Tardigrade distribution in soils of high Arctic habitats.

Tardigrades are omnipresent microfauna with scarce record on their ecology in soils. Here, we investigated soil inhabiting tardigrade communities in five contrasting polar habitats, evaluating their abundance, diversity, species richness, and species composition. Moreover, we measured selected soil physico-chemical properties to find the drivers of tardigrade distribution among these habitats.

Simplified PCR-Based Quantification of Proteins with DNA Aptamers and Methylcellulose as a Blocking Agent.

Due to their unique three-dimensional structure, DNA or RNA oligonucleotide aptamers bind to various molecules with high affinity and specificity. Aptamers, alone or in combination with antibodies, can be used to sensitively quantify target molecules by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). However, the assays are often complicated and unreliable.

Enhanced Membrane Fluidization and Cholesterol Displacement by 1-Heptanol Inhibit Mast Cell Effector Functions.

Signal transduction by the high-affinity IgE receptor (FcεRI) depends on membrane lipid and protein compartmentalization. Recently published data show that cells treated with 1-heptanol, a cell membrane fluidizer, exhibit changes in membrane properties. However, the functional consequences of 1-heptanol-induced changes on mast cell signaling are unknown.

[An effect of antipsychotic and anticholinergic treatment on cognitive function in patients with schizophrenia].

Objective: To reveal the relationships between antipsychotic and anticholinergic drugs and cognitive functions in patients with schizophrenia.

Material And Methods: The observational prospective study was conducted at the Bekhterev National Medical Center of Psychiatry and Neurology. The study involved 41 patients (22 men and 19 women) with paranoid schizophrenia, according to ICD 10 criteria, aged 30.

Post-fire forest floor succession in a Central European temperate forest depends on organic matter input from recovering vegetation rather than on pyrogenic carbon input from fire.

The predicted global increase in the frequency, severity, and intensity of forest fires includes Central Europe, which is not currently considered as a wildfire hotspot. Because of this, a detailed knowledge of long-term post-fire forest floor succession is essential for understanding the role of wildfires in Central European temperate forests. In this study, we used a space-for-time substitution approach and exploited a unique opportunity to observe successional changes in the physical, chemical, and microbial properties of the forest floor in coniferous forest stands on a chronosequence up to 110 years after fire.

Association of Anxiety and Depression with Objective and Subjective Cognitive Decline in Outpatient Healthcare Consumers with COVID-19: А Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: In addition to the neurological complications affecting people infected with COVID-19, cognitive impairment symptoms and symptoms of anxiety and depression remain a frequent cause of complaints. The specificity of cognitive impairment in patients with COVID-19 is still poorly understood.

Aim: An exploratory study of factors that may be associated with cognitive decline during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pentacyclic triterpenoid ursolic acid interferes with mast cell activation via a lipid-centric mechanism affecting FcεRI signalosome functions.

Pentacyclic triterpenoids, including ursolic acid (UA), are bioactive compounds with multiple biological activities involving anti-inflammatory effects. However, the mode of their action on mast cells, key players in the early stages of allergic inflammation, and underlying molecular mechanisms remain enigmatic. To better understand the effect of UA on mast cell signaling, here we examined the consequences of short-term treatment of mouse bone marrow-derived mast cells with UA.

[The relationship between visual dysfunction and cognitive deficit in schizophrenia].

Objective: To investigate whether visual processing abnormalities are the result of visual dysfunction involving cognitive impairment or independent abnormalities and to identify the relationship of visual impairments with cognitive functions and severity of psychopathological symptoms.

Material And Methods: We compared results of visual size perception and actions on objects (motor assessment) in patients with schizophrenia (=37), including patients with non-resistant schizophrenia (=19) and healthy individuals (=20). Cognitive impairments were assessed with BACS.

[Contemporary methods of non-drug therapy for depression].

The review presents information on the most effective current non-drug methods of treatment of depression used in practice. A review of publications in PubMed and PsycINFO and Cochrane Library over the past 10 years was conducted. Non-drug biological therapies demonstrate high efficacy in the reduction of depressive symptoms in patients with recurrent depressive disorder.

Molecular Mechanisms of Mast Cell Activation by Cholesterol-Dependent Cytolysins.

Mast cells are potent immune sensors of the tissue microenvironment. Within seconds of activation, they release various preformed biologically active products and initiate the process of synthesis of cytokines, chemokines, and other inflammatory mediators. This process is regulated at multiple levels.

Activity of cholinesterases in a young and healthy middle-European population: Relevance for toxicology, pharmacology and clinical praxis.

The activity of human cholinesterases, erythrocyte acetylcholinesterase (AChE; EC 3.1.1.

Ethanol Inhibits High-Affinity Immunoglobulin E Receptor (FcεRI) Signaling in Mast Cells by Suppressing the Function of FcεRI-Cholesterol Signalosome.

Ethanol has multiple effects on biochemical events in a variety of cell types, including the high-affinity immunoglobulin E receptor (FcεRI) signaling in antigen-activated mast cells. However, the underlying molecular mechanism remains unknown. To get better understanding of the effect of ethanol on FcεRI-mediated signaling we examined the effect of short-term treatment with non-toxic concentrations of ethanol on FcεRI signaling events in mouse bone marrow-derived mast cells.

A comparison of the reactivating and therapeutic efficacy of two newly developed oximes (k727 and k733) with oxime k203 and trimedoxime in tabun-poisoned rats and mice.

