Objective/Background: Cancer is one of the leading causes death in world. Therefore, there an urgent need to develop new drugs for fighting this disease. Recent studies have reported that antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) can be used as anticancer drugs. Methods: We discovered brevinin-1EG, a novel peptide from Pelophylax nigromaculatus, using gene cloning techniques. Brevinin-1EG was then investig...

Lead (Pb), an environmental pollutant, has been widely reported to have contaminated mammals, including humans and birds. This study focuses on the effects of Pb pollution avian influenza virus (AIV) antibody production. A total 170 black-headed gulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) were captured in Tokyo Bay (TBP) from January 2019 April 2020 Mikawa (MBP) November 2021. The weighed, subjected blo...

The Early Pleistocene site of Pietrafitta (central Italy) produced a rich vertebrate assemblage from the Late Villafranchian Land Mammal Age (late MN18). Geological and paleobotanical data indicate lacustrine environment, surrounded by humid deciduous broadleaved forest with temperate climate. consists at least 40 taxa including actinopterygians, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals. Here, we c...

Avian eggshells are convenient samples in biomonitoring studies, because they are easily accessible, especially from colonially or semicolonially breeding birds. In the present study, concentrations of 17 elements, including heavy metals and essential elements in post-hatch eggshells, were compared among three species of waterbirds of differing strategies for gaining reserves for egg production...

The structural-function hypothesis provides an alternative to signalling-based predictions to explain the remarkable diversity observed in avian eggshell colour. According to the hypothesis, protoporphyrin, the common pigment of visible speckles, lubricates and thus strengthens the shell and simultaneously moderates gas transfer across it. Correlational evidence for the structural-function hypo...