Intra- and Interspecific Variation in Tadpole Lateral Line Cells

Background The lateral line is a sensory system that detects motion and pressure in fish & larval amphibians. The sensory end organs are called neuromasts. A gosner stage describes the 46 stages of tadpole development Hypothesis: We hypothesize that the number of neuromasts will vary more between species than within a species

Behavioral Plasticity in Response to Environmental Cues in Poison Frog Tadpoles

Behavioral plasticity is the ability of an organism to detect cues in their environment and respond by modifying behavior. In the wild, dyeing poison frog (Dendrobates tinctorius) tadpoles are delivered by their dads to pools that vary in predation risk, resource availability, con-and hetero-specific density. Conspecific density is especially important as these tadpoles are aggressive and often cannibalistic. Behavioral plasticity in response to environmental cues may help tadpoles to compete for resources and survival

Evaluation of a hearing conservation program at a large industrial company: comparisons of hearing levels in workers exposed to noise on two different schedules with workers in low-noise areas

This paper discusses a study of a hearing conservation program at a large industrial company

ACTH Challenge: Stress Response Across Tadpole Development

Research Questions Do tadpoles excrete more cortisol or corticosterone? Do tadpoles excrete more corticosterone after ACTH injections? Does the ACTH stress response change across development

Skin care interventions in infants for preventing eczema and food allergy

BackgroundEczema and food allergy are common health conditions that usually begin in early childhood and often occur together in the same people. They can be associated with an impaired skin barrier in early infancy. It is unclear whether trying to prevent or reverse an impaired skin barrier soon after birth is effective in preventing eczema or food allergy.ObjectivesPrimary objectiveTo assess effects of skin care interventions, such as emollients, for primary prevention of eczema and food allergy in infantsSecondary objectiveTo identify features of study populations such as age, hereditary risk, and adherence to interventions that are associated withthe greatest treatment benefit or harm for both eczema and food allergy.Search methodsWe searched the following databases up to July 2020: Cochrane Skin Specialised Register, CENTRAL, MEDLINE, and Embase. We searched two trials registers and checked reference lists of included studies and relevant systematic reviews for further references to relevant randomised controlled trials (RCTs). We contacted field experts to identify planned trials and to seek information about unpublished or incomplete trials.Selection criteriaRCTs of skin care interventions that could potentially enhance skin barrier function, reduce dryness, or reduce subclinical inflammation in healthy term (> 37 weeks) infants (0 to 12 months) without pre‐existing diagnosis of eczema, food allergy, or other skin condition were included. Comparison was standard care in the locality or no treatment. Types of skin care interventions included moisturisers/emollients; bathing products; advice regarding reducing soap exposure and bathing frequency; and use of water softeners. No minimum follow‐up was required.Data collection and analysisThis is a prospective individual participant data (IPD) meta‐analysis. We used standard Cochrane methodological procedures, and primary analyses used the IPD dataset. Primary outcomes were cumulative incidence of eczema and cumulative incidence of immunoglobulin (Ig)E‐mediated food allergy by one to three years, both measured by the closest available time point to two years. Secondary outcomes included adverse events during the intervention period; eczema severity (clinician‐assessed); parent report of eczema severity; time to onset of eczema; parent report of immediate food allergy; and allergic sensitisation to food or inhalant allergen.Main resultsThis review identified 33 RCTs, comprising 25,827 participants. A total of 17 studies, randomising 5823 participants, reported information on one or more outcomes specified in this review. Eleven studies randomising 5217 participants, with 10 of these studies providing IPD, were included in one or more meta‐analysis (range 2 to 9 studies per individual meta‐analysis).Most studies were conducted at children's hospitals. All interventions were compared against no skin care intervention or local standard care. Of the 17 studies that reported our outcomes, 13 assessed emollients. Twenty‐five studies, including all those contributing data to meta‐analyses, randomised newborns up to age three weeks to receive a skin care intervention or standard infant skin care. Eight of the 11 studies contributing to meta‐analyses recruited infants at high risk of developing eczema or food allergy, although definition of high risk varied between studies. Durations of intervention and follow‐up ranged from 24 hours to two years.We assessed most of this review's evidence as low certainty or had some concerns of risk of bias. A rating of some concerns was most often due to lack of blinding of outcome assessors or significant missing data, which could have impacted outcome measurement but was judged unlikely to have done so. Evidence for the primary food allergy outcome was rated as high risk of bias due to inclusion of only one trial where findings varied when different assumptions were made about missing data.Skin care interventions during infancy probably do not change risk of eczema by one to two years of age (risk ratio (RR) 1.03, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.81 to 1.31; moderate‐certainty evidence; 3075 participants, 7 trials) nor time to onset of eczema (hazard ratio 0.86, 95% CI 0.65 to 1.14; moderate‐certainty evidence; 3349 participants, 9 trials). It is unclear whether skin care interventions during infancy change risk of IgE‐mediated food allergy by one to two years of age (RR 2.53, 95% CI 0.99 to 6.47; 996 participants, 1 trial) or allergic sensitisation to a food allergen at age one to two years (RR 0.86, 95% CI 0.28 to 2.69; 1055 participants, 2 trials) due to very low‐certainty evidence for these outcomes. Skin care interventions during infancy may slightly increase risk of parent report of immediate reaction to a common food allergen at two years (RR 1.27, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.61; low‐certainty evidence; 1171 participants, 1 trial). However, this was only seen for cow’s milk, and may be unreliable due to significant over‐reporting of cow’s milk allergy in infants. Skin care interventions during infancy probably increase risk of skin infection over the intervention period (RR 1.34, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.77; moderate‐certainty evidence; 2728 participants, 6 trials) and may increase risk of infant slippage over the intervention period (RR 1.42, 95% CI 0.67 to 2.99; low‐certainty evidence; 2538 participants, 4 trials) or stinging/allergic reactions to moisturisers (RR 2.24, 95% 0.67 to 7.43; low‐certainty evidence; 343 participants, 4 trials), although confidence intervals for slippages and stinging/allergic reactions are wide and include the possibility of no effect or reduced risk.Preplanned subgroup analyses show that effects of interventions were not influenced by age, duration of intervention, hereditary risk, FLG mutation, or classification of intervention type for risk of developing eczema. We could not evaluate these effects on risk of food allergy. Evidence was insufficient to show whether adherence to interventions influenced the relationship between skin care interventions and risk of developing eczema or food allergy.Authors' conclusionsSkin care interventions such as emollients during the first year of life in healthy infants are probably not effective for preventing eczema, and probably increase risk of skin infection. Effects of skin care interventions on risk of food allergy are uncertain.Further work is needed to understand whether different approaches to infant skin care might promote or prevent eczema and to evaluate effects on food allergy based on robust outcome assessments

