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The present study examined sequence variation in four mitochondrial (mt) genes, namely cytochrome c oxidase subunits 1 (cox1) and 2 (cox2), and NADH dehydrogenase subunits 1 and 2 (nad1 and nad2) among Clonorchis sinensis isolates from different endemic regions in China, and their phylogenetic relationships with other zoonotic trematodes were reconstructed. A portion of the cox1 and cox2 genes (pcox1 and pcox2), and nad1 and nad2 genes (pnad1 and pnad2) were amplified separately from individual liver flukes by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the amplicons were subjected to sequencing from both directions. The intra-specific sequence variations within C. sinensis were 0-1.6% for pcox1, 0-1.4% for pcox2, 0-0.9% for pnad1 and 0-1.0% for pnad2. Phylogenetic analyses based on the combined sequences of pcox1, pcox2, pnad1 and pnad2 revealed that all the C. sinensis isolates grouped together and were closely related to Opisthorchis felineus. These findings revealed the existence of intra-specific variation in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences among C. sinensis isolates from different geographic regions, and demonstrated that mtDNA sequences provide reliable genetic markers for phylogenetic studies of zoonotic trematodes.

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Anisotropic flows ($v_1$, $v_2$ and $v_4$) of light nuclear clusters are studied by a nucleonic transport model in intermediate energy heavy ion collisions. The number-of-nucleon scalings of the directed flow ($v_1$) and elliptic flow ($v_2$) are demonstrated for light nuclear clusters. Moreover, the ratios of $v_4/v_2^2$ of nuclear clusters show a constant value of 1/2 regardless of the transverse momentum. The above phenomena can be understood by the coalescence mechanism in nucleonic level and are worthy to be explored in experiments.Comment: Invited talk at "IX International Conference on Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions", Rio de Janeiro, Aug 28- Sept 1, 2006; to appear on the proceeding issue in Nuclear Physics

Biodiversity pattern impacts effects on the soil properties on different scales, and contrarily soil characteristics influence biodiversity. Changes in the abundance of species-especially those that influence water and nutrient dynamics, trophic interactions-affect the structure and functioning of ecosystems. It is very important to reveal their close relationships for understanding the process of ecosystems. As an ecological sensitive region in Yangtze River, the shrub community biogeochemistry of arid valley in Upper Minjiang River caused much attention. We investigated the detailed plant biodiversity, topography and different soil properties along six typical shrub line-transects at three sites in the valley. To discern the complex relationships of plant and soil, different multivariate statistical analysis techniques were used at different spatial scales. The results showed different soil properties were significantly relative to community features at different scales and principle component analysis screened that available nitrogen (AN) was a sensitive factor for the shrub communities. Multivariate linear regression revealed that shrub coverage, height and herb species had quantitative linear relationships with AN content. Further study of biodiversity and soil properties showed that soil organic matter (OM), total nitrogen (TN) and AN had high relationship with the deduced plant -diversity index. To elucidate the effects of species change on the soil properties, we compared the similarity index and the nutrient variation index we brought out using two methods. The results showed species change could explain variation of soil properties and they had certain cause-effect relation along the slope catena and in the arid dry valley. Thus, it is possible to identify potential mechanism of soils response to variation in plant diversity, with implications for resource management.