Evolution of facial muscle anatomy in dogs

Domestication shaped wolves into dogs and transformed both their behavior and their anatomy. Here we show that, in only 33,000 y, domestication transformed the facial muscle anatomy of dogs specifically for facial communication with humans. Based on dissections of dog and wolf heads, we show that the levator anguli oculi medialis, a muscle responsible for raising the inner eyebrow intensely, is uniformly present in dogs but not in wolves. Behavioral data, collected from dogs and wolves, show that dogs produce the eyebrow movement significantly more often and with higher intensity than wolves do, with highest-intensity movements produced exclusively by dogs. Interestingly, this movement increases paedomorphism and resembles an expression that humans produce when sad, so its production in dogs may trigger a nurturing response in humans. We hypothesize that dogs with expressive eyebrows had a selection advantage and that "puppy dog eyes" are the result of selection based on humans' preferences

Macaques attend to scratching in others

Self-directed behaviours in primates as a response to increasing psychological or physiological stress are a well-studied phenomenon. There is some evidence that these behaviours can be contagious when observed by conspecifics, but the adaptive function of this process is unclear. The ability to perceive stress in others and respond to it could be an important part of sustaining cohesiveness in social primates, but spontaneously acquiring stress-related behaviours (and potentially emotional states) from all group mates via contagion could be maladaptive. To investigate this, a group of captive Barbary macaques, Macaca sylvanus, were presented with videos of conspecifics engaging in self-directed behaviour (scratching) and neutral behaviour. Behavioural responses as a result of exposure to the stimuli were compared (1) between familiar and unfamiliar individuals, and (2) within familiar individuals to consider the modulating effects of social relationships. Our results did not show contagious scratching in this species. However, there were differences in how individuals attended to the scratching stimuli. Subjects were more attentive to scratching videos than to neutral videos and familiar than unfamiliar individuals. Within the familiar individuals, subjects were more attentive to those to whom they were weakly bonded. We suggest that increased attention to scratching behaviours may be adaptive in order to monitor and avoid stressed group mates, whose subsequent behaviour may be unpredictable and aggressive. Monitoring group mates who are not allies may also be adaptive as they may pose the biggest risk. These findings will help increase our understanding of subtle cues that can be communicative in primates, and also the evolutionary steps towards understanding others

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-motor neuron disease, monoclonal gammopathy, hyperparathyroidism, and B12 deficiency: case report and review of the literature

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (the most common form of motor neuron disease) is a progressive and devastating disease involving both lower and upper motor neurons, typically following a relentless path towards death. Given the gravity of this diagnosis, all efforts must be made by the clinician to exclude alternative and more treatable entities. Frequent serology testing involves searching for treatable disorders, including vitamin B12 deficiency, parathyroid anomalies, and monoclonal gammopathies.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We present the case of a 78-year-old Caucasian man with all three of the aforementioned commonly searched for disorders during an investigation for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The clinical utility of these common tests and what they ultimately mean in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is discussed, along with a review of the literature.</p

Paedomorphic facial expressions give dogs a selective advantage

How wolves were first domesticated is unknown. One hypothesis suggests that wolves underwent a process of self-domestication by tolerating human presence and taking advantage of scavenging possibilities. The puppy-like physical and behavioural traits seen in dogs are thought to have evolved later, as a byproduct of selection against aggression. Using speed of selection from rehoming shelters as a proxy for artificial selection, we tested whether paedomorphic features give dogs a selective advantage in their current environment. Dogs who exhibited facial expressions that enhance their neonatal appearance were preferentially selected by humans. Thus, early domestication of wolves may have occurred not only as wolf populations became tamer, but also as they exploited human preferences for paedomorphic characteristics. These findings, therefore, add to our understanding of early dog domestication as a complex co-evolutionary process

Expression of Regulatory Platelet MicroRNAs in Patients with Sickle Cell Disease

Background: Increased platelet activation in sickle cell disease (SCD) contributes to a state of hypercoagulability and confers a risk of thromboembolic complications. The role for post-transcriptional regulation of the platelet transcriptome by microRNAs (miRNAs) in SCD has not been previously explored. This is the first study to determine whether platelets from SCD exhibit an altered miRNA expression profile. Methods and Findings: We analyzed the expression of miRNAs isolated from platelets from a primary cohort (SCD = 19, controls = 10) and a validation cohort (SCD = 7, controls = 7) by hybridizing to the Agilent miRNA microarrays. A dramatic difference in miRNA expression profiles between patients and controls was noted in both cohorts separately. A total of 40 differentially expressed platelet miRNAs were identified as common in both cohorts (p-value 0.05, fold change>2) with 24 miRNAs downregulated. Interestingly, 14 of the 24 downregulated miRNAs were members of three families - miR-329, miR-376 and miR-154 - which localized to the epigenetically regulated, maternally imprinted chromosome 14q32 region. We validated the downregulated miRNAs, miR-376a and miR-409-3p, and an upregulated miR-1225-3p using qRT-PCR. Over-expression of the miR-1225-3p in the Meg01 cells was followed by mRNA expression profiling to identify mRNA targets. This resulted in significant transcriptional repression of 1605 transcripts. A combinatorial approach using Meg01 mRNA expression profiles following miR-1225-3p overexpression, a computational prediction analysis of miRNA target sequences and a previously published set of differentially expressed platelet transcripts from SCD patients, identified three novel platelet mRNA targets: PBXIP1, PLAGL2 and PHF20L1. Conclusions: We have identified significant differences in functionally active platelet miRNAs in patients with SCD as compared to controls. These data provide an important inventory of differentially expressed miRNAs in SCD patients and an experimental framework for future studies of miRNAs as regulators of biological pathways in platelets. © 2013 Jain et al

Exclusion Performance in Dwarf Goats (Capra aegagrus hircus) and Sheep (Ovis orientalis aries)

Using a comparative approach, we investigated the ability of dwarf goats and sheep to use direct and indirect information about the location of a food reward in an object-choice task. Subjects had to choose between two cups with only one covering a reward. Before making a choice, subjects received information about the baited (direct information) or non-baited cup (indirect information). Both goats and sheep were able to use direct information (presence of food) in the object choice task. After controlling for local enhancement, we found that goats rather than sheep were able to use indirect information (i.e., the absence of food) to find a reward. The actual test setup could not clarify whether individual goats were able to inferentially reason about the content of the baited cup when only shown the content of the non-baited cup or if they simply avoided the empty cup in that situation. As browsing species, feral and wild goats exhibit highly selective feeding behaviour compared to the rather unselective grazing sheep. The potential influence of this species-specific foraging flexibility of goats and sheep for using direct and indirect information to find a food reward is discussed in relation to a higher aversion to losses in food acquisition in goats compared to sheep

Dog breed differences in visual communication with humans

Domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) have developed a close relationship with humans through the process of domestication. In human-dog interactions, eye contact is a key element of relationship initiation and maintenance. Previous studies have suggested that canine ability to produce human-directed communicative signals is influenced by domestication history, from wolves to dogs, as well as by recent breed selection for particular working purposes. To test the genetic basis for such abilities in purebred dogs, we examined gazing behavior towards humans using two types of behavioral experiments: the `visual contact task' and the `unsolvable task'. A total of 125 dogs participated in the study. Based on the genetic relatedness among breeds subjects were classified into five breed groups: Ancient, Herding, Hunting, Retriever-Mastiff and Working). We found that it took longer time for Ancient breeds to make an eye-contact with humans, and that they gazed at humans for shorter periods of time than any other breed group in the unsolvable situation. Our findings suggest that spontaneous gaze behavior towards humans is associated with genetic similarity to wolves rather than with recent selective pressure to create particular working breeds

MicroRNAs hsa-miR-99b, hsa-miR-330, hsa-miR-126 and hsa-miR-30c: Potential Diagnostic Biomarkers in Natural Killer (NK) Cells of Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)/ Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME)

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS/ME) is a complex multisystem disease of unknown aetiology which causes debilitating symptoms in up to 1% of the global population. Although a large cohort of genes have been shown to exhibit altered expression in CFS/ME patients, it is currently unknown whether microRNA (miRNA) molecules which regulate gene translation contribute to disease pathogenesis. We hypothesized that changes in microRNA expression in patient leukocytes contribute to CFS/ME pathology, and may therefore represent useful diagnostic biomarkers that can be detected in the peripheral blood of CFS/ME patients.miRNA expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from CFS/ME patients and healthy controls was analysed using the Ambion Bioarray V1. miRNA demonstrating differential expression were validated by qRT-PCR and then replicated in fractionated blood leukocyte subsets from an independent patient cohort. The CFS/ME associated miRNA identified by these experiments were then transfected into primary NK cells and gene expression analyses conducted to identify their gene targets.Microarray analysis identified differential expression of 34 miRNA, all of which were up-regulated. Four of the 34 miRNA had confirmed expression changes by qRT-PCR. Fractionating PBMC samples by cell type from an independent patient cohort identified changes in miRNA expression in NK-cells, B-cells and monocytes with the most significant abnormalities occurring in NK cells. Transfecting primary NK cells with hsa-miR-99b or hsa-miR-330-3p, resulted in gene expression changes consistent with NK cell activation but diminished cytotoxicity, suggesting that defective NK cell function contributes to CFS/ME pathology.This study demonstrates altered microRNA expression in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of CFS/ME patients, which are potential diagnostic biomarkers. The greatest degree of miRNA deregulation was identified in NK cells with targets consistent with cellular activation and altered effector function

Gaze following in an asocial reptile (Eublepharis macularius)

Gaze following is the ability to utilise information from another's gaze. It is most often seen in a social context or as a reflexive response to interesting external stimuli. Social species can potentially reveal utilisable knowledge about another's future intentions by attending to the target of their gaze. However, in even more fundamental situations, being sensitive to another's gaze can also be useful such as when it can facilitate greater foraging efficiency or lead to earlier predator detection. While gaze sensitivity has been shown to be prevalent in a number of social species, little is currently known about the potential for gaze following in asocial species. The current study investigated whether an asocial reptile, the leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius), could reliably use the visual indicators of attention to follow the gaze of a conspecific around a barrier. We operated three trial conditions and found subjects (N = 6) responded significantly more to the conspecific demonstrator looking up at a laser stimulus projected onto an occluder during the experimental condition compared to either of two control conditions. The study's findings point toward growing evidence for gaze-following ability in reptiles, who are typically categorised as asocial. Furthermore, our findings support developing comparative social cognition research showing the origins of gaze following and other cognitive behaviours that may be more widely distributed across taxonomic groups than hitherto thought