The use of vocal coordination in male African elephant group departures: evidence of active leadership and consensus.

Group-living animals engage in coordinated vocalizations to depart from a location as a group, and often, to come to a consensus about the direction of movement. Here, we document for the first time, the use of coordinated vocalizations, the "let's go" rumble, in wild male African elephant group departures from a waterhole. We recorded vocalizations and collected behavioral data as known individuals engaged in these vocal bouts during June-July field seasons in 2005, 2007, 2011, and 2017 at Mushara waterhole within Etosha National Park, Namibia.

The impact of size on middle-ear sound transmission in elephants, the largest terrestrial mammal.

Elephants have a unique auditory system that is larger than any other terrestrial mammal. To quantify the impact of larger middle ear (ME) structures, we measured 3D ossicular motion and ME sound transmission in cadaveric temporal bones from both African and Asian elephants in response to air-conducted (AC) tonal pressure stimuli presented in the ear canal (PEC). Results were compared to similar measurements in humans.

The impact of size on middle-ear sound transmission in elephants, the largest terrestrial mammal.

Elephants have a unique auditory system that is larger than any other terrestrial mammal. To quantify the impact of larger middle ear (ME) structures, we measured 3D ossicular motion and ME sound transmission in cadaveric temporal bones from both African and Asian elephants in response to air-conducted (AC) tonal pressure stimuli presented in the ear canal (P ). Results were compared to similar measurements in humans.

Male African Elephant () Behavioral Responses to Estrous Call Playbacks May Inform Conservation Management Tools.

Driven by reproductive motives, male African elephants ( in musth often expand their home ranges to locate estrous females. This extended range, coupled with heightened aggression often observed in musth males, can be particularly problematic in regions where human-modified landscapes and elephant territories increasingly overlap. Several mitigation tools have been tested to resolve a wide range of human-elephant conflicts with varying degrees of success due to geographical disparities and habituation.

Age-based variation in calf independence, social behavior and play in a captive population of African elephant calves.

African elephant calves are highly social and their behavioral development depends heavily on interactions with other elephants. Evaluating early social behaviors offers important information that can inform management decisions and maximize individual- and population-level welfare. We use data collected from the population of elephants at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in Escondido, CA to evaluate developmental trajectories of spatial independence and social behavior in nine elephant calves across a range of ages.

Phoenix: A Portable, Battery-Powered, and Environmentally Controlled Platform for Long-Distance Transportation of Live-Cell Cultures.

Despite the advent of advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) in regenerative medicine, gene therapy, cell therapies, tissue engineering, and immunotherapy, the availability of treatment is limited to patients close to state-of-the-art facilities. The SCORPIO-V Division of HNu Photonics has developed the Phoenix-Live Cell Transport, a battery-operated mobile incubator designed to facilitate long-distance transportation of living cell cultures from GMP facilities to remote areas for increased patient accessibility to ATMPs. This work demonstrates that Phoenix (patent pending) is a superior mechanism for transporting living cells compared to the standard method of shipping frozen cells on dry ice (-80°C) or in liquid nitrogen (-150°C), which are destructive to the biology as well as a time consuming process.

Imaging of firefly luciferase activity under antiangiogenic therapy in a heat shock protein 70-transfected melanoma tumor model.

We investigated the effect of targeted gene therapy on heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) expression in a melanoma tumor model (M21). M21 cells transfected with a plasmid containing the firefly luciferase reporter gene (ffluc), whose expression is driven by the hsp70 (hspa1b) or the cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter, were grown to a size of 600 mm3. Five animals in each group were intravenously treated with an Arg-Gly-Asp peptide-nanoparticle/Raf-1 kinase inhibitor protein [RGD-NP/RAF(-)] complex.

In vivo monitoring of antiangiogenic therapy by magnetic resonance and bioluminescence imaging in an M21 tumor model through activation of an hsp70 promoter-luciferase reporter construct.

We have investigated the effect of targeted gene therapy on the melanoma cell line M21, using a combination of bioluminescence imaging (BLI) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). M21 cells transfected with a plasmid containing either an hsp70 (Hspa1b) or a CMV promoter fragment, along with the luciferase reporter gene, were grown to a tumor size of 900 mm(3) . Five mice in each group were intravenously treated every 72 h with a complex consisting of a nanoparticle, an Arg-Gly-Asp-peptide, and a dominant negative mutant protein kinase inhibitor gene.

Effect of antiangiogenic therapy on luciferase activity in a cytomegalovirus- or HSP70-promoter-transfected M21 tumor model.

We investigated the effect of targeted gene therapy on heat shock protein 70 expression (Hsp70) and protein production (HSP70) in a melanoma tumor model (M21; M21-L). M21 and M21-L cells transfected with a plasmid containing the Hsp70 (Hspa1b) or the cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter and the luciferase reporter gene were injected into mice; the resulting tumors grew to a size of 650 mm(3). Mice (five per group) were intravenously treated with an Arg-Gly-Asp peptide-nanoparticle/Raf-1 kinase inhibitor protein complex [RGD-NP/RAF(-)] or with a nanoparticle control.

Use of in vivo bioluminescence and MRI to determine hyperthermia-induced changes in luciferase activity under the control of an hsp70 promoter.

