Sapelovirus A (SV-A) is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus which is associated with acute diarrhea, pneumonia and reproductive disorders. The virus capsid is composed of four proteins, and the functions of the structural proteins are unclear. In this study, we expressed SV-A structural protein VP1 and studied its antigenicity and immunogenicity. SDS-PAGE analysis revealed that the target gene was expressed at high levels at 0.6 mM concentration of IPTG for 24 h. The mouse polyclonal antibody against SV-A VP1 protein was produced and reached a high antiserum titer (1: 2,048,000). Immunized mice sera with the recombinant SV-A VP1 protein showed specific recognition of purified VP1 protein by western blot assay and could recognize native SV-A VP1 protein in PK-15 cells infected with SV-A by indirect immunofluorescence assay. The successfully purified recombinant protein was able to preserve its antigenic determinants and the generated mouse anti-SV-A VP1 antibodies could recognize native SV-A, which may have the potential to be used to detect SV-A infection in pigs.

In vitro embryogenic callus is a critical factor for genetic transformation of rice, especially for indica varieties. In this study, we investigated the relationship between polyamines, including putrescine (Put), spermidine (Spd) and spermine (Spm), and callus browning, and we studied the effect of exogenous Put on callus regeneration and on the content of endogenous polyamines. In addition, the expression levels of arginine decarboxylase gene (Adcl) and S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase gene (Samdc) in embryogenic callus were studied by quantitative Real-time PCR analysis. The results showed that the contents of endogenous Put and Spd in the browning callus were significantly lower than those in normal callus. Exogenous Put could effectively improve the growing state of callus of indica rice and enhance the development of embryogenic callus. The content of endogenous polyamines in embryogenic callus, especially Spd and Spm, was increased after addition of exogenous Put. Additionally, exogenous Put also had an obvious impact on the expression levels of Adcl but partial effect on the expression levels of Samdc gene. This study could increase the knowledge of both embryogenic callus induction and polyamine catabolism in callus in indica rice.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are the most widespread root fungal symbionts, forming associations with the vast majority of plant species. Ectomycorrhizal development alters gene expression in plant symbionts. In this work we examined the effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi spores on the growth and development of Brassica and on the expression of BnMT2 in winter rape. In a pot experiment, rape seedlings growing on different types of sterile and nonsterile soils were inoculated simultaneously with mycorrhizal fungi spores of Acaulospora longula,Glomus geosporum, Glomus mosseae and Scutellospora calospora. As compared with control plants growing in the absence of spores, ten-week-old seedlings of Brassica napus L. in sterile soil inoculated with arbuscular spores had longer shoots and higher fresh biomass of above-ground plant parts. In other types of substrates enriched with mycorrhizal fungi spores, the plants were smaller than non-inoculated plants. The presence of AMF spores stimulated the elongation growth of hypocotyls in both analyzed substrates. BnMT2 expression was highest in plants growing on the sterile substrate. Generally, the presence of mycorrhizal fungi spores appeared to have an adverse effect on the growth of rape plants.

We are exploring the relationship between accents and expression in piano performance. Accents are local events that attract a listener's attention and are either evident from the score (immanent) or added by the performer (performed). Immanent accents are associated with grouping (phrasing), metre, melody and harmony. In piano music, performed accents involve changes in timing, dynamics, articulation, and pedalling; they vary in amplitude, form, and duration. We analyzed the first eight bars of Chopin Prelude op. 28 n. 6. In a separate study, music theorists had marked grouping, melodic and harmonic accents on the score and estimated the importance (salience) of each. Here, we mathematically modeled timing and dynamics in the prelude in two ways using Director Musices (DM) - a software package for automatic rendering of expressive performance. The first rendering focused on phrasing following existing and tested procedures in DM. The second focused on accents - timing and dynamics in the vicinity of the accents identified by the theorists. In an informal listening test, 10 out of 12 participants (5 of 6 musicians and 5 of 6 non-musicians) preferred the accent-based formulation, and several stated that it had more variation of timing and dynamics from one phrase to the next.

Every part of the human body goes beyond the anatomy-physiology limits to reach deep contents and symbolic meanings.

We can identify a range of verbs (which constitute a part of idiomatic expressions) that indicate different alterations of the body’s integrity. As for their figurative use, they serve to describe a mental state. The parts of the body linked to the sensory, motor and intellectual spheres tend to be accompanied by adjectives that are part of the terminology of the psychiatric past.

We come to the conclusion that some medical terms (in this case the parts of the body) have entered into everyday speech and have assumed symbolic meanings. From the interlingual point of view, it is whereas possible to see considerable differences between Italian and Polish. It follows that the linguistic picture of the world helps to understand the generally accepted statements in a certain community.

