Experiential and hormonal correlates of maternal behavior in teen and adult mothers.

This study explores the role of cortisol and early life experiences in the regulation of maternal behavior and mood in teen and adult mothers. Primiparous mothers (n=119) (teen mothers < 19 years, n=42), young mothers (19-25 years, n= 4), and mature mothers, (>25 years, n=43) were assessed for their maternal behavior, mood, and hormonal profile at approximately 6 weeks postpartum. Outcome measures were analyzed as a function of age and early life experience.

Extreme crustal oxygen isotope signatures preserved in coesite in diamond.

The anomalously high and low oxygen isotope values observed in eclogite xenoliths from the upper mantle beneath cratons have been interpreted as indicating that the parent rock of the eclogites experienced alteration on the ancient sea floor. Recognition of this genetic lineage has provided the foundation for a model of the evolution of the continents whereby imbricated slabs of oceanic lithosphere underpin and promote stabilization of early cratons. Early crustal growth is thought to have been enhanced by the addition of slab-derived magmas, leaving an eclogite residuum in the upper mantle beneath the cratons.

Auditory encoding during the last moment of a moth's life.

The simple auditory system of noctuoid moths has long been a model for anti-predator studies in neuroethology, although these ears have rarely been experimentally stimulated by the sounds they would encounter from naturally attacking bats. We exposed the ears of five noctuoid moth species to the pre-recorded echolocation calls of an attacking bat (Eptesicus fuscus) to observe the acoustic encoding of the receptors at this critical time in their defensive behaviour. The B cell is a non-tympanal receptor common to all moths that has been suggested to respond to sound, but we found no evidence of this and suggest that its acoustic responsiveness is an artifact arising from its proprioceptive function.

Response styles in affect ratings: making a mountain out of a molehill.

Ratings of affect words are the most commonly used method to assess pleasant affect (PA) and unpleasant affect (UA). The reliance on self-reports would be problematic if affect ratings were heavily influenced by response styles. Several recent publications have indeed suggested (a) that the influence of response styles on affect ratings is pervasive, (b) that this influence can be controlled by variations of the response format using multitrait-multimethod models, and (c) the discriminant validity of PA and UA is spurious.

Mothering begets mothering: the transmission of behavior and its neurobiology across generations.

Early experiences exert their effects on adult parental behavior in part by altering the development of neurobiological mechanisms that initiate or support the initiation and sustenance of adult parental behavior. The effects of parental behavior on sensory, perceptual and emotional mechanisms in offspring constitute an experientially based mechanism by which neurobiological factors regulating behavior can be transferred from generation to generation somewhat independently of genetic endowment.

Life-satisfaction is a momentary judgment and a stable personality characteristic: the use of chronically accessible and stable sources.

Social cognition research indicates that life-satisfaction judgments are based on a selected set of relevant information that is accessible at the time of the life-satisfaction judgment. Personality research indicates that life-satisfaction judgments are quite stable over extended periods of time and predicted by personality traits. The present article integrates these two research traditions.

C-H activation with elemental sulfur: synthesis of cyclic thioureas from formaldehyde aminals and S8.

The C-H activation of cyclic formaldehyde aminals LCH2 (L = RN-CH2CH2CH2-NR and RNCH2CH2-NR, R = Me, Et, iPr, tBu, or Ph) with S8 proceeds at unusually low temperatures (T< 160 degrees C) and results in the formation of the respective thioureas LC=S and H2S. The reaction constitutes a new, solvent-free method for the synthesis of thioureas that eliminates the toxic and highly flammable CS2. For R = tBu, the ionic carbenium thiocyanates [LCH]+ SCN- dominate the product spectrum and the respective thioureas are obtained in low yield.

Auditory sensitivity of Hawaiian moths (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) and selective predation by the Hawaiian hoary bat (Chiroptera: Lasiurus cinereus semotus).

The islands of Hawai'i offer a unique opportunity for studying the auditory ecology of moths and bats since this habitat has a single species of bat, the Hawaiian hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus semotus), which exerts the entire predatory selection pressure on the ears of sympatric moths. I compared the moth wings discarded by foraging bats with the number of surviving moths on the island of Kaua'i and concluded that the endemic noctuid Haliophyle euclidias is more heavily preyed upon than similar-sized endemic (e.g.

Day-flying butterflies remain day-flying in a Polynesian, bat-free habitat.

