Attachment styles and emotional content, stress, and conflict in dreams of romantic partners.

Expanding on previous research investigating the link between dreams and attachment, participants in committed dating relationships were recruited to fill out dream diaries for 1 week. It was hypothesized that when dreaming about romantic partners (attachment figures), dream content would vary by attachment style, such that insecurely attached individuals would experience a different quality of dream, emotionally and cognitively. At Time 1, participants completed a self-report measure of attachment style, and then completed a dream diary at home each morning for 7 days. Dreams that contained romantic partners were coded by double-blind research assistants for emotional content, with a focus on attachment-related emotions and stressful expressions. Anxious-attached and avoidant-attached participants experienced significantly more stress and conflict, and scored significantly higher on specific emotions such as anxiety and jealousy in such dreams. Secure scores did not correlate with any specific or general emotion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Complementation of a manganese-dependent superoxide dismutase-deficient yeast strain with Pneumocystis carinii sod2 gene

Manganese-dependent superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) is one of the key enzymes involved in the cellular defense against oxidative stress. Previously, the Pneumocystis carinii sod2 gene (Pcsod2) was isolated and characterized. Based on protein sequence comparison, Pcsod2 was suggested to encode a putative MnSOD protein likely to be targeted into the mitochondrion. In this work, the Pcsod2 was cloned and expressed as a recombinant protein in EG110 Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain lacking the MnSOD-coding gene (Scsod2) in order to investigate the function and subcellular localization of P. carinii MnSOD (PcMnSOD). The Pcsod2 gene was amplified by PCR and cloned into the pYES2.1/V5-His-TOPO^® expression vector. The recombinant construct was then transformed into EG110 strain. Once its expression had been induced, PcMnSOD was able to complement the growth defect of EG110 yeast cells that had been exposed to the redox-cycling compound menadione. N-term sequencing of the PcMnSOD protein allowed identifying the cleavage site of a mitochondrial targeting peptide. Immune-colocalization of PcMnSOD and yeast CoxIV further confirmed the mitochondrial localization of the PcMnSOD.Heterologous expression of PcMnSOD in yeast indicates that Pcsod2 encodes an active MnSOD, targeted to the yeast mitochondrion that allows the yeast cells to grow in the presence of reactive oxygen species (ROS).     

Proteomic Analysis of Specific Proteins in the Root of Salt-Tolerant Barley

Comparative two-dimensional electrophoresis showed six proteins, which were significantly produced in the root of salt-tolerant barley. These proteins were identified as stress/defense-related proteins that do not scavenge reactive oxygen species directly, suggesting that salt-tolerant barley develops not only an antioxidative system, but also physical and biochemical changes to cope with salt stress.     

Effect of tall-grass invasion on the flowering-related functional pattern of submediterranean hay-meadows

Several studies demonstrated that abandonment changes the functional composition of grasslands; nevertheless, little is known about the effects of grassland abandonment on the flowering-related functional pattern. We hypothesized that invasion by tall grasses affects this pattern. We counted the number of flowering shoots per species at five times during the growing season, in 80 plots placed in mown and in abandoned grasslands (central Apennines), and assessed the differences in the trait composition of flowering species between the two treatments. The selected traits were linked to resource acquisition and stress tolerance strategies. Our results indicated that abiotic environmental control is prevalent in determining the phenological pattern in both conditions and in accordance with the phenological “mid-domain hypothesis”. We demonstrated that when the dominant species is a tall grass with competitive behaviour, the magnitude of this phenomenon is amplified due to the abiotic changes yielded by the tall grass invasion. Indeed, in the central and late phases of the growing season (when invasive tall grasses are growing and blooming), abandoned grasslands were marked by a set of traits devoted to stress tolerance or underlying a long reproductive cycle or linked to competition for light.     

Dose-related upwind anemotaxis and movement up odour gradients in still air in the presence of methyl eugenol by the wild tobacco fly, Bactrocera cacuminata

The behaviour of Bactrocera cacuminata (Hering) in wind varied according to the concentration of methyl eugenol (0, 95, 327 and 500 μg m^?3, respectively). General locomotor activity (as measured by mean distance moved in 5 min, regardless of direction) was not significantly different in the first two treatments but was significantly lower in the others. Most flies in the fourth treatment did not move more than one body length. In the first two treatments, the rate and pattern of movement of most flies was basically similar, with walking in tortuous paths interspersed with short flights and usually no obvious bias in direction. However, 32% of flies in the second treatment did move in a biased direction, achieving upwind anemotaxis of at least 400 mm, but only 2–8% did so in the other conditions. Flies moved up a concentration gradient to a source of methyl eugenol in still air when released at a distance of 100, 150 or 200 mm. With one exception, no more than 40% did this within 3 min of release (whether or not the olfactory stimulus was augmented by a visual one). However, 77% responded when released 100 mm from a combined olfactory and visual stimulus. Visual augmentation of an olfactory stimulus may also be responsible for far fewer flies flying out of the vicinity at distances up to 150 mm, but not 200 mm.     

Monoamine oxidase-A is an important source of oxidative stress and promotes cardiac dysfunction,apoptosis, and fibrosis in diabetic cardiomyopathy

Oxidative stress is closely associated with the pathophysiology of diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM). The mitochondrial flavoenzyme monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) is an important source of oxidative stress in the myocardium. We sought to determine whether MAO-A plays a major role in modulating DCM. Diabetes was induced in Wistar rats by single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ). To investigate the role of MAO-A in the development of pathophysiological features of DCM, hyperglycemic and age-matched control rats were treated with or without the MAO-A-specific inhibitor clorgyline (CLG) at 1 mg/kg/day for 8 weeks. Diabetes upregulated MAO-A activity; elevated markers of oxidative stress such as cardiac lipid peroxidation, superoxide dismutase activity, and UCP3 protein expression; enhanced apoptotic cell death; and increased fibrosis. All these parameters were significantly attenuated by CLG treatment. In addition, treatment with CLG substantially prevented diabetes-induced cardiac contractile dysfunction as evidenced by decreased QRS, QT, and corrected QT intervals, measured by ECG, and LV systolic and LV end-diastolic pressure measured by microtip pressure transducer. These beneficial effects of CLG were seen despite the persistent hyperglycemic and hyperlipidemic environments in STZ-induced experimental diabetes. In summary, this study provides strong evidence that MAO-A is an important source of oxidative stress in the heart and that MAO-A-derived reactive oxygen species contribute to DCM.     

Intracellular calcium chelators and oxidant-induced renal proximal tubule cell death

The effect of intracellular calcium chelators on rabbit renal proximal tubule (RPT) cell death induced by t-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) and H₂O₂ was examined. Preincubation of RPT suspensions with 50 μM QUIN 2/AM completely prevented TBHP (0.5 mM) and H₂O₂ (2 mM) induced cell death [i.e., release of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH)]. QUIN 2/AM, BAPTA/AM, EGTA/AM, and FURA 2/AM, at 5 μM, decreased LDH release (at 6 hr) from 41% to 4%, 21%, 26%, and 33%, and decreased lipid peroxidation (at 1 hr) from 1.0 to 0.1, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8 nmol MDA/mg protein, respectively, after TBHP exposure. Since oxidant-induced lipid peroxidation and cell death are iron-dependent in this model, these results suggest that the intracellular calcium chelators inhibit cell death by chelating iron.