Adaptive Response

This study examines adaptive responses that mental health professionals of color use to cope with racial microaggressions in their professional lives. Twenty-four mental health professionals from diverse ethnic backgrounds in the United States and Canada participated in focus groups discussing their experiences with racial microagressions and how they cope with them. Results of the analysis indicated that 8 primary coping themes illustrated strategies used by the participants. These include: identifying key issues in responding to racial microaggressions, self-care, spirituality, confrontation, support, documentation, mentoring, and collective organizing. Suggestions for mentoring professionals of color are offered.

The capacity of plant roots to increase their carboxylate exudation at a low plant phosphorus (P) status is an adaptation to acquire sufficient P at low soil P availability. Our objective was to compare crop species in their adaptive response to a low-P availability, in order to gain knowledge to be used for improving crop Pacquisition efficiency from soils that are low in P or that have a high capacity to retain P. In the present screening study we compared 13 crop species, grown in sand at either 3 or 300 lM of P, and measured root mass ratio, cluster-root development, rhizosphere pH and carboxylate composition of root exudates. Root mass ratio decreased with increasing P supply for Triticum aestivum L., Brassica napus L., Cicer arietinum L. and Lens culinaris Medik., and increased only for Pisum sativum L., while the Lupinus species and Vicia faba L. were not responsive. Lupinus species that had the potential to produce root clusters either increased or decreased biomass allocation to clusters at 300 lM of P compared with allocation at 3 lM of P. All Lupinus species acidified their rhizosphere more than other species did, with average pH decreasing from 6.7 (control) to 4.3 for Lupinus pilosus L. and 5.9 for Lupinus atlanticus L.; B. napus maintained the most alkaline rhizosphere, averaging 7.4 at 300 lM of P. Rhizosphere carboxylate concentrations were lowest for T. aestivum, B. napus, V. faba, and L. culinaris than for the other species. Exuded carboxylates were mainly citrate and malate for all species, with the exception of L. culinaris and C. arietinum, which produced mainly citrate and malonate. Considerable variation in the concentration of exuded carboxylates and protons was found, even with a genus. Cluster-root forming species did not invariably have the highest concentrations of rhizosphere carboxylates. Lupinus species varied both in P-uptake and in the sensitivity of their cluster-root development to external P supply. Given the carbon cost of cluster roots, a greater plasticity in their formation and exudation (i.e. reduced investment in cluster roots and exudation at higher soil P, a negative feedback response) is a desirable trait for agricultural species that may have variable access to readily available P.

This study measured the economic impacts of climate change on crop and livestock farming in Africa based on a cross-sectional survey of over 8000 farming households from 11 countries in east, west, north and southern Africa. The response of net revenue from crop and livestock agriculture across various farm types and systems in Africa to changes in climate normals (i.e. mean rainfall and temperature) is analysed. The analyses controlled for effects of key socioeconomic, technology, soil and hydrological factors influencing agricultural production. Results show that net farm revenues are in general negatively affected by warmer and drier climates. The small-scale mixed crop and livestock system predominantly typical in Africa is the most tolerant whereas specialized crop production is the most vulnerable to warming and lower rainfall. These results have important policy implications, especially for the suitability of the increasing tendency toward large-scale mono-cropping strategies for agricultural development in Africa and other parts of the developing world in light of expected climate changes. Mixed crop and livestock farming and irrigation offered better adaptation options for farmers against further warming and drying predicted under various future climate scenarios.

Efficient delivery and sustained expression of a therapeutic gene into human tissues are the requisite to accomplish the high expectations of gene therapy. A major challenge has concerned development of gene transfer systems capable of efficient cell transduction and transgene expression without harm to the recipient. A lot of work has been done to demonstrate the efficacy of gene therapy in animal models that mimic situations in humans. Use of lentiviral vectors (LVs) offers multiple advantages for gene replacement therapy, because they combine efficient delivery, ability to transduce proliferating and resting cells, capacity to integrate into the host chromatin to provide stable long-term expression of the transgene, absence of any viral genes in the vector and absence of interference from preexisting viral immunity. However, one of the major barriers to stable gene transfer by LVs and other viral vectors is the development of innate and adaptive immune responses to the delivery vector and the transferred therapeutic transgene. Since this greatly hinders the therapeutical benefits of gene therapy by LVs, developing strategies to overcome the host immune response to the transfer vector and the transgene is a matter of current investigation.

