Asymmetric heat conduction in nonlinear lattices

In this Letter, we conduct an extensive study of the two-segment Frenkel-Kontorova model. We show that the rectification effect of the heat flux reported in recent literature is possible only in the weak interfacial coupling limit. The rectification effect will be reversed when the properties of the interface and the system size change. These two types of asymmetric heat conduction are governed by different mechanisms though both are induced by nonlinearity. An intuitive physical picture is proposed to interpret the reversal of the rectification effect. Since asymmetric heat conduction depends critically on the properties of the interface and the system size, it is probably not an easy task to fabricate a thermal rectifier or thermal diode in practice.

牙鲆性腺分化发育及类固醇激素T和E2对性腺分化的影响

本文采用组织学手段研究了牙鲆性腺在分化、发育和成熟过程中的变化。然后，通过放射性免疫方法（RIA）测定了牙鲆仔稚幼鱼全组织匀浆液中的性类固醇激素—睾酮（T）和雌二醇（E2）的含量，并结合牙鲆血清中T和E2含量的年周期测定，从内分泌学水平探讨了T和E2在其性腺分化、发育和成熟过程中水平的变化规律。同时，采用高温和雌性激素对性腺未分化的普通和雌核发育牙鲆仔稚鱼进行诱导处理，获得了较高比例的雄性鱼/假雄鱼或100%雌性鱼；并研究了这些外界环境因子对牙鲆性腺分化、性别比率及体内T和E2水平的影响，藉此探讨了牙鲆性别决定与性腺分化的细胞学和内分泌学机制。 对牙鲆仔稚幼鱼性腺的组织切片观察发现，培育水温18~20℃下，孵化后第45天、平均全长<22.0±2.8 mm的牙鲆，其性腺分化尚未开始，属于原始性腺；在孵化后70日龄、平均全长为38.0±1.7 mm左右，部分个体中观察到卵巢的雏形，其余个体的性腺在此阶段以及之后的一段时间内变化并不明显；到了第110天、平均全长达到86.5±5.9 mm时，雌性个体卵巢出现了卵原细胞向卵母细胞的转变，标志着卵巢分化的结束。在90日龄、平均全长为63.5±3.4 mm的雄性牙鲆中，精原细胞快速增殖，并观察到了输精管结构；进一步的细胞学分化则出现在100日龄、平均全长为76.0±8.6 mm的个体中，此时可以看到精小叶的形成；在平均全长为140.0±15.2 mm时，精巢中出现初级精母细胞，标志着性腺分化的基本完成。 对牙鲆仔稚幼鱼全组织匀浆和成鱼血清中的T和E2水平的比较发现，在全长为6 mm左右的仔鱼中T和E2含量均较高。随后，在性腺分化过程中T含量大大降低，E2的含量急剧增高，而性腺分化后期E2含量又降到较低的水平。在雄性牙鲆成鱼中， 从精巢第Ⅲ期开始，T含量随着精巢的发育而增加，到了精巢第Ⅴ期性腺发育成熟并排精后，又降低到较低的水平；E2含量在从精巢第Ⅲ期发育至精巢第Ⅴ期过程中略呈降低的趋势，但是总体上来说没有明显的差异。在雌性牙鲆成鱼中，卵巢从第Ⅱ期到第Ⅳ期的过程中，T水平逐渐升高，在第Ⅴ期时则明显降低；而E2含量在卵巢第Ⅱ期时保持较低的水平，随着卵巢的发育，E2含量逐渐增高，在卵巢第Ⅳ期时达到最高水平，在第Ⅴ期产卵后又有所降低。在雌雄个体中T和E2均呈现周期性的变化。5月份随着水温的升高，雄性个体T和E2含量显著上升；到了9月份又逐渐下降至最低值。雌性个体E2含量自3月份开始增高，在5月份急剧升高，并在6月份达到最高值；在7月份的时候，E2突然降低，而到了8月份又有所回升；9月份之后E2逐渐降低并在1月份左右降到最低；而T的含量分别在2月份和6月份出现两次高峰。 温度诱导牙鲆幼鱼性腺分化的结果表明，牙鲆中存在明显的TSD机制，即其性腺分化因饲育水温的不同而变化：在一定温度范围内，随着饲育温度的增加，牙鲆的雄性比例逐渐增高，常温对照组和21℃组中的雄性比例分别为51.62%、60.00%，而在24℃和28℃高温组中，雄性比例显著高于对照组，分别达到73.33%和87.27%。T和E2含量测定显示，在性腺分化时期，高温和对照组中T含量没有明显的变化，而温度处理组中的E2水平则低于对照组，特别是在28℃高温组，其E2水平显著低于对照组（P<0.05）。外源E2处理性腺未分化的牙鲆幼鱼的结果也表明，牙鲆的死亡率与雌性化比率均为雌性激素剂量依赖型的。随着外源E2剂量的增加，雌性比率增加，但同时死亡率也增高。此期间T和E2水平比较发现，在性腺分化时期，对照组中的T含量稍高于雌激素处理组；而对照组中的E2含量高于0.2 ppm和2 ppm两个低剂量组，却低于20 ppm和100 ppm两个高剂量组。 同时，还对人工诱导培育的雌核发育牙鲆和性反转牙鲆进行了性腺发育观察，在所观察的雌核发育牙鲆个体中，其雌性比例为83.33%，而高温28℃饲育群体中的雄性比例（即假雄鱼比例）为91.67%；在雌性个体中，也有一定比例的个体性腺发育不正常，有的性腺发育较小，有的则缺少部分性腺。进一步对雌核发育成体的血清中T和E2含量进行测量，发现在普通牙鲆个体中T含量显著低于雌核发育个体，而E2含量则高于雌核发育牙鲆；在雌核发育牙鲆中，性腺发育不正常的个体比性腺发育正常的个体中的T含量稍高，而E2含量则显著低于正常雌核发育牙鲆个体和普通牙鲆个体（P< 0.05）。

