The aphid Uroleucon ambrosiae (Thomas) is one of the principal pests found on greenhouse lettuce crops, and there is no efficient biological control agent of this pest in Brazil. This work evaluates the aphid U. ambrosiae as a host for the parasitoid Praon volucre (Haliday), aimed at using P. volucre as a potential biological control agent of U. ambrosiae on lettuce. As Macrosiphum euphorbiae (Thomas) is a common host of P. volucre in the field, the development of the parasitoid was compared on these two aphid species. Twenty nymphs of the 2nd instar were kept with P. volucre for one hour at 22 ± 1°C, 70 ± 10% RH and a 12 h photophase. The size of the aphid's tibiae at the moment of oviposition indicated that there was no significant size difference between U. ambrosiae (0.6 ± 0.02 mm) and M. euphorbiae (0.7 ± 0.03 mm). When mummies were formed, M. euphorbiae had significantly longer tibia (1.5 ± 0.03 mm) than U. ambrosiae (1.4 ± 0.02 mm). No significant differences were detected in the percentage emergence (74.9 ± 7.92 and 87.5% ± 3.31 for U. ambrosiae and M. euphorbiae, respectively), or proportion of female offspring (56.2 ± 7.62 and 44.2 ± 7.14%). The development time from oviposition to adult and longevity of females and males of P. volucre reared on the two host species were not different. High parasitism levels were recorded for both host aphid species, but the percentage parasitism of M. euphorbiae (54.4 ± 4.40) was higher than of U. ambrosiae (35.6 ± 5.30). Female parasitoids reared on M. euphorbiae had longer tibiae (0.78 ± 0.01 mm) than those reared on U. ambrosiae (0.72 ± 0.01 mm). Our results demonstrate that the alternative host species U. ambrosiae, compared to the natural host species M. euphorbiae, affects the female's size, but did not affect parasitoid development time, longevity, emergence or sex ratio. The parasitoid P. volucre seems to be a good candidate for using as a biological control agent of U. ambrosiae on lettuce in Brazil.
a1_This study describes the parasitoid species complex associated with seven closely related species of sexual (Siederia rupicollella, S. listerella, Dahlica lazuri, D. charlottae and D. lichenella) and parthenogenetic (Dahlica fennicella and D. triquetrella) Naryciinae (Lepidoptera: Psychidae) in Central Finland. A thorough ecological analysis of all the species of parasitoids recorded was combined with analyses of molecular data. Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA data were obtained from all the species in order to (1) detect cryptic species associated with host specialization, (2) assign undescribed males to females, and (3) verify the morphological identification of closely related species. A DNA barcoding technique was employed to identify host species from parasitized larval remains. By sampling more than 10,000 host larvae, of which 25.7% were parasitized, nine parasitoid species were identified morphologically, including both koinobionts (Ichneumonidae: Diadegma incompletum, Macrus parvulus, Trachyarus borealis, T. solyanikovi, T. fuscipes, T. brevipennis and Braconidae: Meteorus affinis) and idiobionts (Ichneumonidae: Orthizema flavicorne, Gelis fuscicornis). Ecological characteristics such as time and mode of host attack, time of emergence and level of specialization differed widely. The results show that differences in parasitoid biology need to be taken into account when studying differences in percentage parasitism of sexual and parthenogenetic Naryciinae. The molecular data revealed that one parasitoid species M. parvulus may consist of two cryptic forms associated with the sexual and parthenogenetic hosts, respectively. The data further establishes that T. brevipennis and some T. fuscipes are in fact morphotypes of one species. The large variation in mitochondrial DNA within species and its inconsistency with nuclear DNA demonstrate that current species and genus delimitation is inadequate in the, a2_Trachyarus species group. Our study shows that it is essential to use DNA barcoding methods when investigating host-parasitoid complexes., and Jelmer A. Elzinga, Kees Zwakhals, Johanna Mappes, Alessandro Grapputo.
