A field study of emotions,dominance, and social behavior in a group of baboons (Papio anubis)

This study involved the testing of a new rating instrument designed to measure emotional behavior, and the examination of the correlations between dominance and certain classes of emotional behavior. The sample population was a troop of 7 olive baboons. The rating scale was found to be very effective. Wide individual differences in scores on the 8 dimensions of the scale were detected. Also, there was high interjudge reliability indicating that independent observers can agree on the temperamental characteristics of primates. Mean time being groomed, a duration/frequency ratio, more fully reflects the dominance relationship between two animals than any other single index. Mean time being groomed was found to correlate significantly with the dimensionsprotection, deprivation, rejection anddestruction. More dominant animals showed less sociability and more aggression than the submissive animals, who showed a great deal of both sociability and fearfulness.     

Differences between monkey visual cortex cells in triplet and ghost doublet informational symbols relationships

On the basis of the recent discovery that precisely replicating triplets of impulses present in All-Interval histograms of spike trains generated by visual cortex cells of Rhesus monkeys are surrounded by multiple copies of ghost doublets of such triplets, we have examined and compared in detail, the spike trains generated by four complex cells in the striate cortex of curarized monkeys with respect to: (1) The number of precisely replicating triplet patterns embedded in trains of discharges generated in response to specific Hubel-Wiesel stimulation; (2) The effect of time separating the occurrence of such replicating triplets on the number and time distribution of their ghost doublets; (3) The effect of decreasing the precision criterion for the detection of replicating (parent) triplets (from the standard 0.14 ms criterion to 0.5 ms) on the relationships between triplets and their ghosts and (4) The comparison of the distributions in time of ghost doublets around the first and second copies of triplets when the time intervals separating them were greater than or less than 0.5 s. We found that the precision of replication of triplets varies somewhat from one cell to another, and that ghosts doublets are more copiously associated with replicating triplets emitted near in time to each other than with triplets emitted after larger time intervals, except in the case of one cell. In order to assess the statistical significance of our findings, we systematically shuffled the order of occurrence of intervals in every burst of all the records of one of the studied cells and repeated the analysis. Both the number of replicating triplets and of associated ghost doublets is significantly depressed (but not totally obliterated) by the above shuffling procedure. Finally, further implications based on a model of neural information transmission in the form of temporal correlations between spikes are discussed.     

Circadian variation of insensible perspiration in man

Body weight loss was measured continuously for 24 hours in lightly clothed subjects at a room temperature of 26°C and relative humidity of 60% using the bed scale (model 33B, James Addison Potter). One male, aged 38 years and four females, aged 22 years served as subjects. Skin temperatures of the chest, thigh, leg and arm were measured every ten min. and mean skin temperature was calculated. Water loss through the skin was estimated by deducting body weight loss due to respiratory gas exchange and respiratory water loss from total weight loss. Respiratory water loss was estimated by using the formula (44-P_a) where _e is the rate of evaporative water loss in the expired air (g/min), the oxygen uptake (L/min STPD) and P_a is the ambient water vapor pressure. Insensible water loss through skin was found to be significantly lower between 2:00–5:00 h than in the daytime. These findings contradict the results that the value of insensible water loss was higher at night than during the day.     

Lead exposure in Saudi Arabia and its relationship to smoking

Lead was determined in whole blood samples obtained from 202 Saudi male volunteers. The influence of smoking on lead exposure was investigated. Blood lead was significantly higher in current smokers than in non-smokers and previous smokers (P< 0.05). The distribution of blood lead data in the screened subjects suggested the eixstence of two mixed populations and a cut-off of 12 g dl ^–1 was found where the two populations separate. Of the exposed population, 80% with blood lead concentrations above 12 g dl^–1 were smokers.     

Reversal time distribution in the perception of visual ambiguous stimuli

Reversal of perspective for ambiguous optical stimuli (Necker cube, Schröder staircase, honeycomb) has been studied, determining the statistical distribution of time intervals spent on each percept. The experimental distributions can be fitted with the gamma function, characterized by two parameters n, b. The two parameters are not independent, showing a correlatiomn = 0.74.Subsequent intervals appear to be largely independent; from the beta distribution for the fraction of time spent on a given percept, one can show that the subjects differ only in regard to the variance of this variable.     

