Development of planning in 4- to 10-year-old children: reducing inhibitory demands does not improve performance.

Currently, there are relatively few tasks suitable for testing planned problem solving in children. We presented 4- to 10-year-old children (N=172) with two planning tasks (sequential planning and advance planning) using the paddle-box apparatus, which was originally designed to investigate the planning skills of nonhuman apes. First, we were interested in the development of children's performance in the two tasks and whether the strategies children used to succeed differed among age groups.

Evidence for the continued presence in New Zealand of Homotrysismacleayi (Borchmann, 1909) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Alleculinae).

The first detailed specimen records are presented for the Australian beetle Homotrysismacleayi (Borchmann, 1909) in New Zealand. Evaluation of this evidence clearly indicates that the species is fully established in the wild in New Zealand. It is therefore recommended that the species be added to the New Zealand Organisms Register (NZOR), as exotic and present in the wild.

The 3rd International Standard for serum IgE: international collaborative study to evaluate a candidate preparation.

Background: The measurement of serum IgE aids in the diagnosis and management of atopic allergic disease and hyper-IgE immunodeficiency syndromes. The 2nd World Health Organization (WHO) International Reference Reagent (IRR) for serum IgE (75/502; 5000 IU/ampoule), is widely used to calibrate assays for serum IgE. Exhaustion of stocks of the 2nd IRR necessitated the production of a replacement preparation and its evaluation in an international collaborative study to determine its suitability to serve as the 3rd International Standard (IS) for serum IgE.

Frequency and topography in monkey electroencephalogram during action observation: possible neural correlates of the mirror neuron system.

The observation of actions executed by others results in desynchronization of electroencephalogram (EEG) in the alpha and beta frequency bands recorded from the central regions in humans. On the other hand, mirror neurons, which are thought to be responsible for this effect, have been studied only in macaque monkeys, using single-cell recordings. Here, as a first step in a research programme aimed at understanding the parallels between human and monkey mirror neuron systems (MNS), we recorded EEG from the scalp of two monkeys during action observation.

Auditory gist: recognition of very short sounds from timbre cues.

Sounds such as the voice or musical instruments can be recognized on the basis of timbre alone. Here, sound recognition was investigated with severely reduced timbre cues. Short snippets of naturally recorded sounds were extracted from a large corpus.

Fibre type composition in the lumbar perivertebral muscles of primates: implications for the evolution of orthogrady in hominoids.

The axial musculoskeletal system is important for the static and dynamic control of the body during both locomotor and non-locomotor behaviour. As a consequence, major evolutionary changes in the positional habits of a species are reflected by morpho-functional adaptations of the axial system. Because of the remarkable phenotypic plasticity of muscle tissue, a close relationship exists between muscle morphology and function.

Does perceived steepness deter stair climbing when an alternative is available?

Perception of hill slant is exaggerated in explicit awareness. Proffitt (Perspectives on Psychological Science 1:110-122, 2006) argued that explicit perception of the slant of a climb allows individuals to plan locomotion in keeping with their available locomotor resources, yet no behavioral evidence supports this contention. Pedestrians in a built environment can often avoid climbing stairs, the man-made equivalent of steep hills, by choosing an adjacent escalator.

Intravenous immunoglobulin-induced haemolysis: a case report and review of the literature.

Objectives: To review the incidence and clinical features of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg)-induced haemolysis.

Background: Haemolysis can be a severe complication of IVIg administration. It is due to the passive transfer of blood group antibodies and may result in significant anaemia and renal failure.

A novel test of planning ability: great apes can plan step-by-step but not in advance of action.

The ability to identify an appropriate sequence of actions or to consider alternative possible action sequences might be particularly useful during problem solving in the physical domain. We developed a new 'paddle-box' task to test the ability of different ape species to plan an appropriate sequence of physical actions (rotating paddles) to retrieve a reward from a goal location. The task had an adjustable difficulty level and was not dependent on species-specific behaviours (e.

A qualitative evaluation of a mentoring program for Aboriginal health workers and allied health professionals.

Objective: Effective partnerships between Aboriginal Health Workers and non-Aboriginal health professionals are essential to achieve Aboriginal health outcomes. This study aimed to evaluate a mentoring workforce development strategy for Aboriginal Health Workers and non-Aboriginal allied health professionals.

Methods: Thirty-four Aboriginal Health Workers and non-Aboriginal health professionals were recruited to the mentoring program where they were paired and established a learning relationship for approximately six months.

Priming moral self-ambivalence heightens deliberative behaviour in self-ambivalent individuals.

Background: Recent work on cognitive-behavioural models of obsessive-compulsive disorder has focused on the roles played by various aspects of self-perception. In particular, moral self-ambivalence has been found to be associated with obsessive-compulsive phenomena.

Aims: In this study we used an experimental task to investigate whether artificially priming moral self-ambivalence would increase participants' deliberation on ethical problems, an index that might be analogous to obsessive-compulsive behaviour.

Factors affecting the compliance and sway properties of tree branches used by the Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii).

