Lower Forms Of Life Research Articles

Expressivism, Pluralism, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's “A Suggestion on the Negro Problem”

Expressivism, Pluralism, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's “A Suggestion on the Negro Problem”

BIODIVERSITY AND ECOLOGICAL ASSESSMENTS: WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO COMMUNITY CONSERVED SACRED GROVES IN BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION AND CLIMATE RESILIENCE

Forest remnants that have been kept for their spiritual and religious importance are called sacred groves. The practise became more important as agriculture spread, resulting in extensive deforestation that negatively impacted watersheds and biodiversity. Although they may be less prominent today, sacred groves are nonetheless important in rural Indian landscapes home to traditional people. Despite having a pan-Indian distribution, this tradition has recently attracted more attention, leading scientists to concentrate their research on India's northeast, Western Ghats, and east coast either for their global/regional significance or unique habitats. Lower life forms were badly disregarded while the majority of studies focussed on flora, primarily angiosperms, and vertebrates in the faunal studies. Despite the fact that there are observations, there are little studies on how ecosystems function.

Cardiovascular serotonergic system: Evolution, receptors, transporter, and function.

The serotonergic system, serotonin (5HT), serotonin transporter (SERT), and serotonin receptors (5HT-x), is an evolutionarily ancient system that has clear physiological advantages to all life forms from bacteria to humans. This review focuses on the role of platelet/plasma serotonin and the cardiovascular system with minor references to its significant neurotransmitter function. Platelets transport and store virtually all plasma serotonin in dense granules. Stored serotonin is released from activated platelets and can bind to serotonin receptors on platelets and cellular components of the vascular wall to augment aggregation and induce vasoconstriction or vasodilation. The vascular endothelium is critical to the maintenance of cardiovascular homeostasis. While there are numerous ligands, neurological components, and baroreceptors that effect vascular tone it is proposed that serotonin and nitric oxide (an endothelium relaxing factor) are major players in the regulation of systemic blood pressure. Signals not fully defined, to date, that direct serotonin binding to one of the 15 identified 5HT receptors versus the transporter, and the role platelet/plasma serotonin plays in regulating hypertension within the cardiovascular system remain important issues to better understand many diseases and to develop new drugs. Also, expanded research of these pathways in lower life-forms may serve as important model systems to further our understanding of the evolution and mechanisms of action of serotonin.

Silas Weir Mitchell on the Cerebellum: Rich Neurophysiological Concepts and a Modern Perspective.

Silas Weir Mitchell (1829 - 1914), the Philadelphia-based neurologist, is considered a founding father of American neurology. Mitchell's 1869 paper on the physiology of the cerebellum is rich in both content and physiological concepts. Although several of the specific models proposed by Mitchell are no longer considered valid, a number of concepts, or collateral aspects of these concepts, are still considered of value today. No longer valid concepts are (1) that the cerebellum works in concert with the "spinal ganglia" to coordinate motion, and (2) that the cerebellum has a higher-order inhibitory effect on the "spinal ganglia." The valid concepts are (1) that the cerebellum is part of an integrated system of brain regions that produce and modulate movement, (2) that compensatory neural plasticity and cerebellar reserve allow the cerebellum to compensate in the setting of tissue damage, (3) that higher brain systems exert an inhibitory effect on lower brain systems, and (4) that there is a physiological gap between higher and lower life forms. This paper reviews these concepts.

AtHsp101 research sets course of action for the genetic improvement of crops against heat stress

