Later-melting rather than thickening of snowpack enhance the productivity and alter the community composition of temperate grassland.

Snowpack is closely related to vegetation green-up in water-limited ecosystems, and has effects on growing-season ecosystem processes. However, we know little about how changes in snowpack depth and melting timing affect primary productivity and plant community structure during the growing season. Here, we conducted a four-year snow manipulation experiment exploring how snow addition, snowmelt delay and their combination affect aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP), species diversity, community composition and plant reproductive phenology in seasonally snow-covered temperate grassland in northern China. Snow addition alone increased soil moisture and nutrient availability during early spring, while did not change plant community structure and ANPP. Instead, snowmelt delay alone postponed plant reproductive phenology, and increased ANPP, decreased species diversity and altered species composition. Grasses are more sensitive to changes in snowmelt timing than forbs, and early-flowering forbs showed a higher sensitivity compared to late-flowering forbs. The effect of snowmelt delay on ANPP and species diversity was offset by snow addition, probably because the added snow unnecessarily lengthens the snow-covering duration. The disparate effects of changes in snowpack depth and snowmelt timing necessitate their discrimination for more mechanistic understanding on the effects of snowpack changes on ecosystems. Our study suggests that it is essential to incorporate non-growing-season climate change events (in particular, snowfall and snowpack changes) to comprehensively disclose the effects of climate change on community structure and ecosystem functions.

Changes in soil organic carbon and nitrogen stocks following revegetation in a semi-arid grassland of North China.

Long-term restoration practices have been often reported to enhance soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen (N) stocks in grassland ecosystems. However, there is a limited understanding of how vegetation restoration affects SOC and N stocks at different soil depths over short timescales in semi-arid grassland of North China. To address this problem, we conducted a field study to investigate the effects of plant properties on the SOC and N stock changes during a nine-year period of grassland restoration practices (natural recovery; shallow ploughing; harrowing) in a semi-arid grassland of North China. The results revealed that three restoration practices had a positive contribution to SOC and N stocks following nine years of recovery, however, the rates of SOC and N stock changes under mechanical disturbance were lower across the 0-60 cm soil depth when compared with the natural recovery. The biomass of litter, roots, and dominant plant species were the major factors contributing to SOC and N stock changes. Our findings from the nine-year restoration experiment suggested that short-duration natural recovery is likely to be a beneficial strategy for the restoration of both the plant community and the soil nutrients. Our findings elucidate the regulatory mechanisms of dominant plant species on SOC and N stock changes following revegetation and suggest that the overcompensatory growth of dominant species should be fully considered in grassland restoration.

Momordica charantia saponins administration in low-protein-high-carbohydrate diet improves growth, blood biochemical, intestinal health and microflora composition of juvenile common carp (Cyprinus carpio).

An 8-week feeding trial was conducted to explore the feasibility of Momordica charantia saponins (MCS) administration to facilitate the protein-sparing action of high carbohydrate in diets for juvenile common carp (Cyprinus carpio) with initial mass of 5.41 ± 0.02 g. Based on our previous study, four diets with different the ratio of protein and carbohydrate (P/C ratio) were designed: 32%P/40%C, 30%P/43%C, 28%P/46%C, 28%P/46%C supplemented with 0.16% MCS (28%P/46%C + MCS). Each diet treatment was divided into 3 replicates. Results revealed that 30%P/43%C group increased growth performance and intestinal digestion, decreased intestinal inflammation, and optimized the intestinal microbiota compared to 32%P/40%C group, which presented the stronger protein-sparing action of high carbohydrate. But if the P/C ratio reduced to 28%P/46%C or less, the saving action would be restrained. However, compared to the 30%P/43%C and 28%P/46%C groups, 28%P/46%C + MCS group significantly elevated growth performance and activities of digestive enzymes and antioxidative enzymes, whilst the opposite trend occurred in the contents of glucose, triglyceride, total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, blood urea nitrogen, glutamic oxalacetic transaminase, glutamic-pyruvic transaminase and malondialdehyde. In addition, 28%P/46%C + MCS group markedly upregulated the expressions of GH/IGF axis genes, genes involved in protein synthesis, antioxidant genes and anti-inflammatory cytokine, whilst the opposite trend occurred in the expressions of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Moreover, 28%P/46%C + MCS group obtained the remarkably higher Enterococcus proportion and lower Lactococcus proportion compared to the 30%P/43%C and 28%P/46%C groups, whereas the opposite occurred in 30%P/43%C group, which indicated that there existed differences in the improvement mechanism on intestinal microflora composition between MCS and appropriate P/C ratio. Combined with the above mentioned changes in our research, we concluded that 0.16% MCS administration in a 28%P/46%C diet could facilitate the protein-sparing action of high carbohydrate in diets for common carp, which could decrease the 5% dosage of soybean meal and synchronously reduce the 4% crude protein of diets without affecting the growth and immune ability for common carp.