The reactivating and therapeutic efficacy of three original bispyridinium oximes (K727, K733 and K203) and one currently available oxime (trimedoxime) was evaluated in tabun-poisoned rats and mice. The oxime-induced reactivation of tabun-inhibited acetylcholinesterase was measured in diaphragm and brain of tabun-poisoned rats. The results showed that the reactivating efficacy of two recently developed oximes (K727 and K733) does not achieve the level of the reactivation of tabun-inhibited acetylcholinesterase induced by oxime K203 and trimedoxime.

The evaluation of prophylactic efficacy of newly developed reversible inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase in soman-poisoned mice - a comparison with commonly used pyridostigmine.

The ability of four newly developed reversible inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase (PC-37, PC-48, JaKo 39, JaKo 40) and currently available carbamate pyridostigmine to increase the resistance of mice against soman and the efficacy of antidotal treatment of soman-poisoned mice was evaluated and compared. No reversible inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase studied was able to decrease the LD50 value of soman in mice. Thus, the pharmacological pre-treatment with pyridostigmine or newly synthesized inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase was not able to significantly protect mice against soman-induced lethal acute toxicity.

The evaluation of the reactivating and therapeutic efficacy of two novel oximes (K361 and K378) in comparison with the oxime K203 and trimedoxime in tabun-poisoned rats and mice.

The potency of two newly developed oximes (K361 and K378) to reactivate tabun-inhibited cholinesterase and to reduce acute toxicity of tabun was compared with the oxime K203 and trimedoxime using in vivo methods. The study determining percentage of reactivation of tabun-inhibited diaphragm cholinesterase in poisoned rats showed that the reactivating efficacy of the oxime K378 is slightly lower than the reactivating potency of the oxime K203 and trimedoxime while the ability of the oxime K361 to reactivate tabun-inhibited cholinesterase is markedly lower compared with the oxime K203 and trimedoxime. In the brain, the potency of both newly developed oximes to reactivate tabun-inhibited cholinesterase was negligible.

The transmembrane adaptor protein NTAL signals to mast cell cytoskeleton via the small GTPase Rho.

The transmembrane adaptor protein NTAL (non-T-cell activation linker) participates in signalosome assembly in hematopoietic cells, but its exact role in cell physiology remains enigmatic. We report here that BM-derived mast cells from NTAL-deficient mice, responding to Ag alone or in combination with SCF, exhibit reduced spreading on fibronectin, enhanced filamentous actin depolymerization and enhanced migration towards Ag relative to WT cells. No such differences between WT and NTAL(-/-) BM-derived mast cells were observed when SCF alone was used as activator.

Regulation of Ca2+ signaling in mast cells by tyrosine-phosphorylated and unphosphorylated non-T cell activation linker.

Engagement of the FcepsilonRI in mast cells and basophils leads to a rapid tyrosine phosphorylation of the transmembrane adaptors LAT (linker for activation of T cells) and NTAL (non-T cell activation linker, also called LAB or LAT2). NTAL regulates activation of mast cells by a mechanism, which is incompletely understood. Here we report properties of rat basophilic leukemia cells with enhanced or reduced NTAL expression.

Topography of signaling molecules as detected by electron microscopy on plasma membrane sheets isolated from non-adherent mast cells.

Immunolabeling of isolated plasma membrane (PM) sheets combined with high-resolution electron microscopy is a powerful technique for understanding the topography of PM-bound signaling molecules. However, this technique has been mostly confined to analysis of membrane sheets from adherent cells. Here we present a rapid, simple and versatile method for isolation of PM sheets from non-adherent cells, and show its use for examination of the topography of Fcepsilon receptor I (FcepsilonRI) and transmembrane adaptors, LAT (linker for activation of T cells) and NTAL (non-T cell activation linker), in murine bone marrow-derived mast cells (BMMC).

Conserved guanine-guanine stacking in tetraplex and duplex DNA.

Using a series of suitably chosen oligonucleotides, we demonstrate that the DNA duplex of d(CCCCGGGG) provides an almost identical CD spectrum as the parallel-stranded tetraplex of d(GGGG). The CD spectra are very sensitive to base stacking in DNA so that the above observation indicates that guanine-guanine stacking is essentially the same within the duplex of d(CCCCGGGG) and the tetraplex of d(GGGG). A very similar CD spectrum is also provided by the A-form of d(CCCCGGGG) induced by trifluoroethanol.

Conformational properties of DNA fragments containing GAC trinucleotide repeats associated with skeletal displasias.

The human gene for cartilage oligomeric matrix protein contains five tandem repeats of the GAC trinucleotide. Its expansion by one repeat causes multiple epiphyseal dysplasia, while expansion by two repeats or, remarkably, deletion of one repeat causes pseudoachondroplasia. Here we used CD spectroscopy, PAGE and UV absorption spectroscopy to compare conformational properties of the DNA strands containing four, five, six and seven repeats of the GAC trinucleotide.

(CGA)(4): parallel, anti-parallel, right-handed and left-handed homoduplexes of a trinucleotide repeat DNA.

Conformational properties of microsatellite DNA regions are the probable reason of their expansions in genomes which lead to serious genetic diseases in some cases. Using CD spectroscopy, UV absorption spectroscopy and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, we study in this paper conformational properties of (CGA)(4) and compare them with those of (CAG)(4) - a related repeat, connected with Huntington's disease. We show that (CGA)(4) can adopt several distinct conformations in solution.