Search results for "Sense Organs"
showing 10 items of 2168 documents
Ocean acidification affects somatic and otolith growth relationship in fish: Evidence from an in situ study
2019
Ocean acidification (OA) may have varied effects on fish eco-physiological responses. Most OA studies have been carried out in laboratory conditions without considering the in situ p CO 2 /pH variability documented for many marine coastal ecosystems. Using a standard otolith ageing technique, we assessed how in situ ocean acidification (ambient, versus end-of-century CO 2 levels) can affect somatic and otolith growth, and their relationship in a coastal fish. Somatic and otolith growth rates of juveniles of the ocellated wrasse Symphodus ocellatus living off a Mediterranean CO 2 seep increased at the high- p CO 2 site. Also, we detected that slower-growing individuals living at ambient p C…
Offspring reverse transcriptome responses to maternal deprivation when reared with pathogens in an insect with facultative family life
2020
Offspring of species with facultative family life are able to live with and without parents (i.e. to adjust to extreme changes in their social environment). While these adjustments are well understood on a phenotypic level, their genetic underpinnings remain surprisingly understudied. Investigating gene expression changes in response to parental absence may elucidate the genetic constraints driving evolutionary transitions between solitary and family life. Here, we manipulated maternal presence to observe gene expression changes in the fat body of juvenile European earwigs, an insect with facultative family life. Because parents typically protect offspring against pathogens, expression chan…
Mediterranean rocky reefs in the Anthropocene: Present status and future concerns
2021
Abstract Global change is striking harder and faster in the Mediterranean Sea than elsewhere, where high levels of human pressure and proneness to climate change interact in modifying the structure and disrupting regulative mechanisms of marine ecosystems. Rocky reefs are particularly exposed to such environmental changes with ongoing trends of degradation being impressive. Due to the variety of habitat types and associated marine biodiversity, rocky reefs are critical for the functioning of marine ecosystems, and their decline could profoundly affect the provision of essential goods and services which human populations in coastal areas rely upon. Here, we provide an up-to-date overview of …
Plasma membrane sterol complexation, generated by filipin, triggers signaling responses in tobacco cells
2010
International audience; The effects of changes in plasma membrane (PM) sterol lateral organization and availability on the control of signaling pathways have been reported in various animal systems, but rarely assessed in plant cells. In the present study, the pentaene macrolide antibiotic filipin III, commonly used in animal systems as a sterol sequestrating agent, was applied to tobacco cells. We show that filipin can be used at a non-lethal concentration that still allows an homogeneous labeling of the plasma membrane and the formation of filipin-sterol complexes at the ultrastructural level. This filipin concentration triggers a rapid and transient NADPH oxidase-dependent production of …
Size does matter — the eco-evolutionary effects of changing body size in fish
2020
Body size acts as a proxy for many fitness-related traits. Body size is also subject to directional selection from various anthropogenic stressors such as increasing water temperature, decreasing dissolved oxygen, fisheries, as well as natural predators. Changes in individual body size correlate with changes in fecundity, behaviour, and survival and can propagate through populations and ecosystems by truncating age and size structures and changing predator–prey dynamics. In this review, we will explore the causes and consequences of changing body size in fish in the light of recent literature and relevant theories. We will investigate the central role of body size in ecology by first discu…
Experimental study and numerical simulation of inclined rectangular weirs
2018
Inclined rectangular weirs, also named pivot weirs, are used both to adjust the upstream water level and to increase the flow capacity compared with that of normal rectangular weirs. However, the experimental studies available in the literature present contradictory conclusions for the inclined weir discharge capacity. In this paper, new experimental runs and numerical simulations were performed to investigate the effect of the rectangular weir inclination angle on the stage-discharge formula. The experiments were carried out using inclination angles ranging from 30° to 90°. Buckingham's theorem of dimensional analysis was used to obtain an equation for the flow magnification ratio (the dis…
Role of MUC4 in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
2019
Background: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic, progressive and irreversible form of fibrotic intersticial lung disease, characterized by uncontrolled fibroblast proliferative processes and alveolar type II epithelial dysfunction. MUC4, a multi-domain transmembrane glycoprotein, is often overexpressed in epithelial cancers, with consequences for the biological properties, involved in cellular processes related to IPF. However, the role of MUC4 in IPF has not beet studied yet. Objective: To analyze the implication of MUC4 in IPF Methods: Lung tissue from 14 healthy and 14 IPF patients was obtained. MUC4 expression was analyzed by western blot, RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. T…
Genome-wide association meta-analysis highlights light-induced signaling as a driver for refractive error
2018
Skin affections after sulfur mustard (SM) exposure include erythema, blister formation and severe inflammation. An antidote or specific therapy does not exist. Anti-inflammatory compounds as well as substances counteracting SM-induced cell death are under investigation. In this study, we investigated the benzylisoquinoline alkaloide berberine (BER), a metabolite in plants like berberis vulgaris, which is used as herbal pharmaceutical in Asian countries, against SM toxicity using a well-established in vitro approach. Keratinocyte (HaCaT) mono-cultures (MoC) or HaCaT/THP-1 co-cultures (CoC) were challenged with 100, 200 or 300 mM SM for 1 h. Post-exposure, both MoC and CoC were treated with 1…
Secular trends in Dietary Inflammatory Index among adults in the United States, 1999-2014.
2018
Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate secular trends in Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) scores in the United States between 1999 and 2014. Methods: Data from adults over 19 years from the 1999 to 2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (N = 39,191) were used. DII scores, at each 2-year cycle, were evaluated from a 24-h recall, including 26 food parameters for DII calculation. Analyses were conducted in 2018. Results: For the entire sample, there was a quadratic trend (Ptrend < 0.001), with the DII scores peaking in 2003–2004, and then decreasing during the cycles from 2005 to 2014. Similar quadratic trends (Ptrend < 0.001) were observed by age, gender, …
SOX2 expression diminishes with ageing in several tissues in mice and humans.
2017
SOX2 (Sex-determining region Y box 2) is a transcription factor expressed in several foetal and adult tissues and its deregulated activity has been linked to chronic diseases associated with ageing. Nevertheless, the level of SOX2 expression in aged individuals at the tissue level has not previously been examined. In this work, we show that SOX2 expression decreases significantly in the brain with ageing, in both humans and rodents. The administration of resveratrol for 6 months in mice partly attenuated this reduction. We also identified an age-related decline in SOX2 mRNA and protein expression in several other organs, namely, the lung, heart, kidney, spleen and liver. Moreover, periphera…