Cells respond to a condition of hypo-osmolality by rapid swelling followed by an adaptive response that tends to recover the normal cell volume despite the persistence of the hypo-osmotic condition. This is an active process accomplished by the extrusion of intracellular osmolytes, essentially K ϩ , Cl-, and small organic molecules. This regulatory process operates through a chain of events that essentially consists of a sensor or sensing mechanism to detect changes in cell volume, a signaling cascade to amplify the sensing signal and orient it to activate pathways for osmolyte extrusion, and a memory of the original cell volume, which sets the timing for inactivation of the volume-regulatory process. This article presents a brief overview of recent progress in these different aspects of the volume-regulatory process, including (1) the mechanisms and/or candidate molecules serving the role of volume sensors, (2) the osmosignaling network and the interplay and hierarchy of the different elements in this chain, and (3) the nature and properties of the osmolyte extrusion pathways. Emphasis is placed on some of the main unsolved questions concerning different aspects of the volume-regulatory process. Recent findings regarding the effect of hypo-osmolality on synaptic function are briefly discussed in terms of the possible molecular basis for the neurologic symptoms induced by hyponatremia.

■ Special processes recruited during the recognition of personally familiar people have been assumed to reflect the rich episodic and semantic information that selectively represents each person. However, the processes may also include person nonselective ones, which may require interpretation in terms beyond the memory mechanism. To examine this possibility, we assessed decrease in differential activation during the second presentation of an identical face (repetition suppression) as an index of person selectivity. During fMRI, pictures of personally familiar, famous, and unfamiliar faces were presented to healthy subjects who performed a familiarity judgment. Each face was presented once in the first half of the experiment and again in the second half. The right inferior temporal and left inferior frontal gyri were activated during the recognition of both types of familiar faces initially, and this activation was suppressed with repetition. Among preferentially activated regions for personally familiar over famous faces, robust suppression in differential activation was exhibited in the bilateral medial and anterior temporal structures, left amygdala, and right posterior STS, all of which are known to process episodic and semantic information. On the other hand, suppression was minimal in the posterior cingulate, medial prefrontal, right inferior frontal, and intraparietal regions, some of which were implicated in social cognition and cognitive control. Thus, the recognition of personally familiar people is characterized not only by person-selective representation but also by nonselective processes requiring a research framework beyond the memory mechanism, such as a social adaptive response. ■

Borana pastoralists in southern Ethiopia are faced with the challenge of developing more efficient and sustainable use of natural resources. In past decades poorly adapted development interventions and inadequate land-use policies aggravated by population growth have weakened pastoral rangeland management. Ignoring pastoralists’ technical and organizational capacities has contributed to progressive land degradation, the erosion of social structures and poverty. The Endogenous Livestock Development concept recognises pastoralists’ indigenous knowledge-based strategies and priorities, and uses them as the bases for further development of their production system and social relations, to be utilized, improved and combined with modern technologies. This paper explores the Borana pastoralists’ adaptive strategies for improved utilization of natural resources and the manner in which they respond to environmental risk and external influences such as water development and new formal administ...

The role of phenotypic plasticity in evolution has historically been a contentious issue because of debate over whether plasticity shields genotypes from selection or generates novel opportunities for selection to act. Because plasticity encompasses diverse adaptive and non-adaptive responses to environmental variation, no single conceptual framework adequately predicts the diverse roles of plasticity in evolutionary change. 2. Different types of phenotypic plasticity can uniquely contribute to adaptive evolution when populations are faced with new or altered environments. Adaptive plasticity should promote establishment and persistence in a new environment, but depending on how close the plastic response is to the new favoured phenotypic optimum dictates whether directional selection will cause adaptive divergence between populations. Further, non-adaptive plasticity in response to stressful environments can result in a mean phenotypic response being further away from the favoured optimum or alternatively increase the variance around the mean due to the expression of cryptic genetic variation. The expression of cryptic genetic variation can facilitate adaptive evolution if by chance it results in a fitter phenotype. 3. We conclude that adaptive plasticity that places populations close enough to a new phenotypic optimum for directional selection to act is the only plasticity that predictably enhances fitness and is most likely to facilitate adaptive evolution on ecological timescales in new environments. However, this type of plasticity is likely to be the product of past selection on variation that may have been initially non-adaptive. 4. We end with suggestions on how future empirical studies can be designed to better test the importance of different kinds of plasticity to adaptive evolution.

