Limb remote ischemic conditioning of the recipient protects the liver in a rat model of arterialized orthotopic liver transplantation.

Background: Ischemic-reperfusion (IR) injury still represents a major concern in clinical transplantation, especially in the era of extreme organ shortage and extended criteria donor organs. In the present study we aimed to investigate the hepatoprotective effects of remote ischemic conditioning (RIC) in a rat model of arterialized orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT).

Methods: Male Lewis rats were used (n = 144 / 72 OLT cases; 240-340g) as donors and recipients.

Oxytocin and Opioid Receptor Gene Polymorphisms Associated with Greeting Behavior in Dogs.

Meeting humans is an everyday experience for most companion dogs, and their behavior in these situations and its genetic background is of major interest. Previous research in our laboratory reported that in German shepherd dogs the lack of G allele, and in Border collies the lack of A allele, of the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) 19208A/G single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) was linked to increased friendliness, which suggests that although broad traits are affected by genetic variability, the specific links between alleles and behavioral variables might be breed-specific. In the current study, we found that Siberian huskies with the A allele approached a friendly unfamiliar woman less frequently in a greeting test, which indicates that certain polymorphisms are related to human directed behavior, but that the relationship patterns between polymorphisms and behavioral phenotypes differ between populations.

Posttranslational modifications of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IIδ and its downstream signaling in human failing hearts.

Background: In human failing hearts (HF) of different origin (coronary artery disease-CAD, dilated-DCM, restrictive and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy-OTHER), we investigated the active forms of Ca/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IIδ (p-Thr-CaMKIIδ, oxMet-CaMKIIδ) and their role in phenotypes of the disease.

Methods And Results: Although basic diagnostic and clinical markers indicating the attenuated cardiac contractility and remodeling were comparable in HF groups, CaMKIIδ-mediated axis was different. P-Thr-CaMKIIδ was unaltered in CAD group, whereas it was upregulated in non-ischemic cardiomyopathic groups.

Decomposing Multifractal Crossovers.

Physiological processes-such as, the brain's resting-state electrical activity or hemodynamic fluctuations-exhibit scale-free temporal structuring. However, impacts common in biological systems such as, noise, multiple signal generators, or filtering by transport function, result in multimodal scaling that cannot be reliably assessed by standard analytical tools that assume unimodal scaling. Here, we present two methods to identify breakpoints or crossovers in multimodal multifractal scaling functions.

Adenosine A1 Receptor Antagonism Abolished the Anti-seizure Effects of Exogenous Ketone Supplementation in Wistar Albino Glaxo Rijswijk Rats.

The state of therapeutic ketosis can be achieved by using the ketogenic diet (KD) or exogenous ketone supplementation. It was suggested previously that the adenosinergic system may be involved in the mediating effect of KD on suppressing seizure activity in different types of epilepsies, likely by means of adenosine A receptors (ARs). Thus, we tested in the present study whether exogenous ketone supplements (ketone ester: KE, 2.

Impact of Proestrus on Gene Expression in the Medial Preoptic Area of Mice.

The antero-ventral periventricular zone (AVPV) and medial preoptic area (MPOA) have been recognized as gonadal hormone receptive regions of the rodent brain that-via wiring to gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons-contribute to orchestration of the preovulatory GnRH surge. We hypothesized that neural genes regulating the induction of GnRH surge show altered expression in proestrus. Therefore, we compared the expression of 48 genes obtained from intact proestrous and metestrous mice, respectively, by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) method.

Nanotechnology in Sustainable Agriculture: Recent Developments, Challenges, and Perspectives.

Nanotechnology monitors a leading agricultural controlling process, especially by its miniature dimension. Additionally, many potential benefits such as enhancement of food quality and safety, reduction of agricultural inputs, enrichment of absorbing nanoscale nutrients from the soil, etc. allow the application of nanotechnology to be resonant encumbrance.

Racing on the Wrong Track.

The preclinical and benchmark figures of cationic antimicrobial peptides have to be revisited based on the newly discovered alternative modes of action.

Multiplicity: An Explorative Interview Study on Personal Experiences of People with Multiple Selves.

Personality psychology research relies on the notion that humans have a single self that is the result of the individual's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that can be reliably described (i.e., through traits).

Ethorobotics: A New Approach to Human-Robot Relationship.

Here we aim to lay the theoretical foundations of human-robot relationship drawing upon insights from disciplines that govern relevant human behaviors: ecology and ethology. We show how the paradox of the so called "uncanny valley hypothesis" can be solved by applying the "niche" concept to social robots, and relying on the natural behavior of humans. Instead of striving to build human-like social robots, engineers should construct robots that are able to maximize their performance in their niche (being optimal for some specific functions), and if they are endowed with appropriate form of social competence then humans will eventually interact with them independent of their embodiment.

Pricing and Reimbursement of Biosimilars in Central and Eastern European Countries.

The aim of this study was to review the requirements for the reimbursement of biosimilars and to compare the reimbursement status, market share, and reimbursement costs of biosimilars in selected Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted between November 2016 and January 2017 among experts from the following CEE countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Romania. The requirements for the pricing and reimbursement of biosimilars were reviewed for each country.

