Emerging infectious diseases threaten a wide diversity of animals, and important questions remain concerning disease emergence
in socially structured populations. We developed a spatially explicit simulation model to investigate whether—and under what
conditions—disease-related mortality can impact rates of pathogen spread in populations of polygynous groups. Specifically,
we investigated whether pathogen-mediated dispersal (PMD) can occur when females disperse after the resident male dies from
disease, thus carrying infections to new groups. We also examined the effects of incubation period and virulence, host mortality
and rates of background dispersal, and we used the model to investigate the spread of the virus responsible for Ebola hemorrhagic
fever, which currently is devastating African ape populations. Output was analyzed using regression trees, which enable exploration
of hierarchical and non-linear relationships. Analyses revealed that the incidence of disease in single-male (polygynous)
groups was significantly greater for those groups containing an average of more than six females, while the total number of
infected hosts in the population was most sensitive to the number of females per group. Thus, as expected, PMD occurs in polygynous
groups and its effects increase as harem size (the number of females) increases. Simulation output further indicated that
population-level effects of Ebola are likely to differ among multi-male–multi-female chimpanzees and polygynous gorillas,
with larger overall numbers of chimpanzees infected, but more gorilla groups becoming infected due to increased dispersal
when the resident male dies. Collectively, our results highlight the importance of social system on the spread of disease
in wild mammals. 相似文献
Islet transplantation has become a promising treatment in the therapy of type 1 diabetes. Its function improvement, after
isolation and before transplantation, is crucial because of their loss both in number and function of islets after isolation
procedures. Trace elements sodium orthovanadate (SOV) and sodium molybdate (SM), as well as medicinal plant Teucrium polium L. (TP), showed and possessed high beneficial antioxidative potential and even hypoglycemic properties via their effect on
islets. We evaluated the effect of these components in combination on cultured islet function in order to improve pancreatic
islet transplantation. Rat pancreatic islets were cultured for 24 h then incubated with different concentrations of TP (0.01
and 0.1 mg/mL) alone and in combination with SOV (1 mM) or SM (1 mM). Insulin concentration in buffer media was measured as
islet secretory function. Administration of TP (0.01 mg/mL), SM, and SOV alone or in combination with each other significantly
increased insulin secretion at high glucose concentration (16.7 mM); insulin secretion was significantly greater in the group
containing both TP and SM than other treated groups (p < 0.05). The combination of the mentioned trace elements especially molybdate with TP could improve islet cells function before
transplantation. 相似文献
The Wageningen Delivery of Functionality symposium covered all aspects involved with food structural design to arrive at high-quality
foods which meet demanding customer expectations and regulatory requirements. The symposium integrated aspects from the structural
organization of foods at molecular and supramolecular scales to dedicated techniques required to describe and visualize such
structures, the gastro-intestinal events and how to model these in a laboratory setting, and finally the impact those food
structures and ingredients have on the consumer’s physiology and on the human perception. As an interdisciplinary platform,
bringing together more than 160 researchers from academia and industry, the symposium meanwhile fulfills an important role
in the food science community. 相似文献
Evergreen boreal plant species express high variability in their leaf traits. It remains controversial whether this within-species
variability is constrained to the same leaf trait relationships as has been observed across species. We sampled leaves of
three boreal evergreen woody species along a latitudinal gradient (from 57o56′N to 69o55′N). Leaf longevity (LL) of Pinussylvestris L. and Vacciniumvitis-idaea L. correlated negatively with mean annual air temperature (MAT), whereas the LL of Ledumpalustre L. was not affected by MAT. V.vitis-idaea and L.palustre had a negative relationship between leaf mass per area (LMA) and MAT. In P.sylvestris, the LMA–MAT relationship was positive. A negative correlation between LL and LMA was significant only for P.sylvestris. Leaf nitrogen concentration was positively related to leaf phosphorus concentration in all three species. Leaf potassium
concentration was related to nitrogen concentration only in L.palustre, and to phosphorus concentration in P.sylvestris and L.palustre. Our results demonstrate that although within the studied species the variation in some of the leaf traits may have the same
degree as interspecific variation, there is no such intercorrelation of leaf traits within the studied species as has been
observed across species. 相似文献
In this review, we address the regulatory and toxic role of ·NO along several pathways, from the gut to the brain. Initially, we address the role on ·NO in the regulation of mitochondrial respiration with emphasis on the possible contribution to Parkinson’s disease via mechanisms that involve its interaction with a major dopamine metabolite, DOPAC. In parallel with initial discoveries of the inhibition of mitochondrial respiration by ·NO, it became clear the potential for toxic ·NO-mediated mechanisms involving the production of more reactive species and the post-translational modification of mitochondrial proteins. Accordingly, we have proposed a novel mechanism potentially leading to dopaminergic cell death, providing evidence that NO synergistically interact with DOPAC in promoting cell death via mechanisms that involve GSH depletion. The modulatory role of NO will be then briefly discussed as a master regulator on brain energy metabolism. The energy metabolism in the brain is central to the understanding of brain function and disease. The core role of ·NO in the regulation of brain metabolism and vascular responses is further substantiated by discussing its role as a mediator of neurovascular coupling, the increase in local microvessels blood flow in response to spatially restricted increase of neuronal activity. The many facets of NO as intracellular and intercellular messenger, conveying information associated with its spatial and temporal concentration dynamics, involve not only the discussion of its reactions and potential targets on a defined biological environment but also the regulation of its synthesis by the family of nitric oxide synthases. More recently, a novel pathway, out of control of NOS, has been the subject of a great deal of controversy, the nitrate:nitrite:NO pathway, adding new perspectives to ·NO biology. Thus, finally, this novel pathway will be addressed in connection with nitrate consumption in the diet and the beneficial effects of protein nitration by reactive nitrogen species.
