Inhibitory neurotransmission mediated by GABA(A) receptors can be modulated by the endogenous neurosteroids, allopregnanolone and tetrahydro-deoxycorticosterone. Neurosteroids are synthesized de novo ...in the brain during stress, pregnancyand after ethanol consumption, and disrupted steroid regulation of GABAergic transmission is strongly implicated in several debilitating conditions such as panic disorder, major depression, schizophrenia, alcohol dependence and catamenial epilepsy. Determining how neurosteroids interact with the GABA(A) receptor is a prerequisite for understanding their physiological and pathophysiological roles in the brain. Here we identify two discrete binding sites in the receptor's transmembrane domains that mediate the potentiating and direct activation effects of neurosteroids. They potentiate GABA responses from a cavity formed by the alpha-subunit transmembrane domains, whereas direct receptor activation is initiated by interfacial residues between alpha and beta subunits and is enhanced by steroid binding to the potentiation site. Thus, significant receptor activation by neurosteroids relies on occupancy of both the activation and potentiation sites. These sites are highly conserved throughout the GABA(A )receptor family, and their identification provides a unique opportunity for the development of new therapeutic, neurosteroid-based ligands and transgenic disease models of neurosteroid dysfunction.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Several studies applying Machine Learning to deception detection have been published in the last decade. A rich and complex set of settings, approaches, theories, and results is now available. ...Therefore, one may find it difficult to identify trends, successful paths, gaps, and opportunities for contribution. The present literature review aims to provide the state of research regarding deception detection with Machine Learning. We followed the PRISMA protocol and retrieved 648 articles from ACM Digital Library, IEEE Xplore, Scopus, and Web of Science. 540 of them were screened (108 were duplicates). A final corpus of 81 documents has been summarized as mind maps. Metadata was extracted and has been encoded as Python dictionaries to support a statistical analysis scripted in Python programming language, and available as a collection of Jupyter Lab Notebooks in a GitHub repository. All are available as Jupyter Lab Notebooks. Neural Networks, Support Vector Machines, Random Forest, Decision Tree and K-nearest Neighbor are the five most explored techniques. The studies report a detection performance ranging from 51% to 100%, with 19 works reaching accuracy rate above 0.9. Monomodal, Bimodal, and Multimodal approaches were exploited and achieved various accuracy levels for detection. Bimodal and Multimodal approaches have become a trend over Monomodal ones, although there are high-performance examples of the latter. Studies that exploit language and linguistic features, 75% are dedicated to English. The findings include observations of the following: language and culture, emotional features, psychological traits, cognitive load, facial cues, complexity, performance, and Machine Learning topics. We also present a dataset benchmark. Main conclusions are that labeled datasets from real-life data are scarce. Also, there is still room for new approaches for deception detection with Machine Learning, especially if focused on languages and cultures other than English-based. Further research would greatly contribute by providing new labeled and multimodal datasets for deception detection, both for English and other languages.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Iron (Fe) bioavailability to plants is reduced in saline soils; however, the exact mechanisms underlying this effect are not yet completely understood. Siderophore-expressing rhizobacteria may ...represent a promising alternative to chemical fertilizers by simultaneously tackling salt-stress effects and Fe limitation in saline soils. In addition to draught, plants growing in arid soils face two other major challenges: high salinity and Fe deficiency. Salinity attenuates growth, affects plant physiology, and causes nutrient imbalance, which is, in fact, one of the major consequences of saline stress. Iron is a micronutrient essential for plant development, and it is required by several metalloenzymes involved in photosynthesis and respiration. Iron deficiency is associated with chlorosis and low crop productivity. The role of microbial siderophores in Fe supply to plants and the effect of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) on the mitigation of saline stress in crop culture are well documented. However, the dual effect of siderophore-producing PGPR, both on salt stress and Fe limitation, is still poorly explored. This review provides a critical overview of the combined effects of Fe limitation and soil salinization as challenges to modern agriculture and intends to summarize some indirect evidence that argues in favour of siderophore-producing PGPR as biofertilization agents in salinized soils. Recent developments and future perspectives on the use of PGPR are discussed as clues to sustainable agricultural practices in the context of present and future climate change scenarios.
Obesity has numerous etiologies and includes biological factors. Studies have demonstrated that the human adenovirus subtype 36 (Adv36) is an adipogenic agent and causes metabolic alterations. Study ...results on the prevalence of Adv36 and clinical effects in humans vary substantially. This was a systematic review to summarize the studies on the prevalence of Adv36 infection and its association with human obesity.
A systematic literature review was conducted using the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA). Observational or experimental studies found in the Medline, Embase, LILACS, Science Direct and SciELO databases that presented results on the prevalence of Adv36 in humans were included.
