Metabolic syndrome (MetS) belongs to the serious health complications expanding in cardiovascular diseases, obesity, insulin resistance, and hyperglycemia. In this study, hypertriacylglycerolemic rats fed a high-fat-fructose diet (HFFD) were used as an experimental model of MetS to explore the effect of tested compounds. Effects of a new prospective pyridoindole derivative coded SMe1EC2 and the natural polyphenol rutin were tested. Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (NOS3) and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) expression were assessed in the left ventricle immunohistochemically and left ventricle activity was monitored in isolated perfused rat hearts. NOS3 activity in the left ventricle decreased markedly as a result of a HFFD. NOS3 expression was upregulated by both substances. NF-κB expression was increased in the MetS group in comparison to control rats and the expression further increased in the SMe1EC2 treatment. This compound significantly improved the coronary flow in comparison to the control group during reperfusion of the heart followed after ischemia. Further, it tended to increase left ventricular systolic pressure, heart product, rate of maximal contraction and relaxation, and coronary flow during baseline assessment. Moreover, the compound SMe1EC2 decreased the sensitivity of hearts to electrically induced ventricular fibrillation. Contrary to this rutin decreased coronary flow in reperfusion. Present results suggest that despite upregulation of NOS3 by both substances tested, pyridoindole SMe1EC2 rather than rutin could be suitable in treatment strategies of cardiovascular disorders in MetS-like conditions.
Understanding the diets of predators, prey selection and their impact on prey populations is pivotal to investigations on the ecology of predator and prey species. In this study, we observed a hand-reared European otter (Lutra lutra) foraging in the wild, in order to identify the type of prey captured by the predator. The study was carried out between March and June 2001 in a diverse range of natural otter habitats in Białowieża Forest (NE Poland). We found that tadpoles represented an important part of the otter's diet in June, when their frequency of occurrence and biomass reached 38% and 11%, respectively. During spring, tadpoles were less common than other types of prey, such as adult amphibians, fish, or aquatic Coleoptera. Otter diet varied among months and there were differences in the main prey type captured among water body types. Our results highlight the need to develop methods that enable the identification of tadpoles and other cryptic seasonal food items in riparian predator diets.
To explore the debated phylogenetic relationship of two Hesperiidae subfamilies, Pyrginae and Eudaminae, and contribute to the understanding of the evolution of mitogenomic architecture in butterflies, we sequenced the complete mitogenome of Tagiades vajuna. The mitogenome is a typical circular duplex molecule of 15,359 bp. Apart from the standard 22 tRNAs, it has a tandem duplication of trnS(AGN) and trnE, which is unique in lepidopteran insects. Comparison with Ctenoptilum vasava indicates that the trnS1 duplication is not an ancestral state shared with other species of Tagiadini. Independent origin of the trnS1 duplications was further confirmed by the reconstruction of the ancestral character state based on the topology of the phylogram. Furthermore, comparative analysis of mitogenomes with and without tRNA duplications indicates that tRNA duplication does not alter the codon usage pattern. The mitogenome has negative AT- and GC-skews, and it is highly A+T-biased (79.7%). The AT-rich (or control) region (283 bp) contains "ATAGA" and "ATTTA" motifs. Regarding the phylogenetic analysis, we found that removal of the third codon position (3CP) from datasets used for the mitochondrial phylogenomics of Hesperiidae is likely to produce results that are more consistent: Pyrginae were rendered paraphyletic by Eudaminae in both analyses of the dataset from which the 3CP was removed (13 PCGs + all RNAs), but inclusion of the 3CP resulted in a destabilized topology, resulting in both monophyly and polyphyly. We conclude that even shallow-phylogenies of insects should pay close attention to compositional and mutational biases in mitogenomes., Fang-Fang Liu, Yi-Ping Li, Ivan Jakovlić, Xiang-Qun Yuan., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Fenomén tandemového kojení nebyl v psychologickém výzkumu zatím příliš zachycen. Tandemové kojení bývá praktikováno některými matkami, které následují trend tzv. kontaktního rodičovství. Při tandemovém kojení matka kojí mladší i starší dítě zároveň. Se čtyřmi ženami, které se hlásí ke kontaktnímu rodičovství a tandemově kojí dítě v batolecím věku spolu s jeho starším sourozencem v předškolním věku, byly provedeny hloubkové rozhovory. Pro analýzu dat byla použita interpretativní fenomenologická analýza (IPA), s jejíž pomocí byla identifikována čtyři hlavní témata: 1) Snaha udržet kojení za každou cenu – od útlumu kojení v těhotenství, po prudký nárůst po porodu až k ideálu samoodstavu; 2) Matka uprostřed – „Připadám si, že jsem pořád … pořád mezi dětma…fyzicky a psychicky… uprostřed“; 3) Tandemové kojení jako jistota pro starší dítě v novém uspořádání rodiny a snaha matky o podporu sourozeneckých vztahů; 4) Podpora i kritika tandemového kojení vedoucí k upevnění přesvědčení. and The phenomenon of tandem nursing has not been much captured by psychological research. Tandem nursing is practiced by some mothers who follow the trend of attachment parenting. In tandem nursing, the mother breastfeeds both the younger and the older child at the same time. In-depth interviews were conducted with four women who claimed to practice attachment parenting and breastfed their toddler child together with their older sibling at preschool age. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used to analyze the data, and four main themes were identified: 1) Efforts to maintain breastfeeding at all costs - from the decline of breastfeeding in pregnancy to the sharp increase after childbirth to the ideal of selfreinstatement; 2) Mother in the middle - "I feel like I'm still...always in the middle...physically and mentally...between the children"; 3) Tandem nursing as a safeguard for the older child in the new family structure and the mother's efforts to support sibling relationships; 4) Support and criticism of tandem nursing leading to reinforcement of beliefs.
