Factors shaping socio-emotional trajectories in sanctuary-living bonobos: a longitudinal approach.

Early maternal loss can have lasting detrimental effects on primate social development. While many rehabilitation settings provide enriching environments to buffer against such effects in orphans, previous research indicates that young bonobo () orphans exhibit striking deficiencies in socio-emotional competence compared to their mother-reared peers. However, such studies are generally cross-sectional, without accounting for changes across the lifespan.

The expression of empathy in human's closest relatives, bonobos and chimpanzees: current and future directions.

Empathy is a complex, multi-dimensional capacity that facilitates the sharing and understanding of others' emotions. As our closest living relatives, bonobos (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzees (P. troglodytes) provide an opportunity to explore the origins of hominin social cognition, including empathy.

Females undergo selection too.

Extending Campbell's (1999) staying alive theory (SAT) beyond aggression, we reviewed evidence that females are more self-protective than males. Many commentators provided additional supporting data. Sex differences in life-history adaptations, in the optimal relation between survival and reproduction, and in the mechanisms underlying trade-offs involved with self-protection remain important topics with numerous opportunities for improved understanding.

Self-protection as an adaptive female strategy.

Many male traits are well explained by sexual selection theory as adaptations to mating competition and mate choice, whereas no unifying theory explains traits expressed more in females. Anne Campbell's "staying alive" theory proposed that human females produce stronger self-protective reactions than males to aggressive threats because self-protection tends to have higher fitness value for females than males. We examined whether Campbell's theory has more general applicability by considering whether human females respond with greater self-protectiveness than males to other threats beyond aggression.

Jealous Behavior in Chimpanzees Elicited by Social Intruders.

Despite increasing interest in animal emotions, jealousy has rarely been directly addressed in comparative research, except for studies of human-pet interactions. Jealous behavior emerges when a valuable social bond is threatened by a third-party, prompting aggression or intervention attempts to direct the partner's attention away from the rival. Emotional reactions that protect relationships are expected in species in which social relationships are important for fitness, including primates.

The Study That Made Rats Jump for Joy, and Then Killed Them: The Gap between Knowledge and Practice Widens When Scientists Fail to Engage with the Ethical Implications of Their Own Work.

Much contemporary behavioral science stops short of considering the ethical implications of its own findings. This generates a contradiction between methods and discoveries, and hinders translation between updated scientific evidence for animal sentience and corresponding political and legal changes. A recent and particularly illustrative example in rodents is described here.

Do chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) console a bereaved mother?

Comparative thanatology encompasses the study of death-related responses in non-human animals and aspires to elucidate the evolutionary origins of human behavior in the context of death. Many reports have revealed that humans are not the only species affected by the death of group members. Non-human primates in particular show behaviors such as congregating around the deceased, carrying the corpse for prolonged periods of time (predominantly mothers carrying dead infants), and inspecting the corpse for signs of life.

Long-term consistency in chimpanzee consolation behaviour reflects empathetic personalities.

In contrast to a wealth of human studies, little is known about the ontogeny and consistency of empathy-related capacities in other species. Consolation-post-conflict affiliation from uninvolved bystanders to distressed others-is a suggested marker of empathetic concern in non-human animals. Using longitudinal data comprising nearly a decade of observations on over 3000 conflict interactions in 44 chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), we provide evidence for relatively stable individual differences in consolation behaviour.

Stepping forward together: Could walking facilitate interpersonal conflict resolution?

Walking has myriad benefits for the mind, most of which have traditionally been explored and explained at the individual level of analysis. Much less empirical work has examined how walking with a partner might benefit social processes. One such process is conflict resolution-a field of psychology in which movement is inherent not only in recent theory and research, but also in colloquial language (e.

Moving on or digging deeper: Regulatory mode and interpersonal conflict resolution.

Conflict resolution, in its most basic sense, requires movement and change between opposing motivational states. Although scholars and practitioners have long acknowledged this point, research has yet to investigate whether individual differences in the motivation for movement from state-to-state influence conflict resolution processes. Regulatory Mode Theory (RMT) describes this fundamental motivation as locomotion.

Visual cues given by humans are not sufficient for Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) to find hidden food.

Recent research suggests that domesticated species--due to artificial selection by humans for specific, preferred behavioral traits--are better than wild animals at responding to visual cues given by humans about the location of hidden food. \Although this seems to be supported by studies on a range of domesticated (including dogs, goats and horses) and wild (including wolves and chimpanzees) animals, there is also evidence that exposure to humans positively influences the ability of both wild and domesticated animals to follow these same cues. Here, we test the performance of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) on an object choice task that provides them with visual-only cues given by humans about the location of hidden food.

