The effect of prior exercise on ex vivo induction of heme oxygenase-1 in human lymphocytes

It was postulated that prior demanding exercise would suppress the induction of the oxidant-responsive protein Heme Oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in mononuclear cells following subsequent ex vivo H₂O₂ treatment. Eight male subjects completed two trials in a randomized order (one rest and one exercise) and ex vivo HO-1 protein induction was determined following H₂O₂ treatment in lymphocytes and monocytes before and after each trial using a newly developed and reproducible assay. Lymphocytes obtained 2 h post-exercise showed a modest reduction in HO-1 protein expression in response to ex vivo treatment with H₂O₂ (p<0.05). The plasma concentration of the HO-1 suppressor α1-antitrypsin increased immediately post-exercise (p<0.05) and it is tentatively suggested that this may explain the modest transient reduction in ex vivo HO-1 protein induction in lymphocytes in response to an independent oxidant challenge following a prior bout of demanding exercise.     

Effect of ubiquinol supplementation on biochemical and oxidative stress indexes after intense exercise in young athletes

Objectives: Physical exercise significantly impacts the biochemistry of the organism. Ubiquinone is a key component of the mitochondrial respiratory chain and ubiquinol, its reduced and active form, is an emerging molecule in sport nutrition. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of ubiquinol supplementation on biochemical and oxidative stress indexes after an intense bout of exercise.

Methods: 21 male young athletes (26?+?5 years of age) were randomized in two groups according to a double blind cross-over study, either supplemented with ubiquinol (200?mg/day) or placebo for 1 month. Blood was withdrawn before and after a single bout of intense exercise (40 min run at 85% maxHR). Physical performance, hematochemical parameters, ubiquinone/ubiquinol plasma content, intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) level, mitochondrial membrane depolarization, paraoxonase activity and oxidative DNA damage were analyzed.

Results: A single bout of intense exercise produced a significant increase in most hematochemical indexes, in particular CK and Mb while, on the contrary, normalized coenzyme Q₁₀ plasma content decreased significantly in all subjects. Ubiquinol supplementation prevented exercise-induced CoQ deprivation and decrease in paraoxonase activity. Moreover at a cellular level, in peripheral blood mononuclear cells, ubiquinol supplementation was associated with a significant decrease in cytosolic ROS while mitochondrial membrane potential and oxidative DNA damage remained unchanged.

Discussion: Data highlights a very rapid dynamic of CoQ depletion following intense exercise underlying an increased demand by the organism. Ubiquinol supplementation minimized exercise-induced depletion and enhanced plasma and cellular antioxidant levels but it was not able to improve physical performance indexes or markers of muscular damage.     

Indoor environmental study and post occupancy evaluation in an office environment

1. 1. The objective of this paper is to investigate the indoor environment from the viewpoint of interaction between physical environment and the human responses. The field survey has been conducted over 1 year.

2. 2. A continuous measurement has been carried out for 1 week and distribution of variables have been measured for 1 day.

3. 3. The attitude of workers was investigated by a questionnaire.

4. 4. As the result, average luminance represented more than 1000 lx in the new building, in contrast with less tha 300 lx in the existing building.

5. 5. There was a significant difference of the occupants' response to the light environment between the two buildings.

6. 6. Measured thermal conditions are on the edge of the ASHRAE comfort envelope in summer, and in the neighborhood of the lower dry limit of the envelope in spring.

7. 7. The occupants' evaluations were remarkably changed before and after the moving. The office environment is better than that of the factory.

Somatotype and physical performance in a sample of university students from Madrid

A sample of 303 Madrid Complutense University students (100 males and 203 females), aged 21–29 years has been studied in order to establish the relationship between somatotype components and physical work performance. Since particular interest is focused on a possible sexual difference in that relationship, males and females were analyzed separately. Results prove the high correlation of test scores implying muscularity (hand grips, pulling strength) with the mesomorphic component of the somatotype, mainly in males. Variability in tests relative to physical totype, mainly in males. Variability in tests relative to physical fitness is mainly explained by differences in endomorphy, although regarding the step test, ectomorphy is also a factor to be taken into account in females, as well as the pulling strength in males.     

Comparison of physical and covalent immobilization of lipase from Candida antarctica on polyamine microspheres of alkylamine matrix

Abstract

Polyamine microspheres (PA-M) prepared using polyethyleneimine as matrix were used for the immobilization of Candida antarctica lipase. The isoelectric point of PA-M is 10.6, and the hydrophobicity of PA-M was indicated using naphthalene. Optimization of conditions showed that the maximal loading of lipase on PA-M reached 230.2 mg g^{? 1} at pH 9.0 and 35°C. An increased buffer concentration had no effect on the activity of lipase but decreased the amount of lipase adsorbed. Simulation with Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms demonstrated that the adsorption of lipase on PA-M was thermodynamically favorable. Covalent crosslinking of the lipase adsorbed extended the pH range and increased the optimal temperature of the lipase activity. The physically adsorbed lipase (P-lipase) and the covalently immobilized derivative (C-lipase) retained more than 75% and 85% of their initial activity, respectively, after 10 cycles of usage. The half-lives of P-lipase and C-lipase at 50°C were 15.70 and 27.67 times higher than that of the free enzyme, respectively. Compared to P-lipase, covalent immobilization obviously reduced the catalytic efficiency and activation energy of the enzyme.     