With an objective to determine the period of persistence of the metal-induced adaptive response to chemical mutagens and heavy metals, growing root meristems of Allium cepa were conditioned by cadmium sulfate (CdSO4), 4×10−7 and 4×10−6 M for 1 h and subsequently challenged by maleic hydrazide (MH), 5×10−3 M or methyl mercuric chloride (MMCl), 1.26×10−6 M for 3 h at different time intervals ranging from a few minutes to several hours following the conditioning dose. Root meristems, fixed at regular intervals during recovery from 6 to 48 h, were cytologically analysed for cells with micronuclei (MNC). The adaptive responses to MH and MMCl were observed as early as 5 min after the Cd-conditioning that persisted for at least 48 h. Metabolic inhibitors, cycloheximide (CH), 10−7 M and buthionine sulfoximine (BSO), 10−4 M administered either prior to or simultaneous with Cd-conditioning effectively prevented the adaptive response to MH. Whereas BSO, an inhibitor of phytochelatin synthesis, prevented the adaptive responses from 15 min to 8 h after the conditioning dose, CH an inhibitor of cytoplasmic protein synthesis prevented the same from 6 to 48 h. The findings underscored the differential roles of phytochelatins and proteins underlying the foregone metallo-adaptive response.

The regulation of membrane-transport activity is crucial for intracellular pH homeostasis, maintenance of cell osmotic potential, nutrient acquisition, signalling, and adaptation of bacterial cells. The non-invasive microelectrode ion flux estimation (MIFE) technique is a powerful tool for kinetic studies of membranetransport processes across cellular membranes. Since 2001, when this technique was first applied to the study of membrane-transport processes in bacterial cells (J Microbiol Methods 46, 119-129), a large amount of information has been accumulated. This review summarizes some of these findings and discusses the advantages and applicability of this technique in studying bacterial adaptive responses to adverse environmental conditions. First, various methodological aspects of the application of this novel technique in microbiology are discussed. Then, several practical examples ('case studies') are described. The latter include changes in membrane-transport activity in response to various stresses (acidic, osmotic, and temperature stresses) as well as flux changes as a function of bacterial growth stage and nutrient availability. It is shown that non-invasive ion flux measurements may provide a significant conceptual advance in our understanding of adaptive responses in bacteria, fungi and biofilms to a variety of environmental conditions. The technique can also be used for the rapid assessment of foodprocessing treatments aimed at reducing bacterial contamination of food and for the development of strategies to assess the resistance of organisms to antimicrobial agents. FEMS Microbiol Rev 30 (2006) 472-486 c

Micropropagation of Origanum vulgare L. by shoot buds, as a potential model system for studying carbon skeleton diversion from growth to secondary metabolism as adaptive response to nutrient deficiency, has been performed. In addition, the antioxidant phenolic compounds, produced by shoots under nutritional stress or in response to exogenously added proline, have been studied. Caffeic acid, rosmarinic acid, and lithospermic acid B have been isolated in oregano shoot cultures by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography, and their structures have been elucidated by tandem mass spectrometry. Both nutritional stress, which in turn causes a moderate increase of constitutive free proline, and exogenous proline affect growth and antioxidant phenolic content of oregano shoots, compared to control.The role of proline, and the associated redox cycle, as a form of metabolic signaling based on a transfer of redox potential amongst interacting cell pathways, which in turn elicit phenolic metabolism via stimulated carbon flux through oxidative pentose phosphate pathway, is discussed. Furthermore, the potential use of oregano tissue and callus cultures as a new strategy to enable the production of useful secondary metabolites on a commercial scale is also discussed.

Currently, it is widely accepted that only one hominin genus, Homo, was present in Pleistocene Asia, represented by two species, Homo erectus and Homo sapiens. Both species are characterized by greater brain size, increased body height and smaller teeth relative to Pliocene Australopithecus in Africa. Here we report the discovery, from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia, of an adult hominin with stature and endocranial volume approximating 1 m and 380 cm 3 , respectively-equal to the smallest-known australopithecines. The combination of primitive and derived features assigns this hominin to a new species, Homo floresiensis. The most likely explanation for its existence on Flores is long-term isolation, with subsequent endemic dwarfing, of an ancestral H. erectus population. Importantly, H. floresiensis shows that the genus Homo is morphologically more varied and flexible in its adaptive responses than previously thought.