We investigated the in vivo effect of hyperthermia on the expression of heat shock proteins and MRI changes in three tumor cell lines. Three tumor cell lines (SCCVII, NIH3T3, M21) were transfected with a plasmid containing the heat shock protein 70 gene (hsp70) promoter fragment and the luciferase reporter gene, and injected into mice. Tumors of 1100 mm³ in size were exposed to five different temperatures (38, 40, 42, 44 and 46 °C) in a water bath.

The effect of high intensity focused ultrasound on luciferase activity on two tumor cell lines in vitro, under the control of a CMV promoter.

In this study, we compared the effect of high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) and thermal stress on the luciferase activity, controlled by a cytomegaly virus (CMV) promoter in an in vitro model using two tumor cell lines (M21, SCCVII). HIFU was applied in a pulsed-wave mode with increasing voltage at constant pulse duration, or thermal stress was delivered over a range of temperatures (36-52 degrees C) for 5 min. The resulting luciferase activity was measured in live cells using a cooled CCD camera.

In vivo analysis of heat-shock-protein-70 induction following pulsed laser irradiation in a transgenic reporter mouse.

Induction of heat shock protein (Hsp) expression appears to correlate with a cytoprotective effect in cultured cells and with improved healing of damaged tissues in animal models and in humans. This family of proteins can also serve as indicators of thermal stress in cases of burn injury or surgical procedures that produce heat. Thus, a rapid in vivo readout for induction of Hsp transcription would facilitate studies of Hsp genes and their encoded proteins as mediators of therapeutic effects and as reporters of thermal damage to tissues.

Tumor tissue characterization evaluating the luciferase activity under the control of a hsp70 promoter and MR imaging in three tumor cell lines.

We investigated the luciferase activity under the control of a hsp70 promoter and MR imaging for three tumor cell lines. Three tumor cell lines, SCCVII, NIH3T3 and M21 were transfected with a plasmid containing the hsp70 promoter fragment and the luciferase reporter gene and grown in mice. Bioluminescence imaging of the tumors was performed every other day.

Keeping an "ear" to the ground: seismic communication in elephants.

This review explores the mechanisms that elephants may use to send and receive seismic signals from a physical, anatomical, behavioral, and physiological perspective. The implications of the use of the vibration sense as a multimodal signal will be discussed in light of the elephant's overall fitness and survival.

Wild African elephants (Loxodonta africana) discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar conspecific seismic alarm calls.

The ability to discriminate between call types and callers as well as more subtle information about the importance of a call has been documented in a range of species. This type of discrimination is also important in the vibrotactile environment for species that communicate via vibrations. It has recently been shown that African elephants (Loxodonta africana) can detect seismic cues, but it is not known whether they discriminate seismic information from noise.

In vitro effect of focused ultrasound or thermal stress on HSP70 expression and cell viability in three tumor cell lines.

Rationale And Objectives: In this study, we compared the effect of focused ultrasound with the effect of thermal stress on the induction of a heat inducible promoter in an in vitro model using three tumor cell lines (M21, SCCVII, and NIH3T3).

Materials And Methods: We used a reporter construct that was generated using the stress-inducible promoter from the gene encoding a murine 70-kilodalton heat shock protein (Hsp70A.1) and a luciferase (luc) reporter plasmid.

Optical spectroscopy noninvasively monitors response of organelles to cellular stress.

Fast and noninvasive detection of cellular stress is extremely useful for fundamental research and practical applications in medicine and biology. We discovered that light scattering spectroscopy enables us to monitor the transformations in cellular organelles under thermal stress. At the temperatures triggering expression of heat shock proteins, the refractive index of mitochondria increase within 1 min after the onset of heating, indicating enhanced metabolic activity.

Tumor imaging using a standardized radiolabeled adapter protein docked to vascular endothelial growth factor.

Unlabelled: Direct radiolabeling of proteins can result in the loss of targeting activity, requires highly customized procedures, and yields heterogeneous products. Here we describe a novel imaging complex comprised of a standardized (99m)Tc-radiolabeled adapter protein noncovalently bound to a "Docking tag" fused to a "Targeting protein". The assembly of this complex is based on interactions between human 109-amino acid (HuS) and 15-amino acid (Hu-tag) fragments of ribonuclease I, which serve as an "Adapter protein" and a Docking tag, respectively.

Assessment of cellular response to thermal laser injury through bioluminescence imaging of heat shock protein 70.

Assessment of laser-induced tissue damage is not complete without an investigation into the resulting cellular and molecular changes. In the past, tissue damage was quantified macroscopically by visual effects such as tissue mass removal, carbonization and melting. Microscopically, assessment of tissue damage has been typically limited to histological analysis of excised tissue samples.

A genetic reporter of thermal stress defines physiologic zones over a defined temperature range.

We define five unique cellular responses to thermal stress using a reporter construct generated using the stress-inducible promoter from the gene encoding a murine 70 kDa heat shock protein (Hsp70A.1) to express luciferase (luc). Thermal stress was delivered over a range of temperatures (42-68 degrees C) for 5 s to 20 min and luciferase activity was measured in live cells using a cooled CCD camera as a measure of reporter gene transcription.

The properties of geophysical fields and their effects on elephants and other animals.

Geophysical properties of acoustic, seismic, electric, and magnetic waveforms create opportunities and constraints for animals' communication and sensory monitoring of the environment. The geometric spreading of waves differs; at some frequencies, transmission is most efficient and has minimal noise. The spreading properties of seismic waves favor long-distance propagation for communication and environmental monitoring, and would benefit elephants (Elephas maximus and Loxodonta africana), such as in locating subsurface water.