1. 1. The influence of ethnic differences is discussed with reference to the following issues.
2. 2. It has been found that total numbers of active sweat glands increase in tropical populations compared with people from northern latitudes.
3. 3. It has also been observed that the active sweat glands of Eskimos are fewer than those of Caucasians.
4. 4. The rate of the evaporated sweat loss was calculated by measuring body weight loss and it was found that the evaporated sweat loss of Caucasians is larger than that of Japanese in the same climate.
5. 5. Meteorological factors might have been responsible for the smaller loss in Japanese compared with that of Japanese-Americans.
6. 6. Under the same experimental conditions, it was observed that there were little or no differences between the Caucasians and Negros.
Gefitinib (GEF) is an inhibitor of the epidermal growth factor receptor, linked to higher risk of severe/fatal interstitial lung disease (ILD). This study was performed to determine the protective roles of an angiotensin-II type-1 receptor (AT1R) “valsartan (VAL)” in prevention of lung inflammation, oxidative stress and metabolites alteration induced by GEF. Four groups of male Wistar albino rats were received vehicle, VAL (30 mg/kg), GEF (30 mg/kg), or both for four weeks. Blood samples and lungs were harvested for plasma metabolites and histological analysis, respectively, and evaluation of inflammation and oxidative stress. GEF monotherapy showed a dense inflammation in lungs, and significantly increased tumor necrosis factor-α (P = 0.0349), interleukin-6 (P < 0.0001), chemokine ligand-3 (P = 0.0420), and interleukin-1β (P = 0.0377). GEF increased oxidative stress markers including glutathione, malondialdehyde, and catalase levels. Also, several plasma metabolites including butanoic acid, N-methylphenylethanolamine, oxalic acid, l-alanine, phosphoric acid, l-theorinine, pyroglutamic acid, and 2-bromosebacic acid were changed by GEF. The combination of VAL plus GEF reduced the inflammation and oxidative stress mediated by GEF monotherapy. In addition, the combination treatment returned plasma metabolites to the normal levels compared to GEF monotherapy. These findings revealed that VAL has a possible pulmonary protective role against pulmonary toxicity of GEF, which may lead to novel approaches for management of GEF-induced ILD. 相似文献
In ants, workers of different sizes may perform various tasks, even in so-called monomorphic species with relatively low body size variation. However, it is unclear if the body size diversity of monomorphic workers correlates with task efficiency, especially in stressful contingencies. Here we tested if the body size variation of workers corresponds with its efficiency in transferring pupae. Transferring brood is a pre-set behavioral response to stress, e.g. suboptimal temperature. Here we applied a laboratory experiment simulating nest damage. The study was performed on the common garden ant (Lasius niger (Linnaeus, 1758)) – a species with no distinct worker subcastes. The efficiency of workers was measured as the latency of transferring pupae from a lit part of the experimental colony to a darkened part, while the body size diversity was expressed as the within-colony coefficient of variation in head width. We did not find any significant correlation between efficiency and body size variation. Summarizing the existing studies and the present results, we propose the hypothesis that the body size diversity of L. niger may have implications for workers’ division of labor but not for their task efficiency in a stressful contingency. 相似文献
Global warming is affecting the Antarctic continent in complex ways. Because Antarctic organisms are specialized to living in the cold, they are vulnerable to increasing temperatures, although quantitative analyses of this issue are currently lacking. Here we compiled a total of 184 estimates of heat tolerance belonging to 39 marine species and quantified how survival is affected concomitantly by the intensity and duration of thermal stress. Species exhibit thermal limits displaced toward colder temperatures, with contrasting strategies between arthropods and fish that exhibit low tolerance to acute heat challenges, and brachiopods, echinoderms, and molluscs that tend to be more sensitive to chronic exposure. These differences might be associated with mobility. A dynamic mortality model suggests that Antarctic organisms already encounter temperatures that might be physiologically stressful and indicate that these ecological communities are indeed vulnerable to ongoing rising temperatures. 相似文献
