Hasil untuk "Physiology"

Krystyna Pierzchała-Koziec, Colin G. Scanes, Klaudia Jaszcza

IntroductionMet-enkephalin is a neuropeptide whose release into the circulation is enhanced by stress. There have been no studies on the effects of peripherally administered Met-enkephalin in chickens.MethodsThe effects of peripheral administration of Met-enkephalin on the stress response in chickens were investigated measuring plasma concentrations of corticosterone and Met-enkephalin, together with expression of pro-enkephalin (PENK) and delta-opioid binding in the hypothalamus, anterior pituitary and adrenal glands.ResultsAdministration of Met-enkephalin was followed by decreases in the basal and stressed plasma concentrations of the principal glucocorticoid, corticosterone, in chickens. In addition, the increase in plasma concentrations of corticosterone evoked by restraint stress was markedly decreased when the birds were treated with Met-enkephalin. Administration of Met-enkephalin was followed by decreases in PENK expression; hypothalamic, anterior pituitary, and adrenal delta-opioid binding; and plasma concentrations of total Met-enkephalin (peptides containing Met-enkephalin motifs). There were negative relationships between plasma concentrations of corticosterone and Met-enkephalin and between those of native Met-enkephalin and total Met-enkephalin.DiscussionThe ability of Met-enkephalin to attenuate the stress response of corticosterone, and probably other glucocorticoids, is novel and opens up several new lines of inquiry, including its site of action and its source.

Juncai Wang, Shengyang Xiao, Chao Ma et al.

Cadmium (Cd) contamination in agricultural soils poses a serious threat to food security and human health. Nitric oxide (NO), as redox-related signaling molecule, is known to promote plant growth and regulate soil quality in heavy metal-contamination soils. However, the regulatory mechanisms of NO in plant physiology and soil biochemistry have not been well-demonstrated. In this study, we investigated the role of exogenous application of sodium nitroprusside (SNP) as an NO donor additive on the growth performances, Cd accumulation and translocation, physiological biochemical response of plant, soil physicochemical properties, and soil microbial communities of hyperaccumulator Solanum nigrum L. in Cd-contaminated soil. Our results showed that 100 and 200 μmol·L−1 NO addition markedly increased the plant biomass by 16.22 % and 14.85 %, and enhanced the Cd accumulation by 46.91 % and 22.08 % in S. nigrum compared to the 100 mg·kg−1 Cd treatment alone, respectively. Moreover, NO supply could mitigate Cd phytotoxicity and oxidative damage by significantly increasing the activities of antioxidant enzymes and osmoregulatory substances content. In addition, NO addition significantly changes the soil physicochemical properties, including changed the SOC, CEC, the NH4+-N and NO3−-N contents, increased the content of soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC), microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) and soil enzymatic activities, such as the 100 μmol·L−1 NO treatment increased 4.71 %, 7.45 %, 18.44 % and 29.46 % of the soil pH, EC, the content of NO3−-N and NH4+-N as compared to Cd stress alone under 50 mg·kg−1 Cd concentrations, respectively. Meanwhile, in Cd alone treatment, the soil bacterial diversity indexes were slightly increased, while the fungal diversity slightly decreased at low Cd concentrations and increased at high Cd level compared with no Cd addition groups. After NO addition, the soil bacterial and fungal diversity was enhanced compared to without NO addition. Exogenous NO treatment also significantly changed the structures of soil bacterial and fungal communities, and increased the relative abundance of soil beneficial microbial communities. Furthermore, interactions among soil environmental factors and NO addition significantly influenced dominant bacterial, and fungal taxa. These results provide proof that soil remediation with exogenous NO addition may be an effective method to improve soil microenvironment and enhance plant tolerance to metal stress.

