Two-timescale projection neural networks in collaborative neurodynamic approaches to global optimization and distributed optimization.

In this paper, we propose a two-timescale projection neural network (PNN) for solving optimization problems with nonconvex functions. We prove the convergence of the PNN with sufficiently different timescales to a local optimal solution. We develop a collaborative neurodynamic approach with multiple such PNNs to search for global optimal solutions. In addition, we develop a collaborative neurodynamic approach with multiple PNNs connected via a directed graph for distributed global optimization. We elaborate on four numerical examples to illustrate the characteristics of the approaches.

Diversity of lanthanide(III)-2,5-dihydroxy-1,4-benzenedicarboxylate extended frameworks: syntheses, structures, and magnetic properties.

Six lanthanide(III)-2,5-dihydroxy-1,4-benzenedicarboxylate frameworks, namely, [Ln(H(2)-DHBDC)(1.5)(H(2)O)(2)](n) (Ln = La (1) and Pr (2); H(4)-DHBDC = 2,5-dihydroxy-1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid), {[Nd(H(2)-DHBDC)(1.5)(H(2)O)(3)](H(2)O)}(n) (3), {[Eu(H(2)-DHBDC)(NO(3))(H(2)O)(4)](H(2)O)(2)}(n) (4), and {[Ln(2)(H(2)-DHBDC)(2)(DHBDC)(0.5)(H(2)O)(3)](H(2)O)(4)}(n) (Ln = Gd (5) and Dy (6)), with four different structural types ranging from 1D chain, 2D layer to 3D networks have been synthesized and structurally characterized. Compounds La (1) and Pr (2) are isomorphous and exhibit 3D frameworks with the unique 1D tubular channels. Compounds Nd (3) and Eu (4) are 2D layer and 1D zigzag chain, respectively, which are further extended to 3D supramolecular frameworks through extensive hydrogen bonds. Isomorphous compounds of Gd (5) and Dy (6) are 3D frameworks constructed from secondary infinite rod-shaped metal-carboxylate/hydroxyl building blocks. While the hydroxyl groups as secondary functional groups in the 1D chain of Eu (4) and 2D layer of Nd (3) are not bonded to the lanthanide centers, the hydroxyl groups in the 3D frameworks of La (1), Pr (2), Gd (5), and Dy (6) participate in coordinating to lanthanide centers and thus modify the structural types of theses compounds. The magnetic data of compounds Pr (2), Nd (3), Gd (5), and Dy (6) have been investigated in detail. In addition, elemental analysis, IR spectra, powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) patterns and thermogravimetric analysis of these compounds are described.

Bis(µ-5-carboxybenzene-1,3-dicarboxylato-κ2O1:O3)bis[(2,2'-bi-1H-imidazole-κ2N3,N3')zinc].

The title compound, [Zn(2)(C(9)H(4)O(6))(2)(C(6)H(6)N(4))(2)], consists of two Zn(II) ions, two 5-carboxybenzene-1,3-dicarboxylate (Hbtc(2-)) dianions and two 2,2'-bi-1H-imidazole (bimz) molecules. The Zn(II) centre is coordinated by two carboxylate O atoms from two Hbtc(2-) ligands and by two imidazole N atoms of a bimz ligand, in a distorted tetrahedral coordination geometry. Two neighbouring Zn(II) ions are bridged by a pair of Hbtc(2-) ligands, forming a discrete binuclear [Zn(2)(Hbtc)(2)(bimz)(2)] structure lying across an inversion centre. Hydrogen bonds between carboxyl H atoms and carboxylate O atoms and between imidazole H atoms and carboxylate O atoms link the binuclear units. These binuclear units are further extended into a three-dimensional supramolecular structure through extensive O-H···O and N-H···O hydrogen bonds. Moreover, the three-dimensional nature of the crystal packing is reinforced by the π-π stacking. The title compound exhibits photoluminescence in the solid state, with an emission maximum at 415 nm.

Growth differences and dimorphic expression of growth hormone (GH) in female and male Cynoglossus semilaevis after male sexual maturation.

