Investigation Into the Humaneness of Slaughter Methods for Guinea Pigs (Cavia porcelus) in the Andean Region

Guinea pigs (Cavia porcelus) are an important source of nonhuman animal protein in the Andean region of South America. Specific guidelines regarding the welfare of guinea pigs before and during slaughter have yet to be developed. This study critically assessed the humaneness of 4 different stunning/slaughter methods for guinea pigs: cervical neck dislocation (n = 60), electrical head-only stunning (n = 83), carbon dioxide (CO(2)) stunning (n = 21), and penetrating captive bolt (n = 10). Following cervical neck dislocation, 97% of guinea pigs had at least 1 behavioral or cranial/spinal response. Six percent of guinea pigs were classified as mis-stunned after electrical stunning, and 1% were classified as mis-stunned after captive bolt. Increased respiratory effort was observed during CO(2) stunning. Apart from this finding, there were no other obvious behavioral responses that could be associated with suffering. Of the methods assessed, captive bolt was deemed the most humane, effective, and practical method of stunning guinea pigs. Cervical neck dislocation should not be recommended as a slaughter method for guinea pigs

The shallow marine ostracod communities of the Azores (Mid-North Atlantic) : taphonomy and palaeoecology

This is the first palaeoecological and taphonomical study of the Recent marine ostracods from the Azores. The aims of this work were to address the following questions: i) to establish the typical ostracod assemblages from the shallow waters of the Azores; ii) to determine the bathymetric ranges for each ostracod species; iii) to investigate the time span and depth in which significant transport occurs; iv) to quantify the amount of out of habitat transport between sandy beaches, tide pools and the sublittoral; v) to determine distinctive taphonomic features that can be used to recognize the amount of temporal resolution in ostracod assemblages. Fifteen species were recovered, representing 8 families and 12 genera (Loxoconcha, Neonesidea, Xestoleberis, Aurila, Urocythereis, Heterocythereis, Carinocythereis, Callistocythere, Leptocythere, Semicytherura, Lanceostoma and Cylindroleberis). The living assemblages are dominated by specimens of the Loxoconchidae, Xestoleberidae and Hemicytheridae, whereas the dead assemblages are dominated by specimens of the Loxoconchidae, Hemicytheridae, Bairdiidae, Xestoleberidae and Trachyleberidae. The shift from life-dominated assemblages in the shallower depths to death-dominated assemblages at greater depths is a consequence of significant transport downwards. The abundance of ostracods is higher in the first 10-20 m depth, especially in fine to medium sandy substrates. Considerable differences among islands were supported by the Bayesian model, as a consequence of the physical and hydrodynamic factors that differently affect each of the Azorean islands. Large-scale (sea-surface currents, Holocene relative sea-level, storms) and small-scale processes are responsible for shaping the Azorean Recent marine ostracod communities. No living specimens were found in the samples collected at the beach faces, thus reinforcing former interpretations of one of the authors (S. Ávila) that advocate that at a global scale, sandy beaches in oceanic islands located at temperate latitudes are almost or even completely devoid of life due to historical reasons related with the sea level changes

Gender and sexual orientation differences in cognition across adulthood : age is kinder to women than to men regardless of sexual orientation

Despite some evidence of greater age-related deterioration of the brain in males than in females, gender differences in rates of cognitive aging have proved inconsistent. The present study employed web-based methodology to collect data from people aged 20-65 years (109,612 men; 88,509 women). As expected, men outperformed women on tests of mental rotation and line angle judgment, whereas women outperformed men on tests of category fluency and object location memory. Performance on all tests declined with age but significantly more so for men than for women. Heterosexuals of each gender generally outperformed bisexuals and homosexuals on tests where that gender was superior; however, there were no clear interactions between age and sexual orientation for either gender. At least for these particular tests from young adulthood to retirement, age is kinder to women than to men, but treats heterosexuals, bisexuals, and homosexuals just the same

In vivo biodistribution of carboxymethylchitosan/poly(amidoamine) dendrimer nanoparticles in rats