Trees at their upper range limits are highly sensitive to climate change, and thus alpine treelines worldwide have changed their recruitment patterns in response to climate warming. However, previous studies focused only on daily mean temperature, neglecting the asymmetric influences of daytime and nighttime warming on recruitments in alpine treelines. Here, based on the compiled dataset of tree recruitment series from 172 alpine treelines across the Northern Hemisphere, we quantified and compared the different effects of daytime and nighttime warming on treeline recruitment using four indices of temperature sensitivity, and assessed the responses of treeline recruitment to warming-induced drought stress. Our analyses demonstrated that even in different environmental regions, both daytime and nighttime warming could significantly promote treeline recruitment, and however, treeline recruitment was much more sensitive to nighttime warming than to daytime warming, which could be attributable to the presence of drought stress. The increasing drought stress primarily driven by daytime warming rather than by nighttime warming would likely constrain the responses of treeline recruitment to daytime warming. Our findings provided compelling evidence that nighttime warming rather than daytime warming could play a primary role in promoting the recruitment in alpine treelines, which was related to the daytime warming-induced drought stress. Thus, daytime and nighttime warming should be considered separately to improve future projections of global change impacts across alpine ecosystems. 相似文献
Oxidative stress is a pathological condition characterized by an overload of oxidant products, named free radicals, which are not well counteracted by antioxidant systems. Free radicals induce oxidative damage to many body organs and systems. In neonatal red blood cells, free-radical mediated-oxidative stress leads to eryptosis, a suicidal death process of erythrocytes consequent to alteration of cell integrity. Neonatal red blood cells are targets and at the same time generators of free radicals through the Fenton and Haber-Weiss reactions. Enhanced eryptosis in case of oxidative stress damage may cause anemia if the increased loss of erythrocytes is not enough compensated by enhanced new erythrocytes synthesis. The oxidative disruption of the red cells may cause unconjugated idiopathic hyperbilirubinemia in neonates. High levels of bilirubin are recognized to be dangerous for the central nervous system in newborns, however, many studies have highlighted the antioxidant function of bilirubin. Recently, it has been suggested that physiologic concentration of bilirubin correlates with higher antioxidant status while high pathological bilirubin levels are associated with pro-oxidants effects. The aim of this educational review is to provide an updated understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying erythrocyte oxidant injury and its reversal in neonatal idiopathic hyperbilirubinemia. 相似文献
Summary Barley leaf blade protoplasts accumulate malonaldehyde, a product of lipid peroxidation, during culture. In addition, glutathione
levels fall after protoplast isolation and the proportion of glutathione in the oxidized state rises. These data indicate
oxidative stress after protoplast isolation and during culture. The cause of this phenomenon is revealed by data showing that
the activities of enzymes associated with antioxidative processes including glutathione reductase and ascorbate peroxidase
decrease after barley protoplast isolation. In contrast, protoplasts isolated from suspension cultured cells of bromegrass
and soybean exhibit little evidence for oxidative stress and increased activities of glutathione reductase and ascorbate peroxidase.
We suggest that an antioxidative response is associated with mitosis and colony formation from protoplasts, as exhibited by
bromegrass and soybean. Conversely, failure of an antioxidative response is associated with low viability and absence of mitosis,
as in barley. Increased viability of barley leaf protoplasts cultured on feeder layer cells is correlated with increased glutathione
content and higher glutathione reductase activity. 相似文献
The aim of this study was to delineate the flow patterns in a non-unidirectional flow field inside a ventricle-shaped cell
culture chamber, and examine the resulting morphology and integrity of the endothelium in select regions of the monolayer.
The chamber was perfused by pulsatile flow, and the coherent motion of the fluid was studied using flow visualization aided
by image analysis. Four distinct flow patterns were discerned and examined: central jet, flow impingement, flow separation,
and recirculating eddies. The influence of these patterns on endothelial cell morphology was assessed after 20 h of exposure
to flow. There were no signs of damage to the endothelium in the jet region nor was there evidence of cell alignment with
the flow. Yet, there were changes in cell morphology and cytoskeletal architecture as compared to control. By contrast, within
the eddies where the flow was highly disturbed, there was apparent damage to the endothelium. Thus, exposure of cells to random
velocity fluctuations in regions of quasi-static flow compromises the integrity of the monolayer. Identification of such sites
and acquisition of the knowledge necessary to protect the cells from denudation will be valuable for the endothelialization
efforts of cardiac prostheses. 相似文献