Neuroimaging Research into Disorders of Consciousness: Moral Imperative or Ethical and Legal Failure?

This article explores the ethical and legal implications of enrolling individuals with disorders of consciousness (DOC) in neuroimaging research studies. Many scientists have strongly emphasized the need for additional neuroimaging research into DOC, characterizing the conduct of such studies as morally imperative. On the other hand, institutional review boards charged with approving research protocols, scientific journals deciding whether to publish study results, and federal agencies that disburse grant money have limited the conduct, publication, and funding of consciousness investigations based on ethical and legal concerns. Following a detailed examination of the risks and benefits of neuroimaging research involving individuals with DOC, the author urges IRBs, scientific journals, and funding agencies to no longer stall the conduct, publication, and funding of neuroimaging research into DOC if certain criteria designed to protect the health and safety of individuals with DOC are satisfied

Sea Otter, Enhydra lutris, mortalities in California, 1968 through 1993

Sea otter, Enhydra lutris, mortality in California and the relative contribution from specific causes was assessed for the 26 years from 1968 through 1993. There were 2,082 dead sea otters recorded from Tomales Bay (Marin County) south to Bluff Cove (Los Angeles County) during that period. The average number of carcasses recorded was 80 per year and seven per month. Sex was identified in 87% (n=1,819) of the cases and was composed of 47% female and 53% male. A relative age was assigned to 97% (n=2,017) of the cases and was composed of 28% pup, 18% subadult and 54% adult. Specific causes of death were determined for 26% (n=55 1) of the cases. The majority of these (n=381) were considered to be due to natural causes and included the following specific causes: shark bitten (n=78), probably shark bitten (n=106), other natural causes (n=140), and mating wounds (n=57). The remaining (n=170) were considered to be due to human-related causes and included the following specific causes: shot (n=72), probably shot (n=8), net drowned (n=76), and other human causes (n=14). The large proportion of carcasses without an identified specific cause of death prompted a more detailed necropsy effort in 1992 and 1993. During that period, 78 of the 232 recovered carcasses were examined by veterinary pathologists and a specific cause of death was determined in 76% (n=59) of the cases. This effort identified a wide range of specific causes of death that otherwise may have been categorized as "unknown without trauma". Considering the variety of diseases diagnosed in this expanded necropsy program, it would be prudent to continue this level of examination to refine our knowledge of sea otter pathology. (48pp.

Framing Expectations: The Effects of Transient Degraded Speech Conditions on Competition in Spoken Word Recognition

Speech changes continually in time. Consequently, for listeners to recognize spoken words, they must piece together the incoming message over time. As a listener hears a word like sandwich, they immediately activate multiple candidates from their mental lexicon with similar onsets (sandwich, sandal, santa). They then integrate further auditory input as it arrives, to favor or disfavor these candidates. This competition takes different forms under degraded listening conditions, for example in listeners with cochlear implants. However, it is unclear whether these differences arise from the degraded input itself, or if listeners refine this competition to adapt to poor input. Thus it was investigated how word recognition unfolds in conditions when the target word is clear, but listeners believe they are listening in noise. For the purposes of this study, a new type of noise, referred to as framed noise, was developed, in which a carrier sentence is presented along with background noise (e.g,. now click on the… ), but the target word (…ball) is clear. This was compared to conditions of complete-noise and no noise. Lexical competition was measured using in the Visual World Paradigm, in which listeners matched a spoken word (e.g., sandal) to one of four pictures on the screen (sandal, sandwich, etc.), while fixations to each picture were recorded, revealing participants’ early interpretations. We found listeners in the noise and framed condition waited for further input before fixating on the target and competitors. Listeners also activated competitors longer in the noise condition, but not in the framed. The results indicate that varying degraded auditory input will influence processing strategies more than expectation

Characterisation of urinary WFDC12 in small nocturnal basal primates, mouse lemurs (Microcebus spp.)

Mouse lemurs are basal primates that rely on chemo- and acoustic signalling for social interactions in their dispersed social systems. We examined the urinary protein content of two mouse lemurs species, within and outside the breeding season, to assess candidates used in species discrimination, reproductive or competitive communication. Urine from Microcebus murinus and Microcebus lehilahytsara contain a predominant 10 kDa protein, expressed in both species by some, but not all, males during the breeding season, but at very low levels by females. Mass spectrometry of the intact proteins confirmed the protein mass and revealed a 30 Da mass difference between proteins from the two species. Tandem mass spectrometry after digestion with three proteases and sequencing de novo defined the complete protein sequence and located an Ala/Thr difference between the two species that explained the 30 Da mass difference. The protein (mature form: 87 amino acids) is an atypical member of the whey acidic protein family (WFDC12). Seasonal excretion of this protein, species difference and male-specific expression during the breeding season suggest that it may have a function in intra- and/or intersexual chemical signalling in the context of reproduction, and could be a cue for sexual selection and species recognition

Do Pinnipeds Have Personality? Coding Harbor Seal (\u3ci\u3ePhoca vitulina\u3c/i\u3e) and California Sea Lion (\u3ci\u3eZalophus californianus\u3c/i\u3e) Behavior Across Contexts

Personality has now been studied in species as diverse as chimpanzees (King & Figueredo, 1997) and cuttlefish (Carere et al., 2015), but marine mammals remain vastly underrepresented in this area. A broad range of traits have been assessed only in the bottlenose dolphin (Highfilll & Kuczaj, 2007), while consistent individual differences in a few specific behaviors have been identified in grey seals (Robinson et al., 2015; Twiss & Franklin, 2010; Twiss, Culloch & Pomeroy, 2011; Twiss, Cairns, Culloch, Richards & Pomeroy, 2012). Furthermore, the context component of definitions of personality is not often assessed, despite evidence that animals may show individual patterns of consistency (Kuczaj, Highfill & Byerly, 2012). The current study therefore aimed to assess underlying personality factors and consistency across contexts in two unstudied marine mammal species, using behavioral coding. Two California sea lion and three harbor seal personality factors were extracted using exploratory factor analysis. Two factors were broadly similar across species; the first, Boldness, resembled human Extraversion, and to some extent Openness. The second factor was labeled Routine Activity, and contained some Conscientiousness-like traits. Excitable-Interest emerged as a third factor in seals, but had low reliability. Species-specific patterns were also identified for interactive behaviors across two contexts. However, there was substantial individual variation in the frequency of these behaviors, as well as some animals who did not conform to species-level trends. This study therefore provides novel evidence for broad personality factors and both species- and individual-level patterns of contextual consistency in two pinniped species

Maintaining the Integrity of Organic Milk

The meteoric growth of organic dairying is one of the rare success stories found in agriculture today. The business has been built over the past two decades and nurtured by family farmers collaborating with consumers hungry for organic food.For those farmers involved in dairying, organics has been a true lifeline. Those able to make the difficult three-year transition to organics have been rewarded by top commodity prices at the farmgate and a living wage -- something that stands in stark contrast to the intense price squeeze that has driven many of their conventional neighbors from the business. In addition, organic dairy farmers are enjoying explosive growth in demand for their products.Consumers have been willing to pay premium prices in the market for certified organic dairy products with the understanding that the food has been raised in a sustainable, environmentally sound manner and that they are helping support and keep family farmers on the land. Many consumers assume that humane animal husbandry practices are employed by organic farmers and they may believe that their food is more nutritious.Organic dairy products are also a "gateway" food to other organic products. Consumers recognize such familiar products as milk and cheeses, frequently sampling organic varieties first before moving on and experimenting with other organic commodities.But this success story is now at risk; it is threatened by powerful economic interests that covet their share of the organic pie and who are willing to twist, manipulate and even ignore federal organic regulations in their rush to cash in. Some agribusiness giants are depending on consumers not knowing the difference between their product and those produced with ethics and integrity.This report aims to pull back the veil and allow consumers to easily identify those organic dairy products that have been produced with the best organic practices. By using the Web-based rating tool found on our Web page (www.cornucopia.org), you will be able to identify the brands and products found in your region and examine their ranking, score, and how well they meet key criteria covering organic management practices. The survey rates 68 different organic dairy brands and private label products found across the country.The good news that we can report is that the vast majority of all name-brand organic dairy products are produced from milk from farms that follow accepted legal and ethical standards.However, consumers should also recognize that an increasing amount of milk used in certain organic dairy products is coming from factory farms that are employing suspect practices that skirt organic regulations and impact nutrition and livestock. A growing number of new factory farms -- housing thousands of cows in confinement conditions -- are in development because of strong organic commodity prices, growing consumer demand, a shortage of certified organic milk, and a reluctance by federal regulators to enforce the current organic rules.This report will help consumers make purchasing decisions separate from industry chaff and PR

Cognitive Information Processing

Contains reports on seven research projects split into three sections.Joint Services Electronics Program by the U. S. Army Research Office, Durham, under Contract DA36-039-AMC-03200(E)National Science Foundation (Grant GP-2495)National Institutes of Health (Grant MH-04737-05)National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NsG-496

Chemical Signaling in Asian Elephants (Elephas Maximus): Concentration Effects with Applications for Management and Conservation

Asian elephants utilize two chemical signals that have been described to function in reproduction: (1) (Z)-7-dodecenyl acetate (Z7-12:Ac) is released by females near ovulation, and (2) frontalin is released by males around the time of musth. Signaling theory posits that the concentration at which either compound is emitted should have implications for the response of the receiver, varying with factors such as sex and reproductive experience. Here, the objectives were to: (1) investigate the effect of concentration on receiver chemosensory behavior in an effort to identify detection thresholds and concentrations of maximum response for reproductively experienced or inexperienced male and female Asian elephants, and (2) characterize the broader behavioral impacts of each of these compounds in an effort for application as environmental enrichment in captive settings. Concentrations from 0.0 mM to 2.0 mM of both frontalin and Z7-12:Ac were bioassayed simultaneously with captive elephants housed at facilities across North America in two experiments: one that tested mid-range concentrations and a second that tested low and high concentrations. There was a general increase in chemosensory response with increasing concentration of both compounds regardless of sex or reproductive experience. Females exhibited a lower detection threshold for frontalin, and the opposite was true for males with Z7-12:Ac. Reproductive experience also influenced thresholds: inexperienced males had a higher threshold than experienced males for frontalin (the same was true for females), and experienced males were able to detect Z7-12:Ac samples as low as 10–7 mM. Aside from inexperienced males, all elephants responded maximally to the 1.0 mM samples of both compounds. Elephants exposed to mid-range concentrations of either compound showed no notable changes in behavior after application of the signals, although inexperienced males spent less time inactive and more time walking after frontalin bioassays, and inexperienced females foraged more after exposure to Z7-12:Ac. Interpreted together, this suggests that the concentration at which either compound is emitted has strong implications for chemosensory response based on the identity of the receiver in Asian elephants, although it is unclear whether these compounds have other behavioral effects that can be targeted for a goal-oriented olfactory enrichment program

The Relationship Between Variation in Social Complexity and Cognitive Performance in Brown Capuchins (Cebus [Sapajus] apella)

The cognitive demand on animals to learn, maintain, and remember the complexities of social relationships is higher for individuals who live more complex social lives. Previous research has suggested that both across and within species, as social complexity increases so does the ability to flexibly learn and manipulate information. Elucidating the relationship between social complexity and cognition is therefore essential to understanding how evolutionary pressures have shaped cognitive development. In this study, I determined if there was a relationship between social complexity and cognitive performance on two standard tests of learning, associative learning and reversal learning. Subjects were 16 members of a socially housed group of brown capuchin monkeys (Cebus [Sapajus] apella). Each subject completed up to five rounds of testing on a series of associative learning and reversal learning tasks. A general learning score was extracted from a principal component analysis on cognitive testing performance across the two tasks. Behavioral observations of affiliative and grooming interactions were used to characterize the complexity of each monkey’s social life in the social network of the group. Generalized linear models revealed that learning performance was best explained by centrality in the grooming social network (p= 0.076), although this relationship was not significant. While results from these analyses were interpreted with caution as data collection is ongoing, results clearly do not show strong support for a positive relationship between learning performance and social complexity as predicted. Brown capuchins may gain a social benefit from cognitive abilities not tested or when the information learned has direct social implications. My findings suggest that there may not be a clear link between cognition and social behavior, or that our methods were not appropriate for answering this question

Washington University Record, September 1, 1983

https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/record/1275/thumbnail.jp