Studies on the biology of the brown hare (Lepus europaeus) with particular reference to behaviour

Behaviour of the brown hare (Lepus europaeus) was studied on the Somerset levels, U.K., between 1977 and 1987. The hare is exclusively nocturnal when nights are longest and part-diurnal when they are shortest but the transition is not smooth. There is a linear dominance hierarchy between bucks. The nearer a doe is to oestrus, the higher the rank of her escort. Some pre-partum does monitor the prospective birthsite. They are only occasionally escorted by bucks. In contrast, a non-monitoring pregnant doe was regularly escorted. Does lie up within 250m of their litters but take a more circuitous route when visiting them and 'detour when foxes are encountered. Four Autumn litters were suckled for between six and nine weeks. Sucking leverets usually sniff-noses when meeting up, followed by a short period of locomotor play after which they go quietly to the nursing point. Some weaned leverets continued to meet up. The principal component of locomotor play is 'streaking' - running top speed back and forth down a familiar route. Leverets disperse after nursing to a daily increasing extent. Leveret distress screams were audible from a distance of 550m. As a visible signal, the buck's white tail flag seems to serve no purpose. The doe uses her tail flag to lead her litter. Only does shake their tails which they do exclusively in the near presence of bucks; the bucks then sniff the ground underneath. Hares were not observed to signal to each other by body postures or to use their ears for purposes other than acoustic. Does convey a threat to bucks by flattening their ears and lifting their muzzles. Adults, particularly bucks; sniff a partner's nose for olfactory information as an alternative when the ano-genital region is inaccessible, but are frequently threatened when so doing. All chin-marking was by bucks of which 80% were solitary. Hares approached in the open by foxes stand bipedal when, on average, the fox is about 30m distant. The relevance of the behaviour patterns are discussed

A Parametric Study of the SASI Comparing General Relativistic and Non-Relativistic Treatments

We present numerical results from a parameter study of the standing accretion shock instability (SASI), investigating the impact of general relativity (GR) on the dynamics. Using GR hydrodynamics and gravity, and non-relativistic (NR) hydrodynamics and gravity, in an idealized model setting, we vary the initial radius of the shock and, by varying its mass and radius in concert, the proto-neutron star (PNS) compactness. We investigate two regimes expected in a post-bounce core-collapse supernova (CCSN): one meant to resemble a relatively low-compactness configuration and one meant to resemble a relatively high-compactness configuration. We find that GR leads to a longer SASI oscillation period, with ratios between the GR and NR cases as large as 1.29 for the high-compactness suite. We also find that GR leads to a slower SASI growth rate, with ratios between the GR and NR cases as low as 0.47 for the high-compactness suite. We discuss implications of our results for CCSN simulations.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figure

Effects of circadian rhythm phase alteration on physiological and psychological variables: Implications to pilot performance (including a partially annotated bibliography)

The effects of environmental synchronizers upon circadian rhythmic stability in man and the deleterious alterations in performance and which result from changes in this stability are points of interest in a review of selected literature published between 1972 and 1980. A total of 2,084 references relevant to pilot performance and circadian phase alteration are cited and arranged in the following categories: (1) human performance, with focus on the effects of sleep loss or disturbance and fatigue; (2) phase shift in which ground based light/dark alteration and transmeridian flight studies are discussed; (3) shiftwork; (4)internal desynchronization which includes the effect of evironmental factors on rhythmic stability, and of rhythm disturbances on sleep and psychopathology; (5) chronotherapy, the application of methods to ameliorate desynchronization symptomatology; and (6) biorythm theory, in which the birthdate based biorythm method for predicting aircraft accident susceptability is critically analyzed. Annotations are provided for most citations