Oxidative stress is involved in the pathophysiology of diabetes mellitus. In the present study, 68 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and 31 clinically healthy individuals were evaluated. The patients were divided into two groups. Group 1 included 29 patients without diabetic complications and group 2 consisted of 39 patients with diabetic complications. Erythrocyte glutathione, superoxide dismutase, and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance levels as well as plasma antioxidant vitamins C and E, and serum total glutathione-S-transferase, ceruloplasmin, and protein thiols were estimated by using spectro-photometer. A significant decrease of erythrocyte glutathione was observed in group 1 when compared with the controls. Thiols decreased in group 2. An increase in glutathione-S-transferase, ceruloplasmin, superoxide dismutase, and vitamins C and E levels was noted in patients with diabetes mellitus. Thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance levels decreased in group 1 but increased ...

About 150 studies exist in print, examining the use of self modeling (mostly in the video medium) in a variety of training and therapeutic applications. Evidently, two lines of thoughts have driven the development of these applications: (a) an extension of peer modeling or (b) a description of personal success. Studies report self-modeling interventions for physical skills (rehabilitation, sports), academic and vocational issues, communication, and personal and social adjustment. A wide range of ages (toddler to grandparent) and diverse developmental conditions have been addressed. The most fruitful applications may be those that emphasize the image of future success--sldlls not previously attained and adaptive responses to a challenging context. Rather than examine efficacy related to target "problems," this review identifies categories of application made possible by current knowledge and technology (e.g., use of hidden supports, selectively editing low-frequency behaviors). Seven such categories are identified and illustrated with descriptions of interventions. The evidence is used to argue for the recognition of learning from the observation of one's own successful or adaptive behavior (or images of it) as a mechanism in its own right.

Dosimetry, safety and the efficacy of drugs in the lungs are critical factors in the development of inhaled medicines. This article considers the challenges in each of these areas with reference to current industry practices for developing inhaled products, and suggests collaborative scientific approaches to address these challenges. The portfolio of molecules requiring delivery by inhalation has expanded rapidly to include novel drugs for lung disease, combination therapies, biopharmaceuticals and candidates for systemic delivery via the lung. For these drugs to be developed as inhaled medicines, a better understanding of their fate in the lungs and how this might be modified is required. Harmonised approaches based on 'best practice' are advocated for dosimetry and safety studies; this would provide coherent data to help product developers and regulatory agencies differentiate new inhaled drug products. To date, there are limited reports describing full temporal relationships between pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) measurements. A better understanding of pulmonary PK and PK/PD relationships would help mitigate the risk of not engaging successfully or persistently with the drug target as well as identifying the potential for drug accumulation in the lung or excessive systemic exposure. Recommendations are made for (i) better industry-academiaregulatory co-operation, (ii) sharing of pre-competitive data, and (iii) open innovation through collaborative research in key topics such as lung deposition, drug solubility and dissolution in lung fluid, adaptive responses in safety studies, biomarker development and validation, the role of transporters in pulmonary drug disposition, target localisation within the lung and the determinants of local efficacy following inhaled drug administration.

Acute stress is a fundamental adaptive response which enables an organism to cope with daily threatening environmental stimuli. If prolonged and uncontrollable, the stress response may become inadequate and ultimately result in health damage. Animal models of stress in rodents indicate that both acute and chronic stressors have pronounced effects on sleep architecture and circadian rhythms. One major physiological response elicited by stress is activation of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis. In both animals and humans, the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis plays an important role in sleep-wake regulation and in alterations of the sleep-wake cycle secondary to exposure to acute or chronic stressors. In humans, dysfunction of the neuroendocrine regulation of sleep can lead to severe sleep disturbances. The progressive decay of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis in elderly people, which mimics chronic exposure to stress, may contribute to fragmented and unstable sleep in ageing. Shift workers, chronic insomniacs or patients suffering from mental disorders show abnormal hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal secretory activity and concomitant sleep disturbances. Those sleep disorders and possible underlying mechanisms are briefly reviewed.

