Dynamics of direct inter-pack encounters in endangered African wild dogs

Aggressive encounters may have important life history consequences due to the potential for injury and death, disease transmission, dispersal opportunities or exclusion from key areas of the home range. Despite this, little is known of their detailed dynamics, mainly due to the difficulties of directly observing encounters in detail. Here, we describe detailed spatial dynamics of inter-pack encounters in African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus), using data from custom-built high-resolution GPS collars in 11 free-ranging packs. On average, each pack encountered another pack approximately every 7 weeks and met each neighbour twice each year. Surprisingly, intruders were more likely to win encounters (winning 78.6% of encounters by remaining closer to the site in the short term). However, intruders did tend to move farther than residents toward their own range core in the short-term (1 h) post-encounter, and if this were used to indicate losing an encounter, then the majority (73.3%) of encounters were won by residents. Surprisingly, relative pack size had little effect on encounter outcome, and injuries were rare (<15% of encounters). These results highlight the difficulty of remotely scoring encounters involving mobile participants away from static defendable food resources. Although inter-pack range overlap was reduced following an encounter, encounter outcome did not seem to drive this, as both packs shifted their ranges post-encounter. Our results indicate that inter-pack encounters may be lower risk than previously suggested and do not appear to influence long-term movement and ranging

Macroevolutionary diversification of glands for chemical communication in squamate reptiles

Chemical communication plays a central role in social, sexual and ecological interactions among animals. However, the macroevolutionary diversification of traits responsible for chemical signaling remains fundamentally unknown. Most research investigating evolutionary diversification of glands responsible for the production of chemical signals has focused on arthropods, while its study among vertebrates remains neglected. Using a global-scale dataset covering > 80% (7,904 species) of the living diversity of lizards and snakes (squamates), we investigate rates, trajectories and phylogenetic patterns of diversification of their follicular glands for chemical communication. We observed these glands in 13.66% of species, that their expression has varying phylogenetic signal among lineages, and that the crown squamate ancestor lacked follicular glands, which therefore originated and diversified subsequently during their evolutionary history. Additionally, our findings challenge the longstanding view that within squamates the Iguania are visually oriented while Scleroglossa are chemically-oriented, given that Iguania doubles Scleroglossa in the frequency of glands. Our phylogenetic analyses identified stabilizing selection as the best model describing follicular gland diversification, and revealed high rates of disparity. We provide the first global-scale analysis investigating the diversification of one of the main forms of communication among reptiles, presenting a macroevolutionary angle to questions traditionally explored at microevolutionary scale

Human-Specific Evolution and Adaptation Led to Major Qualitative Differences in the Variable Receptors of Human and Chimpanzee Natural Killer Cells

Natural killer (NK) cells serve essential functions in immunity and reproduction. Diversifying these functions within individuals and populations are rapidly-evolving interactions between highly polymorphic major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I ligands and variable NK cell receptors. Specific to simian primates is the family of Killer cell Immunoglobulin-like Receptors (KIR), which recognize MHC class I and associate with a range of human diseases. Because KIR have considerable species-specificity and are lacking from common animal models, we performed extensive comparison of the systems of KIR and MHC class I interaction in humans and chimpanzees. Although of similar complexity, they differ in genomic organization, gene content, and diversification mechanisms, mainly because of human-specific specialization in the KIR that recognizes the C1 and C2 epitopes of MHC-B and -C. Humans uniquely focused KIR recognition on MHC-C, while losing C1-bearing MHC-B. Reversing this trend, C1-bearing HLA-B46 was recently driven to unprecedented high frequency in Southeast Asia. Chimpanzees have a variety of ancient, avid, and predominantly inhibitory receptors, whereas human receptors are fewer, recently evolved, and combine avid inhibitory receptors with attenuated activating receptors. These differences accompany human-specific evolution of the A and B haplotypes that are under balancing selection and differentially function in defense and reproduction. Our study shows how the qualitative differences that distinguish the human and chimpanzee systems of KIR and MHC class I predominantly derive from adaptations on the human line in response to selective pressures placed on human NK cells by the competing needs of defense and reproduction

Putting ourselves in another’s skin: using the plasticity of self-perception to enhance empathy and decrease prejudice

The self is one the most important concepts in social cognition and plays a crucial role in determining questions such as which social groups we view ourselves as belonging to and how we relate to others. In the past decade, the self has also become an important topic within cognitive neuroscience with an explosion in the number of studies seeking to understand how different aspects of the self are represented within the brain. In this paper, we first outline the recent research on the neurocognitive basis of the self and highlight a key distinction between two forms of self-representation. The first is the “bodily” self, which is thought to be the basis of subjective experience and is grounded in the processing of sensorimotor signals. The second is the “conceptual” self, which develops through our interactions of other and is formed of a rich network of associative and semantic information. We then investigate how both the bodily and conceptual self are related to social cognition with an emphasis on how self-representations are involved in the processing and creation of prejudice. We then highlight new research demonstrating that the bodily and conceptual self are both malleable and that this malleability can be harnessed in order to achieve a reduction in social prejudice. In particular, we will outline strong evidence that modulating people’s perceptions of the bodily self can lead to changes in attitudes at the conceptual level. We will highlight a series of studies demonstrating that social attitudes towards various social out-groups (e.g. racial groups) can lead to a reduction in prejudice towards that group. Finally, we seek to place these findings in a broader social context by considering how innovations in virtual reality technology can allow experiences of taking on another’s identity are likely to become both more commonplace and more convincing in the future and the various opportunities and risks associated with using such technology to reduce prejudice

