Cancer therapy with daunorubicin is limited by its cardiotoxicity. It has been suggested that daunorubicin-induced free radical generation can be involved. The precise molecular mechanism of daunorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity is still not well understood but it is believed that mitochondria play an important role in this process. It has been reported that flavonoids with antioxidant properties may prevent anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity. In this work, we investigated the effects of daunorubicin and quercetin on mitochondrial enzyme activities such as ATPase, glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione reductase (GR). Moreover, we also studied the changes of outer mitochondrial membrane using synchronous fluorescence spectra. The actitivity of ATPase and GR were significantly increased after daunorubicin application. Pretreatment with quercetin significantly alleviated this increase. On the other hand, GPx activity was significantly decreased and quercetin prevented this decrease. Treatment with quercetin alone had no significant effect on the enzyme activity studied. Quercetin also completely prevented daunorubicin-induced changes in fluorescence of the outer mitochondrial membrane. In conclusion, our data indicate that quercetin may be useful in mitigating daunorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity., J. Guzy, J. Kušnír, M. Mareková, Z. Chavková, K. Dubayová, G. Mojžišová, L. Mirossay, J. Mojžiš., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Radiation quality was an important environmental cue to stimulate seed germination in Acacia mangium. The photo-synthetic CO2 assimilation rate, dark respiration rate, total biomass, and relative growth rate of seedlings grown under monochromatic radiation were significantly lower than those of seedlings grown under full spectrum radiation. Blue and red radiation induced shade-avoidance and shade-tolerant responses of A. mangium seedlings, respectively. and Hua Yu, Bee-Lian Ong.
The ultrastructure of cotton leaves, exhibiting reddening as symptom of physiological disorder, was examined by means of transmission electron microscopy. Osmiophilisation of the membrane compartment was established. Massive agglomerations on the tonoplast in the vacuole of cells under the adaxial epidermis were observed, and were referred to as electron-dense osmiophilic substance, most probably of anthocyanin nature. In chloroplast stroma a zone of low electron density enclosing numerous osmiophilic aggregations of unclear chemical character was differentiated. Fragmentation and severe destruction of thylakoids in chloroplasts of reddening cotton leaves was not detected. and D. Stoyanova-Koleva ... [et al.].
The use of rock physics modeling and petrophysical analysis has become an integral part of quantitative seismic interpretation. In the present study, the above-mentioned techniques are applied to the reservoir interval of Basal Sand of Cretaceous age widely distributed in the Lower Indus Basin of Pakistan. The data used for this purpose consists of complete suits of wireline logs from four well A, B, C and D. The primary goal of this work is to understand the trends of seismic parameters such as P-wave velocity (VP), S-wave velocity (VS), bulk modulus, bulk density as a function of fluid saturation and porosity in this sand interval. Petrophysical analysis based on well logs is used to obtain petrophysical properties such as porosity, the volume of shale, fluid saturation, P-wave velocity (VP), S-wave velocity (VS) and density at reservoir conditions. The results show that seismic parameters are very sensitive to fluid saturation, fluid types and rock-forming sediments. Reservoir porosity and fluid saturation control the elastic response of Basal Sand due to which seismic velocities decrease with an increase in porosity and fluid saturation., Perveiz Khalid, Muhammad Arshad, Muhammad Irfan Ehsan, Aziz Ahmad and Shehzad Khurrum., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Resveratrol, which is a polyphenol present in red wines and vegetables included in human diets, exerts many biological effects. The aim of the present study was to investigate its effect on some activities of polymorphonuclear leukocytes, particularly the generation of superoxide anion (O2-) in whole blood, hypochlorous acid (HOCl) and nitric oxide (NO) production by isolated cells, and chemotaxis. Resveratrol showed significant dose-dependent inhibitory effect on all these activities. In particular, it inhibited O2- generation in stimulated but not in resting neutrophils, decreased HOCl much more than O2- production indicating an effect on myeloperoxidase secretion since HOCl production is directly and proportionally dependent on O2- generation and reduced cell motility. The small dose of resveratrol (4.38 nM) used is attainable with a diet including