8～12岁男孩的性激素与智力、人格的关系

Recently there emerged more and more researhes concerning about sex hormone-related cognitive ability and behaviours. Few were carried out in pre- to early adolescent children., and the objective of the current study is to investigate whether there are covariance between sex hormones, intelligence and personality in 232 pre- to early adolescent boys, including 62 gifted boys. Indexes of sex hormone levels were salivary testosterone and estradiol concentrations, the 2D:4D digit ratio ( a reliable pointer of prenatal sex hormone concentraions). The Cattell Culture Fair Intelligence Test and a Chinese version of Children’s Personality Questionaire was applied in the current study. The main findings are: 1) salivary sex hormone concentrations significantly positively correlated with intelligence performance in 10-year-old boys; 2) salivary testosterone negatively related to intelligence performance in 12-year-old boys; 3) gifted boys bears lower testosterone concentrations in both prenatal period and pre- to early adolescence; 4) for personality, higher salivary estradiol was related to extraversion and digit ratios correlated with several personality factors in 8-year-old boys. In conclusion, results in the current study suggested that for male early maturers, intelligence may be negatively influenced by early coming androgen surge. In contrast, male late matures may benefit from their lately and moderately increasing hormone. Besides, the results suggested that the relationship between 2D:4D digit ratio and personality may also be paid attention to.

Ciclodextrinas

Projeto de Pós-Graduação/Dissertação apresentado à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ciências Farmacêuticas

Hepcidin as a therapeutic tool to limit iron overload and improve anemia in β-thalassemic mice.

Excessive iron absorption is one of the main features of β-thalassemia and can lead to severe morbidity and mortality. Serial analyses of β-thalassemic mice indicate that while hemoglobin levels decrease over time, the concentration of iron in the liver, spleen, and kidneys markedly increases. Iron overload is associated with low levels of hepcidin, a peptide that regulates iron metabolism by triggering degradation of ferroportin, an iron-transport protein localized on absorptive enterocytes as well as hepatocytes and macrophages. Patients with β-thalassemia also have low hepcidin levels. These observations led us to hypothesize that more iron is absorbed in β-thalassemia than is required for erythropoiesis and that increasing the concentration of hepcidin in the body of such patients might be therapeutic, limiting iron overload. Here we demonstrate that a moderate increase in expression of hepcidin in β-thalassemic mice limits iron overload, decreases formation of insoluble membrane-bound globins and reactive oxygen species, and improves anemia. Mice with increased hepcidin expression also demonstrated an increase in the lifespan of their red cells, reversal of ineffective erythropoiesis and splenomegaly, and an increase in total hemoglobin levels. These data led us to suggest that therapeutics that could increase hepcidin levels or act as hepcidin agonists might help treat the abnormal iron absorption in individuals with β-thalassemia and related disorders.

