"Neural correlates of social signaling in rodents: An acoustic perspective".

Despite the abundance and variety of rodent species worldwide, historically few have been used to study the neurobiology of social signaling. In recent years, the diversity of rodent behaviors has been leveraged to advance our understanding of neural circuits underlying social behaviors, and in particular those related to acoustic communication. Here we highlight recent work investigating vocal behaviors across social contexts in multiple rodent species and discuss how these studies reveal both shared and distinct neural circuits.

Anatomic Lung Resection Outcomes After Implementation of a Universal Thoracic ERAS Protocol Across a Diverse Health Care System.

Objective: We sought to evaluate how implementing a thoracic enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocol impacted surgical outcomes after elective anatomic lung resection.

Background: The effect of implementing the ERAS Society/European Society of Thoracic Surgery thoracic ERAS protocol on postoperative outcomes throughout an entire health care system has not yet been reported.

Methods: This was a prospective cohort study within one health care system (January 2019-March, 2023).

Timing of recovery of quality of life after robotic anatomic lung resection.

Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are an underreported aspect of surgical recovery. The purpose of our study was to track PROs after robotic anatomic lung to determine the timing to recovery of baseline patient baseline quality of life. This was a prospective cohort study at an academic medical center (4/2021-12/2022).

Quality Review Committee Audit Improves Thoracic Enhanced Recovery After Surgery Protocol Compliance.

Introduction: Compliance with thoracic Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocols is critical to achieving their maximum benefits. We sought to examine utilization of quality review meetings as a method to improve protocol compliance through identification and resolution of barriers with compliance.

Methods: A multidisciplinary committee implemented a thoracic ERAS protocol for anatomic lung resections across five hospitals within our health system.

Acoustic communication: Deer mice join the chorus.

A new study has identified two distinct pup vocalizations in deer mice, showing that discrete genetic loci explain the acoustic variation between these two call types and that the calls elicit different levels of maternal responsiveness.

Development of a universal thoracic enhanced recover after surgery protocol for implementation across a diverse multi-hospital health system.

Background: Implementation of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) pathways for patients undergoing anatomic lung resection have been reported at individual institutions. We hypothesized that an ERAS pathway can be successfully implemented across a large healthcare system including different types of hospital settings (academic, academic-affiliated, community).

Methods: An expert panel with representation from each hospital within a healthcare system was convened to establish a thoracic ERAS pathway for patients undergoing anatomic lung resection and to develop tools and analytics to ensure consistent application.

Immune competence and spleen size scale with colony status in the naked mole-rat.

Naked mole-rats (NM-R; ) live in multi-generational colonies with a social hierarchy, and show low cancer incidence and long life-spans. Here we asked if an immune component might underlie such extreme physiology. The largest lymphoid organ is the spleen, which plays an essential role in responding to immunological insults and may participate in combating cancer and slowing ageing.

Brains and speciation: Control of behavior.

As organisms invade new ecological niches, new species are formed. Simultaneously, behavioral repertoires diverge to adapt to new environments and reproductive partners. Such behavioral modifications require changes in underlying neural circuitry and thus speciation events provide a unique advantage for studying brain evolution: allowing for direct comparisons between homologous neural circuits with distinct functional outputs.

The naked truth: a comprehensive clarification and classification of current 'myths' in naked mole-rat biology.

The naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber) has fascinated zoologists for at least half a century. It has also generated considerable biomedical interest not only because of its extraordinary longevity, but also because of unusual protective features (e.g.

The Somatosensory World of the African Naked Mole-Rat.

The naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber) is famous for its longevity and unusual physiology. This eusocial species that lives in highly ordered and hierarchical colonies with a single breeding queen, also discovered secrets enabling somewhat pain-free living around 20 million years ago. Unlike most mammals, naked mole-rats do not feel the burn of chili pepper's active ingredient, capsaicin, nor the sting of acid.

Hearing and Vocalizations in the Naked Mole-Rat.

Since their discovery, naked mole-rats have been speaking to us. Early field studies noted their extensive vocalizations, and scientists who are fortunate enough to spend time with these creatures in the laboratory setting cannot help but notice their constant peeping, chirruping and grunting (Hill et al., Proc Zool Soc Lond 128:455-514, 1957).

Cultural transmission of vocal dialect in the naked mole-rat.

Naked mole-rats () form some of the most cooperative groups in the animal kingdom, living in multigenerational colonies under the control of a single breeding queen. Yet how they maintain this highly organized social structure is unknown. Here we show that the most common naked mole-rat vocalization, the soft chirp, is used to transmit information about group membership, creating distinctive colony dialects.

TMT-Opsins differentially modulate medaka brain function in a context-dependent manner.

Vertebrate behavior is strongly influenced by light. Light receptors, encoded by functional opsin proteins, are present inside the vertebrate brain and peripheral tissues. This expression feature is present from fishes to human and appears to be particularly prominent in diurnal vertebrates.

Functional, molecular and morphological heterogeneity of superficial interneurons in the larval zebrafish tectum.

