Artificially elevated oxytocin concentrations in pet dogs are associated with higher proximity-maintenance and gazing towards the owners.

Abstract The relationship between dogs and their owners is characterized by an affective and enduring bond. It has been suggested that oxytocin might be the underlying mechanism driving this relationship, however evidence is mixed. In this study we tested whether intranasally administered oxytocin (compared to saline) would influence dogs' behavioural synchrony and shared attention towards their owners. Each individuals' pre and post administration oxytocin concentrations (measured in urine) were included in the analyses. Urinary oxytocin concentrations after administrations were positively associated with dogs' duration of social proximity and looking behaviours towards their owners supporting the role of oxytocin in modulating dogs' human-directed social behaviours

Audience effect on domestic dogs’ behavioural displays and facial expressions

In the present study we investigated the infuence of positive and negative arousal situations and the presence of an audience on dogs’ behavioural displays and facial expressions. We exposed dogs to positive anticipation, non-social frustration and social frustration evoking test sessions and measured pre and post-test salivary cortisol concentrations. Cortisol concentration did not increase during the tests and there was no diference in pre or post-test concentrations in the diferent test conditions, excluding a diferent level of arousal. Displacement behaviours of “looking away” and “snifng the environment” occurred more in the frustration-evoking situations compared to the positive anticipation and were correlated with cortisol concentrations. “Ears forward” occurred more in the positive anticipation condition compared to the frustration-evoking conditions, was positively infuenced by the presence of an audience, and negatively correlated to the pre-test cortisol concentrations, suggesting it may be a good indicator of dogs’ level of attention. “Ears fattener”, “blink”, “nose lick”, “tail wagging” and “whining” were associated with the presence of an audience but were not correlated to cortisol concentrations, suggesting a communicative component of these visual displays. These fndings are a frst step to systematically test which subtle cues could be considered communicative signals in domestic dogs

Extracellular matrix mechanical cues regulate lipid metabolism through Lipin-1 and SREBP

Extracellular matrix (ECM) mechanical cues have powerful effects on cell proliferation, differentiation and death. Here, starting from an unbiased metabolomics approach, we identify synthesis of neutral lipids as a general response to mechanical signals delivered by cell\u2013matrix adhesions. Extracellular physical cues reverberate on the mechanical properties of the Golgi apparatus and regulate the Lipin-1 phosphatidate phosphatase. Conditions of reduced actomyosin contractility lead to inhibition of Lipin-1, accumulation of SCAP/SREBP to the Golgi apparatus and activation of SREBP transcription factors, in turn driving lipid synthesis and accumulation. This occurs independently of YAP/TAZ, mTOR and AMPK, and in parallel to feedback control by sterols. Regulation of SREBP can be observed in a stiffened diseased tissue, and contributes to the pro-survival activity of ROCK inhibitors in pluripotent stem cells. We thus identify a general mechanism centered on Lipin-1 and SREBP that links the physical cell microenvironment to a key metabolic pathway

Whole brain radiotherapy with adjuvant or concomitant boost in brain metastasis: dosimetric comparison between helical and volumetric IMRT technique

To compare and evaluate the possible advantages related to the use of VMAT and helical IMRT and two different modalities of boost delivering, adjuvant stereotactic boost (SRS) or simultaneous integrated boost (SIB), in the treatment of brain metastasis (BM) in RPA classes I-II patients

fast measurement by infrared spectroscopy as support to woody biofuels quality determination

The increase in the demand for energy supply during the past few decades has brought and will bring to a growth in the utilisation of renewable resources, in particular of solid biomasses. Considering the variability in the properties of biomass and the globalisation of the timber market, a chemical and physical characterisation is essential to determine the biomass quality. The specific international standards on solid biofuels (ISO 17225 series) describe proper specification and classification of wood chip and pellet, to ensure appropriate quality. Moreover, standard requires information about origin and source of the biomass, normally only to be declared by the producers. In order to fulfill the requirements for the biomass quality, the origin and the source should be assessed, even if currently is hard to determine, in particular on milled or densified biomass. Infrared spectroscopy can provide information on the biomass at the chemical level, directly linked also to its origin and source. This technique is fast and not destructive thus suitable also for online monitoring along the biofuel production chain. In this study, 60 samples belonging to 8 different species were collected and related spectra were acquired using a Fourier transform infrared (IR) spectrometer equipped with a module for solid analysis and analysed by principal component analysis. The results obtained show that the method is very efficient in the identification between coniferous and deciduous wood (99% confidence level) and good results were obtained in the recognition of coniferous/deciduous mixtures, too. Nevertheless, some clear differences have been also noted among intra-class grouping, but additional tests should be carried out. This technique can provide useful information to solid biofuel stakeholders about wood quality and origin, important especially for sustainability issues. Further work will be oriented to the development of IR methodologies for the fast measurement of other important biomass parameters (e.g., ash content, high calorific value, nitrogen content, etc.)

