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1612. An early suitability assessment of two exotic Ophraella species (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) for biological control of invasive ragweed in Europe
- Creator:
- Lommen, Suzanne T. E., Jolidon, Emilien F., Sun, Yan, Bustamante Eduardo, José I., and Müller-Schärer, Heinz
- Format:
- print, počítač, and online zdroj
- Type:
- article, články, journal articles, model:article, and TEXT
- Subject:
- Zoologie, brouci, mandelinkovití, beetles, Chrysomelidae, Coleoptera, Ophraella, biological control, invasive plant, Ambrosia artemisiifolia, 2, and 59
- Language:
- English
- Description:
- Classical biological control is an important means of managing the increasing threat of invasive plants. It constitutes the introduction of natural enemies from the native range of the target plant into the invaded area. This method may be the only cost-effective solution to control the rapidly expanding common ragweed, Ambrosia artemisiifolia, in non-crop habitats in Europe. Therefore, candidate biocontrol agents urgently need to be assessed for their suitability for ragweed control in Europe. A previous literature review prioritized the host-specific leaf beetle Ophraella slobodkini as a candidate agent for ragweed control in Europe, whereas it rejected its oligophagous congener O. communa. Meanwhile, O. communa was accidentally introduced and became established south of the European Alps, and we show here that it is expanding its European range. We then present a short version of the traditional pre-release risk-benefit assessment for these two candidate agents to facilitate fast decision-making about further research efforts. We selected two complementary tests that can be conducted relatively rapidly and inform about essential risks and benefits. We conducted a comparative no-choice juvenile performance assay using leaves of ragweed and sunflower, the most important non-target plant, in Petri dishes in climatic conditions similar to that in the current European range of O. communa. This informs on the fundamental host range and potential for increasing abundance on these host plants. The results confirm that O. slobodkini does not survive on, and is hence unlikely to cause severe damage to sunflower, while O. communa can survive but develops more slowly on sunflower than on ragweed. In parallel, our species distribution models predict no suitable area for the establishment of O. slobodkini in Europe, while O. communa is likely to expand its current range to include a maximum of 18% of the European ragweed distribution. Based on this early assessment, the prioritization and further assessment of O. slobodkini seem unwarranted whereas the results urgently advocate further risk-benefit analysis of O. communa. Having revealed that most of the European area colonized by ragweed is unlikely to be suitable for these species of Ophraella we suggest the use of such relatively short and cheap preliminary assessment to prioritise other candidate agents or strains for these areas., Suzanne T. E. Lommen, Emilien F. Jolidon, Yan Sun, José I. Bustamante Eduardo, Heinz Müller-Schärer., and Obsahuje bibliografii
- Rights:
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ and policy:public
1613. An enhanced cAMP pathway is responsible for the colonic hyper-secretory response to 5-HT in acute stress rats
- Creator:
- Li, Y., Li, L. S., Zhang, X. L., Zhang, Y., Xu, J. D., and Zhu, J. X.
- Format:
- print, bez média, and svazek
- Type:
- article, články, model:article, and TEXT
- Subject:
- Fyziologie člověka a srovnávací fyziologie, tračník, stres (fyziologie), colon, stress (physiology), 5-hydroxytryptamine, ion transport, cAMP, 14, and 612
- Language:
- English
- Description:
- 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) is involved in the stress-induced alteration of colonic functions, specifically motility and secretion, but its precise mechanisms of regulation remain unclear. In the present study, we have investigated the effects of 5-HT on rat colonic mucosal secretion after acute water immersion restraint stress, as well as the underlying mechanism of this phenomenon, using short circuit current recording (ISC), real-time polymerase chain reaction, Western blot analysis, and enzyme-linked immunosorbance assays. After 2 h of water immersion restraint stress, the baseline ISC and 5-HT-induced ISC responses of the colonic mucosa were significantly increased. Pretreatment with selective 5-HT4 receptor antagonist, SB204070, inhibited the 5-HT-induced colonic ISC response by 96 % in normal rats and 91.2 % in acute-stress rats. However, pretreatment with the selective antagonist of 5-HT3 receptor, MDL72222 or Y-25130, had no obvious effect on 5-HT-induced ISC responses under either set of conditions. Total protein expression of both the mucosal 5-HT3 receptors and the 5-HT4 receptors underwent no significant changes following acute stress. Both colonic basal cAMP levels and foskolin-induced ISC responses were significantly enhanced in acute stress rats. 5-HT significantly enhanced the intracellular cAMP level via 5-HT4 receptors in the colonic mucosa from both control and stressed animals, and 5-HT-induced cAMP increase in stressed rats was not more than that in control rats. Taken together, the present results indicate that acute water immersion restraint stress enhances colonic secretory responses to 5-HT in rats, a process in which increased cellular cAMP accumulation is involved., Y. Li, L. S. Li, X. L. Zhang, Y. Zhang, J. D. Xu, J. X. Zhu., and Obsahuje bibliografii
- Rights:
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ and policy:public
1614. An evaluation of the levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 and bone turnover markers in professional football players and in physically inactive men
- Creator:
- Krzysztof Solarz, Kopeć, A., Pietraszewska, J., Majda, F., Słowińska-Lisowska, M., and Mędraś, M.
