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Effect of cognitive strategy content and length of instructions on cold pressor pain tolerance.

This experiment assessed a recent contention that cognitive pain-control strategies are effective because length of training produces demands irrespective of content of training. Participants held the dominant hand in ice water for 5 sec. They then estimated how long they expected to tolerate ice water using one of four cognitive pain-control strategies. People who used multiple cognitive strategies previously found to be effective experienced mean tolerance equal to that of subjects who used multiple cognitive strategies previously found to be ineffective. Participants then used the instructions while their hands were immersed in ice water. People tolerated the pain longer when using effective rather than ineffective strategies. The experiment demonstrated that the efficacy of cognitive pain-control strategies cannot be accounted for by length of instructions alone.

Cognition↗

Response and tolerance of toxigenic Vibro cholerae O1 to cold temperatures.

Survival and tolerance at cold temperatures, the differentially expressed cellular proteins, and cholera toxin (CTX) production were evaluated in Vibrio cholerae O1. Rapid loss of culturability and change to distinct coccoid morphology occurred when cultures of V cholerae 01 were exposed to 5 degrees C directly from 35 degrees C. Also, cultures of V. cholerae first exposed to 15 degrees C for 2 h and then maintained at 5 degrees C failed to exhibit an adaptive response, instead a rapid loss of viable plate count was noticed. Results from Western blot experiments revealed the absence of a major cold shock protein, CS7.4. Also, a decreased level of CTX was noticed in V. cholerae O1 cultures exposed to 5 or 15 degrees C after first being exposed to 15 degrees C for 2 h, followed by transfer to 5 degrees C. Reduced expression of CTX at cold temperatures, compared to the cultures maintained at 35 degrees C, may be a result of decreased cellular metabolic activity. When V. cholerae O1 cultures were exposed to 15 degrees C for 2 h, elevated expressions of 8, 26 and 194 kDa, and decreased expression of 28 and 183 kDa proteins occurred. It is suggested that these differentially expressed cold-responsive proteins are involved in regulating culturability and conversion to a coccoid cell morphology in V cholerae O1.

Bacterial Proteins↗

Viability and rate of development at different temperatures in Drosophila: a comparison of constant and alternating thermal regimes.

Populations belonging to the sibling species Drosophila melanogaster and D. simulans were collected in Southwestern France and Southern Spain, and investigated under constant (CT) and alternating (AT) temperature regimes. Development under CT was possible between 11 and 32 degrees C and egg-to-adult viability curves were almost 'rectangular', with a sharp decrease below 14 and above 29 degrees C. Rate of development followed a complex non-linear curve. A model described the curve as an exponential below a critical temperature (T(C)), and above T(C) as the difference between this function and another exponential which is assumed to show deleterious effects of heat. Developmental rates under two daily 12-h phases with various mid-temperatures and thermal amplitudes were compared to expected rates calculated from the above model. Acceleration effects were observed at four AT (in increasing order: 12-30, 9-21, 11-21, 16-26 degrees C); retardation occurred at three other ones (in increasing order, 7-21, 5-15, 7-29 degrees C). When expressed by the ratio observed/expected, the effects could be predicted using a multiple regression, as a positive function of the thermal amplitude and a negative one of the mid-temperature. Viability under AT was analysed considering an equivalent developmental temperature (EDT), that is the CT which would produce the same rate or development. Very low viabilities occurred under broad amplitude regimes, but the deleterious effects of some extreme temperatures, that would be lethal under CT, could be recovered by daily return to a moderate temperature. The two species exhibited slight but significant differences in their characteristic temperatures: developmental zero, critical temperature, temperature of maximum rate, upper developmental limit. All data may be interpreted by considering that D. simulans compared to D. melanogaster is more tolerant to cold but less tolerant to heat.

Journal Article↗

Heat loss and tolerance time during cold exposure in heliox atmosphere at 16 ATA.

Four different types of protective clothing and three different methods of heat conservation protection were evaluated during an exposure to 4 degrees C cold in a heliox atmosphere at 150 msw. The divers using protective systems with little insulation had to quit the test after 1-2 h due to uncontrollable shivering and an extreme feeling of cold, whereas the divers using the heavily insulated clothing were able to stay in the chamber for 8-10 h. However, even with adequate protection against convective heat loss from the skin, respiratory convective heat loss will be high unless inspired gas is heated. This can be adequately done by using a combined heat-exchanger and scrubber where the heat produced by CO2 absorption is used to warm the inspired gas.

Adult↗

Rapid cold-hardening increases the freezing tolerance of the Antarctic midge Belgica antarctica.

