Frequency of premolar teeth extractions for orthodontic treatment

It is of interest to evaluate the frequency of premolar extractions during orthodontic treatment in patients reporting to the Saveetha dental hospital in Chennai from 2019-2020. We used the records from 987 patients who underwent orthodontic treatment from June 2019 to March 2020 in a dental hospital for this analysis. Digital case records of patients who underwent therapeutic extractions of premolars were isolated. A sample dataset of 340 case records were selected for this study. Data shows that 34.4% of subjects underwent premolar extractions amongst a total of 987 subjects who underwent orthodontic treatment. 89.4% of patients were Angle''s Class I malocclusion patients, and the rest were Class II patients. However, no premolar extractions were done in Class III patients. Data also shows that 67.1% of subjects underwent all 4 first premolar extractions and 13.2% underwent only upper first premolar extractions. Thus, a significant association was found between Type of Malocclusion and the Type of premolar extractions with p < 0.05. Moreover, only 34.4% of patients underwent premolar extractions and the majority of them underwent all 4 first premolar extractions.     

Effects of different stressor agents on gilthead seabream natural cytotoxic activity

Several common situations in gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata L.) farming, such as air exposure, crowding and the use of anaesthetics, have been demonstrated to be stressful. In the present study, these conditions were simulated in the laboratory, after which head-kidney natural cytotoxic cell (NCC) activity was evaluated. For this, several specimens were air exposed for 2 min, returned to the aquarium and sampled from 0 to 4 days after exposure. NCC activity was significantly lower on the day following air-exposure compared with the control (rested fish) but not at any other time studied. Other fish were crowded (100 kg biomass m(-3), 2 h), returned to an aquarium with the same density as the control group (9 kg m(-3)) and sampled from 0 to 4 days after treatment. Head-kidney NCC activity was statistically increased compared with the control (resting) fish, 1 day after crowding. Anaesthesis for 1 h with 60 or 200 microl 2-phenoxyethanol l(-1)had no significant effect on NCC activity, while the use of 50 mg MS222 l(-1)for 1 h reduced such activity (by about 40%) compared with the control. In other experiments, fish were consecutively treated with crowding and anaesthetics. When treated with the lowest 2-phenoxyethanol concentration after crowding, the NCC activity inhibition was abolished compared with the activity in fish treated either with crowding or anaesthetic alone, while the use of the highest concentration increased such inhibition. The use of MS222 after crowding did not produce any differential effect compared with the fish treated with only one of the factors. In conclusion, NCC activity is affected differently according to the stress factor applied (hypoxia, crowding and/or anaesthetics). Differences in the effects provoked by these stressors on other seabream innate immune parameters are discussed.     

大黄素、维生素C及其配伍对团头鲂抗拥挤胁迫的影响

选取1200尾健康的团头鲂(Megalobrama amblycephala Yih),体重为(133.44±2.11)g,随机分成4组,其中1组为对照组,投喂基础日粮(含50.3 mg/kg维生素C,以L-抗坏血酸-2-多聚磷酸酯为Vc源),另外3组为试验组,投喂饲料是在基础日粮中分别添加60 mg/kg大黄素、700 mg/kg Vc、60 mg/kg大黄素+700 mg/kg Vc。饲养60d后,从各池中取25尾规格基本一致的鱼,进行连续48h的拥挤胁迫(100 g/L)实验,分别于0h、12h、24h、48h取样分析团头鲂血液和肝脏的生化指标以及肝脏两种HSP70s mRNA的表达水平,并统计各组鱼的累积死亡率。结果表明,在拥挤胁迫前,与对照组相比,大黄素、Vc组显著提高了团头鲂血清总蛋白(TP)、溶菌酶(LSZ)和碱性磷酸酶(AKP)的水平,肝脏超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)的活性和诱导型HSP70 mRNA的表达水平,降低了血清皮质醇(COR)、甘油三酯(TG)以及肝脏丙二醛(MDA)的含量(P<0.05),且大黄素组还显著提高了肝脏过氧化氢酶(CAT)的活性(P<0.05);配伍组虽然血清TP、LSZ以及肝脏HSP70 mRNA的水平显著升高,肝脏MDA的含量也显著降低(P<0.05),但均未表现出协同增效作用。在拥挤胁迫后,与对照组相比,大黄素、Vc组不同程度地提高了团头鲂血清TP和AKP的水平,肝脏SOD和CAT的活性以及HSC70和HSP70 mRNAs的表达水平,降低了血清COR、葡萄糖(GLU)、谷丙转氨酶(GPT)、谷草转氨酶(GOT)、TG以及肝脏MDA的水平,而LSZ活性表现为先下降后升高;在配伍组中,这些指标虽然有类似以上的变化趋势,但大多差异不显著(P>0.05),且同样未表现出协同增效作用。统计表明,大黄素和Vc组鱼的累积死亡率在拥挤胁迫24h、48h均显著低于对照组(P<0.05),而配伍组与对照组的差异均不显著(P>0.05)。由此可见,在基础日粮中添加大黄素60 mg/kg或Vc 700 mg/kg,可提高团头鲂的非特异性免疫力、抗氧化能力以及两种HSP70s mRNA的表达水平,增强鱼体的抗应激能力。二者配伍则效果不佳,其相互作用的机理还有待于进一步研究。     