Effect of Experimental Diabetic Retinopathy on the Non-Image-Forming Visual System

Since the serum level of the enzyme creatine (phospho)kinase (CPK) is frequently used for diagnostic purposes and since circadian variations of this parameter have been observed under different stress conditions, it had to be determined whether they are induced by an endogenous circadian rhythm or whether they are activity-related masking effects. For this purpose, 15 untrained male test persons were examined for a period of 25h each under different conditions: lying constantly in a climatic chamber, everyday activity conditions, resting conditions with intermittent bicycle ergometer tests (1.4 W/kg body weight) between 09:00 and 11:30 or between 15:00 and 17:30. In addition, 5 sportsmen were included in the study under resting conditions and the bicycle ergometer tests in the forenoon. The serum CPK was determined at intervals of 2h or 4h, respectively. Under constant resting conditions, the mean serum CPK level decreased continuously (p <. 001, repeated measures analysis of variance [Rep. Mes. ANOVA]), and the final values amounted to approximately 80% of the initial values. In contrast, under everyday conditions, the mean CPK level rose during the activity phase and decreased again to below the initial values during subsequent rest (p <. 001, Rep. Mes. ANOVA). In the ergometer tests, the CPK blood level rose in each case after the activity phase and fell again continuously in the following resting period. However, in the calculation of the deviations from the linear trend, it was shown that certain daily variations in the CPK values can be detected under constant resting conditions; however, the amplitude was much smaller than the amplitude under everyday activity conditions. All in all, it can be stated that serum CPK levels are mainly dependent on the physical load conditions, and that the daily changes observed under everyday conditions disappear almost entirely under resting conditions. The daily variation of the serum creatine kinase level under everyday conditions can thus be regarded as a masking effect. These results are of practical significance for diagnosis to the extent that the physical activity that has taken place before the determination of the CPK level must be taken into account in the interpretation of the values. According to the results obtained so far, the CPK serum level may be used in chronobiology as an indicator of masking by physical activity. (Chronobiology International, 17(4), 583–590, 2000)     

Influence of Thickeners on the Fragmentation of Fish Meat Sausage by Mastication

The influence of food thickeners (potato starch, guar gum, and xanthan gum and deionized water) on the breakdown of solid food was numerically analyzed, and an investigation was made into the cumulative size distribution of food fragments, textural properties, sensory evaluation and maximum transit velocity of a bolus in the pharynx.

The results suggest that evaluating the breakability into small pieces was easily influenced by the addition ratio of the dispersion medium. However, in respect of the destruction process for the solid body, each sample was more strongly affected by the type of the dispersion medium than by the addition ratio of this medium.

The destruction process was strongly influenced by the history of the breakdown caused by mastication when a liquid dispersion medium was added to the solid. However, when a high-viscosity sol was added to the solid, the destruction process was random and not affected by any history.     

The Action of Rice Branching Enzyme I (BEI) on Starches

The rice branching enzyme I (BEI) overproduced in Escherichia coli cells was investigated with respect to action on starches. BEI treatment decreased the turbidity of starch suspensions with distinct pasting behaviors from a native starch. This result suggests the great potential of BEI as a molecular tool for the production of a novel glucan polymer.     

Identification of Glycosylated Subtypes of Interferon-α Produced by Human Leukocytes

We found that interferon-α produced by human leukocytes contained four subtypes that were glycosylated by N-linkages according to the results of lectin blot analysis. These glycosylated subtypes were type H or type ω and thei sugar moieties had no relation to their biological activities.     

Open exchange of scientific knowledge and European copyright: The case of biodiversity information

Background. The 7^th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development is helping the European Union to prepare for an integrative system for intelligent management of biodiversity knowledge. The infrastructure that is envisaged and that will be further developed within the Programme “Horizon 2020” aims to provide open and free access to taxonomic information to anyone with a requirement for biodiversity data, without the need for individual consent of other persons or institutions. Open and free access to information will foster the re-use and improve the quality of data, will accelerate research, and will promote new types of research. Progress towards the goal of free and open access to content is hampered by numerous technical, economic, sociological, legal, and other factors. The present article addresses barriers to the open exchange of biodiversity knowledge that arise from European laws, in particular European legislation on copyright and database protection rights.We present a legal point of view as to what will be needed to bring distributed information together and facilitate its re-use by data mining, integration into semantic knowledge systems, and similar techniques. We address exceptions and limitations of copyright or database protection within Europe, and we point to the importance of data use agreements. We illustrate how exceptions and limitations have been transformed into national legislations within some European states to create inconsistencies that impede access to biodiversity information.Conclusions. The legal situation within the EU is unsatisfactory because there are inconsistencies among states that hamper the deployment of an open biodiversity knowledge management system. Scientists within the EU who work with copyright protected works or with protected databases have to be aware of regulations that vary from country to country. This is a major stumbling block to international collaboration and is an impediment to the open exchange of biodiversity knowledge. Such differences should be removed by unifying exceptions and limitations for research purposes in a binding, Europe-wide regulation.