Personality traits and endocrine response as possible asymmetry factors of agonistic outcome in karate athletes.

Individual variations of plasma levels of hormones testosterone (T) and cortisol (C), before (pre) and after (post) Kumite (real fight) and Kata (ritualized fight) were measured in male karate athletes and analyzed in relation with the agonistic outcome (i.e. winning or losing the fight) and personality trait measures.

Effects of oil pollution at Kuwait's greater Al-Burgan oil field on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon concentrations in the tissues of the desert lizard Acanthodactylus scutellatus and their ant prey.

Using indicator species to monitor the effects of oil pollution was thought to be useful to assess whether local desert reptiles and their insect prey could fulfill such a role in an area damaged in the second Gulf War (1990). Polluted sites with apparently different degrees of contamination (namely tar mat, soot, and clear sites) located at Kuwait's Greater Al-Burgan oil field were compared with control areas outside this region in study conducted in 2002. Five Acanthodactylus scutellatus lizards from each study and control site were humanely killed and stored in a freezer at -20 degrees C until analysis.

Social stress, coping strategies and tumor development in male mice: behavioral, neuroendocrine and immunological implications.

The relationships between acute social stress, immunological alterations and the development of pulmonary metastases of B16F10 melanoma were analyzed. In particular, the effects of different behavioral coping strategies on the development of the metastases were studied. Tumor bearing and tumor non-bearing mice were subjected for 24h to a sensory contact social stress model.

Dietary fats influence 'open-field' behaviour of male and female laboratory mice.

Swiss mice of differing ages (juvenile and adult) and sexes were fed four specially formulated, pelleted diets containing respectively 8% saturated vegetable fat, 8% soya oil, 8% olive oil and 2% soya oil (with identities hidden from the experimenter) or a local commercial chow (3% crude fat) for 3 or 6 weeks. Subjects were individually housed and were assessed under red lighting for behaviour in a modified 'open field' (a 30 x 20 cm box with a black floor). Videotaped records were analysed using 'The Observer' system, quantifying transitions between inner and outer zones, rearing, freezing, grooming and defaecation as well as location in the two equal-sized zones.

Sex and death: CHD1Z associated with high mortality in moorhens.

Sex ratios in clutches of moorhens (Gallinula chloropus) in Britain were measured on 83 chicks using the sex-linked CHD1 gene (Chromo-helicase/ATPase-DNA binding protein 1). Among birds, the female is the heterogametic sex (Z and W chromosomes), and the male is homogametic (two copies of the Z chromosome). We report variation among the PCR-amplified fragments of the CHD1Z, and the death of nearly all heterozygous male chicks (92%).

A specific anti-aggressive effect of repeatedly administered lobeline.

The effects of chronic treatments with nicotinic agonists on agonistic encounters have received little attention. The effects of repeated (for 10 days) SC administration of (-)-lobeline (9.3, 18.

Effect of low doses of clozapine on behaviour of isolated and group-housed male mice in the elevated plus-maze test.

Clozapine is effective over a low and narrow dose range in the treatment of the negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Its efficacy is said to reflect an anxiolytic property of the neuroleptic. This study examined the effects of a low dose range of clozapine (0.