Sex-related differences were observed not only in human but
also in experimental hypertension. The aim of our study was to
compare blood pressure (BP) of aged male and female
heterozygous transgenic rats (TGR) harboring Ren-2 mouse
gene, with their normotensive Hannover Sprague-Dawley
(HanSD) controls. At the age of 9 months, systolic (SBP) and
diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were measured by a direct
puncture of carotid artery in rats awaking from isoflurane
anesthesia. Thiobarbituric acid-reactive species (TBARS)
formation was monitored as indicator of lipid peroxidation
damage in heart, kidney and liver, whereas intracellular content
of reduced glutathione was determined in the same organs as
the main intracellular antioxidant. Furthermore, plasma
triglycerides and total cholesterol as well as high-density
lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) fractions of
cholesterol were measured. As compared to HanSD rats, we
found significantly elevated BP only in male TGR (MAP: 123±1
vs. 171±5, SBP: 150±2 vs. 208±7, and DBP: 99±3 vs.
140±4 mm Hg), but not between TGR and HanSD females, which
were both normotensive. We also did not find any significant
differences in TBARS and reduced glutathione in the three above
mentioned organs as well as in plasma cholesterol or its HDL and
LDL fractions between transgene-negative HanSD and TGR
animals of either sex. However, we found significant sex
differences in TBARS, glutathione and plasma lipids in both rat
strains. Our results confirmed that aged TGR exhibit a marked
sexual BP dimorphism, which does not seem to be dependent on
oxidative stress or abnormal cholesterol metabolism.
Acute liver failure (ALF) is a clinical syndrome with high mortality rate, resulting from widespread hepatocyte damage. Its pathophysiological background is still poorly understood and preclinical studies evaluating pathophysiology and new potential therapeutic measures are needed. The model of ALF induced by administration of thioacetamide (TAA) in Lewis rats is recommended as optimal; however, the limitation of previous studies was that they were performed predominantly in male rats. In view of the growing recognition that sex as a biological variable should be taken into consideration in preclinical research, we examined its role in the development of TAA-induced ALF in Lewis rats. We found that, first, intact male Lewis rats showed lower survival rate than their female counterparts, due to augmented liver injury documented by higher plasma ammonia, and bilirubin levels and alanine aminotransferase activity. Second, in female rats castration did not alter the course of TAA-induced ALF whereas in the male gonadectomy improved the survival rate and attenuated liver injury, reducing it to levels observed in their female counterparts. In conclusion, we found that Lewis rats show a remarkable sexual dimorphism with respect to TAA-induced ALF, and male rats display dramatically poorer prognosis as compared with the females. We showed that testosterone is responsible for the deterioration of the course of TAA-induced ALF in male rats. In most general terms, our findings indicate that in the preclinical studies of the pathophysiology and treatment of ALF (at least of the TAA-induced form) the sex-linked differences should be seriously considered., Eva Koblihová, Iveta Mrázová, Zdenka Vaňourková, Hana Maxová, Miroslav Ryska, Jiří Froněk., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Movements are involved in several routine processes and may scale up to important ecological processes such as dispersal. However, movement is affected by a wealth of factors including flight capacity and behavioural traits. Both frequently differ in the sexes, which may well affect movement. We here aim to disentangle the relative importance of sexual differences in flight capacity versus behaviour on small-scale movements under controlled laboratory conditions in the temperate-zone butterfly Lycaena tityrus. The morphology of males is typically associated with increased flight capacity in this species. Nevertheless, the flight performances of the sexes did not differ, but the mobility of the females was higher. Thus, flight capacity and patterns of movement may not be intimately associated. Rather, the costs and benefits of flight seem to differ substantially between the sexes, with females being more mobile, potentially as a risk spreading strategy, while males are territorial and thus more sedentary. Thus, predictions regarding movement based on morphology are difficult.
