Community-based alternative breeding plans for indigenous sheep breeds in four agro-ecological zones of Ethiopia

Based on the results of participatory approaches to define traits in the breeding objectives, four scenarios of ram selection and ram use were compared via deterministic modelling of breeding plans for community-based sheep breeding programmes in four diverse agro-ecological regions of Ethiopia. The regions (and production systems) were Afar (pastoral/agro-pastoral), Bonga and Horro (both mixed crop-livestock) and Menz (sheep-barley). The schemes or scenarios differed in terms of selection intensity and duration of ram use. The predicted genetic gains per year in yearling weight (kilograms) were comparable across the schemes but differed among the breeds and ranged from 0.399 to 0.440 in Afar, 0.813 to 0.894 in Bonga, 0.850 to 0.940 in Horro, and 0.616 to 0.699 in Menz. The genetic gains per year in number of lambs born per ewe bred ranged from 0.009 to 0.010 in both Bonga and Horro. The predicted genetic gain in the proportion of lambs weaned per ewe joined was nearly comparable in all breeds ranging from 0.008 to 0.011. The genetic gain per year in milk yield of Afar breed was in the order of 0.018 to 0.020 kg, while the genetic gain per generation for greasy fleece weight (kg) ranged from 0.016 to 0.024 in Menz. Generally, strong selection and shorter duration of ram use for breeding were the preferred options. The expected genetic gains are satisfactory but largely rely on accurate and continuous pedigree and performance recording.     

Current hypotheses for the evolution of sex and recombination

The evolution of sex is one of the most important and controversial problems in evolutionary biology. Although sex is almost universal in higher animals and plants, its inherent costs have made its maintenance difficult to explain. The most famous of these is the twofold cost of males, which can greatly reduce the fecundity of a sexual population, compared to a population of asexual females. Over the past century, multiple hypotheses, along with experimental evidence to support these, have been put forward to explain widespread costly sex. In this review, we outline some of the most prominent theories, along with the experimental and observational evidence supporting these. Historically, there have been 4 classes of theories: the ability of sex to fix multiple novel advantageous mutants (Fisher-Muller hypothesis); sex as a mechanism to stop the build-up of deleterious mutations in finite populations (Muller's ratchet); recombination creating novel genotypes that can resist infection by parasites (Red Queen hypothesis); and the ability of sex to purge bad genomes if deleterious mutations act synergistically (mutational deterministic hypothesis). Current theoretical and experimental evidence seems to favor the hypothesis that sex breaks down selection interference between new mutants, or it acts as a mechanism to shuffle genotypes in order to repel parasitic invasion. However, there is still a need to collect more data from natural populations and experimental studies, which can be used to test different hypotheses.     

基于斜坡单元的怒江州滑坡易发性研究

开展滑坡易发性分析是制定合理的地质灾害防治规划的基础,对防灾减灾工作具有重要意义。以怒江州为研究区,斜坡单元为评价单元,选取高程、坡度、坡向、NDVI、距河流距离、降雨量、岩性、距断层距离和距道路距离9个因素为评价因子,采用信息量(I)模型、确定性系数(CF)模型以及I-LR、CF-LR耦合模型进行滑坡易发性评价,并对4种模型进行精度验证。结果表明：(1)CF-LR模型中滑坡点落入高、极高易发区占比最大,为88.77%,且滑坡点密度(0.309 2)最大,高于I模型(0.285 4)与CF模型(0.277 6)单一模型;(2)极高、高易发区主要发育于怒江、独龙江、澜沧江和通甸河4条河流一带;中易发区主要分布于研究区东部;低和极低易发区主要分布在研究区的北部、中部以及西部边缘地区;(3)根据基于Sridevi Jadi经验概率法和ROC曲线的结果均表明,CF-LR模型预测精度高于其他3个模型。     

先锋精神：从新诗的民族神话、传说写作 看中国新诗用典出路

研究了多态不确定性环境下的城市垃圾处理问题.在一定假设条件下, 建立了一类固废管理问题的区间模糊优化模型. 提出了区间大小关系可能度算子的公理化定义,并基于这种可能度算子的方法, 对给定的权重系数和置信水平, 推导了原模型的确定型等价类, 从而把区间模糊优化问题转化为普通的线性规划问题求解.将所建立的模型和求解方法用于解决一个实际固废管理问题, 结果证实了该模型及其求解方法的有效性.     

Multi-mycotoxin exposure and risk assessments for Chinese consumption of nuts and dried fruits

In this study, 15 mycotoxins were detected in 233 nut and dried fruit samples from China. The 15 mycotoxins included aflatoxins(AFs: AFB_1, AFB_2, AFG_1 and AFG_2), trichothecene toxins(TCs: T-2, ZEA, ENA, ENA_1, ENB, ENB_1 and BEA), Alternaria toxins(ATs: TEN, AOH and AME) and ochratoxin A(OTA). The mycotoxins were detected in 47.6% of the samples and all 15 of the mycotoxins were found. Two samples were positive for AFB_1 and exceeded the maximum tolerable levels allowed in China. The contamination levels of the mycotoxins found in nuts, dried jujubes, raisins, dried figs and dried longans were in the ranges of 0.1–462.7, 0.2–247.3, 0.8–10.1, 0.2–384.1 and 0.1–89.2 μg kg–1, respectively. Dried figs(80.0%) had the highest incidence of mycotoxins, followed by dried longans(60.0%), dried jujubes(57.1%), nuts(43.6%) and raisins(26.7%). The estimated daily intake(EDI) values of each individual mycotoxin and all of the mycotoxins collectively were calculated by both the deterministic approach(DA) and the probability approach(PA). For risk characterization, dietary exposure to TCs, ATs and OTA through consumption of nuts and dried fruits according to both approaches, showed no health risk to Chinese adults by exposure to either individual mycotoxins or in combination. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work in which risk assessment of multimycotoxins is performed, specifically including the emerging ENNs and BEA, in nuts and dried fruits of China.     

