Interaction between maternal effects and temperature affects diapause occurrence in the cricket Allonemobius socius

The induction of diapause can be adaptive for egg survival during unfavorable conditions, while direct development can be advantageous under favorable conditions by allowing additional generations to exploit abundant resources. Therefore, the physiological capability of a female to respond to environmental cues indicative of habitat quality by producing eggs of the appropriate developmental phenotype should be under strong selection. Additionally, developing embryos may alter the developmental trajectory initiated by the female in response to changing environmental conditions. In this study, we used a cross-fostering approach to isolate the maternal effects of parental diapause history (not previously studied) and egg-laying temperature from the influence of the incubation environment experienced by the developing embryo on the proportion of diapause eggs produced by the striped ground cricket, Allonemobius socius. We found that an interaction between egg-incubation temperature and parental diapause history strongly affected the proportion of diapause eggs produced and the proportion of eggs that hatched within a 16–18 day incubation period, while egg-laying temperature and all other interactions did not. These novel results indicate that embryos can respond directly to the environmental conditions they experience during development, but that their ability to do so is influenced by maternal effects such as parental diapause history. The results of this study not only provide evidence, for the first time, of parental diapause history affecting diapause proportions, but also raise additional questions about the mechanism by which environmental information is transmitted from parent to offspring and how offspring are able to respond to conditions experienced during their own development.     

低分子肝素对早发型重度子痫前期治疗对母婴结局的影响分析

目的:探讨低分子肝素对早发型重度子痫前期治疗情况,并分析治疗对母婴结局的影响。方法:选择我院2012年1月~12月收治的早发型重度子痫前期患者120例,随机分为观察组和对照组,每组60例。对照组给予常规治疗,观察组在对照组治疗基础上加用低分子肝素。比较两组血压、24 h尿量、尿蛋白定量、尿酸、血常规、凝血功能及孕周延长时间、围产儿结局和产妇并发症。结果:两组患者临床指标无差异(P0.05),治疗后两组血压、24 h尿量、尿蛋白定量均显著改善,观察组红细胞压积、纤维蛋白原降低明显高于对照组,而观察组患者的产妇并发症和围产儿不良结局发生率均低于对照组,且产妇孕周延长时间明显多于对照组,差异有统计学意义(P0.05)。两组患者的血小板、凝血酶原时间等治疗前后均无明显变化(P0.05)。结论:低分子肝素对早发型重度子痫前期的治疗能有效抑制高凝状态,改善肾功能,延长孕周时间,可有效减少患者并发症的发生,改善母婴预后,值得临床推广应用。     

Failure of extraocular light to facilitate circadian rhythm reentrainment in humans

Although extraocular light can entrain the circadian rhythms of invertebrates and nonmammalian vertebrates, almost all studies show that the mammalian circadian system can only be affected by light to the eyes. The exception is a recent study by Campbell and Murphy that reported phase shifts in humans to bright light applied with fiber-optic pads behind the knees (popliteal region). We tested whether this extraocular light stimulus could accelerate the entrainment of circadian rhythms to a shift of the sleep schedule, as occurs in shift work or jet lag. In experiment 1, the sleep/dark episodes were delayed 8h from baseline for 2 days, and 3h light exposures were timed to occur before the temperature minimum to help delay circadian rhythms. There were three groups: (1) bright (about 13,000 lux) extraocular light from fiber-optic pads, (2) control (dim light, 10-20 lux), and (3) medium-intensity (about 1000 lux) ocular light from light boxes. In experiment 2, the sleep/dark episodes were inverted, and extraocular light was applied either before the temperature minimum to help delay circadian rhythms or after the temperature minimum to help advance rhythms. Circadian phase markers were the salivary dim light melatonin onset (DLMO) and the rectal temperature minimum. There was no evidence that the popliteal extraocular light had a phase-shifting effect in either experiment. Possible reasons for phase shifts in the Campbell and Murphy study and not the current study include the many differences between the protocols. In the current study, there was substantial sleep deprivation before the extraocular light was applied. There was a large shift in the sleep/dark schedule, rather than allowing subjects to sleep each day from midnight to noon, as in the Campbell and Murphy study. Also, when extraocular light was applied in the current protocol, subjects did not experience a change from sleeping to awake, a change in posture (from lying in bed to sitting in a chair), or a change in ocular light (from dark to dim light). Further research is necessary to determine the conditions under which extraocular light might produce phase shifts in human circadian rhythms. (Chronobiology International, 17(6), 807-826, 2000).     

Oxidative stress induced by prenatal LPS leads to endothelial dysfunction and renal haemodynamic changes through angiotensin II/NADPH oxidase pathway: Prevention by early treatment with α-tocopherol

We investigated whether hypertension induced by maternal lipopolysaccharide (LPS) administration during gestation is linked to peripheral vascular and renal hemodynamic regulation, through angiotensin II?→?NADPH-oxidase signalling, and whether these changes are directly linked to intrauterine oxidative stress. Female Wistar rats were submitted to LPS, in the absence or presence of α-tocopherol during pregnancy. Malondialdehyde in placenta and in livers from dams and foetuses was enhanced by LPS. Tail-cuff systolic blood pressure (tcSBP) was elevated in the 16-week-old LPS offspring. Renal malondialdeyde and protein expression of NADPH oxidase isoform 2 were elevated in these animals at 20?weeks of age. Maternal α-tocopherol treatment prevented the elevation in malondialdehyde induced by LPS on placenta and livers from dams and foetuses, as well as prevented the elevation in tcSBP and the elevation in renal malondialdehyde in adult life. LPS offspring presented impairment of endothelium-dependent relaxation in aorta and mesenteric rings, which was blunted by angiotensin type 1 receptor (AT₁R) blockade and NADPH oxidase inhibition. At age of 32?weeks, renal hemodynamic parameters were unchanged in anaesthetised LPS offspring, but angiotensin II infusion led to an increased glomerular filtration rate paralleled by filtration fraction elevation. The renal haemodynamic changes provoked by angiotensin II was prevented by early treatment with α-tocopherol and by late treatment with NADPH oxidase inhibitor. These results point to oxidative stress as a mediator of offspring hypertension programmed by maternal inflammation and to the angiotensin II?→?NADPH oxidase signalling pathway as accountable for vascular and renal dysfunctions that starts and maintains hypertension.     