Testis-specific knockout of Kdm2a reveals nonessential roles in male fertility but partially compromises spermatogenesis.

Lysine-specific histone demethylase 2 (Kdm2a) is a regulatory factor of histone modifications that participates in gametogenesis and embryonic development. The mis-regulation of Kdm2a can lead to aberrant gene expression, thereby contributing to abnormal cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, and tumorigenesis. However, due to the potential confounding effects that are secondary to the loss of Kdm2a function from the soma in existing whole-animal mutants, the in vivo function of Kdm2a in spermatogenesis for male fertility remains unknown. Herein, we focus on exploring the spatiotemporal expression profile and biological functions of Kdm2a in the spermatogenesis and fertility of male mice. A testis-specific knockout Kdm2a model (Kdm2a cKO) was established by using the Stra8-Cre/loxP recombinase system to explore the roles of Kdm2a in male fertility. Our results showed that Kdm2a was ubiquitously expressed and dynamically distributed in multiple tissues and cell types in the testis of mice. Surprisingly, Kdm2a-deficient adult males were completely fertile and comparable with their control (Kdm2aflox/flox) counterparts. Despite the significantly reduced total number of sperm and density of seminiferous tubules in Kdm2a cKO testis accompanied by the degeneration of spermatogenesis, the fertilization ability and embryonic developmental competence of the Kdm2a cKO were comparable with those of their control littermates, suggesting that Kdm2a disruption did not markedly affect male fertility, at least during younger ages. Furthermore, Kdm2a homozygous mutants exhibited a lower total number and motility of sperm than the control group and showed notably affected serum 17ß-estradiol concentration. Interestingly, the transcriptome sequencing revealed that the loss of Kdm2a remarkably upregulated the expression level of Kdm2b. This effect, in turn, may induce compensative effects in the case of Kdm2a deficiency to maintain normal male reproduction. Together, our results reveal that Kdm2a shows spatiotemporal expression during testicular development and that its loss is insufficient to compromise the production of spermatozoa completely. The homologous Kdm2b gene might compensate for the loss of Kdm2a. Our work provides a novel Kdm2a cKO mouse allowing for the efficient deletion of Kdm2a in a testis-specific manner, and further investigated the biological function of Kdm2a and the compensatory effects of Kdm2b. Our study will advance our understanding of underlying mechanisms in spermatogenesis and male fertility.

Effects of Low-Volume High-Intensity Interval Exercise on 24 h Movement Behaviors in Inactive Female University Students.

The purpose of this study was to examine if low-volume, high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) was associated with changes in 24-h movement behaviors. A quasi-experimental study design was used. We collected accelerometry data from 21 eligible participants who consistently wore an ActiGraph for a period of two-weeks. Differences in behaviors were analyzed using a paired t-test and repeated measures analysis of variance. Regression analysis was used to explore relationships with factors that impacted changes. The results indicated a compensatory increase in sedentary time (ST) (4.4 ± 6.0%, p < 0.01) and a decrease in light-intensity physical activity (LPA) (−7.3 ± 16.7%, p < 0.05). Meanwhile, moderate-intensity physical activity (MPA), vigorous-intensity physical activity (VPA), and total physical activity (TPA) increased following exercise (p < 0.001). Sleep duration and prolonged sedentary time were reduced (p < 0.05). Exercise intensity and aerobic capacity were associated with changes in ST. The results from the study indicate that participating in a low-volume HIIE encouraged participants who were previously inactive to become more active. The observations of increases in ST may have displaced a prolonged sitting time. The decrease in sleeping time observed may be reflecting an increased sleep quality in connection with increased higher-intensity PA.