- Format:
- Type:
- article, články, model:article, and TEXT
- Subject:
- Fyziologie člověka a srovnávací fyziologie, vitamin D, fotbalisté, soccer players, bone turnover markers, football players, physical activity, 25(OH)D3, 14, and 612
- Language:
- English
- Description:
- Vitamin D is synthesised in the skin during exposure to sunlight and its fundamental roles are the regulation of calcium and phosphate metabolism and bone mineralisation. The aim of our study was to evaluate serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 , PTH and bone turnover markers (P1NP, OC, β -CTx, OC/ β -CTx) and the intake of calcium and vitamin D in Polish Professional Football League (Ekstraklasa) players and in young men with a low level of physical activity. Fifty healthy men aged 19 to 34 years were included in the study. We showed that 25(OH)D3 and P1NP levels and OC/ β -CTx were higher in the group of professional football players than in the group of phys ically inactive men. The daily vitamin D and calcium intake in th e group of professional football players was also higher. We showed a significant relationship between 25(OH)D3 levels and body mass, body cell mass, total body water, fat-free mass, muscle mass, vitamin D and calcium intake. Optimum 25(OH)D3 levels were observed in a mere 16.7 % of the football players and vitamin D deficiency was observed in the physically inactive men. The level of physical activity, body composition, calcium and vitamin D intake and the duration of exposure to sunlight may significantly affect serum levels of 25(OH)D3 ., K. Solarz ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
- Rights:
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ and policy:public
1615. An evaluation of velocity estimates with a correlated noise: case study of IGS ITRF2014 European stations
- Creator:
- Klos, Anna and Bogusz, Janusz
- Format:
- print, bez média, and svazek
- Type:
- article, články, journal articles, model:article, and TEXT
- Subject:
- Geologie. Meteorologie. Klimatologie, GPS sítě, GPS netwoks, ITRF2014, noise analysis, velocity, 7, and 551
- Language:
- English
- Description:
- The velocities of the Global Positioning System (GPS) stations are widely employed for numerous geodynamical studies. The aim of this paper is to investigate the reliability of station velocities and to draw reader’s attention that for proper estimates of velocity, we need to consider the optimal character of noise. We focus on a set of 115 European GPS stations which contributed to the newest release of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF), i.e. ITRF2014. Based on stacked Power Spectral Densities (PSDs), we show that amplitudes o f seasonal signals are significant for nine harmonics of tropical year (365.25 days) and two harmonics of draconitic year (351.60 days). The amplitudes of tropical annual signal fall between 0.1-8.4 mm and are much higher for vertical component than for horizontal. Draconitic annual signal reaches the maximum amplitudes of 1.2 and 0.9 mm for North and East, respectively, whereas is slightly higher for the Up component with a maximum of 3.1 mm. We performed a noise analysis with Maximum Like lihood Estimation (MLE) and found that stations in Central and Northern Europe are characterized by spectral index between flicker and random-walk noise, while stations in Southern and Western Europe: between white and flicker noise. Both amplitudes and spectral indices of power-law noise show a spatial correlation for Up component. We compared the uncertainties of velocities derived in this study with a combination of power-law and white noises to the ones offici ally released in the ITRF2014 with a pure white noise. A ratio of the two estimates is larger than 10 for 13 % and 30 % of stations in horizontal and vertical direction, respectively with medians of 6 and 7. The large differences support the fact that at the velocity determination the proper noise characteristic should be taken into account to avoid any mislead interpretation., Anna Klos and Janusz Bogusz., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
- Rights:
- http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/ and policy:public