Development of a training program to support health care professionals to deliver the SPACE for COPD self-management program

Claire Blackmore,1 Vicki L Johnson-Warrington,2 Johanna EA Williams,2 Lindsay D Apps,2 Hannah ML Young,2 Claire LA Bourne,2 Sally J Singh2 1Kettering General Hospital National Health Service (NHS) Trust, Kettering, Northamptonshire, 2Centre for Exercise and Rehabilitation Science, Leicester Respiratory Biomedical Research Unit, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Leicester, UK Background: With the growing burden of COPD and associated morbidity and mortality, a need for self-management has been identified. The Self-management Programme of &shy;Activity, Coping and Education for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (SPACE for COPD) manual was developed to support self-management in COPD patients. Currently, there is no literature available regarding health care professionals&rsquo; training needs when supporting patients with COPD on self-management.Aim: This study sought to identify these needs to inform, design and develop a training program for health care professionals being trained to deliver a self-management program in COPD.Methods: Fourteen health care professionals from both primary and secondary care COPD services participated in face-to-face semistructured interviews. Thematic analysis was used to produce a framework and identify training needs and views on delivery of the SPACE for COPD self-management program. Components of training were web-based knowledge training, with pre- and posttraining knowledge questionnaires, and a 1-day program to introduce the self-management manual. Feedback was given after training to guide the development of the training program.Results: Health care professionals were able to identify areas where they required increased knowledge to support patients. This was overwhelming in aspects of COPD seen to be outside of their current clinical role. Skills in goal setting and behavioral change were not elicited as a training need, suggesting a lack of understanding of components of supporting self-management. An increase in knowledge of COPD was demonstrated following the training program.Conclusion: Both knowledge and skill gaps existed in those who would deliver self-management. Analysis of this has enabled a training program to be designed to address these gaps and enable health care professionals to support patients in self-management. Keywords: self-management, COPD, health care professionals, training, development&nbsp

The development and pilot testing of the Self-management Programme of Activity, Coping and Education for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (SPACE for COPD)

Lindsay D Apps,1 Katy E Mitchell,1 Samantha L Harrison,1 Louise Sewell,1 Johanna E Williams,1 Hannah ML Young,1 Michael Steiner,1 Mike Morgan,1 Sally J Singh1,2 1National Institute of Health Research CLAHRC-LNR Pulmonary Rehabilitation Research Group, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS, Leicester, UK; 2Applied Research Centre, Health and Lifestyle Interventions, Coventry University, Coventry, UK Purpose: There is no independent standardized self-management approach available for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The aim of this project was to develop and test a novel self-management manual for individuals with COPD. Patients: Participants with a confirmed diagnosis of COPD were recruited from primary care. Methods: A novel self-management manual was developed with health care professionals and patients. Five focus groups were conducted with individuals with COPD (N = 24) during development to confirm and enhance the content of the prototype manual. The Self-management Programme of Activity, Coping and Education for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (SPACE for COPD) manual was developed as the focus of a comprehensive self-management approach facilitated by health care professionals. Preference for delivery was initial face-to-face consultation with telephone follow-up. The SPACE for COPD manual was piloted with 37 participants in primary care. Outcome measures included the Self-Report Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire, Incremental Shuttle Walk Test, and Endurance Shuttle Walking Test (ESWT); measurements were taken at baseline and 6 weeks. Results: The pilot study observed statistically significant improvements for the dyspnea domain of the Self-Report Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire and ESWT. Dyspnea showed a mean change of 0.67 (95% confidence interval 0.23&ndash;1.11, P = 0.005). ESWT score increased by 302.25 seconds (95% confidence interval 161.47&ndash;443.03, P < 0.001). Conclusion: This article describes the development and delivery of a novel self-management approach for COPD. The program, incorporating the SPACE for COPD manual, appears to provoke important changes in exercise capacity and breathlessness for individuals with COPD managed in primary care. Keywords: self-management, primary care, Self-Report Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire, dyspnea, Endurance Shuttle Walking Tes

Understanding the measurement properties of the incremental shuttle walk test in patients with severe asthma.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: We investigated the repeatability and validity of the incremental shuttle walk test (ISWT) distance compared to peak oxygen uptake (VO2pk ) during maximal incremental cycle ergometer (ICE) and treadmill (ITM) tests in adults with severe asthma. METHODS: Adults with severe asthma, Medical Research Council (MRC) dyspnoea ≥2, were recruited from specialists caring for patients with severe asthma. All participants performed three ISWT (familiarization and two subsequent tests on the same day), an ICE and an ITM in a randomized order, on separate days, to intolerance with expiratory gas analysis. RESULTS: A total of 50 patients (32 females, mean (SD), age: 54 (13) years, forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1 ): 1.9 (0.8) L and body mass index (BMI): 32 (6) kg/m2 ) completed all five tests. The mean (SD) ISWT distance for each test was 400 (156), 418 (142) and 438 (157) m (P = 0.001), respectively. There was a strong correlation between the ISWT distance with VO2pk derived from ITM (r = 0.74, P < 0.001) and ICE (r = 0.75, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: There was a small increase in the mean ISWT distance on sequential testing. In clinical practice, the coefficient of repeatability and heteroscedasticity need to be considered when assessing whether a true change has occurred within an individual patient. The ISWT has validity compared to VO2pk on both ICE and ITM, but they are not interchangeable