Our research aimed to study the correlation between the SPAD-502 readings and the color space CIE L*a*b* values in two cultivars of Alstroemeria sp. during leaf senescence and to evaluate the statistical criteria used in the selection of the best fit calibration functions. We demonstrate the importance of the Akaike information criterion and the parsimonious function besides the coefficient of determination. The reliability of the functions was tested by Student's t-test comparison between the chlorophyll (Chl) estimated from SPAD readings and their chemical concentrations. Polynomial and Hoerl function described well the changes in Chl a and total Chl (a+b) during senescence, but calibration functions are required to perform for each cultivar. We demonstrated that CIE L*a*b* system is reliable to estimate SPAD reading at stages of leaf senescence of Alstroemeria sp. and can be used instead of SPAD-502.
Little data on the role played in vivo by chloroplast protein AtDeg2 as a chaperone is available. Therefore, we sought for chloroplast proteins protected from high irradiance-induced interprotein aggregation via disulphide bridges by AtDeg2 acting as a holdase. To reach this goal, we performed analyses which involved comparative diagonal electrophoreses of lysates of chloroplasts isolated from wild type (WT) plants and transgenic plants 35S:AtDEG2ΔPDZ1-GFP which expressed AtDeg2 lacking its chaperone activity but retaining the protease activity. The results of the analyses indicate that AtDeg2 acting as a holdase prevents a single chloroplast protein, i.e., the γ1 subunit of ATP synthase from long-term high irradiance-induced homodimerization mediated by disuplhide bridges and this allows us to better understand a complexity of physiological significance of AtDeg2 - the chloroplast protein of dual protease/chaperone activity.
This paper seeks to reflect on issues related to the nature of housing choice, drawing on qualitative empirical data collected in in-depth interviews. This paper discusses two perspectives related to housing choice, namely, the ‘market perspective of housing choice’ and the ‘perspective of housing choice for well-being’. The ‘market perspective of housing choice’ highlights that desirability generally increases with a greater range of housing choice as the housing supply increases till a climax is reached, after which a further expansion of housing choice may indicate an excess housing supply, which may not be advantageous and home-buyers may instead ‘decide not to choose or buy’. The ‘perspective of housing choice for well-being’ reveals that choice in the housing arena is often viewed as a means to eventual well-being, rather than as an end in itself. Housing choice is ‘genuine’ and ‘meaningful’ if there are meaningful and significant options among a few desirable housing alternatives. ‘Fake housing choice’ involves having to choose from among housing options that are all generally bad.
The pro-inflammatory status of adipose tissue (AT) has been found to be related to reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) from peritoneal macrophages. However, this finding was made in experimental models using induced peritonitis and isolated peritoneal macrophages of animals. This experimental relationship is in agreement with RCT changes in man in two extreme situations, sepsis or cardiovascular complications. Given the above, we sought to test RTC in relationship to macrophage polarization in the visceral AT (VAT) of living kidney donors (LKDs) and the effect of conditioned media obtained from their AT. The influence of ATCM on CE capacity was first assessed in an experiment where standard plasma was used as cholesterol acceptor from [14C] cholesterol labeled THP-1 cells. Conditioned media as a product of LKDs’ incubated AT showed no effect on CE. Likewise, we did not find any effect of individual plasma of LKDs on CE when individual plasma of LKDs were used as acceptors. On the other hand, we documented an effect of LKDs’ adipose cell size on CE. Our results indicate that the pro-inflammatory status of human AT is not likely induced by disrupted RCT but might be influenced by the metabolic status of LKDs’ adipose tissue.
