Determination of malondialdehyde is a widely used procedure for measurement of lipid peroxidation. In this paper we report an unusual temperature dependence of malondialdehyde formation in egg yolk phosphatidylcholine liposomes oxidized by the Fenton system (0.1 mmol/1 FeSC>4 and 0.05 mmol/1 H2O2). The amount of malondialdehyde formed was 37 % higher in samples kept at 22 °C than at 50 °C. An alternative method for determination of lipid peroxidation, measurement of oxygen uptake, revealed complete consumption of dissolved oxygen to peroxidized lipids at 22 °C as well as 50 °C. Since oxygen is essential for the formation of cyclic peroxides - precursors of malondialdehyde - we conclude that the nature of the observed effect consists in limitation of oxygen availability at elevated temperatures.
During the last two decades, genotyping of African rodents has revealed important hidden diversity within morphologically cryptic genera, such as Rhabdomys. Although the distribution of Rhabdomys is known historically, its diversity has been revealed only recently, and information about the distribution range of its constituent taxa is limited. The present study contributes to clarifying the distribution of Rhabdomys taxa, primarily in southern Africa, and identifies gaps in our knowledge, by: 1) compiling the available information on its distribution; and 2) significantly increasing the number of geo-localised and genotyped specimens (n = 2428) as well as the localities (additional 48 localities) sampled. We present updated distribution maps, including the occurrence and composition of several contact zones. A long-term monitoring of three contact zones revealed their instability, and raises questions as to the role of demography, climate, and interspecific competition on species range limits. Finally, an analysis of external morphological traits suggests that tail length may be a reliable taxonomic trait to distinguish between mesic and arid taxa of Rhabdomys. Tail length variation in Rhabdomys and other rodents has been considered to be an adaptation to climatic (thermoregulation) and/or to habitat (climbing abilities) constraints, which has still to be confirmed in Rhabdomys.
The hormone leptin, which is thought to be primarily produced by adipose tissue, is a polypeptide that was initially characterized by its ability to regulate food intake and energy metabolism. Leptin appears to signal the status of body energy stores to the brain, resulting in the regulation of food intake and whole-body energy expenditure. Subsequently, it was recognized as a cytokine with a wide range of peripheral actions and is involved in the regulation of a number of physiological systems including reproduction. In the fed state, leptin circulates in the plasma in proportion to body adiposity in all species studied to date. However other factors such as sex, age, body mass index (BMI), sex steroids and pregnancy may also affect leptin levels in plasma. In pregnant mice and humans, the placenta is also a major site of leptin expression. Leptin circulates in biological fluids both as free protein and in a form that is bound to the soluble isoform of its receptor or other binding proteins such as one of the immunoglobulin superfamily members Siglec-6 (OBBP1). Although the actions of leptin in the control of reproductive function are thought to be exerted mainly via the hypothalamicpituitary-gonadal axis, there have also been reports of local direct effects of leptin at the peripheral level, however, these data appear contradictory. Therefore, there is a need to summarize the current status of research outcomes and analyze the possible reasons for differing results and thus provide researchers with new insight in designing experiments to investigate leptin effect on reproduction. Most importantly, our recent experimental data suggesting that reproductive performance is improved by decreasing concentrations of peripheral leptin was unexpected and cannot be explained by hypotheses drawn from the experiments of excessive exogenous leptin administration to normal animals or ob/ob mice., M. Herrid, S. K. A. Palanisamy, U. A. Ciller, R. Fan, P. Moens, N. A. Smart, J. R. McFarlane., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Let $G=(V, E)$ be a simple graph. A subset $S\subseteq V$ is a dominating set of $G$, if for any vertex $u\in V-S$, there exists a vertex $v\in S$ such that $uv\in E$. The domination number, denoted by $\gamma (G)$, is the minimum cardinality of a dominating set. In this paper we will prove that if $G$ is a 5-regular graph, then $\gamma (G)\le {5\over 14}n$.