Glucose tolerance, serum insulin, insulin receptors in epididymal fat tissue, circulating total cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations as well as serum prolactin were studied in obese and lean spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) of both sexes. Obese animals displayed insulin resistance and elevated insulin and triglyceride concentrations. Moreover, in obese rats the increased mass of epididymal fat tissue was accompanied with decreased capacity of high affinity binding sites of insulin receptors in the tissue plasma membranes. Terguride treatment lowered prolactin serum levels which was accompanied by ameliorated insulin sensitivity in obese animals of both sexes. In addition, terguride treatment decreased serum insulin and triglyceride concentrations in obese females and at the same time enhanced the affinity of high affinity insulin binding sites. Our results show that obesity in SHR is associated with a decreased capacity of insulin receptors and that prolactin may play a role in obesity-induced insulin resistance, particularly in female rats., V. Golda +, M. Ficková, L. Pinterová, J. Jurčovičová, L. Macho, Š. Zórad., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Glucose tolerance, total plasma cholesterol and plasma triglycerides were studied in the genetically hypertensive obese Koletsky rats (SHR/N-cp) and in their lean siblings. The initial part of the glucose tolerance curve was substantially elevated in both obese and lean Koletsky animals compared to normotensive Wistar rats. The abnormal glucose tolerance in hypertensive rats was accompanied by increased total plasma cholesterol and plasma triglycerides. Long-term treatment with dopaminergic agonists terguride or bromocriptine (0.2 and 2.0 mg/kg/day, respectively) exerted similar effects on lipid metabolism but both drugs differed in their influence on glucose tolerance. Terguride lowered plasma lipids and normalized glucose tolerance in both obese and lean Koletsky rats. Bromocriptine reduced hyperlipidaemia but did not attenuate the abnormalities of glucose tolerance in either lean or obese Koletsky animals.
The Institute of Plasma Physics of the ASCR has produced a book, Controlled Thermonuclear Fusion for Everybody, which covers the story of the human struggle to achieve controlled thermonuclear fusion on Earth. The book is “reader-friendly” in that special attention has been given to plain vocabulary and rich illustration. The topic is introduced with a detailed chronology of fusion history. The contribution of Oleg Lavrentyev, a pioneer of the Soviet fusion program, is recognized since he is credited as being the first to call attention to fusion in correspondence with his government in 1949 and 1950. These letters aroused the interest of physicists Igor Tamm and Andrei Sakharov who launched a fusion program that resulted in the creation of Tokamak, a device which uses a magnetic field to confine plasma in the shape of a torus (doughnut). and Luděk Svoboda.
We studied the association between environmental variables and the terrestrial habitat use by adults of the burrowing toad Rhinella fernandezae in Buenos Aires, Argentina. We assessed the cover type, height of vegetation, soil moisture and hardness. We compared these habitat variables in quadrats where toads were present along a transect (n = 30 quadrats, 19 with toad burrows) with respect to randomly chosen quadrats (n = 17). We found that R. fernandezae does not use the habitat at random, and that habitat variables that mostly infl uenced its habitat use were soil hardness after raining, probably because it facilitates the construction of burrows, and broad-leaved plant cover, which may be affecting toads indirectly through other habitat variables, such as shadowing, air moisture and refuge from predators.