Search results for "phylogenetic"
showing 10 items of 1179 documents
Altered cellular calcium responsiveness to insulin in normal and hypertensive pregnancy.
1996
Objective To investigate the glucose-independent calcium-related effects of insulin from subjects with normal and hypertensive pregnancies. Method We used lndo-l fluorescence spectroscopy to measure cytosolic free calcium levels (Cai) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBM) from 17 women (aged 20-40 years), six nonpregnant controls (NPC), five pregnant normotensive (PNT) women and six pregnant hypertensive (PHT) women, before and 5, 30, 60, 120 and 180 min after in vitro incubation with 200 microU/ml insulin. Results Basal Cai levels were significantly higher in PHT women (175.2 +/- 18.8 nmol/l) than they were in NPC women (122.8 +/- 2.8 nmol/l) and PNT women (123.9 +/- 3.5 nmol/l). The…
Serum basal hormone concentrations and muscle mass in aging women: Effects of strength training and diet
2006
This study examined the effects of strength training and diet on serum basal hormone concentrations and muscle mass in aging women. Fifty-one women age 49 to 74 y were divided into two groups: strength training and nutritional counseling (n = 25), and strength training (n = 26). Both groups performed strength training twice a week for 21 wk. Nutritional counseling was given to attain sufficient energy and protein intake and recommended intake of fat and fiber. We found that the cross-sectional area of the quadriceps femoris increased by 9.5 ± 4.1% in the nutritional counseling group versus 6.8 ± 3.5% in the strength training only group after training (P < 0.052). Nutritional counseling e…
A low cortisol response to acute stress is related to worse basal memory performance in older people
2014
Age-related memory decline has been associated with a faulty regulation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA-axis). The aim of this study was to investigate whether the magnitude of the stress-induced cortisol increase is related to memory performance when memory is measured in non-stressful conditions. To do so, declarative and working memory performance were measured in 31 men and 35 women between 55 and 77 years of age. On a different day, the magnitude of their cortisol response to acute psychosocial stress was measured. The relationship between the cortisol response and memory performance was U shaped: a low cortisol response to stress was related to poorer declarative and w…
Platelet Reactivity in Hemophilia a. Flow Cytometry Study to Detect the Hemorragic Phenotype
2016
Abstract INTRODUCTION Hemophilia A (HA) is a rare inherited genetic disorder linked to the X chromosome, characterized by joint bleeding in patients with severe disease with <1% of factor VIII (FVIII)(White et al. Thromb Haemost 2001). However, there are cases of severe HA with less bleeding than usual and it has been postulated that there must be other contributors to the hemorrhagic phenotype, including a platelet dysfunction (Van Bladel et al. Haematologica 2011). In this study we analyzed platelet reactivity in a cohort of 16 male patients with severe HA in prophylactic treatment by flow cytometry. The control group was 15 healthy male subjects. METHODS A longitudinal prospective obs…
Mycotoxin Profile and Phylogeny of Pathogenic Alternaria Species Isolated from Symptomatic Tomato Plants in Lebanon
2021
The tomato is one of the most consumed agri-food products in Lebanon. Several fungal pathogens, including Alternaria species, can infect tomato plants during the whole growing cycle. Alternaria infections cause severe production and economic losses in field and during storage. In addition, Alternaria species represent a serious toxicological risk since they are able to produce a wide range of mycotoxins, associated with different toxic activities on human and animal health. Several Alternaria species were detected on tomatoes, among which the most important are A. solani, A. alternata, and A. arborescens. A set of 49 Alternaria strains isolated from leaves and stems of diseased tomato plant…
Disentangling Sources of Gene Tree Discordance in Phylogenomic Data Sets: Testing Ancient Hybridizations in Amaranthaceae s.l.
2019
AbstractGene tree discordance in large genomic data sets can be caused by evolutionary processes such as incomplete lineage sorting and hybridization, as well as model violation, and errors in data processing, orthology inference, and gene tree estimation. Species tree methods that identify and accommodate all sources of conflict are not available, but a combination of multiple approaches can help tease apart alternative sources of conflict. Here, using a phylotranscriptomic analysis in combination with reference genomes, we test a hypothesis of ancient hybridization events within the plant family Amaranthaceae s.l. that was previously supported by morphological, ecological, and Sanger-base…
Fuciniceras paradoxus nov. sp. (Harpoceratinae, Ammonitina) du Domérien portugais. Réflexion sur le sens taxonomique d’un assemblage paradoxal de car…
2002
A new ammonite (Fuciniceras paradoxus) is described here. This Lower Domerian species is based on a recently revised collections which came from the Maria Pares section (Rabacal area, South of Coimbra, Portugal). Curiously, shell of F. paradoxus bears both diagnostic traits for the genus Protogrammoceras SPATH (e.g. acute ogival ventral area) and Fuciniceras HAAS (e.g. angulirursiradiate rib). Thus, the new species can be viewed as a morphological puzzle and as a challenge for taxonomists. The amazing collection of morphological traits previously suspected as highly improbable because of biomechanical constraints (1) confirms the inadequacy of the traditional use of the genera Protogrammoce…
The Jurassic ammonite Coelocerus: an atypical example of dimorphic progenesis elucidated by cladistics
1994
Instances of convergence or parallelism among unrelated Lower Carixian ammonites are not uncommon. The case of polymorphitid-like ammonites is considered here, and the example of Coeloceras is investigated in detail. The small sexual dimorph (microconch) of Coeloceras pettos (Quensitedt) (Coeloceratidae), a progenetic species, provides a remarkable example of complex convergence with the microconch of Uptonia (Polymorphitidae). Homeomorphic morphology is here an amalgam of juvenile traits, of maturation-related transformations, and of completely new features bearing no obvious relation with either progenesis or maturation. A stratophenetic approach is hardly adequate for unravelling such an…
Evolutionary History and Functional Characterization of the Amphibian Xenosensor CAR
2011
AbstractThe xenosensing constitutive androstane receptor (CAR) is widely considered to have arisen in early mammals via duplication of the pregnane X receptor (PXR). We report that CAR emerged together with PXR and the vitamin D receptor from an ancestral NR1I gene already in early vertebrates, as a result of whole-genome duplications. CAR genes were subsequently lost from the fish lineage, but they are conserved in all taxa of land vertebrates. This contrasts with PXR, which is found in most fish species, whereas it is lost from Sauropsida (reptiles and birds) and plays a role unrelated to xenosensing in Xenopus. This role is fulfilled in Xenopus by CAR, which exhibits low basal activity a…
Transcriptome data reveal syndermatan relationships and suggest the evolution of endoparasitism in acanthocephala via an epizoic stage
2014
The taxon Syndermata comprises the biologically interesting wheel animals ("Rotifera": Bdelloidea + Monogononta + Seisonidea) and thorny-headed worms (Acanthocephala), and is central for testing superordinate phylogenetic hypotheses (Platyzoa, Gnathifera) in the metazoan tree of life. Recent analyses of syndermatan phylogeny suggested paraphyly of Eurotatoria (free-living bdelloids and monogononts) with respect to endoparasitic acanthocephalans. Data of epizoic seisonids, however, were absent, which may have affected the branching order within the syndermatan clade. Moreover, the position of Seisonidea within Syndermata should help in understanding the evolution of acanthocephalan endoparas…