The effect of conspecific removal on the behaviour and physiology of pair-housed shelter dogs

Dogs (Canis familiaris) are a highly social species and within a shelter environment pair-housing is recommended to prevent the stress associated with social isolation. Separation of individuals which may have formed bonds in this environment is a usual occurrence, as a result of rehoming or euthanasia. To investigate the impact of separation, the behaviour, cognitive bias, faecal S-IgA and cortisol levels were examined in 12 adult pair-housed dogs, maintained in a private animal shelter. Prior to separation, dogs engaged in more affiliative than agonistic behaviour with conspecifics (means of 3 and 0.1% of time respectively). Following separation, increased activity was observed in the form of more running and grooming (P= 0.02), circling (P= 0.006), figure of 8 movement (P= 0.01), posture changes (P= 0.003) and stretching (P= 0.005), and less play behaviour was observed (P= 0.01). Secretory IgA increased (P=0.02) after separation (mean. = 443.7. ±. 182.5. ng/mL; before separation mean. = 370.1. ±. 108.2. ng/mL). Cortisol concentrations were not affected by separation (P= 0.26, mean before separation. = 792. ng/g; mean after separation. = 874. ng/g). There was no indication from cognitive bias testing that the dogs' emotional valency was affected, as latencies to reach ambiguous cues before and after separation did not differ significantly (P= 0.33). These results demonstrate that separation of a dog from a conspecific negatively affected behaviour and stimulated the immune system, changes which could be indicative of stress

Site condition effects on beech leaf disease symptom severity in southwestern Ontario hardwood forests

The health of American beech (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.) is threatened in North America due to its susceptibility to various pathogens, including beech leaf disease. Little is known about beech leaf disease, and forest health specialists have failed to determine the causal agent responsible or how the disease is spread. The purpose of this study is to determine whether particular site conditions, which may negatively impact the health and vigour of American beech trees, affect the susceptibility of beech to infection by beech leaf disease, by assessing foliar symptom severity relative to environmental conditions occurring at 34 unique beech stands in southwestern Ontario. This study was conducted at various American beech stands occurring throughout the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry’s Guelph and Aylmer districts. Plots were constructed at each site to capture symptom severity data for overstorey, sapling, and understorey trees, by recording metrics such as percentage of the total canopy afflicted by dieback, chlorosis, undersized leaves and foliar banding at different severity levels. To assess whether a relationship exists between site conditions and symptom severity, the data collected in the field was run through a CART analysis to produce a decision tree that predicted the characteristics of the sites being studied and describe the stressor-response relationship that exists within the data between American beech trees and the environmental conditions occurring on the sites surveyed. The results revealed that slopes equal to or less than 32.8% are associated with an increased presence of beech leaf disease symptoms among seedlings under 1 m in height. Further, it was determined that shoulders, back slopes, and flat areas, and the occurrence of beech scale infestation intensities equal to or greater than the ‘trace’ classification are associated with the development of severe beech leaf disease symptoms among saplings with DBH under 10 cm. A stressor-response relationship exists between those site conditions that are less conducive to the growth of American beech seedlings and saplings and increased occurrence and severity of beech leaf disease symptoms. In doing so, the results of this study indicated that the causal agent or vectoring organism responsible may attack stressed trees opportunistically, thus providing insight as to how the spread of beech leaf disease can be controlled

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Social Competence Treatment after Traumatic Brain Injury: A Multicenter, Randomized, Controlled Trial of Interactive Group Treatment versus Non-Interactive Treatment

