Sodium distribution predicts the chill tolerance of Drosophila melanogaster raised in different thermal conditions

2015 ◽  
Vol 308 (10) ◽  
pp. R823-R831 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heath A. MacMillan ◽  
Jonas L. Andersen ◽  
Volker Loeschcke ◽  
Johannes Overgaard

Many insects, including the model holometabolous insect Drosophila melanogaster, display remarkable plasticity in chill tolerance in response to the thermal environment experienced during development or as adults. At low temperatures, many insects lose the ability to regulate Na+ balance, which is suggested to cause a secondary loss of hemolymph water to the tissues and gut lumen that concentrates the K+ remaining in the hemolymph. The resultant increase in extracellular [K+] inhibits neuromuscular excitability and is proposed to cause cellular apoptosis and injury. The present study investigates whether and how variation in chill tolerance induced through developmental and adult cold acclimation is associated with changes in Na+, water, and K+ balance. Developmental and adult cold acclimation improved the chilling tolerance of D. melanogaster in an additive manner. In agreement with the proposed model, these effects were intimately related to differences in Na+ distribution prior to cold exposure, such that chill-tolerant flies had low hemolymph [Na+], while intracellular [Na+] was similar among treatment groups. The low hemolymph Na+ of cold-acclimated flies allowed them to maintain hemolymph volume, prevent hyperkalemia, and avoid injury following chronic cold exposure. These findings extend earlier observations of hemolymph volume disruption during cold exposure to the most ubiquitous model insect ( D. melanogaster), highlight shared mechanisms of developmental and adult thermal plasticity and provide strong support for ionoregulatory failure as a central mechanism of insect chill susceptibility.

Author(s):  
Emmanuel Tiyo Ayikobua ◽  
Josephine Kasolo ◽  
Keneth Iceland Kasozi ◽  
Ejike Daniel Eze ◽  
Abass Safiriyu ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundThe Phosphatase and tensin-induced putative kinase 1 (PINK1B9) mutant for Drosophila melanogaster is a key tool that has been used in assessing the pathology of Parkinsonism and its possible remedy. This research was targeted toward determining the effects of ethanolic extract of propolis, with levodopa therapy in the management of Parkinsonism.MethodThe PINK1B9 flies were divided into groups and fed with the different treatment doses of ethanoic extract of propolis. The treatment groups were subjected to 21 days of administration of propolis and the levodopa at different doses after which percentage climbing index, antioxidant activity and lifespan studies were done.ResultsPropolis alone improved motor activity, antioxidant and lifespan in Drosophila melanogaster than in PINK1 flies. Propolis in combination with levodopa significantly (P<0.05) improved physiological parameters at higher than lower concentrations in Parkinsonism Drosophila melanogaster demonstrating its importance in managing side effects associated with levodopa.ConclusionPropolis is a novel candidate as an alternative and integrative medicinal option to use in the management of Parkinsonism in both animals and humans at higher concentrations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 7047
Author(s):  
Nu Yu ◽  
Yao Zhang ◽  
Mengya Zhang ◽  
Haifeng Li

Cabin air quality and thermal conditions have a direct impact on passenger and flight crew’s health and comfort. In this study, in-cabin thermal environment and particulate matter (PM) exposures were investigated in four China domestic flights. The mean and standard deviation of the in-cabin carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in two tested flights are 1440 ± 111 ppm. The measured maximum in-cabin carbon monoxide (CO) concentration is 1.2 ppm, which is under the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) permissible exposure limit of 10 ppm. The tested relative humidity ranges from 13.8% to 67.0% with an average of 31.7%. The cabin pressure change rates at the end of the climbing stages and the beginning of the descending stages are close to 10 hPa·min−1, which might induce the uncomfortable feeling of passengers and crew members. PM mass concentrations were measured on four flights. The results show that PM concentrations decreased after the aircraft cabin door closed and were affected by severe turbulences. The highest in-cabin PM concentrations were observed in the oldest aircraft with an age of 13.2 years, and the waiting phase in this aircraft generated the highest exposures.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher L. K. Wang

As sleep is unconscious, the traditional definition of thermal comfort with conscious judgment does not apply. In this thesis sleep thermal comfort is defined as the thermal condition which enables sleep to most efficiently rejuvenate the body and mind. A comfort model was developed to stimulate the respective thermal environment required to achieve the desired body thermal conditions and a new infrared sphere method was developed to measure mean radiant temperature. Existing heating conditions according to building code conditions during sleeping hours was calculated to likely overheat a sleeping person and allowed energy saving potential by reducing nighttime heating set points. Experimenting with existing radiantly and forced air heated residential buildings, it was confirmed that thermal environment was too hot for comfortable sleep and that the infrared sphere method shows promise. With the site data, potential energy savings were calculated and around 10% of energy consumption reduction may be achieved during peak heating.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1420326X2110345
Author(s):  
Marika Vellei ◽  
William O’Brien ◽  
Simon Martinez ◽  
Jérôme Le Dréau

Recent research suggests that a time-varying indoor thermal environment can lead to energy savings and contribute to boost buildings' energy flexibility. However, thermal comfort standardization has so far considered thermal comfort criteria as constant throughout the day. In general, very little attention has been given to the ‘ time of day' variable in the context of thermal comfort research. In this paper, we show some evidence of a time-varying thermal perception by using: (1) data from about 10,000 connected Canadian thermostats made available as part of the ‘ Donate Your Data' dataset and (2) about 22,000 samples of complete (objective + ‘ right-here-right-now' subjective) thermal comfort field data from the ASHRAE I and SCATs datasets. We observe that occupants prefer colder thermal conditions at 14:00 and progressively warmer ones in the rest of the day, indistinctively in the morning and evening. Neutral temperature differences between 08:00 and 14:00 and 14:00 and 20:00 are estimated to be of the order of 2°C. We hypothesize that the human circadian rhythm is the cause of this difference. Nevertheless, the results of this study are only based on observational data. Thermal comfort experiments in controlled environmental chambers are required to confirm these findings and to better elucidate the effects of light and circadian timing and their interaction on thermal perception.


