Transcriptional responses of winter barley to cold indicate nucleosome remodelling as a specific feature of crown tissues

We report a series of microarray-based comparisons of gene expression in the leaf and crown of the winter barley cultivar Luxor, following the exposure of young plants to various periods of low (above and below zero) temperatures. A transcriptomic analysis identified genes which were either expressed in both the leaf and crown, or specifically in one or the other. Among the former were genes responsible for calcium and abscisic acid signalling, polyamine synthesis, late embryogenesis abundant proteins and dehydrins. In the crown, the key organ for cereal overwintering, cold treatment induced transient changes in the transcription of nucleosome assembly genes, and especially H2A and HTA11, which have been implicated in cold sensing in Arabidopsis thaliana. In the leaf, various heat-shock proteins were induced. Differences in expression pattern between the crown and leaf were frequent for genes involved in certain pathways responsible for osmolyte production (sucrose and starch, raffinose, γ-aminobutyric acid metabolism), sugar signalling (trehalose metabolism) and secondary metabolism (lignin synthesis). The action of proteins with antifreeze activity, which were markedly induced during hardening, was demonstrated by a depression in the ice nucleation temperature

Evaluation of urban public transport system in Cracow by elderly people

Artykuł dotyczy oceny funkcjonowania systemu miejskiego transportu publicznego w Krakowie przez osoby starsze. Osoby starsze odgrywają coraz większą rolę w społeczeństwie. W związku z tym pojawia się potrzeba wprowadzenia zmian i udogodnień w różnych sferach życia w celu zaspokojenia ich podstawowych potrzeb, związanych z ich funkcjonowaniem w miastach i aglomeracjach. Osoby starsze częściej podróżują transportem publicznym, ponieważ ich stan zdrowia zmniejsza predyspozycje do kierowania pojazdami. Transport publiczny często jest jedynym ze środków transportu, z którego mogą oni korzystać. Aby transport publiczny działał dobrze musi spełniać pewne wymogi zarówno w zakresie wyposażenia samych środków transportu, jak i zakresie infrastruktury. Zadaniem zarządców i organizatorów transportu jest zatem pomóc tej grupie osób w realizacji ich podstawowych potrzeb z zakresu podróży transportem publicznym. W celu poznania oczekiwań osób starszych w odniesieniu do funkcjonowania transportu publicznego, poznania ich stopnia zadowolenia i satysfakcji z obecnych usług transportu publicznego, przeprowadzono w Krakowie badania ankietowe. Badania ankietowe przeprowadzono wśród osób starszych na wybranych przystankach autobusowych i tramwajowych w Krakowie. W artykule przedstawiono szczegółową analizę uzyskanych wyników badań ankietowych. Na podstawie przeprowadzonych badań zaproponowano zmiany i rozwiązania, jakie powinno się wprowadzić, aby transport publiczny był bardziej przyjazny dla osób starszych. Wyniki badań wskazują pewien kierunek działania, jaki należy podjąć, aby zachęcić osoby starsze do podróży transportem publicznym. Ponadto w artykule poruszono kwestie starości i starzenia się społeczeństwa w Polsce, Małopolsce i Krakowie.The article presents evaluation of urban public transport system in Cracow by elderly people. Elderly people play an important role in the society. In order to satisfy their basic needs related to life in cities and agglomerations it is needed to implement changes and improvements in various life aspects. Elderly people often travel by public transport because their health decreases their predispositions to travel by car. Public transport is often the only one transport mean which they can use. Some conditions, both in terms of transport means equipment and infrastructure, have to be improved in order to have more accessible public transport. Task of public transport management is to help elderly people to meet their basic needs in terms of public transport journeys. The survey among elderly people was carried out in Cracow in order to get an information on elderly people’s needs and expectations related to public transport, as well as the level of their satisfaction with the public transport services. The survey was carried out at selected bus and tram stops. The article shows detailed analysis of the survey results. Basing on the survey results changes and solutions for improvement of the urban public transport to make it more senior-friendly have been proposed. Moreover the article raises the issues of society aging in Poland, Małopolska Region and Cracow

Short ingestion tests as alternative proposal for conventional range finding assays with Thamnocephalus platyurus and Brachionus calyciflorus

The goal of this study was to evaluate whether short 1 h sublethal assays may predict the results of 24 h lethality assays with rotifers Brachionus calyciflorus and anostracan crustaceans Thamnocephalus platyurus . The test bionts were hatched from cysts. Inhibition of ingestion was observed after 15 min of incubation of rotifers and crustaceans with the suspension of carmine and latex beads, respectively. Nine compounds with different modes of action were used as toxicants zinc ions, sodium dodecyl sulphate, p-nitrophenol, 3, 5-dichlorophenol and pharmaceuticals propranolol, fluoxetine, abamectin, doramectin and ivermectin. The toxicity values observed in the ingestion tests were very close to the mortality values over a wide range of toxicity from a low toxic surfactant to very toxic avermectins. The ratio between the 1 h EC50’s in the ingestion test and the 24 h LC50’s in the lethality test was below 2 in all cases for rotifers, and 7 in 9 cases for crustaceans. The toxicity of zinc and 3,5-dichlorophenol in the Thamnotoxkit F™ was 15-fold higher and 10 fold lower than in the ingestion test, respectively. The 24 h LC50 values are within the range of 25-400 % of the 1 h EC50 values for almost all toxicants tested with the exception of p-nitrophenol for B. calyciflorus and zinc and 3, 5-dichlorophenol for T. platyurus. Short, 1 h ingestion assays Rotoxrapid and Rapidtoxkit are good predictors of the mortality over the next 24 h and can be used as a range finding tests for representatives of pharmaceuticals and surfactants