Prolactin receptor signaling is essential for perinatal brown adipocyte function: a role for insulin-like growth factor-2.

BACKGROUND: The lactogenic hormones prolactin (PRL) and placental lactogens (PL) play central roles in reproduction and mammary development. Their actions are mediated via binding to PRL receptor (PRLR), highly expressed in brown adipose tissue (BAT), yet their impact on adipocyte function and metabolism remains unclear. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: PRLR knockout (KO) newborn mice were phenotypically characterized in terms of thermoregulation and their BAT differentiation assayed for gene expression studies. Derived brown preadipocyte cell lines were established to evaluate the molecular mechanisms involved in PRL signaling on BAT function. Here, we report that newborn mice lacking PRLR have hypotrophic BAT depots that express low levels of adipocyte nuclear receptor PPARgamma2, its coactivator PGC-1alpha, uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) and the beta3 adrenoceptor, reducing mouse viability during cold challenge. Immortalized PRLR KO preadipocytes fail to undergo differentiation into mature adipocytes, a defect reversed by reintroduction of PRLR. That the effects of the lactogens in BAT are at least partly mediated by Insulin-like Growth Factor-2 (IGF-2) is supported by: i) a striking reduction in BAT IGF-2 expression in PRLR KO mice and in PRLR-deficient preadipocytes; ii) induction of cellular IGF-2 expression by PRL through JAK2/STAT5 pathway activation; and iii) reversal of defective differentiation in PRLR KO cells by exogenous IGF-2. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate that the lactogens act in concert with IGF-2 to control brown adipocyte differentiation and growth. Given the prominent role of brown adipose tissue during the perinatal period, our results identified prolactin receptor signaling as a major player and a potential therapeutic target in protecting newborn mammals against hypothermia.

Recasting 'Black Venus' in the new African Diaspora

This article explores the ways in which transnational feminist analysis can be deployed to reconfigure new gendered and racialized cartographies of the African Diaspora in Europe. First, I position contemporary film representations of trafficked Nigerian sex workers in Italy in dialogical relation to 19th century discourses of black sexuality - in particular, Sharpley-Whiting's (1999) reinscribed 'Black Venus Master Narrative' - and assess historical and geographical (dis)continuities in their modes of signification. Second, by linking endemic factors feeding the supply of Nigerian women for the purposes of (in)voluntary participation in the Italian sex industry, such as the localized feminization of poverty and regionally specific perceptions of sex work as a temporary economic strategy, I engage with broader feminist debates on victimization and agency in global sex work and migration literatures. In doing so, this dialectical think piece highlights the gendered complexities of new African diasporic formations and the ways in which their growth is facilitated by broader illegal networks that shape and are shaped by vicissitudes in glocalized economies. © 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Involuntary Memories and Dissociative Amnesia: Assessing Key Assumptions in PTSD Research.

Autobiographical memories of trauma victims are often described as disturbed in two ways. First, the trauma is frequently re-experienced in the form of involuntary, intrusive recollections. Second, the trauma is difficult to recall voluntarily (strategically); important parts may be totally or partially inaccessible-a feature known as dissociative amnesia. These characteristics are often mentioned by PTSD researchers and are included as PTSD symptoms in the DSM-IV-TR (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). In contrast, we show that both involuntary and voluntary recall are enhanced by emotional stress during encoding. We also show that the PTSD symptom in the diagnosis addressing dissociative amnesia, trouble remembering important aspects of the trauma is less well correlated with the remaining PTSD symptoms than the conceptual reversal of having trouble forgetting important aspects of the trauma. Our findings contradict key assumptions that have shaped PTSD research over the last 40 years.

The Toronto Word Pool: Norms for imagery, concreteness, orthographic variables, and grammatical usage for 1,080 words

Imagery and concreteness norms and percentage noun usage were obtained on the 1,080 verbal items from the Toronto Word Pool. Imagery was defined as the rated ease with which a word aroused a mental image, and concreteness was defined in relation to level of abstraction. The degree to which a word was functionally a noun was estimated in a sentence generation task. The mean and standard deviation of the imagery and concreteness ratings for each item are reported together with letter and printed frequency counts for the words and indications of sex differences in the ratings. Additional data in the norms include a grammatical function code derived from dictionary definitions, a percent noun judgment, indexes of statistical approximation to English, and an orthographic neighbor ratio. Validity estimates for the imagery and concreteness ratings are derived from comparisons with scale values drawn from the Paivio, Yuille, and Madigan (1968) noun pool and the Toglia and Battig (1978) norms. © 1982 Psychonomic Society, Inc.