Helminths often occupy defined niches in the gut of their definitive hosts. In the dioecious acanthocephalans, adult males and females usually have similar gut distributions, but sexual site segregation has been reported in at least some species. We studied the intestinal distribution of the acanthocephalan Echinorhynchus borealis von Linstow, 1901 (syn. of E. cinctulus Porta, 1905) in its definitive host, burbot (Lota lota Linnaeus). Over 80% of female worms were found in the pyloric caeca, whereas the majority of males were in the anterior two-thirds of the intestine. This difference was relatively consistent between individual fish hosts. Worms from different parts of the gut did not differ in length, so site segregation was not obviously related to worm growth or age. We found proportionally more males in the caeca when a larger fraction of the females were found there, suggesting mating opportunities influence gut distribution. However, this result relied on a single parasite infrapopulation and is thus tentative. We discuss how mating strategies and/or sexual differences in life history might explain why males and females occupy different parts of the burbot gut., Arto Tuomainen, E. Tellervo Valtonen, Daniel P. Benesh., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Methylphenidate is commonly used for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The cardiovascular safety of methylphenidate has been a subject of debate with some studies indicating that methylphenidate increases the likelihood of experiencing a myocardial infarction. However, it is unknown whether methylphenidate worsens the extent of injury during an ischemic insult. The purpose of this study was to determine whether short term exposure to methylphenidate increases the extent of myocardial injury during an ischemic insult. Male and female rats received methylphenidate (5 mg/kg/day) or saline for 10 days by oral gavage. Hearts were subjected to 20 min of ischemia and 2 h of reperfusion on a Langendorff isolated heart apparatus on day 11. Cardiac contractile function was monitored via an intraventricular balloon and myocardial injury was assessed by triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining. Methylphenidate significantly increased locomotor activity in male and female rats, confirming absorption of this psychostimulant into the central nervous system. Male hearts had significantly larger infarcts than female hearts, but methylphenidate had no impact on infarct size or postischemic recovery of contractile function in hearts of either sex. These data indicate that methylphenidate does not increase the extent of injury induced by an ischemic insult., Sarah L. Seeley, Manoranjan S. D’Souza, Thorne S. Stoops, Boyd R. Rorabaugh., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Prior to the onset of the pandemic, evidence on the conversion of regular rental housing into permanent holiday homes has fuelled concerns that Airbnb and other short-term rentals contribute to the shortage of affordable homes and to the displacement of regular residents in cities with high housing demand. When the pandemic set in, the media was quick to speculate that holiday homes would be returned to the regular rental market. This paper provides some theoretical reflections on the factors that are driving and impeding such a development and presents preliminary results from an ongoing research project that empirically tracesthe impacts of COVID-19 on the rental housing market based on an analysis of real estate listings in four large Austrian cities. We argue that a current shift to the regular rental market is likely, but that the medium- and long-term development is uncertain. Empirically, we demonstrate that such a shift has occurred in all four cities considered. We do not find evidence, however, that the increased rental housing supply has dampened rent levels.
Both prenatal and postnatal excessive consumption of dietary sucrose or fructose was shown to be detrimental to health and contributing to pathogenesis of metabolic syndrome. Our knowledge of genetic determinants of individual sensitivity to sucrose-driven metabolic effects is limited. In this study, we have tested the hypothesis that a variation of metabolic syndromerelated gene, Zbtb16 (Zinc Finger and BTB Domain Containing 16 will affect the reaction to high-sucrose diet (HSD) content in “matched” nutritional exposition settings, i.e. maternal HSD with re-exposition to HSD in adulthood vs. standard diet. We compared metabolic profiles of adult males of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and a single-gene, minimal congenic strain SHR-Zbtb16 fed either standard diet or exposed to HSD prenatally throughout gestation and nursing and again at the age of 6 months for the period of 14 days. HSD exposition led to increased adiposity in both strains and decrease of glucose tolerance and cholesterol (Ch) concentrations in majority of lowdensity lipoprotein (LDL) particle classes and in very large and large high-density lipoprotein (HDL) in SHR-Zbtb16 male offspring. There was a similar pattern of HSD-induced increase of triacylglycerols in chylomicrons and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) of both strains, though the increase of (triacylglycerol) TAG content was clearly more pronounced in SHR. We observed significant STRAIN*DIET interactions for the smallest LDL particles as their TAG content decreased in SHR-Zbtb16 and did not change in SHR in response to HSD. In summary, we provide evidence of nutrigenetic interaction between Zbtb16 and HSD in context of pathogenesis of metabolic syndrome.