Bogna Jaszczak-Dyka, Łukasz Płociniczak

We present a unified mathematical framework for modeling blood and lymph flow in biological vessels, with a particular focus on lymph transport through lymphangions. Starting from first principles, we rigorously derive a system of partial differential equations (PDEs) that govern the fluid dynamics using perturbative methods. To capture the active regulation of lymphangion valves, we couple these PDEs with a system of two nonlinear ordinary non-smooth differential equations (ODEs) describing the chemical kinetics of calcium ions and nitric oxide. These biochemical species play a critical role in valve opening and closing, influencing lymph propulsion. We further analyze a reduced model consisting of two non-smooth ODEs, identifying parameter regimes that guarantee the existence of a stable limit cycle. This oscillatory behavior aligns with experimental observations of lymphatic pumping, providing theoretical validation and new insights into lymphatic physiology. Our results offer a comprehensive mathematical description of lymph flow regulation and open possibilities for future studies on pathological conditions and therapeutic interventions.

Abosede A. Badeji, Samuel O. Olalekan, Segun D. Oladipo et al.

Abstract L-Prolinamides are emerging as promising scaffolds in medicinal chemistry due to their favorable electronic properties and structural versatility. This study employed a comprehensive computational approach, including molecular docking, density functional theory (DFT), molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and binding free energy calculations, to evaluate a series of L-prolinamides as potential multi-target inhibitors against key Type 2 diabetes (T2D) enzymes: α-amylase, α-glucosidase, and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4). Out of 27 screened compounds, six (Q10, Q14, Q19, Q22, Q24, and Q26) demonstrated superior binding profiles relative to standard inhibitors. Binding free energy calculations revealed that Q14 and Q10 interacted effectively with α-amylase, with ΔGbind values of − 49.51 and − 45.18 kcal/mol, respectively, closely approaching that of acarbose (− 55.20 kcal/mol). Against α-glucosidase, Q24 emerged as the most potent (− 55.79 kcal/mol), outperforming miglitol (− 48.05 kcal/mol), while Q22, Q26, and Q19 also showed competitive binding. Quantum chemical analysis computed at the B3LYP/6–311 +  + G(d,p) level of theory indicated Q10 had the lowest LUMO energy (− 2.43 eV), enhancing electron acceptance, while Q24 had the highest HOMO value (− 5.98 eV), promoting electron donation. MD simulations further confirmed the structural stability of the top ligand enzyme complexes. In silico pharmacokinetic assessments supported their drug-likeness and oral bioavailability. Collectively, these findings highlight L-prolinamides, particularly Q10 and Q24, as promising multi-target candidates for T2D therapy and warrant further experimental exploration.

Zeynep Gümrükçü, PhD, DDS, Emre Balaban, DDS, Tolga Mercantepe, PhD et al.

Liao Ziqi, Huang Ju

Stroke, a major global health issue, results in significant morbidity and mortality. Post-stroke anxiety complicates recovery and impacts quality of life for patients and their families. This review examines the mechanisms, clinical features, diagnostic methods, and management of post-stroke anxiety. The interplay between stroke-related deficits and anxiety requires a multidisciplinary approach. Accurate diagnosis relies on clinical scales and neurocognitive tests. Management includes medication, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and lifestyle changes. It is crucial to understand the biological interactions between stroke and anxiety to develop target treatments. Progress in neuroimaging and animal models have provided guidance for relevant scientific research and clinical strategies. Meanwhile, a whole approach that integrates pharmacology, psy- chotherapy, and supportive interventions has optimized rehabilitation and health outcomes.

Veronica Beltrami, Luca Consolini, Mattia Laurini et al.

This work addresses the problem of linear system realizations by mammillary models, offering necessary and sufficient conditions under which a given transfer function can be represented in this form. While standard identifi cation techniques may yield transfer functions without an explicit connection to underlying physiological processes, com partmental models, particularly mammillary ones, reflect the physiological dynamics of distribution and elimination. This feature is especially relevant in clinical pharmacology, where model parameters must correspond to meaningful biological processes to support interpretability, personalization, and safe drug delivery, such as in total intravenous anesthesia. To conclude, an application to a propofol infusion model illustrates how mammillary realizations can support physiologically inter pretable system representations.

Naihao Deng, Kapotaksha Das, Rada Mihalcea et al.

