Sounds Scary? Lack of Habituation following the Presentation of Novel Sounds

Background

Animals typically show less habituation to biologically meaningful sounds than to novel signals. We might therefore expect that acoustic deterrents should be based on natural sounds.

Methodology

We investigated responses by western grey kangaroos (Macropus fulignosus) towards playback of natural sounds (alarm foot stomps and Australian raven (Corvus coronoides) calls) and artificial sounds (faux snake hiss and bull whip crack). We then increased rate of presentation to examine whether animals would habituate. Finally, we varied frequency of playback to investigate optimal rates of delivery.

Principal Findings

Nine behaviors clustered into five Principal Components. PC factors 1 and 2 (animals alert or looking, or hopping and moving out of area) accounted for 36% of variance. PC factor 3 (eating cessation, taking flight, movement out of area) accounted for 13% of variance. Factors 4 and 5 (relaxing, grooming and walking; 12 and 11% of variation, respectively) discontinued upon playback. The whip crack was most evocative; eating was reduced from 75% of time spent prior to playback to 6% following playback (post alarm stomp: 32%, raven call: 49%, hiss: 75%). Additionally, 24% of individuals took flight and moved out of area (50 m radius) in response to the whip crack (foot stomp: 0%, raven call: 8% and 4%, hiss: 6%). Increasing rate of presentation (12x/min ×2 min) caused 71% of animals to move out of the area.

Conclusions/Significance

The bull whip crack, an artificial sound, was as effective as the alarm stomp at eliciting aversive behaviors. Kangaroos did not fully habituate despite hearing the signal up to 20x/min. Highest rates of playback did not elicit the greatest responses, suggesting that ‘more is not always better’. Ultimately, by utilizing both artificial and biological sounds, predictability may be masked or offset, so that habituation is delayed and more effective deterrents may be produced.     

Safety of the production process of SURFACEN® to inactivate and remove virus

SURFACEN^® is a biological product produced from pig lungs. Since these animals can be potential sources of microbial pathogens such as viruses, the manufacturing process of this product should guarantee safety from health hazards. The SURFACEN^® production procedure is capable of effective viral clearance (inactivation/removal) by involving two stages of organic solvent extraction followed by acetone precipitation and heat treatment. In this study, we evaluated the clearance capacity of these four stages for a wide range of viruses by performing spiking experiments. Residual contamination was assessed using a Tissue Culture Infectious Dose assay (log₁₀ TCID₅₀). The validation study demonstrated that, for all viruses tested, the TCID₅₀ titers were reduced by more than 2 log₁₀ in each stage. Total log reduction values achieved were between ≥17.82 log₁₀ and ≥27.93 log₁₀, depending on the virus physical properties, titer, and the number of processing stages applied. Results indicated that the production procedure of SURFACEN^® can inactivate or remove contaminant viruses from the raw material.     

On governance in the long-term vegetation process: How to discover the rules?

Ecological practice is telling us that to identify Nature’s rules, we should look for regularities in the resulting effects. Hidden rules are involved and the effects are manifested by compositional, functional, and structural transitions. This paper’s focus is on two conjectures regarding the governance of specific transition components, the first supposedly under global co-ordination, and the second under superimposed site specific instability oscillations. The reality of any apparent regularity in these is the sole condition for the regularity’s acceptance as a rule. Reality is testable but in retrospect only, based on time series analyses. Since long pollen spectra supply the evidence, the time period involved is measured in thousands of years. For maximal usefulness, a spectrum should have a long period length, dated horizons intensely sampled at short time steps, and precisely identified taxa. Period length and time step width matter because both may have a masking effect on the regularities. There is, of course, a natural limit for period length, which is set by the age of the pollen bearing sediments. We completed the analysis of 23 spectra using techniques deemed suitable for testing the conjectures. The spectra originated from sites in the Americas where we found suitable spectra in sufficient numbers and in geographic contiguity from the Arctic region to the Antarctic. The presented results have clear indications that the two conjectures identify real rules. The main body of the paper narrates the analyses and provides explanations. Informative materials, too voluminous for inclusion in the paper, are made available on the Internet at URL: www.vegetationdynamics.com linking to “Appendices Ta”.     

What may be the markers of the male equivalent of polycystic ovary syndrome?