Main aim of the study was to determine the temporal and spatial patterns of relations between monthly and annual average river flow (RF) and water temperature (WT) for 53 rivers in Poland. The research made use of monthly and annual WT and RF for 88 water gauges for the period 1971–2015. Correlations were established using the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient and the similarity of RF–WT relations was determined using the Ward’s hierarchical grouping. It was demonstrated that correlations between average annual RF and WT were negative (for >85% of water gauges) and statistically significant (p<0.05) only for 30% of water gauges. It was confirmed that the studied RF–WT relations underwent seasonal changes. Positive correlations were clearly predominant in the winter months, while from April to September these relations were negative and statistically significant. The RF–WT relations were also characterized by spatial differences and this had been confirmed by separation of seven groups of water gauge profiles distinguished with the help of the Ward's hierarchical grouping method. The strongest RF–WT relations were apparent in the case of mountainous rivers, for which snow melt supply and summer rainfall supply were predominant, and lakeland rivers, which had a considerable share of groundwater supply. These were classified as cold rivers, as opposed to the cool rivers in the lowland belt, for which the RF–WT relations were the weakest. The results obtained may contribute to the elaboration of an appropriate management strategy for river ecosystems, which are assigned important economic and environmental functions.
The daily activity patterns of animals are modulated by external factors such as habitat selection, temporal niche selection, prey availability and predation risk. Furthermore, different species show a variety of responses to human disturbance; therefore, to understand the effects of human activities on wildlife, it is crucial to consider the disturbance characteristics (e.g. type, frequency, timing and location of human activity). Our objective was to evaluate whether vehicles on forest roads altered the daily temporal activity patterns of three apex predators; Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx), the grey wolf (Canis lupus) and brown bear (Ursus arctos), using an extensive camera trap data set collected across a gradient of forest roads and wildlife trails in the Croatian part of the Dinaric mountains. We expected a low temporal overlap between humans and apex predators but predicted this even lower at sites where vehicles are present. Consistent with our expectations, the general overlap in temporal activity of all three apex predators and humans was low, the former being primarily active at night/dawn/dusk hours and the latter during daylight hours. In contrast, our results showed similarity in the temporal activity of all three predators on wildlife trails and forest roads where human activity was more frequent and diverse.
Extracorporeal life support is a treatment modality that provides prolonged blood circulation, gas exchange and can substitute functions of heart and lungs to provide urgent cardio-respiratory stabilization in patients with severe but potentially reversible cardiopulmonary failure refractory to conventional therapy. Generally, the therapy targets blood pressure, volume status, and end-organs perfusion. As there are significant differences in hemodynamic efficacy among different percutaneous circulatory support systems, it should be carefully considered when selecting the most appropriate circulatory support for specific medical conditions in individual patients. Despite severe metabolic and hemodynamic deterioration during prolonged cardiac arrest, venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA ECMO) can rapidly revert otherwise fatal prognosis, thus carrying a potential for improvement in survival rate, which can be even improved by introduction of mild therapeutic hypothermia. In order to allow a rapid transfer of knowledge to clinical medicine two porcine models were developed for studying efficiency of the VA ECMO in treatments of acute cardiogenic shock and progressive chronic heart failure. These models allowed also an intensive research of adverse events accompanying a clinical use of VA ECMO and their possible compensations. The results indicated that in order to weaken the negative effects of increased afterload on the left ventricular function the optimal VA ECMO flow in cardiogenic shock should be as low as possible to allow adequate tissue perfusion. The left ventricle can be also unloaded by an ECG-synchronized pulsatile flow if using a novel pulsatile ECMO system. Thus, pulsatility of VA ECMO flow may improve coronary perfusion even under conditions of high ECMO blood flows. And last but not least, also the percutaneous balloon atrial septostomy is a very perspective method how to passively decompress overloaded left heart.
