Sleeping sites, sleeping trees, and sleep-related behaviors of black crested gibbons (Nomascus concolor jingdongensis) at Mt. Wuliang, central Yunnan, China

Data on sleep-related behaviors were collected for a group of central Yunnan black crested gibbons (Nomascus concolor jingdongensis) at Mt. Wuliang, Yunnan, China from March 2005 to April 2006. Members of the group usually formed four sleeping units (adult male and juvenile, adult female with one semi-dependent black infant, adult female with one dependent yellow infant, and subadult male) spread over different sleeping trees. Individuals or units preferred specific areas to sleep; all sleeping sites were situated in primary forest, mostly (77%) between 2,200 and 2,400 m in elevation. They tended to sleep in the tallest and thickest trees with large crowns on steep slopes and near important food patches. Factors influencing sleeping site selection were (1) tree characteristics, (2) accessibility, and (3) easy escape. Few sleeping trees were used repeatedly by the same or other members of the group. The gibbons entered the sleeping trees on average 128 min before sunset and left the sleeping trees on average 33 min after sunrise. The lag between the first and last individual entering the trees was on average 17.8 min. We suggest that sleep-related behaviors are primarily adaptations to minimize the risk of being detected by predators. Sleeping trees may be chosen to make approach and attack difficult for the predator, and to provide an easy escape route in the dark. In response to cold temperatures in a higher habitat, gibbons usually sit and huddle together during the night, and in the cold season they tend to sleep on ferns and/or orchids.

SOCIAL-DEVELOPMENT OF INFANTS OF MACACA-THIBETANA AT MOUNT-EMEI, CHINA

The development of infant Macaca thibetana was studied at Mount Emei, China, and compared to that of other macaque species. It was found that there are many common features in the process of infant socialization in species of the genus Macaca: mothers play an important and active role, other group members influence the infants' development to a greater or lesser extent and play is a major activity in the life of infants. Some differences were found to exist, however, between macaque species. These included differences in maternal care behaviour such as 'len', leaving time and weaning time. Paternal behaviours were also found to vary within and among species. Tibetan macaque males care for infants extensively, and they may use infants as an agonistic buffer. The natural and social environment may also influence differences between macaque species in infant development.

HORMONAL-REGULATION OF TISSUE-TYPE PLASMINOGEN-ACTIVATOR AND PLASMINOGEN-ACTIVATOR INHIBITOR TYPE-1 IN CULTURED MONKEY SERTOLI CELLS

Sertoli cells play a central role in the control and maintenance of spermatogenesis. Isolated Sertoli cells of mouse and rat testes have been shown to secrete plasminogen activator (PA) and a plasminogen activator inhibitor type-1 (PAI-1) in culture. In this study, we have investigated the hormonal regulation of PA and PAI-1 activities in cultured monkey Sertoli cells. Sertoli cells (5x10(5) cells/well) isolated from infant rhesus monkey testes were preincubated at 35 degrees C for 16 h in 24-well plates precoated with poly(D-lysine) (5 mu g/cm(2)) in 0.5 mi McCoy's 5a medium containing 5% of fetal calf serum and further incubated for 48 h in 0.5 mi serum-free medium with or without various hormones or other compounds, PA as well as PAI-1 activities in the conditioned media were assayed by fibrin overlay and reverse fibrin autography techniques respectively. The Sertoli cells in vitro secreted only tissue-type PA (tPA), no detectable amount of urokinase-type PA (uPA) could be observed, Monkey Sertoli cells were also capable of secreting PAI-1, Immunocytochemical studies indicated that both tPA and PAI-1 positive staining localized in the Sertoli cells, spermatids and residual bodies of the seminiferous epithelium; Northern blot analysis further confirmed the presence of both tPA and PAI-1 mRNA in monkey Sertoli cells. Addition of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) or cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) derivatives or cAMP-generating agents and gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist or phorbol ester (PMA) to the cell culture significantly increased tPA activity. PAI-1 activity in the culture was also enhanced by these reagents except 8-bromo-dibutyryl-cAMP, forskolin and 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthin (MIX) which greatly stimulated tPA activity, whereas decreased PAI-1 activity, implying that neutralization of PAI-1 activity by tile high level of tPA in the conditioned media may occur. These data suggest that increased intracellular signals which activate protein kinase A (PKA), or protein kinase C (PKC) can modulate Sertoli cell tPA and PAI-1 activities, The concomitant induction of PA and PAI-1 by the same reagents in the Sertoli cells may reflect a finely tuned regulatory mechanism in which PAI-1 could limit the excession of the proteolysis.

