The synoptic overview follows two lines of the core topic: life span development and the strategy of its research. The actual task is to design a life span development theory leading to the recognition and specification of individual development dynamics together with allocation of resources for growth, resilience and coping with losses. Ongoing empirical research point out how this general concept is tested in specific areas, such as cognitive processes, motor activity and emotionality. Is lifespan developmental psychology a special kind of developmental psychology, a general integrative ontogenetic concept, or is, is just one of the orientations in the current research of development? Arguments in current discussions are hinted. One of the main pretensions of life span development theory is to allocate a profile of biology- and culture-based sources of growth, resilience and coping with losses. Pluralism appears to be a general characteristic for changes of postmodernism in the concepts of diversity. The number of papers dealing with both positive and risk factors in the lifespan development context is increasing.
The Empis (Coptophlebia) hyalea-group is especially diversified in the Oriental region and is here partly reviewed. Twelve new species from Thailand are described and keyed, namely Empis (Coptophlebia) atratata sp. n., E. (C.) kosametensis sp. n., E. (C.) lamruensis sp. n., E. (C.) miranda sp. n., E. (C.) nahaeoensis sp. n., E. (C.) nganga sp. n., E. (C.) pakensis sp. n., E. (C.) pseudospinotibialis sp. n., E. (C.) pulchra sp. n., E. (C.) ratburiensis sp. n., E. (C.) spinotibialis and E. (C.) thapensis sp. n. The group is recorded for the first time from the Nearctic and Neotropical regions, and is presently known to be distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of Central America, Africa, Southeast Asia and Australasia, and Southwestern North America.
Interest in ratites has necessitated a review of available information on the unique endangered kiwi (Apteryx spp.). Five different species of kiwis, endemic to the three islands of New Zealand, are recognized by the Department of Conservation, New Zealand, according to genetic and biological differences: the North Island Brown Kiwi (Apteryx mantelli), Okarito Brown Kiwi/Rowi (A. rowi), Tokoeka (A. australis), Great Spotted Kiwi/Roroa (A. haastii), and Little Spotted Kiwi (A owenii). As predators were found to be the main reason for declining kiwi numbers, predator control is a main objective of management techniques to prevent kiwis becoming extinct in New Zealand. Further considerations include captive breeding and release, and establishment of kiwi sanctuaries. Body size and bill measurements are different between species and genders within species. Kiwis have the lowest basal rates of metabolism compared with all avian standards. A relative low body temperature (38 ºC), burrowing, a highly developed sense of smell, paired ovaries in females, and a low growth rate, separate kiwis from other avian species. Kiwis have long-term partnerships. Females lay an egg that is approximately 400 % above the allometrically expected value, with an incubation period of 75–85 days. Kiwis mainly feed on soil invertebrate, with the main constituent being earthworms, and are prone to parasites and diseases found in other avian species. It can be concluded that kiwis present a biological rarity, with several features more characteristic of small mammals than birds.
The functional aversive stimulus properties of several IP doses of (±)-amphetamine (1.25-10 mg.kg-1), 2-phenylethylamine (PEA, 2.5-10 mg.kg-1, following inhibition of monoamine oxidase with pargyline 50 mg.kg-1) and phenylethanolamine (6.25-50 mg.kg 1) were measured with the conditioned taste aversion (CTA) paradigm. A two bottle choice procedure was used, water vs. 0.1 % saccharin with one conditioning trial and three retention trials. (±)-Amphetamine and phenylethanolamine induced a significant conditioned taste aversion but PEA did not. (±)-Amphetamine and PEA increased spontaneous locomotor activity but phenylethanolamine had no effects on this measure. Measurement of whole brain levels of these drugs revealed that the peak brain elevation of PEA occurred at approximately 10 min whereas the peak elevations of (±)-amphetamine and phenylethanolamine occurred at approximately 20 min. The present failure of PEA to elicit conditioned taste aversion learning is consistent with previous reports for this compound. The differential functional aversive stimulus effects of these three compounds are surprising since they exhibit similar discriminative stimulus properties and both (±)-amphetamine and PEA are self-administered by laboratory animals. The present data suggest that time to maximal brain concentrations following peripheral injection may be a determinant of the aversive stimulus properties of PEA derivatives., A.J. Greenshaw, S. Turkish, B.A. Davis., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The reactivity of a char depends very on the parent coal. Much information about correlation between properties of coal and reactivity of chars is lost by using only standard methods for a large dataset evaluation. In this research a set of 8 coals has been investigated by thermal analysis and reactivity of obtained chars was analyzed as a function of properties