Changes In Morphological Composition Research Articles

Changes in morphological composition of blood in rats under intragastric load with walnut meal

The basis for the existence of all living organisms is homeostasis. Any living organism is an open dynamic self-regulating system and self-regulation is based on the feedback principle. The use of biologically active substances, for example, plant meal, opens up great possibilities for modulation of physiological processes in the body. Walnut fruit meal also has a rich composition, contains almost all microelements, large amounts of protein as well as carotene, quinones, lecithin, water-soluble vitamins and flavonoids. The aim of the work was to study the adaptive changes in the morphological composition of rat blood to intragastric loading with walnut meal in the form of suspension on distilled water. The experiment was carried out on 60 white laboratory rats. Conclusion: intragastric loading with distilled water suspension of walnut meal in a concentration of 15 mg/100 g body weight of clinically healthy rats was accompanied by an increase in erythrocyte count, hemoglobin concentration and leukocyte count by 6.8%, 7.0% and 9.6%, respectively, compared with the control group animals.

Changes of hematological parameters of in blood in cats ill with microsporium

There has been a massive tendency for cats to be kept as pets in Ukraine in recent years. The frequency of their diseases has also increased at the same time. Cats most often come into the homes of people from the street, from volunteers, rarely from nurseries. Due to this, Doctors often receive cats ill for microsporia, which is caused by fungi of the genus Microsporum and is one of the most common anthropozoonous diseases. The treatment process is carried out by a complex method. Analysis of the recommendations of various authors on the treatment of microsporia indicates the lack of immunostimulants in the conduct of a complex of therapeutic and preventive measures. Hematological studies were performed in order to find out the immune reactivity of the cats' organism during microsporia. The research was conducted on clinically healthy and cats ill for microspores. The obtained results of research showed that in cats with microsporia changes in morphological composition of blood were characterized by signs of anemia, leukopenia and lymphocytopenia. Changes in the structure of neutrophils were found in the type of vacuum and toxigenic grains in cats ill for microsporia. The toxic grains of neutrophils occur inside the cell as a result of physicochemical changes in the protein structure of the cytoplasm. Such cells can not provide phagocytosis of foreign agents and thus reduce the immune activity of the organism in cats ill for microsporium. A marked change in the shape of erythrocytes, which is characteristic of anemia, that is, erythrocytes-octantocytes with corneas by Jolly inclusions. Jolly's bodies are the remnants of the nucleus that have survived in erythrocytes because of the broken destruction of the normoblast nucleus. The obtained results indicate that the course and manifestation of microsporia in cats affects the immune status of the organism.

Early springtime water absorption by overwintering eggs of Mindarus abietinus (Hemiptera: Aphididae): possible implications for cold hardiness and diapause termination

AbstractEggs of the balsam twig aphid Mindarus abietinus Koch (Hemiptera: Aphididae) overwinter for several months in obligate diapause, which terminates in early springtime when embryogenesis of the stem mother supposedly resumes. Important shape and size changes were observed on eggs collected at regular intervals during late winter and early spring. These observations led to the visual classification of eggs into three shape categories: flat eggs (C1), semi-flat eggs (C2), and round and turgid eggs (C3). Egg mass significantly increased with time during late winter and early spring, which coincided with the noticeable changes in morphological composition (i.e., from C2 to C3). Our observations suggest that free water surrounding eggs on fir (Abies balsamea (Linnaeus) Miller; Pinaceae) shoots is essential for M. abietinus normal embryonic development during snowmelt. Also, reduced egg water content during winter could modify its supercooling point, and the renewed availability of water in springtime may signal diapause termination and/or initiate embryogenesis of the stem mother.

Morphological adaptations of signal grass in response to liming and cutting severities

Changes in morphological composition and in the plant population were evaluated during late spring, summer and autumn, in swards of Brachiaria decumbens cv. Basilisk in response to liming (C0.0, without liming; C0.7, limestone amount equivalent to 0.7 ton ha-1; and C1.0, limestone amount equivalent to 1.0 ton ha-1), which were subjected to severe or lenient cutting (40 or 60% of the pre-cutting height, respectively). Increased limestone doses did not result in higher herbage mass (HM), leaf area index (LAI) or proportion of leaves (%L) in the pre-harvest. However, lower proportion of dead material was registered in C0.7 treatment. The treatments C0.0 e C0.7 had higher %L during late spring and summer when associated to severe cutting regimes (R40%), although they reached the pre-harvest condition with lower HM and longer regrowth periods compared to lenient cuttings. The Brachiaria decumbens cv. Basilisk modifies its shoot architecture during the growth season, indicating that lower pre-harvest heights are required during autumn. The absence of liming led to a sharp decreasing of base saturation and levels of K, Ca and Mg in the soil. The minimum annual amount of limestone required for B. decumbens correspond to 0.7 ton ha-1.