Behavioural Analysis of Dogs’ Response to Threatening and Neutral Conspecific Video Stimuli

Dogs’ displacement behaviours and some facial expressions have been suggested to function as appeasement signals, reducing the occurrences of aggressive interactions. The present study had the objectives of using naturalistic videos, including their auditory stimuli, to expose a population of dogs to a standardised conflict (threatening dog) and non-conflict (neutral dog) situation and to measure the occurrence of displacement behaviours and facial expressions under the two conditions. Video stimuli were recorded in an ecologically valid situation: two different female pet dogs barking at a stranger dog passing by (threatening behaviour) or panting for thermoregulation (neutral behaviour). Video stimuli were then paired either with their natural sound or an artificial one (pink noise) matching the auditory characteristics. Fifty-six dogs were exposed repeatedly to the threatening and neutral stimuli paired with the natural or artificial sound. Regardless of the paired auditory stimuli, dogs looked significantly more at the threatening than the neutral videos (χ2(56, 1) = 138.867, p < 0.001). They kept their ears forward more in the threatening condition whereas ears were rotated more in the neutral condition. Contrary to the hypotheses, displacement behaviours of sniffing, yawning, blinking, lip-wiping (the tongue wipes the lips from the mouth midpoint to the mouth corner), and nose-licking were expressed more in the neutral than the threatening condition. The dogs tested showed socially relevant cues, suggesting that the experimental paradigm is a promising method to study dogs’ intraspecific communication. Results suggest that displacement behaviours are not used as appeasement signals to interrupt an aggressive encounter but rather in potentially ambiguous contexts where the behaviour of the social partner is difficult to predict

Assessing a Large-Scale Sequential In Situ Chloroethene Bioremediation System Using Compound-Specific Isotope Analysis (CSIA) and Geochemical Modeling

Compound-specific isotopic analysis (CSIA) and geochemical modeling were applied to evaluate the effectiveness of an 800 m-long sequential in situ bioremediation (ISB) system in Northern Italy. The system was created for the clean-up of a polluted aquifer affected by chloroethenes. A hydraulically upgradient anaerobic (AN)-biobarrier-stimulated reductive dichlorination (RD) of higher chloroethenes (PCE, TCE) and a downgradient aerobic (AE)-biobarrier-stimulated oxidation (OX) of lower chloroethenes (DCE, VC) were proposed. Carbon CSIA and concentration data were collected for PCE, TCE, cis-DCE and VC and interpreted using a reactive transport model that was able to simulate isotopic fractionation. The analysis suggested that the combination of CSIA and modeling was critical to evaluate the efficiency of sequential ISBs for the remediation of chloroethenes. It was found that the sequential ISB could reduce the PCE, TCE and cis-DCE concentrations by >99% and VC concentrations by >84% along the flow path. First-order RD degradation rate constants (kRD) increased by 30 times (from kRD = 0.2–0.3 y−1 up to kRD = 6.5 y−1) downgradient of the AN barrier. For cis-DCE and VC, the AE barrier had a fundamental role to enhance OX. First-order OX degradation rate constants (kOX) ranged between kOX = 0.7–155 y−1 for cis-DCE and kOX = 1.7–12.6 y−1 for VC

Appeasement function of displacement behaviours? Dogs' behavioural displays exhibited towards threatening and neutral humans

Appeasement signals are behavioural patterns displaying an animal's non-aggressive attitude and are hypothesized to reduce the aggressive behaviours in the receiver. In domestic dogs, specific displacement behaviours (i.e., behavioural patterns exhibited without an apparent function related to the ongoing situation), have been suggested to function as appeasement signals. To test this possibility, we assessed whether the occurrence of these behaviours was dependent on a social conflict context, predicting that, if displacement behaviours also function as appeasement signals, they should be more prevalent in a conflict vs. non-conflict context. Fifty-three dogs were exposed to two unfamiliar humans approaching them in either a mildly threatening or neutral way. We categorized the attitude of the dogs towards the strangers as "reactive", i.e., barking and lunging towards the stimulus, and "non-reactive", i.e., remaining passive in front of the stimuli. We coded dogs' displacement activities and modelled their duration or frequency as a function of the interaction between the test condition and the attitude of the dog. Displacement behaviours of "blinking", "nose licking" and "lip wiping" were associated with a "non-reactive" attitude, independently from the test condition, confirming an association with a non-aggressive intention. "Head turning" was associated with a "non-reactive" attitude in the threatening condition. In conclusion, dogs with a non-aggressive attitude exhibited more putative appeasement signals; however, these were not strictly associated with a conflict-ridden situation, calling for further investigation of their function

Probability of Non-Exceedance of Arsenic Concentration in Groundwater Estimated Using Stochastic Multicomponent Reactive Transport Modeling

Stochastic multicomponent reactive transport modeling is a powerful approach to quantify the probability of non-exceedance (PNE) of arsenic (As) critical concentration thresholds in groundwater. The approach is applied to a well-characterized shallow alluvial aquifer near Venice, Italy. Here, As mobility depends primarily on rainfall-controlled redox-dependent precipitation dissolution of iron hydroxides. A Monte-Carlo analysis based on a calibrated three-dimensional flow and transport model targeted the geochemical initial conditions as the main source of uncertainty of As concentrations in the studied aquifer. It was found that, during 115 simulated days, the fraction of the entire aquifer volume with As > 10 microg/L decreased on average from ~43% to ~39% and the average As concentration from ~32 microg/L to ~27 microg/L. Meanwhile, PNE increased from 55% to 60% when 10 microg/L was set as target threshold, and from 71% to 78% for 50 microg/L. The time dependence of As attenuation can be ascribed to the increase of oxidizing conditions during rainfall-dependent aquifer recharge, which causes As sorption on precipitating iron hydroxides. When computing the same statistics for the shallowest 6 m, As attenuation was even more evident. The volume fraction of aquifer with As > 10microg/L dropped from 40% to 28% and the average As concentration from 31 microg/L to 20 microg/L, whereas PNE increased from 58% to 70% for As < 10 microg/L and from 71% to 86% for As < 50microg/L. Thus, the wells screen depth in the aquifer can be a critical aspect when estimating As risk, owing to the depth-dependent relative change in redox conditions during rainfall events