To investigate the effect of vanadyl trehalose (VT) on oxidative stress and reduced glutathione/glutathione-Stransferase（GSH/GSTs）pathway gene expression in mouse gastrointestinal tract, as well as the protective effects of vitamin C (VC) and reduced glutathione (GSH). Thirty male Kunming mice were randomly divided into five groups: control group (group A), VT group (group B), VC + VT group (group C), GSH + VT group (group D) and VC + GSH + VT group (group E). The content of reduced glutathione (GSH) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity and the expressions of glutamatecysteine ligase catalytic subunit (GCLC), glutathione synthetase (GSS), regulated through glutathione reductase (GSR) and glutathione-S-transferase pi (GSTpi) in stomach and duodenum in vanadyl trehalose treated group were lower than those in group A (P<0.05). The C, D, E group can significantly improve the above indicators, but those only in the stomach in E group reached the level of the control group. Vanadyl trehalose (VT) was able to cause oxidative stress damage to the gastrointestinal tract of mice, which affects GSH content and GSH-Px activity and interferes with the normal expression of GSH/GSTs pathway. Exogenous vitamin C, reduced glutathione and the combination of the two could play a specific role in antioxidant protection and reduce the toxicity of vanadyl trehalose.
a1_The long-term feeding of a high-concentrate diet (the concentrate ratio is greater than 60 %) leads to mammary gland inflammatory response in ruminants and decreased quality in dairy cows and affects the robust development of the dairy industry. The main reason is closely related to elevated lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in the body. In this experiment, a bovine mammary epithelial cell line (MAC-T) was used as a model, and LPS at different concentrations (0 ng/ml, 1 ng/ml, 10 ng/ml, 100 ng/ml, 1000 ng/ml, 10000 ng/ml) was added to the cells. The cell survival rate, oxidative stress indicators, total lipid droplet area, triglyceride content and key genes regulating lipid metabolism were detected by 3-(4,5)-dimethylthiahiazo(-z-y1)- 3,5-di-phenytetrazoliumromide (MTT), assay kit, microscope observation and RT-PCR methods to explore the regulatory mechanism of mammary health and milk fat synthesis.The results showed that compared with those of the control group, the survival rates of cells were significantly decreased after 9 h of stimulation with 1000 ng/ml and 10000 ng/ml LPS (P<0.01).The contents of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) in cells were significantly decreased (P<0.05).Compared with that of the control group, the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) in cells was significantly increased (P<0.05) after stimulation with 10000 ng/ml LPS for 9 h. After 9 h of stimulation with 100 ng/ml, 1000 ng/ml and 10000 ng/ml LPS, the total lipid drop area and triglyceride (TG) content of MAC-T cells were significantly decreased (P<0.05).The expression levels of fatty acid synthesis-related genes AcetylCoA carboxylase (ACC) and Stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 (SCD-1) were significantly decreased after 9 h of stimulation with 100 ng/ml, 1000 ng/ml and 10000 ng/ml LPS (P<0.05), while the expression levels of Fatty Acid synthetase (FAS) were significantly decreased after stimulation with 1000 ng/ml and 1000 ng/ml LPS (P<0.05)., Lin Li, Weibin Tang, Mei Zhao, Binbin Gong, Meng Cao, Jianyuan Li., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Introduction. With growing interest in hallucinogens, majority of psychedelic research focus mostly on the therapeutic potential and benefits. The objective of this paper is to explore how users of psychedelics verbalize their experience and perceived risks of using such substances. Methods. The authors used a questionnaire with open-ended and multiple-choice items. The sample included persons with at least one phenomenological experience with psychedelics (N = 422, age M=27.78; SD=7.84; SE=0.38; 35.1% women). Qualitative data were analyzed using concepts of The Grounded Theory using the Atlas.ti suite. Results. The target group uses terms taken from the English language (“bad trip”, “set and setting”, “sitter”, or the grammatically localized version of the word „psychedelic“), with shared and well-understood semantic meaning within the community. The central domain “inappropriate set and setting” and its inadequate preparation is linked to the negative experience of “bad trip” which can lead to difficult “integration of experience” or even “psychotic disorders”. Users of psychedelics report various harm reduction strategies which are consistent with relevant literature. Conclusion. This study illustrates that Slovak users of psychedelics seem to understand and use the established terminology of international discourse related to these substances. At the same time, the authors suggest that users seem to use various relevant strategies to lower risks associated with the use of psychedelics. and Úvod. Záujem o halucinogény rastie, pričom do-terajšie štúdie sa orientujú prevažne na terape-utický potenciál a benefity. Cieľom štúdie bolo objasniť, akými slovami verbalizujú užívatelia psychedelík svoje skúsenosti a v čom vidia naj-väčšie riziká užívania týchto látok. Metóda. Autori