Changes in the short‐term intake rate of herbage by heifers grazing annual grasses throughout the growing season

AbstractAnnual temperate grasses go through abrupt changes in morphological composition during the growing season, which can affect ingestive behavior of grazing cattle. However, few studies have examined the effects of gradual structural changes in annual temperate pastures on the herbage intake rate during the growing season. We hypothesized that lenient grazing (removal of 40% of the initial pre‐grazing height) maintains short‐term intake rate (STIR) of grazing cattle over the entire growing season, even with decreased leaf/stem ratios. The studied pastures contained Avena strigosa, Lolium multiflorum and a mixture of the two species. Short‐term intake rate was measured using the double weighing technique, evaluating both bite rate and bite mass. The percentage of stem + pseudostem and leaf lamina lengths in the herbage mass were measured. Relationships between sward structure and animal ingestive behavior were also examined. As the pasture growing season progressed, the STIR of heifers grazing annual temperate grass swards was affected more by the time required to take a bite than by bite mass. Moreover, the sward structure also changed after each grazing cycle, reducing the pre‐grazing leaf/stem ratio. However, reductions in the pre‐grazing leaf lamina mass (up to 37% of the sward herbage mass) and/or in the leaf lamina length (up to 52% of the extended tiller height) did not affect the STIR of grazing heifers, since the animals maintained their bite mass and time per bite. In summary, with a grazing down target of 40% of the pre‐grazing height, reductions in STIR of heifers grazing annual temperate grasses occurred when the pre‐grazing leaf lamina percentage was <37% of the sward herbage mass and/or <52% of the extended tiller height. These results suggested that to avoid STIR reductions during the last grazing cycles, managements to stimulate tillering and delay stem + pseudostem elongation are necessary and should be investigated.

Electrochemical fabrication of nanoporous gold decorated with manganese oxide nanowires from eutectic urea/choline chloride ionic liquid. Part II – Electrodeposition of Au–Mn: A study based on soft X-ray microspectroscopy

Abstract In a previous paper (C. Mele, M. Catalano, A. Taurino, B. Bozzini. Electrochim. Acta 1 (2013) 918), we demonstrated the possibility of growing high-capacitance hybrid materials consisting of nanoporous gold (NPG)-supported MnO 2 nanowires (NW) for supercapacitors, by electrochemical etching of electrodeposited single-phase Au–Mn alloys. The present paper concentrates on the electrodeposition of Au–Mn alloys from urea/choline-chloride ionic liquid solutions: the precursors of the high-capacitance hybrid material. The electrodeposition process, giving rise to alloys with 4–26% Mn content, was followed by space-resolved soft X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and absorption (XAS) microspectroscopy, complemented with electrochemical (cyclic voltammetry), structural (X-ray diffraction) and morphological (scanning electron microscopy) characterisations. The purposely developed electrochemical cells, exhibiting a specifically designed current density distribution, have allowed the quasi-in situ mapping of the local morphology-composition changes at the electrodes. Supersaturated Au–Mn solid solutions were obtained in the whole investigated compositional range under mass transport control of Mn. Variations in the Mn oxidation state were evidenced comparing low- and high-Mn content regions. It was found that, notwithstanding the heterogeneity of the current density, the morphologically compact high-Mn regions of the particular alloys with 20–26% Mn show a notable compositional homogeneity, rendering this material ideally suited for the fabrication of the target hybrid.

In Situ X‐Ray Spectromicroscopy Investigation of the Material Stability of SOFC Metal Interconnects in Operating Electrochemical Cells

The present in situ study of electrochemically induced processes occurring in Cr/Ni bilayers in contact with a YSZ electrolyte aims at a molecular-level understanding of the fundamental aspects related to the durability of metallic interconnects in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). The results demonstrate the potential of scanning photoelectron microspectroscopy and imaging to follow in situ the evolution of the chemical states and lateral distributions of the constituent elements (Ni, Cr, Zr, and Y) as a function of applied cathodic potential in a cell working at 650 °C in 10(-6) mbar O(2) ambient conditions. The most interesting findings are the temperature-induced and potential-dependent diffusion of Ni and Cr, and the oxidation-reduction processes resulting in specific morphology-composition changes in the Ni, Cr, and YSZ areas.

Influence of in Vitro Degradation of a Biodegradable Nanocomposite on Its Shape Memory Effect

Preparation and in vitro degradation of shape memory nanocomposites consisting of cross-linked poly(ε-caprolactone) (c-PCL) and Fe3O4 nanoparticles were investigated in this study. The degradation behaviors were evaluated from the decrease of mechanical property, weight, and molecular weight of polymer, the change of pH value of phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), and morphological changes in composites. The results from gel fraction and molecular weight analysis indicated some damages were brought to chemical networks of c-PCL, but its linear molecule configuration received less impact from PBS degradation medium. Expectedly, the negative influence of the in vitro degradation on shape memory effect had been observed. All these physical and chemical properties related to degradation had been tested to analyze degradation behaviors, which were further used to explain the changes in shape memory recovery. Furthermore, on the basis of the degradation results, the mechanism of c-PCL degradation was also put forward to illustrate the effect of degradation on shape memory. This research will supply a guideline for effectively using and preserving biodegradable shape memory composites.