TGF-β1 expression by glioma C6 cells in vitro

The aim of the work was to study the impact of fetal rat brain cell supernatant (FRBCS) on the expression of transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) and p53 in C6 cells of rat glioma in vitro. Materials and Methods: FRBCS was obtained from suspensions of fetal rat brain cells on the 14th (E14) day of gestation. C6 glioma cells were cultured for 48 h in the presence of FRBCS or FRBCS + anti-TGF-β1 monoclonal antibody. Immunocytochemical staining for TGF-β1 and p53 was performed. Results: The proportion of TGF-β1-immunopositive tumor cells in C6 glioma cultures was statistically significantly higher than in the control cell cultures of normal fetal rat brain. FRBCS reduced the proportion of TGF-β1-immunopositive tumor cells and increased the proportion of p53-immunopositive cells in C6 glioma cultures. In cells cultured with FRBCS + anti-TGF-β1 monoclonal antibody, the above effects of FRBCS were abrogated. Conclusion: The obtained results suggest that TGF-β1 seems to be responsible for decrease in TGF-β1 expression and increase in p53 expression in C6 glioma cells treated with FRBCS

Summer temperature increase has distinct effects on the ectomycorrhizal fungal communities of moist tussock and dry tundra in Arctic Alaska

Arctic regions are experiencing the greatest rates of climate warming on the planet and marked changes have already been observed in terrestrial arctic ecosystems. While most studies have focused on the effects of warming on arctic vegetation and nutrient cycling, little is known about how belowground communities, such as fungi root‐associated, respond to warming. Here, we investigate how long‐term summer warming affects ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungal communities. We used Ion Torrent sequencing of the rDNA internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) region to compare ECM fungal communities in plots with and without long‐term experimental warming in both dry and moist tussock tundra. Cortinarius was the most OTU‐rich genus in the moist tundra, while the most diverse genus in the dry tundra was Tomentella. On the diversity level, in the moist tundra we found significant differences in community composition, and a sharp decrease in the richness of ECM fungi due to warming. On the functional level, our results indicate that warming induces shifts in the extramatrical properties of the communities, where the species with medium‐distance exploration type seem to be favored with potential implications for the mobilization of different nutrient pools in the soil. In the dry tundra, neither community richness nor community composition was significantly altered by warming, similar to what had been observed in ECM host plants. There was, however, a marginally significant increase in OTUs identified as ECM fungi with the medium‐distance exploration type in the warmed plots. Linking our findings of decreasing richness with previous results of increasing ECM fungal biomass suggests that certain ECM species are favored by warming and may become more abundant, while many other species may go locally extinct due to direct or indirect effects of warming. Such compositional shifts in the community might affect nutrient cycling and soil organic C storage.Plant science

Long-term experimental warming alters community composition of ascomycetes in Alaskan moist and dry arctic tundra

Arctic tundra regions have been responding to global warming with visible changes in plant community composition, including expansion of shrubs and declines in lichens and bryophytes. Even though it is well known that the majority of arctic plants are associated with their symbiotic fungi, how fungal community composition will be different with climate warming remains largely unknown. In this study, we addressed the effects of long‐term (18 years) experimental warming on the community composition and taxonomic richness of soil ascomycetes in dry and moist tundra types. Using deep Ion Torrent sequencing, we quantified how OTU assemblage and richness of different orders of Ascomycota changed in response to summer warming. Experimental warming significantly altered ascomycete communities with stronger responses observed in the moist tundra compared with dry tundra. The proportion of several lichenized and moss‐associated fungi decreased with warming, while the proportion of several plant and insect pathogens and saprotrophic species was higher in the warming treatment. The observed alterations in both taxonomic and ecological groups of ascomycetes are discussed in relation to previously reported warming‐induced shifts in arctic plant communities, including decline in lichens and bryophytes and increase in coverage and biomass of shrubs.Plant science

Fungi of the greening Arctic : compositional and functional shifts in response to climatic changes

  The rate of climate warming in the Arctic nearly doubles warming in the temperate regions. In the arctic tundra, this warming has already altered vegetation, with strong declines in lichens and mosses and expansion of shrubs. This process called “the greening of the Arctic” has important consequences for the global nutrient cycling and emission of green-house gases to the atmosphere. Even though, plant community dynamics has been monitored in tundra, the effect of climate warming on belowground fungi remained largely unknown, despite the known key roles that fungi play providing the plants with water and nutrients in nutrient-poor arctic soils. This thesis addresses the effect of climate warming on arctic soil fungal communities by DNA-metabarcoding. Climate warming had a strong effect on fungal community composition leading to a strong decline in diversity of lichenized, moss-associated, and ectomycorrhizal fungi. Instead, many species of saprotrophic and parasitic fungi took over. These changes are expected to alter nutrient turnover in tundra soils (including decomposition and CO2 flux) and affect populations of plants and animals (for example, caribous that are feeding on lichenized fungi in winter).  </div

Long-term warming alters richness and composition of taxonomic and functional groups of arctic fungi

Plant science

The Software Package OPTHICK Is Designed for Air Plasma Electrophysical Parameters Calculation in a Microwave Range.