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of a replicable group treatment program for improving social competence after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Design Multicenter randomized controlled trial comparing two methods of conducting a social competency skills program, an interactive group format versus a classroom lecture. Setting Community and Veteran rehabilitation centers. Participants 179 civilian, military, and veteran adults with TBI and social competence difficulties, at least 6 months post-injury. Experimental Intervention Thirteen weekly group interactive sessions (1.5 hours) with structured and facilitated group interactions to improve social competence. Alternative (Control) Intervention Thirteen traditional classroom sessions using the same curriculum with brief supplemental individual sessions but without structured group interaction. Primary Outcome Measure Profile of Pragmatic Impairment in Communication (PPIC), an objective behavioral rating of social communication impairments following TBI. Secondary Outcomes LaTrobe Communication Questionnaire (LCQ), Goal Attainment Scale (GAS), Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist – (PCL-C), Brief Symptom Inventory 18 (BSI-18), Scale of Perceived Social Self Efficacy (PSSE). Results Social competence goals (GAS) were achieved and maintained for most participants regardless of treatment method. Significant improvements in the primary outcome (PPIC) and two of the secondary outcomes (LCQ and BSI) were seen immediately post-treatment and at 3 months post-treatment in the AT arm only, however these improvements were not significantly different between the GIST and AT arms. Similar trends were observed for PSSE and PCL-C. Conclusions Social competence skills improved for persons with TBI in both treatment conditions. The group interactive format was not found to be a superior method of treatment delivery in this study

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Vaccines for protecting infants from bacterial causes of diarrheal disease

The global diarrheal disease burden fo

Sequence analysis and characterization of active human alu subfamilies based on the 1000 genomes pilot project

© The Author(s) 2015. The goal of the 1000 Genomes Consortium is to characterize human genome structural variation (SV), including forms of copy number variations such as deletions, duplications, and insertions. Mobile element insertions, particularly Alu elements, are major contributors to genomic SV among humans. During the pilot phase of the project we experimentally validated 645 (611 intergenic and 34 exon targeted) polymorphic young Alu insertion events, absent fromthe human reference genome. Here, we report high resolution sequencing of 343 (322 unique) recent Alu insertion events, along with their respective target site duplications, precise genomic breakpoint coordinates, subfamily assignment, percent divergence, and estimated A-rich tail lengths.All the sequenced Alu lociwerederived from the Alu Y lineagewith no evidence of retrotransposition activity involving older Alu families (e.g., AluJandAluS). AluYa5 is currently themost active Alu subfamily in the human lineage, followed by AluYb8, andmany others including three newly identified subfamilieswe have termed AluYb7a3, AluYb8b1, and AluYa4a1. This report provides the structural details of 322 unique Alu variants from individual human genomes collectively adding about 100 kb of genomic variation. Many Alu subfamilies are currently active in human populations, including a surprising level of AluY retrotransposition. Human Alu subfamilies exhibit continuous evolution with potential drivers sprouting new Alu lineages

The effect of GLP-1RA exenatide on idiopathic intracranial hypertension:a randomized clinical trial

Therapeutics to reduce intracranial pressure are an unmet need. Preclinical data have demonstrated a novel strategy to lower intracranial pressure using glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor signalling. Here, we translate these findings into patients by conducting a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial to assess the effect of exenatide, a GLP-1 receptor agonist, on intracranial pressure in idiopathic intracranial hypertension. Telemetric intracranial pressure catheters enabled long-term intracranial pressure monitoring. The trial enrolled adult women with active idiopathic intracranial hypertension (intracranial pressure &gt;25 cmCSF and papilloedema) who receive subcutaneous exenatide or placebo. The three primary outcome measures were intracranial pressure at 2.5 h, 24 h and 12 weeks and alpha set a priori at less than 0.1. Among the 16 women recruited, 15 completed the study (mean age 28 ± 9, body mass index 38.1 ± 6.2 kg/m2, intracranial pressure 30.6 ± 5.1 cmCSF). Exenatide significantly and meaningfully lowered intracranial pressure at 2.5 h -5.7 ± 2.9 cmCSF (P = 0.048); 24 h -6.4 ± 2.9 cmCSF (P = 0.030); and 12 weeks -5.6 ± 3.0 cmCSF (P = 0.058). No serious safety signals were noted. These data provide confidence to proceed to a phase 3 trial in idiopathic intracranial hypertension and highlight the potential to utilize GLP-1 receptor agonist in other conditions characterized by raised intracranial pressure.</p