Embryonic Exposure to Valproic Acid Impairs Social Predispositions of Newly-Hatched Chicks

This work was supported by a grant from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) Grant ERC-2011-ADG_20110406, Project No: 461 295517, PREMESOR to G.V. Support from Fondazione Caritro Grant Biomarker DSA [40102839] and PRIN 2015 (Neural bases of animacy detection, and their relevance to the typical and atypical development of the brain) to GV is also acknowledged

Feeling the heat: The campylobacter jejuni HrcA transcriptional repressor is an intrinsic protein thermosensor

The heat-shock response, a universal protective mechanism consisting of a transcriptional reprogramming of the cellular transcriptome, results in the accumulation of proteins which coun-teract the deleterious effects of heat-stress on cellular polypeptides. To quickly respond to thermal stress and trigger the heat-shock response, bacteria rely on different mechanisms to detect temperature variations, which can involve nearly all classes of biological molecules. In Campylobacter jejuni the response to heat-shock is transcriptionally controlled by a regulatory circuit involving two re-pressors, HspR and HrcA. In the present work we show that the heat-shock repressor HrcA acts as an intrinsic protein thermometer. We report that a temperature upshift up to 42°C negatively affects HrcA DNA-binding activity to a target promoter, a condition required for de-repression of regu-lated genes. Furthermore, we show that this impairment of HrcA binding at 42°C is irreversible in vitro, as DNA-binding was still not restored by reversing the incubation temperature to 37°C. On the other hand, we demonstrate that the DNA-binding activity of HspR, which controls, in combi-nation with HrcA, the transcription of chaperones’ genes, is unaffected by heat-stress up to 45°C, portraying this master repressor as a rather stable protein. Additionally, we show that HrcA binding activity is enhanced by the chaperonin GroE, upon direct protein–protein interaction. In conclu-sion, the results presented in this work establish HrcA as a novel example of intrinsic heat-sensing transcriptional regulator, whose DNA-binding activity is positively modulated by the GroE chap-eronin

Stability and individual variability of social attachment in imprinting

Filial imprinting has become a model for understanding memory, learning and social behaviour in neonate animals. This mechanism allows the youngs of precocial bird species to learn the characteristics of conspicuous visual stimuli and display affiliative response to them. Although longer exposures to an object produce stronger preferences for it afterwards, this relation is not linear. Sometimes, chicks even prefer to approach novel rather than familiar objects. To date, little is known about how filial preferences develop across time. This study aimed to investigate filial preferences for familiar and novel imprinting objects over time. After hatching, chicks were individually placed in an arena where stimuli were displayed on two opposite screens. Using an automated setup, the duration of exposure and the type of stimuli were manipulated while the time spent at the imprinting stimulus was monitored across 6 days. We showed that prolonged exposure (3 days vs 1 day) to a stimulus produced robust filial imprinting preferences. Interestingly, with a shorter exposure (1 day), animals re-evaluated their filial preferences in functions of their spontaneous preferences and past experiences. Our study suggests that predispositions influence learning when the imprinting memories are not fully consolidated, driving animal preferences toward more predisposed stimuli

How Does the Mind Do Literary Work?

Literary linguistics assumes the forms of literature emerge from the human capacity for language. In this view, the regularities and peculiarities of literary form can be captured by the machinery of linguistic theory. This paper argues against this assumption, considering evidence from literary forms that do not generalise to the formalisms of linguistic theory. Instead, we argue that literary forms are related to, but distinct from, the linguistic system, and that their diversity requires a clear-cut distinction between the different domains. To understand how literary forms may require specific systems, we first discuss a number of mismatches between metrical and linguistic form (here, mainly phonological and semantic form). In our proposal, they all constitute evidence for the domain specificity of meter. Following Fabb & Halle (2008), we then show that metricality is best captured by form-specific computations, rather than by regular phonological processes. The empirical advantages of this theory are finally shown by the scansion of loose meters, which the extra-linguistic metrical system explain in a way that strictly phonological systems cannot (Fabb 2008). We then consider whether syntax may be given a similar explanation. The syntax of poetic texts can be highly unusual, often contrived to meet the demands of formal characteristics like metricality or parallelism. As with meter, these literary forms are often analysed as products of a `poetic syntax' (Fowler 1966; Austin 1984; Fitzgerald 2007), a variation on the standard syntax; however, we show that these systems cannot generate the variety of syntactic forms found in literary texts. Instead we demonstrate that these forms are generated by a separate mental system which obeys general principles of mental computation. This system is shown to be removed from syntax just like the metrical system is removed from phonology. To conclude, we consider the possible relationship between these two extralinguistic mental systems. The evidence discussed provides a clear indication that literary linguistics need not assume that the forms of literature are a natural outgrowth of linguistic systems. The variety of forms in literature indicate an ontologically radical theory of how the mind processes literature has significant advantages, both empirically, in accounting for a greater range of forms, and theoretically, in opening the way towards a more coherent theory of literary form. We finally propose that a theory of literary cognition must develop into a modular approach to forms. References Austin, T., 1984. "Language crafted: a linguistic theory of poetic syntax." Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. Fabb, N., 2008. "What is a line of verse?." Paper delivered at ESSE 2008, Aarhus. Fabb, N., M. Halle, 2008. "Meter in poetry: a new theory". Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Fitzgerald, C., 2007. "An optimality treatment of syntactic inversions in English verse", Language Sciences Vol. 29, pp. 203-217. Fowler, R., 1966. "Essays on style and language: linguistic and critical approaches to literary style". London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Hanson, Kristin & Paul Kiparsky. 1996. "A parametric theory of poetic meter", Language 72, 2: 287-335. Hayes Bruce. 1989. "The Prosodic Hierarchy in Meter". In Paul Kiparsky and Gilbert Youmans, eds., Rhythm and Meter, Orlando, FL: Academic Press, pp. 201-260. Hayes, Bruce. 2000. "Faithfulness and Componentiality in Metrics". To appear in The nature of the word: Essays in honor of Paul Kiparsky, ed. by Kristin Hanson and Sharon Inkelas. Cambridge: MIT Press. Nespor, M., I. Vogel. 1986 "Prosodic Phonology". Dordrecht, Foris

