From November 1997 to June 1998, 3,118 specimens of Echinogammarus stammeri (Karaman, 1931) (Amphipoda) were collected from the River Brenta (Northern Italy) and examined for larval helminths. Larvae of Polymorphus minuius (Goeze, 1782) singly infected the hemocoel of 23 (0.74%) crustaceans; all these larvae were cystacanth stages. This is the first record of Polymorphus minuius in E. stammeri. Some cystacanths had their forebody and hindbody fully inverted. Parasites were bright orange in colour and each was surrounded by a thin acellular envelope. This envelope likely protects the developing parasite larva from cellular responses of the amphipod. Hemocytes were seen adherent to the outer surface of the envelope. The sex ratio among the parasitised E. stammeri was almost 1:1. All Polymorphus minutus larvae were central in the amphipod body, made intimate contact with host internal organs, and frequently induced a marked displacement of them. None of the infected females of E. stammeri. carried eggs or juveniles in their brood pouch. In five hosts, Polymorphus minuius co-occurrcd with the cystacanth of another acanlhocephalan, Pomphorhynchus laevis (Millier, 1776), a parasite offish.
By measurement of gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence, the effects of salt shock on photosynthesis and the mechanisms to protect photosynthetic machinery against photodamage during salt shock were investigated in leaves of Rumex seedlings. Salt shock induced significant decrease in photosynthesis both in 21 and 2 % O2. In 21 % O2, quantum yield of photosystem 2 (PS2) electron transport (ΦPS2) decreased slightly and qP remained constant, suggesting that the excitation pressure on PS2 did not increase during salt shock. In 2 % O2, however, both ΦPS2 and qP decreased significantly, suggesting that the excitation pressure on PS2 increased during salt shock. NPQ increased slightly in 21 % O2 whereas it increased significantly in 2 % O2. The data demonstrated that during salt shock a considerable electron flow was allocated to oxygen reduction in the Mehler-peroxidase reaction (MPR). Under high irradiance and in the presence of saturating CO2, the susceptibility of PS2 to photoinhibition in salt-shocked leaves was increased when the electron flow to oxygen in MPR was inhibited in 2 % O2. Hence, MPR is important in photoprotection of Rumex seedlings during salt shock. and H.-X. Chen ... [et al.].
Suitable light characteristics are a necessary prerequisite for a correct function of human visual perception. A trend of using new light sources, especially LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes), is present in almost all fields of human activities, the automotive industry being no exception. One of the declared outcomes of this trend within the automotive industry is to increase the traffic safety via increasing the road illumination. This paper presents an intention to study whether this goal is not achieved for the price of actually decreased visual comfort of drivers, which might be caused by higher levels of glare, using inappropriate colors, or other inappropriate aspects of newly developed light sources. To aid this research, both subjective and objective methods shall be used. For the subjective point of view, a questionnaire will be developed. Results will be correlated with instrument-aided subjective and objective measurements. The instrument-aided methods come mainly from the fields of optometry, ophthalmology and neurology. Fundamental part of the research is a specially designed dark-room simulating two-lane night-time road traffic, where the majority of experiments will take place. and Spolehlivá funkce vidění je podmíněna vhodnými charakteristikami světla. V současné době se stále častěji uplatňují nové zdroje světla, zejména pak ty, které využívají elektroluminiscenční diody, česky zvané ledky (LED - light emitting diode). Nejinak je tomu v automobilovém průmyslu, potažmo silniční dopravě. Jedním z deklarovaných cílů tohoto trendu je vyšší míra bezpečnosti dosažená viditelně silnějším osvětlením vozovky a jejího okolí. Příspěvek popisuje výzkumný záměr mající za cíl prozkoumat, jestli tato vlastnost není na úkor častějšího oslňování protijedoucích řidičů, případně na úkor vizuálního komfortu způsobeného nevhodným použitím barev, či jiných obtěžujících vlastností moderních automobilových světel. K podpoře tohoto výzkumu bude použito subjektivních dotazníkových metod v kombinaci se subjektivními i objektivními přístrojovými metodami užitými v optometrii, oftalmologii a neurologii. Nedílnou součástí je světlotěsná laboratoř se simulací dvou pruhů vozovky.
Cell surface expression of PD-1, PD-L1 and PD-L2 immune checkpoints on B and T cells obtained from patients with mantle cell lymphoma shows ambiguous results across many studies and creates obstacles for the implementation of immune checkpoint inhibitors into the therapy of mantle cell lymphoma. Using multiparameter flow cytometry we analysed surface expression of PD-1, PD-L1 and PD-L2 molecules on B and T cells of 31 newly diagnosed mantle cell lymphomas and compared it with the results of 26 newly diagnosed chronic lymphocytic leukaemias and 20 healthy volunteers. To gain insight into the age-dependent changes of surface expression of these immune checkpoints, flow cytometric subanalysis of 30 healthy volunteers of 25–93 years of age was conducted. Overall, we demonstrated weak surface expression of PD-1, PD-L1 and PD-L2 on B and T cells of mantle cell lymphoma patients (< 10 % when compared to healthy individuals). A significant age-dependent increase in the expression of PD-1 and its ligand PD-L2 was observed in healthy volunteers. Our results suggest that neither PD-1 nor its ligands represent relevant druggable targets for the therapy of mantle cell lymphoma. The observed age-dependent changes in healthy population could impact efficiency of immune checkpoint inhibitors and could be at least partly connected with increased incidence of cancer with age.