Intergroup Conflict and Rational Decision Making

The literature has been relatively silent about post-conflict processes. However, understanding the way humans deal with post-conflict situations is a challenge in our societies. With this in mind, we focus the present study on the rationality of cooperative decision making after an intergroup conflict, i.e., the extent to which groups take advantage of post-conflict situations to obtain benefits from collaborating with the other group involved in the conflict. Based on dual-process theories of thinking and affect heuristic, we propose that intergroup conflict hinders the rationality of cooperative decision making. We also hypothesize that this rationality improves when groups are involved in an in-group deliberative discussion. Results of a laboratory experiment support the idea that intergroup conflict –associated with indicators of the activation of negative feelings (negative affect state and heart rate)– has a negative effect on the aforementioned rationality over time and on both group and individual decision making. Although intergroup conflict leads to sub-optimal decision making, rationality improves when groups and individuals subjected to intergroup conflict make decisions after an in-group deliberative discussion. Additionally, the increased rationality of the group decision making after the deliberative discussion is transferred to subsequent individual decision making.     

Tafonomía de bivalvos holocenos en la costa del estuario de Bahía Blanca, Argentina

In the Bahía Blanca Estuary (Argentina), Holocene deposits are fossiliferous sand ridges originated by the last transgressive-regressive marine event. By means of ternary taphograms applied on valves of Brachidontes rodriguezi a taphonomic analysis was carried out in two ridges, both in the external and internal estuary area. Six taphonomic attributes were considered. The disarticulation and the fragmentation are higher in the external ridge, whereas the bioerosion and incrustation, both barely manifested, are similar in the two environmental settings. In the outer deposit, as much the abrasions as the dissolution of the shells are more intense. Genetically, it is considered that these shell concentrations were originated by multiepisodic storm events. Based on the taphonomic analysis, it arises that in the generation of the internal ridge waves of moderate energy with different sorting degrees prevailed, whereas in the formation of the external deposits waves of greater energy with smaller sorting capacity prevailed.     

Shh dependent and independent maintenance of basal midbrain

Sonic hedgehog (Shh) is well known as the molecule responsible for the induction and maintenance of ventral neural tube structures. Recent data have shown that ventral neuronal populations react differentially to the amount of this morphogen not only in the spinal cord, but also in more rostral parts of the brain, like the midbrain. A dorsal expansion in the Shh expression domain modifies the differentiation program in this territory. The lack of Shh produces alterations in the development of this area as well. Here, for the first time, we analyze in detail the development of the different mesencephalic basal nuclei in the absence of Shh. We report that the oculomotor complex is lost, the dopaminergic populations are strongly affected but the red nucleus is maintained. These results point out that not all the midbrain neuronal populations are dependent on Shh for their maintenance, as previously thought. Based on our results and recently published data, we suggest the existence of a specific genetic pathway for the specification of the mesencephalic red nucleus. Foxa2 could be the candidate gene that might control this genetic pathway.     

Selective Attention Modulates the Direction of Audio-Visual Temporal Recalibration

Temporal recalibration of cross-modal synchrony has been proposed as a mechanism to compensate for timing differences between sensory modalities. However, far from the rich complexity of everyday life sensory environments, most studies to date have examined recalibration on isolated cross-modal pairings. Here, we hypothesize that selective attention might provide an effective filter to help resolve which stimuli are selected when multiple events compete for recalibration. We addressed this question by testing audio-visual recalibration following an adaptation phase where two opposing audio-visual asynchronies were present. The direction of voluntary visual attention, and therefore to one of the two possible asynchronies (flash leading or flash lagging), was manipulated using colour as a selection criterion. We found a shift in the point of subjective audio-visual simultaneity as a function of whether the observer had focused attention to audio-then-flash or to flash-then-audio groupings during the adaptation phase. A baseline adaptation condition revealed that this effect of endogenous attention was only effective toward the lagging flash. This hints at the role of exogenous capture and/or additional endogenous effects producing an asymmetry toward the leading flash. We conclude that selective attention helps promote selected audio-visual pairings to be combined and subsequently adjusted in time but, stimulus organization exerts a strong impact on recalibration. We tentatively hypothesize that the resolution of recalibration in complex scenarios involves the orchestration of top-down selection mechanisms and stimulus-driven processes.     

Correlates of reproductive success in male lizards of the alpine species Iberolacerta cyreni

We followed a field population of the alpine lizard Iberolacertacyreni over 2 consecutive breeding seasons and assigned paternityto the offpring using 8 microsatellite markers. Paternity data,combined with observations of the behavior, morphology, andspacing patterns of lizards, allowed us to document the extentof polygamy, the phenotypic correlates of the number of offspringsired, and the correlation between male reproductive success(RS) and probability of recapture the second year of our study.Multiple paternity was observed in nearly 50% of clutches, andthe mating system was highly polygynandrous. In the first yearof our study, male RS increased with body size, activity, taillength, and color saturation of the dorsum. In the second year,male RS increased with activity and body condition. Overall,increased male activity, a trait that is expected to decreasesurvivorship, was the explanatory variable that had the greatesteffect on RS. However, the residents of our first study yearthat were recaptured in the second year had longer tails, weremore active, and sired more offspring than their conspecificsthat were not recaptured. Thus, contrary to expectations, nonegative correlation between present reproduction and futuresurvival was found, which suggests that male investment in reproductionis condition dependent and positively correlated with the abilityto pay the underlying costs of increased activity.     

Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.) Kuntze has neuroprotective action through mitochondrial modulation in dopaminergic SH-SY5Y cells

Molecular Biology Reports - Brain disorders (BD) including neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases, are often associated with impairments in mitochondrial function and oxidative damage that...     

Biometric variability of Hadwenius tursionis (Marchi, 1873) (Digenea,Campulidae) from the intestine of the bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus (Montagu, 1821)

The species discrimination in the family Campulidae is largely based on morphometric characters (absolute measurements and ratios). To assess the variability of this characters we have studied the campulid species Hadwenius tursionis from four Mediterranean bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus from the Western Mediterranean. In H. tursionis most absolute measurements differed significantly across the infrapopulations, showing high coefficients of variation. Only egg dimensions appeared to be fairly conservative. Body ratios were less variable than absolute measurements, but growth patterns did vary significantly between the infrapopulations studied. None of the ratios previously used in relation to other species of the family Campulidae indicated either isometric or allometric growth in this case. Only the ratios concerning the size of the gonads and the shape of the gonads and suckers showed isometry. It is concluded that absolute measurements and ratios should be used with caution in relation to the separation of species of the family Campulidae unless their intrinsic variability can be established beforehand.