In clinical operations, teamwork can be the crucial factor that determines the final outcome. Prior studies have shown that sufficient collaboration is the key factor that determines the outcome of an operation. To understand how the team practices teamwork during the operation, we collected CliniDial from simulations of medical operations. CliniDial includes the audio data and its transcriptions, the simulated physiology signals of the patient manikins, and how the team operates from two camera angles. We annotate behavior codes following an existing framework to understand the teamwork process for CliniDial. We pinpoint three main characteristics of our dataset, including its label imbalances, rich and natural interactions, and multiple modalities, and conduct experiments to test existing LLMs' capabilities on handling data with these characteristics. Experimental results show that CliniDial poses significant challenges to the existing models, inviting future effort on developing methods that can deal with real-world clinical data. We open-source the codebase at https://github.com/MichiganNLP/CliniDial

Setiaji Jarod, Febian Prokoso Valentio, Heriyanto et al.

The use of antibiotics to cure bacterial diseases has a negative impact on fish and the environment, so it is necessary to look for natural products that are safe for treating fish diseases. This study aims to determine the activity of P. pinnata extract as an antibacterial towards V. alginolyticus, P. aeruginosa, A. salmonicida, E. ictaluri, A. hydrophila, and E. tarda bacteria. P. pinnata extract was obtained by maceration using ethanol solvent. This extract was tested for its phytochemical content, characterized by FT-IR and tested for its antibacterial activity by the agar diffusion method. The results of the phytochemical test of P. pinnata extract produced terpenoids compounds flavonoids, saponins and phenolic. The results of the FT-IR characterization of P. pinnata extract contained O-H, C-H, C=O and C-O groups. The results of the inhibition test showed that P. pinnata extract was able to inhibit the growth of V. alginolyticus bacteria by 13.0 mm to 14.7 mm. P. aeruginosa 14.5 mm to 17.1 mm. A. salmonicida by 12.4 mm to 14.9 mm. E. ictaluri by 13.5 mm to 15.5 mm. A. hydrophila 13.9 mm to 17.1 mm. E. tarda 13.6 mm to 15.5 mm. In conclusion, P. pinnata extract can be used to inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria in fish.

Boniface Anthony Ale, Patrick Maduabuchi Aja, Ikechukwu Jacob Okoro et al.

Background: The growing prevalence of cancer and the concomitant rise in chemotherapy use have led to an increased incidence of kidney-related diseases, including nephrotoxicity. Cisplatin (CP) is a widely used and potent anticancer drug, but nephrotoxicity limits its clinical application. Purpose: Our study aimed to determine the phytochemicals and median lethal dose of Cucumeropsis mannii seed oil (CMSO) using standard methods and to further investigate the effects of CMSO on CP-induced nephrotoxicity in male Wistar rats. Methods: Twenty-one rats (100 to 150 g) were randomly divided into seven groups (n = 3) and treated with CMSO or normal saline for ten days. Group A received 1.0 mL of normal saline, irrespective of the body weight (b.w.). Groups B-D received 2500, 5000, and 7500 mg/kg b.w., respectively, of the CMSO and a single intraperitoneal dose of CP (8 mg/kg) on the seventh day. Groups E and F were administered 2500 mg/kg and 7500 mg/kg b.w., respectively, of the CMSO without CP administration. Group G received a single intraperitoneal dose (8 mg/kg b.w.) of CP on the seventh day without CMSO treatment. Results: The analysis of CMSO revealed the presence of various phytochemicals such as hydrogen cyanide, glycosides, saponins, steroids, tannins, alkaloids, terpenoids, phenols, and flavonoids. Acute toxicity testing demonstrated the safety of CMSO up to 5000 mg/kg b.w. We discovered that the CP administration increased serum creatinine (sCr), urea, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in rats and markedly decreased renal superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities and glutathione (GSH) levels. CMSO attenuated kidney dysfunction, oxidative stress, and lipid peroxidation. Interestingly, CMSO prominently decreased sCr, urea, and BUN levels, boosted the activity of SOD, CAT, and GPx, increased GSH levels, and significantly (p < 0.05) decreased MDA levels. Histological assessment corroborated these biochemical findings. Conclusion: Our findings highlight the potential of CMSO as a protective agent against CP-induced nephrotoxicity. The observed effects are attributable to the rich phenolic and flavonoid content of CMSO. These findings have significant implications for developing complementary therapies to mitigate chemotherapy-associated kidney damage, potentially enhancing the safety and efficacy of cisplatin-based cancer treatments. Further investigation is needed to explore the clinical applications of CMSO for cancer patients.

