scholarly journals Role of testosterone in parasitic host behavioral change in Rattus norvegicus : Toxoplasma gondii association

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Kumar Singh Dhiraj
Keyword(s):  
Toxoplasma Gondii ◽  
Behavioral Change ◽  
Rattus Norvegicus

Role of Rats (Rattus norvegicus) in the Epidemiology of Toxoplasma gondii Infection in Grenada, West Indies

10.1645/18-58 ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 104 (5) ◽  
pp. 571-573 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando H. A. Murata ◽  
Camila K. Cerqueira-Cézar ◽  
Oliver C. H. Kwok ◽  
Keshaw Tiwari ◽  
Ravindra N. Sharma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Toxoplasma Gondii ◽  
Rattus Norvegicus ◽  
West Indies ◽  
Toxoplasma Gondii Infection

scholarly journals Toxoplasma gondii Cyclophilin 18-Mediated Production of Nitric Oxide Induces Bradyzoite Conversion in a CCR5-Dependent Manner

2009 ◽  
Vol 77 (9) ◽  
pp. 3686-3695 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hany M. Ibrahim ◽  
Hiroshi Bannai ◽  
Xuenan Xuan ◽  
Yoshifumi Nishikawa
Keyword(s):  
Nitric Oxide ◽  
Toxoplasma Gondii ◽  
Inflammatory Responses ◽  
Interleukin 12 ◽  
Dependent Manner ◽  
Independent Manner ◽  
Necrosis Factor Alpha ◽  
Parasite Multiplication ◽  
Factor Alpha

ABSTRACT Toxoplasma gondii modulates pro- and anti-inflammatory responses to regulate parasite multiplication and host survival. Pressure from the immune response causes the conversion of tachyzoites into slowly dividing bradyzoites. The regulatory mechanisms involved in this switch are poorly understood. The aim of this study was to investigate the immunomodulatory role of T. gondii cyclophilin 18 (TgCyp18) in macrophages and the consequences of the cellular responses on the conversion machinery. Recombinant TgCyp18 induced the production of nitric oxide (NO), interleukin-12 (IL-12), and tumor necrosis factor alpha through its binding with cysteine-cysteine chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5) and the production of gamma interferon and IL-6 in a CCR5-independent manner. Interestingly, the treatment of macrophages with TgCyp18 resulted in the inhibition of parasite growth and an enhancement of the conversion into bradyzoites via NO in a CCR5-dependent manner. In conclusion, T. gondii possesses sophisticated mechanisms to manipulate host cell responses in a TgCyp18-mediated process.

Ambivalence and Adherence to Measures to Reduce the Spread of COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iris K. Schneider ◽  
Angela Rachael Dorrough ◽  
Celine Frank
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Change ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Direct Costs ◽  
Pharmaceutical Treatment ◽  
Mixed Emotions ◽  
German Sample ◽  
Mixed Feelings ◽  
Spread Of Infection ◽  
Scale Behavior

The COVID-19 pandemic poses one of the largest behavioral change challenges in the last decades. Because currently, there is no widely available pharmaceutical treatment available to contain the spread of infection, governments worldwide rely – at least to some extent – on behavioral recommendations aimed at reducing spread. The success of this strategy is dependent on the number of people that follow the recommendations. Most recommendations need people to change their behavior or adopt a new behavior. We propose that such behavioral change, with direct costs and delayed benefits, is a source of conflict and mixed feelings. This ambivalence negatively affects adherence to such recommendations. We present three studies that support our hypotheses: the more ambivalent people are about the recommendations, the less they follow them. We also examined the effect of the mixed emotions of hope and worry on adherence and find that it positively relates to adherence. Our findings replicated both in a U.S. sample as well as a representative German sample. Our work is the first to investigate the role of ambivalence in large-scale behavior change and highlight the importance of understanding the conflict that comes with changing behavior. We discuss implications for policy and communication.

scholarly journals Interleukin-17/Interleukin-17 Receptor-Mediated Signaling Is Important for Generation of an Optimal Polymorphonuclear Response against Toxoplasma gondii Infection