Caseinolytic protease (Clp)/Hsp100 proteins are members of the AAA+ (ATPase associated with a variety of cellular activities) family of proteins present in lower life forms and plants. These proteins represent a unique chaperone system that performs the crucial role of retrieving functional proteins from the aggregated state and are thus also referred to as disaggregases. Clp/Hsp100s were originally discovered in bacteria and yeast cells in late 1980s and early 1990s. Arabidopsis thaliana, in particular after the completion of its genome sequencing in the year 2000, has served as an excellent experimental system for investigating this important chaperone machine in plants. From the reverse and forward genetic analysis carried out with Arabidopsis Hsp101, it emerged that this protein is a powerful candidate gene in conferring heat tolerance. Importantly, this protein is implicated with heat tolerance both in vegetative and reproductive stages of the growth and development of Arabidopsis plants. In the data on genetic polymorphism in the amino acid sequence of Arabidopsis Hsp101 across diverse A. thaliana accessions sequenced in 1001 Arabidopsis genome sequencing project, we find that that there are sixty-three distinct AtHsp101 sequence types with variations in N-terminus, nucleotide binding and C-terminus domains in 855 analyzed Arabidopsis accessions. The in-depth analysis with these variant allelic forms may yield invaluable information on genetic variations in the regulatory regions which control the Hsp101 expression as well as those affecting Hsp101 disaggregase activity. Arabidopsis Hsp101 protein has turned out to be a prototype in search for homolog proteins and mechanisms of heat stress tolerance in rice as well as across diverse crops. Herein, we present the status of our understanding on the Arabidopsis Hsp101 genes, proteins, and their functional relevance.

Determination of Colour and Total Viable Counts in Fresh and Charcoal Flue Gases Treated Beef Using Digital Colour Meter

Flesh from animals is one of the nutritious foods rich in vitamin B complex, iron, zinc, selenium, phosphorous, fats and magnesium. Due to this high food value, it attracts bacteria, yeasts, molds and other lower life forms that infest on it and hence undergoes natural decay process fast. Poor handling practices by small scale enterprise in the beef industry contribute to fifty percent loss, excluding post slaughter losses by livestock farmers. Therefore, there is need to develop accessible preservation methods that are supported by available infrastructure in order to curb beef losses. This study used charcoal flue gases sourced from combustion of charcoal briquettes in prolonging beef shelf life. Fresh beef samples were purchased from local abattoirs and exposed to flue gases. The optimum treatment time was between 10 to 15 hours depending on beef load mass. The reaction of the carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide with beef functional groups was studied using color determination. The colour lightness (L*) and redness (a*) values were L* 44 and a* 9 values for fresh beef, after treatment L* 30 and a* 4.5 indicating a strong bond of carboxy-myoglobin and on day 35 the L* 23 and a* 1.5 indicated onset of beef spoilage. The mean total aerobic counts of fresh beef, after treatment and onset spoilage were significantly different (p<0.05) 4.16±4.20, 2.16±2.19 and 5.16±5.20 log CFU/cm2 respectively. The results from this study, was not more than 6.00 log CFU/cm2 approved safe microbial standards of beef for consumption by FAO.

Atomic Structure of the E2 Inner Core of Human Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex.

Pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC) is a large multienzyme complex that catalyzes the irreversible conversion of pyruvate to acetyl-coenzyme A with reduction of NAD+. Distinctive from PDCs in lower forms of life, in mammalian PDC, dihydrolipoyl acetyltransferase (E2; E2p in PDC) and dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase binding protein (E3BP) combine to form a complex that plays a central role in the organization, regulation, and integration of catalytic reactions of PDC. However, the atomic structure and organization of the mammalian E2p/E3BP heterocomplex are unknown. Here, we report the structure of the recombinant dodecahedral core formed by the C-terminal inner-core/catalytic (IC) domain of human E2p determined at 3.1 Å resolution by cryo electron microscopy (cryoEM). The structure of the N-terminal fragment and four other surface areas of the human E2p IC domain exhibit significant differences from those of the other E2 crystal structures, which may have implications for the integration of E3BP in mammals. This structure also allowed us to obtain a homology model for the highly homologous IC domain of E3BP. Analysis of the interactions of human E2p or E3BP with their adjacent IC domains in the dodecahedron provides new insights into the organization of the E2p/E3BP heterocomplex and suggests a potential contribution by E3BP to catalysis in mammalian PDC.

The role of chitin, chitinases, and chitinase-like proteins in pediatric lung diseases.

Chitin, after cellulose, the second most abundant biopolymer on earth, is a key component of insects, fungi, and house-dust mites. Lower life forms are endowed with chitinases to defend themselves against chitin-bearing pathogens. Unexpectedly, humans were also found to express chitinases as well as chitinase-like proteins that modulate immune responses. Particularly, increased levels of the chitinase-like protein YKL-40 have been associated with severe asthma, cystic fibrosis, and other inflammatory disease conditions. Here, we summarize and discuss the potential role of chitin, chitinases, and chitinase-like proteins in pediatric lung diseases.

