Whisker touch guides canopy exploration in a nocturnal, arboreal rodent, the Hazel dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius)

Dormouse numbers are declining in the UK due to habitat loss and fragmentation. We know that dormice are nocturnal, arboreal, and avoid crossing open spaces between habitats, yet how they navigate around their canopy is unknown. As other rodents use whisker touch sensing to navigate and explore their environment, this study investigates whether Hazel dormice (Muscardinus avellanarius) employ their whiskers to cross between habitats. We analysed high-speed video footage of dormice exploring freely in flat and climbing arenas in near darkness and using infrared light illumination. We confirm that, like rats and mice, dormice move their whiskers back and forth continuously (~10 Hz) in a motion called whisking and recruit them to explore small gaps (<10 cm) by increasing the amplitude and frequency of whisking and also the asymmetry of movement between the left and right whisker fields. When gaps between platforms are larger than 10-15 cm dormice spend more time travelling on the floor. These findings suggest that dormice can actively and purposively move their whiskers to gather relevant information from their canopy at night. As this species is vulnerable to threats on the ground, we also provide evidence that joining habitat patches between dormouse populations is important for promoting natural behaviours and movement between patches

Using Long-Term Volunteer Records to Examine Dormouse (Muscardinusavellanarius) Nestbox Selection.

Within ecology, there are unanswered questions about species-habitat interactions, which could potentially be resolved by a pragmatic analysis of a long-term volunteer-collected dataset. Here, we analysed 18 years of volunteer-collected data from a UK dormouse nestbox monitoring programme to determine the influence of habitat variables on nestbox choice by common dormice (Muscardinusavellanarius). We measured a range of habitat variables in a coppiced woodland in Gloucestershire, UK, and analysed these in relation to dormouse nestbox occupancy records (by dormice, other small mammals, and birds) collected by volunteers. While some characteristics of the woodland had changed over 18 years, simple transformation of the data and interpretation of the results indicated that the dataset was informative. Using stepwise regressions, multiple environmental and ecological factors were found to determine nestbox selection. Distance from the edge of the wood was the most influential (this did not change over 18 years), with boxes in the woodland interior being selected preferentially. There was a significant negative relationship with the presence of ferns (indicative of damp shady conditions). The presence of oak (a long-lived species), and the clumped structural complexity of the canopy were also important factors in the final model. There was no evidence of competition between dormice and birds or other mammals. The results provide greater understanding of artificial dormouse nest-site requirements and indicate that, in terms of habitat selection, long-term volunteer-collected datasets contribute usefully to understanding the requirements of species with an important conservation status

Community perceptions of a malaria vaccine in the Kintampo districts of Ghana.

BACKGROUND: Malaria remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa despite tools currently available for its control. Making malaria vaccine available for routine use will be a major hallmark, but its acceptance by community members and health professionals within the health system could pose considerable challenge as has been found with the introduction of polio vaccinations in parts of West Africa. Some of these challenges may not be expected since decisions people make are many a time driven by a complex myriad of perceptions. This paper reports knowledge and perceptions of community members in the Kintampo area of Ghana where malaria vaccine trials have been ongoing as part of the drive for the first-ever licensed malaria vaccine in the near future. METHODS: Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used in the data collection processes. Women and men whose children were or were not involved in the malaria vaccine trial were invited to participate in focus group discussions (FGDs). Respondents, made up of heads of religious groupings in the study area, health care providers, traditional healers and traditional birth attendants, were also invited to participate in in-depth interviews (IDIs). A cross-sectional survey was conducted in communities where the malaria vaccine trial (Mal 047RTS,S) was carried out. In total, 12 FGDs, 15 IDIs and 466 household head interviews were conducted. RESULTS: Knowledge about vaccines was widespread among participants. Respondents would like their children to be vaccinated against all childhood illnesses including malaria. Knowledge of the long existing routine vaccines was relatively high among respondents compared to hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenza type B vaccines that were introduced more recently in 2002. There was no clear religious belief or sociocultural practice that will serve as a possible barrier to the acceptance of a malaria vaccine. CONCLUSION: With the assumption that a malaria vaccine will be as efficacious as other EPI vaccines, community members in Central Ghana will accept and prefer malaria vaccine to malaria drugs as a malaria control tool. Beliefs and cultural practices as barriers to the acceptance of malaria vaccine were virtually unknown in the communities surveyed

Increased ventral striatal volume in college-aged binge drinkers

BACKGROUND Binge drinking is a serious public health issue associated with cognitive, physiological, and anatomical differences from healthy individuals. No studies, however, have reported subcortical grey matter differences in this population. To address this, we compared the grey matter volumes of college-age binge drinkers and healthy controls, focusing on the ventral striatum, hippocampus and amygdala. METHOD T1-weighted images of 19 binge drinkers and 19 healthy volunteers were analyzed using voxel-based morphometry. Structural data were also covaried with Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) scores. Cluster-extent threshold and small volume corrections were both used to analyze imaging data. RESULTS Binge drinkers had significantly larger ventral striatal grey matter volumes compared to controls. There were no between group differences in hippocampal or amygdalar volume. Ventral striatal, amygdalar, and hippocampal volumes were also negatively related to AUDIT scores across groups. CONCLUSIONS Our findings stand in contrast to the lower ventral striatal volume previously observed in more severe forms of alcohol use disorders, suggesting that college-age binge drinkers may represent a distinct population from those groups. These findings may instead represent early sequelae, compensatory effects of repeated binge and withdrawal, or an endophenotypic risk factor

Rapid Detection and Subtyping of Human Influenza A Viruses and Reassortants by Pyrosequencing

