Non-oxidative Modified Low-density Lipoproteins: The Underappreciated Risk Factors for Atherosclerosis.

Atherosclerosis, the pathological basis of most cardiovascular diseases, is a main risk factor causing about 20 million deaths each year worldwide. Oxidized low-density lipoprotein is recognized as the most important and independent risk factor in initiating and promoting atherosclerosis. Numerous antioxidants are extensively used in clinical practice, but they have no significant effect on reducing the morbidity and mortality of cardiovascular diseases.

Development and characterization of microsatellite loci for the endemic (Ranunculaceae).

Premise Of The Study: Microsatellite primers were developed for the gynodioecious Chinese endemic (Ranunculaceae).

Methods And Results: Thirty-nine microsatellite primers were developed using the Fast Isolation by AFLP of Sequences COntaining repeats (FIASCO) method. Thirteen microsatellite loci were found to be highly polymorphic after screening 114 specimens (60 hermaphrodite and 54 female) from three populations.

Generalist passerine pollination of a winter-flowering fruit tree in central China.

Background And Aims: Winter-flowering plants outside the tropics may experience a shortage of pollinator service, given that insect activity is largely limited by low temperature. Birds can be alternative pollinators for these plants, but experimental evidence for the pollination role of birds in winter-flowering plants is scarce.

Methods: Pollinator visitation to the loquat, Eriobotrya japonica (Rosaceae), was observed across the flowering season from November to January for two years in central China.

Parthenogenesis maintains male sterility in a gynodioecious orchid.

The invasion of male-sterile (female) individuals into hermaphroditic populations, leading to gynodioecy, is common in flowering plants. Both theoretical and empirical studies have shown that as the frequency of females increases in a population, pollen limitation reduces seed production more in females than in hermaphrodites, leading to higher fitness for hermaphrodites and a consequent decrease in female frequency. Here we show that contrary to this expectation, females of the gynodioecious orchid Satyrium ciliatum are maintained only in populations that experience high pollen limitation caused by low pollinator service and high pollen herbivory.