Chemical pollution and global warming are two major threats to organisms, which can interact to affect the normal activities of living beings. In this study, to explore the effects of abamectin and ...high temperature on adaptability of lizard, male adult Eremias argus (a native Chinese lizard) were exposed to environmentally relevant concentrations of abamectin (0.02 mg·L−1 and 2 mg·L−1) and different temperature (26 °C and 32 °C) for 30 days. The fitness-related behaviors (locomotion, predation, and thermoregulation) of lizards were evaluated. Physiological effects were addressed using biochemical biomarkers related to oxidative stress, detoxification, and neurotransmitter content. The results showed that abamectin could affect the neurotransmitter systems, cause oxidative stress, and alters lizard locomotion and predation-related behaviors of lizards, but lizards up-regulating detoxification metabolic enzymes, exhibiting higher body temperature preference to alleviate the toxicity of abamectin, and compensate the increased energy demand for detoxification and repair damage by increasing food intake. After exposure to high temperature, lizards showed adaptation to high temperature (higher body temperature preference), the thermal compensation mechanisms may involve elevated Hsp70 levels and increased food intake. At the combined effects of abamectin and high temperature, more obvious behavioral disorders and more severe oxidative stress were observed, although lizards avoided the negative effects of overheating and pollutants by seeking thermal shelter and reducing energy expenditure, this may subsequently reduce foraging opportunities and the ability to obtain energy needed for vital physiological functions (i.e., growth, maintenance, and reproduction). From a long-term perspective, these short-term adaptive strategies will be detrimental to individual long-term survival and population sustainability, and may transformed into maladaptation.
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•Abamectin exposure caused oxidative damage to liver and brain in lizards.•Locomotor and predatory performance of lizards decreased after abamectin exposure.•High temperature intensified the negative effects of abamectin.•Lizards adopt different adaptive strategies to cope with stressors.•Short-term adaptive strategies may turn into maladaptation in the long run.
This study investigated the enantioselective effects of S-, R-, and rac-penthiopyrad (PEN) on the flavor quality of tomato fruit through the levels of sugars, acids, volatiles, and nutrients and ...explored the potential mechanism by combined analysis of the transcriptome and metabolome. The results revealed that the S-enantiomer increased the content of soluble sugars while decreasing the content of organic acids, thereby increasing the taste of tomato fruit. Furthermore, S-(+)-PEN promoted the accumulation of volatile compounds and nutrients (total phenols, flavonoids, and vitamin C). Transcriptome and metabolome data showed that the S-enantiomer improved fruit flavor and quality by influencing metabolites and genes in glycolysis, starch and sucrose metabolism, the citrate cycle, and amino acid biosynthesis pathways. However, R-(−)-PEN had a negative effect on tomato flavor. The effect of the racemate on fruit flavor quality was between a pair of enantiomers. The comprehensive data of PEN enantiomers will provide theoretical support for the application of PEN in tomatoes. Thus, developing enantiopure S-(+)-PEN products might be more conducive to the flavor and quality of the tomato fruit.
Life-history theory suggests that organisms must distribute a limited share of their energetic resources among competing life-history trait demands. Therefore, the trade-off strategies individuals ...develop for particular life-history traits in a given environment may profoundly impact their environmental adaptability. In this study, lizards (Eremias. argus) were exposed to single and combined atrazine (4.0 mg·kg−1 and 20.0 mg·kg−1) and different temperatures (25 °C and 30 °C) for 8 weeks during the breeding season. The effects of atrazine and warming on the adaptability of lizards were explored by examining changes in trade-offs via several key life history traits (i.e., reproduction, self-maintenance, energy reserves, and locomotion). The results show that after atrazine exposure at 25 °C, both female and male lizards tended to allocate energy to self-maintenance by reducing energy allocation to reproductive process. The lower energy reserves of males are considered a “risky” life-history strategy and the observed higher mortality may be related to atrazine-induced oxidative damage. The retention of energy reserves by females not only ensured their current survival but also facilitated survival and reproduction in subsequent stages, which can be regarded as a “conservative” strategy. However, under high temperature and/or combined atrazine exposure, the “risky” strategy of males caused them to consume more energy reserves to invest in self-maintenance, which ensured their immediate survival, and profited from more rapid degradation of atrazine. In contrast, the “conservative” strategy of females could not meet their higher reproductive and self-maintenance demands under high temperatures, and the elevated reproductive oxidative and metabolic costs led to individual mortality. Gender differences in life-history trade-off strategies can directly lead to “winners” and “losers” from environmental stress within a species.
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•Warming and atrazine cause life-history traits trade-off in breeding season lizards.•The life-history traits trade-offs have difference between males and females.•Male lizards are more sensitive to atrazine exposure.•Pregnant females show higher sensitivity to high temperature.•Different trade-off strategies lead to winners and losers under environment stress.
