Life history and locomotion in Cebus capucinus and Alouatta palliata

As an individual matures from birth to adulthood, many factors may influence the positional repertoire. The biological and behavioral changes that accompany a growing individual are expected to influence foraging strategy, social status and interaction, diet, predator avoidance strategies, and ultimately positional behavior as a behavioral link between anatomy and the environment. In this work, positional behavior is considered as an important feature of life history in juvenile and adult white‐faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus) and mantled howling monkeys (Alouatta palliata) inhabiting the same tropical forest in Costa Rica. During growth and development ontogenetic changes in body size, limb proportions, and motor skills are likely to influence locomotion and posture through the arboreal canopy. I collected data on positional behavior, activity, branch size, branch angle, and crown location during a 12‐month period at Estación Biológica La Suerte in northeastern Costa Rica. Life history timing and differences in rates of growth did not predictably influence the development of adultlike positional behaviors in Cebus and Alouatta. Young Cebus resembled the adult pattern of positional behavior by 6 months of age while howlers exhibited significant differences in several positional behavior categories through 24 months of age. The positional repertoire of both species revealed similarities in the types of modes used during feed/forage and travel in juveniles and adults. Data presented here suggest that the environment exerts different pressures on growing Cebus and Alouatta that may relate to diet, energy expenditure, foraging skill, and/or social learning. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2009 © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Vancomycin and Oritavancin Have Different Modes of Action in Enterococcus faecium

The increasing frequency of Enterococcus faecium isolates with multidrug resistance is a serious clinical problem given the severely limited number of therapeutic options available to treat these infections. Oritavancin is a promising new alternative in clinical development that has potent antimicrobial activity against both staphylococcal and enterococcal vancomycin-resistant pathogens. Using solid-state NMR to detect changes in the cell-wall structure and peptidoglycan precursors of whole cells after antibiotic-induced stress, we report that vancomycin and oritavancin have different modes of action in E. faecium. Our results show the accumulation of peptidoglycan precursors after vancomycin treatment, consistent with transglycosylase inhibition, but no measurable difference in cross-linking. In contrast, after oritavancin exposure, we did not observe the accumulation of peptidoglycan precursors. Instead, the number of cross-links is significantly reduced, showing that oritavancin primarily inhibits transpeptidation. We propose that the activity of oritavancin is the result of a secondary binding interaction with the E. faecium peptidoglycan. The hypothesis is supported by results from ¹³C{¹⁹F} rotational-echo double-resonance (REDOR) experiments on whole cells enriched with l-[1-¹³C]lysine and complexed with desleucyl [¹⁹F]oritavancin. These experiments establish that an oritavancin derivative with a damaged d-Ala-d-Ala binding pocket still binds to E. faecium peptidoglycan. The ¹³C{¹⁹F} REDOR dephasing maximum indicates that the secondary binding site of oritavancin is specific to nascent and template peptidoglycan. We conclude that the inhibition of transpeptidation by oritavancin in E. faecium is the result of the large number of secondary binding sites relative to the number of primary binding sites.     

Patterns of reproduction in Malayan silvered leaf monkeys at the Bronx Zoo

Within phylogenetic limits reproductive characteristics of a given species may vary between populations in response to ecological and social factors. For instance, in environments where high quality nutrition is readily available, the onset and speed of reproduction are often accelerated. Other influencing factors might be maternal experience or the sex of the infant. Here we present data on reproductive characteristics for the silvered leaf monkey (Trachypithecus cristatus), a medium‐sized Asian colobine housed at the Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo as a one‐male group. To place the species into an appropriate phylogenetic context, we limited our comparison to other colobine species. Demographic data span 21.4 years (October 1985 to March 2007) and derive from 30 adult females (128.0 female years). Detailed behavioral data stem from a 2.2 years study (November 2002 to January 2005; 734 days, 4,225 hr). As in other Asian colobines, receptive periods were short (mean=4.3 days, n=68). This is expected for one‐male groups where receptivity likely indicates, rather than conceals, ovulation. Gestation length was estimated based on a change in the pattern of sexual behavior (mean=194.6 days, n=7). It fell within the range reported for the taxon. Births occurred year round, at an early age (mean=2.9 years, n=8), at short intervals (mean=14.9 months, n=59) in combination with a short lactation (mean 12.1 months, n=9) likely due to the nearly unlimited availability of nutrition in this zoo setting. Primiparous females tended to have a longer first interbirth interval but infant survival rates were similar to multipara possibly due to the absence of predators. Maternal investment was independent of the infant's sex and birth sex ratio was even. Our results emphasize that when interpreted with caution, zoo populations yield realistic reproductive characteristics that can help fill the gap in our knowledge about colobine life history. Am. J. Primatol. 71:852–859, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

