Infanticide, the killing of conspecific infants, has been observed in many species, including rodents, carnivores, and notably, primates. Although several adaptive and non-adaptive hypotheses have been proposed to explain this phenomenon, most cases to date appear consistent with the sexual selection hypothesis, particularly in primates. According to this hypothesis, males increase their reproductive success by eliminating unrelated unweaned infants, causing females to resume cycling earlier and allowing infanticidal males to mate and sire offspring sooner during their tenure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTropical peatlands are the sites of Earth's largest fire events, with outsized contributions to greenhouse gases, toxic smoke, and haze rich with particulate matter. The human health risks from wildfire smoke are well known, but its effects on wildlife inhabiting these ecosystems are poorly understood. In 2015, peatland fires on Borneo created a thick haze of smoke that blanketed the region.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBACKGROUNDBilateral loss of vestibular (inner ear inertial) sensation causes chronically blurred vision during head movement, postural instability, and increased fall risk. Individuals who fail to compensate despite rehabilitation therapy have no adequate treatment options. Analogous to hearing restoration via cochlear implants, prosthetic electrical stimulation of vestibular nerve branches to encode head motion has garnered interest as a potential treatment, but prior studies in humans have not included continuous long-term stimulation or 3D binocular vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) oculography, without which one cannot determine whether an implant selectively stimulates the implanted ear's 3 semicircular canals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIndonesia's peatlands experience frequent and intense wildfires, producing hazardous smoke with consequences for human health, yet there is a lack of research into adverse effects on wildlife. We evaluated the effects of smoke on the activity and energy balance of Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii) in a peat swamp forest at the Tuanan Research Station, Central Kalimantan. We collected behavioural data and urine samples from four adult flanged males before, during, and after wildfires between March 2015 and January 2016.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Can Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry
February 2014
Objectives: To examine the impact of restructuring a child and adolescent psychiatry inpatient unit on reportable incidents (including verbal or physical aggression), seclusion, security, constant observation, sick leave and lengths of stay.
Methods: Data was collected regarding a seven-bed child and adolescent psychiatric unit between 2008 and 2010, comparing data from 2008 and 2009 (before) to 2010 (after).
Results: Occurrences, sick leave, security, seclusion and constant observation all decreased in 2010 compared to 2008 and 2009, although only the decrease in constant observation was statistically significant.