Role of taurine supplementation to prevent exercise-induced oxidative stress in healthy young men

Summary. To evaluate the protective effects of taurine supplementation on exercise-induced oxidative stress and exercise performance, eleven men aged 18–20 years were selected to participate in two identical bicycle ergometer exercises until exhaustion. Single cell gel assay (SCG assay) was used to study DNA damage in white blood cells (WBC). Pre-supplementation of taurine, a significant negative correlation was found between plasma taurine concentration before exercise and plasma thiobaribituric-acid reactive substance (TBARS) 6hr after exercise (r=–0.642, p<0.05). WBC showed a significant increase in DNA strand breakage 6hr and 24hr after exercise. Seven-day taurine supplementation reduced serum TBARS before exercise (p<0.05) and resulted in a significantly reduced DNA migration 24hr after exercise (p<0.01). Significant increases were also found in VO₂max, exercise time to exhaustion and maximal workload in test with taurine supplementation (p<0.05). After supplementation, the change in taurine concentration showed positive correlations with the changes in exercise time to exhaustion and maximal workload. The results suggest that taurine may attenuate exercise-induced DNA damage and enhance the capacity of exercise due to its cellular protective properties.     

Spectral analysis on low frequency fluctuation in respiratory rhythm in the decerebrate cat

Spectral analysis was performed on the fluctuation in respiratory intervals in vagotomized, paralyzed, and unanesthetized decerebrate cats. The respiratory interval was measured as the time interval between the onset of phrenic neural activity. When endtidal P_{Co 2} was set at the same level as that before immobilization, the power spectral densities of the fluctuation in respiratory intervals were found to be inversely proportional to the frequency in the low frequency range of 0.001–0.1 Hz. All the tested animals showed this type of fluctuation (1/f fluctuation). In contrast, such characteristic 1/f fluctuation disappeared when the end-tidal P_{Co 2} was raised to 50 or 60 mmHg. The spectral profile was almost flat in the frequency range of 0.001–0.1 Hz, i.e. similar to that of white noise. This study demonstrated that the respiratory rhythm evaluated by phrenic neural discharges exhibited 1/f fluctuation and that the spectral characteristic of the fluctuation in respiratory intervals varied depending on the end-tidal P_{Co 2}.     

The influence of exercise/rest schedule on the physiological and psychophysical response to isometric shoulder-neck exercise

Six female subjects, aged 24-34 years, performed shoulder-neck exercise for 1 h or until they were exhausted by holding out their arms horizontally at 60° to the sagittal plane. One continuous and six intermittent protocols were applied, all with a mean load corresponding to the torque of the arms, i.e. about 15% maximal voluntary contraction (MVC). The intermittent protocols varied according to cycle time (10 s, 60 s, 360 s) and duty cycle (0.33, 0.50, 0.67, 0.83). Electromyogram (EMG), mean arterial blood pressure ( _a), heart rate (f _c) and perceived fatigue were monitored at regular intervals during exercise. Blood concentrations of potassium, lactate and ammonia were determined in pre- and postexercise samples of venous blood. Before and up to 4 h after exercise, measurements were made of MVC, pressure pain threshold, proprioceptive performance, and of EMG, _a and f _c during 1-min arm-holding at 25% MVC. Endurance times ranged from about 10 min to more than 1 h, significantly relating to both cycle time and duty cycle. The _a, f _c EMG amplitude and perceived fatigue increased early during all protocols and continued to increase throughout the exercise period. Duty cycle influenced all of these variables, while only _a and fatigue perception were related to cycle time. Cardiovascular and neuromuscular recovery was incomplete for hours after several of the protocols, as indicated for example by a sensitizised response to the 1-min armholding. The protocols differed substantially as regards the relationship between different responses. Thus, ranking of the protocols in terms of physiological strain was different, depending on the criterion variable. The result stresses the relevance of applying a comprehensive selection of variables when evaluating the responses to intermittent shoulder-neck exercise.     

