PHYSIOLOGICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL MECHANISMS OF TEMPERATURE SHOCKS ON OVERWINTERING MATURE LARVAE OF PINE NEEDLE GALL MIDGE THECODIPLOSIS JAPONENSIS (DIPTERA: CE-CIDOMYIIDAE)*

Abstract The supercooling points of cold (-10C and -5C) and heat (37 C, 40 C and 45 C) shocked overwintering larvae were nearly the same as that of un-shocked ones (ca. -20C). Temperature shocks enhanced the ability to endure subzero temperature (- 15C, 3 h), and the cold shock treatment had more significant effect on maintaining larval survival than that of heat shock. It is the third insect that heat shock and cold shock enhanced its survival rate under low temperature simultaneously. A special stress protein (MW = 83 kD) was expressed under cold shock at -10 C and heat shock at 40 C or 45 C. It is also a few instances that a stress protein was expressed in the same insect under both heat shock and cold shock simultaneously. Meanwhile, the antioxidant system under different treatments was studied. Rapid cold hardening process had no oxidative stress because of the increase content of reduced glutathione and activity of glutathione reductase, but other treatments had.     

Responses of the steroid circadian system to alcohol in humans: Importance of the time and duration of intake

Reports provide conflicting data about the effects of alcohol consumption on the hormonal system. Any study of these effects must control for a number of variables, including sex, alcohol status (alcoholic addiction vs. non-addiction), medical status (malnutrition, liver disease), and conditions of alcohol exposure, including an acute or continuous pattern of intake. The latter appears to be an especially critical factor in interpreting these effects. The authors therefore conducted a trial with a circadian design in which alcohol was administered repeatedly and regularly over a 26 h period for a total dose of 256 g. Because this protocol involves continuous alcohol administration, it is similar to administration among alcoholics and thus sheds new light on alcohol's effect on hormone secretion. Using healthy volunteers rather than alcoholics, however, prevents any confounding due to liver disorders and nutritional deficiencies, and thus makes it possible to focus on the direct role of alcohol in hormonal modifications. In these conditions, the continuous administration of alcohol did not affect cortisol secretion, but serum testosterone levels were significantly higher at all time points during the alcohol session than at the corresponding time points during the control session. These data are not consistent with previously reported findings for the relation between alcohol and both cortisol and testosterone, because in the current experiment the action of ethanol on steroid secretion should involve the circadian clock more than the hormonal system itself.     

Adaptive genetic differentiation in life-history traits between populations of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Mimulus guttatus</Emphasis> with annual and perennial life-cycles

The optimal allocation to sexual and vegetative reproduction as well as the optimal values of other life-history characteristics such as phenology, growth and mating system are likely to depend on the life-cycle of the organism. I tested whether plants of Mimulus guttatus originating from temporarily wet populations where the species has an enforced annual life-cycle have higher allocation to sexual reproduction, lower allocation to vegetative reproduction, more rapid phenology, faster growth, and floral traits associated with a self-fertilizing mating system than plants from permanently wet populations where the species has a perennial life-cycle. I grew a total of 1377 plants originating from three populations with an annual life-cycle and 11 populations with a perennial life-cycle in a greenhouse under permanently and temporarily wet conditions. Plants of M. guttatus in permanently wet conditions had significantly more vegetative reproduction and tended to have a faster growth than plants in the temporarily wet conditions, indicating plasticity in these life-history traits. Plants from populations with an annual life-cycle invested significantly more in sexual reproduction and significantly less in vegetative reproduction than the ones from populations with a perennial life-cycle. Moreover, this study showed that plants originating from populations with an annual life-cycle have a significantly faster development and floral traits associated with autonomous self-fertilization. In conclusion, this study suggests that there has been adaptive evolution of life history traits of M. guttatus in response to natural watering conditions that determine the life span of the species.