Half-smooth tongue sole, Cynoglossus semilaevis, is an ideal model to investigate the regulatory mechanisms of sexual growth dimorphism in fish species. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of differential age of sexual maturity for females and males on growth and GH mRNA expression in C. semilaevis. The body weight differences between the sexes were not significant in C. semilaevis at age 5 months when females and males were all immature. Significant differences in body weight between the sexes were found after early sexual maturation of males at the age of 9 months. The body weight of 21-month-old females (621.4 ± 86.4g), still not immature, was even 3.28 times higher than that of the males (189.7 ± 14.4g). The cDNAs encoding GH in C. semilaevis was cloned. The GH gene is 2924bp long and consists of six exons and five introns. The results of qRT-PCR showed that GH mRNA levels of the immature females were not significantly different from that of immature males at age 5 months. However, GH mRNA levels of the immature females were significantly higher compared with those of the mature males at age 9 months (P<0.05). At age 11 months, GH mRNA levels of females were even 6.4-fold higher than that of males. In conclusion, for the first time we show that early sexual maturity of males is the main cause of sexual growth dimorphism in C. semilaevis and exert significant effect on GH mRNA expression.

Growth differences and differential expression analysis of pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP) and growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) between the sexes in half-smooth tongue sole Cynoglossus semilaevis.

Pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP) and growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) are regulators of growth hormone secretion. In this article, we examined the difference in growth and mRNA expression of PACAP and GHRH between the sexes in half-smooth tongue sole, an important cultured fish species indicating sexually growth dimorphism in China. Firstly, a significant body weight difference between females and males was first observed at 7 months (P<0.05) and at 18 onths the mean body weight of the females (771.0±44.3 g) was as much as 4.9 times higher than that of males (130.6±6.0 g). As a result, half-smooth tongue sole, Cynoglossus semilaevis, is a good model to investigate the effects of growth-related genes expression on sexual growth dimorphism. Secondly, the cDNAs encoding PRP/PACAP and GHRH were isolated. Two differently processed mRNA transcripts of PRP/PACAP (PRP-encoding and PRP splice variant) were found. PACAP and GHRH mRNA was highly abundant in brain and less abundant in other tissues. However, PACAP mRNA was expressed in most brain regions, and was lower in the cerebellum. GHRH mRNA was predominantly expressed in the hypothalamus and weakly expressed in all areas of the brain examined. Ontogenetic expression analysis indicated that PACAP and GHRH mRNA was detected in the early stages of embryogenesis. Finally, differential expression showed that there was no significant difference of the expression level of PACAP or GHRH between the sexes before 8 months of age. However, between 9 and 12 months of age, the GHRH mRNA expression level in males was significantly higher than in females (P<0.05), which might be associated with GH deficiency in males. In contrast, the male PACAP mRNA expression level was not significantly higher than that in females even at 9 and 12 months of age. The present results provide important clues for understanding the sexual growth dimorphism mechanisms in half-smooth tongue sole.

Poly[[aqua(mu(7)-ethylenediaminetetraacetato)dicadmium(II)] monohydrate].

The title compound, {[Cd(2)(C(10)H(12)N(2)O(8))(H(2)O)].H(2)O}(n), consists of two crystallographically independent Cd(II) cations, one ethylenediaminetetraacetate (edta) tetraanion, one coordinated water molecule and one solvent water molecule. The coordination of one of the Cd atoms, Cd1, is composed of five O atoms and two N atoms from two tetraanionic edta ligands in a distorted pentagonal-bipyramidal coordination geometry. The other Cd atom, Cd2, is six-coordinated by five carboxylate O atoms from five edta ligands and one water molecule in a distorted octahedral geometry. Two neighbouring Cd1 atoms are bridged by a pair of carboxylate O atoms to form a centrosymmetric [Cd(2)(edta)(2)](4-) unit located on the inversion centre, which is further extended into a two-dimensional layered structure through Cd2-O bonds. There are hydrogen bonds between the coordinated water molecules and carboxylate O atoms within the layer. The solvent water molecules occupy the space between the layers and interact with the host layers through O-H...O and C-H...O interactions.

Novel noncentrosymmetric zinc coordination polymer containing an unusual zinc carboxylate-sulfonate substructure with a (10,3)-d topology and its second-harmonic-generation properties.

A novel 3D coordination polymer, Zn(2)(µ(2)-OH)(SIP)(DPP) (1), with mixed ligands of 5-sulfoisophthalate (SIP) and 1,3-di-4-pyridylpropane (DPP), has been hydrothermally synthesized and characterized. 1 contains an unusual 3D subnet with distorted (10,3)-d topology and left/right-handed helical channels. Second-harmonic-generation (SHG) measurements revealed that the material has a strong SHG response (∼2.5 times that of potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP)) and is phase-matchable. In addition, photoluminescent and thermogravimetric analysis were also performed on 1.

