Environmental and Parental Influences on Offspring Health and Growth in Great Tits (Parus major)

PMCID: PMC3728352This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Breeding ecology of Eurasian bullfinches Pyrrhula pyrrhula

Producción CientíficaThe breeding ecology of the Iberian subspecies of the Eurasian bullfinch, Pyrrhula pyrrhula iberiae, is addressed for the first time. The studied population occupied a hedgerow habitat in northwestern Spain. Individuals directly watched in the study area and details of these sightings were recorded over a six-year period, and a total of 56 nests were monitored. The earliest date of nest building was within 11–30 April for all years. Fledglings were recorded leaving the nest during all the ten-day periods from the end of May to mid-August. Nest attendance, from the early building stage to when nestlings were ready to leave the nest, lasted approximately 36 days. The overall mean clutch size was 4.56 eggs. Clutch size decreased significantly at the end of the breeding season. For all egg traits, the minimum values for standard deviation were obtained in the intra-clutch analysis, and egg length was more variable than width. Nesting success increased progressively from April–May to June–July and August. The main proximate cause of nest failure was egg desertion/predation, followed by nest desertion during nest building and nestling desertion/predation. Mammals were the main agents in nests where the probable predator could be identified. Approximately half of the eggs became fledglings leaving the nest, no significant seasonal differences being observed for this parameter. In August, the ratio of juveniles to adults was 2.5–4.1, juveniles representing approximately 70–80% of the individuals seen and identified that month. The absence of significant interannual variation in important reproductive parameters could have been due to lack of interannual variation in the availability of food resources. Compared to other subspecies, mean clutch size of Iberian bullfinches is the smallest recorded in the western Palearctic, and they showed an earlier start to the breeding season and shorter mean egg length than North European and Russian populations

Activation of cord blood myeloid dendritic cells by Trypanosoma cruzi and parasite-specific antibodies, proliferation of CD8+ T cells, and production of IFN-γ.

We previously reported that Trypanosoma cruzi, the agent of Chagas disease, induces in congenitally infected fetuses a strong, adult-like parasite-specific CD8(+) T cell response producing IFN-γ (Hermann et al. in Blood 100:2153-2158, 2002). This suggests that the parasite is able to overcome the immaturity of neonatal antigen presenting cells, an issue which has not been previously addressed. We therefore investigated in vitro the ability of T. cruzi to activate cord blood DCs and compared its effect to that on adult cells. We show that T. cruzi induces phenotypic maturation of cord blood CD11c(+) myeloid DCs (mDCs), by enhancing surface expression of CD40, CD80, and CD83, and that parasite-specific IgG purified from cord blood of neonates born to T. cruzi-infected mothers amplify such expression. CD83, considered as the best marker of mature DCs, reaches higher level on cord blood than on adult mDCs. Allo-stimulation experiments showed that T. cruzi-activated cord blood mononuclear cells enriched in DCs (eDCs) stimulate proliferation of cord blood and adult CD3(+) T cells to a similar extent. Of note, T. cruzi-activated eDCs from cord blood trigger more potent proliferation of CD8(+) than CD8(-) (mainly CD4(+)) adult T cells, a feature not observed with adult eDCs. T cell proliferation is associated with IFN-γ release and down-regulation of IL-13 production. These data show that T. cruzi potently activates human cord blood mDCs and endows eDCs to trigger CD8(+) T cell proliferation and favor type 1 immune response. Interestingly, maternal antibodies can strengthen the development of mature DCs that might contribute to overcome the immunological immaturity associated with early life.Journal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tSCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Nitride Nanowires for Light Emitting Diodes

International audienceThis chapter describes the present status of nitride nanowire (NW) light emitting diodes (LEDs). The main focus is on the NW synthesized by a bottom-up approach. NW growth methods are described and the device processing is presented. Different realizations of NW LEDs are reviewed, grouped by their spectral domain and the targeted applications. Existing challenges of NW technology for LEDs are analyzed. New functionalities offered by the NW geometry are described, namely the use of NWs to create mechanically flexible light sources