Biodiversity and ecological assessments of Indian sacred groves

Sacred groves are patches of forests preserved for their spiritual and religious significance. The practice gained relevance with the spread of agriculture that caused large-scale deforestation affecting biodiversity and watersheds. Sacred groves may lose their prominence nowadays, but are still relevant in Indian rural landscapes inhabited by traditional communities. The recent rise of interest in this tradition encouraged scientific study that despite its pan-Indian distribution, focused on India’s northeast, Western Ghats and east coast either for their global/importance or unique ecosystems. Most studies focused on flora, mainly angiosperms, and the faunal studies concentrated on vertebrates while lower life forms were grossly neglected. Studies on ecosystem functioning are few although observations are available. Most studies attributed watershed protection values to sacred groves but hardly highlighted hydrological process or water yield in comparison with other land use types. The grove studies require diversification from a stereotyped path and must move towards creating credible scientific foundations for conservation. Documentation should continue in unexplored areas but more work is needed on basic ecological functions and ecosystem dynamics to strengthen planning for scientifically sound sacred grove management.

The Notion of Life: in the Anthropological Discourse of the Primeval History

As part of its narrative lines, the Primeval History includes a rich and diverse discourse about the notion of life: What constitutes life? Are there higher and lower forms of life that distinguish humans from animals? And finally, why does life end? This discourse revolves around two conceptual terms: נפשׁ and רוח, whose meaning and theological significance this essay explores against the backdrop especially of the Psalms and sapiential literature.

Exceptional longevity is associated with decreased reproduction

A number of leading theories of aging, namely The Antagonistic Pleiotropy Theory (Williams, 1957), The Disposable Soma Theory (Kirkwood, 1977) and most recently The Reproductive-Cell Cycle Theory (Bowen and Atwood, 2004, 2010) suggest a tradeoff between longevity and reproduction. While there has been an abundance of data linking longevity with reduced fertility in lower life forms, human data have been conflicting. We assessed this tradeoff in a cohort of genetically and socially homogenous Ashkenazi Jewish centenarians (average age ~100 years). As compared with an Ashkenazi cohort without exceptional longevity, our centenarians had fewer children (2.01 vs 2.53, p<0.0001), were older at first childbirth (28.0 vs 25.6, p<0.0001), and at last childbirth (32.4 vs 30.3, p<0.0001). The smaller number of children was observed for male and female centenarians alike. The lower number of children in both genders together with the pattern of delayed reproductive maturity is suggestive of constitutional factors that might enhance human life span at the expense of reduced reproductive ability.

Structure and function of the l-threonine dehydrogenase (TkTDH) from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Thermococcus kodakaraensis

The X-ray structure of the holo-form of l-threonine dehydrogenase (TDH) from Thermococcus kodakaraensis (TkTDH) has been determined at 2.4A resolution. TDH catalyses the NAD(+)-dependent oxidation of l-threonine to 2-amino-3-ketobutyrate, and is one of the first enzymes in this family to be solved by X-ray crystallography. The enzyme is a homo-tetramer, each monomer consisting of 350 amino acids that form two domains; a catalytic domain and a nicotinamide co-factor (NAD(+))-binding domain, which contains an alpha/beta Rossmann fold motif. An extended twelve-stranded beta-sheet is formed by the association of pairs of monomers in the tetramer. TkTDH shows strong overall structural similarity to TDHs from thermophiles and alcohol dehydrogenases (ADH) from lower life forms, despite low sequence homology, exhibiting the same overall fold of the monomer and assembly of the tetramer. The structure reveals the binding site of the essential co-factor NAD(+) which is present in all subunits. Docking studies suggest a mode of interaction of TDH with 2-amino-3-ketobutyrate CoA ligase, the subsequent enzyme in the pathway for conversion of threonine to glycine. TDH is known to form a stable functional complex with 2-amino-3-ketobutyrate ligase, most probably to shield an unstable intermediate.

