There is no single agreed definition of the term drylands. Two of the most widely accepted definitions are those of FAO and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD, 2000). FAO has defined drylands as those areas with a length of growing period (LGP) of 1–179 days (FAO, 2000a); this includes regions classified climatically as arid (Plate 1), semi-arid and dry subhumid. The...

FoxO3a is a member of the forkhead box class O (FoxO) transcription factor family and an important regulator of apoptosis. This work aimed to elucidate the involvement of FoxO3a in transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1)-induced apoptosis in FaO rat hepatoma cells. TGF-beta1 caused a time-dependent activation of FoxO3a and a subsequent increase in FoxO response-element-containing luciferas...

Insulin receptors of Fao hepatoma cells were labelled with a 125I-labelled photoreactive insulin analogue or by surface iodination catalysed by lactoperoxidase. Cells were then incubated at 37 degrees C, and the cellular localization of the labelled receptors was assessed by limited exposure of intact cells to trypsin. The results show that: (1) photolabelled insulin-receptor complexes are inte...

Global hunger is on the rise (FAO, 2009). The number of those that are undernourished has increased steadily over the past decade reaching 1.02 billion people in 2009 (FAO, 2009), and remaining near this total over the past two years. The Millennium Development Goal to reduce world hunger by half by 2015 will likely not be met with current observed trends according to a recent UN report on food...

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is linked with development and maintenance of cancer, and serves as a therapeutic target for treatment of cancer. Verrucarin A, isolated from the broth of Fusarium sp. F060190, showed potential inhibitory activity on tunicamycin-induced ER stress in FaO rat liver cells. In addition, the compound decreased tunicamycin-induced GRP78 promoter activity in a dose de...

The purpose of this study was to test the reliability of various standards that assess the quality of proteins via the “aminoacid score” and serve as a nutritional guideline for both children and adults. The height of young men in 42 European countries, Australia, New Zealand and USA was compared with the average consumption of food (after FAOSTAT, 2009) and a subsequent statistical analysis id...

Differentiation of T cells is closely associated with dynamic changes in nutrient and energy metabolism. However, the extent to which specific metabolic pathways and molecular components are determinative of CD8+ T cell fate remains unclear. It has been previously established in various tissues that acetyl CoA carboxylase 2 (ACC2) regulates fatty acid oxidation (FAO) by inhibiting carnitine pal...

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the value of different methods of making meaning in music therapy improvisations. Six research participants met with the researcher and created solo and duo improvisations. Each improvisation was subjected to four methods of meaning-making: participant journals, researcher journals, dialogues, and musical analysis using the Improvisation Asse...

How can dangerous interference with the climate system be avoided? Science can help decision-makers answer this political question. Earlier publications have focused on the probability of keeping global mean temperature change below certain thresholds by stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations at particular levels. We compare the results of such ‘‘stabilization profiles’’ with a set of ‘‘peak...

This is a descriptive, quantitative, and hypotheses testing study conducted on entrepreneurial and professional CEOs. This study has a particular interest in small medium enterprises (SMEs) because it constitutes the core of our economy and is a major factor of social composition. The purpose of present study is to investigate and explore differences on the motivational profile of Pakistani ent...