Young domestic chicks spontaneously represent the absence of objects

Absence is a notion that is usually captured by language-related concepts like zero or negation. Whether nonlinguistic creatures encode similar thoughts is an open question, as everyday behavior marked by absence (of food, of social partners) can be explained solely by expecting presence somewhere else. We investigated 8-day-old chicks' looking behavior in response to events violating expectations about the presence or absence of an object. We found different behavioral responses to violations of presence and absence, suggesting distinct underlying mechanisms. Importantly, chicks displayed an avian signature of novelty detection to violations of absence, namely a sex-dependent left-eye-bias. Follow-up experiments excluded accounts that would explain this bias by perceptual mismatch or by representing the object at different locations. These results suggest that the ability to spontaneously form representations about the absence of objects likely belongs to the initial cognitive repertoire of vertebrate species

Influence of the bias-voltage on the anchoring energy for nematic liquid crystals

The influence of the bias-voltage on the anisotropic part of the nematic surface energy is analyzed. The experimental data show a strong dependence of the anchoring strength on the bias-voltage when the electrodes of the nematic cell are covered with WO3. The observed dependence can be interpreted taking into account the ions dissolved in the liquid crystal. We propose a model in which the effect of the bias-voltage is to collect the ions near the electrodes, in a surface layer whose thickness is of the order of the Debye’s screening length. The surplus of electric field due to this ions confinement gives rise to an electrostatic contribution to the total energy that can be considered as a surface energy. The proposed model is in good agreement with the experimental data. The model is used to interpret the observed independence of the anchoring strength on the bias-voltage when the indium-oxide electrode is covered with a film of polyimide, or it is without any covering. The influence of a charge emission from the electrodes under the bias voltage on the anchoring energy is also analyzed. Possible applications of the observed phenomenon are discussed

Spontaneous Learning of Visual Structures in Domestic Chicks

Effective communication crucially depends on the ability to produce and recognize structured signals, as apparent in language and birdsong. Although it is not clear to what extent similar syntactic-like abilities can be identified in other animals, recently we reported that domestic chicks can learn abstract visual patterns and the statistical structure defined by a temporal sequence of visual shapes. However, little is known about chicks’ ability to process spatial/positional information from visual configurations. Here, we used filial imprinting as an unsupervised learning mechanism to study spontaneous encoding of the structure of a configuration of different shapes. After being exposed to a triplet of shapes (ABC or CAB), chicks could discriminate those triplets from a permutation of the same shapes in different order (CAB or ABC), revealing a sensitivity to the spatial arrangement of the elements. When tested with a fragment taken from the imprinting triplet that followed the familiar adjacency-relationships (AB or BC) vs. one in which the shapes maintained their position with respect to the stimulus edges (AC), chicks revealed a preference for the configuration with familiar edge elements, showing an edge bias previously found only with temporal sequences

NATURAL AND ANTHROPOGENIC RISKS: PROPOSAL FOR AN INTERDISCIPLINARY GLOSSARY

In the past few years, Italy has been ravaged by catastro- phic events of natural or anthropogenic origin. These events have highlighted, once again, the need to take prevention measures in order to mitigate the damage that similar future events could inflict on the Italian social and economic system. As the costs of these measures might be very high, available resources should be allocated carefully, assigning priority to areas with the highest potential risk. Therefore, estimating the potential damage caused by events expected both in the near future and on a longer timescale in a reliable way might be an important tool for pursuing an effective prevention policy. The growing diversification and extent of urbanised areas and economic activities make the estimation of the above effects increasingly complex. Hence, reliance should be made on a combination of disciplines that may be very different from or that have often developed independently of one another over the years. However, this combination has resulted in discre- pancies in methodological approaches, which have impaired the effectiveness of communication to the authorities in char- ge of prevention policies. This document proposes a common way through which the scientific community may present its arguments and ex- press its opinions about risks at the request of policymakers. In particular, the document proposes the use of a glossary with a view to overcoming “language” barriers among the va- rious disciplines and defining a common lexicon. The construction of a glossary requires the definition of key terms and their mutual relations, which may become a common legacy within a scientific and technical community. Moreover, a glossary may help overcome possible differences in the usage of those terms across the various disciplines, con- sidering both consolidated uses at international level and ope- rational practices at national level. Thus, the proposed glossa- ry is not a mere listing of terms with their definitions. Indeed, the meaning of the definitions depends only on the use of the related terms in the reasoning process and in the opinions that represent the outcome of this process. In this sense, the construction of a glossary requires the adoption of a common approach by the members of the scientific community involved. The document is organised as follows. The second sec- tion provides an overview of the rationale for a common ter- minology and the features that it should have, explaining its logical structure and normative purpose. Section 3 defines the concept of risk analysis in simple terms, highlighting the pos- sible ambiguities associated with this concept that need fur- ther insights. Section 4 proposes a formalisation of the logical process to be followed in carrying out assessments and ex- pressing opinions on various risks. This section also deals, in general terms, with the main items of information considered and their mutual relations. Section 5 presents the glossary, i.e. a list of terms, their definitions, and, where necessary, their application contexts. Finally, a short list of references used in the document is provided