Distribution of Chancelloriids in a Middle Cambrian Carbonate Platform Deposit, Taebaek Group, Korea

The onset of the Cambrian witnessed the diversification of ＂small shelly fossils （SSF）＂, which affected carbonate depositional system. One of the problematic SSF, chancelloriids, are common components of the early to middle Cambrian carbonate and shale, and their contributions toward Cambrian carbonates are not yet fully understood. This study assesses distribution patterns of chancelloriid sclerites in the Cambrian Series 3 Daegi Formation based on microfacies analysis and discusses their sedimentologic implications. In the lower part of the formation, partially articulated chancelloriid sclerites occur mainly in bioclastic packstone and grainstone facies, with isolated sclerite rays in nodular packstone to grainstone facies. In the middle part of the formation, chancelloriid fragments occur only sporadically in bioclastic wackestone to packstone, bioclastic grainstone and oolitic packstone to grainstone facies, whereas boundstone facies are nearly devoid of their fragments. There are no chancelloriid fragments in the upper part of the formation, which consists of oolitic packstone to grainstone facies. Chancelloriids are interpreted to have primarily occupied platform margin shoal environments, shedding their sclerites to surrounding areas, and thus contributed as sediment producers. The distribution of Daegi chancelloriid sclerites is similar to other Cambrian examples, with the exception of common chancelloriids in Cambrian Series 2 reefs and their apparent near absence in the Daegi and other Cambrian Series 3 reefs. This disparity resulted from changes in the ecologic niche of chancelloriids after the end-Cambrian Series 2 reef crisis, coupled with an overall decline of chancelloriids in the middle Cambrian.

Reefs in the Early Paleozoic Taebaek Group,Korea:A Review

Various early Paleozoic （Cambrian Series 3-Middle Ordovician） reefs are found in the Taebaek Group, eastern Korea, located in the eastern margin of the Sino-Korean Block. They occur in every carbonate-dominant lithostratigraphic unit of the group, but their morphology and composition differ markedly. The Daegi Formation （middle Cambrian： Cambrian Series 3） contains siliceous sponge-Epiphyton reefs formed in a shallow subtidal environment, which is one of the earliest metazoan-bearing microbial reefs after the archaeocyath extinction. The Hwajeol Formation （upper Cambrian： Furongian） encloses sporadic dendrolites consisting of Angulocellularia, which developed in a relatively deep subtidal environment, representing a rare deeper water example. The onset of the Ordovician radiation resulted in the formation of microbialite-Archaeoscyphia-calathiid patch reefs in shallow subtidal deposits of the Lower Ordovician Dumugol Formation. Subsequent late Early Ordovician relative sea-level fall established extensive peritidal environments, forming microbial mats and stromatolites of the Lower-Middle Ordovician Makgol Formation. Ensuing Ordovician radiation resulted in one of the earliest metazoan skeletal reefs of the Middle Ordovician Duwibong Formation, constructed by stromatoporoid Cystostroma and bryozoan Nicholsonella, and developed around shallow shoals. These reefs reflect ongoing evolution and sea-level change during the early Paleozoic, and exemplify a rare glimpse of peri-Gondwanan records of reef evolution, which warrant detailed investigations and comparison with their counterparts in other regions.

Cambrian Reefs in the Western North China Platform,Wuhai,Inner Mongolia

Mid to late Cambrian thrombolites and maze-like maceriate reefs from the western North China Platform, Wuhai, Inner Mongolia, northwestern China, occur in the middle of a succession dominated by thin-bedded lime mudstone-shale/marlstone alternations, and are laterally surrounded by limestone conglomerate and/or grainstone. Thrombolite, characterized by meter-scale lenticular mounds composed of millimeter- to centimeter-scale mesoclots and wackestone matrix, occurs in the lower middle part of the sequence. Thrombolite mesoclots are composed of microstromatolites with alternating dark gray and light gray micritic laminae. The maze-like maceriate reefs occur in the middle to the upper part of the sequence, commonly forming lenticular mounds up to 1 m thick. They are characterized by centimeter- to decimeter-scale branched maze-like structures, whose biogenic portions （maceria） are selectively dolomitized. The maceriae are composed of poorly preserved microstromatolites and siliceous sponges. Inter-macerial sediments consist of lime mud and scattered bioclasts. These Wuhai reefs are generally similar to but older than various other Cambrian reefs previously reported from the Shandong region, northeastern China.

Morphometrics of Heliolites(Tabulata) from the Late Ordovician, Yushan, Jiangxi, South China

The Upper Ordovician Xiazhen Formation in the Jiangshan-Changshan-Yushan （JCY） triangle area on the Zhejiang-Jiangxi provincial border, South China, is composed of a mixed carbonate-siliciclastic sequence representing various shallow-water platform environments. Highly diversified and abundant heliolitid coral faunas are recognized in the formation and occur over time and space in certain stratigraphic horizons and various lithofacies. Heliolites has been studied using multivariate morphometric analysis applied to differentiate species and evaluate intraspecific and interspecific variations. Ten morphological characters quantified by examination and measurement from transverse and longitudinal thin sections and statistically tested allowed selection of effective characters to discriminate species. Results of frequency histograms, correlation analysis and principle component analysis indicated that certain characters would be suitable for cluster analysis, which were performed on principle component score matrices obtained from the raw data set coordinated with coralla by all those characters. Five major clusters at a relative distance of five on the resulting dendrogram of Heliolites are regarded as morphospecies thus making valid taxa： Heliolites tashanensis Lin and Chow, 1977; Heliolites caracolica （Lin and Chow, 1977）; Heliolites columella （Lin and Chow, 1977）; Heliolites waicunensis Lin and Chow, 1977; and H. sinensis irregularis Lin and Chow, 1977. The discrimination of these morphospecies by the cluster analysis is verified by discriminant analyses and descriptive statistics.

植物性发酵乳杆菌对免疫系统的生理活性、抗高血糖和促进肠蠕动的影响

研究植物源性发酵乳杆菌对免疫系统生理活性、抗高血糖和促进肠蠕动的影响。β-内啡肽对免疫系统有重要作用,阿片-促黑素细胞皮质素原(POMC)是β-内啡肽的前体物质,为了探讨发酵乳杆菌对免疫功能的影响,检测小鼠下丘脑和脑垂体中POMC的基因表达水平。通过喂食发酵乳杆菌时间和浓度的不同及测量β-内啡肽表达水平的方式,来分析血液中β-内啡肽的变化情况。此外,测定了三种小鼠模型的血糖变化,即常规的WT小鼠模型、D-葡萄糖诱导的急性高血糖模型和链唑霉素(STZ)诱导的糖尿病模型,以证实发酵乳杆菌的降血糖效果,并对降血糖效果进行了验证。通过检测血糖随喂食发酵乳杆菌浓度和时间而变化的情况,已证实给药浓度和时间对血糖浓度有很好的影响。另外,为证实发酵乳杆菌对肠蠕动的影响测定了胃肠通过时间,证明发酵乳杆菌对肠蠕动有极好的促进作用。通过此项研究,证实发酵乳杆菌对提高人体免疫系统的生理活性、抗高血糖和促进小肠蠕动有极佳的效果。