• Title/Summary/Keyword: LIZARD

Search Result 40, Processing Time 0.028 seconds

A Comparison of Shortening and Shortening Speed in Sartorius, Gastrocnemius and Rectus Abdominis Muscles of Uromastix hardwickii

  • Fehmeena, S.;Azeem, M. Abdul
    • The Korean Journal of Physiology
    • /
    • v.28 no.1
    • /
    • pp.61-70
    • /
    • 1994
  • A new method is used to record the actual shortening produced during the auxotonic activity of the sartorius (SAR), gastrocnemius (CAS) and rectus abdominis (RAB) muscles of a lizard Uromastix. The auxotonic twitch and tetanus records thus obtained were used for the first time to calculate the coefficient of linear shortening (COLS). This coefficient represent the relative Index between change in length $(\Delta\;L=L_0-L_1)$ and tension $({\Delta}P\;P_0-P_1)$ due to shortening at the steepest rising phase of the twitch and tetanus, recorded at resting length. In addition to this, maximum shortening $(S_{max})$ and auxotonic tensions were also determined at resting lengths of these muscles. The COLS was found to express the speed of shortening and auxotonic tensions are suggested to be of value to express the internal architecture of SAR, GAS & RAB muscles. The results are discussed in terms of contractile and elastic elements of the muscles alongwith the importance of shortening at resting lengths in skeletal muscles.

  • PDF

Mating behavior of the Mongolian racerunner (Eremias argus; Lacertidae, Reptilia)

  • Kim, Bin-Na;Kim, Ja-Kyeong;Park, Dae-Sik
    • Animal cells and systems
    • /
    • v.16 no.4
    • /
    • pp.337-342
    • /
    • 2012
  • Information about the mating behaviors of an endangered species is critical for the understanding of the natural history of the species as well as in situ and ex situ breeding programs designed to rehabilitate field populations. We describe the mating behaviors of the Mongolian racerunner (Eremias argus), an endangered species in South Korea. The mating of this species consists of precopulatory, copulatory, and postcopulatory stages and is composed of 12 different mating behaviors. During the postcopulatory stage, other males or females not involved in mating show more interference behaviors than during the precopulatory and copulatory stages. The male E. argus has an extraordinarily long postcopulatory bite, which may function as a type of mate-guarding behavior. This study is the first report on the mating behavior of a South Korean reptile.

A Study of the Personal Ornaments and Make-up of Maroccan (모로코인(人)의 장신구(裝身具)와 화장(化粧)에 관(關)한 연구(硏究))

  • Lee, Soon-Hong
    • Journal of Fashion Business
    • /
    • v.5 no.2
    • /
    • pp.15-34
    • /
    • 2001
  • Ornaments are accessories for the decoration of the body or dress. They aren't unavoidably required one, but serve to make one's dress perfect as decorative industrial art objects. In Morocco, ornaments were initially used as a sign of social position or the class or an incantatory symbol. In effect, they were originally employed to adjust one's dress, not just for decoration, and they were of use for household economy. Gold, silver and handcraft available for exchange were a means of increasing one's property and an indication of social standing and wealth. In particular, the dress and jewelry of a bride was a measure of her family's wealth, regarded as a symbol of her chastity and value. The ornaments symbolically back up people's faith in supernatural power, and their real value is based on implicit form or way of decoration, not the external shape. Specifically, there is a tendency to use the form of animal as a protector, not one to frighten people. In the artistic tradition of Morocco, fish pattern stands for water and rain, and eagle and bird are considered to be related to fate. Scorpion and lizard are depicted as an inquirer of sun, and snake is a symbol of abundance and sexual instinct, being viewed to have an ability to cure disease. Turtle pattern is a symbol of saint because it protects one from the evil. The ornaments are made of gold, silver, amber, clam, garnet, glass, nielle, enamel, glaze, coral or tree, and symbolic patterns are used, including hand(a symbol of five numerals), turtle, lizard, scorpion, eye, triangle, bird and eggs. They are very big and diverse, being categorized into ornaments for the head or the chest, neckless, fibula, earring, bracelet and ring. For Moroccans, make-up is a sort of instinctive behavior to meet aesthetic and sexual desire. They also wear make-up for practical purpose of protection, intentionally inflict a wound on the skin for ceremonial or religious purpose, paint the skin with pigment, or have the part of the body tattooed for incantatory purpose. All this actions are regarded as make-up. The raw material of cosmetics is aker, a vegetable dye. They get the lips or cheeks turn red and paint eyebrows with yellow saffran powder to have a bad devil lose its strength. Tattooing is mainly done by women and viewed as a sign of their value or social organization they belong to. Sometimes that is used to represent a woman's being old enough to marry or getting married already or the frequency of marriage. Besides, tattoo is believed to prevent or remedy loose bowels or cough, depending on its location or pattern, and they often change tattoo according to the change of beauty art.

