Novel sound exposure drives dynamic changes in auditory lateralization that are associated with perceptual learning in zebra finches.

Songbirds provide a model for adult plasticity in the auditory cortex as a function of recent experience due to parallels with human auditory processing. As for speech processing in humans, activity in songbirds' higher auditory cortex (caudomedial nidopallium, NCM) is lateralized for complex vocalization sounds. However, in Zebra finches exposed to a novel heterospecific (canary) acoustic environment for 4-9 days, the typical pattern of right-lateralization is reversed.

Temperature and humidity index (THI) affects salivary cortisol (HC) and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) concentrations in growing bulls following stress generated by performance test procedures.

The hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis response to a challenge was proposed for genetic selection of robust and resilient animals. As ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone) test and hormone measurements in blood may result impractical, it may be useful to measure salivary hormones in response to natural stressors, after an accurate biological validation, to control factors that could contribute to the response. We evaluated whether animal handling during performance test affects salivary HC and DHEA secretion and could be used for selection.

Dynamic encoding of phonetic categories in zebra finch auditory forebrain.

Vocal communication requires the formation of acoustic categories to enable invariant representations of sounds despite superficial variations. Humans form acoustic categories for speech phonemes, enabling the listener to recognize words independent of speakers; animals can also discriminate speech phonemes. We investigated the neural mechanisms of this process using electrophysiological recordings from the zebra finch secondary auditory area, caudomedial nidopallium (NCM), during passive exposure to human speech stimuli consisting of two naturally spoken words produced by multiple speakers.

Synergies and trade-offs in drought resilience within a multi-level UK food supply chain.

Weather extremes are the biggest challenge for supply chains worldwide, with food supply chains particularly exposed due to agriculture's sensitivity to weather conditions. Whilst attention has been paid to farm-level impacts from, and adaptation to, weather extremes, there remains a need to better understand how different actors along the supply chain suffer, react and adapt to these natural hazards and how their resilience-building strategies affect other actors' and the whole system's resilience. Taking the UK potato supply chain as a case study, this paper analyses the synergies and trade-offs in drought resilience in a multi-level food supply chain.

Strategies for choosing core animals in the algorithm for proven and young and their impact on the accuracy of single-step genomic predictions in cattle.

Nowadays, in some populations, the number of genotyped animals is too large to obtain the inverse of the genomic relationship matrix. The algorithm for proven and young animals (APY) can be used to overcome this problem. In the present work, different strategies for defining core animals in APY were tested using either simulated or real data.

A transgenerational study on the effect of great-granddam birth month on granddaughter EBV for production traits in Italian Simmental cattle.

Heat tolerance is a key feature of resilient animals. Offspring of animals that suffer environmental stress during pregnancy could show physiological, morphological, and metabolic modifications. This is due to a dynamic reprogramming of the epigenetics of the mammalian genome that occurs in the early life cycle.

An exploratory investigation of human biofield responses to encountering a sacred object.

Context: While advances in the Western sciences have increased our understanding of the human biofield, few studies have examined the potential effects of sacred objects on its functioning.

Design And Study Participants: This exploratory study examined the effects of a sacred object called the Sri Yantra / Durga Stone on the human biofield. Twelve women and five men were studied on three separate occasions using the Bio-Well device, which purportedly measures aspects of the biofield: baseline (the day before exposure to the sacred object), pre-exposure (immediately prior to exposure to the sacred object), and post-exposure (immediately following exposure to the sacred object).

Combined effects of CXCL8 (IL-8) and CXCR2 (IL-8R) gene polymorphisms on deregressed MACE EBV indexes of milk-related traits in Simmental bulls.

CXCL8 (also known as IL-8) is a member of the CXC subfamily of chemokines that binds two of the seven transmembrane G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), CXCR1 and CXCR2, to mediate and regulate leucocyte accumulation and activation at sites of inflammation. They are known to play a critical role in both disease susceptibility and infection outcome. The aim of this study was to investigate the entire sequences of and genes in thirty-one Simmental sires to evaluate the effects of genomic variants on the indexes of the bulls for milk, fat and protein yields, and for somatic cell score (SCS).