použili dotazník s uzavretými aj otvorenými otázkami. Výskumu sa zúčastnili ľudia s prinajmenšom jednou fenomenologic-kou skúsenosťou so psychedelikami (N = 422, vek M = 27,78; SD = 7,84; SE = 0,38; 35,1 % žien). Kvalitatívne dáta boli analyzované po-mocou konceptov zakotvenej teórie za pomoci softwaru Atlas.ti. Výsledky. Cieľová skupina používa cudzoja-zyčné pojmy („bad trip“, „set and setting“, „sitter“, „psychedelický“), ktoré sú sémanticky adekvátne etablované v rámci komunity uží-vateľov. Najviac vnímanými rizikami sú nea-dekvátne prípravy intrapsychických aspektov („set“) a externých i interpersonálnych aspektov („setting“). Centrálna doména „Nevhodný set and setting“ môže viesť k negatívnemu zážitku tzv. „bad trip“, čo môže ďalej vyvolať náročné „integrácie skúsenosti“ a následne „psychické poruchy“. Užívatelia psychedelík reportujú roz-manité stratégie znižujúce poškodenia („harm reduction“), ktoré sú v súlade s odbornou lite-ratúrou.Záver. Výskum ilustruje, že užívatelia psychede-lík na Slovensku adekvátne používajú etablova-né pojmy drogového cudzojazyčného diskurzu. Zároveň naznačuje, že užívatelia sú oboznámení s rôznymi stratégiami znižujúcimi nimi vnímané riziká súvisiace s užívaním psychedelík.
As a developed welfare state, Finland has a long history of and continuing political support for housing policies, ranging from non-profit rental housing to owner-occupied housing supported by tax deductions. The current neoliberal critique, however, has questioned the efficiency and moral foundations of the established policies. This critique has taken as its target the difference between market rents and non-profit rents, citing this as an instance of ‘alternative costs’ for the city and, as such, as a form of subsidy that is unjustly distributed. However, the full picture of different housing subsidies – including those received by owner-occupiers – is not usually considered. The paper concludes that the current debate does not take into account the ways in which different subsidies interact in the approaches used to provide affordable housing in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. As such the critique becomes tacitly political, although it is represented in terms of rationality and justice.
Clear-cutting, the main method of harvesting in many forests in the world, causes a series of dramatic environmental changes to the forest habitat and removes habitat resources for arboreal and epigeal species. It results in considerable changes in the composition of both plant and animal communities. Ants have many critical roles in the maintenance and functioning of forest ecosystems. Therefore, the response of ants to clear-cutting and the time it takes for an ant community to recover after clear-cutting are important indicators of the effect of this harvesting technique on the forest ecosystem. We investigated ground-dwelling ant communities during secondary succession of deciduous forests in Transylvania, Romania. Using space-for-time substitution, we explored a chronosequence from clear-cuts to mature forests (> 120 years). The object was to determine if cutting has measurable effects on ant community structure, and if ant species richness differs between successional stages. We recorded a total of 24 species of ants, 11 characteristic of forests and seven of open landscape. Ant species richness was higher in clear-cuts compared to closed-canopy and old stands. Number of ant individuals was highest in young age classes and lowest in closed-canopy age classes. There was no drastic change in species richness during the succession, however differences in community composition at different stages were recorded. Open landscape species are able to rapidly colonize following disturbance but disappear when the forest sites mature and many forest ant species are capable of surviving clear cutting., Ioan Tăuşan, Jens Dauber, Maria R. Trică, Bálint Markó., and Obsahuje bibliografii
V posledních letech se můžeme v gerontologické literatuře setkat s novými termíny reflektujícím jevy nové či nově sledované. Mezi tyto termíny patří tzv. „SuperAging“. Tato stať seznamuje čtenáře s obsahem termínu ve dvou hlavních souvislostech: 1) v rámci společnosti – sociologie a demografie, 2) v rámci neuropsychologie a kognitivního stárnutí jedinců. Cílem je rozšířit tyto pojmy a jejich obsah mezi českou psychologickou obec. and Novel terms have been introduced in gerontology, reflecting new or newly observed phenomena. „SuperAging“ is one of those terms. This text introduces its content to the readers in the main areas of interest: 1) societal view of sociology and demography, 2) neuropsychology and cognitive ageing of individuals. Our goal is to make the aspects of SuperAgeing familiar to Czech psychologists.
Manus Island is part of the Admiralty Islands, a herpetologically rich but poorly studied area. Seven species of Cornufer (von Tschudi, 1838) are known to occur on the island, five of which have been described. Based on material collected from Manus Island in 2014, we here describe the first female of Cornufer manus and the first male of Cornufer vogti. Additionally, we provide new information on intraspecific variation from a further eight adult males of C. manus, two subadults of C. vogti, as well as the first photographs of both species in life.