Preliminary study on alleviation of heat-induced intestinal inflammation through compensatory effects of glucose oxidase.

1. The influence of glucose oxidase (GOD) supplementation on growth, gut inflammation and its compensatory effects in broilers was investigated before and after heat stress.2. Before heat stress, one-day-old broilers were divided into two groups: the control (CON) and GOD (100 g/t complete feed) groups. On d 21, the CON group was equally divided into CON1 and CON2 groups, and heat stress (35°C) was applied to the CON2 and GOD groups for 8 h/day to the end of the study, d 27 of age. The chickens were either killed before heat stress and 2 d after heat stress for the determination of cytokines in the liver and ileum, serum antioxidant enzymes and ileal microbiota. Growth performance was determined before and 7 d after heat stress.3. The GOD decreased Clostridiales and Enterobacteriaceae families of bacteria and increased ileal nuclear factor-κB, interleukin-1ß, and interferon-γ (P < 0.05) before heat stress. The broilers exhibited compensatory effects, including increases in ileal sirtuin-1, heat shock protein 70 expression, liver nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 content, serum total antioxidant capacity and glutathione peroxidase level (P < 0.05). At 2 d after heat stress, inflammatory factors were increased in both the CON2 and GOD groups, but the levels were lower in the GOD than CON2 (P < 0.05). On d 7 after heat stress, GOS alleviated heat stress induced growth retardation (P < 0.05).4. These data suggested that GOD supplementation in broiler diets before heat stress stimulated intestinal oxidative stress and produced a compensatory response, which prevented a rapid increase in intestinal inflammatory factors and helped to maintain growth performance under heat stress.

Relationship between Partner Phubbing and Parent-Adolescent Relationship Quality: A Family-Based Study.

A high-quality parent-child relationship is critical to the health and well-being of adolescents and, in the family system, the interaction pattern within couples is a decisive factor in parent-adolescent relationship quality. Using dyadic data from 441 Chinese couples, in this study, we examined the association between partner phubbing (a negative interaction behavior initiated by the spouse) and parent-adolescent relationship quality, and further explored the moderating effect of adolescent gender. Dyadic modeling showed that partner phubbing had both an intra-person effect and an inter-person effect on parent-adolescent relationship quality. For the intra-person effect, husbands' phubbing had an adverse effect on the mother-adolescent relationship quality, and this effect was stronger for girls than boys; wives' phubbing had a positive effect on the father-adolescent relationship quality, but this effect was only significant for boys. For the inter-person effect, the negative influence of husbands' phubbing on father-adolescent relationship quality was only significant for boys; wives' phubbing was uncorrelated with mother-adolescent relationship quality. These findings deepen our understanding of the links between the marital subsystem and the parent-adolescent subsystem in the family, underscore the importance of positive marital interactions for adolescent development, and have implications for personal smartphone use management in family contexts.

Drought and heat wave impacts on grassland carbon cycling across hierarchical levels.

Droughts and heat waves are increasing in magnitude and frequency, altering the carbon cycle. However, understanding of the underlying response mechanisms remains poor, especially for the combination (hot drought). We conducted a 4-year field experiment to examine both individual and interactive effects of drought and heat wave on carbon cycling of a semiarid grassland across individual, functional group, community and ecosystem levels. Drought did not change below-ground biomass (BGB) or above-ground biomass (AGB) due to compensation effects between grass and non-grass functional groups. However, consistently decreased BGB under heat waves limited such compensation effects, resulting in reduced AGB. Ecosystem CO2 fluxes were suppressed by droughts, attributed to stomatal closure-induced reductions in leaf photosynthesis and decreased AGB of grasses, while CO2 fluxes were little affected by heat waves. Overall the hot drought produced the lowest leaf photosynthesis, AGB and ecosystem CO2 fluxes although the interactions between heat wave and drought were usually not significant. Our results highlight that the functional group compensatory effects that maintain community-level AGB rely on feedback of root system responses, and that plant adjustments at the individual level, together with shifts in composition at the functional group level, co-regulate ecosystem carbon sink strength under climate extremes.

