Grasping primate origins     

Bloch JI  Boyer DM 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》2002,298(5598):1606-1610

The evolutionary history that led to Eocene-and-later primates of modern aspect (Euprimates) has been uncertain. We describe a skeleton of Paleocene plesiadapiform Carpolestes simpsoni that includes most of the skull and many postcranial bones. Phylogenetic analyses indicate that Carpolestidae are closely related to Euprimates. C. simpsoni had long fingers and an opposable hallux with a nail. It lacked orbital convergence and an ankle specialized for leaping. We infer that the ancestor of Euprimates was primitively an arboreal grasper adapted for terminal branch feeding rather than a specialized leaper or visually directed predator.  相似文献   

Risks of genetically engineered crops     

Gurian-Sherman D 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》2003,301(5641):1845; author reply 1845

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Field Scale Mapping of Surface Soil Clay Concentration     

Chen  Feng  Kissel  David E.  West  Larry T.  Adkins  W.  Clark  Rex  Rickman  Doug  Luvall  J. C. 《Precision Agriculture》2004,5(1):7-26

The surface soil clay concentration is a useful soil property to map soils, interpret soil properties, and guide irrigation, fertilizer, and agricultural chemical applications. The objective of this study was to determine whether surface soil clay concentrations could be predicted from remotely sensed imagery of bare surface soil or from soil electrical conductivity for a 115 ha field located in Crisp County, Georgia. The soil clay concentrations were determined for soil samples taken at 28 field locations. Three different data sources–an aerial color photograph image, two infrared bands from an ATLAS data set, and the electrical conductivity of the surface soil layer were used in the research. Principal components analysis was applied to the color photograph image, whereas the ratio of two infrared bands was applied to the ATLAS data set. Filtering was applied to both resulting images. The distribution of soil electrical conductivity was derived from the measured soil electrical conductivity data by spatial analysis. Statistical relationships between soil clay concentrations and the principal component 3, the ratio of two ATLAS infrared bands, and the soil electrical conductivity were analyzed, and three linear equations were derived with r ² values 0.83, 0.52, and 0.78, respectively. The distribution of the soil clay concentrations was derived based on these three equations. Six levels of soil clay concentrations were classified in these three methods, and the advantages and disadvantages were discussed. The predicted and measured soil clay concentrations, based on additional soil samples from 30 field locations, were compared using linear regression (r ²=0.76, 0.45, and 0.77 for the three methods). The overall accuracy for these methods were 84%, 66%, and 76%, respectively. The principal components method had the highest accuracy in our research, while the result for the depressional areas is the best from the ratio method.  相似文献   

Improved surface temperature prediction for the coming decade from a global climate model   总被引：9，自引：0，他引：9  

Smith DM  Cusack S  Colman AW  Folland CK  Harris GR  Murphy JM 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》2007,317(5839):796-799

Previous climate model projections of climate change accounted for external forcing from natural and anthropogenic sources but did not attempt to predict internally generated natural variability. We present a new modeling system that predicts both internal variability and externally forced changes and hence forecasts surface temperature with substantially improved skill throughout a decade, both globally and in many regions. Our system predicts that internal variability will partially offset the anthropogenic global warming signal for the next few years. However, climate will continue to warm, with at least half of the years after 2009 predicted to exceed the warmest year currently on record.  相似文献   

Identification of fonofos metabolites in Latuca sativa, Beta vulgaris, and Triticum aestivum by packed capillary flow fast atom bombardment tandem mass spectrometry     

Onisko BC  Tambling DR  Gorder GW  Diaz DG  Ericson JL  Prisbylla MP  Spillner CJ 《Journal of agricultural and food chemistry》2002,50(7):1922-1928

The metabolism of fonofos, a thiophosphonate insecticide, was investigated in mature lettuce (Latuca sativa), beet (Beta vulgaris), and wheat (Triticum aestivum). Six new metabolites were identified by LC-MS and LC-MS-MS analysis using fast atom bombardment (FAB) and packed capillary LC columns with application of the on-column focusing technique. These methods provided the sensitivity required to identify unknown metabolites that were present in the mature plants at only 20-230 ppb. Structural elucidation was facilitated by use of fonofos labeled with both carbon-14 and carbon-13 in the phenyl ring. In all three plants fonofos was converted to a glucose conjugate of thiophenoxylactic acid. Oxidation of the glucose conjugate gave isomeric sulfoxides in all species examined. Thiophenoxylactic acid was found esterified to malonic acid in lettuce. In beets, S-phenylcysteine was found as its malonic acid amide. A second metabolite unique to beets was N-(malonyl)-[2[(ethoxyethylphosphinothionyl)oxy]phenyl]cysteine. This novel structure was confirmed by synthesis.  相似文献   

Conservation science in a terrorist age: the impact of airport security screening on the viability and DNA integrity of frozen felid spermatozoa.     