Land systems as surrogates for biodiversity in conservation planning

Environmental surrogates (land classes) for the distribution of biodiversity are increasingly being used for conservation planning. However; data that demonstrate coincident patterns in land classes and biodiversity are limited. We ask the overall question, "Are land systems effective surrogates for the spatial configuration of biodiversity for conservation planning?" and we address three specific questions: (1) Do different land systems represent different biological assemblages.? (2) Do biological assemblages on the same land system remain similar with increasing geographic separation? and (3) Do biological assemblages on the same land system remain similar with increasing land system isolation? Vascular plants, invertebrates, and microbiota were surveyed from 24 sites in four land systems in and northwest New South Wales, Australia. Within each land system, sites were located to give a hierarchy of inter-site distances, and land systems were classified as either "low isolation" (large and continuous) or "high isolation" (small patches interspersed among other land systems). Each type of land system supported components of biodiversity either not found, or found infrequently, on other land systems, suggesting that land systems function as surrogates for biodiversity, and that conservation-area networks representing land-system diversity will also represent biological diversity. However, the majority of taxa were found on more than one land-system type, suggesting that a large proportion of the plant, arthropod, and microbial biodiversity may be characterized by widespread species with low fidelity to particular land systems. Significant relationships between geographic distance among sites and differences among assemblages were revealed for all taxa except the microbiota. Therefore, as sites on the same land system were located farther apart, the assemblages at those sites became more different. This finding strongly suggests that conservation planning based on land-system diversity should also sample the geographic range occupied by each land system. Land-system isolation was not revealed to be a significant Source of variation in assemblage composition. Our research finds support for environmental surrogates for biodiversity in conservation planning, specifically the use of land systems and similarly derived land classifications. However, the need for explicit modeling of geographic distance in conservation planning is clearly indicated

Fibrinogen in traumatic haemorrhage: A narrative review

Haemorrhage in the setting of severe trauma is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. There is increasing awareness of the important role fibrinogen plays in traumatic haemorrhage. Fibrinogen levels fall precipitously in severe trauma and the resultant hypofibrinogenaemia is associated with poor outcomes. Hence, it has been postulated that early fibrinogen replacement in severe traumatic haemorrhage may improve outcomes, although, to date there is a paucity of high quality evidence to support this hypothesis. In addition there is controversy regarding the optimal method for fibrinogen supplementation. We review the current evidence regarding the role of fibrinogen in trauma, the rationale behind fibrinogen supplementation and discuss current research.Griffith Health, School of Medical ScienceNo Full Tex

Is inhaled prophylactic heparin useful for prevention and management of pneumonia in ventilated ICU patients?

Purpose: The purpose was to determine the efficacy of prophylactic inhaled heparin for the prevention and treatment of pneumonia in patients receiving mechanical ventilation (MV)

Age-Dependent Changes in Heparan Sulfate in Human Bruch's Membrane: Implications for Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Citation: Keenan TDL, Pickford CE, Holley RJ, et al. Age-dependent changes in heparan sulfate in human Bruch's membrane: implications for age-related macular degeneration. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2014;55:5370-5379. DOI:10.1167/ iovs.14-14126 PURPOSE. Heparan sulfate (HS) has been implicated in age-related macular degeneration (AMD), since it is the major binding partner for complement factor H (CFH) in human Bruch's membrane (BrM), and CFH has a central role in inhibiting complement activation on extracellular matrices. The aim was to investigate potential aging changes in HS quantity and composition in human BrM. METHODS. Postmortem human ocular tissue was obtained from donors without known retinal disease. The HS was purified from BrM and neurosensory retina, and after digestion to disaccharides, fluorescently labeled and analyzed by reverse-phase HPLC. The HS and heparanase-1 were detected by immunohistochemistry in macular tissue sections from young and old donors, and binding of exogenously applied recombinant CCP6-8 region of CFH (402Y and 402H variants) was compared. RESULTS. Disaccharide analysis demonstrated that the mean quantity of HS in BrM was 50% lower (P ¼ 0.006) in old versus young donors (average 82 vs. 32 years). In addition, there was a small, but significant decrease in HS sulfation in old BrM. Immunohistochemistry revealed approximately 50% (P ¼ 0.02) less HS in macular BrM in old versus young donors, whereas heparanase-1 increased by 24% in old macular BrM (P ¼ 0.56). In young donor tissue the AMD-associated 402H CCP6-8 bound relatively poorly to BrM, compared to the 402Y form. In BrM from old donors, this difference was significantly greater (P ¼ 0.019). CONCLUSIONS. The quantity of HS decreases substantially with age in human BrM, resulting in fewer binding sites for CFH and especially affecting the ability of the 402H variant of CFH to bind BrM. Keywords: Bruch's membrane, heparan sulfate, AMD A ge-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in developed countries. 1,2 Genetic and biochemical evidence has strongly implicated dysregulation of the complement system in disease pathogenesis. 20 Importantly, the amount of MAC in human BrM/choroid is significantly higher in individuals who are homozygous for the CFH 402H polymorphism. 21 A novel potential mechanism linking the Y402H polymorphism and AMD risk was suggested by the finding that the main binding partner of CFH in human macular BrM is heparan sulfate (HS), and that the 402H form of CFH binds poorly to human BrM HS, in comparison with the 402Y form