Using fish models to investigate the links between microbiome and social behaviour: the next step for translational microbiome research?

Recent research has revealed surprisingly important connections between animals’ microbiome and social behaviour. Social interactions can affect the composition and function of the microbiome; conversely, the microbiome affects social communication by influencing the hosts’ central nervous system and peripheral chemical communication. These discoveries set the stage for novel research focusing on the evolution and physiology of animal social behaviour in relation to microbial transmission strategies. Here, we discuss the emerging roles of teleost fish models and their potential for advancing research fields, linked to sociality and microbial regulation. We argue that fish models, such as the zebrafish (Danio rerio, Cyprinidae), sticklebacks (‎Gasterosteidae), guppies (Poeciliidae) and cleaner–client dyads (e.g., obligate cleaner fish from the Labridae and Gobiidae families and their visiting clientele), will provide valuable insights into the roles of microbiome in shaping social behaviour and vice versa, while also being of direct relevance to the food and ornamental fish trades. The diversity of fish behaviour warrants more interdisciplinary research, including microbiome studies, which should have a strong ecological (field‐derived) approach, together with laboratory‐based cognitive and neurobiological experimentation. The implications of such integrated approaches may be of translational relevance, opening new avenues for future investigation using fish models

Jan Olof Bengtsson, The Worldview of Personalism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006)

A review of Jan Olof Bengtsson, The Worldview of Personalism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006

Responses to the contributors

Article – ritrýnd greinEnginn útdráttu

Dogancan Özsel (ed.) Reflections on conservatism (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011)

Book reviewEnginn útdráttu

On the range or scope of [moral] action

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Impaired hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis in patients with ankylosing spondylitis

Background: To investigate the hypothalamic-pituitary-ad renal (HPA) axis in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and healthy controls. Methods: Forty-nine AS patients and 20 healthy controls were included. Low-dose ACTH test (LDST) was used to assess the HPA axis. Basal cortisol, stimulated peak cortisol levels, and acute-phase reactants [C-reactive protein (CIRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and fibrinogen] were studied. Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index, Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI), and Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Metrology Index were also evaluated. Results: Patient and control groups were not different regarding age, sex, body mass index and waist circumference (WC). Basal cortisol levels did not show a significant difference between groups. However, cortisol increment after low-dose ACTH was significantly impaired in AS subjects with respect to controls (20.0 +/- 4.4 vs 24 +/- 2.2 mu g/dl, p < 0.001). Eleven AS patients had impaired cortisol peak after LDST when a cortisol cut-off is accepted as 500 nmol/l (118 mu g/dl) and none of the controls exhibited a peak cortisol responses to LDST < 500 nmol/l. Comparison of AS subjects who were receiving anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) (no.=23), and conventional therapy (no.=26) yielded similar basal and peak cortisol concentrations. Peak cortisol cocentrations were associated with basal cortisol, impaired cortisol response, CIRP, and fibrinogen. Impaired cortisol response (subjects with peak cortisol levels < 18 mu g/dl) was significantly correlated with basal and peak cortisol concentrations and BASDAI. Conclusion: Our results indicate an increased prevalence of subclinical glucocorticoid deficiency in AS patients. Anti-TNF treatment seems not to have effect on HPA axis. (J. Endocrinol. Invest. 33: 42-47, 2010) (c) 2010, Editrice Kurti