Radiation-Related Deregulation of TUBB3 and BRCA1/2 and Risk of Secondary Lung Cancer in Women With Breast Cancer.

INTRODUCTION: Breast cancer survivors are at increased risk of developing unrelated primary cancers, particularly lung cancer. Evidence indicates that sex hormones as well as a deregulation of DNA-repair pathways may contribute to lung cancer onset. We investigated whether the hormone status and expression of markers involved in DNA repair (BRCA1/2, ERCC1, and P53R2), synthesis (TS and RRM1), and cell division (TUBB3) might be linked to lung cancer risk. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Thirty-seven breast cancer survivors with unrelated lung cancer and 84 control subjects comprising women with breast cancer (42/84) or lung cancer (42/84) were enrolled. Immunohistochemistry on tumor tissue was performed. Geometric mean ratio was used to assess the association of marker levels with patient groups. RESULTS: Estrogen receptor was expressed in approximately 90% of the breast cancer group but was negative in the majority of the lung cancer group, a result similar to the lung cancer control group. Likewise, ER isoform ß was weakly expressed in the lung cancer group. Protein analysis of breast cancer versus control had a significantly lower expression of BRCA1, P53R2, and TUBB3. Likewise, a BRCA1 reduction was observed in the lung cancer group concomitant with a BRCA2 increase. Furthermore, BRCA2 and TUBB3 increased in ipsilateral lung cancer in women who had previously received radiotherapy for breast cancer. CONCLUSION: The decrease of DNA-repair proteins in breast cancer could make these women more susceptible to therapy-related cancer. The increase of BRCA2 and TUBB3 in lung cancer from patients who previously received radiotherapy for breast cancer might reflect a tissue response to exposure to ionizing radiation.

Type XIX collagen: a promising biomarker from the basement membranes.

Among collagen members in the collagen superfamily, type XIX collagen has raised increasing interest in relation to its structural and biological roles. Type XIX collagen is a Fibril-Associated Collagen with Interrupted Triple helices member, one main subclass of collagens in this superfamily. This collagen contains a triple helix composed of three polypeptide segments aligned in parallel and it is associated with the basement membrane zone in different tissues. The molecular structure of type XIX collagen consists of five collagenous domains, COL1 to COL5, interrupted by six non-collagenous domains, NC1 to NC6. The most relevant domain by which this collagen exerts its biological roles is NC1 domain that can be cleavage enzymatically to release matricryptins, exerting anti-tumor and anti-angiogenic effect in murine and human models of cancer. Under physiological conditions, type XIX collagen expression decreases after birth in different tissues although it is necessary to keep its basal levels, mainly in skeletal muscle and hippocampal and telencephalic interneurons in brain. Notwithstanding, in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, altered transcript expression levels show a novel biological effect of this collagen beyond its structural role in basement membranes and its anti-tumor and anti-angiogenic properties. Type XIX collagen can exert a compensatory effect to ameliorate the disease progression under neurodegenerative conditions specific to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in transgenic SOD1G93A mice and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients. This novel biological role highlights its nature as prognostic biomarker of disease progression in and as promising therapeutic target, paving the way to a more precise prognosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

iTRAQ-based quantitative proteomic and physiological analysis of the response to N deficiency and the compensation effect in rice.

