• Development and Reproduction
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.207-215
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• 2009

Numerous factors can affect the activities of hypothalamus-pituitary-gonad (HPG) hormonal axis, resulting in alteration of reproductive capacity or status such as onset of puberty and menopause. Soon after the finding of leptin, a multifunctional hormone secreted from adipocytes, a close relationship between reproduction and body energy balance have been manifested. Ghrelin, another multifunctional hormone from gastrointestinal tract, is an endogenous ligand of growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR), and is thought to be a counterpart of leptin in the regulation of energy homeostasis. As expected, ghrelin can also modulate the reproductive capacity through the modulation of activities of HPG axis. This paper summarizes the current knowledge on the discovery, gene structures, tissue distribution and roles of ghrelin and GHSRs in mammalian reproduction in particular modulation of reproductive hormone secretion in HPG axis. Like POMC gene expression in pituitary gland, preproghrelin gene can generate a complex repertoire of transcripts which further undergo alternative splicing and posttranslational modifications. Concerning the roles of preproghrelin gene products in the control of body physiology except energy homeostasis, limited knowledge is available so far. Several lines of evidence, however, show the interplay of ghrelin between metabolism and reproduction. In rat and human, the distribution of ghrelin receptor GHSRs (GHSR1a and GHSR1b) has been confirmed not only in the hypothalamus and pituitary which were originally postulated as target of ghrelin but also in the testis and ovary. Expression of the preproghrelin gene in the brain and gonads was also verified, suggesting the local role (s) of ghrelin in HPG axis. Ghrelin might play a negative modulator in the secretions of hypothalamic GnRH, pituitary gonadotropins and gonadal steroids though the action on pituitary is still questionable. Recent studies suggest the involvement of ghrelin in regulation of puberty onset and possibly of menopause entry. It is now evident that ghrelin is a crucial hormomal component in 'brain-gut' axis, and is a strong candidate links between metabolism and reproduction. Opposite to that for leptin, ghrelin signaling is likely representing the 'hunger' state of body energy balance and is necessary to avoid the energy investment into reproduction which has not a top priority in maintaining homeostasis. Further researches are needed to gain a deep insight into the more precise action mechanism and role of ghrelin in reproduction, and to guarantee the successful biomedical applications.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.61-66
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• 1989

Plants were exposed to different sub-optimal growth temperature regimes for hardening or sprayed with abscisic acid (ABA) before being placed at $10^{\circ}C$ for three days. Comparisons were made with non-treated plants for plant survival, photosynthetic activities and fatty acids composition of phospholipids. The level of endogenous ABA of the hardened seedlings was compared with that in control and ABA sprayed-seedlings. The results of the above experiment were summarized as follows: 1. Compared to non-treated plants, the hardening and ABA treatment resulted in higher plant survival rate and better seedling growth following earlier transplanting. The low temperature hardening which gradually increased the duration of the low temperature treatment at 2-day intervals was more effective than the controled temperature hardening which gradually decreased the temperature from $25^{\circ}C$ to $20^{\circ}C$ and $15^{\circ}C$. 2. The photosynthetic activities of rice leaves after 3-day exposure to $10^{\circ}C$ were higher in hardened and ABA sprayed seedlings than in non-treated plants. The root activities after low temperature treatment were also higher in hardened and ABA sprayed seedlings than in control. 3. Fatty acids of phospholipids in rice plants such as stearic acid and oleic acid were decreased and the highly unsaturated fatty acids, linoleic acid and lenolenic acid were increased by hardening or ABA treatments. It is assumed that the increase of cold tolerance in these plants was due to the higher ratio of unsaturated to saturated fatty acids. Respectively, the ratio was 1.86, 1.97 and 1.80 in plants given controled temperature hardening, the low temperature hardening and ABA treatments. While in control plants, it was 1.17. 4. ABA content in rice seedling given the low temperature hardening treatment was 67.2 ng/g F.W which was approximately twice that of non-treated control, which was 33.9 ng/f F. W., in contrast, the ABA content of the ABA treated seedlings was 91.7 ng/g F. W.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.41-63
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• 2017

