Taxonomic Status of the Okhotsk Lumpsucker Eumicrotremus ochotonensis (Cyclopteridae,Cottoidei) with Redescription of E. derjugini

Journal of Ichthyology - The species status is justified for the Okhotsk lumpsucker Eumicrotremus ochotonensis based on the morphological characters. The differences from the closely related...     

Inter- and Intra-Species Relationships of Greenland Halibut Reinhardtius hippoglossoides (Pleuronectidae) Based on the Analysis of Nuclear and Mitochondrial Genetic Markers

Journal of Ichthyology - Samples of Greenland halibut Reinhardtius hippoglossoides (Jordan and Snyder, 1901) from the Atlantic, Arctic, and Pacific Oceans were compared using eight microsatellite...     

Blue Hake Antimora rostrata (Gadiformes: Moridae) off the Atlantic Coast of South America: an Overview on Its Distribution and Biology

Journal of Ichthyology - Long-term data on spatial and bathymetric distributions, preferred bottom temperatures, length and weight of blue hake Antimora rostrata caught off the Atlantic coast of...     

Barley microgreen incorporation in diet-controlled diabetes and counteracted aflatoxicosis in rats

Increased environmental pollution and unhealthy lifestyle are blamed for escalated chronic diseases. Exposure to aflatoxins was recently suggested to have a role in the increased incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Diet modification and consumption of different functional food are now gaining attention, especially in diabetes management. This study investigates the effect of a diet containing barley microgreen against diabetes induced by streptozotocin with or without aflatoxin administration in rats. Barley microgreen was rich in 3′-Benzyloxy-5,6,7,4′-tetramethoxyflavone (48.8% of total) followed by 5β,7βH,10α-Eudesm-11-en-1α-ol (18.46%). Streptozotocin injection and/or aflatoxin administration significantly elevated glucose level, decreased insulin level, decreased β-cell function, deteriorated liver and kidney function parameters, and induced oxidative stress in the liver. Histopathology revealed irregular small-sized islets and decreased area % of insulin-positive beta cells in the pancreas, hepatic degeneration, nephropathy, and neuropathy in diabetic and/or aflatoxin administered rats compared to control. Barley microgreen diet fed to diabetic rats with or without aflatoxin alleviated all evaluated parameters. Barley microgreen diet also ameliorated the toxic effect of aflatoxin. In conclusion, exposure to aflatoxin aggravated diabetes and its complication. The incorporation of barley microgreen in the diet was able to control type 2 diabetes mellitus and the improved outcomes observed with barley microgreen treatments involved or occurred in conjunction with improved biomarkers of oxidative stress.     

Neuronal activity of the monkey striatum points at the integration of successive actions into functional blocks

In order to study the role of the striatum in generation of multistage behavior, the spike activity of 148 cells was recorded in the monkey brain putamen. Two kinds of neuron responses were observed. Phasic response involved activity during only one stage of the behavior program, and tonic response involved activity during more than one sequential stage. The tonic responses were recorded in 132 neurons out of 148, 11 neurons responding only as tonic. Other 121 cells show under different conditions both tonic and phasic responses. Beginnings and ends of "tonic" responses as a rule corresponded to the start and completion of the nearest behavioral aim. The obtained data suggest that the neuron activity of striatum is related not only to the control of individual movements but also to the whole structure of behavior.     

Spectrum and coherent characteristics of bioelectric activity of the brain in women with normal and complicated pregnancy

Spectrum and coherent EEG analysis was performed in 86 pregnant women on the 35-36th week of gestation. It was shown that functional interhemispheric brain asymmetry is a sensitive index of normal and complicated gestation. It was found out that activation prevailing in the central and temporal brain areas contralateral to the side of placenta localization in the uterus was characteristic of the normal pregnancy. The development of gestation complications was accompanied by the inversion of interhemispheric asymmetry of EEG activation. It was suggested that correlative properties of bioelectric brain activity in women with normal gestation are an indicator of the left-hemispheric dominance of brain centers in the integration process.     

Ontogenetic features of psychophysiological mechanisms of perception of speech emotional component in musically gifted children

Cerebral mechanisms of musical abilities were explored in musically gifted children. For this purpose, psychophysiological characteristics of perception of emotional speech information were experimentally studied in samples of gifted and ordinary children. Forty six schoolchildren and forty eight musicians of three age groups (7-10, 11-13 and 14-17 years old) participated in the study. In experimental session, a test sentence was presented to a subject through headphones with two emotional intonations (joy and anger) and without emotional expression. A subject had to recognize the type of emotion. His/her answers were recorded. The analysis of variance revealed age- and gender-related features of emotional recognition: boys musicians led the schoolchildren of the same age by 4-6 years in the development of mechanisms of emotional recognition, whereas girls musicians were 1-3 years ahead. Musical education in girls induced the shift of predominant activities for emotional perception in the left hemisphere; in boys, on the contrary, initial distinct dominance of the left hemisphere was not retained in the process of further education.     

Apoptosis in serum-deprived vascular smooth muscle cells: Evidence for cell volume-independent mechanism

Shrinkage is the earliest hallmark of cells undergoing apoptosis. This study examines the role of this phenomenon in the onset of vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) apoptosis triggered by growth factor withdrawal. In hyperosmotic media, VSMC showed the same amplitude of shrinkage but were more resistant to apoptosis than endothelial, epithelial and immune system cells. As with growth factor withdrawal, apoptosis in hyperosmotically-shrunken VSMC was sharply potentiated by transfection with E1A-adenoviral protein and was suppressed by activation of cAMP signaling as well as by the pan-caspase inhibitor z-VAD.fmk. Both cell shrinkage and apoptosis in VSMC-E1A treated with hyperosmotic medium were potentiated under sustained Na+, K+ pump inhibition with ouabain that was in contrast to inhibition of apoptosis documented in ouabain-treated, serum-deprived cells. After 1-hr incubation in serum-deprived medium, VSMC-E1A volume declined by approximately 15%. Transfer from hypotonic to control medium decreased VSMC-E1A volume by approximately 25% without any induction of apoptosis. Neither swelling in hyposmotic medium nor dissipation of the transmembrane gradient of K+ and major organic osmolytes protected serum-deprived VSMC-E1A from apoptosis. Thus, our results show that similarly to immune system, endothelial and epithelial cells, extensive VSMC shrinkage in hyperosmotic medium leads to the development of apoptosis. In contrast to hyperosmotic medium, the modest cell volume decrease occurring in serum-deprived VSMC does not contribute to triggering of the apoptotic machinery.     

Na/K pump and intracellular monovalent cations: novel mechanism of excitation-transcription coupling involved in inhibition of apoptosis

The Na/K pump plays a key role in the regulation of the intracellular concentrations of monovalent cations and related cell function leading to electrogenesis and excitation-contraction coupling. We focus this review on the analysis of recent data showing that (i) inhibition of the Na/K pump triggers a signaling cascade independently of modulation of the intracellular [Na+]i/[K+]i ratio; (ii) elevation of [Na+]i under sustained inhibition of the Na/K pump leads to expression of a set of genes by [Ca2+]i-dependent and independent pathways; (iii) [Na+]i-sensitive genes are involved in the inhibition of programmed cell death (apoptosis) in vascular smooth muscle cells.