Photosynthetic characteristics of two hybrid rice combinations, Peiai 64S/E32 and Shanyou 63, were compared at the panicle differentiation stage. As compared with Shanyou 63, the new combination Peiai 64S/E32 showed a significantly higher net photosynthetic rate (PN), apparent quantum yield of carbon assimilation (Φc), carboxylation efficiency (CE), and photorespiratory rate (RP) as well as leaf chlorophyll content, but a significantly lower dark respiration rate (RD) and compensation irradiance (Ic). It also showed a slightly higher photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm and ΔF/Fm') of photosystem 2, a lower non-photochemical quenching (qN), and a similar CO2 compensation concentration (Γ) as compared to Shanyou 63. and Hua Jiang ... [et al.].
Hereditary hypertriglyceridemic (hHTG) rats are characterized by increased blood pressure and impaired endotheliumdependent relaxation of conduit arteries. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of long-term (4 weeks) treatment of hHTG rats with three drugs which, according to their mechanism of action, may be able to modify the endothelial function: simvastatin (an inhibitor of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase), spironolactone (an antagonist of aldosterone receptors) and L-arginine (a precursor of nitric oxide formation). At the end of 4th week the systolic blood pressure in the control hHTG group was 148±2 mm Hg and in control normotensive Wistar group 117±3 mm Hg. L-arginine failed to reduce blood pressure, but simvastatin (118±1 mm Hg) and spironolactone (124±4 mm Hg) treatment significantly decreased the systolic blood pressure. In isolated phenylephrine-precontracted aortic rings from hHTG rats endothelium-dependent relaxation was diminished as compared to control Wistar rats. Of the three drugs used, only simvastatin improved acetylcholine-induced relaxation of the aorta. We conclude that both simvastatin and spironolactone reduced blood pressure but only simvastatin significantly improved endothelial dysfunction of aorta. Prominent increase in the expression of eNOS in large conduit arteries may be the pathophysiological mechanism underlying the protective effect of simvastatin in hHTG rats., J. Török, I. L'upták, J. Matúšková, O. Pecháňová, J. Zicha, J. Kuneš, F. Šimko., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Seedlings of Chloris virgata were treated with varying (0-160 mM) salt-stress (SS; 1 : 1 molar ratio of NaCl to Na2SO4) or alkali-stress (AS; 1 : 1 molar ratio of NaHCO3 to Na2CO3). To compare these effects, relative growth rates (RGR), stored energy, photosynthetic pigment contents, net photosynthetic rates, stomatal conductance, and transpiration rates were determined. Both stresses did not change significantly the photosynthetic parameters of C. virgata under moderate stress (below 120 mM). Photosynthetic ability decreased significantly only at high stress (160 mM). Thus C. virgata, a natural alkali-resistant halophyte, adapts better to both kinds of stress. The inhibition effects of AS on RGR and energy storage of C. virgata were significantly greater than that of SS of the same intensity. The energy consumption of C. virgata was considerably greater while resisting AS than while resisting SS. and C. W. Yang ... [et al.]
In the study of Tomlain (1997) a soil water balance model was applied to evaluate the climate change impacts on the soil water storage in the Hurbanovo locality (Southwestern Slovakia), using the climate change scenarios of Slovakia for the years 2010, 2030, and 2075 by the global circulation models CCCM, GISS and GFD3. These calculations did not take into consideration neither the various soil properties, nor the groundwater table influence on soil water content. In this study, their calculated data were compared with those monitored at the same sites. There were found significant differences between resulting soil water storage of the upper 100 cm soil layer, most probably due to cappilary rise from groundwater at sites 2 and 3. It was shown, that the soil properties and groundwater table depth are importat features strongly influencing soil water content of the upper soil layer; thus the application of the soil water balance equation (Eq. (1)), neglecting the above mentioned factors, could lead to the results far from reality. and V práci Tomlaina (1997) bol aplikovaný bilančný model vodného režimu pôd na ohodnotenie dopadu klimatickej zmeny na vodné zásoby pôdy v lokalite Hurbanovo (juhozápadné Slovensko), použijúc scenáre klimatickej zmeny pre Slovensko pre roky 2010, 2030 a 2075, založené na globálnych cirkulačných modeloch CCCM, GISS a GFD3. V týchto výpočtoch nebol braný do úvahy vplyv vlastností pôdy a hladiny podzemnej vody na vlhkosť pôdy. V práci boli porovnané vypočítané hodnoty zásob vody s monitorovanými v tej istej lokalite. Bol nájdený význačný rozdiel medzi zásobami vody v 100-cm hornej vrstve pôdy najpravdepodobnejšie spôsobený kapilárnym prítokom od hladiny podzemnej vody v monitorovacích miestach 2 a 3. Bolo ukázané, že pôdne vlastnosti a hĺbka hladiny podzemnej vody sú dôležitými faktormi, ktoré silno ovplyvňujú vlhkosť hornej vrstvy pôdy; z toho vyplýva, že aplikácia bilančnej rovnice (rov. (1)), ktorá zanedbáva vyššie uvedené faktory, nedáva reálne výsledky.