Carnosine is a performance-enhancing food supplement with a potential to modulate muscle energy metabolism and toxic metabolites disposal. In this study we explored interrelations between carnosine supplementation (2 g/day, 12 weeks) induced effects on carnosine muscle loading and parallel changes in (i) muscle energy metabolism, (ii) serum albumin glycation and (iii) reactive carbonyl species sequestering in twelve (M/F=10/2) sedentary, overweight-to-obese (BMI: 30.0±2.7 kg/m2 ) adults (40.1±6.2 years). Muscle carnosine concentration (Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; 1 H-MRS), dynamics of muscle energy metabolism (Phosphorus Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; 31P-MRS), body composition (Magnetic Resonance Imaging; MRI), resting energy expenditure (indirect calorimetry), glucose tolerance (oGTT), habitual physical activity (accelerometers), serum carnosine and carnosinase-1 content/activity (ELISA), albumin glycation, urinary carnosine and carnosine-propanal concentration (mass spectrometry) were measured. Supplementation-induced increase in muscle carnosine was paralleled by improved dynamics of muscle postexercise phosphocreatine recovery, decreased serum albumin glycation and enhanced urinary carnosine-propanal excretion (all p<0.05). Magnitude of supplementation-induced muscle carnosine accumulation was higher in individuals with lower baseline muscle carnosine, who had lower BMI, higher physical activity level, lower resting intramuscular pH, but similar muscle mass and dietary protein preference. Level of supplementationinduced increase in muscle carnosine correlated with reduction of protein glycation, increase in reactive carbonyl species sequestering, and acceleration of muscle post-exercise phosphocreatine recovery.
We report results of a faunal survey of Aradidae flat bugs sampled by sifting litter in 14 wet and discrete Tanzanian primary forests (= Tanzanian Forest Archipelago, TFA) of different geological origins and ages. Images, locality data and, when available, DNA barcoding sequences of 300 Aradidae adults and nymphs forming the core of the herein analyzed data are publicly available online at dx.doi.org/10.5883/DS-ARADTZ. Three Aradidae subfamilies and seven genera were recorded: Aneurinae (Paraneurus), Carventinae (Dundocoris) and Mezirinae (Afropictinus, Embuana, Linnavuoriessa, Neochelonoderus, Usumbaraia); the two latter subfamilies were also represented by specimens not assignable to nominal genera. Barring the six nominal species of Neochelonoderus and Afropictinus described earlier by us from these samples and representing 11 of the herein defined Operational Taxonomic Units (OTU), only one of the remaining 52 OTUs could be assigned to a named species; the remaining 51 OTUs (81%) represent unnamed species. Average diversity of Aradidae is 4.64 species per locality; diversity on the three geologically young volcanoes (Mts Hanang, Meru, Kilimanjaro) is significantly lower (1.33) than on the nine Eastern Arc Mountains (5.67) and in two lowland forests (5). Observed phylogeographic structure of Aradidae in TFA can be attributed to vicariance, while the depauperate fauna of Aradidae on geologically young Tanzanian volcanoes was likely formed anew by colonisation from nearby and geologically older forests., Vasily V. Grebennikov, Ernst Heiss., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Myxozoan parasites of the genus Kudoa Meglitsch, 1947 are associated with post-mortem tissue degradation that causes great financial losses to commercial fisheries. Kudoa thyrsites (Gilchrist, 1924) is a species with a very wide host range including commercial tunas, mackerels, salmonids and flatfishes. A sample of 190 fishes of 18 species from the Madeira Archipelago and 30 Atlantic chub mackerel, Scomber colias Gmelin, and 30 blue whiting, Micromesistius poutassou (Risso), from the Portuguese mainland coast were examined for the presence of species of Kudoa. The prevalence of Kudoa spp. was 80% in M. poutassou and 60% in S. colias. No spore was detected in S. colias from Madeira, which was confirmed by specific PCR screening of the muscle from all individuals of S. colias. SSU rDNA analysis revealed that M. poutassou and S. colias from the Portuguese mainland coast were infected with K. thyrsites, an economically important myxozoan parasite. Both sequences were identical with sequences of the eastern Atlantic K. thyrsites genotype, including that from the type host of this parasite. This is the first report of K. thyrsites from M. poutassou and S. colias. The fact that spores of species of Kudoa were not detected in fishes screened in the Madeira Archipelago may be explained by various ecological factors, such as the absence of a continental shelf, a short insular shelf, and oceanic waters with low productivity, all resulting in reduced abundance of benthic organisms. Consequently, it is possible that as yet unknown annelid definitive hosts of Kudoa spp. are absent or very rare near Madeiran coasts.