Genetic and environmental variation in performance of a marine isopod: effects of eutrophication

Environmental variation in food resources modifies performance of herbivores, in addition to genetic variation and maternal effects. In marine benthic habitats, eutrophication may modify herbivores diets by changing host species composition or nutritional quality of algae for herbivores. We studied experimentally the effects of diet breadth and nutrient availability for the host algae on fitness components of the herbivorous isopod Idotea baltica. We fed the adult isopods with the brown algae Fucus vesiculosus and Pilayella littoralis and juveniles with the green alga Cladophora glomerata. By using half-sib families, we were able to separate the genetic, environmental and maternal effects on intermolt duration and size of the juveniles. The mothers confined to the diet consisting of both Fucus and Pilayella grew better and produced larger egg mass than those having consumed Fucus alone. Nutrient enhancement of algae did not influence the performance of the adult herbivores. However, the juveniles achieved twice the weight as well as shorter intermolt duration when consuming nutrient-treated C. glomerata. Mothers nutrition, either nutrient enrichment of her food algae or diet breadth, did not affect juvenile survival or growth as such, but we found evidence that the broader diet consumed by the mother mediated offspring performance by further accelerating growth rate of the offspring that fed on nutrient-treated alga. Intermolt duration was a highly heritable trait, but size showed very low heritability. Instead, maternal effects on size were substantial, suggesting that differences among mothers in their egg-provisioning ability strongly affect weight gain of their offspring. A high amount of additive genetic variance in intermolt duration implies potential for quick evolutionary responses in the growth schedule in the face of changes in the selective environment. We conclude that eutrophication, in addition to improving growth and reproduction of I. baltica by enhancing food quality and by providing opportunity for broader, more profitable diets, may act as a selective agent on life-history traits. Eutrophication of coastal waters is thus likely to reflect in herbivore density, population dynamics and eventually, grazing pressure of littoral macroalgae.     

Recovery after shift work: Relation to coronary risk factors in women

Shift work increases the risk for developing cardiovascular disease. There is, however, little knowledge of what aspects of shift scheduling that are detrimental and what characteristics promote good health. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether coronary risk factors deteriorate after a hard work period and whether recovery, in the form of a week off, was sufficient to improve them. A total of 19 women worked an extremely rapidly rotating and clockwise shift schedule at a paper and pulp factory. They underwent two health examinations, one at the end of the work period and one after the week off. In addition, the women were divided into a tolerant and a vulnerable group, depending on their satisfaction with their work hours. Most risk factors did not change, but total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol were lower after the working period than after the week-off. In addition, vulnerable women had higher levels of total cholesterol and a higher ratio of total cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein (HDL) than tolerant ones. In conclusion, the finding that a week-off worsens cholesterol levels was against our hypothesis and suggests further studies on how activities/responsibilities outside the workplace affect shift-working women. It was also shown that susceptible shift workers had worse lipid profiles.     

Parental effects on growth in Solanum conditioned at multiple levels

Summary Reciprocal crosses were made between plants that had nuclear genes of S.tuberosum L. ssp tuberosum combinated, by recurrent backrossing, with cytoplasmic factors of S. phureja Juz. & Buk. and, separately, of S. tuberosum ssp. andigena (Juz. & Buk.) Hawkes. Significant differences in growth between 19 of 23 intra-cytoplasmic reciprocal progenies occurred in vigor at one or more growth stages during the season and/or in yield as measured by tuber number and weight. If no transmission of cytoplasmic factors occurred through the pollen, the cytoplasmic factors of the parents were the same, and these reciprocal differences were caused by parental chromosomal gene mechanisms such as maternal effect, pollen-tube selection, and/or imprinting. Early seedling vigor was, in some cases, associated with greater seed weight, but this did not account for all of the reciprocal contrasts. The data do not show whether these parental effects are a result of maternal and/or paternal effects. Analysis to determine whether parental effect was a single gene character or alleles expressed at two levels, or multi-genic and so expressed at multiple levels, was based on a study of progeny of ten parents that were used in more than one reciprocal pair combination. The data showed that the parents could be classified at eight successive levels of relative effectiveness as staminate or pistillate parents. Of 23 crosses, 19 showed significant differences between reciprocal progenies that were consistent with this eight-level array. The data support the interpretation that parental effect is a multi-genic character.Authorized for publication as paper No. 163 of the Department of Horticulture     

网络环境下的期刊服务工作

分析了高校图书馆在网络环境下期刊服务工作的特点,论述了提高期刊服务工作质量(?)体措施——调整期刊资源的结构,重视文献的开发利用,深化期刊信息服务工作,加强馆际协(?)促进资源共享,增强用户的网络信息意识和能力及提高馆员的素质。