Olfaction: An Overlooked Sensory Modality in Applied Ethology and Animal Welfare

Birte L. Nielsen [et al.]Peer reviewe

Male quality and conspecific scent preferences in the house finch, Carpodacus mexicanus

Received 7 June 2012, Revised 10 July 2012, Accepted 10 September 2012, Available online 16 October 2012There is increasing evidence that birds use chemical cues in different contexts, and this is changing the traditional view that birds are the only largely olfaction-free vertebrates. We performed a choice experiment to examine whether male house finches exhibit any preferences for the sex of conspecifics when only their chemical cues are available. When exposed during the breeding season to the scent of a male and a female, males appeared to respond indiscriminately to both odours. However, when we analysed a posteriori the choices of males in relation to their relative quality, males with worse quality than scent donor males avoided the male-scented area, whereas males with better quality moved towards the male-scented area. Our results suggest that in the context of mate choice/competition for mates, house finches may obtain information via olfaction to assess the quality of rival males.L.R was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from CSIC-UNAM (Spain-Mexico)Peer reviewe

Relación entre autoconcepto y autoeficacia en los futuros profesores de Secundaria

El objetivo principal de nuestro trabajo es encontrar relaciones entre lo que piensan lo futuros profesores de Educación Secundaria de ellos mismos y la capacidad que creen que poseen para afrontar los problemas que puedan surgir en su vida. Para ello, se ha confeccionado un cuestionario que recoge diferentes ítems sobre autoconcepto y autoeficacia. La muestra está constituida por 59 estudiantes del Máster de Formación del Profesorado de Educación Secundaria del curso 2010/2011 de la Universidad de Extremadura. Los resultados demuestran que existe una relación directa entre el autoconcepto y las creencias de autoeficacia.The main objective of our work is to find relationship between it that the future teachers of secondary think for themselves and the ability that they believe that have to deal with problems that may arise in your life. To this end, has developed a questionnaire that collects different items on self-concept and self-efficacy. The sample consisted of 59 students the Master Teacher Training Secondary Education the academic year 2010/2011 from the University of Extremadura. The results demonstrate a direct relationship between self-concept and self-efficacy beliefs

Sleeping birds do not respond to predator odour

Abstract Background: During sleep animals are relatively unresponsive and unaware of their environment, and therefore, more exposed to predation risk than alert and awake animals. This vulnerability might influence when, where and how animals sleep depending on the risk of predation perceived before going to sleep. Less clear is whether animals remain sensitive to predation cues when already asleep

Un caso concreto del empleo de la gramática como procedimiento de corrección de errores en hablantes de lengua inglesa: la posesión

La Consellería de Cultura, Educación y Deporte ha puesto en marcha, hace tres años, en el CEED (Centre Específic d?Educació a Distància) de Valencia, un programa totalmente gratuito de enseñanza de español a extranjeros. El programa se titula ?Castellano para inmigrantes?, aunque cada vez más se emplea la denominación de ?Castellano para extranjeros?; y guarda relación con los de la Ley 1/95 de 20 de enero de 1995, artículo 5, apartado h

Emotions in science and their possible causes. Study of prospective teachers of Secondary science

Este trabajo tiene como objetivo analizar las emociones que manifestaron los egresados de carreras científicas en su etapa de Secundaria ante determinadas asignaturas de ciencias y las posibles causas que originaron esas emociones. La muestra está constituida por 52 estudiantes del Máster de Formación del Profesorado de Educación Secundaria de la Universidad de Extremadura de las especialidades de Biología/Geología, Física/Química y Matemáticas, durante el curso académico 2011/2012, que realizarán sus prácticas en los diferentes institutos extremeños. De forma general, los resultados nos muestran emociones positivas hacia la Biología y la Geología, y emociones tanto positivas como negativas hacia la Física, la Química y las Matemáticas. A groso modo, las emociones positivas se generan a través de aspectos relaciones con el alumno, en cambio las emociones negativas se originan por la metodología del profesor y el sistema de evaluación.This paper aims to analyze the emotions expressed graduates in scientific careers Secondary School before certain science subjects and possible root causes those emotions. The sample consisted of 52 students of the Master of Education Teacher Training School of the University of Extremadura specialties Biology / Geology, Physics / Chemistry and Mathematics, for the academic year 2011/2012, which will make their practices in different Extremadura institutes. In general, the results show positive emotions towards Biology and Geology, and both positive and negative emotions toward the Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. Broadly speaking, positive emotions are generated through relationships with student issues, however negative emotions are caused by the teacher’s methodology and evaluation system.peerReviewe