Novel SNPs and haplotypes identified in the gene and their influence on deregressed MACE EBV indexes of milk-related traits in Simmental breed.

Cluster of differentiation 4 (CD4) is the accessory protein non-covalently bound to the T cell receptor that recognizes an invariant region of MHC class II on antigen presenting cells. Its cytoplasmic tail, physically associated with a protein tyrosine kinase, is important in the activation of helper/inducer T lymphocytes. In Bos taurus, CD4 gene is located on chromosome 5 from which two isoforms are transcribed, with a different number of amino acids due to splicing of exon 7 and variation in the reading frame.

Investigation of β-hydroxybutyrate in early lactation of Simmental cows: Genetic parameters and genomic predictions.

Genomic information allows for a more accurate calculation of relationships among animals than the pedigree information, leading to an increase in accuracy of breeding values. Here, we used pedigree-based and single-step genomic approaches to estimate variance components and breeding values for β-hydroxybutyrate milk content (BHB). Additionally, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to depict its genetic architecture.

Genetic correlations between fertility traits and milk composition and fatty acids in Holstein-Friesian, Brown Swiss, and Simmental cattle using recursive models.

This study aimed to investigate the genetic and putative causal relationships between fertility traits [i.e., days open (DO) and calving rate (CR)] and milk quality, composition, and fatty acid contents (milk composition traits) in Holstein-Friesian, Brown Swiss, and Simmental cattle, using recursive models within a Bayesian framework.

Genomic information allows for more accurate breeding values for milkability in dual-purpose Italian Simmental cattle.

Milkability is a trait related to the milking efficiency of an animal, and it is a component of the herd profitability. Due to its economic importance, milkability is currently included in the selection index of the Italian Simmental cattle breed with a weight of 7.5%.

Genome-wide analysis of homozygosity regions in european simmental bulls.

The study of Runs of Homozygosity (ROH) is a useful approach for the characterization of the genome of livestock populations. Due to their high relationship with autozygosity, ROH allow to make inference about population genetic history, to estimate the level of inbreeding, to assess within breed heterogeneity and to detect the footprints of selection on livestock genomes. Aim of this study was to investigate the distribution of runs of homozygosity in bulls belonging to five European Simmental populations and to assess the relationship between three production traits (milk yield, fat and protein contents) and autozygosity.

Beef trait genetic parameters based on old and recent data and its implications for genomic predictions in Italian Simmental cattle.

This study aimed to evaluate the changes in variance components over time to identify a subset of data from the Italian Simmental (IS) population that would yield the most appropriate estimates of genetic parameters and breeding values for beef traits to select young bulls. Data from bulls raised between 1986 and 2017 were used to estimate genetic parameters and breeding values for four beef traits (average daily gain [ADG], body size [BS], muscularity [MUS], and feet and legs [FL]). The phenotypic mean increased during the years of the study for ADG, but it decreased for BS, MUS, and FL.

Greater Well-Being in More Physically Active Cancer Patients Who Are Enrolled in Supportive Care Services.

Cancers are one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide. Cancer patients are increasingly seeking integrative care clinics to promote their health and well-being during and after treatment. To examine relationships between physical activity (PA) and quality of life (QoL) in a sample of cancer patients enrolling in integrative care in a supportive care clinic.

Statistical learning of transition patterns in the songbird auditory forebrain.

Statistical learning of transition patterns between sounds-a striking capability of the auditory system-plays an essential role in animals' survival (e.g., detect deviant sounds that signal danger).

Variance components using genomic information for 2 functional traits in Italian Simmental cattle: Calving interval and lactation persistency.

Functional traits, such as fertility and lactation persistency, are becoming relevant breeding goals for dairy cattle. Fertility is a key element for herd profitability and animal welfare; in particular, calving interval (CIN) is an indicator of female fertility that can be easily recorded. Lactation persistency (LPE; i.