Thirty-seven studies were screened. A total of 10,300 adults aged 18-70 years and 4585 children and adolescents aged 3-18 years were assessed. The average prevalence of Adv36 among adults was 22.9%, ranging from 5.5% to 49.8%. Among children and adolescents, the average prevalence of Adv36 was 28.9%, ranging from 7.5% to 73.9%. There was a positive statistical relationship between Adv36 and weight gain, obesity, or metabolic changes in 31 studies. However, in four studies there was no association with obesity, and in one, no association was described. One of the studies showed an inverse correlation, i.e., Adv36 was a protective factor against obesity.
Strong evidence suggested a positive association between viral infection and obesity. However, due to the multi-causality of obesity and heterogeneity of studies, diagnostic tests should be standardized and easily accessible by the population to estimate the overall prevalence of Adv36 infection and its association with obesity.
Abstract Objective Metabolic syndrome (MetS) in postmenopausal women is an important risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity, especially stroke and coronary heart disease and mortality. Preventing ...and treating MetS would be useful in preventing disability and promoting normal aging. Previous human studies have found some beneficial effects of Lactobacillus species on some isolated parameters of MetS. Nevertheless, we are not aware, to date, of any study which has verified the influence of probiotics in patients with MetS. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the influence of fermented milk with L. plantarum in the classical parameters related to MetS, as well as in other parameters related to cardiovascular risk in postmenopausal women. Methods Twenty-four individuals were paired by age, ethnicity, and body mass index in two groups: Non-fermented milk (NFM = 12) 80 mL/d and fermented milk (FM = 12) 80 mL/d. Anthropometric and blood pressure measurements, biochemical, inflammatory, and immunologic biomarkers were measured. Results Total cholesterol and γ-glutamyltranspeptidase had a significant reduction both in NFM ( P = 0.043 and P = 0.036, respectively) and FM groups ( P = 0.010 and P = 0.018, respectively) after 90 d, whereas low-density lipoprotein cholesterol showed a significant reduction in NFM group ( P = 0.002) and trend in the FM group ( P = 0.092). Glucose and homocysteine levels showed a significant reduction in the FM group compared with the NFM group ( P = 0.037 and P = 0.019, respectively). In relation to inflammatory biomarkers, there was a significant decrease in interleukin-6 both in NFM ( P = 0.032) and in FM ( P = 0.001) groups. Conclusion FM with L. plantarum showed more favorable results than NFM in relation to cardiovascular risk factors in postmenopausal women with MetS.
Faculty members face demands such as research, outreach programs, and management activities. Such demands may expose faculty to burnout. Burnout affects the physical, psychological and social health ...of faculty members, but it is still unclear how it affects their quality of life. We aimed to assess the impact of burnout on the quality of life (QoL) of faculty members from different fields of knowledge.
Cross-sectional study using validated tools for measuring burnout and QoL (Oldenburg Burnout Inventory-OLBI and World Health Organization Quality of Life-Abbreviated version-WHOQOL-Bref) in a sample of 366 faculty members from a public university. Scores were analyzed using Student's t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), binary logistic regression, and structural equation modeling (SEM).
More than a third of the faculty members (n = 127; 36.6%) suffered from burnout. Men had higher scores of quality of life than women in the physical health (p = 0.001; d<0.5), psychological (p = 0.001; d<0.5) and social relationships (p = 0.048; d<0.5) domains. Women were more exhausted than men (p = 0.001; d<0.5). Faculty members' perception of quality of life and burnout did not differ according to their field of knowledge (p>0.05). Participants who felt tired before arriving at work were less likely to report good quality of life (OR = 0.46; 95% CI = 0.21-0.99). Faculty members who stated they needed more time to relax after work were less likely to be satisfied with their health (OR = 0.20; 95% CI = 0.10-0.40). Burnout showed a negative association with quality of life (λ = 0.87; p < 0,001; df = 8).
Burnout negatively affects faculty members' quality of life, regardless of their field of knowledge. Our results suggest the implementation of programs and actions to prevent burnout to faculty members, especially to women, as their quality of life may affect the quality of the education provided.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
•We tested different classifications as predictors of phytoplankton in an impacted system.•Morphology-based functional groups (MBFG) best explained phytoplankton communitý responses.•Morphology ...captured efficiently eco-strategies of bloom-forming cyanobacteria.•MBFG approach can be used to monitor the development of HABs in temporal and spatial scales.
