The role of persistence and virulence factors in microecological changes in a humans

The patterns of persistence and virulence factors expression in the representatives of human microbial biocenosis depends on a complex of the environmental conditions: influence of microbes-symbionts, biotope peculiarities, properties of microorganisms located within eukaryotes. Interactions of symbionts in pairs "indigen-indigen" isolated from mucous membrane of tonsils in healthy persons, did not lead to changes in expression of pathogenic properties. Interinfluence in pairs "pathogen-indigen" and "indigen-indigen", isolated from patients with chronic tonsilitis were accompanied by an increase of anti-lysozyme, hemolytic and lecithovitellase activities. Migration of strains of non-enzymatized gram-negative bacteria (NEYNB) from nasal into tympanic cavity in experimental acute purulent otitis is connected with an earlier increase of their number in the nasal cavity and the expression of anti-lysozyme activity. In acute and chronic pyoderma, expression of ALA is more marked in bacteria from a perifocal damage in contrast to focal damage of normal skin. In conditions of interaction between erythrocytes and staphylococcal clones with different levels of expression of pathogenic factors, differences were observed in dynamics of hemolytic and anti-hemoglobin activities.     

c-fos Gene expression in the brain of rats with various exploratory and defensive behavior

Groups of active and passive Wistar rats were revealed in the "open field" and "hole exploration" tests. The pronounced c-fos gene expression was found in different brain structures of rats preliminary subjected to electrodermal stimulation in the "step down" test. Marked differences in c-fos gene expression were observed in brain structures of rats with the active and passive behavior in the "open field", "hole exploration", and "step down" tests. The most pronounced and intensive c-fos gene expression was noticed in the passive rats.     

Apaf1-dependent programmed cell death is required for inner ear morphogenesis and growth

During inner ear development programmed cell death occurs in specific areas of the otic epithelium but the significance of it and the molecules involved have remained unclear. We undertook an analysis of mouse mutants in which genes encoding apoptosis-associated molecules have been inactivated. Disruption of the Apaf1 gene led to a dramatic decrease in apoptosis in the inner ear epithelium, severe morphogenetic defects and a significant size reduction of the membranous labyrinth, demonstrating that an Apaf1-dependent apoptotic pathway is necessary for normal inner ear development. This pathway most probably operates through the apoptosome complex because caspase 9 mutant mice suffered similar defects. Inactivation of the Bcl2-like (Bcl2l) gene led to an overall increase in the number of cells undergoing apoptosis but did not cause any major morphogenetic defects. In contrast, decreased apoptosis was observed in specific locations that suffered from developmental deficits, indicating that proapoptotic isoform(s) produced from Bcl2l might have roles in inner ear development. In Apaf1(-/-)/Bcl2l(-/-) double mutant embryos, no cell death could be detected in the otic epithelium, demonstrating that the cell death regulated by the anti-apoptotic Bcl2l isoform, Bcl-X(L) in the otic epithelium is Apaf1-dependent. Furthermore, the otic vesicle failed to close completely in all double mutant embryos analyzed. These results indicate important roles for both Apaf1 and Bcl2l in inner ear development.     

Involvement of kappa-opioid receptors in mechanisms of aggressive and submissive types of behavior in male mice

Effects of the kappa-opioid receptor agonist U-50.488H (0.0, 0.6, 1.25, 2.5 mg/kg. s.c., 30 min) on behavior of the winner with repeated experience of victories and the losers with repeated experience of social defeat in 20 daily agonistic confrontations as well as the control mice were investigated in the tests estimating exploratory activity (open-field) and communication (partition test). Different effects of drug on behaviors of animals with different social story were shown in both tests. In the losers, all doses of U-50.488H had anxiolytic effect, increasing the communication in the partition test. In the winners, the drug induced an increase of aggressive motivation. The control mice were less sensitive to the treatment. In the open-field test, U-50.488H increased the locomotor and exploratory activity in high anxious losers. Winners significantly differed in their reaction to drug treatment in most behavioral forms in comparison with the controls and losers. It was concluded that kappa-opioid receptors are specifically involved into mechanisms of formation of aggressive or submissive types of behaviors under positive or negative social experience.     

Current scaling for the radiative characteristics of a micropinch discharge

The absolute VUV and soft X-ray (hν > 100 eV) yield from a micropinch discharge is measured for a fixed current of 150 kA. The current scaling in the range of 30–250 kA is found for a number of the discharge parameters: the VUV and soft X-ray yield, the electron temperature, the effective temperature of suprathermal electrons, and the energy of bremsstrahlung emission from thermal electrons. The experimental data are in good agreement with the simulations performed by using the model of radiative collapse in fast Z-pinches in plasmas of high-Zelements.     

