Clinical Guideline for Assessing Flash Visual Evoked Potentials in Laboratory Dogs and Normal Data for Beagle Dogs

Visual evoked potentials (VEPs) are useful to evaluate the visual pathway integrity from ganglion cells of the retina to the visual cortex. VEP could be applied to evaluate the effects on optic nerve function following ophthalmologic treatments and in toxicity studies. The aims of this research were to design a clinical protocol for testing flash-VEPs during sedation and dissociative anaesthesia in laboratory dogs, and to propose updated normal data for beagles

Is the sexual sensation seeking scale a reliable instrument? Addressing multiple factor structures in a Colombian sample

The sexual sensation seeking scale (SSSS) is a widely used instrument to measure individuals’ tendency to seek an optimal level of sexual arousal and novel sexual experiences. However, psychometric studies have suggested different factor structures for this instrument, which may lead to a biased assessment of the subdimensions of sexual sensation seeking. The present study (N = 812) aimed to identify the best factorial model of the SSSS by comparing the model suggested by previous research. Results from Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses showed that none of the models tested have sufficient goodness-of-fit to support the internal validity of the instrument. Thus, this study highlights the limitations of the SSSS in assessing sexual sensation seeking and proposes psychometric alternatives that should be considered by researchers to achieve a reliable measure of sexual sensation seeking.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Asp295 Stabilizes the Active-Site Loop Structure of Pyruvate Dehydrogenase, Facilitating Phosphorylation of Ser292 by Pyruvate Dehydrogenase-Kinase

We have developed an in vitro system for detailed analysis of reversible phosphorylation of the plant mitochondrial pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, comprising recombinant Arabidopsis thalianaα2β2-heterotetrameric pyruvate dehydrogenase (E1) plus A. thaliana E1-kinase (AtPDK). Upon addition of MgATP, Ser292, which is located within the active-site loop structure of E1α, is phosphorylated. In addition to Ser292, Asp295 and Gly297 are highly conserved in the E1α active-site loop sequences. Mutation of Asp295 to Ala, Asn, or Leu greatly reduced phosphorylation of Ser292, while mutation of Gly297 had relatively little effect. Quantitative two-hybrid analysis was used to show that mutation of Asp295 did not substantially affect binding of AtPDK to E1α. When using pyruvate as a variable substrate, the Asp295 mutant proteins had modest changes in kcat, Km, and kcat/Km values. Therefore, we propose that Asp295 plays an important role in stabilizing the active-site loop structure, facilitating transfer of the γ-phosphate from ATP to the Ser residue at regulatory site one of E1α

Broadband VLA Spectral Line Survey of a Sample of Ionized Jet Candidates

The study of the interaction between ionized jets, molecular outflows and their environments is critical to understanding high-mass star formation, especially because jets and outflows are thought to be key in the transfer of angular momentum outwards from accretion disks. We report a low-spectral resolution VLA survey for hydrogen radio recombination lines, OH, NH$_3$, and CH$_3$OH lines toward a sample of 58 high-mass star forming regions that contain numerous ionized jet candidates. The observations are from a survey designed to detect radio continuum; the novel aspect of this work is to search for spectral lines in broadband VLA data (we provide the script developed in this work to facilitate exploration of other datasets). We report detection of 25$\,$GHz CH$_3$OH transitions toward ten sources; five of them also show NH$_3$ emission. We found that most of the sources detected in CH$_3$OH and NH$_3$ have been classified as ionized jets or jet candidates and that the emission lines are coincident with, or very near ($\lesssim 0.1$ pc) these sources, hence, these molecular lines could be used as probes of the environment near the launching site of jets/outflows. No radio recombination lines were detected, but we found that the RMS noise of stacked spectra decreases following the radiometer equation. Therefore, detecting radio recombination lines in a sample of brighter free-free continuum sources should be possible. This work demonstrates the potential of broadband VLA continuum observations as low-resolution spectral line scans.Comment: 38 pages, 19 figures. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Serie

A simulational and theoretical study of the spherical electrical double layer for a size-asymmetric electrolyte: the case of big coions

Monte Carlo simulations of a spherical macroion, surrounded by a size-asymmetric electrolyte in the primitive model, were performed. We considered 1:1 and 2:2 salts with a size ratio of 2 (i.e., with coions twice the size of counterions), for several surface charge densities of the macrosphere. The radial distribution functions, electrostatic potential at the Helmholtz surfaces, and integrated charge are reported. We compare these simulational data with original results obtained from the Ornstein-Zernike integral equation, supplemented by the hypernetted chain/hypernetted chain (HNC/HNC) and hypernetted chain/mean spherical approximation (HNC/MSA) closures, and with the corresponding calculations using the modified Gouy-Chapman and unequal-radius modified Gouy-Chapman theories. The HNC/HNC and HNC/MSA integral equations formalisms show good concordance with Monte Carlo "experiments", whereas the notable limitations of point-ion approaches are evidenced. Most importantly, the simulations confirm our previous theoretical predictions of the non-dominance of the counterions in the size-asymmetric spherical electrical double layer [J. Chem. Phys. 123, 034703 (2005)], the appearance of anomalous curvatures at the outer Helmholtz plane and the enhancement of charge reversal and screening at high colloidal surface charge densities due to the ionic size asymmetry.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure

Reliability and validity of the Colombian version of the Revised Sociosexual Orientation Inventory

Sociosexuality refers to an individual’s disposition to have casual sex without establishing affective bonds and has been widely studied worldwide using the Revised Sociosexual Orientation Inventory (SOI-R; Penke & Asendorpf, 2008). Despite its many validations in different cultural contexts, no psychometric analyses of this instrument have been conducted in Spanish-speaking Latin American countries. To address this gap in the literature, we examined the psychometric properties of the SOI-R in Colombia. In a cross-sectional study with a large sample of participants (N = 812; 64% women), we conducted exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to identify different factor structures and determine which had the best fit for our sample and examined the reliability of the scale. Results showed that a three-factor structure, with sociosexual behaviors, attitudes, and desire as first-order factors, and global sociosexuality as a second-order factor, had the best fit indexes. Each factor presented good reliability indexes. Replicating already established gender differences, we also found that men scored higher on each factor when compared to women. These findings show that the SOI-R is a reliable and valid instrument to assess sociosexuality in countries where sociosexuality research is underrepresented.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Determining the response of African biota to climate change: using the past to model the future

Prediction of biotic responses to future climate change in tropical Africa tends to be based on two modelling approaches: bioclimatic species envelope models and dynamic vegetation models. Another complementary but underused approach is to examine biotic responses to similar climatic changes in the past as evidenced in fossil and historical records. This paper reviews these records and highlights the information that they provide in terms of understanding the local-and regional-scale responses of African vegetation to future climate change. A key point that emerges is that a move to warmer and wetter conditions in the past resulted in a large increase in biomass and a range distribution of woody plants up to 400-500 km north of its present location, the so-called greening of the Sahara. By contrast, a transition to warmer and drier conditions resulted in a reduction in woody vegetation in many regions and an increase in grass/savanna-dominated landscapes. The rapid rate of climate warming coming into the current interglacial resulted in a dramatic increase in community turnover, but there is little evidence for widespread extinctions. However, huge variation in biotic response in both space and time is apparent with, in some cases, totally different responses to the same climatic driver. This highlights the importance of local features such as soils, topography and also internal biotic factors in determining responses and resilience of the African biota to climate change, information that is difficult to obtain from modelling but is abundant in palaeoecological records