L’etude a pour objet la reponse adaptative du niebe (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) a un stress hydrique s’exercant en debut de formation des gousses. La regulation de la teneur en glucides, notamment celle du saccharose et de l’amidon, a ete suivie chez deux varietes : Gorom local et KN1. La masse specifique foliaire et les composantes de rendement ont ete egalement determinees. Une diminution de la quantite d’amidon et le maintien d’une teneur assez elevee de saccharose au cours de la journee ont ete observes chez la variete Gorom stressee. Chez la variete KN1, en revanche, le deficit hydrique a reduit considerablement la teneur en ces glucides. En conditions de stress, la masse specifique foliaire ainsi que les caracteristiques agromorphologiques telles que le nombre de gousses par pot, la masse de matiere seche de 100 graines sont plus elevees chez la variete Gorom que chez KN1. De par la variation de la teneur en saccharose et en amidon, la masse specifique foliaire et les carac...

Formal planning for climate change adaptation is emerging rapidly at a range of geo-political scales. This first generation of adaptation plans provides useful information regarding how institutions are framing the issue of adaptation and the range of processes that are recognized as being part of an adaptation response. To better understand adaptation planning among developed nations, a set of 57 adaptation plans from Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States was evaluated against a suite of 19 planning processes identified from existing guidance instruments for adaptation planning. Total scores among evaluated plans ranged from 16% of the maximum possible score to 61%, with an average of 37%. These results suggest adaptation plans are largely under-developed. Critical weaknesses in adaptation planning are related to limited consideration for non-climatic factors as well as neglect for issues of adaptive capacity including entitlements to various forms of capital needed for effective adaptation. Such gaps in planning suggest there are opportunities for institutions to make better use of existing guidance for adaptation planning and the need to consider the broader governance context in which adaptation will occur. In addition, the adaptation options prescribed by adaptation plans reflect a preferential bias toward low-risk capacity-building (72% of identified options) over the delivery of specific actions to reduce vulnerability. To the extent these findings are representative of the state of developed nation adaptation planning, there appear to be significant deficiencies in climate change preparedness, even among those nations often assumed to have the greatest adaptive capacity.

Data and theory from prism adaptation are reviewed for the purpose of identifying control methods in applications of the procedure. Prism exposure evokes three kinds of adaptive or compensatory processes: postural adjustments (visual capture and muscle potentiation), strategic control (including recalibration of target position), and spatial realignment of various sensory-motor reference frames. Muscle potentiation, recalibration, and realignment can all produce prism exposure aftereffects and can all contribute to adaptive performance during prism exposure. Control over these adaptive responses can be achieved by manipulating the locus of asymmetric exercise during exposure (muscle potentiation), the similarity between exposure and post-exposure tasks (calibration), and the timing of visual feedback availability during exposure (realignment). q

Climate change is likely to have relevant effects on our future socio-economic systems. It is therefore important to identify how markets and policy jointly react to expected climate change to protect our societies and well-being. This study addresses this issue by carrying out an integrated analysis of both optimal mitigation and adaptation at the global and regional level. Adaptation responses are disentangled into three different modes: reactive adaptation, proactive (or anticipatory) adaptation, and investments in innovation for adaptation purposes. The size, the timing, the relative contribution to total climate-related damage reduction, and the benefit-cost ratios of each of these strategies are assessed for the world as a whole, and for developed and developing countries in both a cooperative and a non-cooperative setting. The study also takes into account the role of price signals and markets in inducing and diffusing adaptation. This leads to two scenarios: A pessimistic one, in which policy-driven adaptation bears the burden, together with mitigation, of reducing climate damage; and an optimistic one, in which markets also autonomously contribute to reducing some damages by modifying sectoral structure, international trade flows, capital distribution and land allocation. For all scenarios, the costs and benefits of adaptation are assessed using WITCH, an integrated assessment, intertemporal optimization, forward-looking model. Extensive sensitivity analysis with respect to the size of climate damages and of the discount rate has also been carried out.

Today's increasingly competitive industrial environment demands shorter product development lead-times, lower costs, and higher quality products. These requirements produce more complex design problems that are characterized by multiple design objectives as well as complex design objective and constraint relations. The optimization of these computationally intensive design problems leads to new technical challenges. This work applies a new global optimization search scheme, the Adaptive Response Surface Method (ARSM), to the optimal design of a complex mechanical system --the radiator stack PEM fuel cell system. The design optimum manifests a significant increase in system performance and decrease in cost. The proposed method can also be applied to the solution of other complex design optimization problems.

