Chemistry and Toxicology of Major Bioactive Substances in Inocybe Mushrooms

Mushroom poisoning has always been a threat to human health. There are a large number of reports about ingestion of poisonous mushrooms every year around the world. It attracts the attention of researchers, especially in the aspects of toxin composition, toxic mechanism and toxin application in poisonous mushroom. Inocybe is a large genus of mushrooms and contains toxic substances including muscarine, psilocybin, psilocin, aeruginascin, lectins and baeocystin. In order to prevent and remedy mushroom poisoning, it is significant to clarify the toxic effects and mechanisms of these bioactive substances. In this review article, we summarize the chemistry, most known toxic effects and mechanisms of major toxic substances in Inocybe mushrooms, especially muscarine, psilocybin and psilocin. Their available toxicity data (different species, different administration routes) published formerly are also summarized. In addition, the treatment and medical application of these toxic substances in Inocybe mushrooms are also discussed. We hope that this review will help understanding of the chemistry and toxicology of Inocybe mushrooms as well as the potential clinical application of its bioactive substances to benefit human beings.     

Relative deprivation and energy poverty: when does unequal access to electricity cause dissatisfaction?

In the least developed countries, unequal access to infrastructure is a major form of inequality. We examine the conditions under which unequal electricity access causes dissatisfaction. The question is important because grievances could prompt demands for policy change. We argue that feelings of relative deprivation both cause dissatisfaction and create hope for improvement. Empirically, we analyze household survey data from five East African countries. All else constant, households living close to a power line are less satisfied with their lighting solution but also have more hope for improvement. Because household lighting is the most important use for electricity in a poor household, this supports the relative deprivation hypothesis. Households that are reminded of their deprivation by the power line are both less satisfied and believe something can be done to solve the problem. To inform policy, we also show that the proximity of a power line decreases the household's interest in solar home systems as an alternative to grid electrification, whereas valuation for solar lanterns seems to be increasing. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluation of Gene Expression Knock-Down by Chemically and Structurally Modified Gapmer Antisense Oligonucleotides

We analyzed the effect of modified nucleotides within gapmer antisense oligonucleotides on RNase H mediated gene silencing. Additionally, short hairpins were introduced into antisense oligonucleotides as structural motifs, and their influence on biological and physicochemical properties of pre-structured gapmers was investigated for the first time. The results indicate that two LNA residues in specified positions of the gap flanking regions are sufficient and favorable for efficient knock-down of the β-actin gene. Furthermore, the introduction of other modified nucleotides, i. e. glycyl-amino-LNA−T, 2′-O-propagyluridine, polyamine functionalized uridine, and UNA, in specified positions, also increases the inhibition of β-actin expression. Importantly, the presence of hairpins within the gapmers improves their silencing properties.     

城市中心区生活的复兴:更为深入的探察

"城市中心区生活的复兴:更为深入的探察"是一项由林肯学院等机构资助的关于城市中心区及住房发展的研究项目,本文介绍了该研究的7个主要发现.     

Satellite data for the social sciences: measuring rural electrification with night-time lights

Remote-sensing data has the potential to revolutionize social science. One of the most prominent examples of this is the Nighttime Lights data set, which provides digital measures of night-time luminosity from 1992 to 2013. This study evaluates the Nighttime Lights data against detailed rural electrification data from the 2011 Census of India. The results suggest that many night-time luminosity measures derived from satellite data are surprisingly accurate for measuring rural electrification, even at the village level and using simple statistical tools. We also demonstrate that this accuracy can be substantially improved by using of better GIS maps, basic geoprocessing tools, and particular aggregations of night-time luminosity. Night-time luminosity performs worse in measuring financial inclusion or proxies of poverty, however, and detects rural electrification less accurately when the supply of power is intermittent. These results offer guidelines for when and how remote-sensing data can be used when administrative data is absent or unreliable.     

Experience of the forecast of water and power resources changes at warming of the 21st century

Global warming causes changes of those natural resources like power resources, water resources, agroclimatic and ecological resources etc. And these changes depend on climate. Dynamics of resources depends both on planned economic activities and on changes of a climate. In this work the climatic component of changes is discussed. Projecting results used in this paper are based on the data of the CMIP3 (coupled model intercomparison project) in the framework of Working Group on Coupled Modelling. This project includes the world’s best climate models. Results of modelling and the data of meteorological observations expressed by probability distribution functions (or empirical orthogonal functions) were compared. It was shown that the modelling data were much more reliable over flat territories. In result 11 most successful models were selected. They can be used for the forecast within the framework of known IPCC scenario A2 at the 21st century. Estimations of changes of volumes of a river runoff and conditions of humidity of territory have been allowed to determine that the serious reduction of resources is expected in the southern part of the East European plain. Its central and northern parts practically will not demonstrate changes.     

The role of compositing cereals with legumes to alleviate protein energy malnutrition in Africa

Protein‐energy malnutrition (PEM) is a problem in Africa and other developing nations of the world. Food Agriculture Organization's statistics reveal that in Africa, more than one in four people are undernourished. Cereals are a major staple in many African homes contributing significant amounts of energy, protein, but limiting in essential amino acid lysine, legumes on the other hand are protein and amino acid rich foods, but also lacking in sulphur‐containing amino acids. Hence, a combination of cereals with legumes would improve the protein and nutrient density of the subsequent food products. Probably due to their high nutritional values, these food products are susceptible to deterioration and fungal contamination, accompanied by the production of mycotoxins. This review therefore, appraises various works in literature on the use of these crops to produce composite food products and their potential to address the obstinate problem of PEM, including, the problems that could arise during processing and storage of these protein‐rich fractions.     

Dual-task assessment of age differences in automatic process development.

The present experiment assessed dual-task performance in 20 young (mean age 21) and 20 old (mean age 72) adults. Ss first received extensive single-task practice on consistent and varied search tasks. Next, they received dual-task practice in 2 conditions: (1) varied visual search plus varied memory search and (2) consistent visual search plus varied memory search. In the varied-varied condition, young and old adults showed similar dual-task decrements. These results, along with the current data in the literature, suggest that practice may play an important role in determining age-related dual-task differences (or lack thereof). In the consistent-varied condition, young adults attained single-task performance levels, because they had automatized the consistent task. Old adults were unable to match their single-task performance levels, indicating that they were unable to automatize the consistent task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Health psychology training in doctoral psychology programs.

Presents the results of a Division 38 (the health psychology division of the American Psychological Association) survey of graduate training programs in psychology, along with facility-specific information on doctoral training opportunities in health psychology as of Fall 1981. 310 questionnaires were returned from psychology programs; 53 indicated that doctoral training in health psychology was available at their institution. It was found that established subspecialty programs were expanding to include health psychology, and new programs were developing in that area. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)