Human values and news’ impact on climate change beliefs: A comparative study on millennials in Sweden and Russia

Despite the global problem of climate change being covered in the media, some people tend to treat the issue as a distant; therefore, less urgent. Research has emphasised the significance of the polarisation phenomenon, with some countries growing in denial. This study addresses this problem by looking into people’s values, as these have been found crucial in determining perception on climate change. Further, drifting away from political views, the study focuses on cultural impact, in this case, media use in Sweden and Russia. We found conservation values have a positive impact on shaping beliefs in climate change in Russia, albeit negative in Sweden. News consumption had limited implications in the relationship between human values and beliefs in climate change in Sweden, none in Russia. The findings can add a unique contribution to informing the creation of public awareness campaigns in Russia and Sweden. This could also encourage further research in different countries but also on different age groups or specific gender. Finally, this research revolves around beliefs, leaving an area for studying attitudes and behaviou

Learning and Memory Alterations Are Associated with Hippocampal N-acetylaspartate in a Rat Model of Depression as Measured by 1H-MRS

It is generally accepted that cognitive processes, such as learning and memory, are affected in depression. The present study used a rat model of depression, chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS), to determine whether hippocampal volume and neurochemical changes were involved in learning and memory alterations. A further aim was to determine whether these effects could be ameliorated by escitalopram treatment, as assessed with the non-invasive techniques of structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Our results demonstrated that CUMS had a dramatic influence on spatial cognitive performance in the Morris water maze task, and CUMS reduced the concentration of neuronal marker N-acetylaspartate (NAA) in the hippocampus. These effects could be significantly reversed by repeated administration of escitalopram. However, neither chronic stress nor escitalopram treatment influenced hippocampal volume. Of note, the learning and memory alterations of the rats were associated with right hippocampal NAA concentration. Our results indicate that in depression, NAA may be a more sensitive measure of cognitive function than hippocampal volume

Neuroanatomical Pattern of Mitochondrial Complex I Pathology Varies between Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder and Major Depression

BACKGROUND:Mitochondrial dysfunction was reported in schizophrenia, bipolar disorderand major depression. The present study investigated whether mitochondrial complex I abnormalities show disease-specific characteristics. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:mRNA and protein levels of complex I subunits NDUFV1, NDUFV2 and NADUFS1, were assessed in striatal and lateral cerebellar hemisphere postmortem specimens and analyzed together with our previous data from prefrontal and parieto-occipital cortices specimens of patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression and healthy subjects. A disease-specific anatomical pattern in complex I subunits alterations was found. Schizophrenia-specific reductions were observed in the prefrontal cortex and in the striatum. The depressed group showed consistent reductions in all three subunits in the cerebellum. The bipolar group, however, showed increased expression in the parieto-occipital cortex, similar to those observed in schizophrenia, and reductions in the cerebellum, yet less consistent than the depressed group. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:These results suggest that the neuroanatomical pattern of complex I pathology parallels the diversity and similarities in clinical symptoms of these mental disorders

Determination by SSCP markers of the allelic diversity of candidate genes for tolerance to iron chlorosis in citrus germplasm

Iron chlorosis is one of the main abiotic constraints for Mediterranean citriculture and the development of marker assisted selection (MAS) for this trait would be a great aid for rootstock breeding. We performed SSCP (Single Stranded Conformation Polymorphism) analysis in order to discover allelic diversity of candidate genes for iron chlorosis tolerance in citrus. Two iron chlorosis tolerance candidate genes were selected from existing Citrus ESTs databases and Arabidopsis thaliana genome databases. Iron-Sulfur assembly protein (Fe-S=AT2G16710) and root iron transporter (IRT1=AT4G19690) candidate gene sequences were used to define primers in conserved regions. Six Citrus genotypes from the basic taxon of Citrus where used to identify polymorphic areas in the genes. Direct sequencing of amplified DNA fragments of candidate genes was performed and SNPs (singlenucleotide polymorphisms) and Indels where searched after sequence alignment. A total of 2215 bp DNA fragments were sequenced and 56 SNPs and 2 Indels were determined. New primers were defined, in conserved areas flanking polymorphic ones, for Single Strand Conformation Polymorphism (SSCP) analysis for further diversity and routine genotyping. Two pairs of primers were defined for each gene. SSCP-PCR analysis was performed with twenty-five Citrus genotypes. The neighbor joining method was used for cluster analysis. Poncirus trifoliata genotypes and their hybrids known to be sensitive to iron chlorosis clustered together and mandarins showed high diversity for both genes. Differences were found among sour orange genotypes known to have differential tolerance behavior to iron chlorosis

In vitro plant regeneration of 'Carrizo' citrange and 'Cleopatra' mandarin by organogenesis

In vitro organogenesis of 'Carrizo' citrange (Citrus sinensis L. × Poncirus trifoliate Raf.) and 'Cleopatra' mandarin (Citrus reshni Hort. ex. Tan.) was studied considering three explant types: cotyledon, epicotyl and root explants. The explants were cultured in MS (Murashige and Skoog, 1962) medium supplemented with 0.0, 2.5, 5.0 mg L-1 6-benzyl-aminopurine (BAP) with 0.5 mg L-1 naphthalene acetic acid (NAA). Compared with cotyledon and epicotyl explants, a higher percentage responded and a higher number of shoots per explant were obtained with root explants, regardless of the 2.5 mg L-1 BAP and 0.5 mg L-1 NAA concentration (4.9 shoots/explant) in 'Carrizo' citrange. Cotyledon explants for both genotypes were not responsive in all plant growth regulator (PGR) concentrations and combinations studied. Only callus formation was obtained from root explants of 'Cleopatra' mandarin in all different PGR concentrations and combinations. 0.5 mg L-1 NAA without BAP gave the best results for shoot formation of 'Cleopatra' mandarin

Genetic diversity and relationships within Citrus and related genera based on sequence related amplified polymorphism markers (SRAPs)

Sequence related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) markers were used to detect molecular marker polmorphisms among 86 citrus and their relatives in Aurantioidea. Twenty-one SRAP primer combinations produced a total of 376 polymorphic fragments with an average of 17.9 per primer combination and an average polymorphism information content (PIC) of 0.86. The unweighted pair group method arithmetic average (UPGMA) analysis demonstrated that the accessions had a similarity range from 0.28 to 1.00 with a mean of 0.64. The subtribe Clauseninae (tribe Clauseneae) separated from the subtribes of the tribe Citreae. The subtribe Balsamocitrinae (tribe Citreae) was the most distant from the others. In the Citrinae, 'primitive citrus fruit trees' and 'near citrus fruit trees' groups did not clearly separate from each other but all genera in these groups were distinct. On the other hand, subgenus Papeda and subgenus Citrus were not separated clearly in the dendrogram. C. maxima, C. medica and C. reticulata separated into three distinct clusters in agreement with three 'true basic species' thesis. Similarity-based analyses supported the theory of few ancestral species in Aurantioidea. © 2009.National Council for Scientific ResearchThe authors thank Mikeal L. Roose of the University of California, Riverside, CA, USA for critical review and suggestions on this manuscript. We also thank to Ubeyit Seday and Ihsan Canan for assisting the SRAP analysis. This study was funded by the Scientific and Technological Research Council (TUBITAK) and the General Directorate of Agricultural Research of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and Scientific Research Project Unit of University of Cukurova, Adana, Turkey

Distinguishing grapefruit and pummelo accessions using ISSR markers

Grapefruit is the fourth economically most important citrus fruit in the world. In this research Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) markers were used to distinguish twenty-nine grapefruit (Citrus paradise Macf.), five pummelo (Citrus maxima (Burm.) Merr.) and one Citrus hassaku Hort. Ex Tanaka accessions. Twelve ISSR primers produced a total of 100 fragments and 62 of them were polymorphic. The number of average polymorphic fragments per primer was 5.2. The mean polymorphism information content (PIC) was 0.37. The unweighted pair group method arithmetic average (UPGMA) analysis demonstrated that the accessions had a similarity range from 0.79 to 1.00. The accessions were separated into two main clusters; group A with five pummelos and group B with grapefruits. In the pummelo cluster, all pummelos were distinguished whereas in the grapefruit cluster some accessions were not clearly separated. There was a low level of variation in the grapefruits due to their mutation origin

Investigation of genetic relationships among trifoliata oranges and their hybrid relatives based on ISSR markers

Diversity and genetic relationships were investigated in 19 trifoliata oranges [(Poncirus trifoliata (L.) Raf] and their 27 hybrids including 20 citranges (P. trifoliata X Citrus sinensis), five citrumelos (P. trifoliata X C. paradisi) and two citremons (P. trifoliata X C. limon) based on intersimple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. Twelve ISSR primers produced a total of 120 fragments and 82 of them were polymorphic (68%). The unweighted pair group method arithmetic average (UPGMA) analysis as assessed with ISSR data demonstrated that the accessions had a similarity range from 0.67 to 1.00. In the dendrogram there were three main groups including trifoliata, citremon and citrange-citrumelo groups. The trifoliata orange, citrange, citrumelo and citremon groups were separated. The citrumelo group was nested in the citrange branch. Genetic diversity among the trifoliata accessions was low probably because of their mutation origin. However all trifoliata accessions were distinguished except for two of them. The citrange group had higher polymorphism than the other trifoliata hybrids. Our study indicated that ISSR markers were useful to determine genetic diversity of related citrus groups such as trifoliata oranges and their intergeneric hybrids. © 2011 University of Bucharest

Molecular characterization and genetic diversity analysis of mandarin genotypes by SSR and SRAP markers

The aim of the present study was to characterize the mandarin germplasm conserved at the Tuzcu Citrus Variety Collection at Cukurova University in Turkey using simple sequence repeat (SSR) and sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) based molecular approaches. Genetic characterization of 65 mandarins was performed using 14 SSR markers and 21 SRAP markers. We originally tested 26 SSR markers, and 14 of these markers were selected due to their high polymorphism information content in the molecular assays. Thirty-eight alleles were detected at 14 loci. The number of alleles per SSR locus ranged from 2 to 4, with a mean of 2.7 alleles. The most informative loci were CAGG 9, CAT 01 and TAA 52 (4 alleles/primer). From the SRAP analysis, a total of 187 alleles were generated, and the polymorphism rate was 77%. The number of alleles detected by a single primer set ranged from 4 to 15, with an average of 8.90. The UPGMA dendrogram, defined by SSR and SRAP markers, revealed the genetic relatedness of the mandarin genotypes. These findings can be used to guide future breeding studies and germplasm management of these mandarin genotypes