Evidence that transduction of electromagnetic field is mediated by a force receptor

Low-strength magnetic fields triggered onset and offset evoked potentials, indicating that the detection process was a form of sensory transduction; whether the field interacted directly with an ion channel or indirectly via a signaling cascade is unknown. By analogy with electrosensory transduction in lower life forms, we hypothesized that the evoked potentials were initiated by a force exerted by the induced electric field on an ion channel in the plasma membrane. We applied a rapid magnetic stimulus (0.2ms) and found that it produced evoked potentials indistinguishable in latency, magnitude, and frequency from those found previously when the stimulus was 50 times slower. The ability of the field-detection system in human subjects to respond to the rapid stimulus supported the theory that the receptor potentials necessary for production of evoked potentials originated from a direct interaction between the field and an ion channel in the plasma membrane that resulted in a change in the average probability of the channel to be in the open state.

Role of insulin-like growth factor binding proteins in mammary gland development.

Insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) play an important role in mammary gland development and their effects are, in turn, influenced by a family of 6 IGF-binding proteins (IGFBPs). The IGFBPs are expressed in time- and tissue-specific fashion during the periods of rapid growth and involution of the mammary gland. The precise roles of these proteins in vivo have, however, been difficult to determine. This review examines the indirect evidence (evolution, chromosomal location and roles in lower life-forms) the evidence from in vitro studies and the attempts to examine their roles in vivo, using IGFBP-deficient and over-expression models. Evidence exists for a role of the IGFBPs in inhibition of the survival effects of IGFs as well as in IGF-enhancing effects from in vitro studies. The location of the IGFBPs, often associated with the extracellular matrix, suggests roles as a reservoir of IGFs or as a potential barrier, restricting access of IGFs to distinct cellular compartments. We also discuss the relative importance of IGF-dependent versus IGF-independent effects. IGF-independent effects include nuclear localization, activation of proteases and interaction with a variety of extracellular matrix and cell surface proteins. Finally, we examine the increasing evidence for the IGFBPs to be considered as part of a larger family of extracellular matrix proteins involved in morphogenesis and tissue re-modeling.

Nonlinear EEG activation evoked by low-strength low-frequency magnetic fields

Recent electrophysiological evidence suggested the existence of a human magnetic sense, but the kind of dynamical law that governed the stimulus–response relationship was not established. We tested the hypothesis that brain potentials evoked by the onset of a weak, low-frequency magnetic field were nonlinearly related to the stimulus. A field of 1 G, 60 Hz was applied for 2 s, with a 5 s inter-stimulus period, and brain potentials were recorded from occipital electrodes in eight subjects, each of whom were measured twice, with at least 1 week between measurements. The recorded signals were subjected to nonlinear (recurrence analysis) and linear (time averaging) analyses. Using recurrence analysis, magnetosensory evoked potentials (MEPs) were detected in each subject in both the initial and replicate studies, with one exception. All MEPs exhibited the expected latency but differed in dynamical characteristics, indicating that they were nonlinearly related to the stimulus. MEPs were not detected using time averaging, thereby further confirming their nonlinearity. Evolutionarily conditioned structures that help mediate linear field-transduction in lower life forms may be expressed and functionally utilized in humans, but in a role where they facilitate vulnerability to man-made environmental fields.