Osteocalcin is a major non-collagenous component of the bone extracellular matrix and is considered to be an indicative factor of osteoblast differentiation. In the present study, we detected osteocalcin expression in different antler areas and growth phases by immunohisto- chemistry. Osteocalcin was highly expressed in all areas during the mineralization period and in mesenchymal cell and chondrocyte areas during the rapid growth period. The nucleotide sequence of the osteocalcin gene in sika deer antler was determined. The open reading frame was 303 bp encoding a protein of 100 amino acids. The estimated molecular mass of osteocalcin was 10.38 kDa and the theoretical isoelectric point was 5.37. The osteocalcin gene with a 6× His-tag at the C-terminus was cloned into the pGEX-4T1 vector and expressed in Escherichia coli under optimal conditions. The recombinant soluble protein fused with GST was purified with Ni-NTA resin. The purified osteocalcin protein exhibited a significant increase in HA adhesion and promoted antler chondrocyte proliferation. Osteocalcin is an important factor in regulating the rapid growth and differentiation of deer antlers.

This paper presents methods for optimal test frequencies search with the use of heuristic approaches. It includes a short summary of the analogue circuits fault diagnosis and brief introductions to the soft computing techniques like evolutionary computation and the fuzzy set theory. The reduction of both, test time and signal complexity are the main goals of developed methods. At the before test stage, a heuristic engine is applied for the principal frequency search. The methods produce a frequency set which can be used in the SBT diagnosis procedure. At the after test stage, only a few frequencies can be assembled instead of full amplitude response characteristic. There are ambiguity sets provided to avoid a fault tolerance masking effect.

We explored the use of the medicinally important plant Centella asiatica for expression of hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) protein of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) strain AF2240. HN protein is the principal target for subunit vaccine development against NDV. The full-length HN gene was cloned into a plant expression construct driven by the CaMV 35S promoter and C-terminal fusion of green fluorescence protein (GFP) as reporter system. The recombinant expression construct was transformed via particle bombardment into C. asiatica callus. Transformants were screened using GFP and selected on MS medium supplemented with 15 mg/l hygromycin. The ~1.8 kb HN mRNA transcript was detected on the putative transformants using RT-PCR. The presence of HN protein expression was further confirmed through dot blot analysis using anti-NDV chicken serum. Here we report, for the first time, the use of a novel medicinal plant as a new platform for HN protein expression.

The article presents experiments in realistic modelling of facial expressions using volume morphing. The experiments use a variable number of points and face features. As the results are shown meshes deviations (between goal mesh and morphed shape). Experiments have shown that it is impossible to carry out a fully realistic morphing based on existing software. At the same time, even imperfect morphing allows you to show the expected emotional facial expression.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and its metabolite, dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) can disturb the secretory function of the ovary and both contractions and secretory function of the uterus during the estrus cycle and pregnancy. Additionally, PCBs can pass through the placental barrier into allantoic and amniotic fluid. The presence of PCBs in these fluids is associated with higher frequency of spontaneous abortions and premature births in humans and animals. Therefore, the effect of PCBs, DDT and DDE on the connexins (Cx26, Cx32 and Cx43) and keratin 8 (KRT8) expression in bovine placentomes was investigated. The placentome slices from the second trimester of pregnancy were incubated with PCB153, 126, 77, DDT and DDE (each at doses of 1, 10 or 100 ng/ml) for 48 h. Then, the slices were stained using immunohistochemistry. The density of Cxs staining was measured with Axio- Vision Rel. 4.8 software in fetal-maternal connections and binuclear cells (BNC). None of the tested xenobiotics (XBs) affected the localization of Cxs and KRT8 in the fetal-maternal connection area, but the XBs affected the density of Cxs in fetal-maternal connections and binuclear cells (BNCs). Depend on the doses, in fetal-maternal connections all used PCBs changed the protein expression of different Cxs, while in BNCs, all tested XBs except DDT increased the expression of Cxs. None of investigated XBs affected on KRT8 expression. In summary, used XBs affect the expression of Cxs and change the quantitative relationships between them. Therefore, XBs can unfavorably influence function of the utero-placental barrier in cows.

B a c k g r o u n d: Articular cartilage is highly-organized nonvascularized tissue which is responsible in humans for pressure absorption under load, as well as for the smoothness of the opposite tangential bone surfaces.

The purpose of our research is to study structural and functional features of articular cartilage at lightoptical level by using state-of-the-art research methods of bone-cartilage tissue.

M a t e r i a l a n d M e t h o d s: The study was conducted on samples of femoral heads. Hyperfine sections were subject to hematoxylin and eosin, Van Gieson’s and PAS staining. In order to identify the receptor profile of chondrocytes and the features of protein arrangement in extracellular matrix we undertook an immunohistochemical study.

R e s u l t s: An articular cartilage is quite organized tissue. As any other organ, it has parenchyma and stroma. Parenchyma is represented by one type of cells — chondrocytes, which, depending on how deep they are located in cartilage, have a different shape, size and functional features. The chondrocytes and extracellular matrix have different degrees of receptors expression.

C o n c l u s i o n s: Th e cartilage is being constantly self-renewed, what is manifested by means of a rather slow division of the surface-located chondrocytes and programmed death of dystrophic-modified cells. The features of extracellular matrix structure determine the originality of cell location in different areas of cartilage tissue. Due to synthesis of specific proteins, chondrocytes self-regulate properties of cartilage tissue.