Association between the melanopsin gene polymorphism OPN4*Ile394Thr and sleep/wake timing in Japanese university students

Background

In our previous studies, we found that the Ile394Thr SNP in the melanopsin gene (OPN4) was functionally associated with the pupillary light reflex. This indicates the possibility that OPN4*Ile394Thr is associated with other non-image forming responses. The aim of this study was therefore to determine whether OPN4*Ile394Thr is associated with sleep/wake timing.

Methods

A total of 348 healthy Japanese university students participated in this study. Scalp hair was used to genotype the Ile394Thr SNP of OPN4. Sleep habits, including bedtime, wake time and sleep duration, were assessed separately for weekdays and weekends. A total of 328 samples, including 223 samples with TT genotype, 91 with TC genotype and 14 with CC genotype, were used for statistical analysis. No significant difference in age or male/female distribution was found among the three genotype groups.

Results

There was no significant difference in circadian preference among the genotype groups. During weekdays, bedtime, wake time and midpoint of sleep for CC subjects were significantly later than those for TT and TC subjects. However, there was no difference between TT and TC subjects in any of their sleep habits. During weekends, bedtime of CC subjects was significantly later than those of TT and TC subjects, and the midpoint of sleep of CC subjects was significantly later than that of TC subjects.

Conclusions

Our findings demonstrated that OPN4*Ile394Thr is associated with sleep/wake timing. We also found that the sleep/wake timing of subjects with the CC genotype was later than that of subjects with the TT or TC genotype.     

A New Method for Self-Regulation of Slow Cortical Potentials in a Timed Paradigm

A new method of slow cortical potential (SCP) biofeedback is described, in which subjects were presented with a sequence of two alternating tones. Subjects learned to adjust their SCPs with the 4-s rhythm of presented tones by producing directed SCP changes only in certain inter-tone intervals. Specifically, they learned to simultaneously produce two EEG signals: 1) positive or negative SCP shift at vertex, and 2) SCP asymmetry between the right and the left central area. After one training session, 13 healthy participants were able to differentiate significantly between the negativity and the positivity conditions; this differentiation was achieved within less than 300 ms after the discriminative signal, i.e. much faster than in previous studies employing traditional SCP biofeedback technique. However, these participants did not produce a significant hemispheric asymmetry in the first session. In the second experiment, five subjects participated in prolonged training (6 to 17 sessions). Highly significant control of SCP asymmetry over the precentral cortex was attained in four out of five participants. Advantages and disadvantages of the new method as compared with the classical SCP biofeedback technique are discussed.     

Stroke volume response to progressive exercise in athletes engaged in different types of training

Using the impedance cardiography method, heart rate ( _c) matched changes on indexed stroke volume (SI) and cardiac output (CI) were compared in subjects engaged in different types of training. The subjects consisted of untrained controls (C), volleyball players (VB) who spent about half of their training time (360 min · week^–1) doing anaerobic conditioning exercises and who had a maximal oxygen uptake ( ) 41% higher than the controls, and distance runners (D) who spent all their training time (366 min·week^–1) doing aerobic conditioning exercises and who had a 26% higher than VB. The subjects performed progressive submaximal cycle ergometer exercise (10 W·min^–1) up to _c of 150 beats·min^–1. In group C, SI had increased significantly (P<0.05) at _c of 90 beats·min^–1 ( + 32%) and maintained this difference up to 110 beats·min^–1, only to return to resting values on reaching 130 beats·min^–1 with no further changes. In group VB, SI peaked (+ 54%) at _c of 110 beats·min^–1, reaching a value significantly higher than that of group C, but decreased progressively to 22010 of the resting value on reaching 150 beats·min^–1. In group D, SI peaked at _c of 130 beats·min^–1 (+ 54%), reaching a value significantly higher than that of group VB, and showed no significant reduction with respect to this peak value on reaching 150 beats·min^–1. As a consequence, the mean CI increase per _c unit was progressively higher in VB than in C (+46%) and in D than in VB (+ 105%). It was concluded that thef _c value at which SI ceased to increase during incremental exercise was closely related to the endurance component in the training programme.     