Agmatine

Agmatine is an endogenous neuromodulator that, based on animal studies, has the potential for new drug development. As an endogenous aminoguanidine compound (1-amino-4-guanidinobutane), it is structurally unique compared with other monoamines. Agmatine was long thought to be synthesised only in lower life forms, until its biosynthetic pathway (decarboxylation of arginine) was described in the mammalian brain in 1994. Human arginine decarboxylase has been cloned and shown to have 48% identity to ornithine decarboxylase. In neurons of the brain and spinal cord, agmatine is packaged into synaptic vesicles and released upon neuronal depolarisation. Other evidence of a neuromodulation role for agmatine is the presence of a specific cellular uptake mechanism and a specific metabolic enzyme (agmatinase; which forms putrescine).Initially, agmatine was conceptualised as an endogenous clonidine-displacing substance of imidazoline receptors; however, it has now been established to have affinity for several transmembrane receptors, such as alpha(2)-adrenergic, imidazoline I(1) and glutamatergic NMDA receptors. In addition to activity at these receptors, agmatine irreversibly inhibits neuronal nitric oxide synthase and downregulates inducible nitric oxide synthase. Endogenous agmatine is induced in response to stress and/or inflammation. Stressful conditions that induce agmatine include hypoxic-ischaemia and cold-restraint stress of ulcerogenic proportion. Induction of agmatine in the brain seems to occur in astrocytes, although neurons also synthesise agmatine. The effects of injected agmatine in animals include anticonvulsant-, antineurotoxic- and antidepressant-like actions. Intraperitoneal or intracerebroventricular injections of agmatine rapidly elicit antidepressant-like behavioural changes in the rodent forced swim test and tail suspension test. Intraperitoneal injections of agmatine into rats and mice also elicit acute anxiolytic-like behavioural changes in the elevated plus-maze stress test. In an animal model of acute stress disorder, intraperitoneal agmatine injections diminish contextual fear learning. Furthermore, intraperitoneal injections of agmatine reduce alcohol and opioid dependence by diminishing behaviour in a rat conditioned place preference paradigm. Based on these findings, agmatine appears to be an endogenous neuromodulator of mental stress. The possible roles and/or beneficial effects of agmatine in stress-related disorders, such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, merit further investigation.

WHAT IS CONSCIOUSNESS AND HAS IT EVOLVED?

Research into consciousness has now become respectable, and much has been written about it. Is consciousness the exclusive property of human beings, or can it be found also in animals? Can machines become conscious? Is consciousness an illusion, and are all mental states ultimately reducible to the movement of molecules? If consciousness is other than matter, what connection does it have with matter? These and others like them are now serious scientific questions in the West. This article discusses consciousness within the frame of the following assertions: Consciousness has evolved from earlier states of awareness to be found in lower forms of life. The current scientific method is too restrictive for the study of conscience and its evolution. In particular classical logic leads scientists to ignore or reject consciousness as a legitimate field of study. Mind and matter, generalized as knowing and being, have equal status.

Hämoglobin-Hyperpolymere, künstliche Sauerstoffträger eines neuen Typs - Konzept und aktueller Stand der Entwicklung

In the clinical setting, artificial oxygen carriers are needed when a patient has a tissue oxygen deficiency which he/she can not automatically compensate. There are two quite different situations where this might occur: (1) Heavy blood loss (e. g., following an accident) and (2) insufficient perfusion (e. g., as a result of arteriosclerosis or myocardial infarction) or anaemia, both without blood loss. In the first instance, an iso-oncotic oxygen-transporting plasma expander is required, whereas in the second instance a (hypo-oncotic) so-called blood additive is needed. This second type of situation also presents the greater range of very important indications. Experimental work has shown that, in comparison to erythrocytes, dissolved haemoglobin is able to release oxygen more rapidly (effective plasmatic transport), while at the same time also facilitating oxygen release from erythrocytes (mediator function). Blood additives occur naturally in lower forms of life (e. g., earthworm) where they can be found in the form of giant oxygen-carrying molecules. Using these natural forms as a basis, new oxygen-transporting blood additives were designed and developed (so-called haemoglobin hyperpolymers: HP (3)Hb) which exhibit a strong oxygen affinity (half saturation partial pressure p (50) = 16 Torr) and high cooperativity (n (50) = 2.1). One product has, up until now, been produced aseptically on a small technical scale and consists of highly purified, polymerised and pegylated porcine haemoglobin which is free of monomers and oligomers, with a mean molecular weight of approximately 800 kDa. It is sufficiently low in endotoxin (< 0,029 EU/mL), blood plasma compatible, and - at an effective concentration of 3 g/dL in blood plasma - causes only minor increases in oncotic pressure or viscosity. The product has a shelf-life of up to 2 years and is administered as a carbonyl derivative. Its half-life in the conscious rat is 30 h. This product was found to prevent death in rats where acute lung injury was induced using oleic-acid. In human self-experiments this product was repeatedly administered: No effects on blood pressure and heart rate, no increase in blood transaminase concentration and no immunological reaction were seen; the latter was also not found in selected sensitive mice. Furthermore, the blood additive is universally applicable as an oxygen transporter, since, when mixed with a conventional plasma expander, it can also be used to treat an oxygen deficiency occurring together with blood loss.

