Interactive rhythms across species: The evolutionary biology of animal chorusing and turn-taking

The study of human language is progressively moving toward comparative and interactive frameworks, extending the concept of turn‐taking to animal communication. While such an endeavor will help us understand the interactive origins of language, any theoretical account for cross‐species turn‐taking should consider three key points. First, animal turn‐taking must incorporate biological studies on animal chorusing, namely how different species coordinate their signals over time. Second, while concepts employed in human communication and turn‐taking, such as intentionality, are still debated in animal behavior, lower level mechanisms with clear neurobiological bases can explain much of animal interactive behavior. Third, social behavior, interactivity, and cooperation can be orthogonal, and the alternation of animal signals need not be cooperative. Considering turn‐taking a subset of chorusing in the rhythmic dimension may avoid overinterpretation and enhance the comparability of future empirical work

Design and fabrication of noncondensing radiator for environmental evaluation of space power mercury Rankine system

Conceptual and mechanical design analyses, and fabrication of noncondensing radiator for environmental testing of space power mercury Rankine syste

The impact of private online video consulting in primary care

Workforce and resource pressures in the UK National Health Service mean that it is currently unable to meet patients’ expectations of access to primary care.1 In an era of near-instant electronic communication, with mobile online access available for most shopping and banking services, people expect similar convenience in healthcare. Consequently, increasing numbers of web-based and smartphone apps now offer same-day ‘virtual consulting’ in the form of Internet video conferencing with private general practitioners.2 While affordable and accessible private primary care may be attractive to many patients, the existence of these services raises several questions. A particular concern, given continued development of antimicrobial resistance,3 is that some companies appear to use ease of access to treatment with antibiotics as an advertising strategy. We examine online video consulting with private general practitioners in the UK, considering its potential impact on patients and the National Health Service, and its particular relevance to antimicrobial stewardship

Sending femtosecond pulses in circles: highly non-paraxial accelerating beams

We use caustic beam shaping on 100 fs pulses to experimentally generate non-paraxial accelerating beams along a 60 degree circular arc, moving laterally by 14 \mum over a 28 \mum propagation length. This is the highest degree of transverse acceleration reported to our knowledge. Using diffraction integral theory and numerical beam propagation simulations, we show that circular acceleration trajectories represent a unique class of non-paraxial diffraction-free beam profile which also preserves the femtosecond temporal structure in the vicinity of the caustic

Sexually dimorphic expression of secreted frizzled-related (SFRP) genes in the developing mouse Mullerian duct

In developing male embryos, the female reproductive tract primordia (Müllerian ducts) regress due to the production of testicular anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH). Because of the association between secreted frizzled-related proteins (SFRPs) and apoptosis, their reported developmental expression patterns and the role of WNT signaling in female reproductive tract development, we examined expression of Sfrp2 and Sfrp5 during development of the Müllerian duct in male (XY) and female (XX) mouse embryos. We show that expression of both Sfrp2 and Sfrp5 is dynamic and sexually dimorphic. In addition, the male-specific expression observed for both genes prior to the onset of regression is absent in mutant male embryos that fail to undergo Müllerian duct regression. We identified ENU-induced point mutations in Sfrp5 and Sfrp2 that are predicted to severely disrupt the function of these genes. Male embryos and adults homozygous for these mutations, both individually and in combination, are viable and apparently fertile with no overt abnormalities of reproductive tract development

‘You probably won’t notice any symptoms’ Blood pressure in pregnancy:discourses of contested expertise in an era of self-care and responsibilisation

Pregnancy is not a disease or illness, but requires clinical surveillance as life-threatening complications can develop. Preeclampsia, one such potentially serious complication, puts both mother and baby at risk. Self-monitoring blood pressure in the general population is well established, and its potential in pregnancy is currently being explored. In the context of self-monitoring, the information and guidance given to women regarding hypertension, and the literature they themselves seek out during pregnancy, are vital to perceptions of disease risk and subsequent responses to, and management of, any symptoms. Drawing on online, offline, official, and unofficial sources of information, discourses are examined to provide analysis of how self-responsibilization is reflected in contemporary information, advice, and guidance drawn from multiple sources. A paradox emerges between the paternalistic and lay discourses that seek to challenge and regain control. Findings are discussed in the context of Foucault’s governmentality and medical power

Dietary Manipulation for Therapeutic Effect in Prostate Cancer

Given that there is a wealth of literature on the potential effect of a wide variety of phytochemicals on the growth of prostate cancer cells, we have limited our discussion to arguably four of the most important: isoflavones, lycopene, resveratrol, and curcumin. The focus of this review is on the clinical pharmacology of these compounds, as there are already an extensive number of reviews in the literature on all of these compounds for various cancers, including our previous review of isoflavones in prostate cancer (de Souza et al., 2009). Here, we use the loose term “phytochemicals” to describe this group of plant–based compounds with biological activity in vitro, for simplicity. Like other phytochemicals, isoflavones, lycopene, resveratrol and curcumin have a wide variety of potential mechanisms of action in many different cancer cell lines. Many of these biological effects involve key components of signal transduction pathways within cancer cells, but in this review, we will be focusing on studies specifically in prostate cancer

The State of Digital Media Data Research, 2024

The purpose of this report is to reflect on the state of digital media data research in 2024. This is the second in a series of reports on the state of digital media research, which we originally published in 2023. We reflect on changes to digital media research since our report in 2023. Specifically, we highlight the following trends: 1. From 2023 to 2024, access to digital media data changed drastically. Researchers were largely priced out of the Twitter API, and Pushshift–a commonly used archive for Reddit data–went private to comply with Reddit’s API policies. Meta also announced the imminent sunsetting of CrowdTangle, a transparency tool popular amongst researchers and journalists alike. At the same time, however, many platforms announced academic programs for data access, including the YouTube researcher program, TikTok’s Research API, and the Meta Content Library. 2. Federated social media platforms became more popular. Following Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, Twitter users flocked to Mastodon, Threads, BlueSky, and other federated (or soon to be federated) platforms. This presents unique challenges for researchers studying digital media data. As new platforms are created, researchers must build new tools to analyze them or wait for third parties or the platforms themselves to make data available. 3. Generative AI’s explosion may change how we study digital media. First, researchers using computational methods to measure social media content have turned to OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other Large Language Models (LLMs) to classify content. Second, researchers and civil society groups are increasingly concerned about the possibility for Generative AI to flood the information environment with fake content. 4. In February 2024, the EU Digital Services Act (DSA) went into effect, mandating that large platforms give researchers near real-time access to public data. We don’t yet know how these policies will impact data access in the United States, and it remains unclear what this data access will look like in practice. In the United States, legislative efforts to mandate researcher access stalled. While the last year brought many welcome and unwelcome changes to digital media data research, the findings in this report renew our encouragement that digital media data research should be guided by collaboration, transparency, preparation, and consistency.Journalism and Medi