Keeper-animal interactions: differences between the behaviour of zoo animals affect stockmanship

Stockmanship is a term used to describe the management of animals with a good stockperson someone who does this in a in a safe, effective, and low-stress manner for both the stock-keeper and animals involved. Although impacts of unfamiliar zoo visitors on animal behaviour have been extensively studied, the impact of stockmanship i.e familiar zoo keepers is a new area of research; which could reveal significant ramifications for zoo animal behaviour and welfare. It is likely that different relationships are formed dependant on the unique keeper-animal dyad (human-animal interaction, HAI). The aims of this study were to (1) investigate if unique keeper-animal dyads were formed in zoos, (2) determine whether keepers differed in their interactions towards animals regarding their attitude, animal knowl- edge and experience and (3) explore what factors affect keeper-animal dyads and ultimately influence animal behaviour and welfare. Eight black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis), eleven Chapman’s zebra (Equus burchellii), and twelve Sulawesi crested black macaques (Macaca nigra) were studied in 6 zoos across the UK and USA. Subtle cues and commands directed by keepers towards animals were identified. The animals latency to respond and the respective behavioural response (cue-response) was recorded per keeper-animal dyad (n=93). A questionnaire was constructed following a five-point Likert Scale design to record keeper demographic information and assess the job satisfaction of keepers, their attitude towards the animals and their perceived relationship with them. There was a significant difference in the animals’ latency to appropriately respond after cues and commands from different keepers, indicating unique keeper-animal dyads were formed. Stockmanship style was also different between keepers; two main components contributed equally towards this: “attitude towards the animals” and “knowledge and experience of the animals”. In this novel study, data demonstrated unique dyads were formed between keepers and zoo animals, which influenced animal behaviour

Development of the SPECULOOS exoplanet search project

SPECULOOS (Search for habitable Planets EClipsing ULtra-cOOl Stars) aims to perform a transit search on the nearest ($<40$pc) ultracool ($<3000$K) dwarf stars. The project's main motivation is to discover potentially habitable planets well-suited for detailed atmospheric characterisation with upcoming giant telescopes, like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and European Large Telescope (ELT). The project is based on a network of 1m robotic telescopes, namely the four ones of the SPECULOOS-Southern Observatory (SSO) in Cerro Paranal, Chile, one telescope of the SPECULOOS-Northern Observatory (SNO) in Tenerife, and the SAINT-Ex telescope in San Pedro M\'artir, Mexico. The prototype survey of the SPECULOOS project on the 60~cm TRAPPIST telescope (Chile) discovered the TRAPPIST-1 system, composed of seven temperate Earth-sized planets orbiting a nearby (12~pc) Jupiter-sized star. In this paper, we review the current status of SPECULOOS, its first results, the plans for its development, and its connection to the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and JWST

The yeast P5 type ATPase, Spf1, regulates manganese transport into the endoplasmic reticulum

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a large, multifunctional and essential organelle. Despite intense research, the function of more than a third of ER proteins remains unknown even in the well-studied model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae. One such protein is Spf1, which is a highly conserved, ER localized, putative P-type ATPase. Deletion of SPF1 causes a wide variety of phenotypes including severe ER stress suggesting that this protein is essential for the normal function of the ER. The closest homologue of Spf1 is the vacuolar P-type ATPase Ypk9 that influences Mn2+ homeostasis. However in vitro reconstitution assays with Spf1 have not yielded insight into its transport specificity. Here we took an in vivo approach to detect the direct and indirect effects of deleting SPF1. We found a specific reduction in the luminal concentration of Mn2+ in ∆spf1 cells and an increase following it’s overexpression. In agreement with the observed loss of luminal Mn2+ we could observe concurrent reduction in many Mn2+-related process in the ER lumen. Conversely, cytosolic Mn2+-dependent processes were increased. Together, these data support a role for Spf1p in Mn2+ transport in the cell. We also demonstrate that the human sequence homologue, ATP13A1, is a functionally conserved orthologue. Since ATP13A1 is highly expressed in developing neuronal tissues and in the brain, this should help in the study of Mn2+-dependent neurological disorders

Development and Validation of an Epitope Prediction Tool for Swine (PigMatrix) Based on the Pocket Profile Method

