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There is growing interest in zebrafish as a model organism in behavioral pharmacology research. Several anxiety behaviors have been characterized in zebrafish, but the effect of anxiolytic drugs on these parameters has been scarcely studied. The purpose of this work was to assess the predictive validity of acute treatment with anxiolytic drugs on behavioral parameters of anxiety. In the first task we simultaneously observed behavior of adult zebrafish on four parameters: height in the tank, locomotion, color, and shoal cohesion. The second task was the assessment of light/dark preference for 5 min. The benzodiazepines clonazepam, bromazepam, diazepam, and a moderate dose of ethanol significantly reduced shoal cohesion. Buspirone specifically increased zebrafish exploration of higher portions of the tank. In the light/dark task, all benzodiazepines, buspirone, and ethanol increased time spent in the light compartment. After treatment with anxiolytics, fish typically spent more than 60s and rarely less than 40s in the light compartment whereas controls (n=45) spent 33.3±14.4s and always less than 60s in the light compartment. Propranolol had no clear effects in these tasks. These results suggest that light/dark preference in zebrafish is a practical, low-cost, and sensitive screening task for anxiolytic drugs. Height in the tank and shoal cohesion seem to be useful behavioral parameters in discriminating different classes of these drugs.

The adenine nucleotide translocation in mitochondria has previously been established as an exchange between exogenous and endogenous adenine nucleotides across the inner membrane. The specificity and the control of the exchange are examined with the following major results: The adenine nucleotide translocation is relatively specific for exogenous ADP and ATP, AMP being nearly inactive. Among other nucleotides tested, only dADP and dATP exchange with a noticeable activity. In the controlled state ADP exchanges 2–4 times faster than ATP. If simultaneously added, ADP and ATP compete for the exchange, with ADP being about tenfold more active than ATP. The specificity of the exit of adenine nucleotides in the exchange is similar to the specificity of the entrance with the difference that ADP and ATP are released with equal activity in proportion to their intramitochondrial content. AMP is released only after a slow conversion to ADP. Therefore the short time exchange is limited by the endogenous content of ADP plus ATP. The exchange is influenced by the metabolic state of the mitochondria. The ATP exchange is more variable than the ADP exchange. Two effects are elucidated: (a) the influence of the metabolic state on the relative content of AMP which inhibits both the ADP and ATP exchange (b) the coupling of the energy transfer system which inhibits only the ATP exchange. An example for case (a) is the inhibition of the ADP and ATP exchange by arsenate and an example for case (b) is the strong increase of the ATP exchange on uncoupling. The following effects are relevant to the mechanism of the control of the exchange by ATP. The stimulation of the ATP exchange by uncoupler has the same concentration dependence as the uncoupling of oxidative phosphorylation (Km [CCP] = 0.08 μM, where CCP = carbonyl‐cyanide‐phenylhydrazone). Oligomycin does not abolish the uncoupler effect on the ATP exchange. “Endogenous uncoupling” on aging of mitochondria also stimulates the ATP exchange. Valinomycin plus K+ only slightly stimulate the ATP exchange. Anaerobiosis stimulates the ATP exchange to a smaller extent than uncoupling.In competition with ADP the effects of energy transfer on ATP exchange are more strongly revealed. On uncoupling the more than tenfold preference for ADP is fully abolished. It is concluded that basically the exchange for ADP and ATP has equal specificity in forward and reverse reaction. In the controlled state a superimposed force makes the specificity asymmetric and inhibits the entrance of ATP. This control of the ATP exchange is concluded to be based on the anionic character of the adenine nucleotides. Thus the ATP4‐ex–ADP3‐in exchange is inhibited unless the charge difference is compensated for by an uncoupler stimulated H+ movement across the membrane. Furthermore an electric potential gradient appears to be effective in the controlled state which is abolished on uncoupling.

Abstract Background Malaria remains one of the most devastating diseases globally, and the control of mosquitoes as the vector is mainly dependent on chemical insecticides. Elevated temperatures associated with future warmer climates could affect mosquitoes' metabolic enzyme expression and increase insecticide resistance, making vector control difficult. Understanding how mosquito rearing temperatures influence their susceptibility to insecticide and expression of metabolic enzymes could aid in the development of novel tools and strategies to control mosquitoes in a future warmer climate. This study evaluated the effects of temperature on the susceptibility of Anopheles gambiae sensu lato (s.l.) mosquitoes to pyrethroids and their expression of metabolic enzymes. Methods Anopheles gambiae s.l. eggs obtained from laboratory-established colonies were reared under eight temperature regimes (25, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, and 40 °C). Upon adult emergence, 3- to 5-day-old female non-blood-fed mosquitoes were used for susceptibility tests following the World Health Organization (WHO) bioassay protocol. Batches of 20–25 mosquitoes from each temperature regime (25–34 °C) were exposed to two pyrethroid insecticides (0.75% permethrin and 0.05% deltamethrin). In addition, the levels of four metabolic enzymes (α-esterase, β-esterase, glutathione S-transferase [GST], and mixed-function oxidase [MFO]) were examined in mosquitoes that were not exposed and those that were exposed to pyrethroids. Results Mortality in An. gambiae s.l. mosquitoes exposed to deltamethrin and permethrin decreased at temperatures above 28 °C. In addition, mosquitoes reared at higher temperatures were more resistant and had more elevated enzyme levels than those raised at low temperatures. Overall, mosquitoes that survived after being exposed to pyrethroids had higher levels of metabolic enzymes than those that were not exposed to pyrethroids. Conclusions This study provides evidence that elevated temperatures decreased An. gambiae s.l. mosquitoes' susceptibility to pyrethroids and increased the expression of metabolic enzymes. This evidence suggests that elevated temperatures projected in a future warmer climate could increase mosquitoes' resistance to insecticides and complicate malaria vector control measures. This study therefore provides vital information, and suggests useful areas of future research, on the effects of temperature variability on mosquitoes that could guide vector control measures in a future warmer climate. Graphical Abstract

