Hibernation impact on the catalytic activities of the mitochondrial D-3-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase in liver and brain tissues of jerboa (Jaculus orientalis)

BACKGROUND: Jerboa (Jaculus orientalis) is a deep hibernating rodent native to subdesert highlands. During hibernation, a high level of ketone bodies i.e. acetoacetate (AcAc) and D-3-hydroxybutyrate (BOH) are produced in liver, which are used in brain as energetic fuel. These compounds are bioconverted by mitochondrial D-3-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase (BDH) E.C. 1.1.1.30. Here we report, the function and the expression of BDH in terms of catalytic activities, kinetic parameters, levels of protein and mRNA in both tissues i.e brain and liver, in relation to the hibernating process. RESULTS: We found that: 1/ In euthemic jerboa the specific activity in liver is 2.4- and 6.4- fold higher than in brain, respectively for AcAc reduction and for BOH oxidation. The same differences were found in the hibernation state. 2/ In euthermic jerboa, the Michaelis constants, K(M )BOH and K(M )NAD(+ )are different in liver and in brain while K(M )AcAc, K(M )NADH and the dissociation constants, K(D )NAD(+)and K(D )NADH are similar. 3/ During prehibernating state, as compared to euthermic state, the liver BDH activity is reduced by half, while kinetic constants are strongly increased except K(D )NAD(+). 4/ During hibernating state, BDH activity is significantly enhanced, moreover, kinetic constants (K(M )and K(D)) are strongly modified as compared to the euthermic state; i.e. K(D )NAD(+ )in liver and K(M )AcAc in brain decrease 5 and 3 times respectively, while K(D )NADH in brain strongly increases up to 5.6 fold. 5/ Both protein content and mRNA level of BDH remain unchanged during the cold adaptation process. CONCLUSIONS: These results cumulatively explained and are consistent with the existence of two BDH enzymatic forms in the liver and the brain. The apoenzyme would be subjected to differential conformational folding depending on the hibernation state. This regulation could be a result of either post-translational modifications and/or a modification of the mitochondrial membrane state, taking into account that BDH activity is phospholipid-dependent

Are cash transfers made to women spent like other sources of income?

How cash transfers made to women are used has important implications for models of household behavior and for the design of social programs. In this paper, the authors use the randomized introduction of an unconditional cash transfer to poor women in rural Ecuador to analyze the effect of transfers on the food Engel curve. There are two main findings. First, the authors show that households randomly assigned to receive Bono de Desarrollo Humano (BDH) transfers have a significantly higher food share in expenditures than those that were randomly assigned to the control group. Second, they show that the rising food share among BDH beneficiaries is found among households that have both adult males and females, but not among households that only have adult females. Bargaining power between men and women is likely to be important in mixed-adult households, but not among female-only households, where there are no men to bargain with. Finally, the authors show that within mixed-adult households, program effects are only significant in households in which the initial bargaining capacity of women was likely to be weak. This pattern of results is consistent with an increase in the bargaining power of women in households that received BDH transfers.Rural Poverty Reduction,Small Area Estimation Poverty Mapping,Poverty Lines,Anthropology,Municipal Housing and Land,Services&Transfers to Poor,Poverty Impact Evaluation,Gender and Poverty

Cash transfers, conditions, school enrollment, and child work : evidence from a randomized experiment in Ecuador

The impact of cash transfer programs on the accumulation of human capital is a topic of great policy importance. An attendant question is whether program effects are larger when transfers are"conditioned"on certain behaviors, such as a requirement that households enroll their children in school. This paper uses a randomized study design to analyze the impact of the Bono de Desarrollo Humano (BDH), a cash transfer program, on enrollment and child work among poor children in Ecuador. There are two main results. First, the BDH program had a large, positive impact on school enrollment, about 10 percentage points, and a large, negative impact on child work, about 17 percentage points. Second, the fact that some households believed that there was a school enrollment requirement attached to the transfers, even though such a requirement was never enforced or monitored in Ecuador, helps explain the magnitude of program effects.Small Area Estimation Poverty Mapping,Primary Education,Land and Real Estate Development,Municipal Housing and Land,Real Estate Development

Habitat use and food habitats of a gecko population in a west African suburban area

