Tail Waving Speed Affects Territorial Response in the Toad-headed Agama Phrynocephalus vlangalii

Territorial response affects a resident's access to resources and mates, but the response level is likely flexible due to the trade-off between benefits and costs. Residents have to decide the response based on their own quality, resource benefits and intruder threat. Here we examined the association between territorial response and intruder threat using a newly developed 3D animation in male Phrynocephalus vlangalii. Three intruder stimuli (fast tail waving plus tail coil, slow tail waving plus tail coil and tail coil only) were animated based on display characters of real male P. vlangalii, and played to the resident in the field using a within subject design. We found that residents who faced fast tail waving plus tail coil displays more often emerged from their burrows compared with those faced slow tail waving plus tail coil displays and tail coil only displays, suggesting high speed tail waving display likely encodes high threat and triggers high territorial response. We also found that residents who faced slow tail waving plus tail coil displays opted to stay in the burrow compared with those faced tail coil only displays, suggesting slow tail waving display likely encodes low threat and functions in social conflict alleviation. Taken together, our study casts important insight on the association between intruder tail waving speed and resident's territorial response. and provides some evidence that intruder tail waving speed is positively associated with its threat level

Poly[bis­[μ3-2-(1H-tetra­zol-1-yl)acetato]cadmium(II)]

In the title compound, [Cd(C3H3N4O2)2]n, the CdII ion, located on a twofold rotation axis, is six-coordinated by two N atoms [Cd—N = 2.368 (2) Å] and four O atoms [Cd—O = 2.300 (1) and 2.260 (1) Å] from six 2-(1H-tetra­zol-1-yl)acetate (L) ligands in a distorted octa­hedral geometry. The metal centres are connected via the tridentate L ligands into a three-dimensional polymeric structure

A Model Of Inflationary Cosmology Without Singularity

In this letter, we propose a model of inflationary cosmology with a bounce preceded and study its primordial curvature perturbations. Our model gives rise to a primordial power spectrum with a feature of oscillation on large scales compared with the nearly scale-invariant spectrum generated by the traditional slow rolling inflation model. We will show this effect changes the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature power spectrum and the Large Scale Structure (LSS) matter power spectrum. And further with a detailed simulation we will point out this signal is detectable to the forthcoming observations, such as PLANCK and LAMOST.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Spleen-Yang-deficiency patients with polycystic ovary syndrome have higher levels of visfatin

AbstractObjectiveTo study serum visfatin levels in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) grouped by Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) patterns. To study the correlations of serum visfatin levels with homeostatic model assessment insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), fasting insulin (FINS), body mass index (BMI), testosterone (T), total cholesterol (TC), and triglycerides (TG).MethodsTwo hundred and twelve PCOS patients were placed into the following TCM pattern subgroups: Kidney-Yang deficiency (KYD) group, Spleen-Yang deficiency (SYD) group, stagnant Liver-Qi transforming into heat (SLQTH) group, and Kidney-Yin deficiency (KYIND) group. The correlations between serum visfatin levels and HOMA-IR, FPG, FINS, BMI, T, TC, and TG were analyzed.ResultsOf all patients with PCOS, there were 82 in the KYD group (38.6%), 67 in the SYD group (31.6%), 37 in the SLQTH group (17.5%), and 26 in the KYIND group (12.3%). Visfatin levels in all PCOS subgroups were higher than those in the control group (P<0.01 or P<0.05). Among these subgroups, the visfatin levels in the SYD group were significantly higher than those in the other three TCM pattern groups (P<0.05). There were no statistical differences among the remaining three pattern groups. The levels of BMI, FINS, HOMA-IR, T, and TG were significantly higher in all subgroups than those in the control group (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in FPG and TC between all PCOS subgroups and the control group (P>0.05). The SYD group had higher levels of FINS and HOMA-IR compared with the KYD, SLQTH, and KYIND groups (P<0.05). In all subgroups, after controlling for BMI, TG, TC, and age, visfatin was positively correlated with FINS (r= 0.197, P=0.015) and HOMA-IR (r=0.173, P=0.033), and was not correlated with T.ConclusionKYD and SYD patterns are most common in PCOS patients. Increased visfatin is a common pathophysiologic manifestation in PCOS patients. The SYD group had the highest levels of visfatin, and visfatin was positively correlated with FINS and HOMA-IR

