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showing 10 items of 9939 documents
Paracrine in vivo inhibitory effects of adipose tissue–derived mesenchymal stromal cells in the early stages of the acute inflammatory response
2015
Abstract Background aims Excessive or unresolved inflammation leads to tissue lesions. Adipose tissue–derived mesenchymal stromal cells (AMSCs) have shown protective effects that may be dependent on the modulation of inflammation by secreted factors. Methods We used the zymosan-induced mouse air pouch model at two time points (4 h and 18 h) to evaluate the in vivo effects of AMSCs and their conditioned medium (CM) on key steps of the early inflammatory response. We assessed the effects of AMSCs and CM on leukocyte migration and myeloperoxidase activity. The levels of chemokines, cytokines and eicosanoids in exudates were measured by use of enzyme-linked immunoassay or radio-immunoassay. In …
Gene activity of polytene chromosomes in Drosophila species of the obscura group.
1988
The polytene chromosome puffing patterns of Drosophila guanche were established and compared with those of Drosophila subobscura. A total of 150 loci, active in some of the 17 developmental stages studied, were described and 23 of them were found to form the characteristic puffing pattern of D. guanche. Taking into account the number of puffs as well as the gene activity of each chromosome and the total gene activity, D. guanche seems to be less active than D. subobscura. Although both species show a degree of homology in their puffing patterns lower than that found for sibling species, the degree of homology is stronger than that between species belonging to the same group but to different…
Social impacts of biodiversity offsetting: A review
2022
Biodiversity offsetting is the widely studied last step of the mitigation hierarchy. Despite numerous studies and the methodological development completed for biodiversity calculations, the human aspect remains unsolved. Biodiversity conservation is typically governed at national or state levels, but the harm caused to biodiversity as well as people occurs locally. In biodiversity offsetting, biodiversity values can be relocated far from the original area, but relocating the values people hold regarding their nearby nature may not be possible. Acknowledging the local people's hopes and values may further complicate biodiversity offsetting, therefore it emphasises even more the need to avoid…
Evaluation of carbamazepine uptake and metabolization by Typha spp., a plant with potential use in phytotreatment
2011
Abstract Phytoremediation technologies such as constructed wetlands have shown higher efficiencies in removal of pharmaceuticals from wastewaters than conventional wastewater treatment processes, and plants seem to have an important role in the removal of some of those compounds. In this context, a study was conducted to assess tolerance, uptake, and metabolism of the epilepsy drug, carbamazepine, by the macrophyte Typha spp. This evaluation was conducted in hydroponic solutions with 0.5–2.0 mg/L of this pharmaceutical for a maximum period of 21 days. The removal of carbamazepine from nutrient solutions by the plants reached values of 82% of the initial contents. Furthermore, a metabolite (…
Co-Development of Educational Aspirations and Academic Burnout from Adolescence to Adulthood in Finland
2017
The study followed 871 participants from age 17 to 25. Resources were related to lower cynical attitude towards studying and feelings of inadequacy, whereas demands were related to all three components of academic burnout. Family resources predicted higher educational aspirations. Co-development between educational aspirations and academic burnout showed that among those on the vocational track, the more exhaustion they felt, the higher their aspirations, which again increased their exhaustion. Among those on the academic track, the less cynicism they felt, the higher their aspirations which again decreased their cynicism. High aspirations positively and cynicism negatively predicted educat…
Quantifying the Indicator Power of an Indicator Species
2009
Biodiversity indicator species are needed for classifying biotopes and sites for conservation, and a number of methods have been developed for determining indicator species for this purpose. Nevertheless, in addition to site classification, there is sometimes a need to define an indicator species that indicates the occurrence of another species. For example, when a species of interest (target species) is difficult to detect or identify, a reliable indicator species can function as a tool that saves time and money. We derived a method that provides a quantitative measure of the indicator power (IP) of an indicator species for the target species or any species assemblage. We calculated the me…
How and why does willow biochar increase a clay soil water retention capacity?
2018
Addition of biochar into a soil changes its water retention properties by modifying soil textural and structural properties. In addition, internal micrometer-scale porosity that is able to directly store readily plant available water affects soil water retention properties. This study shows how precise knowledge of the internal micrometer-scale pore size distribution of biochar can deepen the understanding of the biochar-water interactions in soils. The micrometer-scale porosity of willow biochar was quantitatively and qualitatively characterized using X-ray tomography, 3D image analysis and Helium ion microscopy. The effect of biochar application on clay soil water retention was studied by…
Response to reindeer grazing removal depends on soil characteristics in low Arctic meadows
2014
In Arctic tundra, grazing is expected to exert a positive influence on microbial activity thus enhancing nutrient cycling and promoting the presence of high productive graminoids. We investigated the changes occurring in two low Arctic meadow sites after 10 years exclusion from grazing. We compared plant, soil fauna and microbial community composition, extracellular enzymes activities, and soil nutrients in ungrazed and adjacent grazed area in two low Arctic meadows. The two closely located experimental sites were both dominated by the common grass Deschampsia flexuosa which covered more than 50% of the meadows. Plant community was affected significantly by site and grazing, but the effect …
Policies of Refugee Settlement and Integration in Europe: the Cases of Portugal and Finland
2019
Abstract Though geographically distant from each other, Portugal and Finland present an interesting comparison concerning the policies and devices of asylum. Both provide an informed and critical appraisal of the current international response to the refugee issue, especially considering the European Union. The Finnish situation evidences a long-standing integrated resettlement frame, associated with the inclusive and pluralistic character of Nordic immigration policies, in spite of the growing threat of regression under the emergent xenophobic pressure. Unlike Portugal, where a finely-tuned response system is still lacking in spite of the existence of an assumed political will and commitme…
On Ekeland's variational principle in partial metric spaces
2015
In this paper, lower semi-continuous functions are used to extend Ekeland's variational principle to the class of parti al metric spaces. As consequences of our results, we obtain some fixed p oint theorems of Caristi and Clarke types.