Kayleen T Gloor  Doug Winget  William F Swanson 《Journal of zoo and wildlife medicine》2006,37(3):327-335

In response to growing terrorism concerns, the Transportation Security Administration now requires that all checked baggage at U.S. airports be scanned through a cabinet x-ray system, which may increase risk of radiation damage to transported biologic samples and other sensitive genetic material. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of these new airport security regulations on the viability and DNA integrity of frozen felid spermatozoa. Semen was collected from two domestic cats (Felis silvestris catus) and one fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus), cryopreserved in plastic freezing straws, and transferred into liquid nitrogen dry shippers for security screening. Treatment groups included frozen samples from each male scanned once or three times using a Transportation Security Administration-operated cabinet x-ray system, in addition to non-scanned samples (i.e., negative control) and samples previously scanned three times and exposed to five additional high-intensity x-ray bursts (i.e., positive control). Dosimeters placed in empty dry shippers were used to quantify radiation exposure. Following treatment, straws were thawed and spermatozoa analyzed for post-thaw motility (percentage motile and rate of progressive movement), acrosome status, and DNA integrity using single-cell gel electrophoresis (i.e., the comet assay). Dosimeter measurements determined that each airport screening procedure produced approximately 16 mrem of radiation exposure. Our results indicated that all levels of radiation exposure adversely affected (P < 0.05) post-thaw sperm motility, but the percentage of acrosome-intact spermatozoa did not differ (P > 0.05) among treatment groups. Results also showed that the amount of double-stranded DNA damage was greater (P < 0.05) in sperm samples from both cat species scanned three times compared to samples scanned once or negative controls. Findings suggest that new airport security measures may cause radiation-induced damage to frozen spermatozoa and other valuable biologic samples transported on passenger aircraft and that alternative modes of sample transportation should be used whenever possible.  相似文献   

Cross Canada Disease Report revisited     

Hare D 《The Canadian veterinary journal. La revue veterinaire canadienne》2005,46(6):481-482

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Prevalence of antibodies to bluetongue virus and Anaplasma marginale in Montana yearling cattle entering Alberta feedlots: Fall 2001          下载免费PDF全文

Van Donkersgoed J  Gertonson A  Bridges M  Raths D  Dargatz D  Wagner B  Boughton A  Knoop D  Walton TE 《The Canadian veterinary journal. La revue veterinaire canadienne》2004,45(6):486-492

A serologic survey was conducted in yearling cattle imported into Alberta feedlots from Montana during October 2001 to estimate the prevalence of antibodies to bluetongue virus (BTV) and Anaplasma marginale in Montana yearling cattle. The apparent prevalence of antibodies to BTV when the competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA) was used was 0.37% (21/5608). Test positive cELISA samples were also all positive when tested by virus neutralization (VN) and they reacted to 1 or more BTV serotypes, including 2, 10, 11, 13, and 17. The apparent prevalence of antibodies to A. marginale when a recombinant cELISA (rcELISA) was used with a positive cutoff at 30% inhibition was 1.93% (108/5608). When the rcELISA positive cutoff was at 42% inhibition, the apparent prevalence was 0.73% (41/5608). After the reported sensitivity and specificity of the test had been accounted for, the A. marginale antibody results were consistent with a population that was either free of exposure or had a very low prevalence for A. marginale.  相似文献   

The criminal code still unchanged as regards animal cruelty          下载免费PDF全文

Hare D 《The Canadian veterinary journal. La revue veterinaire canadienne》2006,47(2):103, 106-103, 107

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Use of and resistance to antimicrobials          下载免费PDF全文

Hare D 《The Canadian veterinary journal. La revue veterinaire canadienne》2006,47(4):305-306

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