A transient,positive effect of habitat fragmentation on insect population densities

We conducted an experimental landscape study to test the hypotheses that: (1) habitat removal results in short-term increases in population density in the remaining habitat patches (the crowding effect); (2) following habitat removal, density is higher in landscapes with more, smaller patches and more habitat edge (i.e., a higher level of habitat fragmentation per se) than in less fragmented landscapes, for the same total amount of habitat on the landscapes; (3) this positive effect of fragmentation per se on density is larger in landscapes with smaller inter-patch distances; and (4) these last two effects should be reduced or disappear over time following habitat removal. Our results did not support the first hypothesis, but they provided some support for the other three hypotheses, for two of the four Coccinellid species studied. As in other empirical studies of fragmentation per se on population density, the effects of fragmentation per se were weak and positive (when they did occur). This is the first study to document a transient effect of fragmentation per se on population density, and to show that this effect depends on inter-patch distances. We suggest that fragmentation per se increased the rate of immigration to patches, resulting in higher population densities in more fragmented landscapes.     

Salting-in the microbial cytoplasm

Microbial organisms are known to rely for osmotic regulatory purposes on an assortment of low molecular weight molecules earmarked for function as osmolytes. The so-called 'compatible' subclass of osmolyte, notably glycine betaine, is distinguished by a propensity to avoid the large bound fraction of cytoplasmic water adsorbed at the surface of biological macromolecules. Here we argue that this property is implicated in thermodynamic stabilisation of the cytoplasm. A rudimentary molecular statistical approach indicates that flooding the cytoplasm with large amounts of compatible osmolyte is an effective way to deal with the threat of phase separation.     

Comparison of the wing polyphenic response of pea aphids (Acyrthosiphon pisum) to crowding and predator cues

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Calcium,Acylation, and Molecular Confinement Favor Folding of Bordetella pertussis Adenylate Cyclase CyaA Toxin into a Monomeric and Cytotoxic Form

The adenylate cyclase (CyaA) toxin, a multidomain protein of 1706 amino acids, is one of the major virulence factors produced by Bordetella pertussis, the causative agent of whooping cough. CyaA is able to invade eukaryotic target cells in which it produces high levels of cAMP, thus altering the cellular physiology. Although CyaA has been extensively studied by various cellular and molecular approaches, the structural and functional states of the toxin remain poorly characterized. Indeed, CyaA is a large protein and exhibits a pronounced hydrophobic character, making it prone to aggregation into multimeric forms. As a result, CyaA has usually been extracted and stored in denaturing conditions. Here, we define the experimental conditions allowing CyaA folding into a monomeric and functional species. We found that CyaA forms mainly multimers when refolded by dialysis, dilution, or buffer exchange. However, a significant fraction of monomeric, folded protein could be obtained by exploiting molecular confinement on size exclusion chromatography. Folding of CyaA into a monomeric form was found to be critically dependent upon the presence of calcium and post-translational acylation of the protein. We further show that the monomeric preparation displayed hemolytic and cytotoxic activities suggesting that the monomer is the genuine, physiologically active form of the toxin. We hypothesize that the structural role of the post-translational acylation in CyaA folding may apply to other RTX toxins.     

Genetic and environmental factors in the resistance of Drosophila subobscura adults to high temperature shock

Summary Survival time following a high temperature shock of Drosophila subobscura adults in dry air has shown great variability. This experimental condition involved desiccation as the first cause of death. Here survival is studied under saturation humidity, so that the mortality may be imputed only to thermic stress. We analyze the influence of culture temperature and crowding on resistance for different sex and age of the adults. The results show strong influences of these environmental factors on heat shock resistance and show interactions with the age and sex of the adults. We suggest that these facts could be due to acclimatization and/or to adaptation. The acclimatization would occur during development and would affect physiological processes related to aging of the flies. The adaptation would take place for selection, acting through differential mortality before the heat shock. Of course, other processes could be significant. Whatever the causal explanation, it will be necessary in any future research related with heat shock resistance to take these factors into account.     

Are females selected against in ephemeral habitats? The case of a holometabolous insect (Chironomus pulcher)

Adults of the rain-pool dwelling midge Chironomus pulcher are sexually dimorphic with females larger than males. This difference is achieved by females remaining in the growing larval stage for longer. When food is scarce, as under crowded conditions, the average size of both sexes is reduced, but the difference between them is maintained. However, more females perish, presumably because they are unable to achieve a minimum female size. Under conditions of crowding, there is thus a switch in favour of males. Since crowding due to a diminishing habitat is a frequent event in rain-pools, males seem fitter than females in C. pulcher. This paradox is discussed.