Variation in perceived health across gender, working status, educational level, and regional health care expenditure in Spain (2014–2017)

A gender perspective was used to analyze whether and how education, unemployment, and per capita public health expenditure were associated with perceived health among the Spanish population between the years 2014 and 2017. Using multilevel methodologies (looking at year, individual, and region) and linear and logistic specifications, we analyzed longitudinal microdata files from the Survey on Living Conditions. The results suggest that women with lower educational levels tend to report worse health than their more educated counterparts. On the other hand, women’s bad health was not associated with unemployment, unlike men’s. Regional per capita public health expenditure was not associated with perceived health in either men or womenthe Health Department of the Regional Andalusian Government (2017–2019) under Grant PI-0457-2016

Rational design of copper(II)-uracil nanoprocessed coordination polymers to improve their cytotoxic activity in biological media

This work is focused on the rational structural design of two isostructural Cu(II) nano-coordination polymers (NCPs) with uracil-1-acetic acid (UAcOH) (CP1n) and 5-fluorouracil-1-acetic acid (CP2n). Suitable single crystals for ꭕ-ray diffraction studies of CP1 and CP2 were prepared under hydrothermal conditions, enabling their structural determination as 1D-CP ladder-like polymeric structures. The control of the synthetic parameters allows their processability into water colloids based on nanoplates (CP1n and CP2n). These NCPs are stable in water at physiological pHs for long periods. However, interestingly, CP1n is chemically altered in culture media. These transformations provoke the partial release of its building blocks and the formation of new species, such as [Cu(UAcO)2(H2O)4]·2H2O (Cu(II)-complex), and species corresponding to the partial reduction of the Cu(II) centers. The cytotoxic studies of CP1n versus human pancreatic adenocarcinoma and human uveal melanoma cells show that CP1n produces a decrease in the cell viability, while their UAcOH and Cu(II)-complex are not cytotoxic under similar conditions. The copper reduction species detected in the hydrolysis of CP1n are closely related to the formation of the reactive oxygen species (ROS) detected in the cytotoxic studies. These results prompted us to prepare CP2n that was designed to improve the cytotoxicity by the substitution of UAcO by 5-FUAcO, taking into account the anticancer activity of the 5-fluorouracil moiety. The new CP2n has a similar behavior to CP1n both in water and in biological media. However, its subtle structural differences are vital in improving its cytotoxic activity. Indeed, the release during the hydrolysis of species containing the 5-fluorouracil moiety provokes a remarkable increase in cellular toxicity and a significant increase in ROS species formationThe authors thank the financial support from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (PID2019- 108028GB-C22, PID2019-108028GB-C21, MAT2016-77608- C3-1-P, MAT2016-75883-C2-1-P, MAT2016-75883-C2-2-P, MAT2016-75586-C4-4-P, and CTQ2017-87201-PAEI/ FEDER, UE) and the Generalidad Valenciana (Prometeo/ 2019/076

Double gametocyte infections in apicomplexan parasites of birds and reptiles

The simultaneous occurrence of male and female gametocytes inside a single host blood cell has been suggested to enhance apicomplexan transmission [’’double gametocyte infection (DGI) hypothesis’’]. We did a bibliographic search and a direct screen of blood smears from wild birds and reptiles to answer, for the first time, how common are these infections in the wild. Taking these two approaches together, we report here cases of DGIs in Plasmodium, Haemoproteus, Leucocy- tozoon and Hepatozoon, and cases of male–female DGIs in Haemoproteus of birds and reptiles and in Leucocy- tozoon of birds. Thus, we suggest that DGIs and male–female DGIs are more widespread than previously thought, opening a new research avenue on apicom- plexan transmissionPeer reviewe