The superficial interneurons, SINs, of the zebrafish tectum, have been implicated in a range of visual functions, including size discrimination, directional selectivity, and looming-evoked escape. This raises the question if SIN subpopulations, despite their morphological similarities and shared anatomical position in the retinotectal processing stream, carry out diverse, task-specific functions in visual processing, or if they have simple tuning properties in common. Here we have further characterized the SINs through functional imaging, electrophysiological recordings, and neurotransmitter typing in two transgenic lines, the widely used Gal4s1156t and the recently reported LCRRH2-RH2-2:GFP.

Outcomes of a new wrap compression system for patients with lower limb ulceration and oedema.

JOBST® FarrowWrap® is indicated in patients presenting with venous leg ulceration in combination with mild-to-moderate oedema. These symptoms result in significant physical and psychological problems and management can be costly in terms of duration of input and resources. This article will present four case studies demonstrating the benefits and outcomes for patients with lower limb issues and will consider how the product helps improve shape, reduce oedema, heal ulceration, improve quality of life in relation to the lower limb and encourage self-care.

Rapid molecular evolution of pain insensitivity in multiple African rodents.

Noxious substances, called algogens, cause pain and are used as defensive weapons by plants and stinging insects. We identified four previously unknown instances of algogen-insensitivity by screening eight African rodent species related to the naked mole-rat with the painful substances capsaicin, acid (hydrogen chloride, pH 3.5), and allyl isothiocyanate (AITC).

Genetic targeting and anatomical registration of neuronal populations in the zebrafish brain with a new set of BAC transgenic tools.

Genetic access to small, reproducible sets of neurons is key to an understanding of the functional wiring of the brain. Here we report the generation of a new Gal4- and Cre-driver resource for zebrafish neurobiology. Candidate genes, including cell type-specific transcription factors, neurotransmitter-synthesizing enzymes and neuropeptides, were selected according to their expression patterns in small and unique subsets of neurons from diverse brain regions.

A phase 2, multicenter study investigating ofatumumab and bendamustine combination in patients with untreated or relapsed CLL.

The purpose of this study is to assess the safety and efficacy of the combination of ofatumumab and bendamustine in patients with previously untreated or relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Patients received IV ofatumumab (cycle 1: 300 mg day 1 and 1,000 mg day 8; cycles 2-6: 1,000 mg on day 1 every 28 days) and IV bendamustine 90 mg m(-2) (previously untreated) or 70 mg m(-2) (relapsed) on days 1 and 2 of each 28-day cycle, for up to 6 cycles. Forty-four previously untreated and 53 relapsed patients were enrolled.

Feeding State Modulates Behavioral Choice and Processing of Prey Stimuli in the Zebrafish Tectum.

Animals use the sense of vision to scan their environment, respond to threats, and locate food sources. The neural computations underlying the selection of a particular behavior, such as escape or approach, require flexibility to balance potential costs and benefits for survival. For example, avoiding novel visual objects reduces predation risk but negatively affects foraging success.

Sensorimotor decision making in the zebrafish tectum.

An animal's survival depends on its ability to correctly evaluate sensory stimuli and select appropriate behavioral responses. When confronted with ambiguous stimuli, the brain is faced with the task of selecting one action while suppressing others. Although conceptually simple, the site and substrate of this elementary form of decision making is still largely unknown.

SINs and SOMs: neural microcircuits for size tuning in the zebrafish and mouse visual pathway.

In many animals, a fast and reliable circuit for discriminating between predator-sized objects and edible (prey-sized) objects is necessary for survival. How are receptive fields (RFs) in visual brain areas organized to extract information about size? Recent studies from the zebrafish optic tectum and the mouse visual cortex suggest de novo shaping of RFs by subtypes of inhibitory neurons. Del Bene et al.

Long-term modification of cortical synapses improves sensory perception.

Synapses and receptive fields of the cerebral cortex are plastic. However, changes to specific inputs must be coordinated within neural networks to ensure that excitability and feature selectivity are appropriately configured for perception of the sensory environment. We induced long-lasting enhancements and decrements to excitatory synaptic strength in rat primary auditory cortex by pairing acoustic stimuli with activation of the nucleus basalis neuromodulatory system.

Monoallelic deletion of the microRNA biogenesis gene Dgcr8 produces deficits in the development of excitatory synaptic transmission in the prefrontal cortex.

Background: Neuronal phenotypes associated with hemizygosity of individual genes within the 22q11.2 deletion syndrome locus hold potential towards understanding the pathogenesis of schizophrenia and autism. Included among these genes is Dgcr8, which encodes an RNA-binding protein required for microRNA biogenesis.

Developmental sensory experience balances cortical excitation and inhibition.

Early in life, neural circuits are highly susceptible to outside influences. The organization of the primary auditory cortex (A1) in particular is governed by acoustic experience during the critical period, an epoch near the beginning of postnatal development throughout which cortical synapses and networks are especially plastic. This neonatal sensitivity to the pattern of sensory inputs is believed to be essential for constructing stable and adequately adapted representations of the auditory world and for the acquisition of language skills by children.