Fears are quick and adaptive responses that permit powerful reply to imminent threats. Less adaptive, phobias are extreme manifestations of fear to objects or situations in the absence of a proportional danger. Although the utility of fear is accepted, the nature of phobias is controversial. Initial theories favored a fear conditioning-based explanation, with vicarious and information learning pathways subsequently included as additional routes to the development of specific phobias. More recently, an important group of investigations strengthened the case for a nonassociative account of fear acquisition proposing that evolutionarily relevant fears can occur without any need of critical learning experiences. In parallel, there is some evidence for a dedicated fear module in the detection of threats, involving the amygdala, which is relatively independent from conscious cognitive control. Nonetheless, cognitive models stress learning and developmental factors and their role in the etiology and maintenance of phobic behavior. This article critically reviews each of these views and theories stressing their recent developments, weaknesses, and controversies with an aim to provide the groundwork for the construction of a more integrated position. Finally, the authors suggest encouraging trends in recent research.

Bacteria rely on two-component signaling systems in their adaptive responses to environmental changes. Typically, the two-component system consists of a sensory histidine kinase that signals by transferring a phosphoryl group to a secondary response regulator that ultimately relays the signal to the cell. Some of these sensors use PAS (Per-Arnt-Sin) domains. A new member of the PAS super family is the LOV (light, oxygen, voltage) domain, a 10-kDa flavoprotein that functions as a light-sensory module in plant, algal, fungal, and bacterial blue-light receptors. Putative LOV domains have been identified in the genomes of many higher and lower eukaryotes, plants, eubacteria, archaebacteria, and particularly in genes coding for histidine kinases (LOV-histidine kinases, LOV-HKs) of plant and animal pathogenic bacteria, including Brucella. We describe here biochemical, photochemical, and biophysical methodology to purify these enzymes and to characterize their light-activation process.

In the present work, we investigated the potential use of several antioxidant enzymes in wild mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) as biomarkers of marine pollution. The enzymatic activity levels of glutathione S-transferase (GST), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and catalase (CAT) were measured in gills and digestive gland. Those enzymes participate in the cellular defense system that is involved in the adaptive response of organisms to chemical pollution. Adult mussels were collected at five sampling sites located at the Ría de Pontevedra and Ría de Vigo. Seasonal variations in the control site were observed for the CAT activity, but no significant variability was found for GST and GPx. Mussels from the most polluted sites exhibited a significantly greater GST activity compared to the control site (p<0.05) during the sampling period, whereas GPx and CAT activities have not such a marked pattern. Trace metals, PAHs, PCBs and DDT contents in mussels at sampling sites showed highly si...

The life span alteration after γ-irradiation and/or paraquat treatment in Drosophila in wild type strain Canton-S and strains with mutations of heat shock factor (1–4 alleles) and heat shock proteins (Hsp70Ba 304 , Hsp83 e6A , Hsp22 EY09909 , Hsp67Bb EY099099 ) was investigated. Chronic low-dose rate γ-irradiation (0.017 and 0.17 cGy/h) on pre-imago stages was used as a priming dose (absorbed doses were 4 and 40 cGy). Paraquat, a free radical inducing agent, was a challenging factor (20 mM for 1 day). It was shown that chronic irradiation led to adaptive response in both sexes except homozygous males and females with mutations of Hsf 4 and Hsp70Ba 304 . The gender-specific differences in stress response were discovered in wild type strain Canton-S, Hsp22 EY09909 Hsp67Bb EY09909 homozygotes and Hsp83 e6A heterozygotes: the adaptive response persisted in males, but not in females. Thus, Drosophila Hsp and Hsf mutation homozygotes did not demonstrate the adaptive response in the majority of cases, implying an important role of those genes in radiation hormesis and adaptation to stresses.

tion signals, hormones, cytokines, other mediators) that arrive through distinct pathways. Activation of the stress system leads to a cluster of time-limited behavioral and physical changes that are remarkably consistent in their qualitative presentation and collectively called the general adaptation or stress syndrome . These changes are normally adaptive and improve the chances of the individual for survival. Components of the stress syndrome are stimulated in a stressor-specific fashion; however, as the potency of the stressor increases, the specificity of the response decreases to eventually produce the relatively "nonspecific" stress syndrome.