This study aimed to investigate the anti-fibrotic effects of ghrelin in isoproterenol (ISO)-induced myocardial fibrosis and the underlying mechanism. Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized to control, ISO, and ISO + ghrelin groups. ISO (2 mg/kg per day, subcutaneous) or vehicle was administered once daily for 7 days, then ghrelin (100 µg/kg per day, subcutaneous) was administered once daily for the next 3 weeks. Ghrelin treatment greatly improved the cardiac function of ISO-treated rats. Ghrelin also decreased plasma brain natriuretic peptide level and ratios of heart weight to body weight and left ventricular weight to body weight. Ghrelin significantly reduced myocardial collagen area and hydroxyproline content, accompanied by decreased mRNA levels of collagen type I and III. Furthermore, ghrelin increased plasma level of growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) and GDF15 mRNA and protein levels in heart tissues, which were significantly decreased with ISO alone. The phosphorylation of Akt at Ser473 and GSK-3β at Ser9 was decreased with ISO, and ghrelin significantly reversed the downregulation of p-Akt and p-GSK-3β. Mediated by GDF15, ghrelin could attenuate ISO-induced myocardial fibrosis via Akt-GSK-3β signaling.
Chronic stress is a crucial public issue that occurs when a person
is repetitively stimulated by various stressors. Previous
researches have reported that chronic stress induces
spermatogenesis dysfunction in the reproductive system, but its
molecular mechanisms remain unclear. The nectin protein family,
including nectin-1 to nectin-4, is Ca2+-independent
immunoglobulin-like cell adhesion molecules, that are widely
expressed in the hippocampus, testicular tissue, epithelial cells
and other sites. Nectin-3 contributes to the sperm development
at the late stage, and the abnormal expression of nectin-3
impairs spermatogenesis. Some recent studies have
demonstrated that stress induces a decrease in nectin-3
expression in the hippocampus via corticotropin-releasing
hormone (CRH) to corticotropin-releasing hormone receptor 1
(CRHR1) pathway. Here, we tested whether chronic stress also
caused a reduction in nectin-3 expression in the testis. We
established a chronic social defeat stress paradigm, which
provides naturalistic and complex chronic stress in male C57BL/6
mice. After 25 days of chronic social defeat stress, the mice
showed weight loss, thymic atrophy and some other typical
symptoms of chronic stress (e.g. anxiety-like behavior and social
avoidance behavior). We found gonad atrophy, testicular
histological structure changes and semen quality reductions in
the stressed mice. The stressed male mice significantly spent
more time to impregnate the female mice than the control male
mice. Moreover, nectin-3 protein levels in stressed mice were
significantly decreased in the testes compared with those in
control mice. In addition, we found that the CRHR1 expression
level was increased in the testes of stressed mice. Therefore, we
demonstrated a decreased level of nectin-3 expression and
an increase in CRHR1 expression in the testis after exposure to
chronic stress, which may provide a potential therapeutic target
for the spermatogenesis dysfunction induced by chronic stress.
Circadian rhythms play an essential role in the adaptation of organisms to the environment and may show species-specific or sex-specific differences even within a closely related taxonomic group. Although spiders (Araneae) are sexually dimorphic in several morphological and behavioural features, there are very few studies on the sex-specific differences in their biological rhythms. This study evaluated the circadian rhythm in the locomotor activity of two agrobiont hunting species of spider, Carrhotus xanthogramma (Latreille, 1819) (Salticidae) and Philodromus cespitum (Walckenaer, 1802) (Philodromidae), under natural photoperiod conditions. Particular attention was paid to possible differences between the sexes in both species. We found that C. xanthogramma is a strictly diurnal species with a mean activity peak in the morning in both sexes and the females are more active than males. The locomotor activity rhythm of males was richer in ultradian (shorter than a day but longer than an hour) components, although the relative power of these components was negligible compared to the main, 24-h period component. In accordance with these results, the diel pattern of locomotor activity of C. xanthogramma can be described by a unimodal cosine curve. In contrast to C. xanthogramma, both sexes of Ph. cespitum showed cathemeral activity (i.e., activity occur within both the light and dark portions of the daily cycle) and females and males follow quite different activity schedules: females were most active at night, shortly before nautical dawn, whereas males were most active early in the morning. Unlike C. xanthogramma, Ph. cespitum has more ultradian components, with higher relative power especially in females, where besides the 24-h circadian component there is a particularly strong 12-h ultradian period. Based on these factors, females of Ph. cespitum show a bimodal and males a unimodal pattern.
