Search results for "spring"

Genomic conflicts and sexual antagonism in human health: Insights from oxytocin and testosterone

2015

We review the hypothesized and observed effects of two of the major forms of genomic conflicts, genomic imprinting and sexual antagonism, on human health. We focus on phenotypes mediated by peptide and steroid hormones (especially oxytocin and testosterone) because such hormones centrally mediate patterns of physical and behavioral resource allocation that underlie both forms of conflict. In early development, a suite of imprinted genes modulates the human oxytocinergic system as predicted from theory, with paternally inherited gene expression associated with higher oxytocin production, and increased solicitation to mothers by infants. This system is predicted to impact health through the i…

Vanessa Springora: Suostumus

2021

Kirja-arvostelu teoksesta Vanessa Springora, Suostumus (“Le Consentement”, 2020). suom. Lotta Toivanen, WSOY, 2021. nonPeerReviewed

Pre-conceptional and Peri-Gestational Maternal Binge Alcohol Drinking Produces Inheritance of Mood Disturbances and Alcohol Vulnerability in the Adol…

2018

Although binge drinking is on the rise in women of reproductive age and during pregnancy, the consequences in the offspring, in particular the inheritance of alcohol-related mood disturbances and alcohol abuse vulnerability, are still poorly investigated. In this study, we modeled both Habitual- and Binge Alcohol Drinking (HAD and BAD) in female rats by employing a two-bottle choice paradigm, with 20% alcohol and water. The exposure started 12 weeks before pregnancy and continued during gestation and lactation. The consequences induced by the two alcohol drinking patterns in female rats were assessed before conception in terms of behavioral reactivity, anxiety- and depressive-like behavior.…

Symbiotic status alters fungal eco‐evolutionary offspring trajectories

2023

Despite host-fungal symbiotic interactions being ubiquitous in all ecosystems, understanding how symbiosis has shaped the ecology and evolution of fungal spores that are involved in dispersal and colonization of their hosts has been ignored in life-history studies. We assembled a spore morphology database covering over 26,000 species of free-living to symbiotic fungi of plants, insects and humans and found more than eight orders of variation in spore size. Evolutionary transitions in symbiotic status correlated with shifts in spore size, but the strength of this effect varied widely among phyla. Symbiotic status explained more variation than climatic variables in the current distribution of…

Utilization of limnocrenic karst springs in south-western Poland in balneotherapy and spa healthcare

2015

Polska należy do krajów bogatych w wodę i ten zasób może być z powodzeniem stosowany w celach leczniczych, jak również w przemyśle spożywczym, chemicznym i grzewczym. Do obszarów o dużym znaczeniu perspektywicznym posiada, m.in. Śląsk Opolski w południowo-zachodniej Polsce, należący częściowo do prowincji Sudetów, która biegnie wzdłuż południowych granic Polski, Czech i Niemiec. Do tej pory obszar ten był znany z wysoko zmineralizowanych kwaśnych wód termalnych z Grabina koło Grodkowa, które są planowane do wykorzystania dla celów leczniczych w lecznictwie uzdrowiskowym. Podczas badań hydrologicznych prowadzonych na Śląsku Opolskim w latach 2010–2015, stwierdzono obecność nieznanych, średni…

Island selection on mammalian life-histories: genetic differentiation in offspring size

2008

BACKGROUND: Since Darwin's pioneering work, evolutionary changes in isolated island populations of vertebrates have continued to provide the strongest evidence for the theory of natural selection. Besides macro-evolutionary changes, micro-evolutionary changes and the relative importance of natural selection vs. genetic drift are under intense investigation. Our study focuses on the genetic differentiation in morphological and life-history traits in insular populations of a small mammal the bank vole Myodes glareolus. RESULTS: Our results do not support the earlier findings for larger adult size or lower reproductive effort in insular populations of small mammals. However, the individuals li…

Workin' On a Dream: the American Dream in the lyrics of Bruce Springsteen, 1995-2009

2009

Random vibration mitigation of beams via tuned mass dampers with spring inertia effects

2019

The dynamics of beams equipped with tuned mass dampers is of considerable interest in engineering applications. Here, the purpose is to introduce a comprehensive framework to address the stochastic response of the system under stationary and non-stationary loads, considering inertia effects along the spring of every tuned mass damper applied to the beam. For this, the key step is to show that a tuned mass damper with spring inertia effects can be reverted to an equivalent external support, whose reaction force on the beam depends only on the deflection of the attachment point. On this basis, a generalized function approach provides closed analytical expressions for frequency and impulse res…

Data from: Aging parasites produce offspring with poor fitness prospects

2017

Senescing individuals have poor survival prospects and low fecundity. They can also produce offspring with reduced survival and reproductive success. We tested the effect of parental age on the performance of descendants in the nematode Heligmosomoides polygyrus, an intestinal parasite of rodents. We found that offspring of senescing worms had reduced within-host survival and reduced egg shedding over the first month post-infection compared with offspring produced by young parents. These results suggest that declining offspring quality is a component of senescence in parasitic nematodes and might have evolutionary consequences for the optimal schedule of age-dependent investment into reprod…

Automatic detection of lung nodules in CT datasets based on stable 3D mass–spring models

2012

We propose a computer-aided detection (CAD) system which can detect small-sized (from 3 mm) pulmonary nodules in spiral CT scans. A pulmonary nodule is a small lesion in the lungs, round-shaped (parenchymal nodule) or worm-shaped (juxtapleural nodule). Both kinds of lesions have a radio-density greater than lung parenchyma, thus appearing white on the images. Lung nodules might indicate a lung cancer and their early stage detection arguably improves the patient survival rate. CT is considered to be the most accurate imaging modality for nodule detection. However, the large amount of data per examination makes the full analysis difficult, leading to omission of nodules by the radiologist. We…