The Occurrence of Postconflict Skills in Captive Immature Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

Conflict management strategies can reduce costs of aggressive competition in group-living animals. Post-conflict behaviours such as reconciliation and third party post-conflict affiliation are widely accepted as social skills in primates and have been demonstrated in many species. Although immature primates possess a repertoire of species-specific behaviours, it is thought that they gradually develop appropriate social skills throughout prolonged juvenility to establish and maintain complex social relationships within their group. We examined the occurrence of post-conflict skills in five immature chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) over 15 months focussing on interactions that were not with the subject’s mother. We observed reconciliation, with conciliatory tendencies comparable to adults, and provide the first evidence that captive immature chimpanzees commonly reconciled using social play. However, immatures were not more likely to reconcile valuable than non-valuable relationships. We also observed third party post-conflict affiliation although at a lower level than reported for adults. Our results provide evidence for post-conflict skills in immature chimpanzees but the lack of higher conciliatory tendency with valuable partners and low occurrence of third party affiliation indicates extended juvenility may be required refine these skills. Further work is needed to investigate whether these behaviours have the same function and effectiveness as those found in adults

Influence of leptin on arterial distensibility - A novel link between obesity and cardiovascular disease?

Background-The mechanisms by which obesity increases the risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD) are poorly understood. In experimental models, leptin, a hormone produced by adipose tissue, has been shown adversely to affect vascular health. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that high leptin concentrations are associated with lower arterial distensibility, an index of circulatory function relevant to the atherosclerotic process.Methods and Results-Noninvasive, high-resolution, vascular ultrasound was used to measure brachial artery distensibility in 294 healthy adolescents (aged 13 to 16 years) who had a broad range of body mass indexes. Fat mass was measured by bioelectric impedance analysis; fasting serum leptin concentration by radioimmunoassay; and lipid profile, fasting insulin, glucose, and C-reactive protein concentrations by standard laboratory techniques. Higher leptin concentrations were associated with impaired arterial distensibility (regression coefficient, -1.3% change in arterial distension per 10% increase in leptin; 95% CI, -1.9% to -0.8%; P<0.001). This association was independent of fat mass, blood pressure, and C-reactive protein, fasting insulin, or LDL cholesterol concentrations.Conclusions-Elevation in leptin was associated with impaired vascular function, independent of the metabolic and inflammatory disturbances associated with obesity. Our observations are consistent with data from experimental models and suggest that high leptin concentration is an important mechanism for the adverse influence of body fatness on CVD

Analysis of Parametric Oscillatory Instability in Power Recycled LIGO Interferometer

We present the analysis of a nonlinear effect of parametric oscillatory instability in power recycled LIGO interferometer with the Fabry-Perot (FP) cavities in the arms. The basis for this effect is the excitation of the additional (Stokes) optical mode and the mirror elastic mode, when the optical energy stored in the main FP cavity main mode exceeds the certain threshold and the frequencies are related so that sum of frequencies of Stokes and elastic modes are approximately equal to frequencyof main mode. The presence of anti-Stokes modes (with frequency approximately equal to sum of frequencies of main and elastic modes) can depress parametric instability. However, it is very likely that the anti-Stokes modes will not compensate the parametric instability completely.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures. submitted to Physics Letters

Serum Lipid Profile and Retinol in Rats Fed Micronutrient Rich Edible Vegetable Oil Blend

Khan HN, Farooqi H, Ali S, Khan JS. 2010. Serum lipid profile and retinol in rats fed micronutrient rich edible vegetable oilblend. Nusantara Bioscience 2: 109-116. The animal rats were given 10% oil mixed in fat free diet for one month or six months. In theexperiment, the groups of rats were fed with the micronutrient (MN) rich blends mixed previously with 1% cholesterol, and their effectswere tested on serum lipid profile. Most significant changes in the High Dencity Lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol were observed in onemonthstudy where HDL increased from 24 mg/dl in group to 64 mg/dl in the Mustard palm olein oil blend (MP); in mustard oil (MO)alone fed rats, the HDL was 36 mg/dl. Serum retinol was analyzed as one of the important MN in rats receiving the diet mixed with theblend for various duration of time. The results assume great significance as MO or palm olein oil (PO) alone could not bring themaximum beneficial effects, and the blends appear to have more merit as health oils in alleviating adverse health condition such ascoronary heart disease (CHD), diabetes, obesity and hypertension

Time cost evaluation of trust based access control for XML databases

XML databases are widely used in many different areas. They are multi user systems and can store a huge amount of data. Sensitive and important data need to be protected and stored securely. We have developed a dynamic trust based access control for XML databases to improve the security level and prevent malicious transactions from both internal and external users. Our system tracks user history of errors and bad transactions and updates the access privileges depending on trust values. In this paper, we evaluate the use of trust based access control by measuring the real time cost. The experimental work is performed to test the access time with and without trust based access control and suggests that the approach, though costly is not prohibitively time consuming