1.The spatial and trophic ecology of Afrotropical gecko populations are poorly known. Here, we report ecological observations on Brook’s House Gecko (Hemidactylus angulatus), a widespread gekkonid species, in the Rivers State University of Science and Technology campus, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.2. A total of 488 gecko individuals were recorded during the present study, in two surveyed habitat types: (i) plantationm trees (PTH) and (ii) buildings (BDH). In PTH, they were observed in 13 out of 15 species of trees present in the study area, with their (log) frequency of sightings being positively correlated to the (log) frequency of surveyed trees per species.3. The geckos used substantially the non-native ornamental trees of the PTH habitat. Pinus ponderosa and Elaeis guineensis were significantly preferred by geckos over all the other tree species.4. Geckos also used frequently the buildings (BDH habitat) at the university campus. There was no correlation between (log) area of each building and (log) number of observed lizards.5. We collected faeces from 51 gecko individuals in dry season and 66 in wet season. There were no significant dietary differences between seasons, with Diptera and adult Lepidoptera dominating in the diet.6. Dietary habits of geckos differed significantly between habitat types, with Araneae and Lepidoptera (larvae) being eaten much more frequently in BDH, and in Coleoptera and Isopoda that were eaten much more frequently in PTH The diversity dietary metrics (Shannon and Dominance indices) were very similar either between seasons or between habitats.7. Our independent set of analyses (diet diversity metrics; contingency tables on taxonomic dietary composition and rank-abundance diagrams) showed that lizards exhibited a same feeding strategy in both wet and dry seasons as well as in the two habitat types, although the diet composition differed significantly between habitats.8. A “mixed” foraging strategy was apparently used by Hemidactylus angulatus at the study area, as also observed in other gekkonid species from elsewhere

Incidencia del bono de desarrollo humano en el mercado laboral ecuatoriano

This investigation project has the purpose to measure the incidence of "Bono de Desarrollo Humano (BDH)" in the Ecuadorian labor market. The BDH program is a Conditional Transfer whose purpose is to reduce levels of poverty, rise scholarship rates, and improve the quality of life of the most vulnerable people. The majority of these beneficiaries do not have employment, for this reason, the result is a distortion that produce an effect similar to the one seen in an unemployment insurance scenario: people try to extend their unemployment condition in order to not be expel from the program. A probabilistic model of bivariate response was used to know the chances that a person has to stay in the formal/informal labor market, of those who received the BDH from those who don't. The results are significant, and show that the probability to work in a formal labor market is reduced when the person receive the BDH. On the other hand, the results of informal labor market are increased when the person receive the transfer. This happens because the people who work in the informal labor market could stay in the program, since no income is register.Este proyecto de investigación tiene como propósito medir la incidencia del Bono de Desarrollo Humano (BDH) en el mercado laboral ecuatoriano. El BDH es un Programa de Transferencia Condicionada cuya finalidad es reducir los niveles de pobreza, aumentar las tasas de escolaridad y mejorar la calidad de vida de las personas más vulnerables. La mayoría de receptores son personas que se encuentran en situación de desempleo, razón por la cual se genera una distorsión y perciben al bono como un seguro de desempleo y alargan su condición de desocupación para no ser excluidos del programa. Se utilizó un modelo probabilístico de respuesta bivariada para medir la probabilidad que tienen las personas, que reciben el BDH frente aquellas que no lo reciben, de pertenecer al mercado laboral formal e informal. Los resultados hallados muestran significancia e indican que cuando una persona recibe el BDH, la probabilidad de trabajar en el mercado formal disminuye. En cambio, en el caso del mercado informal, para las personas beneficiarias del bono, la probabilidad incrementa. Como ya se dijo, una explicación a esto es que de pertenecer al mercado laboral informal los receptores pueden seguir siendo beneficiarios, cosa que no sucede cuando están en un trabajo formal

In vivo investigation of hyperpolarized [1,3-13C2]acetoacetate as a metabolic probe in normal brain and in glioma.

Dysregulation in NAD+/NADH levels is associated with increased cell division and elevated levels of reactive oxygen species in rapidly proliferating cancer cells. Conversion of the ketone body acetoacetate (AcAc) to β-hydroxybutyrate (β-HB) by the mitochondrial enzyme β-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase (BDH) depends upon NADH availability. The β-HB-to-AcAc ratio is therefore expected to reflect mitochondrial redox. Previous studies reported the potential of hyperpolarized 13C-AcAc to monitor mitochondrial redox in cells, perfused organs and in vivo. However, the ability of hyperpolarized 13C-AcAc to cross the blood brain barrier (BBB) and its potential to monitor brain metabolism remained unknown. Our goal was to assess the value of hyperpolarized [1,3-13C2]AcAc in healthy and tumor-bearing mice in vivo. Following hyperpolarized [1,3-13C2]AcAc injection, production of [1,3-13C2]β-HB was detected in normal and tumor-bearing mice. Significantly higher levels of [1-13C]AcAc and lower [1-13C]β-HB-to-[1-13C]AcAc ratios were observed in tumor-bearing mice. These results were consistent with decreased BDH activity in tumors and associated with increased total cellular NAD+/NADH. Our study confirmed that AcAc crosses the BBB and can be used for monitoring metabolism in the brain. It highlights the potential of AcAc for future clinical translation and its potential utility for monitoring metabolic changes associated with glioma, and other neurological disorders