Atorvastatin attenuates myocardial remodeling induced by chronic intermittent hypoxia in rats: Partly involvement of TLR-4/MYD88 pathway

Inflammatory processes and oxidative stress are known to play a key role in the development of cardiovascular complications such as cardiac hypertrophy induced by chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH), the most characteristic pathophysiological change of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). Current evidence suggests that competitive inhibitors of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA coenzyme A reductase, such as atorvastatin, not only reduce blood lipids but also have anti-inflammatory and inhibit oxidative stress benefits. This study examined the protective role of atorvastatin in CIH-induced cardiac hypertrophy. Adult male wistar rats were subjected to 8 h of intermittent hypoxia/day, with/without atorvastatin for 6 weeks. Ventricular remodeling, toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4), myeloid differentiation primary response protein 88 (MYD88), inflammatory agents and radical oxygen species were determined. As a result, we found that treatment with atorvastatin markedly inhibited the mRNA and protein expressions of TLR4, MYD88 and the downstream inflammatory agents and radical oxygen species. Administration of atorvastatin following CIH significantly ameliorated the myocardial injury, such as cardiac hypertrophy. In conclusion, Pre-CIH atorvastatin administration may attenuate TLR-4/MYD88 mediated inflammatory processes and oxidative stress in the injured rat myocardium, and this may be one mechanism by which atorvastatin ameliorated myocardial injury following CIH.     

Conspicuous blue tails,dorsal pattern morphs and escape behaviour in hatchling Iberian wall lizards (Podarcis hispanicus)

Predation has profound effects on the phenotypes of animal prey and, in lizards, the relationship between coloration and antipredatory behaviour has been studied in depth. However, studies that address the relationships between dorsal patterns and tail coloration with escape behaviour in polymorphic lizards are absent in the literature. We describe dorsal morphs and measured tail coloration and escape behaviour in hatchling Iberian wall lizards, Podarcis hispanicus, a species with a previously undescribed female‐restricted dorsal polymorphism (reticulated‐blotched males, and either striped or reticulated‐blotched females) and juvenile tails with conspicuous blue coloration, which is probably used to divert predator attacks towards the autotomizable tail. Overall we provide evidence for the existence of sexual dimorphism in tail ultraviolet reflectance between reticulated females and males, with striped females being intermediate. We identified sex/dorsal morph, body size and tail brightness as predictors of different aspects of escape behaviour and suggest the existence of two alternative escape strategies between striped and reticulated‐blotched females that may be dependent on dorsal morph differences, independently of sex. Reticulated‐blotched females, and also males (all reticulated‐blotched), ran faster and spent less time paused than striped females, which might reflect an escape behaviour strategy based on endurance in striped females. In addition, lowland males displayed tail waving as a ‘last resort’ antipredator strategy that may be related to fatigue. We concluded that hatchling antipredatory behaviour is influenced by both dorsal pattern and tail conspicuousness. © 2014 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2014, 113 , 1094–1106.     

Sterilization efficiency of a cascaded dielectric barrier discharge

AIMS: To investigate the microbial inactivation efficiency of a newly developed cascaded dielectric barrier discharge (CDBD) set-up against various micro-organisms on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) foils. METHODS AND RESULTS: Inactivation kinetics in dependency of time were produced with air as process gas and test strains like Salmonella serotype Mons, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli and spores of Bacillus atrophaeus, Aspergillus niger and Clostridium botulinum, which were homogeneously distributed on the sample surface by a spray method. Highest count reduction was observed for the vegetative cells with at least 6.6 log(10) within 1 s. Aspergillus niger was the most resistant test strain with an inactivation rate of about 5 log(10) in 5 s. CONCLUSIONS: For industrial applications it is necessary to evaluate new sterilization methods against a broad range of different micro-organisms. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: CDBD plasma is a fast and effective technology for decontamination of heat sensitive materials in few seconds.     

