Earlier springs increase goose breeding propensity and nesting success at Arctic but not at temperate latitudes.

Intermittent breeding is an important tactic in long-lived species that trade off survival and reproduction to maximize lifetime reproductive success. When breeding conditions are unfavourable, individuals are expected to skip reproduction to ensure their own survival. Breeding propensity (i.

Year-round activity levels reveal diurnal foraging constraints in the annual cycle of migratory and non-migratory barnacle geese.

Performing migratory journeys comes with energetic costs, which have to be compensated within the annual cycle. An assessment of how and when such compensation occurs is ideally done by comparing full annual cycles of migratory and non-migratory individuals of the same species, which is rarely achieved. We studied free-living migratory and resident barnacle geese belonging to the same flyway (metapopulation), and investigated when differences in foraging activity occur, and when foraging extends beyond available daylight, indicating a diurnal foraging constraint in these usually diurnal animals.

An observational human study investigating the effect of anabolic androgenic steroid use on the transcriptome of skeletal muscle and whole blood using RNA-Seq.

Background: The effects of Anabolic Androgenic Steroids (AAS) are largely illustrated through Androgen Receptor induced gene transcription, yet RNA-Seq has yet to be conducted on human whole blood and skeletal muscle. Investigating the transcriptional signature of AAS in blood may aid AAS detection and in muscle further understanding of AAS induced hypertrophy.

Methods: Males aged 20-42 were recruited and sampled once: sedentary controls (C), resistance trained lifters (RT) and resistance trained current AAS users (RT-AS) who ceased exposure ≤ 2 or ≥ 10 weeks prior to sampling.

Environmental refuges from disease in host-parasite interactions under global change.

The physiological performance of organisms depends on their environmental context, resulting in performance-response curves along environmental gradients. Parasite performance-response curves are generally expected to be broader than those of their hosts due to shorter generation times and hence faster adaptation. However, certain environmental conditions may limit parasite performance more than that of the host, thereby providing an environmental refuge from disease.

The MMAAS Project: An Observational Human Study Investigating the Effect of Anabolic Androgenic Steroid Use on Gene Expression and the Molecular Mechanism of Muscle Memory.

Objective: It remains unknown whether myonuclei remain elevated post anabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) usage in humans. Limited data exist on AAS-induced changes in gene expression.

Design: Cross-sectional/longitudinal.

Effect of cilobradine in cats with a first episode of congestive heart failure due to primary cardiomyopathy.

Introduction: Heart rate (HR) is often elevated in cats with cardiomyopathies (CMPs). Pharmacologic modulation of HR may reduce cardiac morbidity and mortality.

Objectives: To investigate the effects of cilobradine vs.

Postnatal growth rate varies with latitude in range-expanding geese: The role of plasticity and day length.

The postnatal growth period is a crucial life stage, with potential lifelong effects on an animal's fitness. How fast animals grow depends on their life-history strategy and rearing environment, and interspecific comparisons generally show higher growth rates at higher latitudes. However, to elucidate the mechanisms behind this gradient in growth rate, intraspecific comparisons are needed.

Thermoregulation is not impaired in breast cancer survivors during moderate-intensity exercise performed in warm and hot environments.

This study aimed to assess how female breast cancer survivors (BCS) respond physiologically, hematologically, and perceptually to exercise under heat stress compared to females with no history of breast cancer (CON). Twenty-one females (9 BCS and 12 CON [age; 54 ± 7 years, stature; 167 ± 6 cm, body mass; 68.1 ± 7.

Seasonal variation in sex-specific immunity in wild birds.

Whilst the immune system often varies seasonally and exhibits differences between males and females, the general patterns in seasonality and sex differences across taxa have remained controversial. Birds are excellent model organisms to assess these patterns, because the immune system of many species is well characterised. We conducted a meta-analysis using 41 wild bird species from 24 avian families to investigate sex differences and seasonal (breeding/non-breeding) variations in immune status, including white blood cell counts, phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) test, bacteria-killing ability (BKA), haemolysis and haemagglutination assays.

Validity of a wearable sweat rate monitor and routine sweat analysis techniques using heat acclimation.

Introduction: the aim of this study was to assess the validity of a novel wearable sweat rate monitor against an array of sweat analysis techniques which determine sudomotor function when exercising moderately under heat stress. Construct validity was determined utilising a 5-day short-term heat acclimation (STHA) intervention.

Methods: Nineteen healthy individuals (age: 41 ± 23 years, body mass: 74.