  • PDF

Preference and Competition for Shelters at Day and Night between Adult and Juvenile Schlegel's Japanese Gecko (Gekko japonicus) in an Indoor Vivarium (실내 사육장에서 도마뱀부치(Gekkojaponicus) 성체와 유체의 주야간 은신처 선호와 경쟁)

  • Park, Il-Kook;Kim, Dae-In;Jang, Se-Yoon;Kim, Do-Yeon;Choi, Woo-Jin;Kim, Jong-Sun;Koo, Kyo-Soung;Park, Daesik
    • Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
    • /
    • v.32 no.4
    • /
    • pp.373-380
    • /
    • 2018
  • We examined activities of adult (n=9, 3 females and 6 males) and juvenile (n=4) Schlegel's Japanese gecko (Gekko japonicus) in an indoor vivarium for 47 days to study the preference and competition for shelters at day and night. The result showed the strong correlation between the temperature inside the shelter and the body temperature of Schlegel's Japanese gecko and more individuals observed outside the shelters at nighttime than daytime. Both adults and juveniles showed a preference for certain shelters. The adults preferred the warmer shelters in the daytime while the juveniles preferred the same shelter in both daytime and nighttime. Both adults and juveniles observed outside the shelter at the nighttime had higher body temperature than those found inside. In the daytime, the body temperature of adults was higher than that of juveniles, but there was no significant difference in the nighttime. The results imply that G. japonicus, which is the nocturnal lizard, prefers the shelters with higher temperature and that there is the competition for shelters between adults and juveniles. This study provides the reference data on the relationships between the body temperature and the activities of G. japonicus.

Induction of insulin receptor substrate-2 expression by Fc fusion to exendin-4 overexpressed in E. coli: a potential long-acting glucagon-like peptide-1 mimetic

  • Kim, Jae-Woo;Kim, Kyu-Tae;Ahn, You-Jin;Jeong, Hee-Jeong;Jeong, Hyeong-Yong;Ryu, Seung-Hyup;Lee, Seung-Yeon;Lee, Chang-Woo;Chung, Hye-Shin;Jang, Sei-Heon
    • BMB Reports
    • /
    • v.43 no.2
    • /
    • pp.146-149
    • /
    • 2010
  • Exendin-4 (Ex-4), a peptide secreted from the salivary glands of the Gila monster lizard, can increase pancreatic $\beta$-cell growth and insulin secretion by activating glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor. In this study, we expressed a fusion protein consisting of exendin-4 and the human immunoglobulin heavy chain (Ex-4/IgG-Fc) in E. coli and explored its potential therapeutic use for the treatment of insulin-resistant type 2 diabetes. Here, we show that the Ex-4/IgG-Fc fusion protein induces expression of insulin receptor substrate-2 in rat insulinoma INS-1 cells. Our findings therefore suggest that Ex-4/IgG-Fc overexpressed in E. coli could be used as a potential, long-acting glucagon-like peptide-1 mimetic.

Physical characteristics and age structure of Mongolian racerunner (Eremias argus; Larcertidae; Reptilia)

  • Kim, Ja-Kyoung;Song, Jae-Young;Lee, Jung-Hyun;Park, Dae-Sik
    • Journal of Ecology and Environment
    • /
    • v.33 no.4
    • /
    • pp.325-331
    • /
    • 2010
  • In this study, we have evaluated the physical characteristics of neonate, female, and male Mongolian racerunners (Eremias argus) and determined the age structure of a population of the species in a field located in Taean-gun, Chungnam, South Korea. The physical parameters of females and males, including snout-vent length (SVL), head length, head width, and body mass were found to be significantly interrelated. Male Mongolian racerunners exhibited significantly longer heads than the females, but other physical parameters, such as SVL, head width, and body mass did not differ between the female and male specimens. In the study population, the females ranged in age from two to eleven years old and the males ranged between two to eight years of age. The number of females and males, when separated into different age classes, did not differ within each age class. Male Mongolian racerunners evidenced greater SVL growth coefficients than the females, but asymptotic SVL did not differ between the females and males.