Increased leptin levels correlate with thyroid autoantibodies in nonobese males.

OBJECTIVE: Leptin is an adipokine that regulates body weight and appetite. It is also an inflammatory cytokine that influences immune reactivity and autoimmunity. Leptin levels are increased in obesity and are higher in women than in men. We aimed to determine whether leptin levels, independent of sex and body mass index (BMI), are associated with thyroid autoimmunity. DESIGN: This study uses data from The Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) to test the association of leptin and thyroid autoimmunity, independent of BMI. MEASUREMENTS: Thyroid-stimulating hormone, thyroxine, antithyroid peroxidase (TPO) antibodies and leptin levels were measured in 2902 men and 3280 women within the NHANES III population. BMI was calculated from height and weight. RESULTS: Women had significantly higher leptin levels and anti-TPO antibody titres than men. Correlation analyses demonstrated that leptin levels were associated with anti-TPO antibody levels in the total population, but when men and women were analysed separately, this association was lost. We then stratified men and women into obese (BMI > 30) or nonobese (BMI ≤ 30) subgroups and determined the association between leptin levels and anti-TPO antibody titres for each subgroup. Using regression analysis, we found that increased leptin levels correlated with thyroid autoantibodies in nonobese males, but not in obese males or in females. CONCLUSIONS: Leptin levels correlated with thyroid autoantibody titres in nonobese males. This association was not found in females. Sex and body habitus should therefore be considered in studying the role of leptin in other autoimmune conditions.

Heterospecific mating and species recognition in the planktonic marine copepods Temora stylifera and T. longicornis

Many planktonic copepods use diffusible pheromone or hydromechanical signals to remotely detect the presence of potential mates. To determine whether these mating signals also play a role in species recognition and mate choice, we observed and video recorded (3D) mate-finding and pursuit behaviors in heterospecific and conspecific mating crosses in a pair of congeneric, partially sympatric species (Temora stylifera and T. longicornis) in the laboratory. The species appear to have asymmetrical pre-mating isolation, with T. longicornis males readily pursuing T. stylifera females to mate contact and capture, but with little mate-finding activity observed in the reverse cross. Males of T. longicornis pursuing heterospecific females executed a number of behaviors known to facilitate successful pheromone trail following and mate capture in conspecific mating, including accelerated swimming in a ‘signal-scanning’ mode to recover a lost pheromone trail, reversal of the tracking direction in cases when the male initiated tracking in the incorrect direction, and accelerated swimming speeds when in the presence of a pheromone signal but prior to locating the trail. Detailed analyses of mate-tracking behavior in T. longicornis male × T. stylifera female crosses gave no indication that males were aware they were pursuing heterospecific females prior to mate contact, indicating that diffusible pheromone and hydromechanical signals are not used, either singly or in combination, for species recognition in this mating pair. Heterospecific mating attempts among sympatric, congeneric copepods may commonly proceed to mate capture, and incur fitness costs to either or both mating partners.

Pathogenic challenge reveals immune trade-off in mussels exposed to reduced seawater pH and increased temperature

Mussels tolerant to seawater pH's that are projected to occur by 2300 due to ocean acidification.•Exposure to pH 6.50 reduced mussel immune response, yet in the absence of a pathogen.•Subsequent pathogenic challenge led to a reversal of immune suppression at pH 6.50.•Study highlights the importance of undertaking multiple stressor exposures.•Shows a need to consider physiological trade-offs and measure responses functionally

Glucose-induced oxidative stress in mesangial cells.

