Publications by authors named "M B Benitez"

Rising temperatures due to climate change are predicted to threaten the persistence of wild animals, but there is little evidence that climate change has pushed species beyond their thermal tolerance. The immune system is an ideal avenue to assess the effects of climate change because immune performance is sensitive to changes in temperature and immune competency can affect reproductive success. We investigate the effect of rising temperatures on a biomarker of nonspecific immune performance in a wild population of capuchin monkeys and provide compelling evidence that immune performance is associated with ambient temperature.

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Scientists and philosophers have long struggled with the question of whether non-human animals experience emotions or consciousness. Yet, it is unclear where the scientific consensus on these topics lies today. To address this gap, we administered a survey of professional animal behaviour researchers to assess perceptions regarding (i) the taxonomic distribution of emotions and consciousness in non-human animals, (ii) respondents' confidence in this assessment, and (iii) attitudes towards pitfalls and potential for progress when addressing these questions.

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Article Synopsis
  • Alzheimer’s disease (AD) leads to the loss and degeneration of neuronal functions, with specific alterations observed in the axon initial segment (AIS) of affected neurons.
  • The study revealed that in APP/PS1 mice, which model AD, there were significant changes in AIS integrity and decreased ankyrinG protein levels, linked to the reduced expression of certain enzymes and proteins in astrocytes.
  • Importantly, manipulating retinoic acid levels and using a P2X7 receptor inhibitor showed potential to restore AIS function, suggesting astrocyte involvement in AIS regulation and offering new avenues for early intervention in AD progression.
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Aggregation underlies the collective dynamics of a diversity of organisms, enabling the formation of complex structures and emergent behaviours on interaction with the environment. Cellular aggregation constitutes one of the routes to collective motility and multicellular development. , a social bacterium, is a valuable model for studying the aggregative path to multicellularity, a major transition in the evolutionary history of life.

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