Social Tolerance in Wild Female Crested Macaques (Macaca nigra) in Tangkoko‐Batuangus Nature Reserve,Sulawesi, Indonesia

In primates, females typically drive the evolution of the social system and present a wide diversity of social structures. To understand this diversity, it is necessary to document the consistency and/or flexibility of female social structures across and within species, contexts, and environments. Macaques (Macaca sp.) are an ideal taxon for such comparative study, showing both consistency and variation in their social relations. Their social styles, constituting robust sets of social traits, can be classified in four grades, from despotic to tolerant. However, tolerant species are still understudied, especially in the wild. To foster our understanding of tolerant societies and to assess the validity of the concept of social style, we studied female crested macaques, Macaca nigra, under entirely natural conditions. We assessed their degree of social tolerance by analyzing the frequency, intensity, and distribution of agonistic and affiliative behaviors, their dominance gradient, their bared‐teeth display, and their level of conciliatory tendency. We also analyzed previously undocumented behavioral patterns in grade 4 macaques: reaction upon approach and distribution of affiliative behavior across partners. We compared the observed patterns to data from other populations of grade 4 macaques and from species of other grades. Overall, female crested macaques expressed a tolerant social style, with low intensity, frequently bidirectional, and reconciled conflicts. Dominance asymmetry was moderate, associated with an affiliative bared‐teeth display. Females greatly tolerated one another in close proximity. The observed patterns matched the profile of other tolerant macaques and were outside the range of patterns of more despotic species. This study is the first comprehensive analysis of females’ social behavior in a tolerant macaque species under natural conditions and as such, contributes to a better understanding of macaque societies. It also highlights the relevance of the social style concept in the assessment of the degree of tolerance/despotism in social systems. Am. J. Primatol. 75:361‐375, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Discovery of 5-(arenethynyl) hetero-monocyclic derivatives as potent inhibitors of BCR-ABL including the T315I gatekeeper mutant

Ponatinib (AP24534) was previously identified as a pan-BCR-ABL inhibitor that potently inhibits the T315I gatekeeper mutant, and has advanced into clinical development for the treatment of refractory or resistant CML. In this study, we explored a novel series of five and six membered monocycles as alternate hinge-binding templates to replace the 6,5-fused imidazopyridazine core of ponatinib. Like ponatinib, these monocycles are tethered to pendant toluanilides via an ethynyl linker. Several compounds in this series displayed excellent in vitro potency against both native BCR-ABL and the T315I mutant. Notably, a subset of inhibitors exhibited desirable PK and were orally active in a mouse model of T315I-driven CML.     

Age-Dependent Cell Trafficking Defects in Draining Lymph Nodes Impair Adaptive Immunity and Control of West Nile Virus Infection

Impaired immune responses in the elderly lead to reduced vaccine efficacy and increased susceptibility to viral infections. Although several groups have documented age-dependent defects in adaptive immune priming, the deficits that occur prior to antigen encounter remain largely unexplored. Herein, we identify novel mechanisms for compromised adaptive immunity that occurs with aging in the context of infection with West Nile virus (WNV), an encephalitic flavivirus that preferentially causes disease in the elderly. An impaired IgM and IgG response and enhanced vulnerability to WNV infection during aging was linked to delayed germinal center formation in the draining lymph node (DLN). Adoptive transfer studies and two-photon intravital microscopy revealed a decreased trafficking capacity of donor naïve CD4⁺ T cells from old mice, which manifested as impaired T cell diapedesis at high endothelial venules and reduced cell motility within DLN prior to antigen encounter. Furthermore, leukocyte accumulation in the DLN within the first few days of WNV infection or antigen-adjuvant administration was diminished more generally in old mice and associated with a second aging-related defect in local cytokine and chemokine production. Thus, age-dependent cell-intrinsic and environmental defects in the DLN result in delayed immune cell recruitment and antigen recognition. These deficits compromise priming of early adaptive immune responses and likely contribute to the susceptibility of old animals to acute WNV infection.     

白马雪山国家级自然保护区典型森林生态系统服务

生态系统服务是近年来生态学研究的热点领域,对关键区域生态系统服务的研究具有重要意义.云南省白马雪山国家级自然保护区地处青藏高原南延部分,拥有独特的地理位置,是生物多样性保护的热点区域.本文对该保护区森林生态系统的生物量与生产力、水源涵养、营养物质循环等3项服务的功能量进行了评估.结果表明:保护区森林总生物量2215.86×104t,生产力171.84×104t·a-1;水源涵养量11964.56×104m3;N、P、K年吸收量分别为26025.94t、2638.57t、12016.85 t.研究表明,保护区森林生态效益显著,对于维持当地以及周边地区的生态安全具有重要意义.     

Why evolutionary biologists should be demographers

Evolution is driven by the propagation of genes, traits and individuals within and between populations. This propagation depends on the survival, fertility and dispersal of individuals at each age or stage during their life history, as well as on population growth and (st)age structure. Demography is therefore central to understanding evolution. Recent demographic research provides new perspectives on fitness, the spread of mutations within populations and the establishment of life histories in a phylogenetic context. New challenges resulting from individual heterogeneity, and instances where survival and reproduction are linked across generations are being recognized. Evolutionary demography is a field of exciting developments through both methodological and empirical advances. Here, we review these developments and outline two emergent research questions.     

