The lipid molecule, lysophosphatidylinositol (LPI), is hypothesis ed to form part of a novel lipid signalling system that involves the G protein- coupled receptor GPR55 and distinct in tracellular signalling cascades in endothelial cells. This work aimed to study the possible mechanisms involved in LPI -evoked cytosolic Ca 2+ mobilization in human brain microvascular endothelial cells. Changes in intracellular Ca 2+ concentrations were meas ured using cell population Ca 2+ assay. LPI evoked biphasic elevation of intracellular calcium concentration, a rapid phase and a sustained phase. The rapid phase was attenuated by the inhibitor of PLC (U 73122), inhibitor of IP 3 receptors, 2 -APB and the de pletor of endoplasmic reticulum Ca 2+ store, thapsigargin. The sustained phase, on the other hand, was enhanced by U 73122 and abolished by the RhoA kinase inhibitor, Y -27632. In conclusion, the Ca 2+ signal evoked by LPI is characterised by a rapid phase of Ca 2+ release from the endoplasmic reticulum, and requires activation of the PLC -IP 3 signalling pathway. The sustained phase mainly depends on RhoA kinase activation. LPI acts as novel lipid signalling molecule in endothelial cells, and elevation of cytosolic Ca 2+ triggered by it may present an important intracellular message required in gene expression and controlling of vascular tone., Y. M. Al Suleimani, C. R. Hiley., and Obsahuje bibliografii
For an ordered set W = {w1, w2, . . . , wk} of vertices and a vertex v in a connected graph G, the ordered k-vector r(v|W) := (d(v, w1), d(v, w2), . . . , d(v, wk)) is called the metric representation of v with respect to W, where d(x, y) is the distance between vertices x and y. A set W is called a resolving set for G if distinct vertices of G have distinct representations with respect to W. The minimum cardinality of a resolving set for G is its metric dimension. In this paper, we characterize all graphs of order n with metric dimension n - 3.
A fluorescent triple staining method was developed to stain the cytoplasm of neurons red, the nuclei of all kinds of cells, including neurons, blue and the nuclei of apoptotic neurons in cyan in the twelve ventral ganglia (VG) of the Bombyx mori ventral nerve cord. This differential staining method was used to distinguish between apoptotic and normal neurons in the suboesophageal ganglion (SOG), thoracic ganglia (TG)1 to TG3 and abdominal ganglia (AG)1 to AG8 and also determine the changes in the numbers of apoptotic neurons that occur during postembryonic development. In most of the VG tested, neuronal apoptosis was most marked during the period from the end of larval life to the mid pupal stage. The greatest number of apoptotic neurons was found in SOG of day-5 pupae, TG1 to TG3 and AG1 to AG4 of day-1 pupae, and AG5 to AG8 of day-4 pupae. In vivo injection of 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) into day-8 5th instar larvae resulted in both a considerable increase in the number of apoptotic neurons and cleavage of procaspase-3 into caspase-3, which induced neuronal apoptosis in SOG and AG6 to AG8 in day-1 pupae, and a slight increase in the number of apoptotic neurons in TG1. In TG3 and AG4, however, it had little effect on the number of apoptotic neurons or cleavage of procaspase-3. Treatment of the VG of both day-8 5th instar larvae and day-2 pupae with protein synthesis inhibitors by in vivo injection triggered a significant inhibition of neuronal apoptosis and procaspase-3 cleavage in most of these ganglia in day-1 pupae and day-4 pupae, but not TG3 and AG4, in which there was little procaspase-3 and caspase-3. In vivo injection of caspase-8 and -3 inhibitors into day-8 5th instar larvae and day-2 pupae led to a substantial inhibition of neuronal apoptosis and of procaspase-3 cleavage in SOG, AG6 and TAG, but not in TG3 or AG4 of day-1 pupae and day-4 pupae. These findings suggest that neurons that die in SOG, TG1 and AG6 to AG8 in day-1 and -4 pupae may undergo apoptosis induced by the synthesis of a new protein and caspase-8- and -3-implicated signal transduction by the increase in titre of 20E in the haemolymph but not the neuronal aopotosis in TG3 and AG4. This study provides neurobiologists with valuable information and a means of studying neuronal apoptosis in the nervous system of insects.