BACKGROUND: The crop growth compensation effect is a naturally biological phenomenon, and nitrogen (N) is essential for crop growth and development, especially for yield formation. Little is known about the molecular mechanism of N deficiency and N compensation in rice. Thus, the N-sensitive stage of rice was selected to study N deficiency at the tillering stage and N compensation at the young panicle differentiation stage. In this study, a proteome analysis was performed to analyze leaf differentially expressed proteins (DEPs), and to investigate the leaf physiological characteristics and yield under N deficiency and after N compensation. RESULTS: The yield per plant presented an equivalent compensatory effect. The net photosynthetic rate, optimal/maximal quantum yield of photosystem II (Fv/Fm), soil and plant analyzer development (SPAD) value, and glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT) activity of T1 (N deficiency at the tillering stage, and N compensation at the young panicle differentiation stage) were lower than those of CK (N at different stages of growth by constant distribution) under N deficiency. However, after N compensation, the net photosynthetic rate, Fv/Fm, SPAD value and GPT activity were increased. Using an iTRAQ-based quantitative approach, a total of 1665 credible proteins were identified in the three 4-plex iTRAQ experiments. Bioinformatics analysis indicated that DEPs were enriched in photosynthesis, photosynthesis-antenna proteins, carbon metabolism and carbon fixation in the photosynthetic organism pathways. Moreover, the photosynthesis-responsive proteins of chlorophyll a-b binding protein, ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase small chain and phosphoglycerate kinase were significantly downregulated under N deficiency. After N compensation, chlorophyll a-b binding protein, NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5, NADH dehydrogenase subunit 7, and peroxidase proteins were significantly upregulated in rice leaves. CONCLUSION: Through physiological and quantitative proteomic analysis, we concluded that a variety of metabolic pathway changes was induced by N deficiency and N compensation. GO and KEGG enrichment analysis revealed that DEPs were significantly associated with photosynthesis pathway-, energy metabolism pathway- and stress resistance-related proteins. The DEPs play an important role in the regulation of N deficiency and the compensation effect in rice.

Two tales of Annexin A2 knock-down: One of compensatory effects by antisense RNA and another of a highly active hairpin ribozyme.

Besides altering its own expression during cell transformation, Annexin A2 is upregulated during the progression of many cancer types and also plays key roles during viral infection and multiplication. Consequently, there has been great interest in Annexin A2 as a potential drug target. The successful design of efficient in vivo delivery systems constitutes an obstacle in full exploitation of antisense and RNA-cleaving technologies for the knock-down of specific targets. Efficiency is dependent on the method of delivery and accessibility of the target. Here, hairpin ribozymes and an antisense RNA against rat annexin A2 mRNA were tested for their efficiencies in a T7-driven coupled transcription/translation system. The most efficient ribozyme and antisense RNA were subsequently inserted into a retroviral vector under the control of a tRNA promoter, in a cassette inserted between retroviral Long Terminal Repeats for stable insertion into host DNA. The Phoenix package system based on defective retroviruses was used for virus-mediated gene transfer into PC12 cells. Cells infected with the ribozyme-containing particles died shortly after infection. However, the same ribozyme showed a very high catalytic effect in vitro in cell lysates, explained by its loose hinge helix 2 region. This principle can be transferred to other ribozymes, such as those designed to cleave the guide RNA in the CRISPR/Cas9 technology, as well as to target specific viral RNAs. Interestingly, efficient down-regulation of the expression of Annexin A2 by the antisense RNA resulted in up-regulation of Annexin A7 as a compensatory effect after several cell passages. Indeed, compensatory effects have previously been observed during gene knock-out, but not during knock-down of protein expression. This highlights the problems in interpreting the phenotypic effects of knocking down the expression of a protein. In addition, these data are highly relevant when considering the effects of the CRISPR/Cas9 approach.

Efeito compensatório do exercício físico nas atividades físicas diárias e no consumo alimentar em jovens adultos com excesso de peso: um ensaio controlado randomizado / Compensatory effect of exercise on daily physical activity and energy intake in young adults with overweight: a randomised controlled trial

