these methods.In this paper, we carried out the CPUE standardization mainly using the Tweedie distribution model based on the actual by-catch data (silky shark, Carcharhimus falciformis, in the North Pacific Ocean caught by Japanese training vessels) including many observations with zero-catch (>2/3rd) and tuna fishery data as a target (yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares, in the Indian Ocean caught by Japanese commercial vessels) where the ratio of zero-catch is not so high (<1/3rd). The Tweedie model is an extension of compound Poisson model derived from the stochastic process where the weight of the counted objects (i.e., number of fish) has a gamma distribution and has an advantage of handling the zero-catch data in a unified way.We also compared four candidate models, the Catch-NB model, ad hoc method, Delta-lognormal model (delta-type two-step method) and Tweedie distribution, through CPUE analyses of actual fishery data in terms of the statistical performance. Square error and Pearson's correlation coefficient were calculated based on the observed CPUE and the corresponding predicted CPUE using the n-fold cross-validation.As a result, the differences in the trend of CPUE between years and model performance between the ad hoc method and Tweedie model were found to be not so large in the example of yellowfin tuna (target species). However, the statistical performance of Tweedie distribution is rather better than Delta-lognormal model, the Catch-NB distribution and ad hoc method in the example of silky shark (by-catch species). Standardized CPUE year trend of ad hoc method was found to be quite different from that of the Tweedie distribution and other two models. Model performance of the Tweedie distribution is good judging from the 5-fold cross-validation using the fishery data if including many zero-catch data such as by-catch species.     

Identification of putative defense-related genes in Japanese pear against <Emphasis Type="Italic">Alternaria alternata</Emphasis> infection using suppression subtractive hybridization and expression analysis

The Japanese pear pathotype of Alternaria alternata, a toxin-dependent necrotrophic pathogen, causes black spot of Japanese pear by producing the host-specific AK-toxin. Pre-inoculation with nonpathogenic A. alternata or pretreatment with an elicitor prepared from A. alternata reduced disease symptoms caused by the pathogen. Salicylic acid- and jasmonic acid-dependent signaling pathways are not involved in the induced resistance to infection by the pathogen. The expression of multiple defense-related genes in Japanese pear leaves inoculated with nonpathogenic A. alternata was examined using suppression subtractive hybridization. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. The nucleotide sequence data reported are available in the DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank database as accessions DC993229–DC993535.     

The incidence of disseminated intravascular coagulation in dogs with malignant tumor

The incidence of DIC in 208 dogs with a malignant tumor was evaluated. The incidence of DIC was 9.6% in dogs with a malignant tumor which was a solid tumor in all. In 164 dogs with a malignant solid tumor, the incidence of DIC was 12.2%. The incidence of DIC in dogs with hemangiosarcoma, mammary gland carcinoma and adenocarcinoma of the lung was significantly higher than that in dogs with other malignant tumors. These results suggested that special care in looking for DIC should be taken in dogs with a malignant solid tumor.