Advantageous/Unfavorable Effect of Quercetin on the Membranes of SK-N-SH Neuroblastoma Cells

Quercetin is a polyphenolic compound, the effects of which raise scientists’ doubts. The results of many experiments show that it has anticancer, antiinflammatory, and antioxidant properties, while other studies indicate its pro-oxidative and cytotoxic action. This compound can react with reactive oxygen species, and due to its chemical properties, it can be found in the hydrophobic-hydrophilic area of cells. These features of quercetin indicate that its action in cells will be associated with the modification of membranes and its participation in maintaining the redox balance. Therefore, this study distinguishes these two mechanisms and determines whether they are important for cell function. We check: (1) Whether the selected concentrations of quercetin are cytotoxic and destructive for SK-N-SH cell membranes (MTT, LDH, MDA tests) in situations with and without the applied oxidative stress; (2) what is the level of changes in the structural/mechanical properties of the lipid part of the membranes of these cells due to the presence of polyphenol molecules; and (3) whether the antioxidative action of quercetin protects the membrane against its modification. Our results show that changes in the stiffness/elasticity of the lipid part of the membrane constitute the decisive mechanism of action of quercetin, potentially influencing cellular processes whose initial stages are associated with membranes (e.g., reception of signals from the environment, transport).

Base attitude disturbance minimizing trajectory planning for a dual-arm space robot

Space robots are playing an increasingly important role in on-orbit services. Affected by the coupling of dynamics, the base attitude of a space robot will deflect with the motion of its manipulators, which leads to unfavorable effect to the success of the mission. The trajectory planning problem for base attitude disturbance minimization of a dual-arm space robot will be studied in this article. Along the planned trajectory, the attitude of the base will keep unchanged when the end effectors of the manipulators arrive at the desired position. First, the dynamic equation of the dual-arm space robot is given, and the direct-inverse mixed dynamic equation is also derived. Then, the rotation trajectory of the manipulator joints is parameterized, and the attitude deflection of the base with respect to the given parameters is calculated based on the direct-inverse mixed dynamic equation. The particle swarm optimization algorithm is utilized to obtain the optimal trajectory. Finally, numerical simulations are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the method proposed in this article. Four cases are included, considering symmetrical or asymmetrical initial configuration and synchronous or asynchronous start of the dual arms. The simulation results show that, in each case, the method proposed can effectively plan the trajectory along which the base attitude will keep nearly unchanged before and after the motion of the dual arms.

How Depressing Is Inbreeding? A Meta-Analysis of 30 Years of Research on the Effects of Inbreeding in Livestock

Inbreeding depression has been widely documented for livestock and other animal and plant populations. Inbreeding is generally expected to have a stronger unfavorable effect on fitness traits than on other traits. Traditionally, the degree of inbreeding depression in livestock has been estimated as the slope of the linear regression of phenotypic values on pedigree-based inbreeding coefficients. With the increasing availability of SNP-data, pedigree inbreeding can now be replaced by SNP-based measures. We performed a meta-analysis of 154 studies, published from 1990 to 2020 on seven livestock species, and compared the degree of inbreeding depression (1) across different trait groups, and (2) across different pedigree-based and SNP-based measures of inbreeding. Across all studies and traits, a 1% increase in pedigree inbreeding was associated with a median decrease in phenotypic value of 0.13% of a trait’s mean, or 0.59% of a trait’s standard deviation. Inbreeding had an unfavorable effect on all sorts of traits and there was no evidence for a stronger effect on primary fitness traits (e.g., reproduction/survival traits) than on other traits (e.g., production traits or morphological traits). p-values of inbreeding depression estimates were smaller for SNP-based inbreeding measures than for pedigree inbreeding, suggesting more power for SNP-based measures. There were no consistent differences in p-values for percentage of homozygous SNPs, inbreeding based on runs of homozygosity (ROH) or inbreeding based on a genomic relationship matrix. The number of studies that directly compares these different measures, however, is limited and comparisons are furthermore complicated by differences in scale and arbitrary definitions of particularly ROH-based inbreeding. To facilitate comparisons across studies in future, we provide the dataset with inbreeding depression estimates of 154 studies and stress the importance of always reporting detailed information (on traits, inbreeding coefficients, and models used) along with inbreeding depression estimates.

Somaliland: a self-declared country’s fight against COVID-19

Somaliland despite having a weak health system, managed COVID-19 better than some well-resourced countries in the continent by establishing a National Task Force to direct efforts in early detection, surveillance, risk communication and infection control of the virus. The Ministry of Health has been able to garner personnel with medical skills to increase the response workforce and also supervise the activities of medical facilities across the country. However, these measures have shown unfavorable effect on the economy. Somaliland is in active trade with other African countries and neglecting the impact of the virus can greatly affect the trade partner countries. Appropriate relief funds should be offered by capable countries to lessen the economic impact of the pandemic in the country. In the meantime, it is time to reframe the health system of Somaliland and improve sectors that have been underfunded like emergency, intensive care units and the surgical departments.

How Do Observers React to Companies’ Humorous Responses to Online Public Complaints?