Spatiotemporal evolution and assembly processes of ammonia-oxidizing prokaryotic communities in 1 000-year-old coastal reclaimed soils

Coastal marshes are transitional areas between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. They are sensitive to climate change and anthropogenic activities. In recent decades, the reclamation of coastal marshes has greatly increased, and its effects on microbial communities in coastal marshes have been studied with great interest. Most of these studies have explained the short-term spatiotemporal variation in soil microbial community dynamics. However, the impact of reclamation on the community composition and assembly processes of functional microbes (e.g., ammonia-oxidizing prokaryotes) is often ignored. In this study, using quantitative polymerase chain reaction and the Ion S5^TM XL sequencing platform, we investigated the spatiotemporal dynamics, assembly processes, and diversity patterns of ammonia-oxidizing prokaryotes in 1 000-year-old reclaimed coastal salt marshes. The taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity and composition of ammonia oxidizers showed apparent spatiotemporal variations with soil reclamation. Phylogenetic null modelling-based analysis showed that across all sites, the archaeal ammonia-oxidizing community was assembled by a deterministic process (84.71%), and deterministic processes were also dominant (55.2%) for ammonia-oxidizing bacterial communities except for communities at 60 years of reclamation. The assembly process and nitrification activity in reclaimed soils were positively correlated. The abundance of the amoA gene and changes in ammonia-oxidizing archaeal and bacterial diversities significantly affected the nitrification activity in reclaimed soils. These findings suggest that long-term coastal salt marsh reclamation affects nitrification by modulating the activities of ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms and regulating their community structures and assembly processes. These results provide a better understanding of the effects of long-term land reclamation on soil nitrogen-cycling microbial communities.     

Pesticide residues in food--acute dietary exposure

Consumer risk assessment is a crucial step in the regulatory approval of pesticide use on food crops. Recently, an additional hurdle has been added to the formal consumer risk assessment process with the introduction of short-term intake or exposure assessment and a comparable short-term toxicity reference, the acute reference dose. Exposure to residues during one meal or over one day is important for short-term or acute intake. Exposure in the short term can be substantially higher than average because the consumption of a food on a single occasion can be very large compared with typical long-term or mean consumption and the food may have a much larger residue than average. Furthermore, the residue level in a single unit of a fruit or vegetable may be higher by a factor (defined as the variability factor, which we have shown to be typically x3 for the 97.5th percentile unit) than the average residue in the lot. Available marketplace data and supervised residue trial data are examined in an investigation of the variability of residues in units of fruit and vegetables. A method is described for estimating the 97.5th percentile value from sets of unit residue data. Variability appears to be generally independent of the pesticide, the crop, crop unit size and the residue level. The deposition of pesticide on the individual unit during application is probably the most significant factor. The diets used in the calculations ideally come from individual and household surveys with enough consumers of each specific food to determine large portion sizes. The diets should distinguish the different forms of a food consumed, eg canned, frozen or fresh, because the residue levels associated with the different forms may be quite different. Dietary intakes may be calculated by a deterministic method or a probabilistic method. In the deterministic method the intake is estimated with the assumptions of large portion consumption of a 'high residue' food (high residue in the sense that the pesticide was used at the highest recommended label rate, the crop was harvested at the smallest interval after treatment and the residue in the edible portion was the highest found in any of the supervised trials in line with these use conditions). The deterministic calculation also includes a variability factor for those foods consumed as units (eg apples, carrots) to allow for the elevated residue in some single units which may not be seen in composited samples. In the probabilistic method the distribution of dietary consumption and the distribution of possible residues are combined in repeated probabilistic calculations to yield a distribution of possible residue intakes. Additional information such as percentage commodity treated and combination of residues from multiple commodities may be incorporated into probabilistic calculations. The IUPAC Advisory Committee on Crop Protection Chemistry has made 11 recommendations relating to acute dietary exposure.     

基于点评估方法的渤海湾产区苹果中农药残留膳食暴露风险研究

为评估渤海湾产区苹果中主要农药的残留情况及其产生的风险,在山东、辽宁及河北3个主要省份的150个生产基地进行了苹果样品采集与测定分析,并对我国不同人群的膳食暴露风险进行了评估。结果表明:93.3%的苹果样品检出有低浓度农药残留,经最大残留限量值(MRL)判定后100%合格,82.0%的样品中农药残留种类在3种及以下;共检出17种农药残留,大多为低毒或无毒农药,无禁用和高毒农药。采用点评估方法,选择检出率在20%以上的多菌灵、毒死蜱、啶虫脒和戊唑醇进行不同消费人群暴露点评估。结果显示:4种农药的急性和慢性摄入风险均为儿童高于成年人,绝大多数女性人群的摄入风险高于男性;4种农药急性摄入风险均高于慢性摄入风险,风险水平由高到低为多菌灵毒死蜱戊唑醇啶虫脒,但点评估结果均远低于100%,说明通过食用苹果摄入的农药残留极其微量,不会对人体产生急性或慢性风险。