A catalogue of molecular, physiological and symbiotic properties of soybean-nodulating rhizobial strains from different soybean cropping areas of China.

We have analysed 198 fast-growing soybean-nodulating rhizobial strains from four different regions of China for the following characteristics: generation time; number of plasmids; lipopolysaccharide (LPS), nodulation factors (LCOs) and PCR profiles; acidification of growth medium; capacity to grow at acid, neutral, and alkaline pH; growth on LC medium; growth at 28 and 37 degrees C; melanin production capacity; Congo red absorption and symbiotic characteristics. These unbiased analyses of a total subset of strains isolated from specific soybean-cropping areas (an approach which could be called "strainomics") can be used to answer various biological questions. We illustrate this by a comparison of the molecular characteristics of five strains with interesting symbiotic properties. From this comparison we conclude, for instance, that differences in the efficiency of nitrogen fixation or competitiveness for nodulation of these strains are not apparently related to differences in Nod factor structure.

[Effects of IUD on contents of norepinephrine and epinephrine in the menstrual blood of IUD users].

PIP: To examine the effects of the IUD on the adrenergic nervous system in the female uterus, the levels of norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (E) in the plasma of menstrual blood were determined by the modified fluorimetric method, and menstrual blood loss was measured at the same time in 11 women with the steel ring. Results showed that the levels of NE were significantly higher in the 1st, 6th, and 12th month after insertion in 11 women compared with those prior to insertion (p 0.01, p 0.01, p 0.05); menstrual blood loss also increased correspondingly. The results suggested that, as a foreign body in the uterus of a women the IUD stimulated the adrenergic nerve endings in the uterus and caused an increase in menstrual bleeding. (author's modified)^ieng