Detailed protein sequence alignment based on Spectral Similarity Score (SSS)

Background  

The chemical property and biological function of a protein is a direct consequence of its primary structure. Several algorithms have been developed which determine alignment and similarity of primary protein sequences. However, character based similarity cannot provide insight into the structural aspects of a protein. We present a method based on spectral similarity to compare subsequences of amino acids that behave similarly but are not aligned well by considering amino acids as mere characters. This approach finds a similarity score between sequences based on any given attribute, like hydrophobicity of amino acids, on the basis of spectral information after partial conversion to the frequency domain.     

Estimating synonymous and nonsynonymous substitution rates

Partitioning the total substitution rate into synnonymous and nonsynonymous components is a key aspect of many analyses in molecular evolution. Numerous methods exist for estimating these rates. However, until recently none of the estimation procedures were based on a sound statistical footing. In this paper, the evolutionary model of Muse and Gaut (1994) is used as the basis for two sets of parameters quantifying silent and replacement substitution rates. The parameters are shown to be equal when the four nucleotides are equally frequent and unequal otherwise. Maximum-likelihood estimation of these parameters is described, and the performance of these estimates is compared to that of existing estimation procedures. It is shown that the estimates of Nei and Gojobori (1986) are not unbiased for either set of parameters, although they provide very good estimates for one set as long as sequence divergence is not too high. However, some disturbing properties are found for the Nei and Gojobori estimates. In particular, it is shown that the expected value of the Nei and Gojobori estimate of silent substitution rate is a function of both the silent and replacement substitution rates. The maximum-likelihood estimates have no such problems.      

Food‐web structure varies along environmental gradients in a high‐latitude marine ecosystem

Large‐scale patterns in species diversity and community composition are associated with environmental gradients, but the implications of these patterns for food‐web structure are still unclear. Here, we investigated how spatial patterns in food‐web structure are associated with environmental gradients in the Barents Sea, a highly productive shelf sea of the Arctic Ocean. We compared food webs from 25 subregions in the Barents Sea and examined spatial correlations among food‐web metrics, and between metrics and spatial variability in seawater temperature, bottom depth and number of days with ice cover. Several food‐web metrics were positively associated with seawater temperature: connectance, level of omnivory, clustering, cannibalism, and high variability in generalism, while other food‐web metrics such as modularity and vulnerability were positively associated with sea ice and negatively with temperature. Food‐web metrics positively associated with habitat heterogeneity were: number of species, link density, omnivory, path length, and trophic level. This finding suggests that habitat heterogeneity promotes food‐web complexity in terms of number of species and link density. Our analyses reveal that spatial variation in food‐web structure along the environmental gradients is partly related to species turnover. However, the higher interaction turnover compared to species turnover along these gradients indicates a consistent modification of food‐web structure, implying that interacting species may co‐vary in space. In conclusion, our study shows how environmental heterogeneity, via environmental filtering, influences not only turnover in species composition, but also the structure of food webs over large spatial scales.     

Measurements of the X-Ray Line Spectrum of a Micropinch Source by a High-Sensitive Track Detector

Plasma Physics Reports - The efficiency of the diffusion chamber as a tool for diagnostics of pulsed high-temperature plasma in a single discharge is demonstrated. Creation of a diffusion chamber...     

Climate change alters the structure of arctic marine food webs due to poleward shifts of boreal generalists

Climate-driven poleward shifts, leading to changes in species composition and relative abundances, have been recently documented in the Arctic. Among the fastest moving species are boreal generalist fish which are expected to affect arctic marine food web structure and ecosystem functioning substantially. Here, we address structural changes at the food web level induced by poleward shifts via topological network analysis of highly resolved boreal and arctic food webs of the Barents Sea. We detected considerable differences in structural properties and link configuration between the boreal and the arctic food webs, the latter being more modular and less connected. We found that a main characteristic of the boreal fish moving poleward into the arctic region of the Barents Sea is high generalism, a property that increases connectance and reduces modularity in the arctic marine food web. Our results reveal that habitats form natural boundaries for food web modules, and that generalists play an important functional role in coupling pelagic and benthic modules. We posit that these habitat couplers have the potential to promote the transfer of energy and matter between habitats, but also the spread of pertubations, thereby changing arctic marine food web structure considerably with implications for ecosystem dynamics and functioning.