Social influences on formula intake via suckling in 7 to 14-week-old-infants

To investigate social influences on human suckling behavior, 25 healthy, full term, 7 to 14-week-old infants were each bottle-fed their own formula twice by their mother and once in each of four experimental conditions: (a) held, provided social interaction; (b) held, without interaction; (c) not held, provided interaction; (d) not held, without interaction. Volume intake (VI), Total Sucks, infant gaze direction, and time elapsed since the last feeding were determined. There were three major findings: (1) social interaction increased VI; (2) VI was linearly related to the time since the last feeding in held infants; (3) Total Sucks and VI were both highly correlated with privation length when infants did not look at the feeder and when fed by the mother. Thus, social influences exert strong immediate impacts on suckling. Accordingly, suckling functions to obtain both nutrition from and social information about the feeder. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 49: 351–361, 2007.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/55993/1/20221_ftp.pd

Concurrent abstract state machines

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Neonatal Handling Affects Durably Bonding and Social Development

The neonatal period in humans and in most mammals is characterized by intense mother-young interactions favoring pair bonding and the adaptation of neonates to their new environment. However, in many post-delivery procedures, human babies commonly experience combined maternal separation and intense handling for about one hour post-birth. Currently, the effects of such disturbances on later attachment and on the development of newborns are still debated: clearly, further investigations are required. As animals present good models for controlled experimentation, we chose domestic horses to investigate this issue. Horses, like humans, are characterized by single births, long lactating periods and selective mother-infant bonds. Routine postnatal procedures for foals, as for human babies, also involve intense handling and maternal separation. In the present study, we monitored the behavior of foals from early stages of development to “adolescence”, in a normal ecological context (social groups with adults and peers). Experimental foals, separated from their mothers and handled for only 1 hour post-birth, were compared to control foals, left undisturbed after birth. Our results revealed short- and long-term effects of this unique neonatal experience on attachment and subsequent social competences. Thus, experimental foals presented patterns of insecure attachment to their mothers (strong dependence on their mothers, little play) and impaired social competences (social withdrawal, aggressiveness) at all ages. We discuss these results in terms of mother-young interactions, timing of interactions and relationships between bonding and subsequent social competences. Our results indicate that this ungulate species could become an interesting animal model. To our knowledge, this is the first clear demonstration that intervention just after birth affects bonding and subsequent social competences (at least until “adolescence”). It opens new research directions for studies on both humans and other animals

Widening the lens of population-based health research to climate change impacts and adaptation: the climate change and health evaluation and response system (CHEERS)

BackgroundClimate change significantly impacts health in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), exacerbating vulnerabilities. Comprehensive data for evidence-based research and decision-making is crucial but scarce. Health and Demographic Surveillance Sites (HDSSs) in Africa and Asia provide a robust infrastructure with longitudinal population cohort data, yet they lack climate-health specific data. Acquiring this information is essential for understanding the burden of climate-sensitive diseases on populations and guiding targeted policies and interventions in LMICs to enhance mitigation and adaptation capacities.ObjectiveThe objective of this research is to develop and implement the Change and Health Evaluation and Response System (CHEERS) as a methodological framework, designed to facilitate the generation and ongoing monitoring of climate change and health-related data within existing Health and Demographic Surveillance Sites (HDSSs) and comparable research infrastructures.MethodsCHEERS uses a multi-tiered approach to assess health and environmental exposures at the individual, household, and community levels, utilizing digital tools such as wearable devices, indoor temperature and humidity measurements, remotely sensed satellite data, and 3D-printed weather stations. The CHEERS framework utilizes a graph database to efficiently manage and analyze diverse data types, leveraging graph algorithms to understand the complex interplay between health and environmental exposures.ResultsThe Nouna CHEERS site, established in 2022, has yielded significant preliminary findings. By using remotely-sensed data, the site has been able to predict crop yield at a household level in Nouna and explore the relationships between yield, socioeconomic factors, and health outcomes. The feasibility and acceptability of wearable technology have been confirmed in rural Burkina Faso for obtaining individual-level data, despite the presence of technical challenges. The use of wearables to study the impact of extreme weather on health has shown significant effects of heat exposure on sleep and daily activity, highlighting the urgent need for interventions to mitigate adverse health consequences.ConclusionImplementing the CHEERS in research infrastructures can advance climate change and health research, as large and longitudinal datasets have been scarce for LMICs. This data can inform health priorities, guide resource allocation to address climate change and health exposures, and protect vulnerable communities in LMICs from these exposures

Processing of Advanced Battery Materials—Laser Cutting of Pure Lithium Metal Foils

Due to the increasing demand for high-performance cells for mobile applications, the standards of the performance of active materials and the efficiency of cell production strategies are rising. One promising cell technology to fulfill the increasing requirements for actual and future applications are all solid-state batteries with pure lithium metal on the anode side. The outstanding electrochemical material advantages of lithium, with its high theoretical capacity of 3860 mAh/g and low density of 0.534 g/cm3, can only be taken advantage of in all solid-state batteries, since, in conventional liquid electrochemical systems, the lithium dissolves with each discharging cycle. Apart from the current low stability of all solid-state separators, challenges lie in the general processing, as well as the handling and separation, of lithium metal foils. Unfortunately, lithium metal anodes cannot be separated by conventional die cutting processes in large quantities. Due to its adhesive properties and toughness, mechanical cutting tools require intensive cleaning after each cut. The presented experiments show that remote laser cutting, as a contactless and wear-free method, has the potential to separate anodes in large numbers with high-quality cutting edges

Sauber und prozesssicher vorbehandeln. Tl.2

In der vorherigen Ausgabe wurden die Technologien des /Unterdruclstrahlens beschreiben und anhand einiger exemplarischer Beispiele die Möglichkeiten dieses Verfahrens zur Oberflächenbehandlung beschreiben. In diesem Teil werden die sich durch die Verwendung alternativer Strahlmittel ergebenen Möglichkeiten sowie eine Strahlkammer zum berührungslosen Unterdruckstrahlens erörtert