Left gaze bias in humans, rhesus monkeys and domestic dogs

While viewing faces, human adults often demonstrate a natural gaze bias towards the left visual field, that is, the right side of the viewee’s face is often inspected first and for longer periods. Using a preferential looking paradigm, we demonstrate that this bias is neither uniquely human nor limited to primates, and provide evidence to help elucidate its biological function within a broader social cognitive framework. We observed that 6-month-old infants showed a wider tendency for left gaze preference towards objects and faces of different species and orientation, while in adults the bias appears only towards upright human faces. Rhesus monkeys showed a left gaze bias towards upright human and monkey faces, but not towards inverted faces. Domestic dogs, however, only demonstrated a left gaze bias towards human faces, but not towards monkey or dog faces, nor to inanimate object images. Our findings suggest that face- and species-sensitive gaze asymmetry is more widespread in the animal kingdom than previously recognised, is not constrained by attentional or scanning bias, and could be shaped by experience to develop adaptive behavioural significance

Uterine secretion of prostaglandin F 2α

International audienc

Ovarian follicular fluid concentrations of prostaglandins E 2, F2α and I2 during the pre-ovulatory period in pigs

International audienc

Plasma arginine levels and the response to inhaled nitric oxide in neonates

Inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) can be an effective vasodilator in pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PHN). The aim of this study was to determine whether differences in arginine levels, from which endogenous NO is produced, explain the variability in response to NO and whether the arginine levels were lower in term and preterm infants with PHN than in infants without PHN (controls). We prospectively studied 30 infants (17 born preterm) with clinically diagnosed PHN and treated with iNO and 22 controls (14 born preterm). Three NO levels (10, 20, 40 ppm) were administered to the PHN infants to identify that associated with maximum oxygenation. Twenty-seven infants with PHN improved following iNO and had lower arginine levels than those infants who did not respond to iNO (p < 0. 05). No significant relationship, however, was noted between the arginine levels and either the magnitude of change in the oxygenation index in response to iNO or the NO level associated with maximum oxygenation. The median plasma arginine level prior to iNO of the PHN infants was 12.5 (range 2-53) mu mol/l, but not significantly lower than that of the controls (median 24, range 3-82 mu mol/l). We conclude that differences in plasma arginine levels are unlikely to explain the variation in response to iNO and that, although arginine levels tended to be lower in infants with PHN, this is not a consistent finding in either the term or preterm infants