Background: Given the continuing co-circulation of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic influenza A viruses with seasonal H3N2 viruses, rapid and reliable detection of newly emerging influenza reassortant viruses is important to enhance our influenza surveillance. Methodology/Principal Findings: A novel pyrosequencing assay was developed for the rapid identification and subtyping of potential human influenza A virus reassortants based on all eight gene segments of the virus. Except for HA and NA genes, one universal set of primers was used to amplify and subtype each of the six internal genes. With this method, all eight gene segments of 57 laboratory isolates and 17 original specimens of seasonal H1N1, H3N2 and 2009 H1N1 pandemic viruses were correctly matched with their corresponding subtypes. In addition, this method was shown to be capable of detecting reassortant viruses by correctly identifying the source of all 8 gene segments from three vaccine production reassortant viruses and three H1N2 viruses. Conclusions/Significance: In summary, this pyrosequencing assay is a sensitive and specific procedure for screening large numbers of viruses for reassortment events amongst the commonly circulating human influenza A viruses, which is mor

Cerebrovascular reactivity among native-raised high altitude residents: an fMRI study

Background: The impact of long term residence on high altitude (HA) on human brain has raised concern among researchers in recent years. This study investigated the cerebrovascular reactivity among native-born high altitude (HA) residents as compared to native sea level (SL) residents. The two groups were matched on the ancestral line, ages, gender ratios, and education levels. A visual cue guided maximum inspiration task with brief breath holding was performed by all the subjects while Blood-Oxygenation-Level-Dependent (BOLD) functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) data were acquired from them

Measurement of the inclusive and dijet cross-sections of b-jets in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The inclusive and dijet production cross-sections have been measured for jets containing b-hadrons (b-jets) in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements use data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 34 pb^-1. The b-jets are identified using either a lifetime-based method, where secondary decay vertices of b-hadrons in jets are reconstructed using information from the tracking detectors, or a muon-based method where the presence of a muon is used to identify semileptonic decays of b-hadrons inside jets. The inclusive b-jet cross-section is measured as a function of transverse momentum in the range 20 < pT < 400 GeV and rapidity in the range |y| < 2.1. The bbbar-dijet cross-section is measured as a function of the dijet invariant mass in the range 110 < m_jj < 760 GeV, the azimuthal angle difference between the two jets and the angular variable chi in two dijet mass regions. The results are compared with next-to-leading-order QCD predictions. Good agreement is observed between the measured cross-sections and the predictions obtained using POWHEG + Pythia. MC@NLO + Herwig shows good agreement with the measured bbbar-dijet cross-section. However, it does not reproduce the measured inclusive cross-section well, particularly for central b-jets with large transverse momenta.Comment: 10 pages plus author list (21 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version published in European Physical Journal

Acquisition of uropygial gland microbiome by hoopoe nestlings

Mutualistic symbioses between animals and bacteria depend on acquisition of appropriate symbionts while avoiding exploitation by non-beneficial microbes. The mode of acquisition of symbionts would determine, not only the probability of encountering but also evolutionary outcomes of mutualistic counterparts. The microbiome inhabiting the uropygial gland of the European hoopoe (Upupa epops) includes a variety of bacterial strains, some of them providing antimicrobial benefits. Here, the mode of acquisition and stability of this microbiome is analyzed by means of Automated rRNA Intergenic Spacer Analysis and two different experiments. The first experiment impeded mothers’ access to their glands, thus avoiding direct transmission of microorganisms from female to offspring secretions. The second experiment explored the stability of the microbiomes by inoculating glands with secretions from alien nests. The first experiment provoked a reduction in similarity of microbiomes of mother and nestlings. Interestingly, some bacterial strains were more often detected when females had not access to their glands, suggesting antagonistic effects among bacteria from different sources. The second experiment caused an increase in richness of the microbiome of receivers in terms of prevalence of Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) that reduced differences in microbiomes of donors and receivers. That occurred because OTUs that were present in donors but not in receivers incorporated to the microbiome of the latter, which provoked that cross-inoculated nestlings got similar final microbiomes that included the most prevalent OTUs. The results are therefore consistent with a central role of vertical transmission in bacterial acquisition by nestling hoopoes and support the idea that the typical composition of the hoopoe gland microbiome is reached by the incorporation of some bacteria during the nestling period. This scenario suggests the existence of a coevolved core microbiome composed by a mix of specialized vertically transmitted strains and facultative symbionts able to coexist with them. The implications of this mixed mode of transmission for the evolution of the mutualism are discussedMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovación (España)Junta de Andalucí

Bacterial Symbiosis Maintenance in the Asexually Reproducing and Regenerating Flatworm Paracatenula galateia

Bacteriocytes set the stage for some of the most intimate interactions between animal and bacterial cells. In all bacteriocyte possessing systems studied so far, de novo formation of bacteriocytes occurs only once in the host development, at the time of symbiosis establishment. Here, we present the free-living symbiotic flatworm Paracatenula galateia and its intracellular, sulfur-oxidizing bacteria as a system with previously undescribed strategies of bacteriocyte formation and bacterial symbiont transmission. Using thymidine analogue S-phase labeling and immunohistochemistry, we show that all somatic cells in adult worms – including bacteriocytes – originate exclusively from aposymbiotic stem cells (neoblasts). The continued bacteriocyte formation from aposymbiotic stem cells in adult animals represents a previously undescribed strategy of symbiosis maintenance and makes P. galateia a unique system to study bacteriocyte differentiation and development. We also provide morphological and immunohistochemical evidence that P. galateia reproduces by asexual fragmentation and regeneration (paratomy) and, thereby, vertically transmits numerous symbiont-containing bacteriocytes to its asexual progeny. Our data support the earlier reported hypothesis that the symbiont population is subjected to reduced bottleneck effects. This would justify both the codiversification between Paracatenula hosts and their Candidatus Riegeria symbionts, and the slow evolutionary rates observed for several symbiont genes