100～700 mL液体培养基的微波灭菌效果观察

为研究家用微波炉对少量液体培养基的灭菌效果,对100 -700 mL液体培养基采取微波分别进行灭菌,测定其灭菌时间,并对达到灭菌效果的培养基通过接种不同细菌进行质检.结果显示100、200、300、400、500、600、700 mL液体培养基分别在4.5、5.0、7.0、9.0、12.0、19.0、25.0 min达到最有效的灭菌效果.室温保存15 d仍无细菌生长.枯草杆菌黑色变种芽胞菌测试无菌生长.金黄色葡萄球菌、大肠埃希菌及普通变形杆菌在液体培养基里的生长现象、特种后细菌的菌落和形态染色特征及其生化反应均无明显差异.实验表明2 450 MHz,700 W的微波炉对100 - 700 mL的液体培养基不但能快速达到有效的灭菌效果,且营养成分不会被破坏.     

Sterilization effect of atmospheric plasma on Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis endospores

Aims:  Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis spores were treated with an atmospheric plasma mixture created by the ionization of helium and oxygen to investigate the inactivation efficiency of a low-temperature plasma below 70°C.
Methods and results:  An electrical discharge plasma was produced at a radio frequency (RF) of 13·56 MHz, connected to a perforated circular electrode with a discharge spacing of 1–15 mm. The discharge gas was helium with 0–2% oxygen. For the plasma treatment, a dried E. coli cell or B. subtilis endospore suspension on a cover-glass was exposed to oxygen downstream of the plasma from holes in an RF-powered electrode. The sterilization effect of the RF plasma was highest with 0·2% oxygen, corresponding to the maximum production of oxygen radicals.
Conclusions:  Oxygen radicals generated by RF plasma are effective for the destruction of bacterial cells and endospores.
Significance and Impact of the study:  Low-temperature atmospheric plasma can be used for the disinfection of diverse objects, especially for the inactivation of bacterial endospores.     

Effect of chronic intermittent hypoxia on biological behavior and hypoxia‐associated gene expression in lung cancer cells

Hypoxia plays an important role in the development of solid tumors and is associated with their therapeutic resistance. There exist three major forms of hypoxia: acute, chronic, and intermittent hypoxia. Previous studies have shown that cancer cells could behave in the form of adaptation to hypoxia in tumor growth, which could result in their biological changes and determine their responses to the therapies. To investigate the tumor cells' adaptation to hypoxia, we recreated two models using two lung cancer cell lines in the presence of intermittent hypoxia, which is characterized by changes in oxygen pressure within the disorganized vascular network. We investigated biological behaviors such as cell cycle, proliferation, radiation sensitivity, apoptosis and migration, hypoxia signal pathway in the lung cancer cells treated with chronic intermittent hypoxia, as well as the role of hypoxia inducible factor 1 there, hypoxia‐inducible genes analyzed by real‐time RT‐PCR chip in H446 cells treated with the model. The results indicated the changes of some hypoxia target gene expressions of those induced by hypoxia, some of which were confirmed by real‐time RT‐PCR. The cells mediated by irradiation induced resistance to radiation and apoptosis and increased metastasis in lung cancer cells. It was found that such changes were related to hypoxia inducible factor 1, alpha subunit (HIF‐1α). J. Cell. Biochem. 111: 554–563, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Biological responses of Bacillus stratosphericus to Floating Electrode‐Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Treatment

Aims: Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma is used for sterilization of contaminated inanimate surfaces but seldomly optimized and depends upon the type of organisms and the plasma treatment duration, (net energy deposited) this efficacy varies. The proposed study was designed to see biological responses of one of the robust organism, Bacillus stratosphericus. Methods and Results: DBD plasma was applied over various durations to B. stratosphericus either surface‐dried or suspension in de‐ionized water, and viability, culturability, and viable but nonculturability (VBNC) were assayed using standard techniques. Depending upon the exposure of B. stratosphericus to DBD plasma resulted in three viability states, viable and culturable at low plasma doses and VBNC or disintegrated bacteria at higher plasma doses. Although organism’s respiration levels at relatively low levels, immediately after plasma treatment, over the course of 24‐ h respiratory activity was increased c. eight times (and found still nonculturable during colony assays). Conclusions: The loss of culturability is hypothesized to be induced as one of the responses to oxidative stress and it remains to be unclear if the response is temporary or indefinite. Appropriate plasma powers should be used to avoid VBNC‐like status. 2,3‐Bis‐(2‐methoxy‐4‐nitro‐5‐sulfophenyl)‐2H‐tetrazolium‐5‐carboxanilide (XTT) assay is a good alternative method to detect VBNC state. Significance and Impact of the Study: Bacillus stratosphericus has the potential to turn into VBNC upon plasma application, and XTT assay can be an alternative method to detect VBNC state.     

