To be “Pavarotti” in a crowded concert hall? Song competition between bushcricket males in natural choruses.

Bei vielen Laubheuschreckenarten produzieren nur die Männchen Gesänge, hauptsächlich um arteigene Weibchen anzulocken und sich mit Rivalen zu messen. Die Produktion der durch sexuelle Selektion ausgewählten akustischen Signale kostet das singende Männchen Energie. Die Gesangsleistung kann aufgrund der unterschiedlichen Körperqualität von Männchen zu Männchen variieren, was zu relevanten Konsequenzen für das Ergebnis der sexuellen Selektion führt. In dieser Arbeit soll die Auswirkung sexueller Selektion auf sekundäre Merkmale der Männchen untersucht werden, wie die Größe der Organe zur Schallproduktion und die Struktur akustischer Signale. Der Fokus liegt dabei auf den Faktoren, die die Qualität des Signalgebers und die Zusammensetzung des sozialen Umfelds bestimmen. Um diese Ziele zu erreichen, werden zwei Laubheuschreckenarten Poecilimon ampliatus und Poecilimon v. veluchianus untersucht. Die morphologischen Befunde zeigen, dass die positive Selektion auf klangproduzierende Strukturen mit der Präferenz von Weibchen für schwerere Männchen übereinstimmt und daher Rückschlüsse von der Körpermasse der Männchen auf die Größe der schallerzeugenden Organe gezogen werden können. Die Ergebnisse der akustischen Daten betonen die entscheidende Relevanz der Kombination verschiedener Umweltfaktoren. Sie zeigen, wie Männchen auf akustische Signale reagieren, die von benachbarten Konkurrenten erzeugt werden, indem sie ihre Signalerzeugung kohärent an die Stärke der Konkurrenz und ihren persönlichen energetischen Status anpassen. Männchen beider Arten zeigen eine interindividuelle Variation in der Fähigkeit, ihre Signalproduktion anzupassen, die sowohl durch Faktoren wie die Körpermasse des Männchens und der Populationsdichte beeinflusst wird. In zukünftigen Untersuchungen könnte der Frage nachgegangen werden, wie Männchen in der Natur von ihrer Kondition abhängige Signale und alternative Verhaltensstrategien entwickeln.Behaviours and structures related to mating are under sexual selection. Due to their costs, these traits honestly reflect the quality of the signaller. Using structures located on the wings, bushcricket males signal to attract females and repel rivals. Sound performance can vary between individuals of different body conditions, leading to relevant consequences for the outcome of sexual selection. This thesis aims to investigate the effect of sexual selection on secondary male traits, such as the size of sound production organs and the structure of acoustic signals. The focus is on the factors that determine the quality of the signaller and the composition of the social environment. To fulfil the aims, two bushcrickets species were used: Poecilimon ampliatus and Poecilimon v. veluchianus. In P. ampliatus, sexual selection plays a role in determining the size of morphological structures that are responsible for producing female-preferred acoustic signals. A positive relationship between body condition and size of sound-producing organs was found. Heavier and larger males had larger wing and longer stridulatory file with disproportionally longer and less dense stridulatory teeth. A further effect of sexual selection is highlighted during the acoustic contest. In both species, only heavy males shown plasticity in acoustic behaviour. Moreover, the sound produced in competition honestly reflects the males’ body condition. In P. ampliatus heavier males signal at higher effort than lighter males and increased their activity when the light rival was placed at a closer distance. In P. v. veluchianus heavy males increased their signal activity only when the number of light rivals increased. Future endeavour will be to study how males in nature evolve condition-dependent signalling and alternative behavioural strategies

Allometric scaling in two bushcricket species (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) suggests sexual selection on song-generating structures

Rebrina F, Anichini M, Reinhold K, Lehmann GUC. Allometric scaling in two bushcricket species (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) suggests sexual selection on song-generating structures. BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY. 2020;131(3):521-535.In acoustically communicating bushcrickets (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae), most signal properties are influenced by the dimensions of the stridulatory apparatus, which in turn reflects body size and condition of the signaller. Females can assess male quality based on acoustic signals, suggesting that male stridulatory structures may be under sexual selection. We investigated scaling relationships between stridulatory structures, body size and body mass in males of the bushcricket Poecilimon veluchianus veluchianus, in comparison to the congeneric Poecilimon ampliatus. Stridulatory structures in P. v. veluchianus exhibited strong left-right correlation and coupling with body size and mass, indicating stabilizing selection for functional integration. In addition, sound-generating (the width of stridulatory teeth) and sound-radiating (mirror area on the right tegmen) structures scaled hyperallometrically to tegmen area, suggesting that both are under sexual selection. Finally, interspecies comparison revealed a steeper slope in tegmen area and stridulatory file length in relation to body size in P. ampliatus than in P. v. veluchianus, implying stronger sexual selection in the former, smaller species. Our study emphasizes the significance of a comparative allometric approach in elucidating evolutionary patterns of sound-generating and -radiating structures

Identifying losers: Automatic identification of growth-stunted salmon in aquaculture using computer vision

During the production of salmonids in aquaculture, it is common to observe growth-stunted individuals. The cause for the so-called “loser fish syndrome” is unclear, which needs further investigation. Here, we present and compare computer vision systems for the automatic detection and classification of loser fish in Atlantic salmon images taken in sea cages. We evaluated two end-to-end approaches (combined detection and classification) based on YoloV5 and YoloV7, and a two-stage approach based on transfer learning for detection and an ensemble of classifiers (e.g., linear perception, Adaline, C-support vector, K-nearest neighbours, and multi-layer perceptron) for classification. To our knowledge, the use of an ensemble of classifiers, considering consolidated classifiers proposed in the literature, has not been applied to this problem before. Classification entailed the assigning of every fish to a healthy and a loser class. The results of the automatic classification were compared to the reliability of human classification. The best-performing computer vision approach was based on YoloV7, which reached a precision score of 86.30%, a recall score of 71.75%, and an F1 score of 78.35%. YoloV5 presented a precision of 79.7%, while the two-stage approach reached a precision of 66.05%. Human classification had a substantial agreement strength (Fleiss’ Kappa score of 0.68), highlighting that evaluation by a human is subjective. Our proposed automatic detection and classification system will enable farmers and researchers to follow the abundance of losers throughout the production period. We provide our dataset of annotated salmon images for further research

Growth-Inhibitory and Antiangiogenic Activity of the MEK Inhibitor PD0325901 in Malignant Melanoma with or without BRAF Mutations12

The Raf/MEK/ERK pathway is an important mediator of tumor cell proliferation and angiogenesis. Here, we investigated the growth-inhibitory and antiangiogenic properties of PD0325901, a novel MEK inhibitor, in human melanoma cells. PD0325901 effects were determined in a panel of melanoma cell lines with different genetic aberrations. PD0325901 markedly inhibited ERK phosphorylation and growth of both BRAF mutant and wild-type melanoma cell lines, with IC50 in the nanomolar range even in the least responsive models. Growth inhibition was observed both in vitro and in vivo in xenograft models, regardless of BRAF mutation status, and was due to G1-phase cell cycle arrest and subsequent induction of apoptosis. Cell cycle (cyclin D1, c-Myc, and p27KIP1) and apoptosis (Bcl-2 and survivin) regulators were modulated by PD0325901 at the protein level. Gene expression profiling revealed profound modulation of several genes involved in the negative control of MAPK signaling and melanoma cell differentiation, suggesting alternative, potentially relevant mechanisms of action. Finally, PD0325901 inhibited the production of the proangiogenic factors vascular endothelial growth factor and interleukin 8 at a transcriptional level. In conclusion, PD0325901 exerts potent growth-inhibitory, proapoptotic, and antiangiogenic activity in melanoma lines, regardless of their BRAF mutation status. Deeper understanding of the molecular mechanisms of action of MEK inhibitors will likely translate into more effective treatment strategies for patients experiencing malignant melanoma

Semaphorin 5A drives melanoma progression: role of Bcl-2, miR-204 and c-Myb

Abstract Background Melanoma, the most aggressive form of skin cancer, is characterized by high rates of metastasis, drug resistance and mortality. Here we investigated the role of Semaphorin 5A (Sema5A) on the properties associated with melanoma progression and the factors involved in Sema5A regulation. Methods Western blotting, qRT-PCR, Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay, immunohistochemistry of melanoma patient specimens and xenograft tissues, in vitro Transwell assay for cell migration and invasion evaluation, in vitro capillary-like structure formation analysis. Results A significant correlation of Sema5A mRNA expression and melanoma progression was observed by analyzing GEO profile dataset. Endogenous Sema5A protein was detected in 95% of human melanoma cell lines tested, in 70% of metastatic specimens from patients affected by melanoma, and 16% of in situ melanoma specimens showed a focal positivity. We demonstrated that Sema5A regulates in vitro cell migration and invasion and the formation of vasculogenic structures. We also found an increase of Sema5A at both mRNA and protein level after forced expression of Bcl-2. By use of transcriptional and proteasome inhibitors, we showed that Bcl-2 increases the stability of Sema5A mRNA and protein. Moreover, by ChIP we demonstrated that Sema5A expression is under the control of the transcription factor c-Myb and that c-Myb recruitment on Sema5A promoter is increased after Bcl-2 overexpression. Finally, a concomitant decrease in the expression of Sema5A, Bcl-2 and c-Myb proteins was observed in melanoma cells after miR-204 overexpression. Conclusion Overall our data provide evidences supporting the role of Sema5A in melanoma progression and the involvement of Bcl-2, miR-204 and c-Myb in regulating its expression

Adaptive plasticity of bushcricket acoustic signalling in socially heterogeneous choruses

Anichini M, Rebrina F, Reinhold K, Lehmann GUC. Adaptive plasticity of bushcricket acoustic signalling in socially heterogeneous choruses. ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR. 2019;158:139-148.In many species, males produce sounds to attract a female. In a chorus, males actively adjust their acoustic production depending on the presence and number of mating rivals. Plasticity in signal features might then be advantageous as males could tune their signalling activity to the contest intensity. However, the ability to exhibit plastic behaviour might be constrained and interindividual variation in plasticity can occur. In this field study, we examined the influence of body mass and social environment on the signal expression of male bushcrickets, Poecilimon veluchianus veluchianus. We tested whether differences in signal features of rivals of different body mass and number led to changes in the competition pressure perceived by focal males and, consequently, in their acoustic responses. We used the first principal component from a principal component analysis, reflecting verse duration, duty cycle and syllable number, as a measure of acoustic output. We found that the rivals' acoustic output depended only on their number, being higher for two rivals than one. However, the response of heavy focal males depended on the rivals' body mass. Contrary to what we expected, heavy males produced shorter verses with fewer syllables when competing against two heavy rivals than when competing against one or two light rivals or one heavy rival. Facing light competitors, heavy focal males responded more to two rivals than to one. In contrast, light focal males did not vary their signal features depending on competition conditions. These results indicate that body mass and social context drive interindividual variation in the capacity of P. v. veluchianus males to adjust their signal features to competition levels. We compare these findings with those previously obtained on congeneric species and discuss the outcomes' similarities and discrepancies. Lastly, we provide suggestions for future studies of socially induced plasticity in sexually selected acoustic signal features. (C) 2019 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

A sub-analysis of the SAGE study in Italy indicates good glycemic control in type 1 diabetes

use pumps/continuous glucose monitoring and HbA1