Training primates to forage in virtual 3D environments.

Virtual environment software is increasingly being employed as a non-invasive method in primate cognition research. Familiar and novel stimuli can be presented in new ways, opening the door to studying aspects of cognition in captivity which previously may not have been feasible. Despite the increased complexity of visual input compared to more traditional computerised studies, several groups of captive primates have now been trained to navigate virtual three-dimensional environments.

Chimpanzees demonstrate a behavioural signature of human joint action.

The strength of human society can largely be attributed to the tendency to work together to achieve outcomes that are not possible alone. Effective social coordination benefits from mentally representing a partner's actions. Specifically, humans optimize social coordination by forming internal action models adapted to joint rather than individual task demands.

Sigmoid volvulus in a 14-year-old male mimicking acute gastroenteritis.

Sigmoid volvulus is a rare but life-threatening diagnosis in the paediatric population and has only been reported a handful of times in the literature. We describe the case of a 14-year-old boy with abdominal pain and diarrhoea who was diagnosed with a sigmoid volvulus after initially being managed for infectious gastroenteritis. The patient initially presented with a 5-day history of watery stool, 1-day history of profuse vomiting and colicky abdominal pain.

Falls From Height, Facial Injuries and Fatalities: An Institutional Review.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort review.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between falls from height and facial injuries.

Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study, conducted over a 7-year period, of the medical records of all patients who presented to hospital for a maxillofacial injury following a fall from height.

Primate cognition in zoos: Reviewing the impact of zoo-based research over 15 years.

Primate cognition research is reliant on access to members of the study sp ecies and logistical infrastructures to conduct observations and experiments. Historically founded in research centers and private collections, and spreading to modern zoos, sanctuaries, and the field, primate cognition has been investigated in diverse settings, each with benefits and challenges. In our systematic review of 12 primatology, animal behavior, and animal cognition journals over the last 15 years, we turn a spotlight on zoos to quantify their current impact on the field and to highlight their potential as robust contributors to future work.

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) show subtle signs of uncertainty when choices are more difficult.

Humans can tell when they find a task difficult. Subtle uncertainty behaviors like changes in motor speed and muscle tension precede and affect these experiences. Theories of animal metacognition likewise stress the importance of endogenous signals of uncertainty as cues that motivate metacognitive behaviors.

Can the gap in Aboriginal outcomes be explained by DOHaD.

In Australia, there are two distinct populations, each with vastly disparate health outcomes: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People and non-Aboriginal Australians. Aboriginal Australians have significantly higher rates of health and socioeconomic disadvantage, and Aboriginal babies are also more likely to be born low birth weight or growth restricted. The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) hypothesis advocates that a sub-optimal intrauterine environment, often manifested as diminished foetal growth, during critical periods of foetal development has the potential to alter the risk of non-communicable disease in the offspring.

What birthweight percentile is associated with optimal perinatal mortality and childhood education outcomes?

Background: Small for gestational age, defined as birthweight <10th percentile for gestational age, is known to be associated with clinically meaningful impairments in health and development. The effects of variation within the normal range of birthweight percentile on perinatal mortality and childhood education remain less well defined.

Objective: We sought to quantify the association among birthweight percentile, perinatal mortality, and educational outcomes and to determine the optimal birthweight percentile for those outcomes in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australian children.

An integrated computational and experimental study uncovers FUT9 as a metabolic driver of colorectal cancer.

Metabolic alterations play an important role in cancer and yet, few metabolic cancer driver genes are known. Here we perform a combined genomic and metabolic modeling analysis searching for metabolic drivers of colorectal cancer. Our analysis predicts FUT9, which catalyzes the biosynthesis of Ley glycolipids, as a driver of advanced-stage colon cancer.

The EphB6 receptor is overexpressed in pediatric T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and increases its sensitivity to doxorubicin treatment.

While impressive improvements have been achieved in T-ALL therapy, current treatment approaches fail in approximately 25% of patients and these patients have limited treatment options. Another significant group of patients is being overtreated, which causes long-lasting side effects. Identification of molecules controlling drug resistance in T-ALL is crucial for treatment optimisation in both scenarios.

Infusing protective factors for children in foster care.

This article looks at an example of infusing protective factors into a child welfare system. Focusing on Illinois and its state child welfare agency, the article reviews some of the research on the relationship between risk behaviors and protective factors of traumatized youth. Next, it looks at adapting treatment and evidence-based early intervention practices to local child welfare settings.

Performance-based contracting in residential care and treatment: driving policy and practice change through public-private partnership in Illinois.

The National Quality Improvement Center on the Privatization of Child Welfare Services selected Illinois as a demonstration site in 2007 to evaluate performance-based contracting in residential treatment services. This article discusses the first two years of project implementation including developing residential treatment performance indicators, adjusting those indicators for risk at the provider level, and setting agency-specific benchmarks, as well as the project's fiscal foundation and related systemic improvements to support policy and practice change resulting from this initiative.

Heme-regulated inhibitor kinase-mediated phosphorylation of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 inhibits translation, induces stress granule formation, and mediates survival upon arsenite exposure.

Exposure to arsenite inhibits protein synthesis and activates multiple stress signaling pathways. Although arsenite has diverse effects on cell metabolism, we demonstrated that phosphorylation of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 at Ser-51 on the alpha subunit was necessary to inhibit protein synthesis initiation in arsenite-treated cells and was essential for stress granule formation. Of the four protein kinases known to phosphorylate eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2alpha, only the heme-regulated inhibitor kinase (HRI) was required for the translational inhibition in response to arsenite treatment in mouse embryonic fibroblasts.

Translational control is required for the unfolded protein response and in vivo glucose homeostasis.