外源茉莉酸甲酯对辣椒烟粉虱的影响

化学农药仍是目前蔬菜烟粉虱Bemisia tabaci防控的重要措施,研发有效的非化学措施防控烟粉虱是蔬菜绿色生产亟待解决的问题。本文以苏椒15号（感性品种）和新苏椒五号（抗性品种）辣椒Capsicum annuum L.为对象,通过在辣椒上喷施茉莉酸甲酯,研究外源茉莉酸甲酯对烟粉虱发育历期、存活率、消化酶活性和田间烟粉虱种群动态的影响。研究发现,取食茉莉酸甲酯处理的辣椒后烟粉虱的发育历期显著延长、存活率明显下降。其中取食感性品种辣椒和抗性品种辣椒的烟粉虱发育历期分别延长7.66 d和9.66 d,存活率分别下降10.5%和9.89%;取食感性品种辣椒的烟粉虱主要是延长卵期、4龄若虫期和伪蛹期,而取食抗性品种辣椒的烟粉虱各历期均延长。外源茉莉酸甲酯对烟粉虱体内消化酶的活性也有明显的影响,取食茉莉酸甲酯处理的辣椒后烟粉虱的消化酶活性显著下降,取食感性品种辣椒和抗性品种辣椒24 h后,胰蛋白酶活力分别较对照下降了61.86%和45.0%,糜蛋白酶活性分别较对照下降了47.29%和40.11%。大田辣椒上喷施茉莉酸甲酯后,烟粉虱的种群数量迅速下降,但在抗性品种和感性品种上烟粉虱的校正虫口减退率没有明显的差异。研究发现,外源茉莉酸甲酯处理,可以延缓烟粉虱的发育速率,降低胰蛋白酶和糜蛋白酶的活性,对田间烟粉虱种群也有较好的控制作用。     

The statistical analysis of truncated data: application to the Sverdlovsk anthrax outbreak

An outbreak of anthrax occurred in the city of Sverdlovsk in Russia in the spring of 1979. The outbreak was due to the inhalation of spores that were accidentally released from a military microbiology facility. In response to the outbreak a public health intervention was mounted that included distribution of antibiotics and vaccine. The objective of this paper is to develop and apply statistical methodology to analyse the Sverdlovsk outbreak, and in particular to estimate the incubation period of inhalational anthrax and the number of deaths that may have been prevented by the public health intervention. The data available for analysis from this common source epidemic are the incubation periods of reported deaths. The statistical problem is that incubation periods are truncated because some individuals may have had their deaths prevented by the public health interventions and thus are not included in the data. However, it is not known how many persons received the intervention or how efficacious was the intervention. A likelihood function is formulated that accounts for the effects of truncation. The likelihood is decomposed into a binomial likelihood with unknown sample size and a conditional likelihood for the incubation periods. The methods are extended to allow for a phase-in of the intervention over time. Assuming a lognormal model for the incubation period distribution, the median and mean incubation periods were estimated to be 11.0 and 14.2 days respectively. These estimates are longer than have been previously reported in the literature. The death toll from the Sverdlovsk anthrax outbreak could have been about 14% larger had there not been a public health intervention; however, the confidence intervals are wide (95% CI 0-61%). The sensitivity of the results to model assumptions and the parametric model for the incubation period distribution are investigated. The results are useful for determining how long antibiotic therapy should be continued in suspected anthrax cases and also for estimating the ultimate number of deaths in a new outbreak in the absence of any public health interventions.     

