Influence of Solar Activity on the Ecological Processes of the Naturally-Protected Territories of Westrn Polesie: Problem or Hypothesis?

Наведено результати експериментальних досліджень та аналізу деяких проявів сонячної активності та геоефективної реакції на них низки біотичних та абіотичних компонентів біогеосистеми природно-заповідних територій Західного Полісся, виконаних з використанням сучасних інструментальних засобів (декаметровий радіотелескоп УРАН-3, транскордонна мережа моніторингу ґрунтів, цифрова метеостанція тощо) та наземних спостережень змін стану цих компонентів. Розглянуто вплив довготривалих циклічних геліопроцесів на екологічні процеси і вплив спорадичних короткотривалих компонентів сонячної активності, які обумовлюють геомагнітні збурення та збурення природного атмосферного інфразвуку в біогеосистемі. Results of experimental researches and analysis of some solar eruptive events and geo-efficient reaction on them of row of biotic and abiotic components of the West Polesie naturally-protected territories biogeosystem executed with the use of modern tools (decameter radio-telescope URAN-3, transboundary network of soils monitoring, digital weather-station and others like that) and ground-based supervisions of changes of these components state, have been presented. Influence on the ecological processes of the long-term cyclic helio-processes and influence of the short-term sporadic solar eruptive events, which cause the geomagnetic and infrasound activity in the biogeosystem, are consideredРоботу виконано у Фізико-механічному інституті ім. Г. В. Карпенка НАН України та Львівському центрі Інституту космічних досліджень НАН України та НКА Україн

Correlation analysis of electroneuromyographic, functional-anatomical and morphometric indicators of regeneration of the injured sciatic nerve

Objective. To study the electrophysiological, functional-anatomical and morphometric indicators of the sciatic nerve regeneration after complete transection and connection of the nerve stumps with epineural sutures and adhesives. Materials and methods. The experiments were carried out on white outbred male rats. The efficiency of sciatic nerve regeneration was investigated with the standard 4-6 epineural sutures and the use of polyethylene glycol hydrogel Duraseal or Tisseel fibrin glue with 2 fixation sutures. On the 14th, 30th and 60th days after the complete transection of the sciatic nerve and subsequent connection of the nerve stumps with epineural sutures, hydrogel or fibrin glue, limb function was assessed using SFI test and ENMG. The distal segment of the nerve was sampled for electron microscopic and morphometric studies. The density of the regenerated myelinated nerve fibers was studied and a correlation analysis was performed with the results of SFI test and ENMG. Results. The use of adhesives provides a similar result of connecting the transected sciatic nerve, as in standard neurorrhaphy, and regeneration of myelinated nerve fibers in the distal nerve. The regeneration density of myelinated nerve fibers significantly increased on the 30 th and 60th days in the groups in which Duraseal hydrogel and Tisseel fibrin glue were used, without a statistically significant difference in ENMG parameters (M-response amplitude, nerve conduction velocity, latency period) and the result of SFI test. The amplitude of M-response on the 30th day was statistically significantly lower after the connection of nerve stumps with Tisseel fibrin glue in comparison with the Duraseal hydrogel, whereas on the 60th day there was no difference according to the results of electrophysiological studies. Conclusions. The efficiency of sciatic nerve regeneration after the combined connection exceeds the standard technique, and the results of pathophysiological assessments are more often correlated with morphometry data on the 30th day

High-throughput microfluidic single-cell RT-qPCR

A long-sought milestone in microfluidics research has been the development of integrated technology for scalable analysis of transcription in single cells. Here we present a fully integrated microfluidic device capable of performing high-precision RT-qPCR measurements of gene expression from hundreds of single cells per run. Our device executes all steps of single-cell processing, including cell capture, cell lysis, reverse transcription, and quantitative PCR. In addition to higher throughput and reduced cost, we show that nanoliter volume processing reduced measurement noise, increased sensitivity, and provided single nucleotide specificity. We apply this technology to 3,300 single-cell measurements of (i) miRNA expression in K562 cells, (ii) coregulation of a miRNA and one of its target transcripts during differentiation in embryonic stem cells, and (iii) single nucleotide variant detection in primary lobular breast cancer cells. The core functionality established here provides the foundation from which a variety of on-chip single-cell transcription analyses will be developed

Role of Carnitine Acetyltransferases in Acetyl Coenzyme A Metabolism in Aspergillus nidulans ▿

The flow of carbon metabolites between cellular compartments is an essential feature of fungal metabolism. During growth on ethanol, acetate, or fatty acids, acetyl units must enter the mitochondrion for metabolism via the tricarboxylic acid cycle, and acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) in the cytoplasm is essential for the biosynthetic reactions and for protein acetylation. Acetyl-CoA is produced in the cytoplasm by acetyl-CoA synthetase during growth on acetate and ethanol while β-oxidation of fatty acids generates acetyl-CoA in peroxisomes. The acetyl-carnitine shuttle in which acetyl-CoA is reversibly converted to acetyl-carnitine by carnitine acetyltransferase (CAT) enzymes is important for intracellular transport of acetyl units. In the filamentous ascomycete Aspergillus nidulans, a cytoplasmic CAT, encoded by facC, is essential for growth on sources of cytoplasmic acetyl-CoA while a second CAT, encoded by the acuJ gene, is essential for growth on fatty acids as well as acetate. We have shown that AcuJ contains an N-terminal mitochondrial targeting sequence and a C-terminal peroxisomal targeting sequence (PTS) and is localized to both peroxisomes and mitochondria, independent of the carbon source. Mislocalization of AcuJ to the cytoplasm does not result in loss of growth on acetate but prevents growth on fatty acids. Therefore, while mitochondrial AcuJ is essential for the transfer of acetyl units to mitochondria, peroxisomal localization is required only for transfer from peroxisomes to mitochondria. Peroxisomal AcuJ was not required for the import of acetyl-CoA into peroxisomes for conversion to malate by malate synthase (MLS), and export of acetyl-CoA from peroxisomes to the cytoplasm was found to be independent of FacC when MLS was mislocalized to the cytoplasm