The majority of the conservation strategies for threatened dragonflies are designed to protect only their aquatic habitats. Sympetrum depressiusculum is a species threatened not only by the destruction of its aquatic habitats but also by its association with a specific terrestrial environment. In this study, we aimed to identify the key elements of the terrestrial environment of adult S. depressiusculum. We used generalized linear mixed models to determine habitat preferences of adults and the particular features of habitat patches, such as vegetation cover, vegetation structure and the availability of potential prey. Our results indicate that S. depressiusculum adults preferred mainly riparian vegetation but beyond ponds they utilized only certain terrestrial habitats (abandoned fields, meadows, forest clearings). Adults responded positively to habitat patches with a high cover of vegetation and suitable vegetation structure. Adult abundance was affected also by the distance of patches from the natal site. In an agricultural landscape, the availability of such habitat patches may be limited and could influence the abundance and distribution of this species. We suggest that conservation efforts for this species should not only focus on the larval environment but also include suitable surrounding terrestrial habitats. Effective management around natal sites should concentrate on maintaining a heterogeneous landscape, which is extensively managed (e.g. leaving several fields fallow, maintaining managed hay meadows)., Michal Hykel, Filip Harabiš, Aleš Dolný., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Toxoplasmosis is one of the world's most prevalent zoonoses. The causative agent, Toxoplasma gondii (Nicolle et Manceaux, 1908) is a facultative heteroxenic, polyxenic apicomplexan protist. There are several potential pathways of transmission within and between host species. Most infections with T. gondii result from close contact with pets/cats, ingestion of tissue cysts in undercooked meat of infected animals, and oocysts from food or water contaminated by feline faeces. Recently, epidemiological studies have shown that T. gondii infection plays a prominent role in the pathogenesis of several psychiatric disorders. This report reviews the association between T. gondii infection and patients with psychiatric disorders, particularly schizophrenia, depressive disorders and bipolar disorders.
The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between various clinical aspects of schizophrenia and seropositivity against Toxoplasma gondii (Nicolle et Manceaux, 1908). We selected 94 patients with schizophrenia and investigated the seropositivity rate for anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies by ELISA. Clinical parameters of schizophrenic patients such as illness type and status, clinical course, awareness of the illness and need for electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) were compared with their serological status. Anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies were detected in 43 (46%) of schizophrenic patients. Chronic patients had a rate of 34 (72%) seropositivity, whereas 9 (22%) of the patients with partial remission showed evidence of latent toxoplasmosis. Of continuous patients, 35 (81%) were found to be seropositive and this rate was significantly more than in the other groups. The rate of latent toxoplasmosis was detected significantly higher in patients who lack awareness of schizophrenia (36, i.e. 72%) than the patients who were aware of their illnesses (7, i.e. 16%). Anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies were detected in 38 (70%) of ECT performed patients while this percentage was 13% in the ones who had never been treated with ECT. This difference was also statistically significant. We showed that Toxoplasma-infected subjects had 15× higher probability of having continuous course of disease than Toxoplasma-free subjects. Our results put forth the possibility of latent toxoplasmosis to have a negative impact on the course of schizophrenia and treatment response of schizophrenic patients., Tuncay Çelik, Şükrü Kartalci, Özgür Aytaş, Gülay Aral Akarsu, Harika Gözükara, Süheyla Ünal., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The ascarid nematodes Toxocara canis (Werner, 1782) and Toxocara cati (Schrank, 1788) may infect humans resulting in toxocariasis. A prior study associated species of Toxocara Stiles, 1905 with cognitive deficits in children. To determine if a similar association between toxocariasis and cognition exists in adults, we analysed a large dataset from the United States' Center for Disease Control's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. We used linear-regression and multivariate models to examine the association between toxocariasis as assessed by the presence of anti-Toxocara IgG antibodies and three measures of cognitive function - simple reaction time (SRT), symbol-digit substitution (SDS) and serial-digit learning (SDL) in 4 279 adults aged 21 to 59 years. Toxocara seroprevalence did not vary with age or blood-lead concentration but did vary with gender, ethnicity, educational attainment and poverty-to-income ratio. Controlling for gender, age, blood-lead concentration, educational attainment, ethnic background and the poverty-to-income ratio, we found that toxocariasis predicted worse