CCR2 receptor antagonists: optimization of biaryl sulfonamides to increase activity in whole blood.

A series of biarylsulfonamides was identified as hCCR2 receptor antagonist but suffered from high plasma protein binding resulting in a >100 fold shift in activity in a functional GTPγS assay run in tandem in the presence and absence of human serum albumin. Introduction of an aryl amide with ethylenediamine linker led to compounds with reduced shifts and improved activity in whole blood.

An inversion effect modified by expertise in capuchin monkeys.

The face inversion effect may be defined as the general impairment in recognition that occurs when faces are rotated 180°. This phenomenon seems particularly strong for faces as opposed to other objects and is often used as a marker of a specialized face-processing mechanism. Four brown capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) were tested on their ability to discriminate several classes of facial and non-facial stimuli presented in both their upright and inverted orientations in an oddity task.

The discovery of tertiary-amine LXR agonists with potent cholesterol efflux activity in macrophages.

The liver X receptors (LXR) play a key role in cholesterol homeostasis and lipid metabolism. SAR studies around tertiary-amine lead molecule 2, an LXR full agonist, revealed that steric and conformational changes to the acetic acid and propanolamine groups produce dramatic effects on agonist efficacy and potency. The new analogs possess good functional activity, demonstrating the ability to upregulate LXR target genes, as well as promote cholesterol efflux in macrophages.

Synthesis and SAR of potent LXR agonists containing an indole pharmacophore.

A novel series of 1H-indol-1-yl tertiary amine LXR agonists has been designed. Compounds from this series were potent agonists with good rat pharmacokinetic parameters. In addition, the crystal structure of an LXR agonist bound to LXRalpha will be disclosed.

Informed consent to healthcare interventions in people with learning disabilities--an integrative review.

Aim: This paper is a report of an integrative review of informed consent to healthcare interventions in people with learning disabilities.

Background: Consent to treatment lies at the heart of the relationship between patient and healthcare professional. In order for people with learning disabilities to have equity of access to health care, they need to be able to give informed consent to health interventions--or be assessed as incompetent to give consent.

Professional identity as a resource for talk: exploring the mentor-student relationship.

This paper discusses a study examining how mentors in nurse education make professional judgments about the clinical competence of their pre-registration nursing students. Interviews were undertaken with nine UK students and 15 mentors, using critical incidents in practice settings as a focus. The study was undertaken for the English National Practice-Based Professional Learning Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.

Using portfolios in the assessment of learning and competence: the impact of four models.

This paper discusses the diversity of portfolio use highlighted in a study funded by the English National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting exploring the effectiveness of portfolios in assessing learning and competence (). Data collection was undertaken in two stages: through a national telephone survey of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) delivering nursing programmes (stage 1); and through four in-depth case studies of portfolios use (stage 2). Data collection for stage two was undertaken through field work in four HEIs purporting to use portfolios as an assessment strategy, and their associated clinical placement settings.

Inhibition of lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 reduces complex coronary atherosclerotic plaque development.

Increased lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A(2) (Lp-PLA(2)) activity is associated with increased risk of cardiac events, but it is not known whether Lp-PLA(2) is a causative agent. Here we show that selective inhibition of Lp-PLA(2) with darapladib reduced development of advanced coronary atherosclerosis in diabetic and hypercholesterolemic swine. Darapladib markedly inhibited plasma and lesion Lp-PLA(2) activity and reduced lesion lysophosphatidylcholine content.

Judgements about mentoring relationships in nurse education.

Much has been written about the use of portfolios and mentoring in the clinical assessment of nursing students in the United Kingdom. Research reports have focused on difficulties in using portfolios, mentoring relationships and mentor preparation. The aim of this study was to deepen understanding of how mentors actually make judgements about students' clinical competence.

What makes a good midwife? An integrative review of methodologically-diverse research.

Aim: This paper reports an integrative review aimed at answering the question: 'What makes a good midwife?'

Background: A research-based definition of a good midwife which can be used as an operational definition in research and as a basis for curriculum development could not be found. Research in nursing has identified that patients and nurses may give different responses when asked about the most important aspects of nurses' contribution to care. It is also possible that views of how to define a good midwife might differ.