Rapid and long-lasting improvements in neural discrimination of acoustic signals with passive familiarization.

Sensory representations in the adult brain must undergo dynamic changes to adapt to the complexity of the external world. This study investigated how passive exposure to novel sounds modifies neural representations to facilitate recognition and discrimination, using the zebra finch model organism. The neural responses in an auditory structure in the zebra finch brain, Caudal Medial Nidopallium (NCM), undergo a long-term form of adaptation with repeated stimulus presentation, providing an excellent substrate to probe the neural underpinnings of adaptive sensory representations.

Effects of the detailed protein composition of milk on curd yield and composition measured by model micro-cheese curd making of individual milk samples.

The effect of the contents of casein (CN) and whey protein fractions on curd yield (CY) and composition was estimated using 964 individual milk samples. Contents of α-CN, α-CN, β-CN, γ-CN, glycosylated κ-CN (Gκ-CN), unglycosylated κ-CN, β-LG, and α-LA of individual milk samples were measured using reversed-phase HPLC. Curd yield and curd composition were measured by model micro-cheese curd making using 25 mL of milk.

Neural Correlate of Transition Violation and Deviance Detection in the Songbird Auditory Forebrain.

Deviants are stimuli that violate one's prediction about the incoming stimuli. Studying deviance detection helps us understand how nervous system learns temporal patterns between stimuli and forms prediction about the future. Detecting deviant stimuli is also critical for animals' survival in the natural environment filled with complex sounds and patterns.

Influence of early-life nutritional stress on songbird memory formation.

In birds, vocal learning enables the production of sexually selected complex songs, dialects and song copy matching. But stressful conditions during development have been shown to affect song production and complexity, mediated by changes in neural development. However, to date, no studies have tested whether early-life stress affects the neural processes underlying vocal learning, in contrast to song production.

Familiar But Unexpected: Effects of Sound Context Statistics on Auditory Responses in the Songbird Forebrain.

Rapid discrimination of salient acoustic signals in the noisy natural environment may depend, not only on specific stimulus features, but also on previous experience that generates expectations about upcoming events. We studied the neural correlates of expectation in the songbird forebrain by using natural vocalizations as stimuli and manipulating the category and familiarity of context sounds. In our paradigm, we recorded bilaterally from auditory neurons in awake adult male zebra finches with multiple microelectrodes during repeated playback of a conspecific song, followed by further playback of this test song in different interleaved sequences with other conspecific or heterospecific songs.

HDAC3 Inhibitor RGFP966 Modulates Neuronal Memory for Vocal Communication Signals in a Songbird Model.

Epigenetic mechanisms that modify chromatin conformation have recently been under investigation for their contributions to learning and the formation of memory. For example, the role of enzymes involved in histone acetylation are studied in the formation of long-lasting memories because memory consolidation requires gene expression events that are facilitated by an open state of chromatin. We recently proposed that epigenetic events may control the entry of specific sensory features into long-term memory by enabling transcription-mediated neuronal plasticity in sensory brain areas.

Genetic parameters of measures and population-wide infrared predictions of 92 traits describing the fine composition and technological properties of milk in Italian Simmental cattle.

The objectives of this study were to estimate, for the Italian Simmental cattle population, genetic parameters for 92 traits and their infrared predictions (IP) and to investigate the genetic relationship between measured traits (MT) and IP. Data for milk fat fatty acid composition (n = 1,040), detailed protein composition (n = 3,337), lactoferrin (n = 558), pH (n = 3,438), coagulation properties (n = 3,266), curd yield and composition obtained by a micro-cheese making procedure (n = 1,177), and content of Ca, P, Mg, and K (n = 689) were obtained using reference laboratory analysis. Infrared prediction for all the investigated traits was performed using 143,198 spectra records belonging to 17,619 Italian Simmental cows.