2005 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 617-621 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle N. Kelly ◽  
Jay K. Kolls ◽  
Kyle Happel ◽  
Joseph D. Schwartzman ◽  
Paul Schwarzenberger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Toxoplasma Gondii ◽  
Adaptive Immunity ◽  
Protective Immunity ◽  
Polymorphonuclear Leukocytes ◽  
Early Infection ◽  
Interleukin 17 ◽  
Toxoplasma Gondii Infection ◽  
Knockout Animals

ABSTRACT We investigated the role of interleukin-17 (IL-17)/IL-17 receptor (IL-17R)-mediated signaling in the protective immunity against Toxoplasma gondii. IL-17R−/− mice developed a normal adaptive immunity against the parasite. However, increased mortality in the knockout animals can be attributed to a defect in the migration of polymorphonuclear leukocytes to infected sites during early infection.

Dissociation of Appetitive Overexpectation and Extinction in the Infralimbic Cortex

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (9) ◽  
pp. 3687-3701 ◽  
Author(s):  
Belinda P P Lay ◽  
Melissa Nicolosi ◽  
Alexandra A Usypchuk ◽  
Guillem R Esber ◽  
Mihaela D Iordanova
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Change ◽  
Reward Learning ◽  
Behavioral Modification ◽  
Test Drug ◽  
Infralimbic Cortex ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
Conditioned Responses ◽  
Conditioned Responding ◽  
Drug Free

Abstract Behavioral change is paramount to adaptive behavior. Two ways to achieve alterations in previously established behavior are extinction and overexpectation. The infralimbic (IL) portion of the medial prefrontal cortex controls the inhibition of previously established aversive behavioral responses in extinction. The role of the IL cortex in behavioral modification in appetitive Pavlovian associations remains poorly understood. Here, we seek to determine if the IL cortex modulates overexpectation and extinction of reward learning. Using overexpectation or extinction to achieve a reduction in behavior, the present findings uncover a dissociable role for the IL cortex in these paradigms. Pharmacologically inactivating the IL cortex left overexpectation intact. In contrast, pre-training manipulations in the IL cortex prior to extinction facilitated the reduction in conditioned responding but led to a disrupted extinction retrieval on test drug-free. Additional studies confirmed that this effect is restricted to the IL and not dependent on the dorsally-located prelimbic cortex. Together, these results show that the IL cortex underlies extinction but not overexpectation-driven reduction in behavior, which may be due to regulating the expression of conditioned responses influenced by stimulus–response associations rather than stimulus–stimulus associations.

scholarly journals Circular cities: Analyzing bottom-up initiatives for making Amsterdam more circular

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Evgeniya Elkina ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Circular Economy ◽  
Behavioral Change ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Local Scale ◽  
Survey Method ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Efficient Resource

Circular economy is becoming ever more widespread sustainable concept for promoting efficient resource usage; Amsterdam is one of the first cities to implement this approach to solve waste management problems. While the circular transition is mostly examined from a top-down perspective, the role of bottom-up initiatives is often left unstudied. This article determines the contribution of bottom-up initiatives to Amsterdam’s circular transition by assessing their environmental, economic, social impact together with their commitment to circularity. The study utilizes the survey method followed by a statistical analysis to investigate the influence of such initiatives on public awareness, involvement, and behavioral change. The content analysis of initiatives’ official documentation and news articles allows revealing the environmental and economic impact and analyzing initiatives’ commitment to circularity. The results communicate that bottom-up initiatives mostly create an economic value and positively affect citizens’ involvement. However, the environmental impact, the influence on public awareness and partly on behavioral change is insignificant due to their small local scale and inconsistency between the declared and actual priorities. Such initiatives might still serve as trendsetters thereby indirectly tackling waste problem and facilitating Amsterdam’s circular transition.

scholarly journals The antioxidant systems in Toxoplasma gondii and the role of cytosolic catalase in defence against oxidative injury

2003 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lai Yu Kwok ◽  
Dirk Schlüter ◽  
Christine Clayton ◽  
Dominique Soldati
Keyword(s):  
Toxoplasma Gondii ◽  
Oxidative Injury ◽  
Antioxidant Systems
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