Production of cloned goats by nuclear transfer of cumulus cells and long-term cultured fetal fibroblast cells into abattoir-derived oocytes.

Dairy goats are ideal for the transgenic production of therapeutic recombinant proteins. The use of recombinant somatic cell lines for nuclear transfer (NT) allows the introduction of genes by transfection, increases the efficiency of transgenic animal production to 100%, and overcomes the problem of founder mosaicism. Although viable animals have been cloned via NT from somatic cells of 11 species, the efficiency has been extremely low. Both blastomere and somatic cell NT increased fetal loss and perinatal morbidity/mortality in cattle and sheep, but fetal loss and perinatal mortality appear to be relatively low in goats. In this study, we produced cloned goats by NT from cumulus cells and long-term cultured fetal fibroblast cells (FFCs) to abattoir-derived oocytes. NT embryos were constructed from electrofusion of cumulus cells (CCs), FFCs, or skin fibroblast cells (SFCs) with cytoplasts prepared from abattoir-derived ovaries. The NT embryos were activated with an optimized activating protocol (1 min exposure to 2.5 microM ionomycin followed by 2 hr incubation in 2mM 6-DMAP). Two viable cloned kids from CCs and one from long-term cultured FFCs (at passage 20-25) were born. Microsatellite analysis of 10 markers confirmed that all cloned offspring were derived from corresponding donor cells. To our knowledge, the production of cloned goat offspring using abattoir-derived oocytes receiving nuclei from CCs and long-term cultured FFCs has not been reported. The production of viable cloned animals after activation with reduced intensity of ionomycin and 6-DMAP treatment has also not been reported. Loss of cloned embryos was obvious after 45 and 90 days of pregnancy, and a lack of cotyledons, heart defects, and improperly closed abdominal wall were observed in the aborted fetuses and one cloned kid. The fusibility and in vitro developmental potential of embryos reconstructed from FFCs at passage 20-25 were significantly lower than those of embryos reconstructed from FFCs at passage 3-5, and the cloning efficiency of the long-term cultured cells was low (0.5%).

[Identification and analysis of a novel microsatellite marker flanking porcine myostatin gene (MSTN)].

In animal breeding, microsatellite marker plays an important role in constructing genetic maps, QTL mapping and function analysis of structural genes. Myostatin, also known as GDF8, is a negative regulator of skeletal muscle mass and, in swine, it is evidenced to be related to birth weight and average daily gain from 60 kg to 100 kg of body weight. In present study, by subcloning and sequencing,we identified a novel microsatellite marker which is useful for fine QTL mapping for meat traits. A BAC clone containing porcine MSTN was extracted and digested with EcoR I to recover the fragment of > 4 kb for subcloning in pGEM-3zf (+). Sequencing and alignment results showed that this subcloned fragment was not from porcine MSTN, but included a tandem repeat of (TG) 13, which is a novel microsatellite marker (GenBank accession number: AF454400) flanking MSTN. To exclude its vector origin we designed specific primers flanking this marker and successfully amplified this fragment from porcine genome. Through a pedigree analysis of a double-muscled Yorshire strain, we found that it is inherited in a co-dominant manner. We also checked the gene frequencies of this locus in 381 unrelated individuals of 7 pig breeds, namely Laiwu,Landrace, Yorkshire,Duroc, Peterian, Min and Erhualian. Only two alleles were detected, the repeating number of which are 13 (allele A) and 19 (allele B) respectively, which indicated that it is a low poly morphic microsatellite marker. In addition, the frequencies of the two alleles are different between the two types of pig breeds, while allele A is dominant in Chinese local breeds, allele B is dominant in imported breeds. Alignment with AY208121 indicate that this locus is located 42 kb downstream of porcine MSTN. We speculate that this microsatellite DNA is an important marker both in fine QTL mapping for meat traits and in the expression study of porcine MSTN.

Defective B-cell-negative selection and terminal differentiation in the ICF syndrome.