Bioluminescence imaging of hepatitis B virus enhancer and promoter activities in mice

AbstractBy bioluminescence imaging and hydrodynamic gene transfer technology, the activities of hepatitis B virus (HBV) promoters and the effects of HBV enhancers on these promoters in mice under true physiological conditions have been assessed. Our studies reveal that either of the two HBV enhancers can stimulate HBV major promoter activity in hepa 1–6 cells (in vitro) and in mouse liver (in vivo), and the enhancer effects on the three promoters (S1, S2 and X promoter) are markedly greater in vivo than in vitro. The two HBV enhancers have no cooperative action on HBV promoters in vitro or in vivo

Bis{(E)-2,4-diiodo-6-[(2-morpholinoeth­yl)imino­meth­yl]phenolato}nickel(II)

In the title mononuclear nickel(II) complex, [Ni(C13H15I2N2O2)2], the NiII atom is four-coordinated in a tetra­hedral geometry by the imine N and phenolate O atoms of the two Schiff base ligands. The O and N atoms of the morpholine substituent in the ligand are not involved in coordination to the Ni atom

Bis[(E)-4-chloro-2-(cyclo­hexyl­imino­meth­yl)phenolato]nickel(II)

In the title mononuclear nickel(II) complex, [Ni(C13H15ClNO)2], the NiII atom is four-coordinated in a tetra­hedral geometry by the N and O atoms of the two Schiff base ligands

A parthenogenetic maternal and double paternal contribution to an ovotesticular disorder of sex development

BACKGROUND: An ovotesticular disorder of sex development (OT-DSD) was rarely found in human. The mechanism causing such condition is poorly understood. We hereby reported a 11-year-old child with OT-DSD and a karyotype 46,XX/46,XY, a single maternal and double paternal genetic contribution to the patient. RESULTS: Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), blood grouping, HLA (human leukocyte antigen) haplotyping and a genome-wide scanning of lymphocytes with 398 short tandem repeat microsatellite markers were performed to investigate the origin of the cell lines concerned. ABO typing revealed that two populations of red cells were in the patient, which were group A and group B, both from paternal alleles. HLA haplotyping showed the patient had three haplotypes. Haplotype 1 was inherited from maternity, haplotype 2 and 3 were from paternity. The STR microsatellite analysis showed 25 of the 74 fully informative markers in both parents, three alleles were inherited: one of them was from mother, another two were from father. Seventeen of the thirty-eight paternal markers, the patient inherited two paternal alleles. For 121 informative maternal markers, the patient had a single maternal allele. There were two distinct alleles in locus DXS6810 and DXS1073 on X-chromosome, in which one was from the mother and the other from the father. CONCLUSIONS: The patient was a single maternal and double paternal genetic, which was a type of a parthenogenetic division of a maternal haploid nucleus into two identical nuclei, followed by fertilization by two spermatozoa and fusion of the two zygotes into a single individual at the early embryonic stage. To the best of our knowledge, this is the oldest OT-DSD case of parthenogenetic chimerism. These data provide additional evidence that a parthenogenetic maternal and double paternal contribution causes 46,XX/46,XY OT-DSD

Poly[[tetra­kis­(μ-2-anilinobenzoato-κ2 O:O′)tetra-μ1,1,1-azido-tetra-μ1,1-azido-octa­methano­lhexa­nickel(II)] methanol hexa­solvate]

The crystal structure of the title compound, [Ni6(C13H10NO2)4(N3)8(CH3OH)8]·6CH3OH, consists of a centrosymmetric hexa­nuclear [NiII 6(C13H10NO2)4(N3)8(CH3OH)8] mol­ecule and six methanol solvent mol­ecules. In the hexa­nuclear unit, the six octa­hedrally coordinated NiII atoms are linked by four μ1,1,1-azide and four μ1,1-azide bridges, forming a face-sharing Ni6N8 tetra­cubane-like unit with four missing corners. The NiII atoms are further bridged by four μ1,2-carboxalate groups. Neighbouring hexa­nuclear units are connected via N—H⋯O hydrogen-bonding inter­actions into a three-dimensional structure. Although the H atoms of the methanol OH groups could not be located, O⋯N/O contacts between 2.65 and 2.86 Å suggest that these mol­ecules participate in hydrogen bonding