2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 561-585 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fangliang Zhong ◽  
John K Calautit ◽  
Ben R Hughes

After winning the bid of the FIFA’s World Cup 2022, Qatar is facing the greatest challenges in terms of minimizing substantial energy consumptions for air-conditioning of stadiums and maintaining aero-thermal comfort for both players and spectators inside stadiums. This paper presents the results of temperature distributions and wind environment of the original stadium under the hot-humid climate and improvements on them for optimized scenarios of cooling jets. A combined computational fluid dynamics and building energy simulation approach was used to analyse the cooling performance and energy consumption per match of cooling air jets for 10 scenarios with different supply velocities, supply temperatures and locations of jets. The optimal scenario is to employ vertical jets above the upper tiers at supply temperature of 20°C and velocities of 2–12 m/s, integrated with horizontal jets of the same temperature at the lower tiers with 4 m/s and around the pitch with 7 m/s. This scenario can maintain the spectator tiers at an average temperature of 22°C and reduce the maximum predicted percentage of dissatisfied of thermal comfort from the original 100% to 63% for the pitch and 19% for the tiers, respectively. In terms of the energy consumption for the air-conditioning system per match, compared with one of the 2010 South Africa World Cup stadiums Royal Bafokeng stadium which consumed approximately 22.8 MWh energy for air-conditioning in winter (highest outdoor temperature 24.4°C), the maximum energy consumption of the optimal scenario in November (highest outdoor temperature 34.2°C) can reach 108 MWh. In addition, the spectator zones with scenario 8 have the potential to be resilient to the seasonal change of outdoor temperature if slight modifications of the supply velocities and precise temperature control on the spectator zones are applied. Moreover, the configurations presented in this paper can be used as a foundation of jets arrangement for future stadium retrofits in the hot climates. Practical application: This study assesses the aero-thermal conditions of a case study stadium under the hot climate of Qatar and explores the potential of applying cooling jets with different supply velocities, supply temperatures and their locations on the enhancement of both thermal and wind environment of spectator tiers and pitch. The assessment of the original stadium indicates that the ascending curved roof structure impedes the fresh air entering into the stadium and results in an asymmetric temperature distribution on the spectator tiers. The optimized design suggests a combination of vertical jets under the roof and both three arrays of horizontal jets at lower tiers and around pitch for future stadium optimizations in hot climates. It also recommends enhancing the thermal conditions on the pitch by optimizing the velocity of horizontal jets around the pitch. Moreover, the future design of the exact stadiums to be resilient to the seasonal changing outdoor temperature can be implemented based on scenario 8.


1983 ◽  
Vol 245 (6) ◽  
pp. E575-E581 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. L. Vallerand ◽  
J. Lupien ◽  
L. J. Bukowiecki

The metabolic interactions of cold exposure, cold acclimation, and starvation on glucose tolerance and plasma insulin levels were studied in precannulated, unrestrained, and unanesthetized rats. Cold exposure (48 h at 5 degrees C) significantly reduced the insulin response to intravenous glucose injection (P less than 0.01) while improving glucose tolerance (P less than 0.01). Starvation (48 h at 25 degrees C) also reduced the insulin response (P less than 0.01) but did not significantly alter glucose tolerance. “Accelerated starvation” induced by starving rats for 48 h at 5 degrees C dramatically reduced both basal and glucose-stimulated insulin levels while even improving glucose tolerance, resulting in a 15-fold reduction in the insulinogenic index. Cold acclimation (3 wk at 5 degrees C) induced essentially the same alterations as cold exposure. Approximately reversed changes were observed when cold-acclimated rats were returned to a warm environment for 15–18 h. Results from these studies indicate that 1) cold exposure and starvation, but not cold acclimation, act synergistically in decreasing the sensitivity and/or the capacity of pancreatic islets for secreting insulin in response to glucose stimulation; 2) glucose tolerance and possibly insulin sensitivity of peripheral tissues are enhanced by cold exposure and starvation, although glucose tolerance is improved by cold exposure only, not by starvation; 3) an improved glucose tolerance with barely detectable plasma insulin levels was obtained in cold-starved rats under normal physiological conditions.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. e0197822 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth R. Everman ◽  
Jennifer L. Delzeit ◽  
F. Kate Hunter ◽  
Jennifer M. Gleason ◽  
Theodore J. Morgan

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 20140749 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Schneider ◽  
J. D. Levine

The study of social behaviour within groups has relied on fixed definitions of an ‘interaction’. Criteria used in these definitions often involve a subjectively defined cut-off value for proximity, orientation and time (e.g. courtship, aggression and social interaction networks) and the same numerical values for these criteria are applied to all of the treatment groups within an experiment. One universal definition of an interaction could misidentify interactions within groups that differ in life histories, study treatments and/or genetic mutations. Here, we present an automated method for determining the values of interaction criteria using a pre-defined rule set rather than pre-defined values. We use this approach and show changing social behaviours in different manipulations of Drosophila melanogaster . We also show that chemosensory cues are an important modality of social spacing and interaction. This method will allow a more robust analysis of the properties of interacting groups, while helping us understand how specific groups regulate their social interaction space.


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