Evaluation of Stress Response under a Standard Euthanasia Protocol in Horses Using Analysis of Heart Rate Variability

The effects of a standard protocol for euthanasia on heart rate variability (HRV) as a consequence of stress response were analyzed in this prospective clinical study. The HRV was determined in 40 horses undergoing euthanasia due to various reasons, at different locations, and with/without owner presence. For euthanasia, horses were sedated with xylazine or a combination of xylazine and butorphanol. General anesthesia was induced using diazepam and ketamine. Afterwards, horses were euthanized with pentobarbital. The ECG data were taken by a Telemetric ECG at three time points (sedation, anesthesia, anesthesia until death). The HRV was analyzed including the low (LF) and high frequency (HF) components of HRV and the sympathovagal balance (LF/HF ratio). Significant differences in the LF, HF and LF/HF ratio were found between the three time points of euthanasia (p < 0.001). The HRV analysis showed dominating sympathetic activity in the preparation phase of euthanasia and during the injection of pentobarbital. The location of euthanasia, presence of owner and type of primary diseases had no influence on stress parameters. Horses showing excitations or groaning during euthanasia did not differ in HRV. Horse with colic were however more likely to show reoccurrence of breathing during euthanasia. In conclusion, HRV is a sensitive, noninvasive parameter to obtain sympathovagal stimulations during euthanasia and adapted protocols for euthanasia in horse with colic should be studied

Perspective taking does not moderate the price precision effect, but indirectly affects counteroffers to asking prices

Precise asking-prices (e.g., $249,800), compared with round ones (e.g.,$250,000), are stronger anchors, leading buyers to counter closer to the asking-price. This 'precision effect' is driven by (i) higher evaluation of the seller's competence, and (ii) buyers using a finer-grained numerical scale when the asking-price is precise compared with round. But are buyers more susceptible to precise anchors, the more they take the seller's perspective? If so, what are the underlying mechanisms leading to this increased susceptibility? We examine the potential moderating role of trait (Experiment 1) and manipulated (Experiment 2) perspective-taking on the price precision effect and its underlying mechanisms. We test the prediction that the more buyers take the seller's perspective, the more they will evaluate a precise-opening seller as competent, which in turn will increase buyers' susceptibility to precise prices (H1). We further test two competing predictions regarding the moderating role (H2a) of perspective-taking versus lack thereof (H2b) on buyers' use of a finer-grained numerical scale when countering a precise asking-price. Results revealed that precise asking-prices lead to counteroffers closer to the asking-price. This price precision effect was driven by the scale granularity, but not the perception of seller's competence mechanism. Further, perspective-taking did not moderate the price precision effect. Exploratory analyses revealed that perspective-taking leads to higher perception of seller's competence, which in turn leads to counteroffers that are closer to the asking-price. Overall, both price precision and perspective-taking shape counteroffers (but not in an interaction), making the two factors important in negotiation processes

Treatment of equine sarcoids using recombinant poxviruses expressing feline interleukin-2

Background Interleukin (IL)‐2 stimulates antitumour immunity and is successfully used for the treatment of different neoplasias. Hypothesis/Objectives Canarypox virus locally expressing feline IL‐2 is safe and can be used to treat equine sarcoids. Animals Twenty horses of different breeds with a median age of eight years (interquartile range 6.0–13.3 years) and a total number of 59 sarcoids were included in the study. Methods In this prospective clinical trial, sarcoids were injected twice seven days apart, with a recombinant canarypox virus expressing feline IL‐2. Complete blood counts (CBC) and fibrinogen levels were measured before treatment and on days 1, 2, 7 and 8. Results Complete regression was achieved in eight horses (40%) and partial regression in two horses (10%). No change in sarcoid size was observed in two horses (10%) and the disease progressed in five horses (25%). Sarcoids of three horses (15%) showed initial response followed by tumour growth. There were no significant changes in CBC and fibrinogen levels after either injection. One horse developed a mild fever the day after each injection, which subsided without treatment the following day. Conclusions Treatment of equine sarcoids with recombinant canarypox virus expressing feline IL‐2 seems to be a safe therapy option. Although the expression of IL‐2 after vector injection and its biological activity in horses were not proven in this study, the treatment resulted in regression and partial regression in 50% of the cases. Further studies are necessary to verify these findings and to establish a treatment protocol

Precious property or magnificent money? How money salience but not temperature priming affects first-offer anchors in economic transactions