Cyanobacteria dominance is often associated with economic, ecological and health problems. The potential production of toxic compounds calls for frequent monitoring of cyanobacteria and their toxin production in many aquatic systems. Methods to simplify this process and facilitate management responses to sudden environmental changes are needed to improve the capability of risk-assessment. We tested the effectiveness of two different functional approaches (Functional Groups – FG, Reynolds et al., 2002; and Morphology-Based Functional Groups – MBFG, Kruk et al., 2010) as well as single species and taxonomic classifications as the best proxy of spatio-temporal phytoplankton dynamics and dominance of toxic algae in an impacted transitional river–reservoir system in the tropics. The Paraíba do Sul River and Funil Reservoir are located in one of the most heavily impacted regions of Brazil, and the latter system has a history of intense, long-lasting toxic cyanobacteria blooms. Sampling was conducted over the two climatological periods of the region: warm-rainy (October/2011 and January/2012) and cold-dry (July/2011 and May/2012), with stations in the following areas: tributary, reservoir and river (downstream from the dam). Our results showed that the MBFG classification was the most effective approach, i.e., best explained the response of the phytoplankton community to environmental variations. Environmental factors including light, nutrients, water temperature and hydrology increased the occurrence of different MBFGs on both spatial and temporal scales. The lotic areas showed a more diverse composition of MBFGs, including species with high to moderate tolerance to light limitation and flushing conditions (MBFGs I, III, IV, V and VI). In Funil Reservoir, phytoplankton biovolume was dominated by bloom-forming cyanobacteria (MBFGs III and VII) and remained high throughout the study. This dominance was related to the overall eutrophic conditions, low light availability and increased water-column stability of the reservoir. The seasonal dynamics in the reservoir was mainly related to changes in temperature and hydrology. Our results show for the first time that morphology captures efficiently eco-strategies of bloom-forming cyanobacteria and the MBFG approach can be used to predict and monitor the development of cyanobacteria HABs in temporal and spatial scales.
The construction of small hydroelectric plants (SHPs) has increased greatly worldwide, and the impacts of these impoundments can cause changes in the aquatic biota. Here, we investigated the ...ecological attributes (abundance, richness, and species diversity) of three communities (phytoplankton, invertebrates in the water column, and benthos) and the functional groups of phytoplankton, before and after the construction of five SHPs in an Amazonian river. The communities were sampled at two sites, one upstream and another downstream of each dam or construction site, before the dam closure. The dam did not change the limnological factors, and the acid waters and low electrical conductivity, typical of “cerrado” rivers, were characteristic of both the pre‐ and post‐dam phases. For aquatic communities, the phytoplankton abundance increased and the diversity of groups decreased in the post‐dam phase. Regarding the morphology‐based functional groups (MBFG), there was an increase in groups I (small algae with a high surface/volume ratio) and V (phytoflagellates), with a reduction in groups VI (diatoms) and VII (large mucilaginous colonies) in the post‐dam phase. The relative abundance of zooplankton species increased in the post‐dam phase, and the opposite was observed for the benthic community, with reductions in abundance, richness, and group diversity in the post‐dam phase. The structure of the three communities differed between the pre‐ and post‐dam phases, but no difference in communities' similarity was observed between the upstream and downstream sites in both phases. The results show that the change in hydrodynamics, from lotic to semi‐lentic, in the reservoirs of the SHPs, was the main driving force for the alterations in the three communities. For phytoplankton, SHPs are favorable in the sense of decreasing the incidence of algal blooms, particularly of cyanobacteria.
The food industry has been valuing the quest for natural substances for use in food preservation aiming to meet consumer demand for safer, more natural foods with preserved nutrients. This study ...aimed to assess the antimicrobial potential of essential oil of Melaleuca alternifolia (EOMA) in the inhibition of Listeria monocytogenes (ATCC 7644) (L. monocytogenes) in ground beef. An in vitro screening in solid phase was performed and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) were determined through microdilution test. The time of action of EOMA was assessed through the death-time curve at 2 × MIC and MBC. The effects of MBC on bacterial morphology were verified under scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The meat samples were inoculated with four different suspensions of L. monocytogenes (1.5 × 108 CFU/mL, 4.6 × 104 CFU/mL, 9.2 × 103 CFU/mL, and 1.2 × 102 CFU/mL) and stored at 4 ± 1 °C for up to 14 days. The test samples were added with 1.5% v/w EOMA. The test of diffusion in solid medium showed L. monocytogenes ATCC 7644 was extremely sensitive to EOMA. MIC and MBC values were 0.10 μL/g and 0.15 μL/mL, respectively. The death-time curve revealed a reduction of viable cells after 1 h of contact with the oil. SEM showed that the treated cells had wrinkled surface and some cells had lower size and diameter when compared to control ones. The food matrix test indicated EOMA had antimicrobial activity in all samples except for the one inoculated with the suspension at 1.5 × 108 CFU/mL. Thus, the use of essential oil of Melaleuca alternifolia as a potential natural antimicrobial agent to preserve ground beef was promising as it was effective at low concentration. The data lay bases for new tests to be carried out in other food matrices.
•The L. monocytogenes strain ATCC 7644 was classified as extremely sensitive to the oil.•Surface deformation and reduction in size and diameter of the strains treated occurred.•Essential oil from M. alternifolia had in vivo antimicrobial activity.
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