Immunodeficiency, centromeric region instability, and facial anomalies (ICF) syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive disease. Mutations in the DNA methyltransferase 3B (DNMT3B) gene are responsible for most ICF cases reported. We investigated the B-cell defects associated with agammaglobulinemia in this syndrome by analyzing primary B cells from 4 ICF patients. ICF peripheral blood (PB) contains only naive B cells; memory and gut plasma cells are absent. Naive ICF B cells bear potentially autoreactive long heavy chain variable regions complementarity determining region 3's (V(H)CDR3's) enriched with positively charged residues, in contrast to normal PB transitional and mature B cells, indicating that negative selection is impaired in patients. Like anergic B cells in transgenic models, newly generated and immature B cells accumulate in PB. Moreover, these cells secrete immunoglobulins and exhibit increased apoptosis following in vitro activation. However, they are able to up-regulate CD86, indicating that mechanisms other than anergy participate in silencing of ICF B cells. One patient without DNMT3B mutations shows differences in immunoglobulin E (IgE) switch induction, suggesting that immunodeficiency could vary with the genetic origin of the syndrome. In this study, we determined that negative selection breakdown and peripheral B-cell maturation blockage contribute to agammaglobulinemia in the ICF syndrome.

[Studies of BMPR-IB and BMP15 as candidate genes for fecundity in little tailed han sheep].

BMPR-IB gene which controls the fecundity of Booroola Merino and BMP15 gene which affects the ovulation of Invedale and Hanna were studied as candidate genes on the fecundity of Little Tailed Han Sheep, and their mutations and genetic effects were analyzed. The results showed that there was a same mutation in BMPR-IB gene (A746G) of Little Tailed Han Sheep as that of Booroola Merino. The BB mutation genotype was superior in prolific Little Tailed Han Sheep, and the ewes with genotype BB had 0.97(P < 0.05) and 1.5(P < 0.01) lambs more than those with genotype + + in the first parity and later parities, respectively. It could be inferred that BMPR-IB gene was related with the major gene that controls the high prolificacy of Little Tailed Han Sheep. While there was not mutation of V31D or Q23Ter in BMP15 gene of Little Tailed Han Sheep, it showed that the fecundity mechanism of Little Tailed Han Sheep was different from that of Romney sheep. Then it was ruled out the possibility that the ovulation of Little Tailed Han Sheep was affected by the mutation of BMP15 gene.

[Relationship of T-->A mutation in the promoter region of myostatin gene with growth traits in swine].

A T-->A mutation in the promoter region of porcine myostatin (MSTN) gene has been identified in previous work. Associations of the myostatin genotypes with growth traits are unknown in swine. The present study attempts to analyze the relationship of the mutation with the growth traits which included body weight at 60 d (BW60), average daily gain from 25 kg to 60 kg(ADG1), average daily gain from 60 kg to 100 kg (ADG2) and average daily gain from 25 kg to 100 kg (ADG). Data from 165, 275, 276 and 276 unrelated individuals respectively were collected from three different swine breeding companies. Detections of the mutation were carried out by PCR-RFLP approach. The effect of MSTN genotypes (TT and TA) on growth traits was estimated by GLM procedure. The results showed that for ADG2, individuals with TA genotype were higher than those of TT genotype (P = 0.052), indicating a positive effect for A allele. For BW60, ADG1 and ADG, the effect of porcine MSTN genotype was non-significant (P > 0.1). Studies are still necessary for examining the effects in "double-muscled" pigs.

[Research on Alu element inserted mutation in porcine FSH beta subunit gene].

The inserted fragment of FSH beta subunit gene in Laiwu pigs, an excellent local pig breed in North China, Duli pigs and Landrace pigs was amplified, cloned and sequenced. Sequence analysis showed that the length of the fragments inserted between +809 bp and +810 bp of the published sequences (D00621) were 275 bp, 277 bp and 274 bp in Laiwu, Duli and Landrace pigs, respectively. And the poly (A)s in these inserted fragments were 17, 19 and 16 adenines, respectively. They were all shorter than those in Taihu pigs(292 bp and 32 adenines, respectively) reported formerly. According to the RNA polymerase III promoter structure and Alu I restriction enzyme site in the inserted fragment, it should be regarded as an Alu element. FSH beta subunit gene was considered as one candidate gene of pig litter size trait, while RNA polymerase III promoter could promote the transcription of the neighboring chromosome sequence so as to control the expression of FSH beta subunit gene or other genes. As a result, the major difference of the inserted fragment among different pig breeds was originated from the length of poly (A) end. So it was assumed that the poly (A) structure in the inserted fragment could influence the pig litter size. Because Laiwu pigs with genotype AA had 1.2 litter size more than those with genotype BB, it could be concluded that FSH beta subunit gene was related with pig litter size traits or linked with the genes of which, and the poly(A) structure in this Alu element played a critical role.