scholarly journals The Rhythm of Conceptions. Seasonality of Births in Taiwan and the Netherlands, 1800–1940

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 86-90
Author(s):  
Theo Engelen

The seasonality of births provides us with insights into the economic, cultural, and biological effects on the private lives of our predecessors in time. This comparison between two culturally very different societies results in the conclusion that there is an amazing geographic and historical stability in the patterns of seasonality in conceptions, both in Taiwan and in the Netherlands. Economic and cultural variables only have a minor influence. The fact that a biological variable like temperature is so dominant in the Taiwanese case suggests that future studies may benefit from focusing more on the biological determinants of human behaviour.

Author(s):  
Priyobrata Nath ◽  
Agnish Mukherjee ◽  
Sougata Mukherjee ◽  
Sabyasachi Banerjee ◽  
Samarpita Das ◽  
...  

: Isatin is an endogenous and a significant category of fused heterocyclic component, widely been a part of several potential biologically useful synthetics. Since its discovery, tons of research work has been conducted with respect to the synthesis, chemical properties, and biological and industrial applications. It contains indole nucleus having both lactam and keto moiety which while being a part of a molecular framework exerted several biological effects, viz.; antimicrobial, antitubercular, anticonvulsant, anticancer etc. Isatin derivatives are synthetically significant substrates, which can be utilized for the synthesis of huge diversified chemical entities of which few members emerged to be a drug. The reason for this review is to provide extensive information pertaining to the chemistry and its significance in altering several pathological states of isatin and its derivatives. A Structure Activity Relationships study thus developed through a gamut of scientific information indicates the importance of mostly electron withdrawing groups, halogens, nitro, alkoxy and to a minor extent groups with positive inductive effects, such as methyl at position 1, 5, 6 and 7 of isatin in alleviating several clinical conditions. It is also observed from the survey that the presence of two oxo groups at position 2 and 3 sometimes become insignificant as fusion with a heterocycle at those position resulted in a biologically relevant compound.


β-Lactam antibiotics resistant to β-lactamase degradation can be produced by many chemical modifications, but often at the expense of antibacterial activity. Substitution onto several positions in the molecule produces different and often selective resistance; for instance, heavily sterically hindered acyl groups give staphylococcal P-lactamase resistance to penicillins, and resistance to some enzymes from Gram-negative pathogens to both penicillins and cephalosporins. 6-α- or 7-α-substituents respectively confer a broad spectrum of resistance (e.g. cefoxitin), but changes at positions 2 or 3 have only a minor influence on enzyme susceptibility. Changes in the ring condensed with the β-lactam, such as changing ceph-3-em to ceph-2-em may greatly enhance stability. Small improvements can occur when the nuclear sulphur atom is oxidized, but a much better effect is obtained when it is replaced by another atom such as oxygen, as in clavulanic acid. This compound appears to have broad spectrum resistance which is actually due to susceptibility and subsequent product inhibition.


2011 ◽  
Vol 239-242 ◽  
pp. 1359-1363
Author(s):  
Chao Hui Zhang ◽  
Si Si Liu ◽  
Yue Tao Sun ◽  
Jun Ming Liu

Aqueous solutions have found broad usages as lubricants, in conjunction with other possible utilizations, such as in metal working and other industries. Due to the inferior lubricity, functional additives are needed to improve their tribological performances among which aqueous surfactants are exclusively included. The film forming property of aqueous solution with polyethoxylated ether added (PEOE) is measured, taking consideration of the influences of the temperature and the concentration. The addition of PEOEs into aqueous solutions will largely increase the film forming capacity. But the concentration has only a minor influence on the lubrication property of the aqueous solutions with PEOEs. The cloud point will strongly alter the film forming characteristics.


Foods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 247
Author(s):  
Valeriu V. Cotea ◽  
Mihai Cristian Focea ◽  
Camelia Elena Luchian ◽  
Lucia Cintia Colibaba ◽  
Elena Cristina Scutarașu ◽  
...  

The occurrence of aroma constituents in sparkling wines, with direct impact on their organoleptic characteristics, is affected by several factors, for example the base-wine particularities, grapes cultivar conditions, inoculated yeasts, the aging stage, and wine-making practices. This study evaluated the influence of different four commercial yeasts (IOC FIZZ™, IOC DIVINE™, LEVULIA CRISTAL™, and IOC 18-2007™) on the volatile composition of experimental sparkling wines. For this, five sparkling wines variants from the Muscat Ottonel grape variety were obtained. The base-wine was obtained through reverse osmosis and had a predetermined alcoholic concentration (10.5% vol.). In order to fulfill the proposed purpose, the experimental sparkling wines were characterized by the physical–chemical parameters (according to International Organization of Vine and Wine methods of analysis), volatile fraction (using gas-chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry technique), and sensory descriptors. Data showed a key impact on the concentration of the volatile constituents (p < 0.05), depending on the type of inoculated yeast for the second fermentation. Regarding the sensory analysis, important differences can be observed due to the type of inoculated yeast. Only a minor influence on the physical–chemical parameters was registered.


Molecules ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 897 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatriz Hernández-Carlos ◽  
Marcela Gamboa-Angulo

Plant metabolites have been used for many years to control pests in animals and to protect crops. Here, we reviewed the available literature, looking for the species of Mexican flora for which extracts and metabolites have shown activity against pest insects and parasitic nematodes of agricultural importance, as well as against nematodes that parasitize domestic cattle. From 1996 to 2018, the search for novel and eco-friendly biopesticides has resulted in the identification of 114 species belonging to 36 botanical families of Mexican plants with reported biological effects on 20 insect species and seven nematode species. Most plant species with detected pesticide properties belong to the families Asteraceae, Fabaceae, and Lamiaceae. Eighty-six metabolites have been identified as pesticidal active principles, and most have been terpenoids. Therefore, the continuation and intensification of this area of research is very important to contribute to the generation of new products that will provide alternatives to conventional pesticide agents. In addition, future studies will contribute to the recognition and dissemination of the importance of propagating plant species for their conservation and sustainable use.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitrios - Georgios Kontopoulos ◽  
Erik van Sebille ◽  
Michael Lange ◽  
Gabriel Yvon-Durocher ◽  
Timothy G. Barraclough ◽  
...  

AbstractTo better predict how populations and communities respond to climatic temperature variation, it is necessary to understand how the shape of the response of fitness-related traits to temperature evolves (the thermal performance curve). Currently, there is disagreement about the extent to which the evolution of thermal performance curves is constrained. One school of thought has argued for the prevalence of thermodynamic constraints through enzyme kinetics, whereas another argues that adaptation can—at least partly—overcome such constraints. To shed further light on this debate, we perform a phylogenetic meta-analysis of the thermal performance curves of growth rate of phytoplankton—a globally important functional group—, controlling for environmental effects (habitat type and thermal regime). We find that thermodynamic constraints have a minor influence on the shape of the curve. In particular, we detect a very weak increase of maximum performance with the temperature at which the curve peaks, suggesting a weak “hotter-is-better” constraint. Also, instead of a constant thermal sensitivity of growth across species, as might be expected from strong constraints, we find that all aspects of the thermal performance curve evolve along the phylogeny. Our results suggest that phytoplankton thermal performance curves adapt to thermal environments largely in the absence of hard thermodynamic constraints.


2021 ◽  
pp. 115-149
Author(s):  
Kirsten Macfarlane

This chapter examines Broughton’s engagements with early modern Jewish communities which, like the rest of his interactions, were fraught with polemic, tension, and controversy. It starts with Broughton’s excitement at receiving a letter from an Abraham Reuben of Constantinople, whom Broughton believed to be a learned and authoritative Rabbi; whom Broughton’s enemies believed to be a convenient fiction of his own making; and who was in fact a minor poet with no religious authority. Despite the rumours of its forgery, Reuben’s letter pushed Broughton into a spree of missionary activity, leading to the first Hebrew printings in Amsterdam (1605–1606), and a public debate with David Farar, a Portuguese converso physician who had settled in the Netherlands. Beyond the confusions and miscommunications of these events, this chapter examines the broader impact they had on Broughton’s scholarship. Specifically, it argues that Broughton’s obsession with Jewish conversion deeply informed the approach he took to theological controversy and scholarship, by orientating him towards unusually historical and philological methods that were radically stripped of doctrinal and dogmatic concerns.