Carboxymethylchitosan/poly(amidoamine) dendrimer nanoparticles (CMCht/PAMAM) have recently been proposed for intracellular drug delivery purposes. These are constituted by a PAMAM dendrimer core grafted with chains of CMCht. Previous reports have shown that these nanoparticles disclosed an improved cytotoxic profile when compared to traditional dendrimers. Following on these results the present study aims to assess, for the first time, the short-term in vivo biodistribution of CMCht/PAMAM dendrimer nanoparticles upon intravenous injections in Wistar Han rats. The rats were injected in the tail vein with 1 and 10 µg/g, respectively, of fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) labeled CMCht/PAMAM dendrimer nanoparticles. Brain, liver, kidney and lung were collected at 24, 48 and 72 hours after injection and further stained with phalloidin-TRITC (red) and DAPI (blue) to trace the nanoparticles within the tissues. Liver, kidney and lung were also stained for haematoxylin and eosin in order to assess possible alterations in the morphology of these organs. CMCht/PAMAM dendrimer nanoparticles were observed within the vascular space and parenchyma of liver, kidney and lung, and in the choroid plexus, after 24, 48 and 72 hours upon intravenous injection of nanoparticles. No particles were observed in the brain parenchyma, nor any apparent deleterious histological changes, were observed within these organs. The present report revealed that CMCht/PAMAM dendrimer nanoparticles were stable in circulation for periods up to 72 hours, targeting the main organs/systems through internalization by the cells present in their parenchyma. These results provide positive indicators to their potential use in the future as intracellular drug delivery systems.Funds attributed by Fundação Calouste de Gulbenkian to A.J. Salgado under the scope of the The Gulbenkian Programme to Support Research in Life Sciences; Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (Science 2007 Program – A.J. Salgado, pre- and postdoctoral fellowships to J.M. Oliveira – SFRH/BPD/63175/2009, A.M. Frias – SFRH/BPD/45206/2008, F. Marques – SFRH/BPD/33379/2008, A.M. Falcão – SFRH/BD/44485/2008, S. Roque – SFRH/BD/24539/2005; S.R. Cerqueira – SFRH/BD/SFRH/BD/48406: 2008)

Highlights from the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory is the world's largest cosmic ray observatory. Our current exposure reaches nearly 40,000 km$^2$ str and provides us with an unprecedented quality data set. The performance and stability of the detectors and their enhancements are described. Data analyses have led to a number of major breakthroughs. Among these we discuss the energy spectrum and the searches for large-scale anisotropies. We present analyses of our X$_{max}$ data and show how it can be interpreted in terms of mass composition. We also describe some new analyses that extract mass sensitive parameters from the 100% duty cycle SD data. A coherent interpretation of all these recent results opens new directions. The consequences regarding the cosmic ray composition and the properties of UHECR sources are briefly discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 12 figures, talk given at the 33rd International Cosmic Ray Conference, Rio de Janeiro 201

Sources of skill in lake temperature, discharge and ice-off seasonal forecasting tools

Despite high potential benefits, the development of seasonal forecasting tools in the water sector has been slower than in other sectors. Here we assess the skill of seasonal forecasting tools for lakes and reservoirs set up at four sites in Australia and Europe. These tools consist of coupled hydrological catchment and lake models forced with seasonal meteorological forecast ensembles to provide probabilistic predictions of seasonal anomalies in water discharge, temperature and ice-off. Successful implementation requires a rigorous assessment of the tools' predictive skill and an apportionment of the predictability between legacy effects and input forcing data. To this end, models were forced with two meteorological datasets from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), the seasonal forecasting system, SEAS5, with 3-month lead times and the ERA5 reanalysis. Historical skill was assessed by comparing both model outputs, i.e. seasonal lake hindcasts (forced with SEAS5), and pseudo-observations (forced with ERA5). The skill of the seasonal lake hindcasts was generally low although higher than the reference hindcasts, i.e. pseudo-observations, at some sites for certain combinations of season and variable. The SEAS5 meteorological predictions showed less skill than the lake hindcasts. In fact, skilful lake hindcasts identified for selected seasons and variables were not always synchronous with skilful SEAS5 meteorological hindcasts, raising questions on the source of the predictability. A set of sensitivity analyses showed that most of the forecasting skill originates from legacy effects, although during winter and spring in Norway some skill was coming from SEAS5 over the 3-month target season. When SEAS5 hindcasts were skilful, additional predictive skill originates from the interaction between legacy and SEAS5 skill. We conclude that lake forecasts forced with an ensemble of boundary conditions resampled from historical meteorology are currently likely to yield higher-quality forecasts in most cases.</p

