Search results for "ALPHA"
showing 10 items of 3228 documents
Stress Levels in Handball Coaching-Case Study: Preliminary Analysis of the Differences between Training and Match.
2022
Stress plays a significant role in competitions and in the training of sports participants, and coaches are no exception. To better cope with stressful situations, close monitoring of coaches’ stress levels before, during, and after training and competitions is recommended. According to studies, the use of cortisol (C) and alpha-amylase (AA) as biomarkers for monitoring acute stress is recommended. Therefore, the aim of our study was to compare HR, salivary C and AA, and STAI scores before, during, and after handball matches and training sessions. The study examined one professional handball coach, aged 37, in stress markers (salivary cortisol (C) and alpha-amylase (AA) concentrations…
First Accurate Normalization of the β-delayed α Decay of ^{16}N and Implications for the ^{12}C(α,γ)^{16}O Astrophysical Reaction Rate.
2018
The ^{12}C(α,γ)^{16}O reaction plays a central role in astrophysics, but its cross section at energies relevant for astrophysical applications is only poorly constrained by laboratory data. The reduced α width, γ_{11}, of the bound 1^{-} level in ^{16}O is particularly important to determine the cross section. The magnitude of γ_{11} is determined via sub-Coulomb α-transfer reactions or the β-delayed α decay of ^{16}N, but the latter approach is presently hampered by the lack of sufficiently precise data on the β-decay branching ratios. Here we report improved branching ratios for the bound 1^{-} level [b_{β,11}=(5.02±0.10)×10^{-2}] and for β-delayed α emission [b_{βα}=(1.59±0.06)×10^{-5}].…
Fixed point theorems for α-set-valued quasi-contractions in b-metric spaces
2015
Recently, Samet et al. [B. Samet, C. Vetro and P. Vetro, Fixed point theorems for alpha-psi-contractive type mappings, Nonlinear Anal., 75 (2012), 2154-2165] introduced the notion of alpha-psi-contractive mappings and established some fixed point results in the setting of complete metric spaces. In this paper, we introduce the notions of alpha-set-valued contraction and alpha-set-valued quasi-contraction and we give some fixed point theorems for such classes of mappings in the setting of b-metric spaces and ordered b-metric spaces. The presented theorems extend, unify and generalize several well-known comparable results in the existing literature.
Assessing the Impact of Road and Land Use on Species Diversity of Trees, Shrubs, Herbs and Grasses in the Mountain Landscape in Southern Africa
2022
Mountain landscape, described as a global biodiversity hotspot due to high endemism, is threatened by land-use change, including management and modification of vegetation. However, there is little knowledge about how road and land use affect plant diversity in mountains landscapes, particularly in southern Africa. Previous studies have studied the impact of the road or land use on plant species diversity separately and have concentrated on a single plant species. Here we compare the plant diversity of regenerated trees, shrubs, herbaceous plant, and grasses among Forest, Fallow, Agriculture, and Road in the Moribane Forest Reserve (MFR), in Eastern Chimanimani Mountain landscape in Mozambiq…
An impaired alveolar-capillary barrier in vitro : effect of proinflammatory cytokines and consequences on nanocarrier interaction.
2009
The alveolar region of the lung is an important target for drug and gene delivery approaches. Treatment with drugs is often necessary under pathophysiological conditions, in which there is acute inflammation of the target organ. Therefore, in vitro models of the alveolar-capillary barrier, which mimic inflammatory conditions in the alveolar region, would be useful to analyse and predict effects of novel drugs on healthy or inflamed tissues. The epithelial cell line H441 was cultivated with primary isolated human pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (HPMECs) or the endothelial cell line ISO-HAS-1 on opposite sides of a permeable filter support under physiological and inflammatory condi…
Relationship between HLA I surface expression and different cytopathic effects produced after herpes simplex virus infection in vitro.
1992
In the present study, we investigated the effects of herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection on the expression of HLA class I antigens and beta 2-microglobulin in human fibroblasts. The mRNA abundance for HLA class I was shown to be strongly reduced after infection with HSV strains either producing cell rounding or fusion from within (FFWI), however, HLA class I expression on the surface of cells is strongly reduced only after appearance of FFWI. Using a ts mutant (ts 78R) or CyA in combination with a fusion from without (FFWO) inducing strain of HSV, this loss of HLA class I antigens is assumed to be correlated to the rearrangement of the cell membrane during the fusion process itself as a la…
Alpha-secretase activation--an approach to Alzheimer's disease therapy.
2006
The nonamyloidogenic pathway of processing the amyloid precursor protein (APP) involves the cleavage within the amyloid-beta peptide sequence, and thus precludes amyloid-beta formation. The identification of a member of the disintegrin and metalloproteinase family, ADAM10, as an alpha-secretase that prevents plaque formation and hippocampal deficits in vivo gave us the possibility to examine the alpha-secretase as a potential target for the therapy of Alzheimer's disease. Within the priority program Cellular Mechanisms of Alzheimer's Disease, we investigated several approaches to stimulate the alpha-secretase pathway. Two protein convertases were found to be responsible for the removal of t…
The Role of the anti-amyloidogenic secretase ADAM10 in shedding the APP-like proteins.
2011
ADAM10 (A disintegrin and metalloproteinase 10) has been demonstrated as an enzyme with protective properties in Alzheimer's disease: in mouse models it not only lowered generation of toxic A-beta peptides and formation of senile plaques but also alleviated learning deficits and enhanced synaptic density. This is due to cleavage of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) within its A-beta stretch and to the release of the extracellular domain of APP with neuroprotective function. Aside from cleaving APP, ADAM10 has been linked to over 40 putative substrates at least in cell culture. These substrates are connected with important cellular functions such as cell migration, stress response and tran…
Role of Reduced Lipoic Acid in the Redox Regulation of Mitochondrial Aldehyde Dehydrogenase (ALDH-2) Activity
2007
Chronic therapy with nitroglycerin results in a rapid development of nitrate tolerance, which is associated with an increased production of reactive oxygen species. We have recently shown that mitochondria are an important source of nitroglycerin-induced oxidants and that the nitroglycerin-bioactivating mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase is oxidatively inactivated in the setting of tolerance. Here we investigated the effect of various oxidants on aldehyde dehydrogenase activity and its restoration by dihydrolipoic acid. In vivo tolerance in Wistar rats was induced by infusion of nitroglycerin (6.6 microg/kg/min, 4 days). Vascular reactivity was measured by isometric tension studies of iso…
The Non-Amyloidogenic Pathway: Structure and Function of α-Secretases
2006
The amyloid cascade hypothesis is the most accepted explanation for the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). APP is the precursor of the amyloid β peptide (Aβ), the principal proteinaceous component of amyloid plaques in brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients. Proteolytic cleavage of APP by the α-secretase within the Aβ sequence precludes formation of amyloidogenic peptides and leads to a release of soluble APPsα which has neuroprotective properties. In several studies, a decreased amount of APPsα in the cerebrospinal fluid of AD patients has been observed. Three members of the ADAM family (a disintegrin and metalloproteinase) ADAM-10, ADAM-17 (TACE) and ADAM-9 have been proposed as α-…