Arctic Geese Tune Migration to a Warming Climate but Still Suffer from a Phenological Mismatch.

Climate warming challenges animals to advance their timing of reproduction [1], but many animals appear to be unable to advance at the same rate as their food species [2, 3]. As a result, mismatches can arise between the moment of largest food requirements for their offspring and peak food availability [4-6], with important fitness consequences [7]. For long-distance migrants, adjustment of phenology to climate warming may be hampered by their inability to predict the optimal timing of arrival at the breeding grounds from their wintering grounds [8].

Heterothermy in growing king penguins.

A drop in body temperature allows significant energy savings in endotherms, but facultative heterothermy is usually restricted to small animals. Here we report that king penguin chicks (Aptenodytes patagonicus), which are able to fast for up to 5 months in winter, undergo marked seasonal heterothermy during this period of general food scarcity and slow-down of growth. They also experience short-term heterothermy below 20 °C in the lower abdomen during the intense (re)feeding period in spring, induced by cold meals and adverse weather.

Predation danger can explain changes in timing of migration: the case of the barnacle goose.

Understanding stopover decisions of long-distance migratory birds is crucial for conservation and management of these species along their migratory flyway. Recently, an increasing number of Barnacle geese breeding in the Russian Arctic have delayed their departure from their wintering site in The Netherlands by approximately one month and have reduced their staging duration at stopover sites in the Baltic accordingly. Consequently, this extended stay increases agricultural damage in The Netherlands.

Skipping the Baltic: the emergence of a dichotomy of alternative spring migration strategies in Russian barnacle geese.

1. Since the early 1990s, an increasing proportion of barnacle geese, Branta leucopsis, bound for breeding sites in the Russian Arctic delay their departure from the wintering quarters in the Wadden Sea by 4 weeks. These late-migrating geese skip spring stopover sites in the Baltic traditionally used by the entire population.

Evaluation of the deuterium dilution method to estimate body composition in the barnacle goose: accuracy and minimum equilibration time.

We examined body composition in barnacle geese (Branta leucopsis) by proximate carcass analysis and by deuterium isotope dilution. We studied the effect of isotope equilibration time on the accuracy of total body water (TBW) estimates and evaluated models to predict fat-free mass (FFM) and fat mass (FM) from different measurements varying in their level of invasiveness. Deuterium enrichment determined at 45, 90, and 180 min after isotope injection did not differ significantly.

Changes in dual-task voice reaction time among elders who use assistive devices.

Purpose: Assistive devices are prescribed for a variety of reasons and have the obvious benefit of enhancing gait performance for some individuals. However, the use of an assistive device may make walking a more complex and cognitively challenging task. The purpose of this study was to use a dual-task voice reaction time (VRT) paradigm to examine the attentional demands of walking with an assistive device in a group of elderly adults.

Intake rates and the functional response in shorebirds (Charadriiformes) eating macro-invertebrates.

As field determinations take much effort, it would be useful to be able to predict easily the coefficients describing the functional response of free-living predators, the function relating food intake rate to the abundance of food organisms in the environment. As a means easily to parameterise an individual-based model of shorebird Charadriiformes populations, we attempted this for shorebirds eating macro-invertebrates. Intake rate is measured as the ash-free dry mass (AFDM) per second of active foraging; i.

Effects of gender on blood flow correlates of naming concrete entities.

A cross-cohort PET analysis was performed in 62 normal subjects (31 men and 31 women) to address the issue of whether men and women have different physiologic correlates of naming visually presented concrete entities. The subjects named nonunique concrete entities in one or more conceptual categories and also performed a face orientation decision task. A second analysis was performed in 24 additional subjects to assess whether there were gender effects related to the face orientation decision task and to constrain the interpretation of the first analysis.

Neural correlates of naming animals from their characteristic sounds.

The neural correlates of naming stimuli presented through the auditory modality have scarcely been studied. Using a PET experiment in 10 normal subjects, we began to address this issue by testing the hypothesis that naming animals from their characteristic sounds will engage bilateral primary auditory and auditory association cortices, bilateral early visual association cortices, left inferotemporal (IT) cortices, and left frontal operculum. Subjects listened to characteristic animal sounds (e.

A randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial of iron in restless legs syndrome.

Background: Previous open-label trials have shown iron to be efficacious in the treatment of restless legs syndrome. We performed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of iron sulfate.

Methods: Twenty-eight patients were randomized to receive either ferrous sulfate 325 mg b.