Abstract: The package is oriented to fast qualitative research in a dialogue mode of the plasma characteristics in a wide interval of parameter values. The package programs permit to solve transfer equation for microwave radiation, to calculate plasma particles concentration, its conductivity, microwave radiation, absorption factors, plasma optical thickness along observation line and plasma body brightness temperature. It enables to diagnose a plasma by a microwave method, to find out and to classify sources of ionizing radiation. The programs are written in C for DOS environment.Note: Research direction:Programming, parallel computing, multimedi

(n,α) reactions cross section research at IPPE

An experimental set-up based on an ionization chamber with a Frisch grid and wave form digitizer was used for (n,α) cross section measurements. Use of digital signal processing allowed us to select a gaseous cell inside the sensitive area of the ionization chamber and determine the target atoms in it with high accuracy. This kind of approach provided us with a powerful method to suppress background arising from the detector structure and parasitic reactions on the working gas components. This method is especially interesting to study neutron reactions with elements for which solid target preparation is difficult (noble gases for example). In the present experiments we used a set of working gases which contained admixtures of nitrogen, oxygen, neon, argon and boron. Fission of 238U was used as neutron flux monitor. The cross section of the (n,α) reaction for 16O, 14N, 20Ne, 36Ar, 40Ar and the yield ratio α0/α1 of 10B(n,α0) to 10B(n,α1) reactions was measured for neutron energies between 1.5 and 7 MeV. Additionally a measurement of the 50Cr(n,α) cross section using a solid chromium target is also reported

TGF-β1 EXPRESSION BY GLIOMA C6 CELLS IN VITRO

The aim of the work was to study the impact of fetal rat brain cell supernatant (FRBCS) on the expression of transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) and p53 in C6 cells of rat glioma in vitro. Materials and Methods: FRBCS was obtained from suspensions of fetal rat brain cells on the 14th (E14) day of gestation. C6 glioma cells were cultured for 48 h in the presence of FRBCS or FRBCS + anti-TGF-β1 monoclonal antibody. Immunocytochemical staining for TGF-β1 and p53 was performed. Results: The proportion of TGF-β1-immunopositive tumor cells in C6 glioma cultures was statistically significantly higher than in the control cell cultures of normal fetal rat brain. FRBCS reduced the proportion of TGF-β1-immunopositive tumor cells and increased the proportion of p53-immunopositive cells in C6 glioma cultures. In cells cultured with FRBCS + anti-TGF-β1 monoclonal antibody, the above effects of FRBCS were abrogated. Conclusion: The obtained results suggest that TGF-β1 seems to be responsible for decrease in TGF-β1 expression and increase in p53 expression in C6 glioma cells treated with FRBCS

Протонная магнитно-резонансная спектроскопия как альтернативный количественный метод оценки прочности костей

Aims: 1) To evaluate an association between the fat fraction (FF) and bone mineral density (BMD) measured by localized proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) and quantitative computed tomography (QCT) densitometry, respectively, in healthy vertebrae of children after a compression fracture; 2) To compare the FF and BMD values with the severity of the compression vertebrae fractures.Materials and methods: Twenty (20) patients (aged 11.1±2.1 years) with a trauma-induced compression vertebral fractures participated in the study. The BMD of L3, L4 vertebrae (mg/cm3) was measured in by QCT (Philips Brilliance 16). FF in the same area was measured from 1H-MR-spectra (STEAM, echo time (TE)=12.8 ms, repetition time (TR)=3000 ms, voxel size=20×15×10 mm) using Philips Achieva TX 3.0T MRI scanner.Results: Correlation analysis revealed a  significant inverse linear correlation (r=-0.55, p=0.0004) between FF and BMD of L3 и L4 vertebrae. In addition, in the patients with severe compression vertebral fracture (more than 2 fractured vertebrae) there was a  significant increase in FF values and a  BMD decrease, compared to the values in the patients with mild fractures (1–2 fractured vertebrae).Conclusion: The correlation suggests that the increase of FF in the bone marrow and the decrease of BMD in children go in parallel. Therefore, 1H-MRS could be an alternative to QCT and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. The absence of radiation load allows for recommendation to use 1Н-MRS for screening and follow-up, as well as for the control of BMD.Цели: 1)  исследовать взаимосвязь между количественным содержанием жира и  минеральной плотностью костной ткани, определенными с  помощью локализированной протонной магнитно-резонансной спектроскопии (1Н-МРС) и количественной компьютерно-томографической денситометрии (ККТД) соответственно, в неповрежденных позвонках у  детей после компрессионного перелома; 2)  сравнить значения фракции жира и  минеральной плотности костной ткани (МПКТ) со степенью тяжести компрессионного перелома позвоночника.Материал и  методы. В  исследовании приняли участие 20  пациентов (средний возраст 11,1±2,1  года) с  травматическим компрессионным переломом позвонка. МПКТ (мг/см3 ) измерялась в позвонках L3, L4 по данным ККТД на аппарате Philips Brilliance  16. Значения содержания жира (СЖ) в той же области определяли количественно по 1H-МР-спектрам (импульсная последовательность STEAM: время эхо=12,8 мс, время повторения=3000 мс, размер вокселя=20×15×10  мм) с  использованием МР-томографа Philips Achieva TX.Результаты. Корреляционный анализ выявил статистически значимую обратную линейную корреляцию (r=-0,55, p=0,0004) между значениями СЖ и  МПКТ, рассчитанными в  позвонках L3 и L4. Кроме того, у пациентов с компрессионным переломом позвонка тяжелой степени (более 2  переломов) зафиксировано значительное увеличение значений СЖ наряду с  уменьшением МПКТ по сравнению с  аналогичными показателями у пациентов с переломом легкой степени (1–2 перелома позвонков).Заключение. Выявленная корреляционная зависимость позволяет предположить, что у детей процессы увеличения СЖ в  костном мозге и  снижения МПКТ протекают параллельно. Таким образом, 1H-MРC можно рассматривать в  качестве альтернативы ККТД и  двухэнергетической рентгеновской абсорбциометрии. Отсутствие лучевой нагрузки на пациента позволяет рекомендовать использование 1Н-МРС для скринингового и динамического контроля, а также для контроля значений МПКТ