In this study, susceptibility of inbred C57BL/6 and outbred NMRI mice to monosodium glutamate (MSG) obesity or diet-induced obesity (DIO) was compared in terms of food intake, body weight, adiposity as well as leptin, insulin and glucose levels. MSG obesity is an early-onset obesity resulting from MSG-induced lesions in arcuate nucleus to neonatal mice. Both male and female C57BL/6 and NMRI mice with MSG obesity did not differ in body weight from their lean controls, but had dramatically increased fat to body weight ratio. All MSG obese mice developed severe hyperleptinemia, more remarkable in females, but only NMRI male mice showed massive hyperinsulinemia and an extremely high HOMA index that pointed to development of insulin resistance. Diet-induced obesity is a late-onset obesity; it developed during 16-week-long feeding with high-fat diet containing 60 % calories as fat. Inbred C57BL/6 mice, which are frequently used in DIO studies, both male and female, had significantly increased fat to body weight ratio and leptin and glucose levels compared with their appropriate lean controls, but only female C57BL/6 mice had also significantly elevated body weight and insulin level. NMRI mice were less prone to DIO than C57BL/6 ones and did not show significant changes in metabolic parameters after feeding with high-fat diet., R. Matyšková, L. Maletínská, J. Maixnerová, Z. Pirník, A. Kiss, B. Železná., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
The pericarp of cereal crops is considered a photosynthetically active tissue. Although extensive studies have been performed on green leaves, the photosynthetic role of the pericarp in cereal caryopsis development has not been well investigated. In the present study, we investigated the anatomy, ultrastructure, chlorophyll (Chl) fluorescence, and oxygen evolution of the pericarp during caryopsis ontogenesis in field wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). The results showed that wheat pericarp cross-cells contained Chl; the grana stacks and thylakoid membranes in the cross-cells were more distinct in the pericarp than those in the flag leaves as shown by transmission electron microscopy. Chl fluorescence revealed that the photosynthetic efficiency, which was indicated by values of maximum efficiency of PSII photochemistry and effective PSII quantum yield, was lower in the pericarp compared to that of the flag leaf eight days after anthesis (DAA), whereas similar values were subsequently observed. The nonphotochemical quenching values were lower from 8-16 DAA but significantly increased in the pericarp from 24-32 DAA compared to the flag leaf. The oxygen evolution rate of the flag leaves was consistently higher than that of pericarp; notably, isolated pericarps released more oxygen than intact pericarps during caryopsis development. These results suggest that the pericarp plays a key role in caryopsis development by performing photosynthesis as well as by supplying oxygen to the endosperm and dissipating excessive energy during the
grain-filling stages., L. A. Kong , Y. Xie, M. Z. Sun, J. S. Si, L. Hu., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
The diurnal trends of gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters in four Lycoris species (L. houdyshelii, L. aurea, L. radiata var. pumila and L. albiflora) were determined and compared with a portable photosynthesis analysis system. Our study revealed that L. houdyshelii had the lowest light compensation point (LCP), while the other three species had higher LCP (12.37-14.99 μmol m-2 s-1); L. aurea had the highest light saturation point (LSP) (1,189 μmol m-2 s-1), and L. houdyshelii and L. albiflora had lower LSP with the values being 322 and 345 μmol m-2 s-1, respectively, and L. radiata var. pumila showed the intermediate LSP. Both the species L. houdyshelii and L. albiflora exhibited a typical and obvious decline in net photosynthetic rate (PN) during midday, which was not observed in L. aurea. This indicated a possible photoinhibition in L. houdyshelii and L. albiflora as the ratio of variable to maximum fluorescence (Fv/Fm) values were higher in these two species. The minimal fluorescence (F0) values were lower in L. aurea and L. radiata var. pumila. The diurnal changes of transpiration rate (E) in all four species presented only one peak, appearing between 11:00 h or 13:00 h. By using simple correlation analyses, it was observed that the environmental factors affecting
