Automatic activies of the spinal cord concerned with the respiratory movements

1. After spinal transection at the medulla-spinal junction the thoracic respiratory movements no longer appear in the adult animals, nevertheless the sporadic spike discharges can be recorded from the intercostal muscles. 2. Both in the acute and chronic experiments the spinal cord is transected at the two levels of Th7 and Thl1 respectively and all the dorsal rootlets coming into that part of the cord lying between the transections are severed. The sporadic spike discharges with irregular intervals varying about 0.5 to 3.0 sec. can be recorded from intercostal muscles in the 8th to 10th segments of the spinal cord isolated. There can never be found any reflex influence of the skin stimulation upon the discharges, which also disappear provided the intercostal nerves innervating the muscles are severed. 3. From these results it may be concluded that the spinal cord is endowed with an ability to initiate the impulses autochthonously to excite the intercostal muscles, even though it is only poorly developed in the adult animals.</p

The wrong side of the tracks: Starting school in a socially disadvantaged London borough

Substantial evidence exists that social circumstances can affect children’s language development. As a result many children in socially deprived areas start school with delayed language, which may persist and adversely affect their attainment. We assessed the language of children in seven reception classes in a London (UK) borough and followed the progress of children with English as their first language (E1L) and with English as an additional language (EAL) during their first 2 years at school. Significant differences were found between schools. The effect of social factors on performance was reflected in a high correlation between the mean language score for each school and the percentage of children in the school receiving the pupil premium. Many of the children with EAL had very low scores reflecting their limited exposure to English prior to starting school. Most of these children attended schools where children with E1L also had low scores increasing the demands on the schools and their teachers. Children who had low initial scores made modest but significant progress during their reception year but failed to improve further during year 1 despite having non-verbal ability appropriate for their age. These results support previous findings that social deprivation can seriously delay language development, and that many children start school with weak communication skills. They add to previous findings by showing that the level of delay may differ substantially across schools in the same borough, by reporting data on children with EAL and by showing that children struggle to improve their abilities in the first 2 years of school

Study of plankton communities in the North-Western Corsican coast and trophic linkages with post-larvae populations

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Orientation of Mediterranean fish larvae varies with location

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Caractérisation de la diversité des post-larves de poissons en Méditerranée nord-occidentale et la variabilité de leur recrutement

International audiencePlusieurs études affirment l'importance de la production de larves sur la dynamique des populations locales. Il est admis que le succès du recrutement dans une population de poissons dépend principalement des processus qui se déroulent pendant les premiers stades de vie, où la mortalité est très élevée. La présente étude vise à caractériser la diversité spécifique (richesse en espèces) et d'hétérogénéité (indices de Simpson, de Shannon et de Pielou traduisant la structure d'abondance des espèces) des post-larves dans la Méditerranée nord-occidentale, ainsi que de mieux comprendre la variabilité du recrutement en fonction des processus naturels impliqués dans leur distribution spatiale et temporelle. Sept sites répartis sur l'ensemble du littoral français (Port-Vendres, Leucate, Agde, Port-Cros, Saint-Florent, Bastia et Bonifacio) ont été échantillonnés à l'aide de pièges lumineux (CAREs). Nos résultats sur l'approvisionnement larvaire attestent une variabilité inter-saisons et inter-annuelles marquée de l'abondance et de la composition spécifique du peuplement de post-larves, et une hétérogénéité spatiale entre continent et Corse

Relationship between planktonic communities and fishes’ post-larvae biodiversity around Corsican coasts.

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Spatio-temporal patterns of larval fish settlement in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea

International audienceMost coastal fish species spend their early life stages in the pelagic environment, before settling in coastal habitats. The variability in the arrival of larvae to coastal habitats provide information on the species' biology and recruitment potential. To explore the dynamics of larval fish supply to coastal habitats in the NW Mediterranean Sea, 13 sites were monitored using light-traps, from July 2012 to December 2015. Most variation in Catches Per Unit Effort (CPUE) among topographic basins and species were statistically significant for high (quantile 75%) and very high (quantile 90%) catches only. At year scale, CPUE displayed strong seasonality, and three main species assemblages were detected in late spring-early summer, summer and late autumn-early winter. At month scale, CPUE were higher around the new moon for all quantiles and temporally autocorrelated at a lag of about 28 days. Larval supply also varied spatially with site-specific associations, and with riverine influence. All together, these results confirm that the previously described patterns of larval supply observed in tropical and subtropical environments (e.g., the high variability at all spatial and temporal scales and the strong influence of the moon) also apply to Mediterranean fish assemblages. The larval supply in the NW Mediterranean Sea comes out as a solid candidate for monitoring the state of the marine ecosystems, highlighting the need to continue such time series

Evaluation of a polivitaminic, polimineral complex associated with essential amino acids to weaning and to weaned piglets: effects on the performance, diarrhea incidence and mortality rate

Foram realizados dois experimentos em uma granja comercial, nas fases de maternidade e creche, com o objetivo de avaliar os efeitos da administração de um complexo polivitamínico-polimineral com aminoácidos essenciais (Mod Plus ®) sobre o ganho de peso, a incidência de diarréia e a taxa de mortalidade dos leitões nestas fases. Na maternidade foram utilizados 324 leitões (entre 3 e 21 dias de idade) e na creche 295 animais (entre 21 e 63 dias de idade). Na maternidade foram definidos 4 tratamentos: leitões leves que não receberam suplementação nutricional polivitamínica-polimineral, leitões leves suplementados nutricionalmente (3mL ao 3º dia e reforço aos 10 dias de idade, via intramuscular), leitões pesados não suplementados e pesados suplementados nutricionalmente. Na creche os tratamentos foram: leitões leves que não receberam suplementação nutricional com polivitamínicos-poliminerais, leitões leves suplementados nutricionalmente com 1 dose (5mL aos 21 dias de idade, via intramuscular), leitões leves suplementados nutricionalmente com 2 doses (3mL aos 21 dias e aos 28 dias de idade, via intramuscular), leitões pesados não suplementados, leitões pesados suplementados nutricionalmente com 1 dose (5mL aos 21 dias de idade, via intramuscular) e leitões pesados suplementados nutricionalmente com 2 doses (3mL aos 21 dias e aos 28 dias de idade, via intramuscular). O delineamento foi inteiramente casualizado em arranjo fatorial 2 x 2 na maternidade (2 condutas medicamentosas e 2 pesos iniciais) e 3 x 2 na creche (3 condutas medicamentosas e 2 pesos iniciais). Na maternidade os resultados apontaram melhora na taxa de mortalidade (p 0.05). At the nursery phase, animals that received 1 or 2 doses of supplementation complex presented a superior (P>0.05) final weight compared to a control group (respectively, 20290g and 20148g versus 18782g). The use of polivitaminic, polimineral complex associated with essential amino acids was positive to the mortality rate at the maternity phase and also over the animal performance at the nursery phase.