O efeito compensatório do exercício físico nas atividades físicas espontâneas e no consumo alimentar tem sido apontado como uma possível explicação para os resultados negativos ou abaixo do esperado na variação do peso corporal. Além disso, o efeito da intensidade do exercício físico no efeito compensatório ainda foi pouco estudado. Portanto, o objetivo deste estudo é avaliar o efeito de diferentes intensidades do exercício físico no volume de atividades físicas em homens com excesso de peso. Os indivíduos (n= 72; média ± DP, idade 21.4 ± 1.68 anos, IMC 27.9 ± 2.13 kg/m2) foram randomizados em três grupos experimentais: grupo de exercício moderado (GEM); grupo de exercício vigoroso (GEV); e grupo controle (GC). Durante 2 semanas, os grupos GEM e GEV realizaram 3 sessões de exercício físico por semana, com duração de 60 minutos por sessão, em intensidade moderada (40 a 59%VO2R) ou vigorosa (60 a 89%VO2R). O volume de atividades físicas foi avaliado através de acelerômetros triaxiais (ActiGraph GT3x-BT) durante 13 dias. O consumo alimentar foi avaliado através de recordatório alimentar de 24h durante 4 dias e a fome/saciedade através da Escala Visual Analógica. Análises por intenção de tratamento foram realizadas utilizando modelos lineares de efeitos mistos no SAS. Após 13 dias de seguimento, GEM e GEV apresentaram compensação no volume de atividades físicas, quando comparados ao GC (GEM vs. GC e GEV vs. GC; p=0.01). Não houve diferença na taxa de variação entre GEM e GEV (p=0.97). Com relação ao consumo alimentar, a taxa de variação não foi diferente entre os grupos (p=0.18), entretanto, o GEM apresentou maior consumo energético durante esse período quando comparado ao grupo controle (ß = 491 kcal; p = 0.01) e ao grupo vigoroso (ß = 319 kcal; p = 0.07). As taxas de variação da fome e da saciedade não foram diferentes entre os grupos durante o período da intervenção (p=0.92 e p=0.52, respectivamente). Com base nesses resultados, GEV apresentou maior redução do peso corporal quando comparado ao GEM (p=0.03) e ao GC (p=0.07). Sessões de 60 minutos de exercícios físicos aeróbios, realizadas três vezes por semana, promoveram um efeito compensatório no volume total de atividades físicas ao longo das duas semanas da intervenção, independentemente da intensidade do exercício realizado. Apesar do efeito compensatório em ambos os grupos de exercício, GEV apresentou maior redução do peso corporal.

The compensatory effect of physical exercise on spontaneous physical activity and food intake has been pointed out as a possible explanation for the negative or lower than expected results in body weight variation. Also, the effect of exercise intensity on the compensatory effect has not been well studied. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the effect of different intensities of physical exercise on the total volume of physical activity in men with overweight. Subjects (n = 72; mean ± SD, age 21.4 ± 1.68 years, BMI 27.9 ± 2.13 kg / m2) were randomized into three experimental groups: moderate exercise group (GEM); vigorous exercise group (GEV); and control group (CG). For 2 weeks, the GEM and GEV groups performed 3 exercise sessions per week, lasting 60 minutes per session, at moderate (40 to 59% VO2R) or vigorous (60 to 89% VO2R) intensity. The volume of physical activity was assessed by triaxial accelerometers (ActiGraph GT3x-BT) for 13 days. Food intake was assessed through 24-hour food recall for 4 days and hunger/satiety through the Visual Analog Scale. Intent-to-treat analyses were performed using linear mixed-effects models in SAS. After 13 days of follow-up, GEM and GEV showed compensation in the volume of physical activity when compared to CG (GEM vs. GC and GEV vs. GC; p = 0.01). There was no difference in the rate of change between GEM and GEV (p = 0.97). Regarding food consumption, the variation rate was not different between groups (p = 0.18), however, GEM presented higher energy consumption during this period when compared to the control group (ß = 491 kcal; p = 0.01) and to vigorous group (ß = 319 kcal; p = 0.07). The rates of change in hunger and satiety were not different between groups during the intervention period (p = 0.92 and p = 0.52, respectively). Based on these results, GEV showed greater reduction in body weight when compared to GEM (p = 0.03) and CG (p = 0.07). 60-minute sessions of aerobic exercise performed three times a week promoted a compensatory effect on the total volume of physical activity over the two weeks of intervention, regardless of the intensity of the exercise performed. Despite the compensatory effect in both exercise groups, GEV showed the greatest reduction in body weight.