The latest information from Hiroshima and Nagasaki on radiation-induced cancer in man includes new DS86 dose assignments and extension of the Life-Span Study Sample cohort through 1985. The implications of these new doses and updated data for the assessment of cancer risk at low to moderate doses have been evaluated. Results from the fitting of three dose-response models (linear, quadratic, linear-quadratic) to the data at doses less than 1.5 Gy are reported. Based on statistical analyses of the authors' results, comments are made concerning the possible shapes of dose-response curves for human cancer.

Extractives, important compounds from wood, provide abundant resources for woody medicine. In this study, the three extractives from Cunninghamia lanceolata wood were removed by method of three-stage extraction with alcohol, petroleum ether, and alcohol/petroleum ether and their chemical components were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Thirteen chemical components were discovered in the first-stage extractives, including: 4-((1e)-3-hydroxy-1-propenyl)-2-methoxyphenol (36.80%), α-(2-phenylethenyl)-1-piperidineacetonitrile (15.39%). One-hundred chemical components were discovered in the second-stage extractives, including: [1s-(1α,4aα,10aβ)]-1, 2,3,4,4a,9,10,10a-octahydro-1,4a- dimethyl-7-(1-methylethyl)-1- phenanthrenecar-boxylic acid (15.16%), 1,3-dimethoxy-5-[(1e)-2- phenylethenyl]-benzene (6.99%). Seven chemical components were discovered in the third-stage extractives, including: 1,3-dimethoxy -5-[(1E)-2-phenylethenyl]-benzene (32.88%), stigmasta-4,6,22-trien-3α-ol (17.83%). And both the main retention time of the first-stage and which of third-stage extractives are 20-30 minutes, and the main retention time of the second-stage extractives is <10 minutes. Besides, the three extractives contained many biomedical molecular, such as [1s-(1α,4aα,10aβ)]-1,2,3,4,4a,9,10,10a-octahydro-1,4a-dimethyl-7-(1-methylethyl)-1-phenanthrenecar-boxylic acid, squalene, stigmast-4-en-3-one and γ-sitosterol and so on, which means that the three extractives from Cunninghamia lanceolata wood have huge potential in biomedicine.

White sweet clover found voluntarily growing on a deep bed of soft coal fly ash was found to contain high concentrations of a number of elements including selenium, bromine, and molybdenum, rubidium, strontium, and others. The clover was harvested and fed as 23.5% of a dry pelleted ration to lambs and pregnant goats for up to 173 days. High concentrations of selenium were found in 11 tissues, blood, goats' milk, and excreta of lambs, goats, and newborn kids. Molybdenum in liver, strontium in bone, and bromine and rubidium in animal tissues were also elevated over those in the corresponding tissues of animals fed an identical ration containing control clover grown on soil. No gross or histologic lesions were present in any of the animals.

Comfort temperature and sleep quality involving 20 participants were determined in two cases: Case A (arbitrary, controlled air-conditioner setting) and Case B (adjustment of 3 °C higher than the setting of Case A with cool bed linen). Data of indoor thermal comfort and electricity consumption were collected every night throughout the measurement period. Questionnaires on thermal comfort and sleep quality were distributed twice a night for a duration of three nights for each case; the first night was for respondents’ adaptation and the following two nights were for measurement. The sleep quality of the respondents was objectively measured using a commercially available activity tracker. Results found that most respondents were thermally comfortable in both cases, with 39% lower energy consumption reported for Case B compared to Case A. The thermal conditions of Case B were found to be more tolerable than those of Case A. Most respondents reported to have a calm and satisfied sleep for both cases. Comfort temperature and Sleep Efficiency Index (SEI) were found to be maintained in both cases.

If femoral blood is not available at autopsy, toxicological analyses, in particular blood ethanol measurements, are carried out on cardiac blood. This is known to be subject to major redistribution. We aimed to determine whether subclavian blood can be equated with a peripheral blood sample and could be used if femoral blood is not available. The study was based on 50 medicolegal autopsies in which we compared ethanol concentrations between subclavian blood, the different heart blood compartments (right and left cardiac blood), and femoral blood. Mechanisms that could lead to variations in concentration, i.e., postmortem redistribution and/or endogenous production, were also taken into account in interpreting the results. Ethanol concentrations were determined by headspace gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector. In each case, we recorded the circumstances of death, resuscitation attempts if any, degree of putrefaction, chest or abdominal trauma, and/or inhalation of gastric fluid in the airways. Ethanol concentrations in subclavian blood were found to be close to those in peripheral blood (p = 0.948) and were not influenced by the degree of putrefaction (r = 0.017, p = 0.904), gastric ethanol concentration (r = -0.011, p = 0.940), inhalation of gastric contents in the airways (p = 0.461), or cardiac resuscitation attempts (p = 0.368). We discuss the possible explanations for these findings and stress the value of sampling subclavian blood when femoral blood is not obtainable at autopsy.