The present study aims for a better understanding of how individuals’ behavior in monetary price negotiations differs from their behavior in bartering situations. Two contrasting hypotheses were derived from endowment theory and current negotiation research to examine whether negotiators are more susceptible to anchoring in price negotiations versus in bartering transactions. In addition, past research found that cues of coldness enhance cognitive control and reduce anchoring effects. We attempted to replicate these coldness findings for price anchors in a distributive negotiations scenario and to illuminate the potential interplay of coldness priming with a price versus bartering manipulation. Participants (N=219) were recruited for a 2 × 2 between-subjects negotiation experiment manipulating (1) monetary focus and (2) temperature priming. Our data show a higher anchoring susceptibility in price negotiations than in bartering transactions. Despite a successful priming manipulation check, coldness priming did not enhance cognitive control (nor interact with the price/bartering manipulation). Our findings improve our theoretical understanding of how the focus on negotiation resources frames economic transactions as either unidirectional or bidirectional, and how this focus shapes parties’ susceptibility for the anchoring bias and negotiation behavior. Implications for theory and practice are discussed

Bargaining zone distortion in negotiations: The elusive power of multiple alternatives

AbstractWe challenge the assumption that having multiple alternatives is always better than a single alternative by showing that negotiators who have additional alternatives ironically exhibit downward-biased perceptions of their own and their opponent’s reservation price, make lower demands, and achieve worse outcomes in distributive negotiations. Five studies demonstrate that the apparent benefits of multiple alternatives are elusive because multiple alternatives led to less ambitious first offers (Studies 1–2) and less profitable agreements (Study 3). This distributive disadvantage emerged because negotiators’ perception of the bargaining zone was more distorted when they had additional (less attractive) alternatives than when they only had a single alternative (Studies 1–3). We further found that this multiple-alternatives disadvantage only emerges when negotiators used quantitative (versus qualitative) evaluation standards to gauge the extremity of their offers (Study 4), and when they base their offers on their own numerical alternative(s) versus on opponent information (Study 5)

The too-much precision effect: When and why precise anchors backfire with experts

All data and materials have been made publicly available via the Open Science Framework and can be accessed at https://osf.io/b8zft/.</p

AtSIG6, a plastid sigma factor from Arabidopsis, reveals functional impact of cpCK2 phosphorylation

Plastids contain sigma factors, i.e. gene-regulatory proteins for promoter binding and transcription initiation. Despite the physical and functional similarity shared with their prokaryotic counterparts, the plant sigma factors have distinguishing features: most notably the existence of a variable extra sequence comprising their N-terminal portions. This distinct architecture is reflected by functional differences, including phosphorylation control by organellar protein kinase(s) closely related to nucleocytosolic, rather than bacterial-type, enzymes. In particular, cpCK2, a nuclear-coded plastid-targeted casein kinase 2, has been implicated as a key component in plant sigma factor phosphorylation and transcriptional regulation (Eur. J. Biochem. 269, 2002, 3329; Planta, 219, 2004, 298). Although this notion is based mainly on biochemical evidence and in vitro systems, the recent availability of Arabidopsis sigma knock-out lines for complementation by intact and mutant sigma cDNAs has opened up new strategies for the study of transcription regulatory mechanisms in vivo. Using Arabidopsis sigma factor 6 (AtSIG6) as a paradigm, we present data suggesting that: (i) this factor is a substrate for regulatory phosphorylation by cpCK2 both in vitro and in vivo; (ii) cpCK2 phosphorylation of SIG6 occurs at multiple sites, which can widely differ in their effect on the visual and/or molecular phenotype; (iii) in vivo usage of the perhaps most critical cpCK2 site defined by Ser174 requires (pre-)phosphorylation at the n + 3 serine residue Ser177, pointing to ‘pathfinder’ kinase activity capable of generating a functional cpCK2 substrate site

A Multisite Preregistered Paradigmatic Test of the Ego-Depletion Effect

We conducted a preregistered multilaboratory project (k = 36; N = 3,531) to assess the size and robustness of ego-depletion effects using a novel replication method, termed the paradigmatic replication approach. Each laboratory implemented one of two procedures that was intended to manipulate self-control and tested performance on a subsequent measure of self-control. Confirmatory tests found a nonsignificant result (d = 0.06). Confirmatory Bayesian meta-analyses using an informed-prior hypothesis (δ = 0.30, SD = 0.15) found that the data were 4 times more likely under the null than the alternative hypothesis. Hence, preregistered analyses did not find evidence for a depletion effect. Exploratory analyses on the full sample (i.e., ignoring exclusion criteria) found a statistically significant effect (d = 0.08); Bayesian analyses showed that the data were about equally likely under the null and informed-prior hypotheses. Exploratory moderator tests suggested that the depletion effect was larger for participants who reported more fatigue but was not moderated by trait self-control, willpower beliefs, or action orientation.</p