Background: Hyperglycaemia is a well recognized pathogenic factor of long term complications in diabetes mellitus. Hyperglycaemia not only generates reactive oxygen species but also attenuates antioxidant mechanisms creating a state of oxidative stress. Methods: Porcine mesangial cells were cultured in high glucose (HG) for ten days to investigate the effects on the antioxidant defences of the cell. Results: Mesangial cells cultured in HG conditions had significantly reduced levels of glutathione (GSH) compared with those grown in normal glucose (NG). The reduced GSH levels were accompanied by decreased gene expression of both subunits of gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase (gamma-GCS), the rate-limiting enzyme in de novo synthesis of GSH. Elevated levels of intracellular malondialdehyde (MDA) were found in cells exposed to HG conditions. HG also caused elevated mRNA levels of the antioxidant enzymes CuZn superoxide dismutase (SOD) and MnSOD. These changes were accompanied by increased mRNA levels of extracellular matrix proteins (ECM), fibronectin (FN) and collagen IV (CIV). Addition of antioxidants to high glucose caused a significant reversal of FN and CIV gene expression; alpha-lipoic acid also upregulated gamma-GCS gene expression and restored intracellular GSH and MDA levels. Conclusions: We have demonstrated the existence of glucose induced-oxidative stress in mesangial cells as evidenced by elevated MDA and decreased GSH levels. The decreased levels of GSH are as a result of decreased mRNA expression of gamma-GCS within the cell. Antioxidants caused a significant reversal of FN and CIV gene expression suggesting an aetiological link between oxidative stress and increased ECM protein synthesis.

Polymorphisms in the interleukin-4 and IL-4 receptor genes modify risk for chronic inflammatory arthropathies in women.

Rheumatoid and juvenile idiopathic arthritis (RA, JIA) are chronic inflammatory arthropathies with polygenic autoimmune background. We analysed the IL-4 +33 C/T and IL-4R Q551R single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 294 RA, 72 JIA and 165 controls from Northern Ireland. Analysis of the individual phenotypes (RA or JIA) showed that both the IL-4 +33 TT (P = 0.02; OR: 0.25, 95% CI: 0.07-0.87) and the IL-4R Q551R CC genotypes (P = 0.001; OR: 0.19, 95% CI: 0.06-0.56) were exclusively decreased in female RA patients compared to female controls. Similar non-significant trends were observed in female JIA patients (OR: 0.25, 95% CI: 0.03-2.11 and OR: 0.31, 95% CI: 0.07-1.47, respectively). Analysis of the common phenotype (inflammatory arthropathy; i.e. JIA and RA combined) corroborated the unique association of these polymorphisms with female inflammatory arthropathy (P = 0.013 and 0.002, respectively). This is the first demonstration of sex-specific association of the two foremost genes of the IL-4 signalling cascade with chronic inflammatory arthropathies.

Differences in Abdominal and Liver Fat Accumulation Between Obesity-Matched Adults With and Without Type 2 Diabetes

Despite attempts to identify the mechanisms by which obesity leads to the development of Type 2 Diabetes (T2D), it remains unclear why some but not all adults with obesity develop T2D. Given the established associations between visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and liver fat with insulin resistance, we hypothesized that compared to age and obesity matched adults who were non-diabetic (NT2D), adults with T2D would have greater amounts of VAT and liver fat. The International Study of Prediction of Intra-Abdominal Adiposity and Its Relationship with Cardiometabolic Risk/Intra-Abdominal Adiposity (INSPIRE ME IAA) aims to study the associations between VAT and liver fat and risk of developing T2D and cardiovascular disease. Four thousand, five hundred and four participants were initially recruited; from this, 2383 White and Asian adults were selected for this ancillary analysis. The NT2D and T2D groups were matched for age, body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC). The T2D and NT2D groups were also compared to participants with either impaired fasting glucose (IFG) or impaired glucose tolerance (IGT; IFG/IGT)). Abdominal adipose tissue was measured by computed tomography; liver fat was estimated using computed tomography-derived mean attenuation. Secondary analysis determined whether differences existed between NT2D and T2D groups in VAT and liver fat accumulation within selected BMI categories for Whites and Asians. We report across sex and race, T2D and IFG/IGT groups had elevated VAT and liver fat compared to the NT2D group (p<0.05). VAT was not different between IFG/IGT and T2D groups (p>0.05), however liver fat was greater in the T2D group compared to the IFG/IGT group in both Whites and Asians (p<0.05). Within each BMI category, the T2D group had elevated VAT and liver fat compared to the age and anthropometrically matched NT2D group in both Whites and Asians (p<0.05). With few exceptions, abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue was not different in the T2D or IFG/IGT groups compared to the NT2D group independent of sex and race. Compared to age and obesity-matched adults who are NT2D, we observe that White and Asian adults with T2D, and those with IFG/IGT, present with greater levels of both VAT and liver fat.