Wing‐beat characteristics of birds recorded with tracking radar and cine camera

This study presents wing‐beat frequency data measured mainly by radar, complemented by video and cinematic recordings, for 153 western Palaearctic and two African species. Data on a further 45 Palaearctic species from other sources are provided in an electronic appendix. For 41 species with passerine‐type flight, the duration of flapping and pausing phases is given. The graphical presentations of frequency ranges and wing‐beat patterns show within‐species variation and allow easy comparison between species, taxonomic groups and types of flight. Wing‐beat frequency is described by Pennycuick (J. Exp. Biol. 2001; 204: 3283–3294) as a function of body‐mass, wing‐span, wing‐area, gravity and air density; for birds with passerine‐type flight the power‐fraction has also to be considered. We tested Pennycuick’s general allometric model and estimated the coefficients based on our data. The general model explained a high proportion of variation in wing‐beat frequency and the coefficients differed only slightly from Pennycuick’s original values. Modelling continuous‐flapping flyers alone resulted in coefficients not different from those predicted (within 95% intervals). Doing so for passerine‐type birds resulted in a model with non‐significant contributions of body‐mass and wing‐span to the model. This was mainly due to the very high correlation between body‐mass, wing‐span and wing‐area, revealing similar relative scaling properties within this flight type. However, wing‐beat frequency increased less than expected with respect to power‐fraction, indicating that the drop in flight level during the non‐flapping phases, compensated by the factor (g/q)^0.5 in Pennycuick’s model, is smaller than presumed. This may be due to lift produced by the body during the bounding phase or by only partial folding of the wings.     

Conservation In vitro of threatened plants—Progress in the past decade

Summary In vitro techniques have found increasing use in the conservation of threatened plants in recent years and this trend is likely to continue as more species face risk of extinction. The Micropropagation Unit at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK (RBG Kew) has an extensive collection of in vitro plants including many threatened species from throughout the world. The long history of the unit and the range of plants cultured have enabled considerable expertise to be amassed in identifying the problems and developing experimental strategies for propagation and conservation of threatened plants. While a large body of knowledge is available on the in vitro culture of plants, there are limited publications relating to threatened plant conservation. This review highlights the progress in in vitro culture and conservation of threatened plants in the past decade (1995–2005) and suggests future research directions. Works on non-threatened plants are also included wherever methods have applications in rare plant conservation. Recalcitrant plant materials collected from the wild or ex situ collections are difficult to grow in culture. Different methods of sterilization and other treatments to establish clean material for culture initiation are reviewed. Application of different culture methods for multiplication, and use of unconventional materials for rooting and transplantation are reviewed. As the available plant material for culture initiation is scarce and in many cases associated with inherent problems such as low viability and endogenous contamination, reliable protocols on multiplication, rooting, and storage methods are very important. In this context, photoautotrophic micropropagation has the potential for development as a routine method for the in vitro conservation of endangered plants. Long-term storage of material in culture is challenging and the potential applications of cryopreservation are significant in this area. Future conservation biotechnology research and its applications must be aimed at conserving highly threatened, mainly endemic, plants from conservation hotspots.     

微波及其联合杀菌技术在食品中的应用研究进展

微波在食品中的应用已逐渐成为研究热点，但微波作为一种新型食品杀菌技术，特别是和其他杀菌技术联合应用的综述目前还较少。本文通过分析已有的食品微波杀菌技术，包括单微波杀菌技术、微波-巴氏杀菌技术、微波-超声联合杀菌技术、微波-红外杀菌技术、微波-脉冲电场杀菌技术的特点，总结微波及其联合杀菌技术对不同类型食品的杀菌条件和效果，旨在为微波在各类食品杀菌工艺中的应用提供参考。