Categorical Rhythms Are Shared between Songbirds and Humans

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Altricial and precocial mammals: A model of neural and muscular development

This model of growth offers a quantitative definition for altricial and precocial newborns, makes muscular strength a benchmark for locomotor independence, and discriminates related genera as well as genera across major taxonomic divides. The model contrasts four theoretical conditions of the neonate (I, small brain, weak musculature; II, small brain, strong musculature; III, large brain, weak musculature; IV, large brain, strong musculature) with species from three orders of placental mammal. Each species exhibits a distinct mother-infant strategy from the altricial red panda cub (condition I) and the golden lion tamarin (condition III) to the precocial wildebeest calf (condition IV). The model proposes that early growth rates of brain and muscle correlate with nutrition, maternal effort during gestation and lactation, and parental care, whereas postnatal muscular growth correlates directly with adult body size and locomotor repertoire. An example of condition II (small brain, strong musculature) has not been found. This suggests that muscle does not grow in advance of the brain and that the brain acts as a pacemaker of growth. In order to increase our understanding of exotic species, noninvasive measures (body weight and length) and observations (opening of the eyes and ears, hair density, weaning, and the abilities to ther-moregulate and to move) should be supplemented with analysis of the differential tissue and organ growth. In both theoretical and practical ways analysis of deceased individuals contributes to the understanding of all species.     

生物学专业动物学实验教学中培养学生解剖技能的探索

动物解剖实验在动物学实验教学中占有重要地位,学生的解剖技能是做好动物解剖实验的基础,也是学生以后从事科学研究和教学的基本素质.结合动物学实验教学实践阐述了动物解剖的基本原则及培养学生解剖技能的方法,以便学生系统理解动物解剖的基本原则和方法.     

山东省大学生生物化学实验技能大赛选题分析

通过分析山东省大学生生物化学实验技能大赛两届获奖课题的特点,找出目前大学生在该项竞赛选题中展现出来的不足,对大学生今后在此类实验技能比赛中的选题方向及方法提出了建议。     

Bodyweight and human capital development: Assessing the impact of obesity on socioemotional skills during childhood in Chile

This article analyzes the effect of bodyweight on socioemotional skills for children aged two to 12 years in Chile. Using an instrumental variable approach and a representative survey, we show that both BMI and obesity are causality related to children’s socioemotional development, even after assuming that our instrument is imperfect. Although we did not find significant differences between boys and girls, we do identify heterogeneous effects by age: the weight penalty for girls starts earlier than for boys. Our findings suggest that early interventions for childhood obesity not only might generate positive impacts on children’s health, but also a greater accumulation of non-cognitive human capital in the future.     

Enhancing Bioinformatics and Genomics Courses: Building Capacity and Skills via Lab Meeting Activities

Reading, writing, publishing, and publicly presenting scientific works are vital for a young researcher's profile building and career development. Generally, the traditional educational curricula do not offer training possibilities to learn and practice how to prepare, write, and present scientific works. These are rather a part of lab meeting activities in research groups. The lack of such training is more critical in some developing countries because this adds to the rare opportunities to discuss and become involved in the exchanges on state of the art scientific literature. Here the authors relate their experience in introducing a weekly 1-day lab meeting in the framework of two previously organized 3-month courses on “Bioinformatics and Genome Analyses”. The main activities which are developed during these lab meetings include scientific literature follow up as well as preparing and presenting oral and written scientific reviews. These activities prove to be useful for a student's self-confidence building, for enhancing their active participation during the lectures and practical sessions, as well as for the positive impact on running the whole course program. Incorporation of such lab meeting activities in the course program significantly improves the capacity building of the participants, their analytical and critical reading of scientific literature, as well as communication skills. In this work it is shown how to proceed with the different steps involved in the implementation of lab meeting activities, and to recommend their regular institution in similar courses.     

Developmental evaluation of children born to mothers occupationally exposed to waste anesthetic gases

BACKGROUND: The etiology of developmental delay in children is frequently unknown. Increasing evidence supports the possibility that environmental and occupational factors might be part of the basis for such delays. This study focuses on the development of children born to mothers who were exposed during their pregnancy to waste anesthetic gases. METHODS: The study population included 40 children aged 5-13 years born to female anesthesiologists and nurses working in operating rooms (OpRs) exposed to waste anesthetic gases, and 40 unexposed children born to female nurses and physicians who worked in hospitals during their pregnancy but did not work in OpRs. The unexposed group was matched for children's age and gender and maternal occupation (nurses vs. doctors). By means of standardized developmental tests, the present study population was evaluated for their medical and neurodevelopmental state. Questionnaires were given for the detection of attention and activity levels as perceived by the parents. Additional questionnaires dealt with information concerning developmental milestones, maternal and fetal morbidity, and gynecological history. RESULTS: No differences were noted between the groups as newborns or in developmental milestones at the age of 5-13 years; however, the mean score of gross motor ability was significantly lower in the exposed versus the unexposed group. Additionally, the mean score of the DSM-III-R Parent-Teacher Questionnaire (PTQ) (i.e., measure of inattention/hyperactivity) was higher in the exposed group. The level of exposure, as measured by the number of weekly hours in the OpRs, was significantly and negatively correlated with fine motor ability and the score of IQ performance. CONCLUSIONS: Our study supports the hypothesis that occupational exposure to anesthetic gases might be a risk factor for minor neurological deficits of children born to mothers who work in OpRs and therefore indicates the need for more studies in this area and perhaps more caution among OpR pregnant women and employers.     

Income deprivation and mental well-being: The role of non-cognitive skills

We show that the positive relation between income deprivation and mental health is affected by an individual's non-cognitive skills. Income deprivation is operationalized as the Yitzhaki index, i.e., as a function of the sum of income differences between an individual and others in her reference group who are more affluent. Non-cognitive skills are extracted from a Locus of Control questionnaire and the Big Five Inventory, a self-report measurement of an individual in regard to five aspects of personality: conscientiousness, neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness and open-mindedness. The results, based on the 2002–2010 waves of the German Socio-Economic Panel dataset (SOEP), show that deprivation is negative and significantly related with mental health. However, neurotic individuals are more deprivation-sensitive than are others. Compared to the mean effect, a one standard deviation rise in neuroticism is associated with a deprivation effect that is 36.6% and 51.9% larger among men and women, respectively. Although to a lesser extent, extraverted men and conscientious women are also found to be more deprivation-sensitive than are others, the corresponding figures being 31.1% and 45.9%, respectively. These findings suggest that personality differences should be taken into account in the design of policies, practices and initiatives aimed at alleviating the well-being costs of income deprivation.     

Analysis of dyslexia candidate genes in the Raine cohort representing the general Australian population

Several genes have been suggested as dyslexia candidates. Some of these candidate genes have been recently shown to be associated with literacy measures in sample cohorts derived from the general population. Here, we have conducted an association study in a novel sample derived from the Australian population (the Raine cohort) to further investigate the role of dyslexia candidate genes. We analysed markers, previously reported to be associated with dyslexia, located within the MRPL19/C2ORF3, KIAA0319, DCDC2 and DYX1C1 genes in a sample of 520 individuals and tested them for association with reading and spelling measures. Association signals were detected for several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within DYX1C1 with both the reading and spelling tests. The high linkage disequilibrium (LD) we observed across the DYX1C1 gene suggests that the association signal might not be refined by further genetic mapping.