Response to comment on 'Amphibian fungal panzootic causes catastrophic and ongoing loss of biodiversity'

Lambert et al. question our retrospective and holistic epidemiological assessment of the role of chytridiomycosis in amphibian declines. Their alternative assessment is narrow and provides an incomplete evaluation of evidence. Adopting this approach limits understanding of infectious disease impacts and hampers conservation efforts. We reaffirm that our study provides unambiguous evidence that chytridiomycosis has affected at least 501 amphibian species

Anisotropy and chemical composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays using arrival directions measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Collaboration has reported evidence for anisotropy in the distribution of arrival directions of the cosmic rays with energies $E>E_{th}=5.5\times 10^{19}$ eV. These show a correlation with the distribution of nearby extragalactic objects, including an apparent excess around the direction of Centaurus A. If the particles responsible for these excesses at $E>E_{th}$ are heavy nuclei with charge $Z$, the proton component of the sources should lead to excesses in the same regions at energies $E/Z$. We here report the lack of anisotropies in these directions at energies above $E_{th}/Z$ (for illustrative values of $Z=6,\ 13,\ 26$). If the anisotropies above $E_{th}$ are due to nuclei with charge $Z$, and under reasonable assumptions about the acceleration process, these observations imply stringent constraints on the allowed proton fraction at the lower energies

Update on the correlation of the highest energy cosmic rays with nearby extragalactic matter

Data collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory through 31 August 2007 showed evidence for anisotropy in the arrival directions of cosmic rays above the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz'min energy threshold, \nobreak{$6\times 10^{19}$eV}. The anisotropy was measured by the fraction of arrival directions that are less than $3.1^\circ$ from the position of an active galactic nucleus within 75 Mpc (using the V\'eron-Cetty and V\'eron $12^{\rm th}$ catalog). An updated measurement of this fraction is reported here using the arrival directions of cosmic rays recorded above the same energy threshold through 31 December 2009. The number of arrival directions has increased from 27 to 69, allowing a more precise measurement. The correlating fraction is $(38^{+7}_{-6})$, compared with $21$ expected for isotropic cosmic rays. This is down from the early estimate of $(69^{+11}_{-13})$. The enlarged set of arrival directions is examined also in relation to other populations of nearby extragalactic objects: galaxies in the 2 Microns All Sky Survey and active galactic nuclei detected in hard X-rays by the Swift Burst Alert Telescope. A celestial region around the position of the radiogalaxy Cen A has the largest excess of arrival directions relative to isotropic expectations. The 2-point autocorrelation function is shown for the enlarged set of arrival directions and compared to the isotropic expectation.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physics on 31 August 201

Advanced functionality for radio analysis in the Offline software framework of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The advent of the Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) necessitates the development of a powerful framework for the analysis of radio measurements of cosmic ray air showers. As AERA performs "radio-hybrid" measurements of air shower radio emission in coincidence with the surface particle detectors and fluorescence telescopes of the Pierre Auger Observatory, the radio analysis functionality had to be incorporated in the existing hybrid analysis solutions for fluoresence and surface detector data. This goal has been achieved in a natural way by extending the existing Auger Offline software framework with radio functionality. In this article, we lay out the design, highlights and features of the radio extension implemented in the Auger Offline framework. Its functionality has achieved a high degree of sophistication and offers advanced features such as vectorial reconstruction of the electric field, advanced signal processing algorithms, a transparent and efficient handling of FFTs, a very detailed simulation of detector effects, and the read-in of multiple data formats including data from various radio simulation codes. The source code of this radio functionality can be made available to interested parties on request.Comment: accepted for publication in NIM A, 13 pages, minor corrections to author list and references in v