The Role of Perceived In-group Moral Superiority in Reparative Intentions and Approach Motivation.

Three studies examined how members of a national group react to in-group wrongdoings. We expected that perceived in-group moral superiority would lead to unwillingness to repair the aggression. We also expected that internal-focused emotions such as group-based guilt and group-based shame would predict specific, misdeed-related reparative intentions but not general approach motivation toward the victim groups.

Growth Rate as a Direct Regulator of the Start Network to Set Cell Size.

Cells are able to adjust their growth and size to external inputs to comply with specific fates and developmental programs. Molecular pathways controlling growth also have an enormous impact in cell size, and bacteria, yeast, or epithelial cells modify their size as a function of growth rate. This universal feature suggests that growth (mass) and proliferation (cell number) rates are subject to general coordinating mechanisms.

Measures of Dogs' Inhibitory Control Abilities Do Not Correlate across Tasks.

Inhibitory control, the ability to overcome prepotent but ineffective behaviors, has been studied extensively across species, revealing the involvement of this ability in many different aspects of life. While various different paradigms have been created in order to measure inhibitory control, only a limited number of studies have investigated whether such measurements indeed evaluate the same underlying mechanism, especially in non-human animals. In humans, inhibitory control is a complex construct composed of distinct behavioral processes rather than of a single unified measure.

Posterior-Anterior Brain Maturation Reflected in Perceptual, Motor and Cognitive Performance.

Based on several postmortem morphometric and imaging studies it has been postulated that brain maturation roughly follows a caudal to rostral direction. In this study, we linked this maturational pattern to psychological function employing a series of well-established behavioral tasks. We addressed three distinct functions and brain regions with a perceptual (contour integration, CI), motor (finger tapping, FT), and executive control (Navon global-local) task.

Monitoring the Right Collection: The Central Cholinergic Neurons as an Instructive Example.

Some neurons are more equal than others: neuroscience relies heavily on the notion that there is a division of labor among different subtypes of brain cells. Therefore, it is important to recognize groups of neurons that participate in the same computation or share similar tasks. However, what the best ways are to identify such collections is not yet clear.

Aging of Attentiveness in Border Collies and Other Pet Dog Breeds: The Protective Benefits of Lifelong Training.

Aging of attentiveness affects cognitive functions like perception and working memory, which can seriously impact communication between dogs and humans, potentially hindering training and cooperation. Previous studies have revealed that aged laboratory beagles and pet Border collies (BC) show a decline in selective attention. However, much less is known about the aging of attentiveness in pet dogs in general rather than in specific breeds.

Social Behavior of Pet Dogs Is Associated with Peripheral OXTR Methylation.

Oxytocin is a key modulator of emotional processing and social cognitive function. In line with this, polymorphisms of genes involved in oxytocin signaling, like the oxytocin receptor () gene, are known to influence social behavior in various species. However, to date, no study has investigated environmental factors possibly influencing the epigenetic variation of the gene and its behavioral effects in dogs.

How Not to Do a Mindset Intervention: Learning from a Mindset Intervention among Students with Good Grades.

The present study examined the effectiveness of a Growth Mindset intervention based on Dweck et al.'s (1995) theory in the Hungarian educational context. A cluster randomized controlled trial classroom experiment was carried out within the framework of a train-the-trainer intervention among 55 Hungarian 10th grade students with high Grade Point Average (GPA).

Connexin36 Expression in the Mammalian Retina: A Multiple-Species Comparison.

Much knowledge about interconnection of human retinal neurons is inferred from results on animal models. Likewise, there is a lack of information on human retinal electrical synapses/gap junctions (GJ). Connexin36 (Cx36) forms GJs in both the inner and outer plexiform layers (IPL and OPL) in most species including humans.

Motivational Factors Underlying Problem Solving: Comparing Wolf and Dog Puppies' Explorative and Neophobic Behaviors at 5, 6, and 8 Weeks of Age.

Wolves have been shown to be better in independent problem-solving tasks than dogs, however it is unclear whether cognitive or motivational factors underlie such differences. In a number of species problem solving has been linked to both persistence in exploration and neophobia, suggesting both these aspects may underlie dog-wolf differences in problem solving. Indeed adult wolves have been shown to be more likely to approach a novel object and more persistent in their investigation of it, but also slower in making contact with it and more fearful of it than dogs.

When Elderly Outperform Young Adults-Integration in Vision Revealed by the Visual Mismatch Negativity.

We studied the possibility of age-related differences of visual integration at an automatic and at a task-related level. Data of 15 young (21.9 ± 1.

Reading Disability and Quality of Life Based on Both Self- and Parent-Reports: Importance of Gender Differences.

The aim of this study is to investigate self- and parent-rated quality of life (QoL) in children with a reading disability (RD) and the impact of comorbid psychopathology, with special focus on age and gender differences. Using the Dyslexia Differential Diagnosis Maastricht-Hungarian standard test, 127 children (aged < 18) were included in the RD group and 81 in the control group. To measure comorbid psychopathology, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was administered.