FDI can either be absorbed in the production cycle with domestic investment and create an inducement effect or it can remain as an exogenous factor and increase the volatility of GDP. The purpose of this paper is to research these different impacts that FDI could have. For that, the endogenous growth theory was employed. The statistic method used are the panel model for sectoral analysis, and GARCH model and VAR for time series analysis. Myanmar was selected as this paper's research subject because it is one of countries which had a colossal amount of FDI inflow recently. The panel analysis did not confirm the causality between sectoral FDI and sectoral GDP. The reason for this could be in the lack of data, since sectoral data exists yearly only during 2006-2016. Therefore this study conducted the times series analysis. According to the results, during 2006 until 2010, it showed signs of GARCH but the effect of FDI on GDP was nonexistent, which means FDI was not integrated into the domestic production cycle but stayed in residual terms. During 2011 to 2016, FDI seemed to affect the growth of Myanmar's GDP. The estimation confirmed the existence of GARCH and the Granzer causality test confirmed that FDI influenced the GARCH, which signified FDI increased the volatility of GDP. The VAR analysis showed responses of GDP to FDI was small(about 0.0007). This research assumes that FDI can be divided in two parts: one part which can be assimilated in the domestic production cycle and the other where it stays outside of the production cycle. The former creates production inducement effect and the latter only increases the volatility of GDP. According to this study, the latter outweighs the former impact in Myanmar.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.129-135
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• 1981

Low phenylalanine diet(0.05%) was given to the Sprague Dawley pregnant rats at the 14 days of gestation and continued until the pups were lactated for 11 days. Body weight, plasma phenylalanine and tyrosine, brain weight, and brain phenylalanine and tyrosine were determined on pups randomly sacrificed at several intervals. Body weight of pups on normal diet (0. 36% phenylalanine) gained rapidly while the pups on the phenylalanine deficient diet decreased and did not survive during the period of 11 days. Brain weight of the pups on the phenylalanine deficient diet was significantly lower(P < 0.05) than the normal pups. Phenylalanine deficient diet did not affect the level of plasma phenylalanine of pups, but it seems that there was a positive correlation between the level of phenylalanine in the diet and the plasma tyrosine level. The plasma tyrosine level of pups on the deficient diet was decreased significantly during the Period while the pups on the normal diet increased steadily. Phenylalanine and tyrosine level in the brain was lower in Pups on the deficient diet than the pups on normal diet but the plasma phenylalanine level was not significantly different in both diets. However, plasma tyrosine level was significantly lower in the pups on the deficient diet than the normal diet at the end of the period.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.57-65
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• 1997

As jet lag of modern travel continues to spread, there has been an exponential growth in popular explanations of jet lag and recommendations for curing it. Some of this attention are misdirected, and many of those suggested solutions are misinformed. The author reviewed the basic science of jet lag and its practical outcome. The jet lag symptoms stemed from several factors, including high-altitude flying, lag effect, and sleep loss before departure and on the aircraft, especially during night flight. Jet lag has three major components; including external de synchronization, internal desynchronization, and sleep loss. Although external de synchronization is the major culprit, it is not at all uncommon for travelers to experience difficulty falling asleep or remaining asleep because of gastrointestinal distress, uncooperative bladders, or nagging headaches. Such unwanted intrusions most likely to reflect the general influence of internal desynchronization. From the free-running subjects, the data has revealed that sleep tendency, sleepiness, the spontaneous duration of sleep, and REM sleep propensity, each varied markedly with the endogenous circadian phase of the temperature cycle, despite the facts that the average period of the sleep-wake cycle is different from that of the temperature cycle under these conditions. However, whereas the first ocurrence of slow wave sleep is usually associated with a fall in temperature, the amount of SWS is determined primarily by the length of prior wakefulness and not by circadian phase. Another factor to be considered for flight in either direction is the amount of prior sleep loss or time awake. An increase in sleep loss or time awake would be expected to reduce initial sleep latency and enhance the amount of SWS. By combining what we now know about the circadian characteristics of sleep and homeostatic process, many of the diverse findings about sleep after transmeridian flight can be explained. The severity of jet lag is directly related to two major variables that determine the reaction of the circadian system to any transmeridian flight, eg., the direction of flight, and the number of time zones crossed. Remaining factor is individual differences in resynchmization. After a long flight, the circadian timing system and homeostatic process can combine with each other to produce a considerable reduction in well-being. The author suggested that by being exposed to local zeit-gebers and by being awake sufficient to get sleep until the night, sleep improves rapidly with resynchronization following time zone change.