Acidic mammalian chitinase in asthmatic Th2 inflammation and IL-13 pathway activation.

Chitin is a surface component of parasites and insects, and chitinases are induced in lower life forms during infections with these agents. Although chitin itself does not exist in humans, chitinases are present in the human genome. We show here that acidic mammalian chitinase (AMCase) is induced via a T helper-2 (Th2)-specific, interleukin-13 (IL-13)-mediated pathway in epithelial cells and macrophages in an aeroallergen asthma model and expressed in exaggerated quantities in human asthma. AMCase neutralization ameliorated Th2 inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness, in part by inhibiting IL-13 pathway activation and chemokine induction. AMCase may thus be an important mediator of IL-13-induced responses in Th2-dominated disorders such as asthma.

The Creative and Revolutionary Nature of Desire

Beginning with our ordinary consciousness in his Phenomenology of Spirit, Hegel intends to move his reader to the more authentic perspective of Geist, a viewpoint that will not manifest us as finite subjects in opposition to the world, but will allow us to perceive ourselves as vehicles of a spirit in which the world is no longer distinct from us. By following the dialectical movement of consciousness and the things themselves that are replete with contradiction, Hegel arrives at a discussion of self-consciousness and its dialectic of desire and fulfillment. The certainty of the self is the ground of fulfillment, which reflects our notion of ourselves and the goal of total integrity for which we work. This drive for total integrity is even evident in lower forms of life that take and incorporate needed elements for their survival from the external world and thereby cancel their otherness. More than just a basic drive for integrity, desire indicates the facticity of the need for external objects. And the dialectic of desire and fulfillment implies that self-consciousness possesses two objects: its embodiment and the object of desire. By overcoming its two objects or returning to itself, self-consciousness maintains its existence by feeding on life. But desire is not merely intentional in the sense of being for an object or other, it is also reflective because it enables the subject to discover and enhance itself.1 This philosophical scenario depicted by Hegel makes it clear that a human being is a creature of desire and not a simple self-identical being. With the continual arising of new desires, a human being alternates between being before another and being before nothing at all, an encounter with the wholly other and an incorporation of it in an attempt to satisfy one's desire and recover integrity. In order to arrive at integrity, one must find a reality whose otherness can be negated without its being annihilated. This appears to suggest that the fundamental desire of self-consciousness, a process of destroying and incorporating foreign objects, can only be satisfied by another self-consciousness, a steadfast reality that can cancel its own foreignness and yet allow one to discover oneself. This is possible in the encounter with another human being in so far as one is recognized as human by that being. Since this recognition must be mutual for both parties to achieve integrity, it is, of course, impossible within the context of the master-slave relationship for Hegel. Nonetheless, it is evident that for Hegel desire is connected with self-knowledge and the search for identity. In reaction to Hegel's position on desire, some postmodern thinkers claim that his conception of desire is too negative, and there is rather a need to emphasize the affirmative nature of desire. Moreover, from the perspective of some postmodern thinkers Hegel's notion of desire is metaphysical because it raises the problem of human identity. By introducing an affirmative nature of desire and correcting Hegel, it will be possible to see that desire is not something negative, but it is rather something productive, creative, and even revolutionary. In the following discussion, I shall focus on the contributions of Emmanuel Levinas, Jacques Lacan, Felix Guattari, and Gilles Deleuze on the topic of desire. Since Guattari and Deleuze form a team, I shall compare their position on desire to those of Lacan and Levinas with respect to the relation of desire to need or lack, the connection of desire and the self, the necessity of the liberation of desire, and the relation between revolution and desire. I will then conclude with some critical observations. Need and Lack Since there is an absence of an analysis of desire in Heidegger's phenomenology of Dasein, Levinas attempts to correct this oversight in his own work. By drawing a fundamental distinction between desire and need, Levinas stresses that the former is excessive, exterior, strange, other, and possesses an ability to disrupt and reorient us. …