The Cambrian explosion is probably the most spectacular diversification in evolutionary history, and understanding it has been a challenge for biologists since the time of Darwin. We propose that one of the key factors that drove this great diversification was associative learning. Although the evolutionary emergence of associative learning required only small modifications in already existing memory mechanisms and may have occurred in parallel in several groups, once this type of learning appeared on the evolutionary scene, it led to extreme diversifying selection at the ecological level: it enabled animals to exploit new niches, promoted new types of relations and arms races, and led to adaptive responses that became fixed through genetic accommodation processes. This learning-based diversification was accompanied by neurohormonal stress, which led to an ongoing destabilization and re-patterning of the epigenome, which, in turn, enabled further morphological, physiological, and behavioral diversification. Our hypothesis combines several previous ideas about the dynamics of the Cambrian explosion and provides a unifying framework that includes both ecological and genomic factors. We conclude by suggesting research directions that would clarify the timing and manner in which associative learning evolved, and the effects it had on the evolution of nervous systems, genomes, and animal morphology.

All books in this series illustrate point-of-care testing and critically evaluate the potential of antioxidant supplementation in various medical disorders associated with oxidative stress. Future volumes will be updated as warranted by emerging new technology, or from studies reporting clinical trials.

the cellular and molecular levels. Multiple cell membrane modifications ensure that solute transport is not impaired at low temperatures. Other mechanisms include the synthesis of cold-shock proteins (Csps), cold acclimation proteins (Caps), cryoprotectants, ice nucleation factors, cold-adapted enzymes, and RNA degradosomes. The agricultural importance of such microbes stems from the fact that the world over temperate agro-ecosystems are characterized by low temperatures and short growing seasons that subject both plant and microbial life to cold temperature induced stress. Hence, there is a need to identify potential microbes that retain their functional traits under low temperature conditions. Such microbes can be profitably used as inoculants in agricultural production systems in the temperate regions of the world. This chapter deals with the cold tolerance/resistance mechanisms operating in microorganisms and the utility of cold-tolerant microbes in improving soil quality and productivity of agricultural crops.

Vertebrates have developed systems of immune defence enabling them to cope with the constant threat posed by environmental pathogens. The mammalian immune system represents a multilayered defence system comprising both innate and adaptive immune responses, characterized by the increasing complexity of their antigen-recognition systems. The discovery of the intimate relationship between innate and adaptive responses has paved the way to a novel understanding of the basic mechanisms governing the regulation of an immune response. The purpose of the present review is to briefly describe the basic immunological concepts that constitute the founding principles of modern vaccinology in humans.

Rare minnow (Gobiocypris rarus) is a newly developed aquatic test organism that has been widely used in a range of studies of toxicological risk assessment by virtue of its higher sensitivity to xenobiotics. To describe extensively the transcripts expressed in the livers of adult rare minnow, we generated 6919 high-quality expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from a non-normalized cDNA library. After processing, a total of 1773 unigenes (unique genes) comprising 771 contigs (consensus sequences) and 1002 singlets were acquired. Based on the analysis by BLAST, 1512 unigenes (85%) had been identified and annotated. The result of functional classification reveals that the genes involved in the processes of general metabolism prevail in liver expressed genes. In addition, we compiled a potentially toxicology-related catalog comprising 262 unigenes that associated with metabolism of xenobiotics and adaptive responses. There are eleven groups referring to diverse functions in the catalog. This report provides the first set of genetic data for rare minnow which is of great value for further exploitation of this species in functional genomics and toxicogenomics, and sets a basis for the discovery of new molecular markers of exposure and for the production of the function-focused microarray.

The skin, the body's largest organ, helps to secure the integrity of the host and, at the same time, allows the individual to communicate with the outside world. This finely tuned balance between protection from harmful pathogens (mostly microorganisms) and bidirectional signal exchange is provided by a network of structural, cellular, and molecular elements that are collectively referred to as the skin barrier. This "gateway" has a physical, chemical, and immunologic component. The role of the latter is to elicit a powerful defense reaction in the case of danger and, at the same time, to prevent such a reaction against innocuous substances. Immune responses originating in the skin are mounted and executed by cells and molecules of the innate or the adaptive immune system. Innate reactions are typically rapid, poorly discriminating, and do not exhibit memory. Adaptive responses, in contrast, show a high degree of specificity as well as memory but need a protracted time for their development. As a consequence, innate and adaptive responses are consecutive events influencing each other. In fact, we now know that the type and magnitude of the innate reactions govern and often determine the quality and quantity of adaptive responses.