Effects of personality traits on the manifestations of irritable bowel syndrome

Objective

Previous studies have reported that patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) show high neuroticism. However, the precise association between the IBS subtypes and the degree of neuroticism in younger populations is largely unknown. We tested our hypothesis that subjects with diarrhea-predominant IBS may have a higher degree of neuroticism than subjects without IBS or those with other subtypes of IBS. We also verified the additional hypothesis that the severity of neuroticism might be correlated with the severity of IBS in younger populations.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 557 university students, ranging in age from 18 to 21 years. Presence/ absence of IBS and determination of the IBS subtype was by the Rome II Modular Questionnaire, while the severity of IBS was determined by the IBS severity index (IBS-SI). The degree of neuroticism was evaluated using the Maudsely Personality Inventory (MPI). The presence/absence of psychological distress was measured with the K6 scale.

Results

Neuroticism scores in the subjects with diarrhea-predominant IBS were significantly higher than those in the non-IBS subjects or subjects with constipation-predominant IBS. The neuroticism scores were significantly correlated with the IBS-SI scores in all subjects with IBS.

Conclusion

These results suggest that neuroticism is involved in the pathophysiology of IBS in young subjects, especially in that of the diarrhea-predominant subtype.

     

Impact of symptoms by gender and age in Japanese subjects with irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C): a large population-based internet survey

Background

Irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C) is a representative psychosomatic disorder. Several pathophysiological factors have been linked to IBS symptoms such as the modulation of gastrointestinal motility, visceral hypersensitivity, dysregulation of the gut-brain axis, genetic and environmental factors, sequelae of infection, and psychosocial disorders. It is likely that biopsychosocial aspects of IBS-C underlie its gender and age effects. However, the influence of each symptom of IBS-C by gender and age is not well understood. We hypothesized that the expression rate of each IBS-C symptom in females and in subjects aged 20–49 years was higher than that of subjects who were male and aged 50–79 years.

Methods

We conducted an internet survey of 30,000 adults from the general Japanese population. IBS-C subjects were asked to answer a questionnaire on the degree of anxiety, thoughts about bowel habits, and their dominant gastrointestinal symptoms together with exacerbation factors. The correlation between gender and age and IBS-C symptoms was analyzed.

Results

When analyzed by gender, the expression rate of abdominal discomfort, abdominal distention, and abdominal fullness was significantly higher in female than male IBS-C subjects (66.5% vs. 58.7%, p?<?0.05; 54.7% vs. 43.6%, p?<?0.01; 18.9% vs. 9.6%, p?<?0.01, respectively). When analyzed by age, the expression rate of abdominal distention and abdominal pain was significantly higher among IBS-C subjects aged 20–49 years than those aged 50–79 years (55.7% vs. 46.8%, p?<?0.05; 36.6% vs. 20.6%, p?<?0.001, respectively). In contrast, there was no gender or age differences with regard to the most common and bothersome symptom (abdominal bloating) among IBS-C subjects.

Conclusions

The expression rate of some IBS-C symptoms was higher among females and those aged 20–49 years than males and those aged 50–79 years, respectively. It is important to understand the impact of symptoms by gender and age to evaluate the pathology of IBS-C from a biopsychosocial perspective.

Trial registration

Although this survey was an anonymous internet survey, we obtained informed consent for the study as an online response. The disclosure of this study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine (approval number: 2015–1-405).

     

A new 2D-based method for myocardial velocity strain and strain rate quantification in a normal adult and paediatric population: assessment of reference values

Background

Cardiac time intervals have been described as a measure of cardiac performance, where prolongation, shortening and delay of the different time intervals have been evaluated as markers of cardiac dysfunction. A relatively recently developed method with improved ability to measure cardiac events is Tissue Doppler Imaging (TDI), allowing accurate measurement of myocardial movements.

