The magic of the national flag

This paper aims to explore the question of the cult of the national flag from a few selected angles. I focus in particular on the magical dimension of the national flag. My argument is that the central position of the flag in nationalism has much do to with a magical mode of thinking. However, this type of thinking cannot simply be regarded as the legacy of so-called primitive or pre-industrial societies. On the contrary, I will argue that national flags are modern phenomena. The magic of the flag causes some people to behave as if the flag constituted an integral part of the nation. Damage of the flag is feared as desacralization, which may have direct consequences for the nation and threatens its existence. The magic of the flag is based on the confusion of two ontological domains: symbolic-metaphorical and metonymical-causal.     

Study of the Serum Copper Levels in Patients with Major Depressive Disorder

Copper may be involved in the pathophysiology of depression. Clinical data on this issue are very limited and not conclusive. The purpose of the study was to determine the copper concentration in the serum of patients with major depressive disorder and to discuss its potential clinical usefulness as a biomarker of the disease. A case–control clinical study included 69 patients with current depressive episode, 45 patients in remission and 50 healthy volunteers. Cu concentration was measured by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS). The mean serum copper level in depressed patients was slightly lower (by 11 %; not statistically significant) than in the control group. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in Cu²⁺ concentration between depressive episode and remission, nor between remission and control group. In the remission group were observed significant correlations between copper levels and the average number of relapses over the past years or time of remission. There was no correlation between serum copper and severity of depression, as measured by HDRS and MADRS. The obtained results showed no significant differences between the copper concentration in the blood serum of patients (both with current depressive episode and in remission) and healthy volunteers, as well as the lack of correlations between the copper level in the active stage of the disease and clinical features of the population. Our study is the first conducted on such a large population of patients, so the results may be particularly important and reliable source of knowledge about the potential role of copper in depression.     

Responses of grass pea seedlings to salinity stress in in vitro culture conditions

Physiological and molecular mechanisms of adaptation to abiotic stresses of grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) are still poorly understood. Responses of four genotypes of grass pea to salinity stress in tissue culture conditions were investigated at early seedling growth stages. Salinity stress was induced in the agar media by adding 0, 50, 100 and 200 mM of NaCl. Germination and seedling emergence percentage was not significantly affected by 50 and 100 mM of NaCl. However, NaCl in 200 mM concentration lowered level of these parameters. Generally, exposure to NaCl stress significantly reduced length of grass pea seedling organs (root and shoot) but did not influence the content of dry weight in shoots and increased it in the roots in two cases. Increasing salt concentration decreased integrity of cellular membranes both in root and shoot tissues. Higher accumulation of phenolic compounds and significant changes in activity of antioxidant enzymes (peroxidase and catalase) were observed in the roots but not in the shoots. Similarly, the content of proline increased mostly in the roots from moderate (100 mM) salinity conditions. Adverse conditions did not resulted in alterations in photosynthetic pigments content of any tested genotypes. The better performance of shoots than roots may result from in vitro conditions in which experiments were conducted.

     

Disentangling Relations among Repertoire Size,Song Rate,Signal Redundancy and Ambient Noise Level in European Songbird

The majority of male songbirds have small repertoires and sing with eventual variety; that is, they present one song type several times before switching to the next one. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain this phenomenon. The antiexhaustion hypothesis argues that song‐type switching prevents muscle fatigue in the syrinx. The signal redundancy hypothesis suggests that repeating the same signal increases transmission success. Here, we have studied the song behaviour of the chaffinch, Fringilla coelebs, a common Eurasian species in which the males sing a few different song types and provide eventual variety. We tested different hypotheses to explain the temporal organisation of song output (repertoire size, song rate, bout duration, etc.) as a function of ambient noise by comparing birds from the same macrogeographic region in which the birds live either in a noisy town (n = 71) or in a quieter forest habitat (n = 68). Contrary to the prediction of the signal redundancy hypothesis and the results of earlier work on chaffinches living close to noisy streams, we found no significant differences in song characteristics between the town and forest populations. Our results support the antiexhaustion hypothesis because males with larger repertoires were able to sing with a significantly higher rate due to faster switching between different song types and producing shorter bouts. Sample size or population differences between our study and earlier investigations of the same species may explain the inconsistency with previous findings. Future studies should focus on determining the relations between song organisation and the directly measured quality of males and females' choice using, preferably, a longitudinal approach.     

Estimation of hurdle clearance parameters using a monocular human motion tracking method

This paper presents a method of monocular human motion tracking for estimation of hurdle clearance kinematic parameters. The analysis involved 10 image sequences of five hurdlers at various training levels. Recording of the sequences was carried out under simulated starting conditions of a 110 m hurdle race. The parameters were estimated using the particle swarm optimization algorithm and they are based on analysis of the images recorded with a 100 Hz camera. The proposed method does not involve using any special clothes, markers, inertial sensors, etc. As the quality criteria, the mean absolute error and mean relative error were used. The level of computed errors justifies the use of this method to estimate hurdle clearance parameters.     