Robust Optimal Design of Tail Geometry for Stable Water-running Robots (수면 주행 로봇의 안정성 향상을 위한 정적 꼬리 기구변수 최적화)

  • Lee, DongGyu;Jang, JaeHyung;Seo, TaeWon
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
    • /
    • v.25 no.2
    • /
    • pp.132-137
    • /
    • 2016
  • Biomimetics involves the design of robotic platforms inspired from living creatures to achieve efficient operation under environmental conditions. A development within biomimetics involves investigating the function of a tail and applying it to robot design. This study aims to define the function of a static tail for water-running robots, and optimize its geometric and compliance parameters. The rolling angle of the tail is determined by the objective function, while the area and fillet ratio are used for geometric design and compliance parameters in the rolling and yawing directions. Repeated motion of the water-running robot's footpads at frequencies of 9 and 10 Hz is used as the operating condition. Robust design based on the Taguchi methodology is performed via orthogonal arrays. The optimized tail design derived in this study will be implemented in a robotic platform to improve steering and balancing functions in the pitching direction.

Development of a Bio-mimetic Entertainment Robot with Autonomous Feeding Functionality

  • Cho, Ik-Jin;Choi, Byoung-Jun;Jeong, Kil-Woong;Lee, Yun-Jung
    • 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
    • /
    • 2004.08a
    • /
    • pp.1525-1529
    • /
    • 2004
  • Most of the recently developed robots are human friendly robots which imitate an animal or human such as entertainment robot, bio-mimetic robot and humanoid robot. Interest in these robots are increasing since the social trend is focused on health, welfare, and graying. By these social backgrounds, robots become more human friendly and suitable for home or personal environment. The more bio-mimetic robots resemble living creature, the more human feels familiarity. People feel close friendship not only when they feed a pet, but also when they watch a pet having the food. Most of entertainment robots and pet robots use internal-type batteries and have a self-recharging function. Entertainment robots and pet robots with internal-type batteries are not able to operate during charging the battery. So far there have been a few robots that do not depend on a battery. However, they need a bulky energy conversion unit and a slug or foods as an energy source, which is not suitable for home or personal application. In this paper, we introduce a new bio-mimetic entertainment robot with autonomous feeding functionality, called ELIRO-1(Eating LIzard RObot version 1). The ELIRO-1 is able to find a food (a small battery), feed by itself and evacuate. We describe the design concept of the autonomous feeding mechanism of the ELIRO-1, characteristics of sub-parts of the manufactured mechanism and the control system.

  • PDF

Intraspecific Diversity of Korean Takydromus wolteri(Reptilia: Squamata) Based on Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) Analysis (RAPD를 이용한 한국산 줄장지뱀(Reptilia: Squamata)의 종내 다양성에 관한 연구)

  • 장민호;송재영;정규회
    • Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
    • /
    • v.22 no.2
    • /
    • pp.295-299
    • /
    • 2004
  • The lacertid lizard Takydromus wolteri widely distributed in South Korea, but intraspecific diversity of this species was not almost studied. T. wolteri represented by 8 specimens collected from 5 localities were analyzed by the Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) method with 28 random decamer primers and the phenogram constructed by using the Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean (UPGMA) method based on RAPD data. The populations of T. wolteri using in this paper were collected from Gyeonggi-do, Chungcheongbuk-do, Jeju-do, Jeollanam-do and Gyeongsangnam -do in South Korea. Among 68 different bands detected in RAPD analysis, 59 bands (87%) showed polymorphism. The phenogram showed that the populations of T. wolteri were grouped into two. These results suggest that T. wolteri were supported intraspecific diversity.

Identification of Lactoferrin as a Human Dedifferentiation Factor Through the Studies of Reptile Tissue Regeneration Mechanisms

  • Bae, Kil Soo;Kim, Sun Young;Park, Soon Yong;Jeong, Ae Jin;Lee, Hyun Hee;Lee, Jungwoon;Cho, Yee Sook;Leem, Sun-Hee;Kang, Tae-Hong;Bae, Kwang-Hee;Kim, Jae Ho;Jung, Yong Woo;Jun, Woojin;Yoon, Suk Ran;Lee, Sang-Chul;Chung, Jin Woong
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
    • /
    • v.24 no.6
    • /
    • pp.869-878
    • /
    • 2014
  • In this study, we performed two-dimensional electrophoresis with protein extracts from lizard tails, and analyzed the protein expression profiles during the tissue regeneration to identify the dedifferentiation factor. As a result, we identified 18 protein spots among total of 292 spots, of which proteins were specifically expressed during blastema formation. We selected lactoferrin as a candidate because it is the mammalian homolog of leech-derived tryptase inhibitor, which showed the highest frequency among the 18 proteins. Lactoferrin was specifically expressed in various stem cell lines, and enhanced the efficiency of iPSC generation upto approximately 7-fold relative to the control. Furthermore, lactoferrin increased the efficiency by 2-fold without enforced expression of Klf4. These results suggest that lactoferrin may induce dedifferentiation, at least partly by increasing the expression of Klf4.