The current research examines the way that observing consumers react when companies use humor to address online public complaints on social media. Drawing on, first, a field study using companies’ humorous responses on social media and, second, on two main scenario-based experiments, we use benign violation theory to capture simultaneously the unfavorable effect (i.e., inferred negative motives) and the favorable effect (i.e., humor appreciation) of employing humor in a public complaining context. The results reveal that online observers respond more favorably (in terms of likes, retweets, and purchase intentions) when firms use affiliative humor (e.g., laughing with the complainer) rather than aggressive humor (e.g., laughing at the complainer). Also, affiliative humor and an accommodative recovery (e.g., apologies and compensation) provide equal results in terms of observers’ purchase intentions. Because observers infer more negative motives of companies, affiliative humor compensates over an accommodative recovery by being funnier. Finally, our last study presents a reversal effect depending on brand personality; while sincere brands should always favor affiliative humor, aggressive humor elicits higher purchase intentions when performed by exciting brands. This research gives managerial insights about observers’ reactions to humorous responses to online complaints and the importance for humor to fit with brand personality.

The Effect of Pituitary Gland Disorders on Glucose Metabolism: From Pathophysiology to Management

This review aims to explore, present, and discuss disorders of glucose metabolism implicated in pituitary gland diseases, the appropriate interventions, as well as the therapeutic challenges that may arise. Pituitary pathologies may dysregulate glucose homeostasis, as both the excess and deficiency of various pituitary hormones can affect glucose metabolism. Increased circulating levels of growth hormone, glucocorticoids or prolactin have been shown to mainly provoke hyperglycemic states, while hypopituitarism can be associated with both hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia. Addressing the primary cause of these disorders with the use of surgery, medical treatment or radiotherapy forms the cornerstone of current management strategies. Physicians should bear in mind that some such medications have an unfavorable effect on glucose metabolism too. When unsuccessful, or until the appropriate treatment of the underlying pituitary problem, the addition of established antidiabetic therapies might prove useful. Further studies aiming to discover more accurate and effective drug preparations in combination with optimal lifestyle management models will contribute to achieving a more successful glycemic control in these patients.

Effect of coronavirus infection on the pregnant and newborn

A review of the existing experience of the effects attributed to coronavirus infection in pregnant women and newborns, from its beginning in March to June 2020, is presented. Although the sample is not big, we so far know: 1º Pregnancy does not imply a predisposition to contagion of this disease. 2º Pregnancy does not aggravate the evolution of the disease; in fact, the proportion of asymptomatic, mild, serious and fatal cases is the same as in non-pregnant women. 3º It seems to have an unfavorable effect on pregnancy. An increase in premature rupture of membranes and preterm deliveries has been reported, as well as a decrease in fetal well-being, which remains to be confirmed. 4º Pregnant women with preexisting diseases, especially diabetes, do present an increase in this pathology, in addition to pre-eclampsia. 5º Pregnancy termination by caesarean section ranges between 60 and 90%, this increase being attributed to the poor general health of the mother and the impaired fetal well-being. 6º Vertical transmission from mother to fetus has not been demonstrated.

Seismic-gather wavelet-stretching correction based on multiwavelet decomposition algorithm

Normal moveout correction is crucial in seismic data processing, but it generates a wavelet-stretching effect, especially on the larger offset or incident-angle seismic data. Wavelet stretching reduces the dominant frequency of seismic data. The greater the incident angle or offset, the lower dominant the frequency becomes. This is an unfavorable effect to amplitude variation with offset analysis. Therefore, we have introduced a wavelet stretching correction method based on the multiwavelet decomposition (MWD) algorithm. First, it decomposes the near-offset pilot trace and all the far-offset seismic traces in the same gather into a series of wavelets via the MWD algorithm. Then, the dominant frequencies of wavelets in the far-offset seismic traces are replaced by those corresponding wavelets in the pilot trace. Finally, the wavelets after the stretching correction are used to reconstruct the seismic trace. The model and field-data processing results show that this method can not only effectively reduce the wavelet stretching effect but it can also maintain the amplitude of each wavelet as invariant during the stretching correction procedure. Because only the frequencies of the decomposed wavelets are used, and no inverse wavelet operators is introduced, the wavelet stretching correction method does not distort the amplitude information.

Mucoadhesive effect of Curcuma longa extract and curcumin decreases the ranitidine effect, but not bismuth subsalicylate on ethanol-induced ulcer model

The study of pharmacological interactions between herbal remedies and conventional drugs is important because consuming traditional herbal remedies as supplements or alternative medicine is fairly common and their concomitant administration with prescribed drugs could either have a favorable or unfavorable effect. Therefore, this work aims to determine the pharmacological interactions of a turmeric acetone extract (TAE) and its main metabolite (curcumin) with common anti-ulcer drugs (ranitidine and bismuth subsalicylate), using an ethanol-induced ulcer model in Wistar rats. The analysis of the interactions was carried out via the Combination Index-Isobologram Equation method. The combination index (CI) calculated at 0.5 of the affected fraction (fa) indicated that the TAE or curcumin in combination with ranitidine had a subadditive interaction. The results suggest that this antagonistic mechanism is associated to the mucoadhesion of curcumin and the TAE, determined by rheological measurements. Contrastingly, both the TAE and curcumin combined with bismuth subsalicylate had an additive relationship, which means that there is no pharmacological interaction. This agrees with the normalized isobolograms obtained for each combination. The results of this study suggest that mucoadhesion of curcumin and the TAE could interfere in the effectiveness of ranitidine, and even other drugs.