Conceptus ecobiometry and triplex Doppler ultrasonography of uterine and umbilical arteries for assessment of fetal viability in dogs

The objectives were to: 1) evaluate blood flow in the uterine (UA) and umbilical (Uma) arteries in the pregnant bitch, by measuring the resistive index (RI) and pulsatility index (PI); 2) to note the presence or absence of the early diastolic notch and diastolic flow in the UA and Uma flow waveforms, respectively; and 3) perform conceptus ecobiometry for fetal growth assessment during pregnancy. Six healthy bitches were examined on approximately Days -44, -42, -36, -31, -28, -25, -21, -18, -14, -8, -4, and -2 of pregnancy (whelping = Day 0). Triplex Doppler and B-mode ultrasonography were used to assess blood flow and conceptus ecobiometry. All pregnancies ended with a normal whelping and birth of live puppies. Prior to whelping, all conceptus dimensions increased significantly, whereas RI and PI of both the Uma and UA decreased significantly. For the UA, RI and PI were (mean ± SEM) 0.95 ± 0.02 and 2.75 ± 0.41, respectively, on Day -44, and were 0.60 ± 0.01 and 0.99 ± 0.03 on Day -4. For the Uma, RI and PI were 0.99 ± 0.01 and 2.42 ± 0.03 on Day -31, and were 0.62 ± 0.01 and 1.15 ± 0.02 on Day -4. The complete disappearance of the early diastolic notch in the UA, and the appearance of diastolic flow in the Uma occurred on Days -16 ± 5 and -21 ± 1. The authors concluded that UA and Uma perfusion were important end points to assess fetal vitality in bitches. Furthermore, the current reference values provided a baseline for monitoring normal and abnormal pregnancies in bitches.     

Ten days of darkness causes temporary blindness during an early critical period in felines

Extended periods of darkness have long been used to study how the mammalian visual system develops in the absence of any instruction from vision. Because of the relative ease of implementation of darkness as a means to eliminate visually driven neural activity, it has usually been imposed earlier in life and for much longer periods than was the case for other manipulations of the early visual input used for study of their influences on visual system development. Recently, it was shown that following a very brief (10 days) period of darkness imposed at five weeks of age, kittens emerged blind. Although vision as assessed by measurements of visual acuity eventually recovered, the time course was very slow as it took seven weeks for visual acuity to attain normal levels. Here, we document the critical period of this remarkable vulnerability to the effects of short periods of darkness by imposing 10 days of darkness on nine normal kittens at progressively later ages. Results indicate that the period of susceptibility to darkness extends only to about 10 weeks of age, which is substantially shorter than the critical period for the effects of monocular deprivation in the primary visual cortex, which extends beyond six months of age.     

土壤抑真菌作用与细菌群落结构的关系

自然清洁土壤所具有的抑真菌作用,是健康土壤的一种自然属性,也是土壤质量的重要指标之一,对控制农作物土传病原真菌的爆发具有积极的生态学意义.本试验以中国科学院沈阳生态实验站近10年未受农药和肥料影响的撂荒地土壤作为自然清洁土壤样品,通过高温（对照、100 ℃、110 ℃、121 ℃）处理得到具有不同抑真菌作用的土壤模型,采用PCR DGGE(变性梯度凝胶电泳)方法对上述土壤样品的细菌群落结构进行分析.结果表明：土壤抑真菌作用与土壤细菌群落结构紧密相关;对照清洁土壤抑真菌作用最强,处理后土壤细菌群落结构偏离自然清洁土壤愈远,土壤抑真菌能力愈差;DGGE特异性条带切胶测序结果表明,Sphingomonas asaccharolytica、Nitrospira sp.、Hyphomicrobiaceae sp.、Bacillus megaterium和Micrococcus sp.可能与土壤抑真菌作用密切相关.