Background: T cell epitope prediction tools and associated vaccine design algorithms have accelerated the development of vaccines for humans. Predictive tools for swine and other food animals are not as well developed, primarily because the data required to develop the tools are lacking. Here, we overcome a lack of T cell epitope data to construct swine epitope predictors by systematically leveraging available human information. Applying the “pocket profile method”, we use sequence and structural similarities in the binding pockets of human and swine major histocompatibility complex proteins to infer Swine Leukocyte Antigen (SLA) peptide binding preferences. We developed epitope-prediction matrices (PigMatrices), for three SLA class I alleles (SLA-1*0401, 2*0401 and 3*0401) and one class II allele (SLA-DRB1*0201), based on the binding preferences of the best-matched Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) pocket for each SLA pocket. The contact residues involved in the binding pockets were defined for class I based on crystal structures of either SLA (SLA-specific contacts, Ssc) or HLA supertype alleles (HLA contacts, Hc); for class II, only Hc was possible. Different substitution matrices were evaluated (PAM and BLOSUM) for scoring pocket similarity and identifying the best human match. The accuracy of the PigMatrices was compared to available online swine epitope prediction tools such as PickPocket and NetMHCpan. Results: PigMatrices that used Ssc to define the pocket sequences and PAM30 to score pocket similarity demonstrated the best predictive performance and were able to accurately separate binders from random peptides. For SLA-1*0401 and 2*0401, PigMatrix achieved area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUC) of 0.78 and 0.73, respectively, which were equivalent or better than PickPocket (0.76 and 0.54) and NetMHCpan version 2.4 (0.41 and 0.51) and version 2.8 (0.72 and 0.71). In addition, we developed the first predictive SLA class II matrix, obtaining an AUC of 0.73 for existing SLA-DRB1*0201 epitopes. Notably, PigMatrix achieved this level of predictive power without training on SLA binding data. Conclusions: Overall, the pocket profile method combined with binding preferences from HLA binding data shows significant promise for developing T cell epitope prediction tools for pigs. When combined with existing vaccine design algorithms, PigMatrix will be useful for developing genome-derived vaccines for a range of pig pathogens for which no effective vaccines currently exist (e.g. porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, influenza and porcine epidemic diarrhea)

Ultrasound Evidence of Early Fetal Growth Restriction after Maternal Malaria Infection

BACKGROUND: Intermittent preventive treatment (IPT), the main strategy to prevent malaria and reduce anaemia and low birthweight, focuses on the second half of pregnancy. However, intrauterine growth restriction may occur earlier in pregnancy. The aim of this study was to measure the effects of malaria in the first half of pregnancy by comparing the fetal biparietal diameter (BPD) of infected and uninfected women whose pregnancies had been accurately dated by crown rump length (CRL) before 14 weeks of gestation. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In 3,779 women living on the Thai-Myanmar border who delivered a normal singleton live born baby between 2001-10 and who had gestational age estimated by CRL measurement <14 weeks, the observed and expected BPD z-scores (<24 weeks) in pregnancies that were (n = 336) and were not (n = 3,443) complicated by malaria between the two scans were compared. The mean (standard deviation) fetal BPD z-scores in women with Plasmodium (P) falciparum and/or P.vivax malaria infections were significantly lower than in non-infected pregnancies; -0.57 (1.13) versus -0.10 (1.17), p<0.001. Even a single or an asymptomatic malaria episode resulted in a significantly lower z-score. Fetal female sex (p<0.001) and low body mass index (p = 0.01) were also independently associated with a smaller BPD in multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Despite early treatment in all positive women, one or more (a)symptomatic P.falciparum or P.vivax malaria infections in the first half of pregnancy result in a smaller than expected mid-trimester fetal head diameter. Strategies to prevent malaria in pregnancy should include early pregnancy