of parent coal properties using Canonical correlation analysis. The reactivity of chars was determined by thermogravimetric analysis of nonisothermal combustion in oxygen. It can be stated that methods of multivariate data analysis are useful tools for the interpretation of coal chars reactivity data., Mariusz Minkina, Elwira Zajusz-Zubek and Andrzej Mianowski., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The paper discusses a problem of salt structures recent vertical movements that are observed by geodetic surveys on the example of salt dome in Inowroclaw. Presented survey results were carried by several years with use of precise levelling and GPS survey techniques. The new surveys were involved in 2002 that are carried on established network points and benchmarks of former existed country levelling network. Comp arative analysis of obtained displacement results derived by different methods is discussed as well. The effects of the an alysis are conclusions providing the usefulness of GPS techniques in the presented research. Other conclusions derived from carried observation deal with feat ures of determined vertical displacements., Zbigniew Szczerbowski., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
AIM: The ability of two newly developed oximes (K727, K733) to reduce tabun-induced acute neurotoxic signs and symptoms was evaluated and compared with currently available trimedoxime in rats. METHODS: The neuroprotective effects of the oximes studied combined with atropine on Wistar rats poisoned with tabun at a lethal dose (380 µg/kg i.m.; 90% of LD50 value) were evaluated. Tabun-induced neurotoxicity was monitored by the functional observational battery consisting of 38 measurements of sensory, motor and autonomic nervous functions at 2 hours following tabun challenge. RESULTS: All tested oximes combined with atropine enable tabun-poisoned rats to survive till the end of experiment. Both newly developed oximes (K727, K733) combined with atropine were able to decrease tabun-induced neurotoxicity in the case of lethal poisoning although they did not eliminate all tabun-induced acute neurotoxic signs and symptoms. CONCLUSION: The ability of both novel bispyridinium oximes to decrease tabun-induced acute neurotoxicity was slightly lower than that of trimedoxime. Therefore, the newly developed oximes are not suitable for the replacement of commonly used oximes such as trimedoxime in the treatment of acute tabun poisonings. and J. Kassa, J. Hatlapatková, J. Žďárová Karasová
Although a monophyletic group, male (XX/XY) and female heterogametic (WZ/ZZ) sex chromosome systems with a couple of variants like XX/X, Z/ZZ and multiple sex chromosome systems occur in insects. Molecular and morphological differences between X and Y or W and Z range from imperceptible to conspicuous. This article illustrates sex chromosome differentiation mainly in two fly species, Drosophila melanogaster and Megaselia scalaris, and in Lepidoptera. The earliest phases of XY evolution are present in the fly M. scalaris. Occasionally in this species, the male determining gene jumps to another chromosome, transforming the new host chromosome to a functional Y chromosome. Thus, in M. scalaris there are strains with virtually no XY differentiation (except for the sex determining function) and others with a moderate degree of differentiation. Base substitutions and alterations like sequence deletions, duplications, and insertions of mobile sequences mark the onset of molecular differentiation. Accumulation of molecular changes and coarser alterations are thought to lead to the morphological differences seen in WZ chromosome pairs of Lepidoptera. The W chromosome probably evolved in the most numerous clade of Lepidoptera, the Ditrysia, after it diverged from the common lepidopteran stem. Extant species display various degrees of molecular and morphological differentiation of the W chromosome, translocation or fusion with autosomes, and loss of the W.
The formation of ring species might provide an explanation of how speciation can occur despite ongoing gene flow. However, few species fit all of the criteria of a classic ring species that formed via isolation by distance around a barrier. Population genetic analyses and ecological niche models were used to examine a ring of song sparrow (Melospiza melodia) subspecies that surround the Sierra Nevada in North America. Eight models were compared that included both geography-based and ecology-based scenarios of ring formation. Song sparrows do fit some aspects of a classic ring species that formed via expansion around a barrier; however, admixture rather than complete reproductive isolation occurred when populations met at the terminus of the ring in southern California. Nichemodels show that variation among subspecies is likely to reflect adaptation to local conditions coupled with current limitations to gene flow across ecotones and that birds are likely to have expanded from a refugium in the southwestern United States. Given that simple isolation-based models often fail to explain many ring species patterns, alternative models that incorporate ecological factors might provide a better explanation of how most ring species formed. Isolation and subsequent partitioning of populations by ecotones can be important drivers of geographic variability in ring species.