Conspecific cues elect distinct behavioural responses in cannibalistic poison frog tadpoles dataset

<p>In cannibalistic species, conspecifics can be both predators and prey. As a result, conspecifics present a unique conflict at the intersection of predation, competition and nutritional resources in these species. To better understand how individuals respond to the complex information of conspecific chemical cues, we studied aggressive and cannibalistic tadpoles of the dyeing poison frog, <em>Dendrobates tinctorius</em>. We used a standardized open field test to compare behavioural responses to a positive cue (food), a negative cue (predator) and two conflicting cues (conspecific density and injured conspecifics). We specifically used chemical cues to understand how individuals respond in the absence of additional information that would disambiguate their status as conspecific predator versus prey. We found that the injured conspecific cue elicited a response distinct from either the food cue or the predator cue: tadpoles explored more relative to baseline and predator cues but spent less time moving compared to the food cue. We suggest that these patterns reflect cue-dependent behavioural strategies that maximize exploration while minimizing detection in the presence of conspecific cannibals. In addition to cue-specific changes in behaviour, we observed consistent differences in individuals' behaviour across environments and found that activity and exploratory behaviour were positively correlated across environments. Taken together, our results demonstrate that conspecific cues are interpreted as distinct from either food cues or predator cues in a cannibalistic species where they can represent both.</p&gt

Aerosol Pirfenidone Pharmacokinetics after Inhaled Delivery in Sheep:a Viable Approach to Treating Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

Inhaled delivery of pirfenidone to the lungs of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis holds promise to eliminate oral-observed side effects while enhancing efficacy. This study aimed to comprehensively describe the pulmonary pharmacokinetics of inhaled aerosol pirfenidone in healthy adult sheep.Pirfenidone concentrations were evaluated in plasma, lung-derived lymph and epithelial lining fluid (ELF) with data subjected to non-compartmental pharmacokinetic analysis.Compartmental pharmacokinetic evaluation indicated that a 49\ua0mg lung-deposited dose delivered an ELF Cmax of 62 ± 23\ua0mg/L, and plasma Cmax of 3.1 ± 1.7\ua0mg/L. Further analysis revealed that plasma pirfenidone reached Tmax faster and at higher concentrations than in lymph. These results suggested inhaled pirfenidone was cleared from the alveolar interstitium via blood faster than the drug could equilibrate between the lung interstitial fluid and lung lymphatics. However, the data also suggested that a 'reservoir' of pirfenidone feeds into lung lymph at later time points (after it has largely been cleared from plasma), prolonging lung lymphatic exposure.This study indicates inhaled pirfenidone efficiently deposits in ELF and is cleared from the lungs by initial absorption into plasma, followed by later equilibrium with lung interstitial and lymph fluid