Neonatal imitation predicts infant rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) social and anxiety-related behaviours at one year

The identification of early markers that predict the development of specific social trajectories is critical to understand the developmental and neurobiological underpinnings of healthy social development. We investigated, in infant rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), whether newborns’ capacity to imitate facial gestures is a valid predictive marker for the emergence of social competencies later in development, at one year of age. Here we first assessed whether infant macaques (N = 126) imitate lipsmacking gestures (a macaque affiliative expression) performed by a human experimenter in their first week of life. We then collected data on infants’ social interactions (aggression, grooming, and play) and self-scratching (a proxy indicator of anxiety) at 11–14 months when infants were transferred into a new enclosure with a large social group. Our results show that neonatal imitators exhibit more dominant behaviours, are less anxious, and, for males only, spend more time in play at one year old. These findings suggest that neonatal imitation may be an early predictor of infant sociality and may help identify infants at risk of neurodevelopmental social deficits

Fuzzy Control for a Continuously Variable Transmission

: This paper presents the design of a fuzzy gain scheduling system for a proportional-integral (PI) controller on a hydraulic servo system used in a continuously variable transmission (CVT). A group of controllers is designed for different operating points and a smooth transition between them is obtained by means of a fuzzy system. Also a nonlinear compensation was designed for different operating points. A comparison with previous results is shown. 1 Introduction and process description The continuously variable transmission (CVT) is a kind of transmission used in cars with combustion engine. The most important difference with the classical gear box transmissions is that the CVT can give a continuous speed ratio between the motor and the wheels. The CVT system can be commanded in such a way that the motor can reduce consumption and polution or maximize the power transmitted to the wheels. The system has two conic pulleys connected to each other with a belt. The radius of each pulley ..

Leukaemia and lymphoma of the appendix presenting as acute appendicitis or acute abdomen. Four case reports with a review of the literature

Leukaemic and lymphomatous infiltration of the appendix is rare and even rarer is acute appendicitis as the initial manifestation. From our routine biopsy material we collected four cases of haematological malignancies presenting as acute appendicitis or acute abdomen, caused or accompanied by tumoral infiltration of the appendix. Appendicitis was the initial manifestation that allowed diagnosis of the underlying disease. The clinical histories and histological examinations of the appendices and of one autopsy are described. We report the first detailed description of acute myeloid leukaemia involving the appendix, and three cases of lymphomatous infiltration of the appendix presenting with appendicitis, and give an overview of the literature. In these days of budgetary cuts in national health services, where one may be tempted not to have seemingly commonplace cases of appendicitis histologitally verified, our cases emphasize that careful histopathological examination of all appendectomy specimens should be mandatory. Despite the fact that leukaemia and lymphoma of the appendix are rare, our cases illustrate that these must be included in the differential diagnosis of acute appendicitis and that physicians and surgeons have to be aware of these conditions.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe