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Body temperature, oxygen consumption, respiratory and cardiac activity and body mass loss were measured in six females and four males of the subterranean Zambian mole rat Cryptomys sp. (karyotype 2 n = 68), at ambient temperatures between 10 and 35 degrees C. Mean body temperature ranged between 36.1 and 33.2 degrees C at ambient temperatures of 32.5-10 degrees C and was lower in females (32.7 degrees C) than in males (33.9 degrees C) at ambient temperatures of 10 degrees C but did not differ at thermoneutrality (32.5 degrees C). Except for body temperature, mean values of all other parameters were lowest at thermoneutrality. Mean basal oxygen consumption of 0.76 ml O2.g-1.h-1 was significantly lower than expected according to allometric equations and was different in the two sexes (females: 0.82 ml O2.g-1.h-1, males: 0.68 ml O2.g1.h-1) but was not correlated with body mass within the sexes. Basal respiratory rate of 74.min-1 (females: 66.min1, males: 87.min-1) and basal heart rate of 200.min-1 (females: 190.min-1, males: 216.min-1) were almost 30% lower than predicted, and the calculated thermal conductance of 0.144 ml O2.g-1.h1.degrees C-1 (females: 0.153 ml O2.g-1.h-1.degrees C-1, males: 0.131 ml O2.g-1.h-1.degrees C-1) was significantly higher than expected. The body mass loss in resting mole rats of 8.6-14.1%.day-1 was high and in percentages higher in females than in males. Oxygen consumption and body mass loss as well as respiratory and cardiac activity increased at higher and lower than thermoneutral temperatures. The regulatory increase in O2 demand below thermoneutrality was mainly saturated by increasing tidal volume but at ambient temperatures < or = 15 degrees C, the additional oxygen consumption was regulated by increasing frequency with slightly decreasing tidal volume. Likewise, the additional blood transport capacity was mainly effected by an increasing stroke volume while there was only a slight increase of heart frequency. In an additional field study, temperatures and humidity in different burrow systems have been determined and compared to environmental conditions above ground. Constant temperatures in the nest area 70 cm below ground between 26 and 28 degrees C facilitate low resting metabolic rates, and high relative humidity minimizes evaporative water loss but both cause thermoregulatory problems such as overheating while digging. In 13-16 cm deep foraging tunnels, temperature fluctuations were higher following the above ground fluctuations with a time lag.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

BackgroundElderly subjects are at risk of insufficient vitamin D status mainly because of diminished capacity for cutaneous vitamin D synthesis. In cases of insufficient endogenous production, vitamin D status depends on vitamin D intake.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study is to identify the main food sources of vitamin D in elderly subjects and to analyse whether contributing food sources differ by sex, age, vitamin D status, body mass index (BMI), or household income. In addition, we analysed the factors that influence dietary vitamin D intake in the elderly.Design and subjectsThis is a cross-sectional study in 235 independently living German elderly aged 66–96 years (BMI=27±4 kg/m2). Vitamin D intake was assessed by a 3-day estimated dietary record.ResultsThe main sources of dietary vitamin D were fish/fish products followed by eggs, fats/oils, bread/bakery products, and milk/dairy products. Differences in contributing food groups by sex, age, vitamin D status, and BMI were not found. Fish contributed more to vitamin D intake in subjects with a household income of <1,500 €/month compared to subjects with higher income. In multiple regression analysis, fat intake and frequency of fish consumption were positive determinants of dietary vitamin D intake, whereas household income and percentage total body fat negatively affected vitamin D intake. Other parameters, including age, sex, physical activity, smoking, intake of energy, milk, eggs and alcohol, showed no significant association with vitamin D intake.ConclusionLow habitual dietary vitamin D intake does not affect vitamin D status in summer, and fish is the major contributor to vitamin D intake independent of sex, age, vitamin D status, BMI, and the income of subjects.

Adenylosuccinate lyase deficiency is an autosomal recessive defect of purine metabolism. Succinyladenosine (S-Ado) and succinylaminoimidazole carboxamide riboside (SAICAr) are the disease marker metabolites in physiological fluids. The Bratton-Marshall test for detection of SAICAr in urine has been added to the selective screening for inborn errors of metabolism that is carried out in our lab. During the last three years, around 2,000 patients have been screened by this method, resulting in the detection of four new cases with this disease. They all presented with severe psychomotor delay, hypotonia and refractory epilepsy since the neonatal period. The S-Ado/SAICAr ratio in cerebrospinal fluid was below 2, indicating that they correspond to the most severe form of the disease. New missense mutations were found in a heterozygous fashion in three patients. The study of purines in all patients with neurological disease of unknown etiology is highly recommended.

A method has been developed to test the hypothesis that the deep tissues of the legs, e.g., skeletal muscle and/or periosteum, contain thermosensitive elements feeding signals into the temperature-regulating system. Stainless steel thermodes of 10 to 12-mm diameter and 100 to 150-mm length were chronically implanted into the marrow spaces of both humeri and femora, all of which have wide cavities and thin walls. Perfusing the thermodes with water of 0 degree C altered the temperature of the deep muscle layers by several degrees. The animals were further equipped with intravascular heat exchangers, which served to keep general body temperature constant during periods of leg cooling. Eighty experiments were performed in a hot and dry environment. During the middle period of each experiment the legs were cooled by perfusing the thermodes with water of 0 degree C. This caused respiratory evaporative heat loss to decrease by 0.15-0.20 W/kg. The small but significant response occurred at constant general body temperature and is therefore indicative of a local effect of the cooling on deep thermosensitive elements in the legs themselves and a neural afferent transmission of temperature signals into the temperature-regulating system.

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In 82 experiments on 10 goats body core temperature (Tcore) was altered between 35 degrees and 42 degrees C by external heat exchangers acting on blood temperature while skin temperature (Tskin) was maintained constant, by a circulating shower bath, at different levels between 32 degrees and 44 degrees C. At all skin temperatures at least fourfold increases of heat production (M) and respiratory evaporative heat loss (REHL) occurred when Tcore was lowered or raised, respectively. The lower Tskin was, the higher were the thresholds of Tcore, at which M or REHL exceeded resting levels. The lower Tskin was, the higher were the slopes, at which M or REHL changed per unit of Tcore. At a given Tskin, the slopes decreased with increasing M or REHL, and were dependent on the range of Tcore. The higher the range of Tcore, the steeper changed M and REHL with changing Tcore, if all other variables were held constant. The results support the concept that an exponential relationship between Tcore and the rate of core temperature signals is the primary cause of the effects exerted by Tskin on the slopes, at which M or REHL change per unit of Tcore.