BACKGROUNDAcne vulgaris is a chronic inflammatory disease of pilosebaceous units and sebaceous glands. This study aimed to find out metabolites and metabolite pathways abnormal in moderate-to-severe ...acne vulgaris patients. METHODSThe plasma metabolites LC-MS/MS analysis was conducted on 30 moderate-to-severe acne patients and 32 healthy controls. Multivariate data analyses were applied to identify the distinguishing metabolites. RESULTSTotally, 63 significant differential metabolites and 40 metabolic pathways were significantly changed. The top 3 metabolites on the basis of their VIP scores obtained from the PLS-DA were 2-Oxoadipic acid, Myo-inositol and Citrate. In addition, four sphingolipid metabolites include sphinganine, sphingosine, O-Phosphoethanolamine, and sphingomyelin (d18:1/18:0) were identified. The most closely related metabolic pathways included ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters and sphingolipid signaling pathway in moderate-to-severe acne patients. CONCLUSIONSThe observed difference in metabolic profiles between acne patients and healthy controls provides a new insight into the link between plasma metabolic changes and acne vulgaris.
Consumers have been complaining about the deterioration of the flavor of strawberries. The use of pesticides could have potential impacts on fruit flavor but the mechanisms are unclear. Here, we ...spayed boscalid and difenoconazole on the small green fruit of strawberries to investigate their effect on fruit flavor quality and the mechanism. The results indicated that both fungicides decreased the contents of soluble sugar and nutrients but increased acids in mature fruits, changed the levels of volatiles, and caused oxidative damage, which ultimately reduced the flavor quality of strawberries, and the negative effect of boscalid was greater. Combined with transcriptome and metabolome, boscalid altered the genes in sugar–acid metabolism (SUT, SPS, and INV), volatiles (FaQR, FaOMT, FaLOX, and FaAAT), and amino acid synthesis pathways and metabolites. This study elaborated on the effects of fungicides on the flavor quality of strawberries from physiological–biochemical and molecular levels and laid the foundation for improving the strawberry flavor quality.
The occurrence of HIV-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) compromises the physical and mental health of people living with HIV (PLWH). This study examined the psychological pathways of ...HIV-related PTSD symptoms considering the influence of rumination in PLWH of China. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Changsha, China. The data were collected using the PTSD Checklist−Civilian Version, the Ruminative Response Scale, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and measures of sociodemographic and HIV-related clinic characteristics. A total of 602 PLWH were surveyed. The average score of HIV-related PTSD symptoms was (34.54 ± 13.58). The mediation model showed that perceived social stigma and physical health exhibited direct associations with PTSD symptoms (β = 0.093, −0.145, respectively), while the direct relations of family support, friend support and significant others support to PTSD symptoms were not significant. Rumination mediated the effect of perceived social stigma (β = 0.077), physical health (β = −0.150), family support (β = −0.144) and friend support (β = −0.105) on PTSD symptoms. The study findings underscore the importance of routinely assessing PTSD for PLWH, and developing trauma-focused interventions that alleviate HIV-related PTSD symptoms and reduce rumination while improving social support and physical health and reducing social stigma.
Risk assessments of the ecotoxicological effects insecticides impose on ectotherms have increasingly considered temperature. However, the changes toxicants induce in thermoregulatory behavioral ...traits may lead to a divergence of thermal selection and temperature-dependent changes of contaminant toxicity. This study demonstrated the interaction of behavioral thermoregulation and temperature-dependent toxicity of beta-cyfluthrin (BC) in the lizard Eremias argus. Based on the negative relationship between temperature and BC toxicity, seeking a warming environment was assumed to represent a self-rescue behavior (and vice versa). The results showed that BC-treated lizards (0–20 μg/g body weight (bw)) showed such self-rescue behavior, while lizards exposed to an extremely high BC dose (200 μg/g bw) sought a cooler environment. Biochemical assays showed that BC affected neurotransmitter systems, caused oxidative stress, and interfered with ion-transport in the central nervous system. Biomarkers of the cholinergic and glutamatergic system, ion-transport function, and oxidative stress were identified as potential biochemical variables related to thermoregulatory behavior. Apparently, seeking a warmer environment is a survival strategy with the aim to neutralize BC toxicity, while seeking a cooler environment aims to attenuate the harmful effects of metabolic and oxidative stress, and to decelerate internal BC diffusion. This phenomenon could be also explained by the concept of the “cooling trap”, i.e., a behavior where cooler temperatures are sought. This impairs survival after exposure to BC at it has a negative temperature coefficient, derived from a dysfunction of the central nervous system regarding thermoregulation caused by the high dosage of neurotoxicant and resulting temperature maladaptation. Implications of the interaction between thermoregulatory behavior and temperature-dependent toxicity are presented, which may aid further temperature-dependent risk assessments.
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•Beta-cyfluthrin (BC) has negative temperature-dependent toxicity (TDT) in lizards.•BC caused oxidative stress and neural disorder in the central nervous system.•BC influenced thermoregulatory strategies, which varied with different doses.•Behavior to seek cooler places impaired survival and may indicate a “cooling trap”.•Relations between thermoregulation and TDT impede risk assessments in ectotherms.