1616. An evidence for regulatory cross-talk between aryl hydrocarbon receptor and glucocorticoid receptor in HepG2 cells
- Creator:
- Zdeněk Dvořák, Radim Vrzal, Petr Pávek, and Jitka Ulrichová
- Format:
- print, bez média, and svazek
- Type:
- article, články, model:article, and TEXT
- Subject:
- Biochemie. Molekulární biologie. Biofyzika, biochemie, buněčné signály, membránové receptory, xenobiotika, glukokortikoidy, genetická informace, biochemistry, cell signals, membrane receptors, xenobiotics, glucocorticoids, genetic information, dioxin, transcriptional control, 2, and 577
- Language:
- English
- Description:
- Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) and glucocorticoid receptor (GR) play crucial role in the regulation of drug metabolizing enzymes and in many essential physiological processes. Cellular signaling by these receptors shares several functional and regulatory features. Here we investigated regulatory cross-talk between these two receptors. Human hepatoma cells (HepG2) were the model of choice. We analyzed the effects of dexamethasone (DEX) and dioxin (TCDD) on i) expression of AhR and GRα mRNAs; ii) levels of AhR and GR proteins; iii) transcriptional activities of AhR and GR in reporter assays; iv) 7-ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase activity (EROD). We found that both DEX and TCDD affected AhR and GR mRNAs expression, proteins levels and transcriptional activities in HepG2 cells. These effects on cellular signaling by AhR and GR comprised up-/down-regulation of gene expression and ligand-dependent protein degradation. We conclude that interactive regulatory cross-talk between GR and AhR receptors in HepG2 cells defines possible implications in physiology and drug metabolism. Future research should be focused on the investigation of AhR-GR cross-talk in various normal human cells and tissues both in vitro and in vivo., Z. Dvořák, R. Vrzal, P. Pávek, J. Ulrichová., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliigrafické odkazy
- Rights:
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ and policy:public
1617. An experimental, non-uremic rabbit model of peritoneal dialysis
- Creator:
- Zunic-Bozinovski, S., Lausevic, Z., Krstic, S., Jovanovic, N., Trbojevic-Stankovic, J., and Stojimirovic, B.
- Format:
- print, bez média, and svazek
- Type:
- article, články, model:article, and TEXT
- Subject:
- Patologie. Klinická medicína, experimentální medicína, peritoneální dialýza, králík, experimental medicine, peritoneal dialysis, Oryctolagus, experimental model, non-uremic rabbit, 14, and 616
- Language:
- English
- Description:
- Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is a well established method of depuration in uremic patients. Standard dialysis solutions currently in use are not biocompatible with the peritoneal membrane. Studying effects of dialysate on peritoneal membrane in humans is still a challenge. There is no consensus on the ideal experimental model so far. We, therefore, wanted to develop a new experimental non-uremic rabbit model of peritoneal dialysis, which would be practical, easy to conduct, not too costly, and convenient to investigate the long-term effect of dialysis fluids. The study was done on 17 healthy Chinchilla male and female rabbits, anesthetized with Thiopental in a dose of 0.5 mg/kg body mass. A catheter, specially made from Tro-soluset (Troge Medical GMBH, Hamburg, Germany) infusion system, was then surgically inserted and tunneled from animals' abdomen to their neck. The planned experimental procedure was 4 weeks of peritoneal dialysate instillation. The presented non-uremic rabbit model of peritoneal dialysis is relatively inexpensive, does not require sophisticated technology and was well tolerated by the animals. Complications such as peritonitis, dialysis fluid leakage, constipation and catheter obstruction were negligible. This model is reproducible and can be used to analyze the effects of different dialysis solutions on the rabbit peritoneal membrane., S. Zunic-Bozinovski, Z. Lausevic, S. Krstic, N. Jovanovic, J. Trbojevic-Stankovic, B. Stojimirovic., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
- Rights:
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ and policy:public
1618. An ideal biological marker of Alzheimer's disease: dream or reality?
- Creator:
- Daniela Řípová and Anna Strunecká
- Format:
- print, bez média, and svazek
- Type:
- article, články, model:article, and TEXT
- Subject:
- Fyziologie člověka a srovnávací fyziologie, Alzheimerova choroba, bílkoviny, recenze, Alzheimer's disease, proteins, reviews, biological peripheral marker, β-amyloid, 14, and 612
- Language:
- English
- Description:
- Senile dementia of Alzheimer´s type (AD) is commonly characterized as a neurodegenerative disorder, which exhibits gradual changes of consciousness, loss of memory, perception and orientation as well as loss of personality and intellect. AD prevalence increases dramatically with age and is the fourth cause of death in Europe and in the USA. Currently, there are no available biological markers, which gives clinicians no other alternative than to rely upon clinical diagnosis by exclusion. There is no assay of objective ante mortem biochemical phenomena that relate to the pathophysiology of this disease. The pathophysiology of AD is connected with alterations in neurotransmission, plaque formation, cytoskeletal abnormalities and disturbances of calcium homeostasis. The search for a test, which is non-invasive, simple, cheap and user-friendly, should be directed at accessible body fluids. Only abnormalities replicated in large series across different laboratories fulfilling the criteria for a biological marker are likely to be of relevance in diagnosing AD. To date, only the combination of cerebrospinal fluid t and Ab42 most closely approximate an ideal biomarker of Alzheimer´s disease. A short review on the role of biological markers in AD on the basis of the literature, contemporary knowledge and our own recent findings are presented., D. Řípová, A. Strunecká., and Obsahuje bibliografii
- Rights:
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ and policy:public
1619. An improved lure for trapping the bark beetle Dendroctonus armandi (Coleoptera: Scolytinae)
- Creator:
- Xie, Shou-An and Lv, Shu-Jie
- Type:
- article, články, model:article, and TEXT
- Subject:
- Zoologie, zoologie, entomologie, Coleoptera, Scolytidae, Dendroctonus armandi, semiochemicals, GC-MS and GC-FID, analyses, trap, Pinus armandi, 2, and 59
- Language:
- English
- Description:
- The pine bark beetle, Dendroctonus armandi, is a native pest restricted to forests in the Qinling Mountains in China. There was an outbreak of this species there that affected over 0.36 million hectares of pine forest. We hypothesized that there are differences between the numbers of beetles captured by traps baited with various combinations of candidate semiochemicals extracted from the hindguts of D. armandi. In order to determine whether a better operational lure could be developed for D. armandi, we analyzed the volatiles in extracts of the hindgut of D. armandi and tested various combinations of candidate semiochemicals. The GC-MS and GC-FID analyses of volatiles in the extracts of the hindguts of D. armandi collected at different stages of the attack revealed that they are mainly a-pinene, b-caryophyllene and (+)-3-carene with minor amounts of myrcene, limonene, verbenol and verbenone. We tested various combinations of these candidate semiochemicals in order to determine an optimal blend. Our results suggest that the addition of b-caryophyllene to either a-pinene, or blends of a-pinene and other candidate semiochemicals, significantly enhanced the attractiveness of the lures for D. armandi. Field trapping experiments indicated that the blends that included b-caryophyllene, myrcene and other candidate semiochemicals resulted in significantly higher trap catches (161–243% higher) than a-pinene alone. Therefore, a simple lure consisting of a-pinene and b-caryophyllene would be an optimal blend for D. armandi. We conclude that this blend of semiochemicals may provide a better method of reducing the numbers of D. armandi in forest ecosystem., Shou-An Xie, Shu-Jie LV., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
- Rights:
- http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/ and policy:public
1620. An initial exploration of in vivo hair cortisol responses to a brief pain stressor: latency, localization and independence effects
- Creator:
- Sharpley, Christopher F., Kauter, K. G., and McFarlane, J. R.
- Type:
- article, články, model:article, and TEXT
- Subject:
- Fyziologie člověka a srovnávací fyziologie, biochemie, kortizol, vlasy, stres (fyziologie), biochemistry, cortisol, hair, stress (physiology), peripheral HPA axis, 14, and 612
- Language:
- English
- Description:
- Cortisol is secreted by the central hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis and affects many target organs and tissues, particularly in response to stressor demands and infection. Recent data reporting cortisol synthesis in hair follicles have shown the existence of a parallel “peripheral” HPA-axis. However, although there is evidence from in vitro studies and single-observation comparisons between groups that cortisol from hair follicles reflects endocrine changes associated with stressor demands, there are no reports to date of repeated measurements of in vivo cortisol responsivity in hair to transitory stressors. This issue was investigated with three males who underwent 1 min cold pressor test (CP). Cortisol response in hair to stressor demand appears to be (a) swift but transitory, (b) localized to the site of the demand and (c) independent of central HPA-axis activity., C. F. Sharpley, K. G. Kauter, J. R. McFarlane., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
- Rights:
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ and policy:public