Search results for "SHR"
showing 10 items of 455 documents
Xenopus Oocyte’s Conductance for Bioactive Compounds Screening and Characterization
2019
Background: Astaxanthin (ATX) is a lipophilic compound found in many marine organisms. Studies have shown that ATX has many strong biological properties, including antioxidant, antiviral, anticancer, cardiovascular, anti-inflammatory, neuro-protective and anti-diabetic activities. However, no research has elucidated the effect of ATX on ionic channels. ATX can be extracted from shrimp by-products. Our work aims to characterize ATX cell targets to lend value to marine by-products. Methods: We used the Xenopus oocytes cell model to characterize the pharmacological target of ATX among endogenous Xenopus oocytes&rsquo
Reducing Mortality of Shrews in Rodent Live Trapping — a Method Increasing Live-Trap Selectivity with Shrew Exits
2013
Shrews have very high metabolic rates and are often unintentionally starved in rodent live-traps during capture-mark-recapture (CMR) studies. Here, we suggest a shrew exit as a modification to rodent traps. To test whether this modification is (1) saving shrews and (2) not jeopardizing results of rodent captures, we compared captures in Ugglan traps with and without shrew exits, studying bank voles (Myodes glareolus) in a spruce forest in central Finland. Numbers of captured bank voles and body size of smallest juvenile bank voles were not affected by the shrew exit, while the number of captured common shrews (Sorex araneus) was reduced from 31 to 0 individuals per 100 trap nights. However,…
Modeling the insect mushroom bodies: application to a delayed match-to-sample task.
2013
Despite their small brains, insects show advanced capabilities in learning and task solving. Flies, honeybees and ants are becoming a reference point in neuroscience and a main source of inspiration for autonomous robot design issues and control algorithms. In particular, honeybees demonstrate to be able to autonomously abstract complex associations and apply them in tasks involving different sensory modalities within the insect brain. Mushroom Bodies (MBs) are worthy of primary attention for understanding memory and learning functions in insects. In fact, even if their main role regards olfactory conditioning, they are involved in many behavioral achievements and learning capabilities, as …
The ASHRAE clear sky model. An evaluation in the Mediterranean Zone
1988
Abstract The ASHRAE clear sky model in the version proposed by G. L. Powell is here applied to a yearly set of data for Palermo with small scale time intervals. The model is shown to yield computed values generally higher than the measured ones. New values for the atmospheric extinction coefficient are derived and proposed for the application to the Mediterranean atmosphere. A successful verification is performed using hourly data of Genoa, a location belonging to the same meteoclimatic area.
Thermal sensation and cell adaptability
2013
Whole person adaptive comfort is discussed with reference to recent findings in molecular scale systems biology. The observations are upscaled to hypotheses relating to less traditional interpretations of thermal processes, which have new implications for indoor climate management and design. Arguments are presented for a revision of current focus, model and paradigm. The issue is seen as a problem of integrating theoretical development, conceptual modeling and as an investigation of the extent to which environments and acclimatization can be used to achieve individual fitness and health, not only at the subjective comfort level, as hitherto promoted. It is argued that there are many questi…
Autocorrelation Metrics to Estimate Soil Moisture Persistence From Satellite Time Series: Application to Semiarid Regions
2021
Satellite-derived soil moisture (SM) products have become an important information source for the study of land surface processes in hydrology and land monitoring. Characterizing and estimating soil memory and persistence from satellite observations is of paramount relevance, and has deep implications in ecology, water management, and climate modeling. In this work, we address the problem of SM persistence estimation from microwave sensors using several autocorrelation metrics that, unlike traditional approaches, build on accurate estimates of the autocorrelation function from nonuniformly sampled time series. We show how the choice of the autocorrelation estimator can have a dramatic impac…
Characterization of automotive shredder residues before and five years after landfill disposal
2015
The paper illustrates the results of an extensive analytical characterization study of automotive shredder residues (ASR), also known as "fluff". The analyses concerned material fractions and their content, with special reference to heavy metals (e.g. Cd, Cr, Hg, Pb, Cu) and arsenic. Elution tests on the original materials were also conducted. Moreover, chemical concentrations of ASR samples after about five years' landfill residence was assessed, in order to verify possible changes resulting from both in-situ leaching and organic matter degradation phenomena. Results show that lead seems to be the most critical element in view of possible ASR acceptance in non-hazardous waste landfills bec…
Proposals for improvement of Annex I of Directive 92/43/ EEC: Central Italy
2021
The main purpose of the 92/43/EEC Habitats Directive is to contribute to the conservation of biodiversity, understood as habitat types and species of the flora and fauna of the European Union. To achieve this goal, natural and semi-natural biodiversity as a whole must be recognized and included in its annexes. As for the conservation of biotopes, named habitat types, Italy is unfortunately lacking as it the Annex I does not include important ecosystems that are typical of its territory, rare for biogeographical reasons or threatened. Therefore, the opportunity to identify a first list of significant habitats for central Italy is discussed here. For each of the new proposed types (new habita…
Metric discrimination and distribution of the species of Crocidura occuring in Tunisia
1992
A recent paper on the occurrence of the genus Crocidura in Tunisia reports a single specimen identified as C. suaveolens. Therefore a third species, besides C. russula and C. whitakeri would occur in the country. However, the presence of C. suaveolens in North-Africa is controversial and was recently ruled out from the other Maghrebi countries (Algieria and Morocco). During the period 1989-90, 71 specimens of shrews were collected from owls pellets or trapped at Tunisian 12 sites. This material was measured and studied both by classic morphometric and multivariate methods (Fuzzy test, Principal Coordinate Analysis and Generalized Procrustes Analysis), considering also reference samples (C. …
Bibliometric analysis of European publications between 2001 and 2016 on concentrations of selected elements in mushrooms.
2020
This article presents a bibliometric study of 200 European publications released between 2001 and 2016, about the contamination of mushrooms by selected elements. The analysis includes figures on the type of analyte, its concentration, the species of fungi, and its country of origin. In the literature review, 492 species of mushrooms (wild-growing and cultured) found in 26 European countries and their concentration of 74 associated elements were analysed. The papers, which dealt mainly with the heavy metal (Cd, Cu, Fe, Pb, and Zn) concentrations of mushrooms, primarily came from Turkey, Poland, Spain, and the Czech Republic. More than 50% of the publications provided data about edible mushr…