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), the most common endocrinopathy in women (with a prevalence of 5-10 %), is characterized by hormonal and metabolic imbalance. Complexity of symptoms of close relatives of women with PCOS and genetic autosomal trait initiated a hypothesis about the existence of a male equivalent of PCOS. Premature alopecia was suggested as one of the signs of a male phenotype of this syndrome. The present study investigated a group of 30 men, in which premature hair loss started before 30 years of age. In all patients, their hormonal profile was determined. It was possible to form two subgroups. The first one showed similar hormonal changes as women with PCOS, the other had either no anomalies in steroid spectrum or just only lower level of sexual hormones binding globulin (SHBG). Both subgroups did not differ in either BMI or age. In all men with premature alopecia insulin tolerance test was also carried out and the occurrence of allele 3 INS VNTR was investigated, which is one of the candidate genes for PCOS. The subgroup with hormonal changes resembling those of women with PCOS showed a significantly higher insulin resistance than the group without these changes. About one third of the premature balding men showed the combination of hormonal shifts and higher insulin resistance. This frequency corresponds to the prevalence of PCOS in women. There was no significant difference between the two subgroups in the occurrence of allele 3 INS VNTR.     

Stress and the epigenetic landscape: a link to the pathobiology of human diseases?

Accumulating evidence points to a major role for chronic stress of cell renewal systems in the pathogenesis of important human diseases, including cancer, atherosclerosis and diabetes. Here we discuss emerging evidence that epigenetic abnormalities may make substantial contributions to these stress-induced pathologies. Although the mechanisms remain to be fully elucidated, we suggest that chronic stress can elicit heritable changes in the chromatin landscape that 'lock' cells in abnormal states, which then lead to disease. We emphasize the need to investigate epigenetic states in disease and links to stress and to consider how the knowledge gained through these studies may foster new means of disease prevention and management.     

A process and outcomes evaluation of the international AIDS conference: who attends? Who benefits most?

The objective of the study was to conduct a process and outcomes evaluation of the International AIDS Conference (IAC). Reaction evaluation data are presented from a delegate survey distributed at the 2004 IAC held in Thailand. Input and output data from the Thailand IAC are compared to data from previous IACs to ascertain attendance and reaction trends, which delegates benefit most, and host country effects. Outcomes effectiveness data were collected via a survey and intercept interviews. Data suggest that the host country may significantly affect the number and quality of basic science IAC presentations, who attends, and who benefits most. Intended and executed HIV work-related behavior change was assessed under 9 classifications. Delegates who attended 1 previous IAC were more likely to report behavior changes than attendees who attended more than 1 previous IAC. The conference needs to be continually evaluated to elicit the required data to plan effective future IACs.     

Extended Timed Up & Go test: Is walking forward and returning back to the chair equivalent gait?

The Timed Up & Go test (TUG) is functional test and is a part of routine clinical examinations. The instrumented Timed Up & Go test enables its segmentation to sub-tasks: sit-to-stand, walking forward, turning, walking back, stand-to-sit, and consequently the computation of task-specific parameters and sub-tasks separately. However, there are no data on whether walking forward parameters differ from the walking back parameters. This study tested the differences between walking forward and walking back in the TUG extended to 10 m for 17 spatio-temporal gait parameters. All parameters were obtained from a GAITRite® pressure sensitive walkway (CIR Systems, Inc.). The differences were assessed for healthy controls and Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. None of investigated parameters exhibited a difference between both gait subtasks for healthy subjects group. Five parameters of interest, namely velocity, step length, stride length, stride velocity, and the proportion of the double support phase with respect to gait cycle duration, showed a statistically significant difference between gait for walking forward and walking back in PD patients. Therefore, we recommend a separate assessment for walking forward and walking back rather than averaging both gaits together.     

An avian equivalent of make-up?

We report that a long-distance migrating shorebird, the red knot, makes a complete switch from commonly occurring monoester preen waxes to a much rarer class of higher-molecular-weight diester waxes at the time of take-off to the high arctic breeding grounds. The cold arctic climate would have required a lowering of wax-viscosity, and thus, a shift in the reverse direction. We propose that a sexually selected need for a brilliant plumage has lead to this conter-intuitive temporary shift from monoesters to diester waxes. The difficulty of application of the diester preen waxes under cold conditions would ensure the reliability of the quality-signalling function of this most probably sexually selected trait.     

Is bicarbonate in Photosystem II the equivalent of the glutamate ligand to the iron atom in bacterial reaction centers?

