Seminal fluid enhances competitiveness of territorial males' sperm in a fish with alternative male reproductive tactics.

The most common adaptation to sperm competition in males is represented by an increase in the sperm number and/or quality released at mating, to raise their probability of egg fertilization. However, rapidly mounting evidence highlights that seminal fluid may directly influence the competitive fertilization success of a male by affecting either own and/or rival sperm performances. In the black goby, Gobius niger, an external fertilizer with guard-sneaker mating tactics and high sperm competition level, sneaker males' ejaculates contain less seminal fluid and more sperm, that are also of better quality, than those of territorial males. However, territorial males, gain a higher paternity success inside natural nests. Here, we ask whether the seminal fluid can contribute to territorial males' reproductive success by enhancing their sperm performances and/or by decreasing those of sneaker males. Using sperm and seminal fluid manipulation and in vitro fertilization tests, we found that own seminal fluid influences the velocity and fertilization ability of sperm only in territorial males, making them as faster as those of sneakers and with similar fertilization rate. Moreover, both sneaker and territorial males' sperm remain unaffected by the seminal fluid of rival males. Thus, black goby males respond to the different level of sperm competition faced by differently allocating in sperm and non-sperm components of the ejaculate, with sneakers primarily investing in sperm of intrinsic high quality and territorial males relying on the effect of seminal fluid to increase the lower intrinsic quality of their sperm

Context-dependent evaluation of prospective mates in a fish

Female choice is often assumed to be based on absolute preference, driven by a threshold value of mate attractiveness. However, increasing evidence suggests that females may instead perform a comparative evaluation of prospective mates, possibly incurring in violation of rational decision rules (e.g. independence from irrelevant alternative, IIA). A prototypical case is the ‘asymmetrically dominated decoy’ effect where the preference for a target option over a competitor is altered by the addition of an irrelevant alternative. Here, we test for this effect in the peacock blenny Salaria pavo. Females, in binary test (i.e. focal option dyad differing in body size and extension of a yellow spot), strongly preferred one of the options. The effect of decoys, asymmetrically dominating the focal options for either yellow spot extension or body size, varied according to the initially preferred trait and the decoy type. Indeed, the addition of a decoy caused a shift in preference only when the decoy exhibited the intermediate expression of the trait less preferred initially. By contrast, females did not modify their preference in the presence of the decoy for their preferred trait. Although females’ evaluation was context-dependent, the violation of IIA was clearly observed only with respect to the initially less preferred trait. This does not exclude that females are in any case using comparative decision rules. Indeed, when faced with three alternatives, two of which are proportionally closer to each other than to the third one, they might not be able to discriminate among them, perceiving stimulus absolute magnitude

Neuroendocrine-Immune Systems Response to Environmental Stressors in the Cephalopod Octopus vulgaris

Under a continuous changing environment, animals are challenged with stresses and stimuli which demanding adaptation at behavioral and physiological levels. The adaptation strategies are finely regulated by animal nervous, endocrine, and immune systems. Although it's been established by now the usage of integrative approach to the study the endocrine and nervous systems (neuroendocrine), yet our understanding of how they cooperate with the immune system remains far from complete. The possible role that immune system plays as a component of the network has only been recognized recently. Octopus vulgaris is an important member of cephalopods and is considered as a model species, with considerable information about the neuroendocrine and immune systems. In the current review, we anticipate to shed light on the complexity and cross talk among the three systems and how they cooperate in setting physiological response to stresses-stimuli in O. vulgaris as a target species and primary example

Inhibition of the deubiquitinase USP8 corrects a Drosophila PINK1 model of mitochondria dysfunction.

Aberrant mitochondrial dynamics disrupts mitochondrial function and contributes to disease conditions. A targeted RNA interference screen for deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs) affecting protein levels of multifunctional mitochondrial fusion protein Mitofusin (MFN) identified USP8 prominently influencing MFN levels. Genetic and pharmacological inhibition of USP8 normalized the elevated MFN protein levels observed in PINK1 and Parkin-deficient models. This correlated with improved mitochondrial function, locomotor performance and life span, and prevented dopaminergic neurons loss in Drosophila PINK1 KO flies. We identified a novel target antagonizing pathologically elevated MFN levels, mitochondrial dysfunction, and dopaminergic neuron loss of a Drosophila model of mitochondrial dysfunction.his work was supported by grants from the Italian Ministry of Health “Ricerca Finalizzata” (GR-2011-02351151), Rita Levi Montalcini “Brain Gain” program, and Michael J Fox RRIA 2014 (Grant ID 9795) to E Ziviani and by ERC FP7-282280, FP7 CIG PCIG13-GA-2013-618697, and Italian Ministry of Research FIRB RBAP11Z3YA_005 to L Scorrano. AJ Whitworth is funded by MRC Core funding (MC_UU_00015/6)

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Providing access to the inaccessible: a new thematic digital library for the Venice Lagoon

This paper is a description of an innovative project: the creation of a digital thematic library known as the Laguna di Venezia Digital Library (LVDL). It will collect published and unpublished scientific documentation about the Venice Lagoon. LVDL is a personalised extension of the ETRDL (ERCIM Technical Reference Digital Library) system, which is based on the Dienst protocol. Thanks to varying levels of document search and semantic descriptors, LVDL will satisfy many kinds of users working in a wide range of topics. As organised, this digital library has the potential to become a key thematic library for multidisciplinary documentation on the Venice Lagoon

Females' sampling strategy to comparatively evaluate prospective mates in the peacock blenny Salaria pavo

Emerging evidence suggests the occurrence of comparative decision-making processes in mate choice, questioning the traditional idea of female choice based on rules of absolute preference. In such a scenario, females are expected to use a typical best-of-n sampling strategy, being able to recall previous sampled males based on memory of their quality and location. Accordingly, the quality of preferred mate is expected to be unrelated to both the number and the sequence of female visits. We found support for these predictions in the peacock blenny, Salaria pavo, a fish where females have the opportunity to evaluate the attractiveness of many males in a short time period and in a restricted spatial range. Indeed, even considering the variability in preference among females, most of them returned to previous sampled males for further evaluations; thus, the preferred male did not represent the last one in the sequence of visited males. Moreover, there was no relationship between the attractiveness of the preferred male and the number of further visits assigned to the other males. Our results suggest the occurrence of a best-of-n mate sampling strategy in the peacock blenny