Methods

We propose the state diagram of the heart as a new visualization tool for cardiac time intervals, presenting comparative, normalized data of systolic and diastolic performance, providing a more complete overview of cardiac function. This study aimed to test the feasibility of the state diagram method by presenting examples demonstrating its potential use in the clinical setting and by performing a clinical study, which included a comparison of the state diagram method with established echocardiography methods (E/E' ratio, LVEF and WMSI). The population in the clinical study consisted of seven patients with non ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) and seven control subjects, individually matched according to age and gender. The state diagram of the heart was generated from TDI curves from seven positions in the myocardium, visualizing the inter- and intraventricular function of the heart by displaying the cardiac phases.

Results

The clinical examples demonstrated that the state diagram allows for an intuitive visualization of pathological patterns as ischemia and dyssynchrony. Further, significant differences in percentage duration between the control group and the NSTEMI group were found in eight of the totally twenty phases (10 phases for each ventricle), e.g. in the transition phases (Pre-Ejection and Post-Ejection). These phases were significantly longer (> 2.18%) for the NSTEMI group than for the control group (p < 0.05). No significant differences between the groups were found for the established echocardiography methods.

Conclusion

The test results clearly indicate that the state diagram has potential to be an efficient tool for visualization of cardiac dysfunction and for detection of NSTEMI.     

Behavioral response to familiar and unfamiliar neighbors in a territorial cichlid, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Neolamprologus pulcher</Emphasis>

Some territorial species have been shown to react more aggressively toward unfamiliar conspecifics than established neighbors, a behavior referred to as the dear enemy phenomenon. Laboratory experiments were conducted to determine whether males of a territorial African cichlid, Neolamprologus pulcher, can discriminate between size-matched familiar and unfamiliar male neighbors and whether they respond more aggressively toward unfamiliar males. It was found that males spent significantly more time near the territorial boundary that they shared with unfamiliar neighbors and directed significantly more aggressive behavior toward these individuals.     

Salinity-temperature tolerance of two closely related triclad species,Dugesia lugubris and D. polychroa (Turbellaria), in relation to their distribution in The Netherlands

The tolerance of adult specimens of Dugesia lugubris and D. polychroa for 13 different chlorinities ranging from 15.0–3.8 and for two temperatures, viz. 4 and 23 °C, was tested.At chlorinities of 7.5 and lower, the survival time of both species was considerably longer than at higher chlorinities (a few hours at 7.5, one to several days at 6.6 and lower concentrations). It is assumed that this is determined by the osmoregulatory capacity of the planarians.It was found that at low chlorinities combined with a high temperature D. polychroa survived longer than D. lugubris, while at the same chlorinities the opposite was true for a low temperature. The effect of temperature on survival at low chlorinities was more drastic for D. lugubris than for D. polychroa.The results correlate with data on the distribution of both species in The Netherlands. Outside areas with an average chlorinity below 2 the two species were rarely found.     

Sleep fragmentation in mentally retarded people decreases with increasing daylength in spring

We studied the sleep–wake behavior of mentally retarded people from late winter to early summer at 60°N. During this time the daylength increased 8 h 51 min. The data were collected by observing the sleep–wake status of 293 subjects at 20-min intervals for five randomized 24h periods (=recording days). The intervals during which the individual recording days of the same order (1st, 2nd, etc.) were carried out, were called recording periods. Consequently, there were five recording periods, each containing 293 individual recording days. Even though there was overlap among the recording periods, the median daylength from one period to another increased approximately by 100 min. In the initial statistical analysis, the number of wake–sleep transitions was found to differ significantly among the five recording periods (Friedman test, p<0.001). The mean ranks in the Friedman test suggested that the number of wake–sleep transitions was highest during the 1st and lowest during the 5th recording period. In further statistical analyses using a program for mixed effects regression analysis (mixor 2.0) it was found that the increase in daylength during the study period was associated with a simultaneous decrease of approximately 0.5 wake–sleep transitions in the whole study population (p<0.001). The decrease in the number of wake–sleep transitions was significant only in the subgroups of subjects with a daylength change of more than 350 min between the 1st and 5th recording days (Wilcoxon tests, p<0.005). This suggests that after a marked prolongation of the natural photoperiod, the reduction in sleep episodes was more probable than after smaller changes in daylength. It is concluded that the sleep of mentally retarded people living in a rehabilitation center at a northern latitude is more fragmented in winter than in early summer and that the change is related probably to the simultaneous increase in the length of the natural photoperiod. The sleep quality of persons living in institutional settings might be improved by increasing the intensity and/or duration of daily artificial light exposure during the darker seasons.     