Shinya Ito, Alex Piet, Corbett Bennett et al.

Summary: Recent studies have found dramatic cell-type-specific responses to stimulus novelty, highlighting the importance of analyzing the cortical circuitry at this granularity to understand brain function. Although initial work characterized activity by cell type, the alterations in cortical circuitry due to interacting novelty effects remain unclear. We investigated circuit mechanisms underlying the observed neural dynamics in response to novel stimuli using a large-scale public dataset of electrophysiological recordings in behaving mice and a population network model. The model was constrained by multi-patch synaptic physiology and electron microscopy data. We found generally weaker connections under novel stimuli, with shifts in the balance between somatostatin (SST) and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) populations and increased excitatory influences on parvalbumin (PV) and SST populations. These findings systematically characterize how cortical circuits adapt to stimulus novelty.

Adam J. Sterczala, Nathaniel Rodriguez‐Ortiz, Evan D. Feigel et al.

Abstract This study compared the structural and cellular skeletal muscle factors underpinning adaptations in maximal strength, power, aerobic capacity, and lean body mass to a 12‐week concurrent resistance and interval training program in men and women. Recreationally active women and men completed three training sessions per week consisting of high‐intensity, low‐volume resistance training followed by interval training performed using a variety upper and lower body exercises representative of military occupational tasks. Pre‐ and post‐training vastus lateralis muscle biopsies were analyzed for changes in muscle fiber type, cross‐sectional area, capillarization, and mitochondrial biogenesis marker content. Changes in maximal strength, aerobic capacity, and lean body mass (LBM) were also assessed. Training elicited hypertrophy of type I (12.9%; p = 0.016) and type IIa (12.7%; p = 0.007) muscle fibers in men only. In both sexes, training decreased type IIx fiber expression (1.9%; p = 0.046) and increased total PGC‐1α (29.7%, p < 0.001) and citrate synthase (11.0%; p < 0.014) content, but had no effect on COX IV content or muscle capillarization. In both sexes, training increased maximal strength and LBM but not aerobic capacity. The concurrent training program was effective at increasing strength and LBM but not at improving aerobic capacity or skeletal muscle adaptations underpinning aerobic performance.

Patrick Chwalek, Sailin Zhong, Nathan Perry et al.

This study presents a comprehensive dataset capturing indoor environmental parameters, physiological responses, and subjective perceptions across three global cities. Utilizing wearable sensors, including smart eyeglasses, and a modified Cozie app, environmental and physiological data were collected, along with pre-screening, onboarding, and recurring surveys. Peripheral cues facilitated participant engagement with micro-EMA surveys, minimizing disruption over a 5-day collection period. The dataset offers insights into urban comfort dynamics, highlighting the interplay between environmental conditions, physiological responses, and subjective perceptions. Researchers can utilize this dataset to deepen their understanding of indoor environmental quality and inform the design of healthier built environments. Access to this dataset can advance indoor environmental research and contribute to the creation of more comfortable and sustainable indoor spaces.

Guanyu Hu, Eleni Papadopoulou, Dimitrios Kollias et al.

The increasing integration of machine learning algorithms in daily life underscores the critical need for fairness and equity in their deployment. As these technologies play a pivotal role in decision-making, addressing biases across diverse subpopulation groups, including age, gender, and race, becomes paramount. Automatic affect analysis, at the intersection of physiology, psychology, and machine learning, has seen significant development. However, existing databases and methodologies lack uniformity, leading to biased evaluations. This work addresses these issues by analyzing six affective databases, annotating demographic attributes, and proposing a common protocol for database partitioning. Emphasis is placed on fairness in evaluations. Extensive experiments with baseline and state-of-the-art methods demonstrate the impact of these changes, revealing the inadequacy of prior assessments. The findings underscore the importance of considering demographic attributes in affect analysis research and provide a foundation for more equitable methodologies. Our annotations, code and pre-trained models are available at: https://github.com/dkollias/Fair-Consistent-Affect-Analysis

Mustamu N E, Tampubolon K, Alridiwirsah et al.