red wine and vegetables confirming its protective role against some pathological processes such as inflammation, coronary heart disease, and cancer., A. Cavallaro, T. Ainis, C. Bottari, V. Fimiani., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Time course of symbiotic N2-fixing and photosynthetic activities during vegetative growth from 30 d after plantation until pod set was measured in the CB5 and 7964 cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] genotypes of contrasting senescence traits. At emergence, seedlings were inoculated with a "non-cowpea miscellany" Rhizobium strain generally used to inoculate Cicer arietinum. Maximum N2-fixing activity occurred in inoculated CB5 and 7964 plants about 54 and 68 d after plantation, respectively. A similar temporal shift of maximum was found for net photosynthetic rate
(PN), confirming a good coordination between the two processes. A higher PN was found from the first measurements in inoculated plants of both genotypes as compared with uninoculated plants. Apparently, the maximum activity of both N2-fixation and PN was timed to occur at a particular stage of plant ontogeny correlating the high N supply with the high N demand by the plant. Rhizobium inoculation did not significantly affect partitioning coefficients of biomass to various plant organs but extended leaf longevity by about 10 d in the CB5 genotype, retarding thus the monocarpic senescence. and D. Lippi ... [et al.].
The Bavarian Danube River has experienced numerous large flood events in recent years which make flood management an urgent matter. The propagation of flood waves along the river is heavily influenced by controlled and natural flood retention. Over the past centuries, natural flood retention areas were lost due to river training, and the hydraulic characteristics of the channel-flood plain system were modified. The purpose of this paper is to understand the effect of river training on the flood retention characteristics along the Bavarian Danube. Systematic two-dimensional hydrodynamic modelling shows that extreme floods are attenuated more strongly in the present state of the channel-flood plain system than they were historically. This is because the retention areas are filled later during the event, so the attenuation effect is much larger for the same magnitude of the retention volume. Natural flood retention is therefore not an effective management option for reducing extreme floods on the Bavarian Danube. Controlled flood retention measures provide a higher efficiency regarding peak attenuation to retention volume ratio. On the other hand, the delay of flood peaks due to natural retention may be beneficial for the superposition of the flood waves with contributions from downstream tributaries.
The effect of rotation on the onset of convection in compfessible Walters‘ (model B‘) elastico-viscous fluid heated from below saturating a porous medium is considered. For the porous medium, the Brinkman model is employed and Walters‘ (model B‘) fluid used to characterize the viscoelastic fluid. By applying normal mode analysis method, the dispersion relation has been derived and solved analytically. It is observed that the medium permeability, compressibility, gravity field and vscoelasticity introduce oscillatory modes. For stationary convection, the rotation has stabilizing effect whereas Darcy number and medium permeability have destabilizing/stabilizing effect on the system under certain conditions. and Obsahuje seznam literatury a názvosloví
With the increase in concentration of applied salicylic acid (SA), chlorophyll (Chl) content decreased significantly in both wheat and moong seedlings. Chl a/b ratio decreased significantly only in wheat and remained constant in moong. On the other hand, total carotenoid (Car) content, size of xanthophyll pool, and de-epoxidation rate increased significantly with an increase in SA concentration in both plant species. Hence SA treatment may induce Car biosynthesis in these plant species, but the increase in the xanthophyll pool and de-epoxidation rate indicates that SA may create oxidative stress the degree of which is different in various plants. and S. T. Moharekar ... [et al.].
Light and electron microscopy were used to relate histological and ultrastructural differences of barley leaves treated with different concentrations of salicylic acid (SA, 100 µM-1 mM). Light microscopy revealed that the thickness of all leaf tissue components decreased in SA-treated plants. The effect was most pronounced on the width of the adaxial epidermis and on the size of the bulliform cells. The chloroplast ultrastructure was also affected by SA treatment. Swelling of grana thylakoids in various degrees, coagulation of the stroma, and increase in chloroplast volume were observed. 1 mM SA caused a vast destruction of the whole plastid structure. and A. N. Uzunova, L. P. Popova.