The retinoblastoma (pRB) family of proteins includes three proteins known to suppress growth of mammalian cells. Previously we had found that growth suppression by two of these proteins, p107 and p130, could result from the inhibition of associated cyclin-dependent kinases (cdks). One important unresolved issue, however, is the mechanism through which inhibition occurs. Here we present in vivo and in vitro evidence to suggest that p107 is a bona fide inhibitor of both cyclin A-cdk2 and cyclin E-cdk2 that exhibits an inhibitory constant (Ki) comparable to that of the cdk inhibitor p21/WAF1. In contrast, pRB is unable to inhibit cdks. Further reminiscent of p21, a second cyclin-binding site was mapped to the amino-terminal portions of p107 and p130. This amino-terminal domain is capable of inhibiting cyclin-cdk2 complexes, although it is not a potent substrate for these kinases. In contrast, a carboxy-terminal fragment of p107 that contains the previously identified cyclin-binding domain serves as an excellent kinase substrate although it is unable to inhibit either kinase. Clustered point mutations suggest that the amino-terminal domain is functionally important for cyclin binding and growth suppression. Moreover, peptides spanning the cyclin-binding region are capable of interfering with p107 binding to cyclin-cdk2 complexes and kinase inhibition. Our ability to distinguish between p107 and p130 as inhibitors rather than simple substrates suggests that these proteins may represent true inhibitors of cdks. 相似文献
Lactate esters are widely used as food additives, perfume materials, medicine additives, and personal care products. The objective
of this work was to investigate the effect of a series of lactate esters as penetration enhancers on the in vitro skin permeation of four drugs with different physicochemical properties, including ibuprofen, salicylic acid, dexamethasone
and 5-fluorouracil. The saturated donor solutions of the evaluated drugs in propylene glycol were used in order to keep a
constant driving force with maximum thermodynamic activity. The permeability coefficient (Kp), skin concentration of drugs (SC), and lag time (T), as well as the enhancement ratios for Kp and SC were recorded. All results indicated that lactate esters can exert a significant influence on the transdermal delivery
of the model drugs and there is a structure-activity relationship between the tested lactate esters and their enhancement
effects. The results also suggested that the lactate esters with the chain length of fatty alcohol moieties of 10–12 are more
effective enhancers. Furthermore, the enhancement effect of lactate esters increases with a decrease of the drug lipophilicity,
which suggests that they may be more efficient at enhancing the penetration of hydrophilic drugs than lipophilic drugs. The
influence of the concentration of lactate esters was evaluated and the optimal concentration is in the range of 5∼10 wt.%.
In sum, lactate esters as a penetration enhancer for some drugs are of interest for transdermal administration when the safety
of penetration enhancers is a prime consideration. 相似文献
There is a long tradition of software simulations in theoretical biology to complement pure analytical mathematics which are
often limited to reproduce and understand the self-organization phenomena resulting from the non-linear and spatially grounded
interactions of the huge number of diverse biological objects. Since John Von Neumann and Alan Turing pioneering works on
self-replication and morphogenesis, proponents of artificial life have chosen to resolutely neglecting a lot of materialistic
and quantitative information deemed not indispensable and have focused on the rule-based mechanisms making life possible,
supposedly neutral with respect to their underlying material embodiment. Minimal life begins at the intersection of a series
of processes which need to be isolated, differentiated and duplicated as such in computers. Only software developments and
running make possible to understand the way these processes are intimately interconnected in order for life to appear at the
crossroad. In this paper, I will attempt to set out the history of life as the disciples of artificial life understand it,
by placing these different lessons on a temporal and causal axis, showing which one is indispensable to the appearance of
the next and how does it connect to the next. I will discuss the task of artificial life as setting up experimental software
platforms where these different lessons, whether taken in isolation or together, are tested, simulated, and, more systematically,
analyzed. I will sketch some of these existing software platforms: chemical reaction networks, Varela’s autopoietic cellular
automata, Ganti’s chemoton model, whose running delivers interesting take home messages to open-minded biologists. 相似文献