Photosystem II of oxygen-evolving organisms exhibits a bicarbonate-reversible formate effect on electron transfer between the primary and secondary acceptor quinones, QA and QB. This effect is absent in the otherwise similar electron acceptor complex of purple bacteria, e.g., Rhodobacter sphaeroides. This distinction has led to the suggestion that the iron atom of the acceptor quinone complex in PS II might lack the fifth and sixth ligands provided in the bacterial reaction center (RC) by a glutamate residue at position 234 of the M-subunit in Rb. sphaeroides RCs (M232 in Rps. viridis). By site-directed mutagenesis we have altered GluM234 in RCs from Rb. sphaeroides, replacing it with valine, glutamine and glycine to form mutants M234EV, M234EQ and M234EG, respectively. These mutants grew competently under phototrophic conditions and were tested for the formate-bicarbonate effect. In chromatophores there were no detectable differences between wild type (Wt) and mutant M234EV with respect to cytochrome b-561 reduction following a flash, and no effect of bicarbonate depletion (by incubation with formate). In isolated RCs, several electron transfer activities were essentially unchanged in Wt and M234EV, M234EQ and M234EG mutants, and no formate-bicarbonate effect was observed on: (a) the fast or slow phases of recovery of the oxidized primary donor (P+) in the absence of exogenous donor, i.e., the recombination of P+Q-A or P+Q-B, respectively; (b) the kinetics of electron transfer from Q-A to QB; or (c) the flash dependent oscillations of semiquinone formation in the presence of donor to P+ (QB turnover). The absence of a formate-bicarbonate effect in these mutants suggests that GluM234 is not responsible for the absence of the formate-bicarbonate effect in Wt bacterial RCs, or at least that other factors must be taken into account. The mutant RCs were also examined for the fast primary electron transfer along the active (A-)branch of the pigment chain, leading to reduction of QA. The kinetics were resolved to reveal the reduction of the monomer bacteriochlorophyll (tau = 3.5 ps), followed by reduction of the bacteriopheophytin (tau = 0.9 ps). Both steps were essentially unaltered from the wild type. However, the rate of reduction of QA was slowed by a factor of 2 (tau = 410 +/- 30 and 47 +/- 30 ps for M234EQ and M234EV, respectively, compared to 220 ps in the wild type).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

Immuno-spin trapping of protein and DNA radicals: “Tagging” free radicals to locate and understand the redox process

Biomolecule-centered radicals are intermediate species produced during both reversible (redox modulation) and irreversible (oxidative stress) oxidative modification of biomolecules. These oxidative processes must be studied in situ and in real time to understand the molecular mechanism of cell adaptation or death in response to changes in the extracellular environment. In this regard, we have developed and validated immuno-spin trapping to tag the redox process, tracing the oxidatively generated modification of biomolecules, in situ and in real time, by detecting protein- and DNA-centered radicals. The purpose of this methods article is to introduce and update the basic methods and applications of immuno-spin trapping for the study of redox biochemistry in oxidative stress and redox regulation. We describe in detail the production, detection, and location of protein and DNA radicals in biochemical systems, cells, and tissues, and in the whole animal as well, by using immuno-spin trapping with the nitrone spin trap 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline N-oxide.     

Vaccines and the induction of functional antibodies: time to look beyond the molecules of natural infection?

Infection with some pathogens induces weak functional antibody responses that are non-protective, and there has been some skepticism about a role for antibodies in vaccine design. However, newer data show that antibodies can protect against infection with these pathogens, and new methods to elicit production of functional antibodies should be sought.     

Articulations of Islamophobia: from the extreme to the mainstream?

This article will examine the construction and functions of, as well as relationship between, the diverse and changing articulations of Islamophobia. The aim is to contribute to debates about the definition of Islamophobia, which have tended to be contextually specific, fixed and/or polarized between racism and religious prejudice, between extreme and mainstream, state and non-state versions or undifferentiated, and offer a more nuanced framework to: (a) delineate articulations of Islamophobia as opposed to precise types and categories; (b) highlight the porosity in the discourse between extreme articulations widely condemned in the mainstream, and normalized and insidious ones, which the former tend to render more acceptable in comparison; (c) map where these intersect in response to events, historical and political conditions and new ideological forces and imperatives and (d) compare these articulations of Islamophobia in two contexts, France and the US.     

How to identify and quantify the members of the Bacillus genus?

Members of the Bacillus genus are widely distributed throughout natural environments and have been studied for decades among others for their physiology, genetics, ecological functions, and applications. However, despite its prevalence in nature, the characterization and classification of Bacillus remain challenging due to its complex and ever-evolving taxonomic framework. This review addresses the current state of the Bacillus taxonomic landscape and summarizes the critical points in the development of Bacillus phylogeny. With a clear view of Bacillus phylogeny as a foundation, we subsequently review the methodologies applied in identifying and quantifying Bacillus, while also discussing their respective advantages and disadvantages.     

Are categorical periodograms and indicator sequences of genomes spectrally equivalent?

This paper reports a novel symbol-to-signal mapping for DNA sequences, based on the concept of categorical periodograms. A categorical periodogram is a numeric sequence with the n-th element of the sequence indicating the number of occurrences of cycles with period n in it. The period of the cycle is defined as the number of intervening events plus one. Spectral analysis studies have been conducted on Cumulative Categorical Periodogram (CCP) of 10 genes from the data set of Burset and Guigo. It is observed that the spectral signatures in CCP are functionally equivalent to the established N/3 peak in the spectrum of indicator sequences of genomes. Being a single sequence compared to four sequences in the case of indicator sequence representation, the method is claimed to be functionally equivalent, but computationally better for identification of gene coding regions in sequences.