Enrichment Use & Social Interactions in a Mixed-Species Enclosure of Sumatran (Pongo abelij) & Bornean Orangutans (P. pygmaeus) & Northern White-Cheeked Gibbons (Nomascus leucogenys)

Enrichment is an aspect of captive husbandry that has been shown to positively impact animals’ well-being and can be designed to encourage species-typical behaviors, such as foraging and arboreality. Enrichment can include housing together multiple compatible species. Orangutans are sympatric with siamangs and agile and Bornean gibbons, so several zoos house these four Asian ape species in the same enclosure, in part, as social enrichment. In my study, I observed enrichment use and social interactions in a mixed-species enclosure at the Oregon Zoo, which housed two Sumatran (Pongo abelii) and two Bornean (P. pygmaeus) orangutans with two Northern white-cheeked gibbons (Nomascus leucogenys). The study subjects were Bornean orangutans Kitra and Bob, Sumatran orangutans Kumar and Inji, and gibbons Phyllis and Duffy. From August 4-September 4, 2015, I conducted scan sampling every 30 seconds for 15-minute time blocks, totaling 82.5 hours and 9,911 scans. Using proportion tests, I tested whether each ape was equally likely to use arboreal and terrestrial enrichment. I predicted subjects would be more likely to use arboreal enrichment because of their arboreal natural histories. All individuals used arboreal enrichment significantly more than terrestrial enrichment. During my study, the two Sumatran orangutans and the two gibbons were housed together. I predicted that conspecifics would be more likely to interact than heterospecifics. Chi square tests supported this prediction. An additional component of my second hypothesis, which was conducted through descriptive statistics, was that interactions between conspecifics and heterospecifics would be more affiliative than aggressive. I found that heterospecifics and conspecifics had more affiliative instances (n = 1,750) than aggressive ones (n = 65)

The Type a Behavior Pattern and Acth Response to the Stress of Cardiac Catheterization.

There is substantial evidence to indicate that the Type A Behavior Pattern is associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease. Recent research has shown that Type As, as compared to Type Bs, demonstrate enhanced biochemical and cardiovascular responses to stressful situations. These findings have led researchers to postulate that physiological reactivity may be one of the mechanisms through which Type A behavior confers coronary risk. The present study was designed to investigate physiological and psychological reactivity in Type A and Type B cardiac patients exposed to a cardiac catheterization. The effects of drugs (i.e., none versus beta-blockers and calcium channel blockers) on the response to stress was systematically evaluated. Dependent measures, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), heart rate (HR), state anxiety (STAI-state), and Total Mood Disturbance (TMD), were obtained prior to cardiac catheterization (day 1) and 24 hours later (day 2). A 2 x 2 x 2 (Behavior Type x Drug Group x Day) analysis of variance with repeated measures on day revealed significant main effects of day for ACTH, SBP, and state anxiety. A significant main effect for drug group and a significant Behavior Type x Drug interaction was revealed for ACTH. A significant Behavior Type x Day interaction was found for SBP. An additional analysis investigating the responses of extreme Type A and Type B subjects revealed significant main effects of day for HR and State Anxiety. The results of the present study failed to support previous research demonstrating that Type A subjects, as compared to Type B subjects, exhibit exaggerated responsivity to stress. Possible reasons for this failure to find significant A-B differences are explored. The major contribution of the present study was the finding, consistent with previous research, that the target medications were associated with substantially reduced responsivity to stress (as measured by ACTH) in Type A cardiac patients to levels consistent with the response of Type B cardiac patients. The clinical and research implications arising from this finding are discussed. Continued systematic evaluation of the effects of medications on reactivity is strongly recommended

Logistic Map Potentials

We develop and illustrate methods to compute all single particle potentials that underlie the logistic map, x --> sx(1-x) for 0<s<=4. We show that the switchback potentials can be obtained from the primary potential through functional transformations. We are thereby able to produce the various branches of the corresponding analytic potential functions, which have an infinite number of branch points for generic s>2. We illustrate the methods numerically for the cases s=5/2 and s=10/3

Extensive sequence turnover of the signal peptides of members of the GDF/BMP family: exploring their evolutionary landscape

We show that the predicted signal peptide (SP) sequences of the secreted factors GDF9, BMP15 and AMH are well conserved in mammals but dramatic divergence is noticed for more distant orthologs. Interestingly, bioinformatic predictions show that the divergent protein segments do encode SPs. Thus, such SPs have undergone extensive sequence turnover with full preservation of functionality. This can be explained by a pervasive accumulation of neutral and compensatory mutations. An exploration of the potential evolutionary landscape of some SPs is presented. Some of these signal sequences highlight an apparent paradox: they are encoded, by definition, by orthologous DNA segments but they are, given their striking divergence, examples of what can be called functional convergence