Światowa produktywność badań w dziedzinie endokrynologii i metabolizmu — analiza bibliometryczna

  Introduction: Recently, significant contributions to the study of endocrinology and metabolism have been made. The national contribution, however, has not been reported. The aim of this study was to assess national efforts in the field of endocrinology and metabolism. Material and methods: A Web of Science search was performed using subject categories “endocrinology & metabolism” to identify articles published from 2010 to 2014. The total and per capita numbers of articles and citations were analysed for different countries. Results: A total of 79,394 articles were published on endocrinology and metabolism from 2010 to 2014. Most were published in North America, East Asia, and Europe. The majority (82.28%) were reported by authors in high-income countries, 17.64% were published in middle-income countries, and only 0.08% were published in low-income countries. Authors in the United States published the most articles (27.38%), followed by China (7.22%), Italy (5.70%), the United Kingdom (5.6%), and Japan (5.54%). Articles published by authors in the United States had the most citations (260,934). A positive correlation was found between the number of publications and population/gross domestic product (GDP; p < 0.01). When normalised to population size, the ranking for the most publications was Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands; when normalised to GDP, the ranking was Denmark, Greece, and the Netherlands. Conclusions: The majority of endocrinology and metabolism articles were published by authors from high-income countries with few from low-income countries. The United States was the most productive country. However, when population size and GDP were considered, some European countries were ranked higher. (Endokrynol Pol 2015; 66 (5): 434–442)    Wstęp: Ostatnio pojawiło się wiele znaczących publikacji na temat badań z dziedziny endokrynologii i metabolizmu. Narodowy wkład na tym polu został jednak pominięty. Celem niniejszego badania była ocena krajowych badań w dziedzinie endokrynologii i metabolizmu. Materiał i metody: Wyszukiwanie za pomocą Web of Science przeprowadzono z wykorzystaniem kategorii podmiotowych „endokrynologia i metabolizm”, aby zidentyfikować artykuły opublikowane w latach 2010–2014. Analizie poddano łączną liczbę artykułów i cytowań, a także ich liczbę przypadającą na osobę w odniesieniu do różnych krajów. Wyniki: W latach 2010–2014 opublikowano łącznie 79 394 artykułów na temat endokrynologii i metabolizmu. Większość artykułów pochodziła z Ameryki Północnej, Azji Wschodniej i Europy. Większość artykułów (82,28%) napisali autorzy z krajów o wysokich dochodach, 17,64% opublikowano w krajach średnio zamożnych, a jedynie 0,08% artykułów opublikowano w krajach o niskich dochodach. Najwięcej artykułów publikowali autorzy ze Stanów Zjednoczonych (27,38%), następnie z Chin (7,22%), Włoch (5,70%), Wielkiej Brytanii (5,6%) i Japonii (5,54%). Prace publikowane przez amerykańskich autorów zawierały największą liczbę cytowań (260 934). Stwierdzono pozytywny związek między liczbą publikacji i populacją/produktem krajowym brutto (PKB; p < 0,01). Po unormalizowaniu do liczebności populacji, w rankingu krajów o najwyższej liczbie publikacji znalazły się Dania, Szwecja oraz Holandia. Gdy znormalizowano wyniki pod względem PKB, w rankingu znalazły się Dania, Grecja oraz Holandia. Wnioski: Większość artykułów z dziedziny endokrynologii i metabolizmu została opublikowana przez autorów z krajów o wysokich dochodach; w krajach o niskich dochodach ukazało się niewiele artykułów. Stany Zjednoczone wykazały największą produktywność, jednak kiedy brano pod uwagę liczebność populacji i PKB, niektóre kraje europejskie zajmowały wyższą pozycję. (Endokrynol Pol 2015; 66 (5): 434–442)

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

The Flat Central Configurations of Four Planet Motions 1)

Abstract. The flat central configurations of four planet motions is considered by using Wu Elimination (the Char-set method) in this paper. We obtain 12 collinear central configurations. Obtain a necessary condition for determining flat but non-collinear central configurations. And deduce that in general there are finitely many flat central configurations determined by their masses and their angular velocity

Design of High Altitude Propeller Using Multilevel Optimization

An improved D'Angelo optimization framework based on the surrogate model and optimization algorithm is proposed to design and optimize a new high altitude propeller which is applied to the propulsion system of the stratospheric aircraft. The framework adopts a multilevel optimization strategy to determine a high efficiency and light weight propeller. The aerodynamic characteristics of S1223 airfoil are calculated by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method. The aerodynamic performance of the D'Angelo propeller which is obtained by the first-level optimization is predicted by Blade element momentum (BEM) theory. Then the D'Angelo propeller chord and twist angle, which are regarded as the initial conditions of the second-level optimization, are optimized to achieve the maximum efficiency by Multi-island genetic algorithm (MIGA). In addition, the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II) is applied to maximize the propeller efficiency and minimize the propeller weight. And the Pareto frontier solutions about the efficiency and the blade area are obtained by NSGA-II. What is more, the aerodynamic characteristics of the D'Angelo propeller, the optimization propeller by MIGA, and the optimization propeller by NSGA-II are calculated by CFD simulation and compared with BEM results. It is shown that the CFD results are in fair agreement with BEM results and the aerodynamic performance of the NSGA-II propeller is prior to the MIGA propeller and is close to the D'Angelo propeller. Besides, the NSGA-II propeller is the lightest among them and can satisfy the cruise requirements of the high altitude propeller

Characterization of the complete chloroplast genome of a hybrid species Cymbidium tracyanum var ‘huanghua’ × Cymbidium faberi cv ‘huanghui’

Cymbidium tracyanumvar ‘huanghua’ × Cymbidium fabericv ‘huanghui’ is a hybrid species with important ornamental value. In the research, Illumina high-throughput sequencing technologies was used to sequence the chloroplastic genome of Cymbidium tracyanumvar ‘huanghua’ × C. fabericv ‘huanghui’. The genome features of Cymbidium tracyanumvar ‘huanghua’ × C. fabericv ‘huanghui’ and the phylogenetic relationships were reported and established. The total length of the complete chloroplast genome is 154,741 bp, consisting of a pair of inverse duplication regions 26,968 bp, a large single-copy region 84,410 bp and a small single-copy region 16,395 bp. The complete genome contains 73 protein-coding genes (PCGs), The entire genome contains 73 genes that encode proteins, 30 tRNA genes and 4 rRNA genes. The phylogenetic tree revealed that Cymbidium tracyanumvar ‘huanghua’ × C. fabericv ‘huanghui’ is more closely related to Cymbidium erythraeum

Characterization of the complete chloroplast genome of the endangered Chinese species Cymbidium lowianum (Rchb.f.) Rchb.f.

Cymbidium lowianum (Rchb.f.) Rchb.f. is a Class I endangered species in China with important ornamental, economic, and breeding value, especially wild C. lowianum. This study used Illumina high-throughput sequencing technologies to sequence and analyze the complete chloroplast genome of C. lowianum. The genome features of C. lowianum and the phylogenetic relationships among Orchidaceae species were reported and established. The complete chloroplast genome is 155,447 bp long, consisting of a pair of inverse duplication regions that are 26,710 bp long, a large single-copy region of 84,184 bp, and a small single-copy region of 17,843 bp. The entire genome contains 74 mRNA genes, 30 tRNA genes, and 4 rRNA genes. The phylogenetic tree of 24 Orchidaceae species revealed Cymbidium lowianum is more closely related to Cymbidium erythraeum

Different Donor Cell Culture Methods Can Influence the Developmental Ability of Cloned Sheep Embryos.

It was proposed that arresting nuclear donor cells in G0/G1 phase facilitates the development of embryos that are derived from somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Full confluency or serum starvation is commonly used to arrest in vitro cultured somatic cells in G0/G1 phase. However, it is controversial as to whether these two methods have the same efficiency in arresting somatic cells in G0/G1 phase. Moreover, it is unclear whether the cloned embryos have comparable developmental ability after somatic cells are subjected to one of these methods and then used as nuclear donors in SCNT. In the present study, in vitro cultured sheep skin fibroblasts were divided into four groups: (1) cultured to 70-80% confluency (control group), (2) cultured to full confluency, (3) starved in low serum medium for 4 d, or (4) cultured to full confluency and then further starved for 4 d. Flow cytometry was used to assay the percentage of fibroblasts in G0/G1 phase, and cell counting was used to assay the viability of the fibroblasts. Then, real-time reverse transcription PCR was used to determine the levels of expression of several cell cycle-related genes. Subsequently, the four groups of fibroblasts were separately used as nuclear donors in SCNT, and the developmental ability and the quality of the cloned embryos were compared. The results showed that the percentage of fibroblasts in G0/G1 phase, the viability of fibroblasts, and the expression levels of cell cycle-related genes was different among the four groups of fibroblasts. Moreover, the quality of the cloned embryos was comparable after these four groups of fibroblasts were separately used as nuclear donors in SCNT. However, cloned embryos derived from fibroblasts that were cultured to full confluency combined with serum starvation had the highest developmental ability. The results of the present study indicate that there are synergistic effects of full confluency and serum starvation on arresting fibroblasts in G0/G1 phase, and the short-term treatment of nuclear donor cells with these two methods could improve the efficiency of SCNT