To test the theory that insectivorous bats have selected for diurnality in earless butterflies I compared the nocturnal flight patterns of three species of nymphalid butterflies on the bat-free Pacific island of Moorea with those of three nymphalids in the bat-inhabited habitat of Queensland, Australia. Nocturnal flight, measured as the ratio of deep night (1 h following sunset to 1 h preceding sunrise) to twilight night (1 h before sunset to 30 min after sunrise) activity did not differ significantly between the two locations, nor did the percentage of individuals active and I conclude that living in a bat-released habitat has not produced nocturnal flight in these insects. This result is surprising considering the potential advantages of escaping diurnally active predators and suggests that physiological adaptations (e.

"Pass the ketchup, please": familiar flavors increase children's willingness to taste novel foods.

Rozin & Rozin (1981) have suggested that the addition of flavour principles (the distinctive combinations of seasonings which characterize many cuisines) may facilitate the introduction of a new staple food into a culture. That is, the reluctance of omnivores to approach novel foods can be reduced by adding the familiar flavor principle to the unfamiliar food. To test this hypothesis, we "created" flavor principles in the laboratory by exposing children repeatedly to one of two initially novel chip dips.

The modulation of skeletal muscle contraction by FMRFamide-related peptides of the locust.

The external ventral protractor muscle of the VIIth abdominal segment, M234, is a skeletal muscle that possesses receptors that recognize a range of FMRFamide-related peptides and application of these peptides results in an increase in the amplitude of neurally evoked contractions with little or no effect on basal tonus. FLRFamide itself has the same biologic activity as the extended peptides, whereas truncation to LRFamide or RFamide results in a peptide with no biologic activity. The receptors recognizing these extended FLRFamides, which include SchistoFLRFamide, seem to be different from the SchistoFLRFamide receptors found on locust oviduct visceral muscle.

The long lasting effects of electrical simulation of the medial preoptic area and medial amygdala on maternal behavior in female rats.

A program of repeated electrical (kindling-like) stimulation of the medial preoptic area (MPOA) or the medial amygdala (MedAmyg) on maternal and other behaviors were investigated. Stimulation was applied daily for 14 days (or until a stage 3 motor seizure was observed) using 2 s trains of biphasic square wave pulses at 60 Hz, 1 ms duration and 300-500 microA. Confirmation of afterdischarge using these parametres was established.

The effect of flavor principles on willingness to taste novel foods.

E. Rozin and P. Rozin have suggested that one of the functions of "flavor principles" (the distinctive seasoning combinations which characterize many cuisines) is to facilitate the introduction of novel staple foods into a culture by adding sufficient familiarity to decrease the neophobia ordinarily produced by a new food.

Peripheral frequency mis-match in the primitive ensiferan Cyphoderris monstrosa (Orthoptera: Haglidae).

Peripheral auditory frequency tuning in the ensiferan insect Cyphoderris monstrosa (Orthoptera: Haglidae) was examined by comparing tympanal vibrations and primary auditory receptor responses. In this species there is a mis-match between the frequency of maximal auditory sensitivity and the frequency content of the species' acoustic signals. The mis-match is not a function of the mechanical properties of the tympanum, but is evident at the level of primary receptors.

Effects of prior exposure to palatable and unpalatable novel foods on children's willingness to taste other novel foods.

In two studies, 7- to 9-year-old and 10- to 12-year-old children received taste exposure to four good-tasting familiar, four good-tasting novel or four bad-tasting novel foods. Following this exposure phase, they saw a series of different foods, familiar and novel, and rated their willingness to taste them. For older children, exposure to the novel-good foods increased willingness to taste novel foods in comparison to the familiar-good control, while exposure to the novel-bad foods had no effect.

PATTERNS OF DESCENT IN CLONAL LINEAGES AND THEIR MULTILOCUS FINGERPRINTS ARE RESOLVED WITH COMBINED GENE GENEALOGIES.

Clonal lineages in the filamentous ascomycete (fungi) Sclerotinia sclerotiorum were determined by analysis of genealogies of four loci: the intergenic spacer of the nuclear ribosomal repeat (IGS; approximately 4 kb), the translation elongation factor (EF-1α; approximately 300 bp), an anonymous region (44.11; approximately 700 bp), and the calmodulin gene (CAL; approximately 400 bp). Three of the four loci are physically unlinked.

Naphthalenebis[alpha,alpha-difluoromethylenephosphonates] as potent inhibitors of protein tyrosine phosphatases.

A series of naphthalenebis(difluoromethylenephosphonates) were prepared and compared to their monosubstituted counterparts as inhibitors of the protein phosphatases, PTP1B, CD45 and PP2A. In general, the bissubstituted compounds were better inhibitors than the mono derivatives and some of these are among the most potent, nonpeptidyl inhibitors of protein tyrosine phosphatases, PTP1B and CD45, reported to date.

Intensity responses of the single auditory receptor of notodontid moths: a test of the peripheral interaction hypothesis in moth ears.