Adaptation test of local maize plants under drought stress requires early selection at the seedlings stage through Poly Ethylene Glycol (PEG-6000). This study aimed to identify local varieties of maize plants from North Sumatra under drought stress with several doses of PEG-6000. This study was conducted from July to November 2022 using a completely randomized design with two factors and three replications. The sixteen local maize (L) and a hybrid variety (H) of maize as a comparison were used as the first factor. The PEG doses were 0; 100; 200; 300; 400; and 500 g L-1 as the second factor. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance and duncan's multiple range test at P<0.05. The results showed that the LSB5 and LSB4 of local maize from Serdang Bedagai had the greatest number of seeds germinated and water content of seedlings at 40.17 seeds and 74.43%, respectively. The higher PEG dose of 500 g L-1 inhibited the number of seeds germinated and water content of local maize seedlings to 32.27 and 11.45%, respectively. The interaction of local varieties with PEG doses were insignificant effects on both characteristics of local maize.

Gunadi, Mohamad Saifudin Hakim, Hendra Wibawa et al.

Abstract Background The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant has replaced the previously dominant Delta variant because of high transmissibility. However, studies on the impact of the Omicron variant on the severity of COVID-19 are still limited in developing countries. Our study aimed to determine the prognostic factors for the outcomes of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron and Delta variants, including age, sex, comorbidities, and smoking. Methods In this retrospective cross-sectional study, we involved 352 patients with COVID-19 from Yogyakarta and Central Java provinces, Indonesia, from May 2021 to February 2022, consisting of 164 males and 188 females. We included all patients with the PCR’s Ct value of less than 30 for further whole-genome sequencing. Results Ct value and mean age of COVID-19 patients were not significantly different between both groups (p = 0.146 and 0.273, respectively). Patients infected with Omicron (n = 139) and Delta (n = 213) variants showed similar hospitalization (p = 0.396) and mortality rates (p = 0.565). Multivariate analysis of both groups showed that older age (≥ 65 years) had a higher risk for hospitalization (OR = 3.86 [95% CI = 1.29–11.5]; p = 0.015) and fatalities (OR = 3.91 [95% CI = 1.35–11.42]; p = 0.012). In both groups, patients with cardiovascular disease had a higher risk for hospitalization (OR = 5.36 [95% CI = 1.08–26.52]; p = 0.039), whereas patients with diabetes revealed a higher risk for fatalities (OR = 9.47 [95% CI = 3.23–27.01]; p = < 0.001). Conclusions Our study shows that patients infected with Omicron and Delta variants reveal similar clinical outcomes, including hospitalization and mortality. Our findings further confirm that older age, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes are substantial prognostic factors for the outcomes of COVID-19 patients. Our findings imply that COVID-19 patients with older age, cardiovascular disease, or diabetes should be treated comprehensively and cautiously to prevent further morbidity and mortality. Furthermore, incomplete data on vaccination status hampered us from analyzing further its impact on hospitalization and mortality in our patients.

Michael D. Ellis, Netta Gurari, Ninette T. A. Gerritsen et al.