The acute destructive pneumonias (ADP) occupy up to 80% of the total number of pneumonias. They require constant improvement of treatment strategy. Nowadays the use of surfactants is a part of most treatment protocols. The aim was to study the features of the solid phase bronchoalveolar lavage in children with the ADPs in the dynamics of complex treatment with exogenous surfactant. Material and methods: We examined 39 patients of contaminated surgery. We identified 2 groups of patients. The patients of first group (n=27) had pulmonary pleural form of ADP, the second group (n=12) had pulmonary form of ADP. All patients got classical treatment and the earlier draining of pleural cavity. We used as an antiseptic reamberin 1.5% by 10 ml/kg and endobronchially injected exogenous surfactant Bl in dose12 mg/kg body weight a day, 6 mg/kg every 12 hours. All the children were made a bronchoscopy to obtain BAL to study the crystallization properties. The solid phase of BAL was studied by method of cuneal dehydration. Results: All facies before treatment were divided into two groups according to classification of facies of biological fluids. Only the facies of the second and the third types were detected there. It was revealed that the sizes of the zones of the facies were different in the comparison groups before treatment and after. And the level of crystalline structures and amorphous aggregates were different in the groups with different degrees of inflammation. Conclusion: So, we can assume that the change in surfactant system is characterized by changes in the morphological structure of solids phases of BAL. And the morphological structure of BAL depends on the chemical composition of BAL., Yuliya Modna, Tatiana Tananakina, Elina Dyka, Ievgen Mozhaiev, Pavlo Borodin, and Literatura
The unusual wing characters of the Permian insect Permostridulus brongniarti gen. n., sp. n. justifies the creation of a new family, the Permostridulidae fam. n., within the Panorthoptera. Phylogenetic relationships with the extinct order Caloneurodea, related to the Orthoptera (crickets, grasshoppers), are assumed. This assumption suggests an occurrence of the Permostridulidae at least since the Upper Carboniferous. The most prominent feature of the wing venation is a stridulatory apparatus, nonhomologous with those previously known in "panorthopterid" lineages. This is the oldest recorded sound-producing device of an animal.
The person as a legal term is traditionally derived from a human being, either from an individual or a group of people. Hans Kelsen maintains that no such substance really exists. “The person exists only insofaras he “has” duties and rights; apart from them the person has no existence whatsoever.” This is why a human being is construed as an abstract holder of subjective rights rather than the person in a legal sense. This conception results in the normative construction of a person. The person is considered to be a mere point, an ideal and never real fact. Kelsen designates this point as “personification of the set of norms” regulating the conduct of a human being. However, such an entity as the personification of legal norms does not exist in the outer, real world. The legal order may attach legal personality to any segment of the outer world, even to an imagination of something non-existent in the outer world. The relationship between this abstract point and the addressee of duties is called “assignability”. This is why the person in a legal sense is, in the normativist perspective, considered to be “a point of assignability”. The aim of this article is to describe the approach of pure legal science to a person as a personified set of legal norms or as a point of assignability.
Cytarabine is one of the most efficient drugs in the treatment of hematological malignancies. In this work, we describe the synthesis and characterization of two different polymer conjugates of cytarabine that were designed for the controlled release of cytarabine within the leukemia cells. Reactive copolymers of N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide (HPMA) and 3-(3-methacrylamidopropanoyl)thiazolidine-2-thione) or 3-(Nmethacryloylglycyl- phenylalanylleucylglycyl)thiazolidine-2-thione were used in the study as reactive polymer precursors for reaction with cytarabine. The enzymatic release of cytarabine from the conjugate containing a GFLG spacer utilizing cathepsin B was verified. In addition to enzymolysis, the pH-dependent hydrolysis of cytarabine from both copolymers was also confirmed. Approximately 40 % and 20 % of the drug was released by spontaneous hydrolysis at pH 7.4 within 72 h from the polymer conjugates with the GFLG and β-Ala spacers, respectively. At pH 6.0, the spontaneous hydrolysis slowed down, and less than 10 % of the drug was liberated within 72 h. The results of the cytotoxicity evaluation of the polymer conjugates in vitro against various cell lines showed that the cytotoxicity of the polymer conjugates is approximately three times lower in comparison to free cytarabine., R. Pola, O. Janoušková, T. Etrych., and Obsahuje bibliografii