The tendency for self-superparasitism and it's effects on the quality of the parasitoid Ooencyrtus pityocampae (Mercet) (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) in parasitizing a new laboratory host, Philosamia ricini (Danovan) (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae), were investigated. In this study, female parasitoids of various ages (1-, 3- and 5-day-old) were tested individually. Parasitoids were provided with 1-day-old P. ricini eggs at ratios of 5, 10, 20, 30 and 40 host eggs per wasp. The tendency to superparasitize was dependent on the female's age and host density. Five-day-old females showed a strong tendency to superparasitize at low host densities. The development time of wasps in superparasitized eggs was longer than that of wasps in singly parasitized eggs. The size and longevity of adult parasitoids decreased significantly with superparasitism. This work contributes to the development of an efficient mass rearing and laboratory rearing of the parasitoid O. pityocampae using a new host., Hilal Tunca, Maurane Buradino, Etty-Ambre Colombel, Elisabeth Tabone., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Cíl. Metodologie systematického přehledu studií ověřujících účinnost intervence při léčbě psychických poruch napomáhá redukci předpojatostí či zkreslení používáním explicitních a rigorózních metod pro vyhledávání literatury a kritickým hodnocením dosavadních studií. Doposud nebyla realizována systematická přehledová studie, která by se věnovala účinnosti individuální formy terapie zaměřené na emoce (EFT), a to navzdory rostoucímu počtu výzkumných zjištění zkoumajících účinnost EFT. Cílem tohoto systematického přehledu je proto zhodnotit účinnost individuální formy EFT při léčbě psychických poruch a potíží. Metoda. V této studii autoři postupovali dle metodologického manuálu PRISMA, včetně vyhledávání v databázích EBSCO, PubMed a Web of Science. Po odstranění duplicitních záznamů, posouzení abstraktů dvěma posuzovateli a poté i obsahu výzkumných studií dle kritérií pro začlenění/vyřazení studií analyzovali identifikované studie. Analýza byla zaměřena na posouzení velikosti efektu pre-post terapeutické změny, udržitelnost změny v rámci follow-up, případně porovnání efektu změny s jiným psychoterapeutickým přístupem zhodnocením statistické a praktické významnosti změn (effect size). Výsledky. Autoři identifikovali sedm studií, které využily (kvazi)experimentální metodu výzkumu účinnosti EFT. Výsledky podporu-jí účinnost EFT i udržitelnost změny při léčbě depresivity. Při léčbě sociální úzkosti, traumatu a poruch příjmu potravy existuje předběžná podpora účinnosti EFT. Zatím je tedy v případě těchto poruch a potíží možné považovat EFT za pravděpodobně účinnou. Limity. Do tohoto systematického přehledu byly vybrány pouze studie psané v anglickém jazyce, a naopak nebyly zařazeny případové studie., Objective. The methodology of a systematic review of studies verifying the efficacy of the intervention in the treatment of mental disorders helps to reduce bias by using explicit and rigorous methods for literature search and critical evaluation of previous studies. Up to now, no systematic review has been conducted on the efficacy of individual emotion focused therapy (EFT), despite the growing number of research findings examining the efficacy of EFT. The aim of this systematic review is therefore to evaluate the efficacy of an individual form of EFT in the treatment of mental problems and disorders. Method. In this study, the authors followed the PRISMA methodological manual. A systematic literature search was performed in the EBSCO, PubMed, and Web of Science databases. The analysis was focused on assessing the magnitude of the effect of pre-post therapeutic changes, the sustainability of change within follow-up, or comparing the effect of change with another psychotherapeutic approach by evaluating the statistical and material significance of changes (effect size). Results. The authors identified seven studies that used a (quasi) experimental method to investigate the efficacy of EFT. The results support the efficacy of EFT as well as the sustainability of change in the treatment of depression. There is preliminary support for the efficacy of EFT in the treatment of social anxiety, trauma, and eating disorders. So far, in the case of the above-mentioned disorders and difficulties, it is possible to consider EFT as probably effective. Limitations. Only studies written in English were selected in this systematic review. Case studies were not included., Martin Fülep, Ľubor Pilárik, Lukáš Novák, Petr Mikoška., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy