Avian Models for Human Cognitive Neuroscience: A Proposal.

Research on avian cognitive neuroscience over the past two decades has revealed the avian brain to be a better model for understanding human cognition than previously thought, despite differences in the neuroarchitecture of avian and mammalian brains. The brain, behavior, and cognition of songbirds have provided an excellent model of human cognition in one domain, namely learning human language and the production of speech. There are other important behavioral candidates of avian cognition, however, notably the capacity of corvids to remember the past and plan for the future, as well as their ability to think about another's perspective, and physical reasoning. We review this work and assess the evidence that the corvid brain can support such a cognitive architecture. We propose potential applications of these behavioral paradigms for cognitive neuroscience, including recent work on single-cell recordings and neuroimaging in corvids. Finally, we discuss their impact on understanding human developmental cognition.Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research CouncilThis is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2015.04.02

Do birds have the capacity for fun?

A crow carries a jar lid to the top of a sloping snowy rooftop in Russia. Sitting on the lid and sliding down the roof, you could think of it as surfing. It picks up the lid and repeats this behaviour again and again (Figure 1A). A group of black swans ride the crest of a wave that also looks like they are surfing. Once the wave reaches the beach, the swans fly back to another wave crest and perform the same actions again (Figure 1B). In both cases, the birds’ behaviours do not seem to provide any obvious function apart from enjoyment — they look like they are having fun. Videos of these behaviours received millions of views on YouTube, so we appear to like watching other animals having fun. But is this interpretation of the birds’ actions as having fun pure anthropomorphism or is it possible that an animal can act solely for its own enjoyment?This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.09.02

Neuroethological studies of primate social perception

The neuroethological basis of social signals was investigated using a multidisciplinary approach, involving connectional and comparative analysis of anatomical data, single cell recording and behavioural techniques. Previous literature implicates the amygdala, anterior temporal and prefrontal cortex in primate social functions. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and cluster analysis were used to analyse the connectional relatedness of macaque cortico-cortical and amygdalo-cortical connections. This objective analysis separated the amygdala nuclei into two groups, the basolateral (BL) and centromedial (CM) complexes. A comparative analysis was made of the possible functions of the amygdala nuclei by correlating amygdala nuclear volume with 5 socio-ecological indices, across 44 primate species. The lateral basal (LB) nucleus and BL size was found to correlate positively with social complexity. CM size correlated negatively. The LB nucleus receives information from the STS, which contains visual neurons responsive to eyes, heads and bodies. These cells were assessed for coding of socially relevant information. Single cell recording localised within the macaque superior temporal sulcus (STS) revealed neurons responsive to specific views, elevations and orientations of the head, eye position, and specific views of bodies walking in specific directions and reaching to objects. The tuning of these neurons could therefore support the function of recognition of another's purposive behaviour (e.g. direction of attention or intention). Visually responsive neurons in the STS also differentiated faces of different species (i.e. monkeys, humans and other animals). Behavioural studies suggest that monkeys do not follow the direction of attention of humans, yet monkeys appear to have the neural capacity. A behavioural study using video stimuli, revealed that monkeys spontaneously follow other monkeys' gaze onto an object or point in space. It is concluded that the amygdala and STS are part of a neural system which enable monkeys to interpret another's gaze and actions within a purposive behavioural framework

An avian perspective on simulating other minds.

An exciting new study on ravens by Bugnyar, Reber, and Buckner (2016) raises important questions about whether nonhuman animals are capable of simulating other minds, rather than theorizing about them.This is the author accepted manuscript. It is currently under an indefinite embargo pending publication by Springer

Susceptibility Provision Enhances Effective De-escalation (SPEED): utilizing rapid phenotypic susceptibility testing in Gram-negative bloodstream infections and its potential clinical impact

Abstract Objectives We evaluated the performance and time to result for pathogen identification (ID) and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) of the Accelerate Pheno™ system (AXDX) compared with standard of care (SOC) methods. We also assessed the hypothetical improvement in antibiotic utilization if AXDX had been implemented. Methods Clinical samples from patients with monomicrobial Gram-negative bacteraemia were tested and compared between AXDX and the SOC methods of the VERIGENE® and Bruker MALDI Biotyper® systems for ID and the VITEK® 2 system for AST. Additionally, charts were reviewed to calculate theoretical times to antibiotic de-escalation, escalation and active and optimal therapy Results ID mean time was 21 h for MALDI-TOF MS, 4.4 h for VERIGENE® and 3.7 h for AXDX. AST mean time was 35 h for VITEK® 2 and 9.0 h for AXDX. For ID, positive percentage agreement was 95.9% and negative percentage agreement was 99.9%. For AST, essential agreement was 94.5% and categorical agreement was 93.5%. If AXDX results had been available to inform patient care, 25% of patients could have been put on active therapy sooner, while 78% of patients who had therapy optimized during hospitalization could have had therapy optimized sooner. Additionally, AXDX could have reduced time to de-escalation (16 versus 31 h) and escalation (19 versus 31 h) compared with SOC. Conclusions By providing fast and reliable ID and AST results, AXDX has the potential to improve antimicrobial utilization and enhance antimicrobial stewardship

New Caledonian crows learn the functional properties of novel tool types.

New Caledonian crows were presented with Bird and Emery's (2009a) Aesop's fable paradigm, which requires stones to be dropped into a water-filled tube to bring floating food within reach. The crows did not spontaneously use stones as tools, but quickly learned to do so, and to choose objects and materials with functional properties. Some crows discarded both inefficient and non-functional objects before observing their effects on the water level. Interestingly, the crows did not learn to discriminate between functional and non-functional objects and materials when there was an arbitrary, rather than causal, link between object and reward. This finding suggests that the crows' performances were not based on associative learning alone. That is, learning was not guided solely by the covariation rate between stimuli and outcomes or the conditioned reinforcement properties acquired by functional objects. Our results, therefore, show that New Caledonian crows can process causal information not only when it is linked to sticks and stick-like tools but also when it concerns the functional properties of novel types of tool

Direct antimicrobial susceptibility testing of positive blood cultures: A comparison of the accelerate Pheno™ and VITEK® 2 systems

Objectives To compare the performance and time-to-result (TTR) for antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) of positive blood cultures (PBC) using the Accelerate Pheno™ system (AXDX) and both a direct VITEK® 2 card inoculation workflow (DV2) and traditional FDA-approved VITEK® 2 workflow using subcultured isolates (V2). Methods Patient samples with monomicrobial Gram-negative rod bacteremia were tested on AXDX and DV2 in tandem, and compared to V2 AST results. Categorical agreement (CA) errors were adjudicated using broth microdilution. Instrumentation times and AST TTR were compared. Results AXDX and DV2 had a CA of 91.5% and 97.4%, respectively, compared to V2. Post-adjudication, AXDX, DV2, and V2 had CA of 94.7%, 95.7% and 96.5%, respectively. Instrument run times were 6.6 h, 9.4 h, and 9.2 h, and AST TTR were 8.9 h, 12.9 h and 35.5 h, respectively. Conclusions AXDX and DV2 AST is fast and reliable, which may have significant antimicrobial stewardship implications

The Family Name as Socio-Cultural Feature and Genetic Metaphor: From Concepts to Methods

A recent workshop entitled The Family Name as Socio-Cultural Feature and Genetic Metaphor: From Concepts to Methods was held in Paris in December 2010, sponsored by the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and by the journal Human Biology. This workshop was intended to foster a debate on questions related to the family names and to compare different multidisciplinary approaches involving geneticists, historians, geographers, sociologists and social anthropologists. This collective paper presents a collection of selected communications