The importance of the altricial – precocial spectrum for social complexity in mammals and birds:A review

Various types of long-term stable relationships that individuals uphold, including cooperation and competition between group members, define social complexity in vertebrates. Numerous life history, physiological and cognitive traits have been shown to affect, or to be affected by, such social relationships. As such, differences in developmental modes, i.e. the ‘altricial-precocial’ spectrum, may play an important role in understanding the interspecific variation in occurrence of social interactions, but to what extent this is the case is unclear because the role of the developmental mode has not been studied directly in across-species studies of sociality. In other words, although there are studies on the effects of developmental mode on brain size, on the effects of brain size on cognition, and on the effects of cognition on social complexity, there are no studies directly investigating the link between developmental mode and social complexity. This is surprising because developmental differences play a significant role in the evolution of, for example, brain size, which is in turn considered an essential building block with respect to social complexity. Here, we compiled an overview of studies on various aspects of the complexity of social systems in altricial and precocial mammals and birds. Although systematic studies are scarce and do not allow for a quantitative comparison, we show that several forms of social relationships and cognitive abilities occur in species along the entire developmental spectrum. Based on the existing evidence it seems that differences in developmental modes play a minor role in whether or not individuals or species are able to meet the cognitive capabilities and requirements for maintaining complex social relationships. Given the scarcity of comparative studies and potential subtle differences, however, we suggest that future studies should consider developmental differences to determine whether our finding is general or whether some of the vast variation in social complexity across species can be explained by developmental mode. This would allow a more detailed assessment of the relative importance of developmental mode in the evolution of vertebrate social systems

Fasciotomy in crush injury resulting from prolonged pressure in an earthquake in Turkey

Objectives: The authors report on the patients treated in a clinic who were injured in the earthquake that took place in north western part of Turkey in 1999 and was reported to be measured at 7.4 on the Richter scale. This catastrophe killed over 16 000 people while injuring more than 23 000 people. The type of housing was varied and entrapment occurred in single, two or more storey buildings. Methods: 35 patients were admitted to the plastic surgery department after the earthquake. The hospital is about 400 km from the disaster site. Although all the transported victims had intravenous lines, few had adequate volume replacement. Sixteen had an urgent fasciotomy at the time of admission. The procedures were performed between 8 and 21 hours after extrication. After fasciotomy, all non-viable muscle content was removed but an attempt was made to retain as much viable muscle as possible. Results: Amputation was required on four patients (25%). Fasciotomy incisions were closed with skin grafting in eight cases, and with primary closure in four cases. Conclusion: Prompt fasciotomy in earthquake victims will be both life saving and can prevent some of the severe and dangerous complications after crush syndrome

Tacrolimus before CTLA4Ig and rapamycin promotes vascularized composite allograft survival in MGH miniature swine

BACKGROUND We evaluated the outcome of vertical rectus abdominus myocutaneous flap (VRAM) allotransplantation in a mini-pig model, using a combined co-stimulation blockade (Co-SB) and mechanistic target of rapamycin inhibition (mTORi)-based regimen, with or without preceding calcineurin inhibition (CNI). MATERIALS AND METHODS VRAM allotransplants were performed between SLA-mismatched MGH miniature swine. Group A (n = 2) was treated continuously with the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin from day -1 in combination with the Co-SB agent cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4-Ig (CTLA4-Ig) from post-operative day (POD) 0. In group B (n = 3), animals received tacrolimus daily from POD 0 to POD 13, followed by rapamycin daily from POD 7 and CTLA4-Ig weekly from POD 7-28. Graft rejection was determined by Banff criteria and host cellular and humoral immunity monitored. RESULTS In group A, allografts developed grade-I acute rejection by POD 2 and POD 7, and reached grade-IV by POD 17 and POD 20, respectively. By contrast, in group B, two allografts demonstrated grade-I rejection on POD 30 and grade-IV on POD 74, while the third exhibited grade-I rejection starting on POD 50, though this animal had to be euthanized on POD 58 due to Pneumocystis jirovecii infection. Time-to-event incidence of grade-I rejection was significantly lower in group A compared to group B. During the first 3 weeks post-transplant, no significant differences in anti-donor immunity were observed between the groups. CONCLUSION A short course of CNI, followed by combined Co-SB and mTORi significantly delays acute rejection of VRAM allografts in SLA-mismatched miniature swine