Stress Response after Race and Endurance Training Sessions and Competitions in Arabian Horses

Assuring a high level of animal welfare is a critical aspect of contemporary animal husbandry. Equine athletes begin their careers at a very young age when they are still developing and they are both physically and mentally immature. Lack of scientific knowledge of the stress related to horse racing impedes the development of optimal training programs to attain equilibrium between the best sport results and optimal welfare. This study aimed to determine the influence of the intensity and type of physical activity on peripheral blood cortisol concentration. Thirty untrained Arabians, 9 endurance and 21 race horses were enrolled in this longitudinal study. Blood samples were analysed every 3-weeks in 4 training sessions and 2 races in racing horses and monthly after 2 training sessions and 1 competition in endurance horses. Cortisol concentration was measured at rest and 30 min. after physical effort. Racing horses were divided into two groups of the best and the worst performers. Cortisol concentration increased significantly after training and competition, however both in racing and endurance horses the increase was more intensive after competition. In the racing horses, cortisol concentration tended to gradually increase after the subsequent trainings during the racing season, however the starting gate did not appear to exert any impact on cortisol concentration. The best performing race horses appeared to have a lesser increase in cortisol concentration after the race than the worst performing horses, however the cortisol concentration after the race was not significantly different between these two groups of horses. This study suggests that an optimal training program can induce a stress response which is likely not to have any harmful impact on an athlete’s welfare. The more intense effort associated with competition events, both in race and endurance horses, results in a greater stress response, indicating that these kinds of events should be limited to assure animal welfare. Finally, better performance horses adapt more readily to physical activity as they experience less increase of serum cortisol concentration after the race

Molecular interactions at the surface of extracellular vesicles

Extracellular vesicles such as exosomes, microvesicles, apoptotic bodies, and large oncosomes have been shown to participate in a wide variety of biological processes and are currently under intense investigation in many different fields of biomedicine. One of the key features of extracellular vesicles is that they have relatively large surface compared to their volume. Some extracellular vesicle surface molecules are shared with those of the plasma membrane of the releasing cell, while other molecules are characteristic for extracellular vesicular surfaces. Besides proteins, lipids, glycans, and nucleic acids are also players of extracellular vesicle surface interactions. Being secreted and present in high number in biological samples, collectively extracellular vesicles represent a uniquely large interactive surface area which can establish contacts both with cells and with molecules in the extracellular microenvironment. Here, we provide a brief overview of known components of the extracellular vesicle surface interactome and highlight some already established roles of the extracellular vesicle surface interactions in different biological processes in health and disease

Formation of haloacetic acids during water treatment in the Central Waterworks of Warsaw

Przebadano tworzenie się kwasów halogenooctowych (HAA) w procesie uzdatniania wody w Wodociągu Centralnym w Warszawie. Badania przeprowadzono w 2002 r. Woda była pobierana z Wisły za pomocą ujęć zatokowych i infiltracyjnych. Woda uzdatniona w różnych ciągach technologicznych była następnie dezynfekowana mieszaniną chloru gazowego i dwutlenku chloru. Stwierdzono zależność powstawania HAA od stężenia organicznych prekursorów obecnych w wodzie. Wraz ze wzrostem zawartości prekursorów (barwa, utlenialność, OWO, absorbancja w UV) stwierdzono wzrost stężenia powstających HAA. Zaobserwowano korelację między ilością tworzących się HAA i temperaturą wody. W porze zimowej stężenia kwasów halogenooctowych były niższe niż w porze letniej. Stwierdzono także, że wystąpiła korelacja między rodzajem dezynfektanta i stężeniem HAA. Najmniej kwasów powstawało podczas dezynfekcji wody tylko dwutlenkiem chloru. Stężenia HAA w wodzie uzdatnionej wahały się od 11 do 50 mg/m3 i były poniżej wartości zalecanej przez wytyczne WHO.The study was carried out with riverine water samples in 2002. The water entering the plant is drown from the Vistula by bank intake and infiltration, treated via different technological trains and disinfected with gaseous chlorine and/or chlorine dioxide. The formation of haloacetic acids (HAAs) was found to depend on the concentration of the organic precursors present in the water. When their content (expressed in terms of coloured matter concentration, COD, TOC, and UV absorbance) increased, so did HAAs concentration. There was a correlation between the amounts of the HAAs formed and water temperature; they were lower in the winter season than in the summer season. The type of the disinfectant used was also found to affect the concentration of HAAs, which was lower with chlorine dioxide. HAA concentrations in treated water ranged from 11 to 50 mg/m3 and were below the permissible value recommended by WHO guidelines

Polar [3+2] cycloaddition between N-methyl azomethine ylide and trans-3,3,3-trichloro-1-nitroprop-1-ene

Pyrrolidines are important heterocyclic organic compounds which show biological effects. Many of them are successfully used in medicine. These compounds can also be applied in industry, for example as dyes or agrochemical substances. Therefore, the study of pyrrolidines chemistry is important for modern science. In this paper the pyrrolidines synthesis in [3+2] cycloaddition between Nmethyl azomethine ylide and trans-3,3,3-trichloro-1-nitroprop-1-ene was studied. The reaction was carried out experimentally and based on computational research. The obtained results show the reaction may be of a polar nature, and proceed under mild conditions leading to (3SR,4RS)-1-methyl-3-nitro-4-(trichloromethyl)pyrrolidine as a single reaction product. Probably, a similar protocol can be applied for analogous reactions involving other 2-substituted nitroethene analogues