a1_The genes that cause or increase susceptibility to essential hypertension (EH) and related an imal models remain unknown. Their identification is unlikely to be realized with current genetic approaches, because of ambiguities in the genotype-phenotype relationships in these polygenic disorders. In turn, the phenotype is not just an aggregate of traits, but needs to be related to specific components of the circulatory control system at different stages of EH. Hence, clues about important genes must come through the phenotype, reversing the order of current approaches. A recent systems analysis has highlighted major differences in circulatory control in the two main syndromes of EH: 1) stress-and-salt-related EH (SSR-EH) - a constrictor hypertension with low blood volume; 2) hypertensive obesity - SSR-EH plus obesity. Each is initiated through sensitization of central synapses linking the cerebral cortex to the hypothalamic defense area. Several mechanis ms are probably involved, including cerebellar effects on baroreflexes. The result is a sustained increase in sympathetic neural activity at stimulus levels that have no effect in normal subjects. Subsequent progression of EH is largely thro ugh interactions with non-neural mechanisms, including changes in concentration of vascular autacoids (e.g. nitric oxide) and the amplifying effect of structural changes in large resistance vessels. The rising vasoconstriction increases heterogeneity of blood flow, causing rarefaction (decreased microvascular densit y) and deterioration of vital organs. SSR-EH also increases food intake in response to stress, but only 40% of these individual s develop hypertensive obesity. Their brain ignores the adiposity signals that normally reduce eating., a2_Hyperinsulinemia masks the sympathetic vasoconstriction through its dilator action, rais es blood volume, whilst renal nephropathy and other diabetic complications are common. In each syndrome the neural and non-neural determinants of hypertension provide targets fo r identifying high BP genes. Reading the genome from the phenotype will require new approaches, such as those used in developmental genetics. In addition, transgenic technology may help verify hypotheses and examine whether an observed effect is through single or multiple mechanisms. To obtain answers will require substantial collaborative efforts between physiologists and geneticists., P. I. Korner., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The Chinese white pine beetle, Dendroctonus armandi Tsai and Li is a native species of bark beetle and one of the most destructive in much of western China. Little is known about the characterization of the pheromones trans-verbenol and verbenone, and their functions in D. armandi are unknown. Electroantennogram tests (EAG) and olfactory assays (Y-tube assays) in the laboratory revealed that (1) trans-verbenol may be an anti-aggregation pheromone for male and an aggregation pheromone for female D. armandi and (2) female beetles are more attracted to controls (hexane) than low concentrations of verbenone and male beetles more attracted to controls than high concentrations of verbenone. Field trials indicated that the addition of verbenone to bait used to trap D. armandi remarkably decreased the efficiency of field trapping. These results indicate that verbenone is an anti-aggregation pheromone for male D. armandi. This research provides evidence of the role of verbenone among the different types of pheromones. The pheromone verbenone clearly could be used to protect healthy Chinese white pines., Mingzhen Zhao, Lulu Dai, Yaya Sun, Danyang Fu, Hui Chen., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Isoflavones are a subgroup of phytoestrogens, natural plant substances with structure similar to 17-β-estradiol and capable of binding to estrogen receptors (ERs). Isoflavones possess higher affinity to ERβ than to ERα and may have a potency to activate both genomic and non-genomic estrogen signaling pathways. In addition, isoflavones interact with the metabolism of steroid hormones. Therefore, the actions of isoflavones are rather complex and may be related to large number of factors, which are not satisfactorily identified yet. Recently, isoflavones have come into focus of interest due to several reports about their positive effect on human health, in particular prevention of hormone-dependent cancers, cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, adverse menopausal manifestations and agerelated cognitive decline. Isoflavones may bring new insights into the mechanisms of physiological regulations and increase the possibilities of medical interventions., L. Pilšáková, I. Riečanský, F. Jagla., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
Insects and other terrestrial arthropods are widely distributed in temperate and polar regions and overwinter in a variety of habitats. Some species are exposed to very low ambient temperatures, while others are protected by plant litter and snow. As may be expected from the enormous diversity of terrestrial arthropods, many different overwintering strategies have evolved. Time is an important factor. Temperate and polar species are able to survive extended periods at freezing temperatures, while summer adapted species and tropical species may be killed by short periods even above the freezing point.
Some insects survive extracellular ice formation, while most species, as well as all spiders, mites and springtails are freeze intolerant and depend on supercooling to survive. Both the degree of freeze tolerance and supercooling increase by the accumulation of low molecular weight cryoprotectant substances, e.g. glycerol. Thermal hysteresis proteins (antifreeze proteins) stabilise the supercooled state of insects and may prevent the inoculation of ice from outside through the cuticle. Recently, the amino acid sequences of these proteins have been revealed.
Due to potent ice nucleating agents in the haemolymph most Freeze tolerant insects freeze at relatively high temperatures, thus preventing harmful effects of intracellular freezing. Doe to the low water vapour pressure in frozen environments, supercooled terrestrial arthropods are at a risk of desiccation. Glycerol and other low molecular weight substances may protect against dehydration as well as against cold. In the arctic springtail Onychiurus arcticus, freezing is avoided due to dehydration in equilibrium with the ambient freezing temperature. Tn some frozen habitats terrestrial arthropods are enclosed by ice and survive an oxygen deficiency by anaerobic metabolism.
Suggestions for further research include investigating the nature of freeze tolerance, the physiology of prolonged exposures to cold, and the relation between desiccation, anaerobiosis and cold hardiness.