The cytoskeleton plays a key role in cellular proliferation, cellshape maintenance and internal cellular organization. Cells are highly sensitive to changes in microgravity, which can induce alterations in the distribution of the cytoskeletal and cell proliferation. This study aimed to assess the effects of simulated microgravity (SMG) on the proliferation and expression of major cell cycle-related regulators and cytoskeletal proteins in human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hucMSCs). A WST-1 assay showed that the proliferation of SMG-exposed hucMSCs was lower than a control group. Furthermore, flow cytometry analysis demonstrated that the percentage of SMG-exposed hucMSCs in the G0/G1 phase was higher than the control group. A western blot analysis revealed there was a downregulation of cyclin A1 and A2 expression in SMG-exposed hucMSCs as well. The expression of cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (cdk4) and 6 (cdk6) were also observed to be reduced in the SMG-exposed hucMSCs. The total nuclear intensity of SMG-exposed hucMSCs was also lower than the control group. However, there were no differences in the nuclear area or nuclear-shape value of hucMSCs from the SMG and control groups. A western blot and quantitative RT-PCR analysis showed that SMG-exposed hucMSCs experienced a downregulation of β-actin and α-tubulin compared to the control group. SMG generated the reorganization of microtubules and microfilaments in hucMSCs. Our study supports the idea that the downregulation of major cell cycle-related proteins and cytoskeletal proteins results in the remodeling of the cytoskeleton and the proliferation of hucMSCs., Ho Nguyen Quynh Chi, Hoang Nghia Son, Doan Chinh Chung, Le Dinh Huan, Tran Hong Diem, Le Thanh Long., and Obsahuje bibliografii
In agricultural land use, organic residues such as compost, digestate, and sewage sludge are discussed as costeffective soil conditioner that may improve the water holding capacity and crop available soil moisture. The objective of this study is to determine the effect of application of digestates with different compositions in maize, sugar beet and winter wheat, compost of shrub debris and sewage sludge on shrinkage behaviour and contact angle of till-derived loamy topsoil of a Haplic Luvisol under agricultural use. Novelty is the simultaneous determination of contact angle and shrinkage of soils amended with digestates composed of different composition in maize, sugar beet and winter wheat, compost of shrub debris and sewage sludge. The results suggest that the application of organic residues impacts the air capacity, while the contact angles remained in the subcritical range between > 0° and < 90°. The relationship between CA values and moisture ratios, ϑ, during proportional shrinkage was positive and linear (r2 of 0.98) and negative during residual- and zero-shrinkage (r2 of 0.93).
Cílem této pilotní studie bylo vytvořit a validizovat českou verzi sedmipoložkové Škály nepřipoutanosti k Já (NTS-CZ) a prověřit její psychometrické vlastnosti. NTS byla nejprve s využitím postupu zpětného překladu přeložena do češtiny a následně byla administrována prostřednictvím webového rozhraní. 782 respondentů (165 mužů, 617 žen) vyplnilo NTS-CZ, krátkou verzi Dotazníku pěti aspektů všímavosti (FFMQ-15-CZ) a Sussexsko-Oxfordskou škálu soucitu k sobě (SOCS-S-CZ). Konfirmační faktorová analýza potvrdila jednofaktorovou strukturu NTS-CZ (SRMR = 0,037, RMSEA = 0,082, CFI = 0,972, TLI = 0,950). Hodnota Cronbachova koeficientu alfa NTS-CZ byla α = 0,85. Podle očekávání byly zjištěny vysoké pozitivní korelace NTS-CZ s dotazníky měřícími všímavost a soucit k sobě. Výsledky podporují další využití NTS-CZ v psychologickém výzkumu. and The purpose of this pilot study was to develop and validate the Czech Version of the 7-item Nonattachment to Self Scale (NTS-CZ) and to examine its psychometric properties. The NTS was translated into Czech with a back-translation procedure and then administered through an online survey. 782 participants (165 men, 617 women) completed the NTS-CZ, the 15-item version of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ-15-CZ), and the Sussex-Oxford Compassion for the Self Scale (SOCS-S-CZ). The confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the one-factor structure of the NTS-CZ (SRMR = 0.037, RMSEA = 0.082, CFI = 0.972, TLI = 0.950). The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the NTS-CZ was α = 0.85. As expected, the NTSCZ demonstrated high positive correlations with mindfulness and self-compassion questionnaires. The results support further use of the NTS-CZ in psychological research.