Davydov Soliton Dynamics in Proteins: II. The General Case

We performed long time simulations using the |D₁> approximation for the solution of the Davydov Hamiltonian. In addition we computed expectation values of the relevant operators with the state (_D/J)|D₁> and the deviation |> from the exact solution over long times, namely 10 ns. We found that in the very long time scale the |D₁> ansatz is very close to an exact solution, showing expectation values of the relevant physical observables in the state (_D/J)|D₁> being about 5-6 orders of magnitudes larger than in the deviation state |>. In the intermediate time scale of the ps range such errors, as known from our previous work, are somewhat larger, but still more or less negligibly. Thus we also report results from an investigation of the very short time (in the range 0-0.4 ps) behaviour of the |D₁> state compared with that of an expansion of the exact solution in powers of time t. This expansion is reliable for about 0.12 ps for special cases as shown in the previous paper. However, the accuracy of the exactly known value of the norm and the expectation value of the Hamiltonian finally indicates up to what time a given expansion is valid, as also shown in the preceding paper. The comparison of the expectation values of the operators representing the relevant physical observables, formed with the third order wave function and with the corresponding results of |D₁> simulations has shown, that our expansion is valid up to a time of roughly 0.10-0.15 ps. Within this time the second and third order corrections turned out to be not very important. This is due to the fact that our first order state contains already some terms of the expansion, summed up to inifinite order. Further we found good agreement of the results obtained with our expansion and those from the corresponding |D₁> simulations within the time of about 0.10 ps. At later times, the factors with explicit powers of t in second and third order become dominant, making the expansion meaningless. Possibilities for the use of such expansions for larger times are described. Alltogether we have shown (together with previous work on medium times), that the |D₁> state, although of approximative nature, is very close to an exact solution of the Davydov model on time scales from some femtoseconds up to nanoseconds. Especially the very small time region is of importance, because in this time a possible soliton formation from the initial excitation would start.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Sarcocystis</Emphasis> sp. in red foxes (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Vulpes vulpes</Emphasis>) from northern Croatia

The prevalence of Sarcocystis sp. was assessed in foxes from northern Croatia (city of Varadin). The intestine of 50 (29 male and 21 female) foxes aged 1–5 years, killed during the rabies control campaign, were examined. Sarcocystis sp. was identified in 62% of the fox intestinal samples examined. There was no sex difference in the rate of invasion. However, the rate of invasion differed significantly between the animals aged 1 year (47%), and those aged 2 (71%) and 3–5 years (71%).     

Fractal modeling of human isochronous serial interval production

The Hurst exponent (H) was estimated for series of 256 time intervals produced by human participants, collected in 5 sessions performed on different days. Each series was obtained during the continuation phase following synchronization with 25 isochronous intervals generated by a computer and presented through headphones. Dispersional analysis yielded estimates of H > 0.5. These were sufficiently stable to yield statistically significant differences between participants and between each target interval duration (0.5, 0.8, 1.1, and 1.5s). The results indicate that variability in isochronous serial interval production (ISIP) can be modeled as fractional Gaussian noise, which corroborates and qualifies previous research indicating positive serial dependency or long memory in ISIP data in terms of drift and 1/f noise characteristics. It is concluded that ISIP is a more complex process than is assumed by influential timing models and theories, and that realistic modeling of human timing must account for nonlinear variability patterns.Abbreviations Bm Brownian motion - f frequency - fGn fractional Gaussian noise - H Hurst exponent - ISIP isochronous serial interval production - IOI inter onset interval