Studies of CTNNBL1 and FDFT1 variants and measures of obesity: analyses of quantitative traits and case-control studies in 18,014 Danes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A genome-wide scan in unrelated US Caucasians identified rs7001819 upstream of farnesyl-diphosphate farnesyltransferase 1 (<it>FDFT1</it>) and multiple variants within catenin (cadherin-associated protein), β-like 1 (<it>CTNNBL1</it>) to associate strongly with body mass index (BMI). The most significantly associating variants within <it>CTNNBL1 </it>including rs6013029 and rs6020846 were additionally confirmed to associate with morbid obesity in a French Caucasian case-control sample. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of these three variants on obesity, through analyses of obesity-related quantitative traits, and case-control studies in large study samples of Danes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The <it>FDFT1 </it>rs7001819, <it>CTNNBL1 </it>rs6013029 and rs6020846 were genotyped, using TaqMan allelic discrimination, in a combined study sample comprising 18,014 participants ascertained from; the population-based Inter99 cohort (<it>n </it>= 6,514), the ADDITION Denmark screening study cohort (<it>n </it>= 8,662), and a population-based sample (<it>n </it>= 680) and a type 2 diabetic patients group (<it>n </it>= 2,158) from Steno Diabetes Center.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Both <it>CTNNBL1 </it>variants associated with body weight and height with per allele effect sizes of 1.0 [0.3–0.8] kg and 0.6 [0.2–0.9] cm, respectively, for the rs6020846 G-allele. No association was observed with BMI and waist circumference. In case-control studies neither of the <it>CTNNBL1 </it>variants showed association with overweight, obesity or morbid obesity (rs6013029: Odds Ratio (OR)_overweight= 1.02 [0.90–1.16], OR_obesity= 1.09 [0.95–1.25], OR_{morbidobesity}= 1.26 [0.91–1.74]; rs6020846: OR_overweight= 1.05 [0.93–1.18], OR_obesity= 1.13 [1.00–1.28], OR_{morbidobesity}= 1.17 [0.86–1.61]). However, in meta-analyses of the present and the previous study, both the rs6013029 T-allele and the rs6020846 G-allele increased the risk of developing morbid obesity (rs6013029: OR_combined= 1.36 [1.12–1.64], <it>p </it>= 0.002; rs6020846: OR_combined= 1.26 [1.06–1.51], <it>p </it>= 0.01), and obesity (rs6013029: OR_combined= 1.17 [1.04–1.31], <it>p </it>= 0.007; rs6020846: OR_combined= 1.17 [1.05–1.30], <it>p </it>= 0.004).</p> <p>The <it>FDFT1 </it>rs7001819 C-allele showed no association with obesity-related quantitative measures or dichotomous measures of overweight, obesity and morbid obesity.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p><it>CTNNBL1 </it>variants associated with body weight and height, and confer the risk of developing obesity in meta-analyses combining the present and a previous study. <it>FDFT1 </it>rs7001819 showed no association with obesity, neither when analysing quantitative traits nor when performing case-control studies of obesity.</p

Analysis of DLA-DQB1 and polymorphisms in CTLA4 in Cocker spaniels affected with immune-mediated haemolytic anaemia

BACKGROUND: Cocker spaniels are predisposed to immune-mediated haemolytic anaemia (IMHA), suggesting that genetic factors influence disease susceptibility. Dog leukocyte antigen (DLA) class II genes encode major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules that are involved in antigen presentation to CD4(+) T cells. Several DLA haplotypes have been associated with autoimmune disease, including IMHA, in dogs, and breed specific differences have been identified. Cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA4) is a critical molecule involved in the regulation of T-cell responses. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the CTLA4 promoter have been shown to be associated with several autoimmune diseases in humans and more recently with diabetes mellitus and hypoadrenocorticism in dogs. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether DLA-DQB1 alleles or CTLA4 promoter variability are associated with risk of IMHA in Cocker spaniels. RESULTS: There were a restricted number of DLA-DQB1 alleles identified, with a high prevalence of DLA-DQB1*007:01 in both groups. A high prevalence of DLA-DQB1 homozygosity was identified, although there was no significant difference between IMHA cases and controls. CTLA4 promoter haplotype diversity was limited in Cocker spaniels, with all dogs expressing at least one copy of haplotype 8. There was no significant difference comparing haplotypes in the IMHA affected group versus control group (p = 0.23). Homozygosity for haplotype 8 was common in Cocker spaniels with IMHA (27/29; 93 %) and in controls (52/63; 83 %), with no statistically significant difference in prevalence between the two groups (p = 0.22). CONCLUSIONS: DLA-DQB1 allele and CTLA4 promoter haplotype were not found to be significantly associated with IMHA in Cocker spaniels. Homozygosity for DLA-DQB1*007:01 and the presence of CTLA4 haplotype 8 in Cocker spaniels might increase overall susceptibility to IMHA in this breed, with other genetic and environmental factors involved in disease expression and progression