N-acetylserotonin, the immediate precursor of melatonin in the tryptophan metabolic pathway in the pineal gland, has been reported to be an antioxidant. The aim of this work was to test the effect of N-acetylserotonin in stabilizing biological membranes against oxidative stress. Hepatic microsomal membranes from male adult rats were incubated with N-acetylserotonin (0.001-3 mM) before inducing ...

The functional properties of lipid-rich assemblies such as serum lipoproteins, cell membranes, and intracellular lipid droplets are modulated by the fluidity of the hydrocarbon chain environment. Existing methods for monitoring hydrocarbon chain fluidity include fluorescence, electron spin resonance, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy; each possesses advantages and limitations. H...

Novel cationic liposomes, termed "archaeosomes", based on mixtures of neutral/cationic bilayer-forming lipids and archaeobacterial synthetic tetraether-type bipolar lipids show efficient in vitro gene transfection properties and represent a new approach for modulating the lipidic membrane fluidity of the complexes they form with DNA.

Actor-network theory is a way of describing and understanding the complexity of social change. This article explores its relevance to understanding teacher change in mathematics education by considering a single teacher change narrative. This is centred on a veteran teacher of mathematics who participated in a teacher led, teacher-educator-supported professional development project. The project...

Reforms which increase the stock of education in a society have long been held by policy-makers as key to improving rates of intergenerational social mobility. Yet, despite the intuitive plausibility of this idea, the empirical evidence in support of an effect of educational expansion on social fluidity is both indirect and weak. In this paper we use the raising of the minimum school leaving ag...

The effects of O33 and O49 P. mirabilis lipopolysaccharides (LPSs) on human erythrocyte membrane properties were examined. Physical parameters of the plasma membrane, such as membrane lipid fluidity, physical state of membrane proteins, and osmotic fragility, were determined. The fluidity of the lipids was estimated using three spin-labeled stearic acids of doxyl derivatives: 5-doxylstearic aci...

In this article, we first analyze the process of the fluidity control of short-term national debt and think that the short-term national debt market with certain scale can reduce the impact of fluidity to commercial banks, then compare three tools usually used in open market operations, i.e. middle and long term national debt, central bank bill and short-term national debt and the results show ...

Given the primacy of reproduction, same-sex sexual behavior poses an evolutionary puzzle. Why would selection fashion motivational mechanisms to engage in sexual behaviors with members of the same sex? We propose the alloparenting hypothesis, which posits that sexual fluidity in women is a contingent adaptation that increased ancestral women's ability to form pair bonds with female alloparents ...