To Mob or Not to Mob: Habitat and Time of Day Influence in Mobbing Behavior in the Azure-Winged Magpie ().

While mobbing, individuals utter distinctive calls and perform visual threatening displays. Like any other antipredatory strategies, it involves some costs (time, energy, injuries, and even death). Therefore, mobbing would be expected to vary depending on the perceived magnitude of the predation risk.

An Experimental Study in Wild Wood Mice Testing Elemental and Isotope Analysis in Faeces to Determine Variations in Food Intake Amount.

The analysis of carbon and nitrogen elemental (C, N) and isotopic compositions (δC, δN) in faeces are considered reliable methodologies for the study of diet in wildlife. Here, we tested the suitability of these techniques to detect variations in the amount of food intake. We captured wild wood mice ( with Sherman live traps where bait access was initially free, and later it was experimentally limited inside by four different devices to cause intended variations in the amount ingested.

Onto the sense of smell in macaws, amazons and toucans: can they use volatile cues of fruits to make foraging decisions?

Over the past decades, empirical evidence has been accumulated indicating that olfactory information plays a fundamental role in bird life history. Nonetheless, many aspects of avian olfaction remain poorly understood. Our purpose was to broaden the knowledge about the importance of the sense of smell in some neglected bird groups: psittaciformes and ramphastids, and to compare how the response varied between the species.

PI3Kβ-regulated β-catenin mediates EZH2 removal from promoters controlling primed human ESC stemness and primitive streak gene expression.

The mechanism governing the transition of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) toward differentiated cells is only partially understood. To explore this transition, the activity and expression of the ubiquitous phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3Kα and PI3Kβ) were modulated in primed hESCs. The study reports a pathway that dismantles the restraint imposed by the EZH2 polycomb repressor on an essential stemness gene, NODAL, and on transcription factors required to trigger primitive streak formation.

Colour Preferences in Relation to Diet in Chimpanzees(Pan troglodytes), Gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) and Mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx).

Although trichromatic colour vision has been extensively studied as it grants significant advantages for Old World primates, it is unknown which selective pressures were behind the trait's evolution. The leading hypothesis would be that colour vision arose as a foraging adaptation because it allowed individuals to spot food more efficiently. To test this, we exposed 3 chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), 5 gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) and 3 mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) to colour cardboard plates to assess whether colours related to diet were the most preferred.

Behavioral Responses of Wild Rodents to Owl Calls in an Austral Temperate Forest.

Ecologically based rodent management strategies are arising as a sustainable approach to rodent control, allowing us to preserve biodiversity while safeguarding human economic activities. Despite predator signals being known to generally repel rodents, few field-based studies have compared the behavioral effects of several predators on different prey species, especially in Neotropical ecosystems. Here, we used camera traps to study the behavior of rodent species native to the Chilean temperate forest ( spp.

Reproductive hormones monthly variation in free-ranging European wildcats: Lack of association with faecal marking.

Integrating ecophysiological and behavioural discoveries in conservation and management plans is essential to preserve scarce and elusive species such as the European wildcat (Felis silvestris). The purpose of this study was to characterize the monthly variation in the steroid reproductive hormone metabolite levels (oestradiol, progesterone and testosterone) in this species and to test its possible association with a monthly pattern of faecal marking. By collecting fresh faecal samples in Montes do Invernadeiro Natural Park (Galicia, Northwest Spain) each month, we obtained a total of 110 samples belonging to 25 different individuals.

Wood mouse feeding effort and decision-making when encountering a restricted unknown food source.

Animals making foraging decisions must balance the energy gained, the time invested, and the influence of key environmental factors. In our work, we examined the effect of predation risk cues and experience on feeding efforts when a novel food resource was made available. To achieve this, we live-trapped wood mouse Apodemus sylvaticus in Monte de Valdelatas (Madrid), where 80 Sherman traps were set in four plots.

Detecting the presence-absence of bluefin tuna by automated analysis of medium-range sonars on fishing vessels.

This study presents a methodology for the automated analysis of commercial medium-range sonar signals for detecting presence/absence of bluefin tuna (Tunnus thynnus) in the Bay of Biscay. The approach uses image processing techniques to analyze sonar screenshots. For each sonar image we extracted measurable regions and analyzed their characteristics.

Cardiomyogenic differentiation potential of human endothelial progenitor cells isolated from patients with myocardial infarction.

Background Aims: Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are known to play a beneficial role by promoting postnatal vasculogenesis in pathological events, such as ischemic heart disease and peripheral artery disease. However, little is known about the potential of EPCs to restore heart damage tissue. We compared the cardiac differentiation capacity of EPCs isolated from peripheral blood of patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) with EPCs obtained from umbilical cord blood (UCB).

Radiobiology of radioimmunotherapy: targeting CD20 B-cell antigen in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The radiobiology of radioimmunotherapy is an important determinant of both the toxicity and the efficacy associated with the treatment of B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with radiolabeled anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies. The properties of the target, CD20, and the mechanisms of action of both the monoclonal antibodies and the associated exponentially decreasing low-dose-rate radiotherapy are described. The radiation dose and dose-rate effects are discussed and related to both the tumor responses and normal organ toxicity.

Radiobiology of radioimmunotherapy with 90Y ibritumomab tiuxetan (Zevalin).

Radioimmunotherapy represents a significant advance over unlabeled immunotherapy for the treatment of patients with B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The efficacy of radioimmunotherapeutic agents depends in large part on the basic biological effects associated with their components, monoclonal antibodies and radionuclides, separately and in combination. The radiobiological effects associated with yttrium 90-labeled ibritumomab tiuxetan (Zevalin; Biogen Idec Inc, Cambridge, MA) include the induction of apoptosis and cell-cycle redistribution (eg, arrest of cells in the G(2)/M phase of the cell cycle).