Cicada acoustic communication: potential sound partitioning in a multispecies community from Mexico (Hemiptera: Cicadomorpha: Cicadidae)

Multispecies cicada communities in neotropical rainforests produce a complex and intense acoustic environment. In a fragment of a Mexican rainforest (Veracruz, Mexico), a cicada community at the end of the dry season consisted of nine species ( Daza montezuma; Pacarina schumanni; Miranha imbellis; Dorisiana sutori; Fidicinoides picea; Fidicinoides pronoe; Quesada gigas; one species of the genus Neocicada and one uncaught canopy species). Seven of the nine species formed dense choruses at dawn and at dusk. Each species showed preferences in the height of calling sites. Males of the species were solitary or gregarious, and followed a 'call-fly' or a 'call-stay' calling strategy. Acoustic signals of each species had particular time and frequency patterns. All these specific features appear to separate the nine species acoustically and lead to a partitioning of the acoustic environment. The acoustic partitioning might decrease the risk of heterospecific courting and mating.© 2002 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2002, 75 , 379–394.     

Persistently infected cultures as a source of hepatitis A virus

Primary African green monkey kidney, continuous African green monkey kidney cell line BS-C-1, and buffalo green monkey kidney cultures were infected with a uniform inoculum of hepatitis A virus (HAV). Although both the cell line BS-C-1 and primary African green monkey kidney cultures produced useful amounts of virus, HAV was detected earlier and in greater quantities in primary African green monkey kidney cultures. A persistently infected primary African green monkey kidney culture was developed. The influence of incubation time (4 to 40 days) and concentration (2 to 15%) of fetal calf serum in the maintenance medium on production of HAV by this culture was examined. An incubation period of 24 to 28 days was found to be optimal; reducing this period led to decreased yields of HAV. No significant difference in the amount of HAV produced was observed with differing concentrations of fetal calf serum. Three different methods of extraction and the effect of multiple extractions on the recovery of HAV from cell lysates were examined. Sonication was a critical factor. Two extractions yielded more than 90% recoverable virus. Yields in excess of 10(11) physical particles of HAV per 850-cm2 roller bottle were routine. The total yield could be increased by concentrating the HAV present in spent maintenance medium by using bentonite or organic flocculation.     

Exercise training in childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus: a controlled randomized trial

Introduction

Exercise training has emerged as a promising therapeutic strategy to counteract physical dysfunction in adult systemic lupus erythematosus. However, no longitudinal studies have evaluated the effects of an exercise training program in childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (C-SLE) patients. The objective was to evaluate the safety and the efficacy of a supervised aerobic training program in improving the cardiorespiratory capacity in C-SLE patients.

Methods

Nineteen physically inactive C-SLE patients were randomly assigned into two groups: trained (TR, n = 10, supervised moderate-intensity aerobic exercise program) and non-trained (NT, n = 9). Gender-, body mass index (BMI)- and age-matched healthy children were recruited as controls (C, n = 10) for baseline (PRE) measurements only. C-SLE patients were assessed at PRE and after 12 weeks of training (POST). Main measurements included exercise tolerance and cardiorespiratory measurements in response to a maximal exercise (that is, peak VO₂, chronotropic reserve (CR), and the heart rate recovery (ΔHRR) (that is, the difference between HR at peak exercise and at both the first (ΔHRR1) and second (ΔHRR2) minutes of recovery after exercise).

Results

The C-SLE NT patients did not present changes in any of the cardiorespiratory parameters at POST (P > 0.05). In contrast, the exercise training program was effective in promoting significant increases in time-to-exhaustion (P = 0.01; ES = 1.07), peak speed (P = 0.01; ES = 1.08), peak VO₂ (P = 0.04; ES = 0.86), CR (P = 0.06; ES = 0.83), and in ΔHRR1 and ΔHRR2 (P = 0.003; ES = 1.29 and P = 0.0008; ES = 1.36, respectively) in the C-SLE TR when compared with the NT group. Moreover, cardiorespiratory parameters were comparable between C-SLE TR patients and C subjects after the exercise training intervention, as evidenced by the ANOVA analysis (P > 0.05, TR vs. C). SLEDAI-2K scores remained stable throughout the study.

Conclusion

A 3-month aerobic exercise training was safe and capable of ameliorating the cardiorespiratory capacity and the autonomic function in C-SLE patients.

Trial registration

NCT01515163.     

Three-dimensional structure of Gln25-ribonuclease T1 at 1.84-A resolution: structural variations at the base recognition and catalytic sites.

The structure of the Gln25 variant of ribonuclease T1 (RNase T1) crystallized at pH 7 and at high ionic strength has been solved by molecular replacement using the coordinates of the Lys25-RNase T1/2'-guanylic acid (2'GMP) complex at pH 5 [Arni et al. (1988) J. Biol. Chem. 263, 15358-15368] and refined by energy minimization and stereochemically restrained least-squares minimization to a crystallographic R-factor of 14.4% at 1.84-A resolution. The asymmetric unit contains three molecules, and the final model consists of 2302 protein atoms, 3 sulfates (at the catalytic sites), and 179 solvent water molecules. The estimated root mean square (rms) error in the coordinates is 0.15 A, and the rms deviation from ideality is 0.018 A for bond lengths and 1.8 degrees for bond angles. Significant differences are observed between the three molecules in the asymmetric unit at the base recognition and catalytic sites.