—Observations were conducted from the R/V
Akademik Mstislav Keldysh
in the Drake Passage, the vicinities of the Antarctic Peninsula, the Scotia Sea, and the northern Weddell Sea during two cruises in ...January–early March 2020 (cruise 79) and during a single cruise in January–February 2022 (cruise 87). The data make it possible to assess the number of the most abundant sea mammals in the area near the South Shetland Islands, Scotia Sea, and Powell Basin. The 2022 observation area in the Antarctic was located about 150 km east of the 2020 area. The survey area, which was a bit larger than 343 000 km
2
in January–February 2020, hosted approximately 1200 humpback whales (
Megaptera novaeangliae
) and 2800 fin whales (
Balaenoptera physalus
). In 2022, this area hosted approximately 2500 fin whales and again more than 1200 humpback whales. The numbers of the Antarctic fur seals in each season here were assessed at approximately 2000–3000 animals. The type of distribution of these two whale species along the track of the vessel indicated the absence of intra- or interspecies food competition during the austral summers of 2020 and 2022. It was possible to evaluate the total numbers of Antarctic fur seal (
Arctocephalus gazella
); however, this assessment appeared less precise than the same ones for humpback and fin whales.
The allelic diversity of the
DQB
gene of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) in the Atlantic walrus from the European part of the Arctic was analyzed for the first time. We studied animals ...from the haulouts located on the Franz Josef Land archipelago and near the northern tip of Novaya Zemlya. We demonstrated that there are significant differences for this locus between the two studied haulouts. Simultaneous analysis of microsatellite loci reveals a lower level of differentiation and also suggested that animals from more than one spatial-geographical stock (population) gather at the summer haulout on Novaya Zemlya. It has been suggested that individuals with different MHC genotypes may prefer different feeding areas, regardless of the areas of residence during the breeding season.
A survey of the expedition on the R/V
Akademik Mstislav Keldysh
in the waters south of the southernmost tip of Argentina, in the Drake Passage, as well as in the vicinities of the Antarctic ...Peninsula, the Scotia Sea, and the northern part of the Weddell Sea, was undertaken during two trips: January 16–February 6 (hereafter, January) and February 8–March 3 (hereafter, February), 2020. We propose a new method for analyzing the results of ecological studies and, based on this method, present new information on the ecology and spatial distribution of marine mammals and seabirds of the Antarctic. A number of marine mammal and seabird species showed similar ecological fingerprints, indicating their similar spatial distributions and the same relations to the environmental conditions regardless of their systematic position. The fin whale, the humpback whale, the snow petrel, the Adélie penguin, the Antarctic petrel, and the southern fulmar showed similar specific patterns of ecological fingerprints in January, showing the association of these species to the sea areas with icebergs and/or cut ice. In February, the allocation of the whale species to icy areas weakened what was mirrored in their ecological fingerprints, while all the above-mentioned bird species still preserved this association. The ecological fingerprints clearly circumscribe the broadness of the abiotic ecological niche occupied by individual species or species clusters. Ecological fingerprints are capable of showing changes in species distribution areas in certain periods (the southern royal albatross), in the strategy of the area usage patterns (the Antarctic fur seal), as well as in other ecological features, including those not yet considered.
Obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are often combined and pathologically affect many tissues due to changes in circulating bioactive molecules. In this work, we evaluated the effect of blood ...plasma from obese (OB) patients or from obese patients comorbid with diabetes (OBD) on skeletal muscle function and metabolic state. We employed the mouse myoblasts C2C12 differentiation model to test the regulatory effect of plasma exposure at several levels: (1) cell morphology; (2) functional activity of mitochondria; (3) expression levels of several mitochondria regulators, i.e.,
,
, and miR-378a-3p. Existing databases were used to computationally predict and analyze mir-378a-3p potential targets. We show that short-term exposure to OB or OBD patients' plasma is sufficient to affect C2C12 properties. In fact, the expression of genes that regulate skeletal muscle differentiation and growth was downregulated in both OB- and OBD-treated cells, maximal mitochondrial respiration rate was downregulated in the OBD group, while in the OB group, a metabolic switch to glycolysis was detected. These alterations correlated with a decrease in
and
expression in the OB group and with an increase of miR-378a-3p levels in the OBD group.
The present publication presents preliminary advances about the experimental design related with the emission of impurities in the work environment during processing of metals, so as to study the ...result of thermal destruction of substances used in the optimization of technological processes. These results will be the basis for the design of new experimental models based on techniques and tools of computational simulation in order to set up a mathematical model describing the spread of harmful substances into the environment during the application of lubricating cooling technical means during the cutting and processing of metals in the industry.
Germplasm collections reflect the genetic variability in crops and their wild relatives. Hence, those genetic resources are tremendously valuable for breeders and researchers, especially in light of ...climatic change and stagnant crop production rates. In order to achieve improvements in crop production and end-use quality, favorable traits and donor alleles present in germplasm collections need to be identified and utilized. This review covers recent reports on the utilization of germplasm material to isolate genotypes of
Brassica oleracea
and
B. rapa
vegetables, focusing on high nutrient use efficiency, accumulation of biologically active metabolites, pest resistance, and favorable phenotypic appearance. We discuss the current state of
Brassica
vegetable collections in genebanks and summarize studies directed to the molecular characterization of those collections.
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