The accumulation of unfolded protein in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) attenuates protein synthesis initiation through phosphorylation of the alpha subunit of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 (eIF2alpha) at Ser51. Subsequently, transcription of genes encoding adaptive functions including the glucose-regulated proteins is induced. We show that eIF2alpha phosphorylation is required for translation attenuation, transcriptional induction, and survival in response to ER stress.

Inhibition of beta(2)-adrenergic and muscarinic cholinergic receptor endocytosis after depletion of phosphatidylinositol bisphosphate.

Recent evidence supporting a role for phosphoinositides in the endocytosis of phospholipase C-coupled receptors has prompted an investigation of whether there exists a similar requirement for the internalization of adenylyl cyclase-linked receptors. When 1321N1 astrocytoma cells, which possess both muscarinic cholinergic receptors (mAChRs) that couple to phospholipase C and beta-adrenergic receptors (beta(2)-ARs) linked to adenylyl cyclase, were pretreated with wortmannin (WT) at a concentration known to inhibit phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase activity, the labeling of both phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate and phosphatidylinositol 4, 5-bisphosphate (PIP(2)) was reduced. Stimulation of phosphoinositide breakdown by activation of mAChRs in WT-pretreated cells led to a further depletion of PIP(2).

Rural attachments for students in the health professions: are they worthwhile?

In the period 1991-96, 156 undergraduates from 14 health disciplines at the University of Sydney completed rural attachments in rural and remote areas of Australia as part of the Rural Careers Project. On return from their attachment, students were encouraged to write a brief report of their experiences. Ninety-two available reports were analysed as one means of assessing the success of the attachments with respect to informing students about rural health issues and stimulating their interest in rural careers after graduation.

A role for a wortmannin-sensitive phosphatidylinositol-4-kinase in the endocytosis of muscarinic cholinergic receptors.

A role for phosphoinositides in the endocytosis of muscarinic cholinergic receptors (mAChRs) has been investigated via inhibition of the activity of phosphatidylinositol-4-kinase (PI4K). Pretreatment of SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells with micromolar concentrations of wortmannin (WT), LY-294002, or phenylarsine oxide (PAO), three chemically distinct agents known to inhibit PI4K, resulted in both an inhibition of agonist-induced endocytosis of mAChRs and a selective reduction in the 32P-labeling of phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate. PAO-mediated inhibition of both receptor endocytosis and phosphoinositide synthesis could be fully reversed by inclusion of the bifunctional thiol 2, 3-dimercaptopropanol.

Cytoskeletal and phosphoinositide requirements for muscarinic receptor signaling to focal adhesion kinase and paxillin.

The mechanism whereby agonist occupancy of muscarinic cholinergic receptors elicits an increased tyrosine phosphorylation of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and paxillin has been examined. Addition of oxotremorine-M to SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells resulted in rapid increases in the phosphorylation of FAK (t(1/2) = 2 min) and paxillin that were independent of integrin-extracellular matrix interactions, cell attachment, and the production of phosphoinositide-derived second messengers. In contrast, the increased tyrosine phosphorylations of FAK and paxillin were inhibited by inclusion of either cytochalasin D or mevastatin, agents that disrupt the cytoskeleton.

Agonist-induced endocytosis of muscarinic cholinergic receptors: relationship to stimulated phosphoinositide turnover.

The ability of muscarinic cholinergic receptors to activate phosphoinositide turnover following agonist-induced internalization has been investigated. Incubation of SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells with oxotremorine-M resulted in a time-dependent endocytosis of both muscarinic receptors and alpha subunits of G0 and G11, but not of isoforms of phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C, into a subfraction of smooth endoplasmic reticulum (V1). Agonist-induced increases in diacylglycerol mass and in 32P-phosphatidate labeling, much of which was of the tetraenoic species, were also observed in the V1 fraction, but these increases persisted when the agonist-induced translocation of receptors into the V1 fraction was blocked.

Intra- and intercellular calcium signaling in human neuroepithelioma cells.

The characteristics of intra- and intercellular Ca2+ signaling in human SK-N-MCIXC neuroepithelioma cells have been examined by means of Fura-2 digital imaging microfluorimetry. When cells were exposed to maximally effective concentrations of either endothelin-1, ATP, norepinephrine or oxotremorine-M, the Ca2+ signals that accompany an increase in phosphoinositide turnover could be differentiated on the basis of their magnitude, shape and duration. When individual cells were microinjected with inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate, a rise in [Ca2+]i was observed not only in the target cell, but also in neighboring cells.

Permeability of the blood brain barrier by the bradykinin agonist, RMP-7: evidence for a sensitive, auto-regulated, receptor-mediated system.

The novel bradykinin (BK) analog, RMP-7, was characterized in a series of in vitro tests to establish its selectivity as a B2 agonist. It was then used to study bradykinin's role in permeabilizing the blood brain barrier (BBB) and blood brain-tumor barrier (BTB), using an RG2 rat glioma model. These studies demonstrated that: (1) B2 receptor stimulation permeabilizes both the BBB and BTB in a dose-related fashion with greater effects observed in brain tumor-associated tissue, (2) the increased permeability is sensitive, rapid and transient, and (3) tachyphylaxis occurs with continuous agonist administration, suggesting autoregulation of the system's effects.

The significance and trend of hypertension related deaths in urban Sierra Leonean Africans.

In order to determine the impact and trend of hypertension related deaths in the overall mortality of urban Sierra Leoneans, a review of death certificate records in the capital Freetown over the period 1983-1992 was undertaken. A total of 25119 consecutive records were examined to identify those with hypertension as a major or contributory cause of death. For the purpose of this study, hypertensive stroke, cardiac and renal deaths were selected as the main hypertension related disorders.