Wnt1 inducible protein-1 signaling pathway (WISP-1) is a relatively new adipokine involved in many cellular processes, including epithelial mucosa healing. The aim of the study was to compare circulating levels of WISP-1 and other selected adipokines [adiponectin, resistin and retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP-4)] in children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) with healthy controls and to investigate possible differences between Crohn's disease patients. (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC). The study was performed as a case-control study. In addition to adipokines, anthropometric, lipid parameters, markers of inflammation or disease activity were evaluated in all participants. Compared to healthy controls (n=20), significantly lower levels of adiponectin and higher levels of resistin and WISP-1 were found in patients with IBD (n=58). Elevation of WISP-1 was detected only in the CD group (n=31). There were no differences in RBP-4 levels between the groups. Adiponectin, WISP-1 and RBP-4 were independently associated with body mass index only, resistin levels were associated with C-reactive protein levels and leukocyte counts. Adverse adipokines production reflects presence of dysfunctional fat tissue in IBD patients. Higher levels of WISP-1 in CD compared to patients with UC may indicate a specific role for mesenteric adipose tissue in WISP-1 production.
The aim of this study was to investigate the existence of prospective differences in factors of verbal and figural creativity, like fluency, flexibility and elaboration, between pupils who read books in their free time and those who do not read. The next aim was to determine the extent of influence of reading in free time on verbal and figural creativity. Totally 169 pupils from elementary schools participated in this research. Number of those who read in their free time was 63 (37,28%). In the group there were totally 89 (52,66%) boys and 80 (47,33%) girls. Participants ranged in age from 10 to 15 years (M= 13,08; SD= 0,82). Data were collected with using Torrance Test of Creative Thinking – figural part and some adapted tasks from tests of verbal creativity from Guilford and Torrance. The results show that there are significant differences between readers and non-readers in verbal and figural creativity. Differences were also demonstrated in the most factors of creativity, the only exception was figural fluency. Further analysis of data showed more significant influence of reading on score in verbal than in figural creativity, where the influence is negligible. and V rámci tohoto výskumu bola pozornosť venovaná zisťovaniu rozdielov vo faktoroch verbálnej a neverbálnej tvorivosti, ktorými sú fluencia, flexibilita a elaborácia medzi čítajúcimi adolescentmi a ich rovesníkmi, ktorí sa tejto aktivite nevenujú, ako aj vplyvu čítania na verbálnu a neverbálnu tvorivosť. Výskumný súbor tvorilo 169 respondentov z druhého stupňa základných škôl, z čoho čitateľov bolo 63 (37,28 %). Chlapcov bolo 89 (52,66 %) a dievčat 80 (47,33 %). Vek respondentov sa pohyboval v rozmedzí 10 až 15 rokov (M= 13,08; SD= 0,82). Dáta boli zozbierané prostredníctvom Torranceho figurálneho testu tvorivého myslenia a upravených testov Guilforda a Torranceho určených na meranie verbálnej tvorivosti. Výsledky poukazujú na to, že medzi čítajúcimi a nečítajúcimi žiakmi sa nachádzajú signifikantné rozdiely vo faktoroch verbálnej a neverbálnej tvorivosti, pričom výnimku predstavuje len figurálna fluencia. Ďalšia analýza poukázala na to, že čítanie má významnejší vplyv na verbálnu tvorivosť v porovnaní s neverbálnou, na ktorú je vplyv minimálny.
Comparative housing research is hindered by attempts to provide broad empirical categorisations of types of Housing Regimes and their equivalents and sweeping cross-country generalisations about their effects. Regime theory is right to recognise the housing provision is and can be organised in different ways but proselytises too strongly. Real issues and policy debates in countries are instead embedded in the existence of specific, tenure related, networks of housing provision and they widely differ across the world. Taking that on board can lead to more fruitful understandings.