It has been proposed that the most sensitive auditory receptor cell (A1) in the two-celled ears of certain noctuoid moths is inhibited by its partner, the A2 cell, at high stimulus intensities. We used the single-celled ears of notodontid moths, also noctuoids, to test this hypothesis. The A1 cells of all but one of the moths tested exhibited non-monotonic firing rates, with reduced firing rates at high stimulus intensities and showing no relationship to the firing rate of the only other receptor, the non-auditory B cell.

Cationic amphiphile interactions with polyadenylic acid as probed via 2H-NMR.

2H-NMR spectroscopy was used to investigate the effects of polyadenylic acid (PolyA) on three aminomethyl-deuterated cationic amphiphiles: specifically, N-[1-(2,3-dioleoyloxy)propyl]-N',N',N'-trimethylammonium chloride (DOTAP-gamma-d3), 3beta-[N-(N',N',N'-trimethylaminoethane)carbamoyl] cholesterol (TC-CHOL-gamma-d3), and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB-gamma-d9). When mixed with 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC) and incorporated into lipid bilayer membranes, each of the cationic amphiphiles yielded 2H-NMR spectra consisting of a motionally averaged Pake powder pattern. The 2H-NMR quadrupolar splitting generally increased with increasing mole fraction of cationic amphiphile in the lipid bilayer with the exception of CTAB-gamma-d9.

Potent non-peptidyl inhibitors of protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B.

The development of inhibitors of protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) has recently been the subject of intensive investigation due to their potential as chemotherapeutics and as tools for studying signal transduction pathways. Here we report the evaluation of a variety of small molecule, non-peptidyl inhibitors of protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B), bearing the alpha, alpha-difluoromethylenephosphonic acid (DFMP) group, a non-hydrolyzable phosphate mimetic. A series of phenyl derivatives bearing a single DFMP group were initially surveyed.

Genotyping, gene genealogies and genomics bring fungal population genetics above ground.

As ubiquitous decomposers, symbionts and parasites, fungi build populations not easily accommodated by population genetic theory. Identifying and delineating individuals and populations is often difficult, and recombination can occur in complex and variable ways. Genotyping and gene genealogies provide the framework for identifying and delineating individuals and for detecting recombination in natural populations.

Path-based network unfolding: A solution for the problem of mixed trophic and non-trophic processes in trophic dynamic analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a quantitative method of trophic dynamic analysis derived from a systems ecology theoretical foundation. This method was devised to provide a solution for the problem of how to deal with mixed trophic and non-trophic processes in cyclic ecosystem networks, a problem that has vexed trophic ecology since Lindeman first presented a formal concept of trophic dynamics in 1942. The author's initial attempt to solve this problem was presented in Whipple & Patten (1993, J.

Courtship feeding in tree crickets increases insemination and female reproductive life span.

Courtship feeding in the majority of insects may influence female reproductive patterns either directly, through effects of the gift material, or indirectly, through correlated effects of prolonged copulation and larger ejaculates. This distinction is important because the cause of changes in fecundity may influence patterns of the allocation of resources between the sexes, with implications for the intensity of sexual selection and magnitude of sexual conflict. I show that post-copulatory feeding on the secretions of a gland on the metanotum of male Oecanthus nigricornis.

Bat-deafness in day-flying moths (Lepidoptera, Notodontidae, Dioptinae).

Assuming that bat-detection is the primary function of moth ears, the ears of moths that are no longer exposed to bats should be deaf to echolocation call frequencies. To test this, we compared the auditory threshold curves of 7 species of Venezuelan day-flying moths (Notodontidae: Dioptinae) to those of 12 sympatric species of nocturnal moths (Notodontidae: Dudusinae, Noctuidae and Arctiidae). Whereas 2 dioptines (Josia turgida, Zunacetha annulata) revealed normal ears, 2 (J.

Domains in cationic lipid plus polyelectrolyte bilayer membranes: detection and characterization via 2H nuclear magnetic resonance.

2H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy of choline-deuterolabeled 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC-alpha-d2 and POPC-beta-d2) has been used to detect and quantify domain formation induced in cationic lipid-containing bilayers upon the addition of anionic polyelectrolytes. Three different polyelectrolytes, poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) or PSSS, poly(sodium acrylate) or PACA, and poly(sodium glutamate) or PGLU, were added to POPC lipid bilayers containing 1,2-dioleoyl-3-(dimethylamino)propane (DODAP) as the cationic amphiphile. All three polyelectrolytes produced two-component 2H NMR spectra, consistent with two populations of POPC, one polyelectrolyte-bound and another polyelectrolyte-free.