5‐Azacytydine and resveratrol reverse senescence and ageing of adipose stem cells via modulation of mitochondrial dynamics and autophagy

Obesity and endocrine disorders have become prevalent issues in the field of both human and veterinary medicine. Equine metabolic syndrome is a complex disorder involving alternation in metabolism and chronic systemic inflammation. It has been shown that unfavourable microenvironment of inflamed adipose tissue negatively affects adipose stem cell population (ASC) residing within, markedly limiting their therapeutic potential. ASCs_EMS are characterized by increased senescence apoptosis, excessive accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), mitochondria deterioration and “autophagic flux.” The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether treatment of ASCs_EMS with a combination of 5‐azacytydine (AZA) and resveratrol (RES) would reverse aged phenotype of these cells. For this reason, we performed the following analyzes: molecular biology (RT‐PCR), microscopic (immunofluorescence, TEM) and flow cytometry (JC‐1, ROS, Ki67). We evaluated the mitochondrial status, dynamics and clearance as well as autophagic pathways. Furthermore, we investigated epigenetic alternations in treated cells by measuring the expression of TET genes and analysis of DNA methylation status. We have demonstrated that AZA/RES treatment of ASCs_EMS is able to rejuvenate these cells by modulating mitochondrial dynamics, in particular by promoting mitochondrial fusion over fission. After AZA/RES treatment, ASCs_EMS were characterized by increased proliferation rate, decreased apoptosis and senescence and lower ROS accumulation. Our findings offer a novel approach and potential targets for the beneficial effects of AZA/RES in ameliorating stem cell dysfunctions.     

The effect of polyphenols and vitamin E on the antioxidant status and meat quality of broiler chickens exposed to high temperature

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of a polyphenol product (PP) (Proviox) and vitamin E on the antioxidant status and meat quality of broiler chickens exposed to high temperature. The experimental materials comprised 120 ROSS 308 broilers (6 treatments, 10 replications, 2 birds per replication). Dietary supplementation with vitamin E and PP was applied in the following experimental design: group I (negative control) – without supplementation; group II (positive control) – without supplementation; group III – supplementation with 100 mg vitamin E/kg; group IV – 200 mg vitamin E/kg; group V – 100 mg vitamin E/kg and 100 mg PP/kg; group VI – 200 mg PP/kg. In groups II–VI, broiler chickens aged 21–35 d were exposed to increased temperature (34°C for 10 h daily). In chickens exposed to high temperature, dietary supplementation with antioxidants, mostly PP, improved growth performance parameters, including body weight, body weight gain and feed intake until 28 d of age. Vitamin E added to broiler chicken diets at 200 mg/kg and vitamin E combined with PP was most effective in improving the total antioxidant status of birds, enhancing blood antioxidant enzyme activities and increasing vitamin E concentrations in the liver and breast muscles. Broilers fed diets supplemented with 200 mg/kg of vitamin E alone and vitamin E in combination with PP were characterised by a higher percentage content of breast muscles in the carcass. Dietary supplementation with antioxidants improved the water-holding capacity of meat, reduced natural drip loss and increased the crude ash content of meat. The breast muscles of chickens fed diets supplemented with PP had a lower contribution of yellowness. The breast muscles of chickens receiving diets with 100 mg vitamin E/kg(group III) and diets supplemented with PP (groups V and VI) were characterised by the highest concentrations of polyunsaturated fatty acids. The PP can be a valuable component of diets for broiler chickens exposed to high temperature.     

Cellular delivery and enhanced anticancer activity of berberine complexed with a cationic derivative of γ–cyclodextrin

A cationic derivative of γ-cyclodextrin (GCD) modified with propylenediamine (PDA) was synthesized. It was shown that the derivative (GCD–PDA) is mucoadhesive and resistant to the digestion with?∝-amylase indicating that it may constitute an efficient oral delivery vehicle. GCD-PDA formed an inclusion complex with berberine (BBR), an alkaloid displaying a multitude of beneficial physiological effects. The complexed BBR penetrates a lipid membrane easier than the free one. Both uncomplexed BBR and that complexed with GCD-PDA was delivered to normal (NMuMG) and cancerous (4T1) murine mammary gland cells. In the normal cells both free and complexed BBR was homogeneously dispersed in the cytoplasm and was nontoxic up to 131?μM. In the cancerous cells uncomplexed BBR was also homogeneously dispersed but it was toxic to about 25% of cells at 131?μM, while the GCD-PDA/BBR complex was preferably localized in lysosomes and its toxicity doubled at this concentration compared to that of free BBR. Moreover, free BBR and GCD-PDA/BBR showed even more efficient inhibitory effect against murine melanoma (B16-F10) cells than against 4T1 cells.