Rapid cold-hardening (RCH) is well known to increase the tolerance of chilling or cold shock in a diverse array of invertebrate systems at both organismal and cellular levels. Here, we report a novel role for RCH by showing that RCH also increases freezing tolerance in an Antarctic midge, Belgica antarctica (Diptera, Chironomidae). The RCH response of B. antarctica was investigated under two distinct physiological states: summer acclimatized and cold acclimated. Summer-acclimatized larvae were less cold tolerant, as indicated by low survival following exposure to -10 degrees C for 24 h; by contrast, nearly all cold-acclimated larvae survived -10 degrees C, and a significant number could survive -15 degrees C. Cold-acclimated larvae had higher supercooling points than summer larvae. To evaluate the RCH response in summer-acclimatized midges, larvae and adults, maintained at 4 degrees C, were transferred to -5 degrees C for 1 h prior to exposures to -10, -15 or -20 degrees C. RCH significantly increased survival of summer-acclimatized larvae frozen at -10 degrees C for 1 h compared with larvae receiving no cold-hardening treatment, but adults, which live for only a week or so in the austral summer, lacked the capacity for RCH. In cold-acclimated larvae, RCH significantly increased freeze tolerance to both -15 and -20 degrees C. Similarly, RCH significantly increased cellular survival of fat body, Malpighian tubules and gut tissue from cold-acclimated larvae frozen at -20 degrees C for 24 h. These results indicate that RCH not only protects against non-freezing injury but also increases freeze tolerance.

Acclimatization↗

Direct and correlated responses to artificial selection on acute thermal stress tolerance in a livebearing fish.

Tradeoffs in performance or fitness across environments have important implications regarding the nature of evolutionary constraints. It remains controversial whether tradeoffs such as these reflect genetic correlations that are genuine evolutionary constraints. However, if such long-term genetic constraints do exist, they must be due to underlying pleiotropy such that alleles that confer high performance in one environment invariably confer low performance in another. The distribution of genetic correlations within and among populations can provide insight about the existence of such pleiotropic tradeoffs. The long-term association of certain teleost fish taxa with particular abiotic environments suggests that tradeoffs in performance across environments have constrained the geographic distribution of those taxa. Here we report the results of an experiment in which we artificially selected on acute heat- and cold-stress tolerance in two stocks of the poeciliid fish Heterandria formosa from source populations with different thermal histories. Unexpectedly, we observed no direct responses to selection. Under certain conditions, fish from the different source populations differed significantly in cold tolerance, but not in heat tolerance. The results suggest there are no strong pleiotropic tradeoffs between heat- and cold-stress tolerance in these populations.

Animals↗

Abscisic acid-induced freezing tolerance in the moss Physcomitrella patens is accompanied by increased expression of stress-related genes.

Abscisic acid (ABA)-induced genes are implicated in the development of freezing tolerance during cold acclimation in higher plants, but their roles in lower land plants have not been determined. We examined ABA- and cold-induced changes in freezing tolerance and gene expression in the moss Physcomitrella patens. Slow equilibrium freezing to -4 degrees C of P. patens protonemata grown under normal growth conditions killed more than 90% of the cells, indicating that the protonema cells are freezing-sensitive. ABA treatment for 24 h dramatically increased the freezing tolerance of the protonemata, while cold treatment only slightly increased the freezing tolerance within the same period. We examined the expressions of fourteen Physcomitrella patens ABA-responsive genes (PPARs), isolated from ABA-treated protonemata. ABA treatment resulted in a remarkable increase in the expression of all the PPAR genes within 24 h. Several of the PPAR genes (PPAR 1 to 8, and 14) were also responsive to cold, but the response was much slower than that to ABA. Treatment with hyperosmotic concentrations of NaCl and mannitol increased freezing tolerance of protonemata and also increased the expression levels of eleven PPAR genes (PPAR2, 3, 5 to 8, and 10 to 14). These results suggest that ABA and environmental stresses positively affect the expression of common genes that participate in protection of protonema cells leading to the development of freezing tolerance.

Abscisic Acid↗

Expression profiling of reciprocal maize hybrids divergent for cold germination and desiccation tolerance.

Recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from B73 x M017 were screened for cold germination (CG) and desiccation tolerance (DT) phenotypes. Reciprocal F(1) hybrids were made between divergent RILs, and hybrids that showed differential phenotypes (parent-of-origin effect) for CG or DT were selected for profiling mRNA and protein expression. mRNA and proteins were extracted from embryo axes of seed germinated for 11 d at 12.5 degrees C in the dark and developing embryos at 40% seed moisture (R5 stage) for CG and DT, respectively. GeneCalling analysis, an open-ended mRNA profiling method, identified 336 of 32,496 and 656 of 32,940 cDNA fragments that showed >or=1.5-fold change in expression between the reciprocal F(1) hybrids for CG and DT, respectively. Protein expression map (PEM) analysis, an open-ended two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, identified 117 of 2,641 and 205 of 1,876 detected proteins to be differentially expressed with >or=1.5-fold change between the reciprocal F(1) hybrids in CG and DT samples, respectively. A subset of these proteins was identified by tandem mass spectrometry followed by database query of the spectra. The differentially expressed genes/proteins were classified into various functional groups including carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism, ion transporters, stress and defense response, polyamine metabolism, chaperonins, cytoskeleton associated, etc. Phenotypic analysis of seed from self-pollinated ears of the reciprocal F(1) hybrids displayed small differences compared with the reciprocal hybrids themselves, suggesting a negligible effect of cytoplasmic factors on CG and DT traits. The results provide leads to improving our understanding of the genes involved in stress response during seed maturation and germination.

Acclimatization↗

Induction of Freezing Tolerance in Spinach during Cold Acclimation.

Spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) seedlings, grown in soil or on an agar medium in vitro, became cold acclimated when exposed to a constant 5 degrees C. Plants subjected to cold acclimation, beginning 1 week postgermination, attained freezing tolerance levels similar to that achieved by seedlings that were cold acclimated beginning 3 weeks after sowing. Seedlings at 1 week of age had only cotyledonary leaves, while 3-week-old seedlings had developed true leaves. Plants grown in vitro were able to increase in freezing tolerance, but were slightly less hardy than soil-grown plants. These results suggest that spinach, a cool-season crop that begins growth in early spring when subzero temperatures are likely, can undergo cold acclimation at the earliest stages of development following germination. Axenic seedlings, grown in vitro, were used to develop a noninjurious radiolabeling technique. Leaf proteins were radiolabeled to specific activities of 10(5) counts per minute per microgram at 25 degrees C or 5 x 10(4) counts per minute per microgram at 5 degrees C over a 24 hour period. The ability to radiolabel leaf proteins of in vitro grown plants to high specific activities at low temperature, without injury or microbial contamination, will facilitate studies of cold acclimation.

Journal Article↗

Employment of stressful conditions during culture production to enhance subsequent cold- and acid-tolerance of bifidobacteria.

AIMS: This study examined whether exposure of early stationary phase Bifidobacterium longum and B. lactis cells to various combinations of reduced temperature, reduced pH and starvation would enhance the cells' subsequent cold- and/or acid-tolerance. METHODS AND RESULTS: Survival of B. longum in growth medium at 6 degrees C significantly (P < 0.05) increased as a result of starving cells for 30 or 60 min without any simultaneous decrease in temperature or pH. Acid-tolerance of B. lactis (at pH 3.5 in synthetic gastric fluid) increased significantly when the growth medium pH was decreased from 6.0 to 5.2 and cells experienced 30 or 60 min of starvation. Enhanced B. lactis acid-tolerance persisted through 8-11 weeks of -80 degrees C storage in the pH 5.2 growth medium. Upon addition to milk during yogurt manufacture, these cells initially had enhanced acid-tolerance relative to untreated cells but untreated cells became equally acid-tolerant during the first 2.5 h of yogurt manufacture. CONCLUSIONS: The cold- and acid-tolerance of bifidobacteria vary widely, but may be significantly increased by application of sub-lethal stress to early stationary phase cells during culture production. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The enhancement of B. lactis acid-tolerance observed in this study may be of potential importance in the production of effective ready-to-consume probiotic dietary supplements.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

Acute tryptophan depletion blocks morphine analgesia in the cold-pressor test in humans.

The effects of depletion of the serotonin precursor, L-tryptophan, on the threshold and tolerance to cold pressor pain, and the analgesic effect of morphine (10 mg intramuscularly), were tested in a double blind trial on human volunteers. Effects on mood were also assessed using the Profile of Mood States and the Addiction Research Center Inventory (ARCI) Scales. To deplete tryptophan, subjects were fed a tryptophan-deficient amino acid mixture 4.5 h before morphine was administered. Controls received the mixture with tryptophan, which is equivalent to a nutritionally balanced protein. The tryptophan-deficient meal reduced plasma tryptophan more than 70% but had no effect on threshold or tolerance to cold pressor pain. After morphine, tolerance to cold pressor pain increased in controls. Tryptophan depletion abolished this analgesic effect. Pain threshold was not altered by morphine. In subjects with normal tryptophan, the analgesic effect of morphine was predicted by the level of plasma morphine-6-glucuronide, but not by the level of morphine. Morphine increased scores on the LSD scale of the ARCI, but had no effect on other measures of mood. Tryptophan depletion also failed to alter mood in these subjects, who had unusually low depression scores before tryptophan depletion.

Adolescent↗