2020 ◽  
Vol 318 (3) ◽  
pp. F617-F627
Author(s):  
Hannah Ruetten ◽  
Kyle A. Wegner ◽  
Conner L. Kennedy ◽  
Anne Turco ◽  
Helen L. Zhang ◽  
...  

The National Institutes of Health leveled new focus on sex as a biological variable with the goal of understanding sex-specific differences in health and physiology. We previously published a functional assessment of the impact of sex, androgens, and prostate size on C57BL/6J mouse urinary physiology (Ruetten H, Wegner KA, Zhang HL, Wang P, Sandhu J, Sandhu S, Mueller B, Wang Z, Macoska J, Peterson RE, Bjorling DE, Ricke WA, Marker PC, Vezina CM. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 317: F996–F1009, 2019). Here, we measured and compared five characteristics of urethral histology (urethral lumen diameter and area, epithelial cell count, epithelial and rhabdosphincter thickness, epithelial cell area, and total urethral area) in male and female 9-wk-old C57BL/6J mice using hematoxylin and eosin staining. We also compared male mice with castrated male mice, male and female mice treated with the steroid 5α-reductase inhibitor finasteride or testosterone, or male mice harboring alleles ( Pbsn4cre/+; R26RDta/+) that reduce prostate lobe mass. The three methods used to reduce prostate mass (castration, finasteride, and Pbsn4cre/+; R26RDta/+) changed urethral histology, but none feminized male urethral histology (increased urethral epithelial area). Exogenous testosterone caused increased epithelial cell count in intact females but did not masculinize female urethral histology (decrease epithelial area). Our results lay a critical foundation for future studies as we begin to parse out the influence of hormones and cellular morphology on male and female urinary function.


Author(s):  
Paola Monti ◽  
Giorgia Foggetti ◽  
Paola Menichini ◽  
Alberto Inga ◽  
Barry Gold ◽  
...  

Biologia ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirela Perić ◽  
Tvrtko Dražina ◽  
Maria Špoljar ◽  
Ines Radanović ◽  
Biserka Primc ◽  
...  

AbstractAiming to establish the most frequent invertebrate taxa in drift at the small spatial scale within a moss-rich karst tufa-precipitating hydrosystem, we sampled drift among microhabitats differing in substratum type and flow conditions along a tufa barrier-cascading lotic reach. Additionally, we addressed the question of the contribution and the potential significance of meiofauna within the overall invertebrate drift at the small spatial scale. During the study period, a total of 60 invertebrate taxa were recorded in the drift. Six of these taxa belonged to the annelid/arthropod meiofauna and they represented 35% of total drift density. Macroinvertebrates found in drift were represented mainly by larval insects. The composition of the most abundant taxa in total drift was as follows: Alona spp. (Cladocera 26.7%), Riolus spp. (Coleoptera: Elmidae 13.2%), Simulium spp. (Diptera: Simuliidae 12.2%), Enchytraeidae (Oligochaeta 10.4%), Hydrachnidia (6.3%), Orthocladinae (Diptera: Chironomidae 3.9%) and Naididae (Oligochaeta 3.6%). Faunal drift densities and amounts of transported particulate matter (PM) were highest at the fast-flowing sites located at the barriers and lowest at the slow-flowing sites within pools. Similarly to the seasonal amounts of transported PM, faunal drift was lowest in winter, and peaked in autumn and in late spring/early summer. Correlation between flow velocity and PM-faunal drift densities suggested a significant effect of the dislodged PM, though a minor influence of discharge and flow velocity on faunal drift. We suggest that the small-scale habitat heterogeneity and the respective feeding and refugial strategies of the fauna, as well as faunal passive dislodgement initiated by the shear forces of the flow were the most important drivers of observed drift patterns.


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