Five polymorphic microsatellite loci of the arboreal ant Allomerus decemarticulatus (Myrmicinae) were isolated and characterized. The amplification and polymorphism of seven additional microsatellite loci, previously developed for the ant species A. octoarticulatus and Wasmannia auropunctata, were also tested and the amplification conditions necessary for genotyping the complete set of 12 multiplexed markers in A. decemarticulatus determined. The number of alleles per locus ranged from three to 15 and observed heterozygosity varied from 0.09 to 0.95. Cross-species amplification of these loci was also successfully achieved in additional species of the same ant subfamily, Myrmicinae. This set of microsatellite markers will be used in studies on the mating system and population genetic structure of Myrmicinae in general and A. decemarticulatus in particular.
Diatomite is a siliceous sedimentary rock, and it can be used in many industrial applications due to its high porosity, low density porous and permeable structure, chemical resistance, high purity, high specific surface area, absorptive capacity and to its absorbent properties. The best known Portuguese occurrences of diatomite are located in the regions of Óbidos and Rio Maior. The purpose of this research is to characterize the Rio Maior and Amieira diatomite and beneficiate this rock to be used in some potential applications locally or not. The studied diatomites present a fine texture; chemically the samples have a high SiO2 content, the principal minerlas are quartz and amorphous opal. The studied diatomites benefited with temperature and addition of NaCl (acting as accelerator of the crystallization process), with 5 % of NaCl being reduced the transformation temperature of the amorphous opal in opal C / CT at about 200 ºC. The diatomites from Rio Maior and Amieira in natural state has an enormous potential as absorbent, of heavy metals (e.g. in soil contamination) or dyes (textile industry). These diatomites after beneficiation can be used in construction materials (as additive), being more reactive and crystalline than in the natural state, diatomites can be promoters of mechanical resistance in mortars and geopolymers. and Costa Cristiana, Velosa Ana, Cerqueira Angela, Caetano Paulo, Rocha Fernando.
The purpose of this paper is to give characterizations of graphs whose vertex-semientire graphs and edge-semientire graphs have crossing number 2. In addition, we establish necessary and sufficient conditions in terms of forbidden subgraphs for vertex-semientire graphs and edge-semientire graphs to have crossing number 2.
The Niobe Fritillary, Argynnis niobe, is a habitat specialist and as a consequence is highly endangered in contemporary Europe. To investigate its genetic diversity and population structure, 10 polymorphic microsatellite loci were developed and characterized, using a recently developed pyrosequencing method. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 2 to 21, and the observed and expected heterozygosities varied from 0.17 to 0.53 and from 0.24 to 0.92, respectively. These loci were also successfully used to study the genetic diversity of a closely related species, the High Brown Fritillary, Argynnis adippe, and will be used in future population structure studies of both these species., Jan Zima JR, Dan Leština, Martin Konvička., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Ten polymorphic microsatellite loci were developed for the butterfly Erebia palarica (Nymphalidae, Satyrinae), endemic to NW Spain. Polymorphism for 20 individuals from a NW Spanish population (Ancares) and 15 more from two other nearby localities (Courel, Trevinca) was assessed. Overall, the number of alleles per locus ranged from six to 24. Ancares showed an average number of alleles per locus of 14.30 (SD = 5.32), observed heterozygosity of 0.753 (SD = 0.14) and unbiased expected heterozygosity of 0.818 (SD = 0.114). Genotypic frequencies conformed to the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium at Ancares, and there was no evidence of linkage disequilibrium. Multilocus genotypes resulting from this set of markers will be useful for determining genetic diversity and differentiation within and among populations of this local endemic butterfly in NW Spain. Of the six loci amplified in the closely related species, Erebia meolans, five were polymorphic.
Let G be a finite group, and let N(G) be the set of conjugacy class sizes of G. By Thompson’s conjecture, if L is a finite non-abelian simple group, G is a finite group with a trivial center, and N(G) = N(L), then L and G are isomorphic. Recently, Chen et al. contributed interestingly to Thompson’s conjecture under a weak condition. They only used the group order and one or two special conjugacy class sizes of simple groups and characterized successfully sporadic simple groups (see Li’s PhD dissertation). In this article, we investigate validity of Thompson’s conjecture under a weak condition for the alternating groups of degrees p+1 and p+2, where p is a prime number. This work implies that Thompson’s conjecture holds for the alternating groups of degree p + 1 and p + 2., Alireza Khalili Asboei, Reza Mohammadyari., and Obsahuje seznam literatury