GPS tracking technology and re-visiting the relationship between the avian visual Wulst and homing pigeon navigation.

Within their familiar areas homing pigeons rely on familiar visual landscape features and landmarks for homing. However, the neural basis of visual landmark-based navigation has been so far investigated mainly in relation to the role of the hippocampal formation. The avian visual Wulst is the telencephalic projection field of the thalamofugal pathway that has been suggested to be involved in processing lateral visual inputs that originate from the far visual field.

Use of the sun compass by monocularly occluded homing pigeons in a food localisation task in an outdoor arena.

Functional asymmetries of the avian visual system can be studied in monocularly occluded birds, as their hemispheres are largely independent. Right and left monocularly occluded homing pigeons and control birds under binocular view have been trained in a food localisation task in an octagonal outdoor arena provided with one coloured beacon on each wall. The three groups were tested after the removal of the visual beacons, so to assess their sun compass learning abilities.

Vegetation height and structure drive foraging habitat selection of the lesser kestrel () in intensive agricultural landscapes.

Habitat selection in animals is a fundamental ecological process with key conservation implications. Assessing habitat selection in endangered species and populations occupying the extreme edges of their distribution range, or living in highly anthropized landscapes, may be of particular interest as it may provide hints to mechanisms promoting potential range expansions. We assessed second- and third-order foraging habitat selection in the northernmost European breeding population of the lesser kestrel (), a migratory falcon of European conservation interest, by integrating results obtained from 411 direct observations with those gathered from nine GPS-tracked individuals.

Deconstructing the flight paths of hippocampal-lesioned homing pigeons as they navigate near home offers insight into spatial perception and memory without a hippocampus.

The aim of this study was to exploit detailed analyses of GPS-recorded tracks to better characterise the impact of hippocampal (HF) lesion on spatial memory and perception in the context of homing pigeon navigation when reliant on familiar landscape features near the home loft following repeated releases from the same three locations. As reported previously, following HF lesion, a low spatio-temporal resolution analysis revealed that homing pigeons fly less direct paths home once near the loft. We now further show that 1) HF-lesioned pigeons are less likely to display fidelity to a particular flight path home when released from the same locations multiple times, 2) intact pigeons are more likely to exploit leading-line landscape features, e.

An Unusual Left Ventricular Apical Mass.

Left ventricular apical masses constitute a rare finding. Imaging properties together with the clinical history of the patient usually allow an etiologic definition. We report a challenging case of an ambiguous left ventricular apical mass of uncertain nature till histological examination.

[CircuLite Synergy ventricular assist device: a new approach to end-stage congestive heart failure].

Background: The Synergy system, a miniature partial circulatory support device, is implanted by an off-pump, minimally invasive surgical approach. The system has been optimized to improve performance in an EU clinical trial for chronic ambulatory heart failure. This therefore offers the possibility of treating elderly chronic heart failure patients who might not usually be considered for long-term circulatory support.

[Quantification of aortic valve area using three-dimensional echocardiography].

Introduction And Objectives: To determine whether the reproducibility of left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) area measurement is greater with three-dimensional echocardiographic (3D-echo) planimetry than with conventional 2D-echo. To determine the LVOT circularity index by means of 3D-echo. To determine the usefulness of measuring the LVOT area by 3D-echo for quantifying the severity of valvular aortic stenosis.