PN were different among four species and the main factors were photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) and relative humidity especially for L. aurea and L. radiata. The results of studying indicated that the four species could be divided into two groups. The species L. radiata var. pumila and L. aurea were more adapted to a relatively high irradiance, and L. houdyshelii and L. albiflora could be grown in moderate-shade environment in order to scale up their growth and productivity., K. Liu ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The relative length of telomeres measured in peripheral blood leukocytes is a commonly used system marker for biological aging and can also be used as a biomarker of cardiovascular aging. However, to what extent the telomere length in peripheral leukocytes reflects telomere length in different organ tissues is still unclear. Therefore, we have measured relative telomere length (rTL) in twelve different human tissues (peripheral blood leukocytes, liver, kidney, heart, spleen, brain, skin, triceps, tongue mucosa, intercostal skeletal muscle, subcutaneous fat, and abdominal fat) from twelve cadavers (age range of 29 week of gestation to 88 years old). The highest rTL variability was observed in peripheral leukocytes, and the lowest variability was found in brain. We found a significant linear correlation between leukocyte rTL and both intercostal muscle (R=0.68, P<0.02) and liver rTL (R=0.60, P<0.05) only. High rTL variability was observed between different organs from one individual. Furthermore, we have shown that even slight DNA degradation (modeled by sonication of genomic DNA) leads to false rTL shortening. We conclude that the rTL in peripheral leukocytes is not strongly correlated with the rTL in different organs., D. Dlouha, J. Maluskova, I. Kralova Lesna, V. Lanska, J. A. Hubacek., and Obsahuje bibliografii
In the present study, we investigated the antioxidative potential in leaves of the chromatic (CC) versus green (GC) Amaranthus tricolor L. under moderate high-temperature stress at 45°C. Before heat stress, CC had significantly higher levels of betacyanins [about 3.2 mg g-1(FM)] than the green [1.8 mg g-1(FM) (p<0.01), while similar chlorophyll (Chl) content [about 2 mg g-1(FM)] was observed between both cultivars. After exposure to high temperature (45°C) for 6 days, betacyanins in leaves of CC were remarkably increased (about 2 times of that in control samples grown at 30°C). In contrast, betacyanins in GC significantly decreased by 56% in comparison with that of the control. Chl level in CC was higher than that in GC after heat stress for 6 days. Flavonoids and total phenolics in both cultivars were increased, but much more in CC. Significantly less H2O2 accumulation was observed in the leaves and stems of CC than in those of GC under heat stress. Interestingly, much stronger circadian oscillation in fluorescence was observed in both cultivars after treatment at 45°C, which suggested that heat stress stimulates endogenous rhythms of photosystem II (PSII). Under moderate high-temperature stress, Chl fluorescence parameters Fv/Fm (maximum quantum yield of PSII), qP (coefficient of photochemical quenching), ΦPSII (effective PSII quantum yield), and ETR (electron transport rate) exhibited a gradual decrease, NPQ (nonphotochemical quenching) showed a slight increase followed by a gradual decline, whereas Fo (minimum fluorescence of a dark-adapted leaf) increased continuously. In contrast to GC, after 120 h of high-temperature treatment, CC exhibited significantly lower Fo level, and higher levels of Fv/Fm and NPQ. It is clear that PSII in CC was more stable than that in GC. The results indicate that betacyanins are an effective antioxidant, and probably contribute greatly to the higher thermal stability of PSII and higher tolerance to heat stress. and Z. Shu ... [et al.].