Abstract Muscle tissue is prone to changes in composition and architecture following stroke. Changes in muscle tissue of the extremities are thought to increase resistance to muscle elongation or joint torque under passive conditions. These effects likely compound neuromuscular impairments, exacerbating movement function. Unfortunately, conventional rehabilitation is devoid of precise measures and relies on subjective assessments of passive joint torques. Shear wave ultrasound elastography, a tool to measure muscle mechanical properties, may be readily available for use in the rehabilitation setting as a precise measure, albeit at the muscle‐tissue level. To support this postulation, we evaluated the criterion validity of shear wave ultrasound elastography of the biceps brachii; we investigated its relationship with a laboratory‐based criterion measure for quantifying elbow joint torque in individuals with moderate to severe chronic stroke. Additionally, we evaluated construct validity, with the specific sub‐type of hypothesis testing of known groups, by testing the difference between arms. Measurements were performed under passive conditions at seven positions spanning the arc of elbow joint flexion‐extension in both arms of nine individuals with hemiparetic stroke. Surface electromyography was utilized for threshold‐based confirmation of muscle quiescence. A moderate relationship between the shear wave velocity and elbow joint torque was identified, and both metrics were greater in the paretic arm. Data supports the progression toward a clinical application of shear wave ultrasound elastography in evaluating altered muscle mechanical properties in stroke, while acknowledging that undetectable muscle activation or hypertonicity may contribute to the measurement. Shear wave ultrasound elastography may augment the conventional method of manually testing joint mobility by providing a high‐resolution precise value. Tissue‐level measurement may also assist in identifying new therapeutic targets for patient‐specific impairment‐based interventions.

Panagiotis Mougkogiannis, Andrew Adamatzky

Proteinoids (thermal proteins) are produced by heating amino acids to their melting point and initiation of polymerisation to produce polymeric chains. Amino acid-like molecules, or proteinoids, can condense at high temperatures to create aggregation structures called proteinoid microspheres, which have been reported to exhibit strong electrical oscillations. When the amino acids L-Glutamic acid (L-Glu) and L-Aspartic acid (L-Asp) were combined with electric fields of varying frequencies and intensities, electrical activity resulted. We recorded electrical activity of the proteinoid microspheres' ensembles via a pair of differential electrodes. This is analogous to extracellular recording in physiology or EEG in neuroscience but at micro-level. We discovered that the ensembles produce spikes of electrical potential, an average duration of each spike is 26 min and average amplitude is 1 mV. The spikes are typically grouped in trains of two spikes. The electrical activity of the ensembles can be tuned by external stimulation because ensembles of proteinoid microspheres can generate and propagate electrical activity when exposed to electric fields.

Leo Kozachkov, Jean-Jacques Slotine, Dmitry Krotov

Astrocytes, the most abundant type of glial cell, play a fundamental role in memory. Despite most hippocampal synapses being contacted by an astrocyte, there are no current theories that explain how neurons, synapses, and astrocytes might collectively contribute to memory function. We demonstrate that fundamental aspects of astrocyte morphology and physiology naturally lead to a dynamic, high-capacity associative memory system. The neuron-astrocyte networks generated by our framework are closely related to popular machine learning architectures known as Dense Associative Memories or Modern Hopfield Networks. In their known biological implementations the ratio of stored memories to the number of neurons remains constant, despite the growth of the network size. Our work demonstrates that neuron-astrocyte networks follow superior, supralinear memory scaling laws, outperforming all known biological implementations of Dense Associative Memory. This theoretical link suggests the exciting and previously unnoticed possibility that memories could be stored, at least in part, within astrocytes rather than solely in the synaptic weights between neurons.

Pascal Jansen, Julian Britten, Alexander Häusele et al.

Automotive user interface (AUI) evaluation becomes increasingly complex due to novel interaction modalities, driving automation, heterogeneous data, and dynamic environmental contexts. Immersive analytics may enable efficient explorations of the resulting multilayered interplay between humans, vehicles, and the environment. However, no such tool exists for the automotive domain. With AutoVis, we address this gap by combining a non-immersive desktop with a virtual reality view enabling mixed-immersive analysis of AUIs. We identify design requirements based on an analysis of AUI research and domain expert interviews (N=5). AutoVis supports analyzing passenger behavior, physiology, spatial interaction, and events in a replicated study environment using avatars, trajectories, and heatmaps. We apply context portals and driving-path events as automotive-specific visualizations. To validate AutoVis against real-world analysis tasks, we implemented a prototype, conducted heuristic walkthroughs using authentic data from a case study and public datasets, and leveraged a real vehicle in the analysis process.