performance on the SDS but not on the SRT or the SDL. Moreover, there were significant interactions between toxocariasis and age, gender and educational attainment. In conclusion, toxocariasis appears to be associated with decreased cognitive function. Interactions between toxocariasis and gender, age and educational attainment further suggest that certain groups may be more susceptible than others to the cognitive dysfunction associated with toxocariasis in adults., Lance D. Erickson, Shawn D. Gale, Andrew Berrett, Bruce L. Brown, Dawson W. Hedges., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The nematodes Toxocara canis (Werner, 1782) and Toxocara cati (Schrank, 1788) have been associated with worse human cognitive function in children and middle-aged adults. In this study, we sought to determine the association between Toxocara seropositivity and serointensity determined by detection of IgG antibodies against the Toxocara antigen recombinant Tc-CTL-1 and cognitive function in older adults, including approximately 1,350 observations from the 2013-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Mean fluorescence intensity was used to quantify IgG antibodies against the Toxocara recombinant Tc-CTL-1 antigen, and respondents were considered positive at values greater than 23.1. In adjusted models from sample sizes ranging from 1,274 to 1,288 depending on the individual cognitive task, we found that Toxocara seropositivity was associated with worse performance on the animal-fluency task (b = -1.245, 95% CI: -2.392 to -0.099, P< 0.05) and the digit-symbol coding task (b = -5.159, 95% CI: -8.337 to -1.980, P< 0.001). Toxocara serointensity assessed using log-transformed mean fluorescence intensity as a continuous variable was associated with worse performance on the digit-symbol coding task (b = -1.880, 95% CI: -2.976 to -0.783, P < 0.001). There were no significant associations with tasks assessing memory. Further, age modified the association between Toxocara and cognitive function, although sex, educational attainment, and income did not. These findings suggest that Toxocara might be associated with deficits in executive function and processing speed in older U.S. adults, although additional research is required to better describe cognitive function in older adults who are seropositive for Toxocara spp.
The endothelin system may play a role in the pathogenesis of vasovagal syncope (VVS) because it is implicated in blood pressure regulation. We hypothesized that endothelin-related genetic polymorphisms might modulate susceptibility to VVS. This study aimed to evaluate the possible influence of endothelin-1 (EDN1) and endothelin receptor A (EDNRA) gene variants on the occurrence of tilt-induced VVS and autonomic nervous system activity during the head-up tilt test (HUT). Results were expressed as mean ± SEM. In 254 patients with recurrent syncope (age 45.33±1.22 years, 94 males, 160 females), heart rate variability (HRV) was measured during HUT. EDN1 rs5370 G>T and EDNRA rs5333 T>C gene polymorphisms were assessed using high-resolution melting analysis. There was no statistically significant association between polymorphisms EDN1 rs5370 and EDNRA rs5333 and positivity of HUT or hemodynamic types of VVS. Patients with GT or TT genotypes at the rs5370 locus of the EDN1 had significantly higher values of high-frequency (HF) and the standard deviation of the average NN intervals at the time of the syncope, and they tended to have lower low-frequency (LF) and LF/HF ratio when compared to homozygotes (GG). No statistically significant differences were found in HRV parameters concerning the EDNRA rs5333 genotypes. Our findings suggest the potential role of EDN1 rs5370 variants in regulating autonomic nervous activity and pathogenesis of VVS.
Autonomic nervous system (ANS) disorders are common in multiple sclerosis (MS). Previous studies showed differences in insulin resistance (IR) and lipoprotein levels in MS subjects compared to controls. Lipolysis caused by increased sympathetic activity could be one of the possible linking mechanisms leading to dyslipidemia in MS. Our study aimed to evaluate ANS activity in the context of glucose and lipid metabolism in people with MS. We prospectively measured short-term heart rate variability (HRV), fasting lipoprotein concentrations, and calculated IR indices based on plasma glucose and insulin levels during oral glucose tolerance test (oGTT) in 32 patients with MS and 29 healthy controls matched for age, sex and body mass index in our study. There was no significant difference in HRV parameters and lipoprotein levels between MS and controls. A significant positive correlation was found between low/high-frequency power ratio (LF/HF) and triglycerides (r=0.413, p=0.021) in MS subjects but not in controls. A significantly lower whole-body insulin sensitivity index (ISIMat) was found in patients with MS compared to the control group (7.3±3.7 vs. 9.8±5.6, p=0.041). No significant correlations were found between LF/HF and IR parameters. In MS subjects, the positive correlation of LF/HF with triglycerides could reflect the effects of sympathetic activity on lipolysis. Positive correlations of sympathetic activity with increased lipoprotein levels could rather reflect processes associated with immune system activation/inflammation, than processes involved in glucose homeostasis maintenance.
Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is an attenuated Mycobacterium tuberculosis vaccine. We performed a series of co-infection experiments with BCG-Plasmodium chabaudi chabaudi Landau, 1965 AS using C57BL/6 mice to analyse whether BCG can affect the development of protective immunity to infection with Plasmodium spp. and the mechanism of this protection. We divided mice into four groups: BCG-inoculation 4 weeks prior to P. c. chabaudi AS infection (B-4w-Pc); simultaneous BCG-inoculation and P. c. chabaudi AS infection (Pc+B); BCG-inoculation 3 days post P. c. chabaudi AS (Pc-3-B) infection; and mono-P. c. chabaudi AS infection as control (Pc). The parasitemia level in the B-4w-Pc group was noticeably higher than control group at 6-19 days post infection (dpi). Compared with the control group, the proportion of CD4+CD69+ T cells was significantly reduced 5, 8 and 12 dpi, but the proportion of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ Tregs was significantly increased in the B-4w-Pc group on 5 and 8 dpi. The B-4w-Pc group also demonstrated reduced levels of IFN-γ and TNF-α on 5 and 8 dpi and significantly elevated level of IL-10 on 12 dpi. There were significantly fewer mDCs (CD11c+CD11b+) and pDCs (CD11c+B220+) in the B-4w-Pc group than the control group at all the time points post infection and the expression of MHC II was noticeably reduced on day 8 pi. Our findings confirmed that BCG inoculation prior to Plasmodium infection resulted in excessive activation and proliferation of Tregs and upregulation of anti-inflammatory mediators, which inhibited establishment of a Th1-dominant immune response during the early stages of Plasmodium infection by inhibiting dendritive cells response. BCG inoculation prior to P. c. chabaudi AS infection may contribute to overgrowth of parasites as well as mortality in mice., Dong-Hua Cao, Ji-Chun Wang, Jun Liu, Yun-Ting Du, Li-Wang Cui, Ya-Ming Cao., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Insights can be gained by analysing the feeding decisions of animals in terms of nutrient demands at a species or community level. Using carbohydrate and protein food baits, resource use and food preferences of Formica (Serviformica) lemani were determined at nine locations situated at different altitudes (1875 to 2400 m a.s.l.) in the alpine grassland belt above the tree line in Austria and northern Italy. F. lemani is the most common species of ant in this habitat. Sucrose baits placed around ant colonies were visited by significantly (3.9 times) more workers than protein baits. This indicates that sources of sugar (carbohydrate) are in short supply in the alpine zone, whereas availability of prey items appears to be less constraining. Overall, we recorded a decrease in the incidence of visits to baits from low (31.9% baits attracting ants at least once) to high altitudes (16.7%). Foraging ants never visited 51.5% of the baits exposed for periods of 75 min. This indicates that with increasing altitude competition for food among ant colonies becomes less intense in alpine grassland ant communities., Elia Guariento, Jan Martini, Konrad Fiedler., and Obsahuje bibliografii
To characterize the differences in baroreflex sensitivity (BRS), blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR) and respiration rate (RR) in preterm infants with a similar postconceptional age reached by various combinations of gestational and postnatal ages. To detect potential sex differences in assessed cardiovascular parameters. The study included 49 children (24 boys and 25 girls), postconceptional age 34.6±1.9 weeks. Two subgroups of infants were selected with the similar postconceptional age (PcA) and current weight, but differing in gestational (GA) and postnatal (PnA) ages, as well as two matched subgroups of boys and girls. Blood pressure (BP) was recorded continuously using Portapres device (FMS). A stationary segment of 250 beat-to-beat BP values was analyzed for each child. Baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) was calculated by cross-correlation sequence method. Despite the same PcA age and current weight, children with longer GA had higher BRS, diastolic and mean BP than children with shorter GA and longer PnA age. Postconceptional age in preterm infants is a parameter of maturation better predicting baroreflex sensitivity and blood pressure values compared to postnatal age. Sex related differences in BRS, BP, HR and RR were not found in our group of preterm infants.