The Effect of Blindness on Long-Term Episodic Memory for Odors and Sounds.

We recently showed that compared with sighted, early blind individuals have better episodic memory for environmental sounds, but not odors, after a short retention interval (∼ 8 - 9 min). Few studies have investigated potential effects of blindness on memory across long time frames, such as months or years. Consequently, it was unclear whether compensatory effects may vary as a function of retention interval. In this study, we followed-up participants (N = 57 out of 60) approximately 1 year after the initial testing and retested episodic recognition for environmental sounds and odors, and identification ability. In contrast to our previous findings, the early blind participants (n = 14) performed at a similar level as the late blind (n = 13) and sighted (n = 30) participants for sound recognition. Moreover, the groups had similar recognition performance of odors and identification ability of odors and sounds. These findings suggest that episodic odor memory is unaffected by blindness after both short and long retention intervals. However, the effect of blindness on episodic memory for sounds may vary as a function of retention interval, such that early blind individuals have an advantage over sighted across short but not long time frames. We speculate that the finding of a differential effect of blindness on auditory episodic memory across retention intervals may be related to different memory strategies at initial and follow-up assessments. In conclusion, this study suggests that blindness does not influence auditory or olfactory episodic memory as assessed after a long retention interval.

Effect of physical exercise on spontaneous physical activity energy expenditure and energy intake in overweight adults (the EFECT study): a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Physical exercise interventions have been extensively advocated for the treatment of obesity; however, clinical trials evaluating the effectiveness of exercise interventions on weight control show controversial results. Compensatory mechanisms through a decrease in energy expenditure and/or an increase in caloric consumption is a possible explanation. Several physiological mechanisms involved in the energy balance could explain compensatory mechanisms, but the influences of physical exercise on these adjustments are still unclear. Therefore, the present trial aims to evaluate the effects of exercise on non-exercise physical activity energy expenditure, energy intake and appetite sensations among active overweight/obese adults, as well as, to investigate hormonal changes associated with physical exercise. METHODS: This study is a randomized controlled trial with parallel, three-group experimental arms. Eighty-one overweight/obese adults will be randomly allocated (1:1:1 ratio) to a vigorous exercise group, moderate exercise group or control group. The trial will be conducted at a military institution and the intervention groups will be submitted to exercise sessions in the evening, three times a week for 65 min, during a 2-week period. The primary outcome will be total spontaneous physical activity energy expenditure during a 2-week period. Secondary outcomes will be caloric intake, appetite sensations and laboratorial biomarkers. Intention-to-treat analysis will be performed using linear mixed-effects models to evaluate the effect of treatment-by-time interaction on primary and secondary outcomes. Data analysis will be performed using SAS 9.3 and statistical significance will be set at p < 0.05. DISCUSSION: The results of the present study will help to understand the effect of physical exercise training on subsequent non-exercise physical activity, appetite and energy intake as well as understand the physiological mechanisms underlying a possible compensatory phenomenon, supporting the development of more effective interventions for prevention and treatment of obesity. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Physical Exercise and Energy Balance trial registry, trial registration number: NCT 03138187 . Registered on 30 April 2017.

Effect of loss of plant functional group and simulated nitrogen deposition on subalpine ecosystem properties on the Tibetan Plateau.

Biodiversity loss impacts on ecosystem functioning can vary greatly among ecosystems types and different ecosystem processes can respond differently. Here we conducted a plant functional group removal experiment with and without nitrogen (N) addition (5gNm-2year-1) to examine the effects of plant functional group types presence, nitrogen deposition and their interaction effects on plant diversity, aboveground biomass, soil nutrients, soil microbial biomass and soil enzyme activity. After 4years, the removal of dominant grass did increase subordinates, forb richness, and decreased total aboveground biomass significantly. However, the removal of forb resulted in a rapid decline in species richness, which did not change strongly the aboveground biomass, regardless of N addition. This pattern suggests that the dominant grass can compensate for the loss of forb removal with respect to production, but cannot compensate with respect to species loss. Forb cannot compensate for grass removal with respect to production, but can compensate with respect to species loss. Nitrogen addition only has a small effect on species richness, and also not enhances aboveground biomass. In addition, the majority of soil properties did not respond to either plant functional group removal, or N addition. Only soil CO2 efflux and soil NO3--N content significantly changed with plant functional group removal. Soil respiration rate was positively correlated with both plant species richness (R2=0.97) and aboveground biomass (R2=0.64). Our results show that the short-term losses of plant functional group have significant effects on plant diversity and productivity, and only minor impact on soil properties.