The tropical arboreal environment is a mechanically complex and varied habitat. Arboreal inhabitants must adapt to changes in the compliance and stability of supports when moving around trees. Because the orangutan is the largest habitual arboreal inhabitant, it is unusually susceptible to branch compliance and stability and therefore represents a unique animal model to help investigate how animals cope with the mechanical heterogeneity of the tropical canopy.

Processing of short auditory stimuli: the rapid audio sequential presentation paradigm (RASP).

Human listeners seem to be remarkably able to recognise acoustic sound sources based on timbre cues. Here we describe a psychophysical paradigm to estimate the time it takes to recognise a set of complex sounds differing only in timbre cues: both in terms of the minimum duration of the sounds and the inferred neural processing time. Listeners had to respond to the human voice while ignoring a set of distractors.

Severity of the TGN1412 trial disaster cytokine storm correlated with IL-2 release.

Aim: To determine if cytokine release with a solid phase assay is predictive of adverse responses for a range of therapeutic mAbs.

Methods: Cytokine ELISAs and a multi-array system were used to compare responses generated by different therapeutic mAbs using a solid phase assay. Flow cytometry was employed to determine the cellular source of those cytokines.

Top-down influences on local networks: basic theory with experimental implications.

The response of a population of cortical neurons to an external stimulus depends not only on the receptive field properties of the neurons, but also the level of arousal and attention or goal-oriented cognitive biases that guide information processing. These top-down effects on cortical neurons bias the output of the neurons and affect behavioral outcomes such as stimulus detection, discrimination, and response time. In any physiological study, neural dynamics are observed in a specific brain state; the background state partly determines neuronal excitability.

Modulating gradients in regulatory signals within mesenchymal stem cell seeded hydrogels: a novel strategy to engineer zonal articular cartilage.

Engineering organs and tissues with the spatial composition and organisation of their native equivalents remains a major challenge. One approach to engineer such spatial complexity is to recapitulate the gradients in regulatory signals that during development and maturation are believed to drive spatial changes in stem cell differentiation. Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) differentiation is known to be influenced by both soluble factors and mechanical cues present in the local microenvironment.

Cheiloneurusflaccus (Walker, 1847) (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae), new to New Zealand.

Cheiloneurusflaccus (Walker, 1847) is reported from New Zealand for the first time.

Scutellistacaerulea (Fonscolombe, 1832) (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae), new to New Zealand for the second time!

In 1921, Scutellistacaerulea was imported and released in Nelson, New Zealand, for the biological control of pest scale insects. It was thought to have failed to establish, and is therefore currently considered to be absent from the New Zealand fauna. On 17 April 2013, a live specimen was captured in the wild in Auckland.

A record of Anzyginabilli Fletcher & Larivière, 2009 (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) from New Zealand.

The presence in New Zealand of the typhlocybine cicadellid Anzyginabilli Fletcher & Larivière, 2009 is confirmed, based on new material from Auckland. Rubus sp. is confirmed as a host plant.

Casuarinicolaaustralis Taylor, 2010 (Hemiptera: Triozidae), newly recorded from New Zealand.

The presence in New Zealand of the triozid Casuarinicolaaustralis Taylor, 2010 is reported for the first time, based on new material from Auckland. This is also the first record of the genus from New Zealand.

Emesopsisinfenestra Tatarnic, Wall & Cassis, 2011 (Heteroptera: Reduviidae), genus and species new to New Zealand.

Emesopsisinfenestra Tatarnic, Wall & Cassis, 2011 (Heteroptera: Reduviidae) is reported from New Zealand for the first time, based on a single specimen collected alive in the wild in Auckland in June 2013. The species was previously known only from Australia (Queensland) and the Loyalty Islands (New Caledonia).

Animal detection precedes access to scene category.

The processes underlying object recognition are fundamental for the understanding of visual perception. Humans can recognize many objects rapidly even in complex scenes, a task that still presents major challenges for computer vision systems. A common experimental demonstration of this ability is the rapid animal detection protocol, where human participants earliest responses to report the presence/absence of animals in natural scenes are observed at 250-270 ms latencies.

Antibody C region influences TGN1412-like functional activity in vitro.

The unexpected outcome of the clinical trial of the superagonistic CD28 mAb TGN1412 (IgG4κ) continues to stimulate interest. We show that TGN1412 binds similarly to human and cynomolgus macaque FcγR, eliminating the possibility that differences in Fc-mediated interactions with FcγR contributed to the failure of preclinical testing in macaques to predict toxicity in humans. The influence of the Fc domain and C region structure on the in vitro functional activity of TGN1412 was investigated using F(ab')(2) and Fab fragments derived from TGN1412 recovered from the trial and recombinant TGN1412 subclass variants and mutants.

The application of plastic compression to modulate fibrin hydrogel mechanical properties.

The inherent biocompatibility of fibrin hydrogels makes them an attractive material for use in a wide range of tissue engineering applications. Despite this, their relatively low stiffness and high compliance limits their potential for certain orthopaedic applications. Enhanced mechanical properties are desirable so as to withstand surgical handling and in vivo loading after implantation and additionally, can provide important cues to cells seeded within the hydrogel.