西藏红拉雪山自然保护区黑白仰鼻猴 Rhinopithecus bieti 的生态与行为研究，中国及其邻近地区兽类动物地理区划数量分析

从 2002 年11 月至2005 年4 月，在西藏红拉雪山自然保护区（98°20' ~ 98°59'E，28°48' ~ 29°40'N）对小昌都黑白仰鼻猴（Rhinopithecus bieti）群（98°35'00" ~ 98°40'00"E，29°14'24" ~ 29°16'42"N）（210 只左右）的生境及其利用形式、食 性、活动时间分配、过夜树及过夜地选择、雄－婴照料和繁殖季节作了重点研究， 并对保护区内的猴群分布、种群数量、保护状态以及潜在的威胁因素等作了一般 性的考查研究。 红拉雪山自然保护区存在3 个黑白仰鼻猴群，数量至少有300 只。从北到南 分别是执娜群、小昌都群和米拉卡群，其中执娜群（29°22'，98°28'），是黑白仰 鼻猴最北分布群。猴群栖息范围中，人类的经济活动频繁。由于活动范围位于或 接近藏传佛教的神山，小昌都和执娜猴群保护最好，这两群之间存在生境走廊。 米拉卡猴群保护状态较差，主要是偷猎现象还没有杜绝。对过去20 年的农牧业 统计资料及藏族风俗习惯和民族传统综合分析发现：在红拉雪山自然保护区，尽 管人类经济活动频繁，但猴群与人类和谐共存是可能的。 小昌都猴群全年白天用49％的时间取食，20％的时间移动，18％的时间休 息，13％的时间作其他的活动。在6-8 月，猴群日间表现出明显的三个取食高峰， 两个休息高峰。在11-1 月，猴群有两个取食高峰，一个休息高峰，或者休息高 峰根本不明显（12 月）。尽管环境温度和食物组成等也会影响时间预算，但造成 这种现象的主要原因可能是白天长度的季节性变化。 小昌都猴群年家域为21.25 km2，且主要在3800 – 4250 米的针叶林中活动。 食物好的季节，猴群日移动距离长，日活动范围大；食物差的季节，则相反。秋 －冬季（10-12 月）由于取食川滇高山栎（Quercus aquifolioides），活动的海拔高 度高于其它季节；冬季（1-4 月）活动范围最低。猴群并不避免在人类间伐过的 次生针叶林中活动。小生境的使用强度与在此生境中过夜的次数有关。 小昌都猴群的食物以松萝为主。全年的食物组成：用单筒望远镜观察，松萝 82.1％，芽和叶12.1%，花、果实或种子占1.1%，无脊椎动物占0.6%，树皮、 树根、树胶，草等占4.2%；接近猴群用肉眼或双筒望远镜观察，松萝50.8％， 芽和叶28.5%，花、果实或种子占7.1%，无脊椎动物占6.5%，树皮、树根、树胶，草等占7.1%。根据动物在不同林层分布百分比整合后得到接近真实的食物 构成：松萝75.4％，芽和叶15.7%，花、果实或种子占2.9%，无脊椎动物占2.4%， 树皮、树根、树胶，草等占3.9%。猴群在夏季（6-8 月）会下地翻开小石块，取 食无脊椎动物。冬季（1-4 月）会取食至少6 种树皮和2-3 种干草。 基于避免捕食、安全、舒适、体温调节的考虑，小昌都猴群选择高大、底枝 高、底枝长以及层数多的树过夜，并在背风、阳坡和海拔低的过夜地过夜。在过 夜地的选择中，存在着阳坡和海拔高度的权衡决策。 小昌都猴群个体不同林层的分布：77.5％在树上，6.0％在灌丛，16.5％在地 上。成年雄猴和青年猴倾向于在地上活动。在地上活动时又倾向于移动，休息和 其他活动少。获得高质量的食物和避免被捕食是出现这种格局的原因。 在小昌都猴群中，婴猴受到雄猴照料时间百分比（percent time of infant care, PTIC）为17.2±3.3，其中身体接触（BC）、接近（IP）和监护（G）照料的时 间百分比分别为0.6±0.5、5.8±1.2 和10.8±3.8。G 照料的最低值和最高值分别 在8 月和3 月。雌猴总PTIC 为69.3±6.9，其中BC、IP 和G 的时间分别为42.0 ±8.6、21.6±5.3 和5.7±3.8。最低BC 和最高G 照料同时出现在3 月。对雄猴， （1）总PTIC 在能量压力高的季节明显高于能量压力低的季节；（2）G 照料PTIC 在能量压力高的季节也要比能量压力低的季节高；（3）BC 和IP 照料在两个季节 之间没有区别。对于雌猴，（1）总PTIC 在高能量压力季节要比低能量压力季节 低；（2）G 照料在高能量压力季节要比低能量压力季节高，而BC 照料在高能量 压力季节要比低能量压力季节低；（3）IP 照料在两个季节之间没有区别。这种 高强度的雄婴照料，特别是托儿所的照料方式，是由这种环境下过高的能量压力 所引起的。 小昌都群为严格季节性出生且出生季节在2 月初到3 月中旬之间，时间跨度 45 天，属脉冲型。这种格局是光周期、温度、食物等环境因子综合调控的结果。 综合以上结果我们认为小昌都群的行为和生态特点，除具备疣猴一般特点 外，还具有地点特殊性，是自然环境如光照、温度、食物供给季节变化和生物环 境如捕食压和人类活动相互作用的结果，或者可以看成是能量摄入和损耗之间以 及它们和安全之间的权衡结果，体现了猴群对极端环境的适应。