A key physical property used in the description of a soil-water regime is a soil water retention curve, which shows the relationship between the water content and the water potential of the soil. Pedotransfer functions are based on the supposed dependence of the soil water content on the available soil characteristics, e.g., on the relative content of the particle size in the soil and the dry bulk density of the soil. This dependence could be extracted from the available data by various regression methods. In this paper, artificial neural networks (ANNs) and support vector machines (SVMs) were used to estimate a drying branch of a water retention curve. The paper compares the mentioned methods by estimating the water retention curves on regional scale for the Záhorská lowland in the Slovak Republic, where relatively small data set was available. The performance of the models was evaluated and compared. These computations did not fully confirm the superiority of SVMs over ANNs as is often proclaimed in the literature, because the results obtained show that in this study the ANN model performs somewhat better and is easier to handle in determining pedotransfer functions than the SVM models. Nevertheless, the results from both data-driven models are quite close, and the results show that they provide a significantly more precise outcome than a traditional multi-linear regression does., Autori sa v príspevku venujú určovaniu pedotransferových funkcií (PTF), ktoré umožňujú stanoviť body vlhkostných retenčných kriviek pôdy z ľahšie merateľných pôdnych vlastností a sú dôležitým prvkom modelovania vodného režimu pôdy. Ešte v minulej dekáde sa objavili snahy využívať na ich určenie umelé neurónové siete (UNS). Multi-layer perceptron (MLP) čiže viacvrstvový perceptrón je najčastejšie používaný model doprednej umelej neurónovej siete s kontrolovaným typom učenia. Vstupné signály prechádzajú sieťou typu MLP iba dopredným smerom, teda postupne od vrstvy k vrstve. MLP používa tri a viac vrstiev neurónov rozdelených na vstupnú, skrytú a výstupnú vrstvu s nelineárnou aktivačnou funkciou a vie rozpoznať alebo modelovať informácie, ktoré nie sú lineárne oddeliteľné alebo závislé. Novší vývoj v oblasti učiacich algoritmov poskytuje ďalšie možnosti, z ktorých sa v tomto príspevku venujeme tzv. mechanizmom podporných vektorov (Support Vector Machines - SVM). SVM využíva pri svojom kalibrovaní na riešený problém princíp tzv. štrukturálnej minimalizácie namiesto iba minimalizácie chyby - (Vapnik, 1995). Pri trénovaní siete MLP je jediným cieľom minimalizovať celkovú chybu. Pri SVM sa simultánne minimalizuje chyba aj zložitosť modelu. Použitie tohto princípu vedie zvyčajne k vyššej schopnosti generalizácie, t.j. umožneniu presnejších predpovedí pre dáta, ktoré neboli použité pri trénovaní SVM. Vhodnosť štandardnej umelej neurónovej siete, SVM a viacnásobnej lineárnej regresie sa v článku vyhodnocuje na základe údajov získaných z pôdnych vzoriek odobratých v lokalite Záhorskej nížiny. Pôvodné údaje a ich aplikáciu pri vyhodnocovaní vodného režimu pôd uvádza Skalová (2001, 2007), odkiaľ boli prevzaté vstupné dáta a to percentuálny obsah zrnitostných kategórií (I až IV podľa Kopeckého), redukovaná objemová hmotnosť (ρd) a vlhkosti pre vlkostné potenciály hw= -2.5, -56, -209, -558, -976, -3060, -15300 cm, ktoré boli stanovené laboratórne pre potreby určenia a testovania regresných závislostí. Vzhľadom na to, že pri odvodzovaní regionálnych PTF je častým prípadom nedostatok dát pre odvodenie dátovo riadených modelov, autori navrhli riešiť úlohu pomocou ansámblu MLP resp. SVM. Ansámbel dátovo riadených modelov bol vytvorený variabilným rozdelením údajov na trénovacie a validačné (validačnými údajmi sa testuje presnosť modelu vo fáze jeho tvorby, ešte sa používajú konečné testovacie dáta, ktoré neboli pri tvorbe modelu použité). Výsledky ukázali lepšie regresné schopnosti oboch dátovo riadených modelov (SVM aj MLP) voči multilineárnej regresii a o niečo lepšie výsledky boli získané z viacvrstvového perceptrónu než zo SVM., and Keďže v niektorých iných prácach mal zvyčajne vyššiu výpočtovú presnosť model založený na SVM než na UNS, autori odporúčajú pre budúci výskum preveriť vhodnosť kombinácie SVM a MLP modelov v dátovo riadenom skupinovom modeli.