Laterality in quadrupedal and bipedal prosimians: Reach and whole-body turn in the mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus) and the galago (Galago moholi)

Lateral preferences in food reaching and whole-body turning were assessed in 24 prosimian primates: 16 galagos (Galago moholi) and 8 mouse lemurs (Microcebus murinus). Reach and turn preference in the galago were examined using a single testing procedure; separate procedures were used to evaluate reach and turn preferences in the mouse lemur. The motoric requirements for both species were 1) reach into a Plexiglas container with a single hand for a food item and 2) execution of a whole-body rotation about the long axis of the body. Twenty-three of the subjects tested had a reach preference (15 right, 8 left preferent) and 22 a turn preference (1 right and 21 left preferent). No correlation between the direction of reach and turn preference was found for either species; however an association between right reach preference and female gender was found for the galagos. A species difference in the strength of lateralization was found, with the more bipedal species, the galago, more strongly lateralized in both measures. This result supports the hypothesis that the assumption of upright posture was an important factor in the phylogenetic development of primate lateralization.     

The national census of heronries in England and Wales in 1964

This national census took place at a time when numbers were still very low following two hard winters. The total of 2,170 nests (in 234 heronries) was only half that found in the previous national census in 1954.     

Is the SF-36 a valid measure of change in population health? Results from the Whitehall II Study.

OBJECTIVE: To measure within-person change in scores on the short form general health survey (SF-36) by age, sex, employment grade, and disease status. DESIGN: Longitudinal study with a mean of 36 months (range 23-59 months) follow up, with screening examination and questionnaire to detect physical and psychiatric morbidity. SETTING: 20 civil service departments originally located in London. PARTICIPANTS: 5070 male and 2197 female office based civil servants aged 39-63 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Change in the eight scales of the SF-36 (adjusted for baseline score and length of follow up) and effect sizes (adjusted change standard deviation of differences). RESULTS: Within-person declines (worsening health) with age were greater than estimated by cross sectional data alone. General mental health showed greater declines among younger participants (P for linear trend < 0.001). Employment grade was inversely related to change; lower grades had greater deteriorations than higher grades (P < 0.001 for each scale in men; P < 0.05 for each scale in women except general health perceptions and role limitations due to physical problems). The greatest declines were seen among participants with disease at baseline, with the effects of physical and psychiatric morbidity being additive. Effect sizes ranged from 0.20 to 0.65 in participants with both physical and psychiatric morbidity. CONCLUSIONS: Health functioning, as measured by the SF-36, changed in hypothesised directions with age, employment grade, and disease status. These changes occurred within a short follow up period, in an occupational, high functioning cohort which has not been the subject of intervention, suggesting that the SF-36 is sensitive to changes in health in general populations.     

DISTRIBUTION OF TARTARIC ACID IN THE GERANIACEAE

Stafford , Helen A. (Reed Coll., Portland, Oregon.) Distribution of tartaric acid in the Geraniaceae. Amer. Jour. Bot. 48(8): 699–701. 1961.—The leaves of 52 species in the family Geraniaceae have been analyzed quantitatively for (+) — tartaric acid. All 11 species studied in the genus Geranium and 9 in Erodium are low or non-accumulators (less than 0.1 μmole tartaric acid per mg dry wt of tissue). In the genus Pelargonium, 9 species are low or non-accumulators, while 23 are high accumulators (greater than 0.1 μmole tartaric acid per mg dry wt of tissue). There is no sharp line separating accumulators from non-accumulators, but rather a continuous gradation in the amount of tartaric acid accumulated, ranging from amounts loo low to be detected up to 1 μmole of tartaric acid per mg dry wt of tissue. The degree of accumulation in leaves cannot yet be correlated with any morphological or physiological differences, nor is it always consistent with the taxonomic sections of Knuth or the groups of Moore.