Considerable evidence links depression with the development and worsening of diabetes, but the factors contributing to this link have not been established. The authors examined the role of adherence, body mass index (BMI), and self-efficacy. Adult patients with Type 2 diabetes (N = 56) completed self-report measures of diet and exercise adherence, diet and exercise self-efficacy, and depression. BMI was obtained from medical records. Path and mediation analyses indicated that both adherence and BMI independently contributed to self-efficacy. Self-efficacy mediated both the association between adherence and depression and the association between BMI and depression. These findings are consistent with the proposal that lower self-efficacy in reaction to adherence failure and higher BMI contributes to depression in adults with diabetes.

Results provide evidence consistent with two independent pathways by which BMI and adherence could increase depression in people with Type 2 diabetes. The first pathway indicates that the effects of higher BMI and poor adherence on depression are mediated by lower self-efficacy perceptions. The second pathway indicates that the effect of higher BMI on depression is mediated by increased diabetes symptoms.

Our study revisits the role of cardiac mitochondrial adjustments during the progression of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), while considering age and sex as potential confounding factors. We used the Nile Grass rats (NRs) as the animal model. After weaning, animals were fed either a Standard Rodent Chow Diet (SRCD group) or a Mazuri Chinchilla Diet (MCD group) consisting of high-fiber and low-fat content. Both males and females in the SRCD group, exhibited increased body mass, body mass index, and plasma insulin compared to the MCD group animals. However, the females were able to preserve their fasting blood glucose throughout the age range on both diets, while the males showed significant hyperglycemia starting at 6 months in the SRCD group. In the males, a higher citrate synthase activity-a marker of mitochondrial content-was measured at 2 months in the SRCD compared to the MCD group, and this was followed by a decline with age in the SRCD group only. In contrast, females preserved their mitochondrial content throughout the age range. In the males exclusively, the complex IV capacity expressed independently of mitochondrial content varied with age in a diet-specific pattern; the capacity was elevated at 2 months in the SRCD group, and at 6 months in the MCD group. In addition, females, but not males, were able to adjust their capacity to oxidize long-chain fatty acid in accordance with the fat content of the diet. Our results show clear sexual dimorphism in the variation of mitochondrial content and oxidative phosphorylation capacity with diet and age. The SRCD not only leads to T2DM but also exacerbates age-related cardiac mitochondrial defects. These observations, specific to male NRs, might reflect deleterious dietary-induced changes on their metabolism making them more prone to the cardiovascular consequences of aging and T2DM.

As the world's climate changes, life faces an evolving thermal environment. Mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) is critical to ensure sufficient cellular energy production, and it is strongly influenced by temperature. The thermally induced changes to the regulation of specific steps within the OXPHOS process are poorly understood. In our study, we used the eurythermal species of planarian Dugesia tigrina to study the thermal sensitivity of the OXPHOS process at 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30°C. We conducted cold acclimation experiments where we measured the adjustment of specific steps in OXPHOS at two assay temperatures (10 and 20°C) following 4 weeks of acclimation under normal (22°C) or low (5°C) temperature conditions. At the low temperature, the contribution of the NADH pathway to the maximal OXPHOS capacity, in a combined pathway (NADH and succinate), was reduced. There was partial compensation by an increased contribution of the succinate pathway. As the temperature decreased, OXPHOS became more limited by the capacity of the phosphorylation system. Acclimation to the low temperature resulted in positive adjustments of the NADH pathway capacity due, at least in part, to an increase in complex I activity. The acclimation also resulted in a better match between OXPHOS and phosphorylation system capacities. Both of these adjustments following acclimation were specific to the low assay temperature. We conclude that there is substantial plasticity in the mitochondrial OXPHOS process following thermal acclimation in D. tigrina, and this probably contributes to the wide thermal range of the species.

Background: The processes of destruction and crosslinking of macromolecules occur simultaneously under the influence of ultraviolet (UV) radiation in synthetic polymers, dry DNA and their concentrated solutions. Objective: The effect of UV radiation on calf thymus DNA in dilute solutions subjected to UV- irradiation was studied in this work. Method: The calf thymus DNA was studied in dilute solutions using viscometry, absorption spectroscopy and electrophoresis. Results: It was shown, that at a low concentration of DNA in the buffer solution ([DNA] = 85 μg / ml) under the influence of UV radiation, the processes of destruction of macromolecules and an increase in their flexibility predominate, which is accompanied by a gradual decrease in the viscosity of their solution. In addition, due to the low concentration of the solution, intramolecular crosslinking of macromolecules predominates, which also reduces their size and, consequently, the viscosity of the solution. Conclusion: It was concluded, that in dilute DNA solutions, due to the predominance of the processes of intramolecular crosslinking of macromolecules over intermolecular, only constant processes of decreasing the sizes of DNA macromolecules occur. As a result, its solubility remains virtually unchanged during UV irradiation. The described comments are also excellently confirmed by the results of absorption spectroscopy and electrophoresis