From Perception to Metacognition: Auditory and Olfactory Functions in Early Blind, Late Blind, and Sighted Individuals.

Although evidence is mixed, studies have shown that blind individuals perform better than sighted at specific auditory, tactile, and chemosensory tasks. However, few studies have assessed blind and sighted individuals across different sensory modalities in the same study. We tested early blind (n = 15), late blind (n = 15), and sighted (n = 30) participants with analogous olfactory and auditory tests in absolute threshold, discrimination, identification, episodic recognition, and metacognitive ability. Although the multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) showed no overall effect of blindness and no interaction with modality, follow-up between-group contrasts indicated a blind-over-sighted advantage in auditory episodic recognition, that was most pronounced in early blind individuals. In contrast to the auditory modality, there was no empirical support for compensatory effects in any of the olfactory tasks. There was no conclusive evidence for group differences in metacognitive ability to predict episodic recognition performance. Taken together, the results showed no evidence of an overall superior performance in blind relative sighted individuals across olfactory and auditory functions, although early blind individuals exceled in episodic auditory recognition memory. This observation may be related to an experience-induced increase in auditory attentional capacity.

Impulse control and restrained eating among young women: Evidence for compensatory cortical activation during a chocolate-specific delayed discounting task.

Theory and associated research indicate that people with elevated restrained eating (RE) scores have higher risk for binge eating, future bulimic symptom onset and weight gain. Previous imaging studies have suggested hyper-responsive reward brain area activation in response to food cues contributes to this risk but little is known about associated neural impulse control mechanisms, especially when considering links between depleted cognitive resources related to unsuccessful RE. Towards illuminating this issue, we used a chocolate-specific delayed discounting (DD) task to investigate relations between RE scores, behavior impulsivity, and corresponding neural impulse control correlates in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study of 27 young women. Specifically, participants were required to choose between more immediate, smaller versus delayed, larger hypothetical chocolate rewards following initial consumption of a chocolate. As predicted, RE scores were correlated positively with behavior impulse control levels. More critically, higher RE scores were associated with stronger activation in impulse control region, the dorsal-lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) during the completion of difficult decision trials reflecting higher cognitive demands and resource depletion relative to easy decision trials. Exploratory analyses revealed a positive correlation between RE scores and activity in a reward system hub, the right striatum. Moreover, a positive correlation between left DLPFC and striatum activation was posited to reflect, in part, impulse control region compensation in response to stronger reward signal among women with RE elevations. Findings suggested impulse control lapses may contribute to difficulties in maintaining RE, particularly when cognitive demands are high.

Effect of resistance ladder training on sparc expression in skeletal muscle of hindlimb immobilized rats.

INTRODUCTION: Secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC) is associated with skeletal muscle atrophy. Here we examined possibility that resistance training could regulate SPARC expression in muscle atrophy in an immobilized hindlimb model. METHODS: Sprague-Dawley rats underwent resistance ladder training and hindlimb immobilization. Cross sectional area and grip strength were measured. SPARC protein levels in the plantaris and soleus, and serum after exercise and immobilization were then analyzed. RESULTS: Resistance training decreased body weight (P < 0.001) and increased muscle quality (P < 0.001). In the plantaris, muscle atrophy (31.82%) and up-regulated SPARC expression (P < 0.05) after immobilization were alleviated by resistance training. CONCLUSIONS: Resistance training led to suppression of SPARC expression in the plantaris and showed a pretraining effect in atrophied rat muscle. Thus, SPARC may play a pivotal role in muscle homeostasis. Muscle Nerve 53: 951-957, 2016.