Clinical spectrum and factors impacting outcome of Candida auris: a single center study from Pakistan

Background: An outbreak of Candida auris began globally in 2014 including Pakistan and since then it has emerged as a nosocomial multi-drug resistant pathogen. The aim of this study was to assess the clinical spectrum and outcome of patients, from a single center in Pakistan, in whom C. auris was isolated. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on 92 patients; ≥16 years with at least one culture positive for C. auris, at the Aga Khan University Hospital Karachi, Pakistan from Sept 2014-Mar 2017.Demographics, clinical history, management and outcome were studied. A logistic regression model was used to identify the risk factors for mortality. Results: We identified 92 patients with C. auris (193 isolates), of whom 52.2% were males. Mean age was 54.14 ± 20.4 years. Positive cultures were obtained after a median hospital stay of 14 days. Most patients had a history of surgery (57.6%), antibiotic use (95.6%), ICU stay (44.6%), indwelling lines (88.04%) and isolation of another multi-resistant organism (52.2%).Most patients were symptomatic (70.7%). Amongst these, 38 had candidemia while 27 had non-candidemia infections. Sites of infection included central lines (35), urinary tract (19), peritonitis (4), nosocomial ventriculitis (1), empyema (1), fungal keratitis (1) otitis externa (1) and surgical site (1). Fluconazole resistance was 100% while 28.5 and 7.9% were Voriconazole and Amphotericin resistant respectively. Overall crude mortality was 42.4% while 14-day mortality was 31.5%. Both infected and colonized cases shared similar mortality (46.2% vs 33.3%; p-value = 0.25). Among infected cases mortality was high in candidemia compared to non-candidemia (60.5% vs 25.9%) in which deaths related to C. auris were 34.2% vs 22.2% respectively. On multivariate analysis candidemia (AOR 4.2, 95% CI: 1.09-16.49; p-value = 0.037) was associated with greater mortality with source control being the only protective factor for mortality (AOR 0.22, 95% CI: 0.05-0.92; p-value0.038] while ICU stay, rapidity of blood culture clearance, DM, malignancy and MDR co-infection had no impact. Conclusion: Patients with C.auris from a single center in Pakistan have a wide clinical spectrum with line associated infection being the predominant site of infection. Candidemia leads to high mortality while source control improves outcome

Changing pattern of antimicrobial susceptibility of organisms causing community acquired urinary tract infections

Objective: To assess common organisms causing Urinary Treat Infection (UTI) in this community and to see antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of these isolates. Design: Prospective study on urine samples. Setting: Tertiary care hospital in Karachi.Methods: Over a period of 8 years (1990-97) 9,892 urine samples grew significant bacteriuria for various organisms. All Gram negative rods and entercocci was identified by using API 20E and API 32 strips respectively. Staphylococci were identified by catalase, coagulase and D\u27Nase tests. Antimicrobial sensitivity testing of all isolates was performed on Diagnostic Sensitivity Test plates by Kerby Bauer method. The discs used were ampicillin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, cefotaxime, ceftriaxone, aztreonam, ofloxacin, carbenicillin, amikacin, gentamicin, penicillin, clindamycin, methicillin, vancomycin, ceftazidime, cefuroxime, Nalidixic acid, pipemedic acid and Nitrofurantoin. Results: Our results indicate that E. coli and Klebsiella aerogenes are the most common organisms causing UTI in this community. Other organisms involved are Pseudomonas aeroginosa, Enterobacter species, Enterococcus, Proteus mirabillus, Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus saprophyticus. Organisms resistant to various antimicrobial agents such as gentamicin, Amikacin, Ofloxacin, Cefotaxime and Ceftazidime are increasing. Conclusion: In conclusion, E. coli and Klebsiella aerogenes are the most common organisms causing UTI in this community. Pattern of antibiotic susceptibility to first line antibiotics is changing. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing of all isolates is crucial for the treatment of UTI

The use of imagery in global health: an analysis of infectious disease documents and a framework to guide practice

We report an empirical analysis of the use of imagery by the key actors in global health who set policy and strategy, and we provide a comprehensive overview, particularly related to images used in reports on vaccination and antimicrobial resistance. The narrative currently depicted in imagery is one of power imbalances, depicting women and children from low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) with less dignity, respect, and power than those from high-income countries. The absence of any evidence of consent for using intrusive and out-of-context images, particularly of children in LMICs, is concerning. The framework we have developed provides a platform for global health actors to redefine their intentions and recommission appropriate images that are relevant to the topic, respect the integrity of all individuals depicted, are accompanied by evidence of consent, and are equitable in representation. Adhering to these standards will help to avoid inherent biases that lead to insensitive content and misrepresentation, stigmatisation, and racial stereotyping