Fatty acid biosynthesis in eukaryotic photosynthetic microalgae: Identification of a microsomal delta 12 desaturase in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are important components of infant and adult nutrition because they serve as structural elements of cell membranes. Fatty acid desaturases are responsible for the insertion of double bonds into pre-formed fatty acid chains in reactions that require oxygen and reducing equivalents. In this study, the genome-wide characterization of the fatty acid desaturases from seven eukaryotic photosynthetic microalgae was undertaken according to the conserved histidine-rich motifs and phylogenetic profiles. Analysis of these genomes provided insight into the origin and evolution of the pathway of fatty acid biosynthesis in eukaryotic plants. In addition, the candidate enzyme from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii with the highest similarity to the microsomal Delta 12 desaturase of Chlorella vulgaris was isolated, and its function was verified by heterologous expression in yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae).

What influences the timing of the introduction of solid food to infants?

The aim of the present study was to assess the factors which may influence the timing of the introduction of solid food to infants. The design was a prospective cohort study by interview and postal questionnaire. Primiparous women (n 541) aged between 16 and 40 years were approached in the Forth Park Maternity Hospital, Fife, Scotland. Of these, 526 women agreed to participate and seventy-eight were used as subjects in the pilot study. At 12 weeks we interviewed 338 women of the study sample. The postal questionnaire was returned by 286 of 448 volunteers. At 12 weeks 133 of 338 mothers said that they had introduced solids. Those that said that they had introduced solids early (<12 weeks) were compared with those who had introduced solids late (>12 weeks) by bivariate and multiple regression analysis. Psychosocial factors influencing the decision were measured with the main outcome measure being the time of introduction of solid food. The early introduction of solids was found to be associated with: the opinions of the infant's maternal grandmother; living in a deprived area; personal disagreement with the advice to wait until the baby was 4 months; lack of encouragement from friends to wait until the baby was 4 months; being in receipt of free samples of manufactured food. Answers to open-ended questions indicated that the early introduction appeared to be influenced by the mothers’ perceptions of the baby's needs. Some of the factors influencing a woman's decision to introduce solids are amenable to change, and these could be targeted in educational interventions.

Construct and content validity of the Greek version of the birth satisfaction scale (G-BSS).

Background: ‘Birth Satisfaction’ is a term that encompasses a woman’s evaluation of her birth experience. The term includes factors such as her appraisal of the quality of care she received, a personal assessment of how she coped, and her reconstructions of what happened on that particular day. Her accounts may be accurate or skewed, yet correspond with her reality of how events unfolded. Objective: To evaluate properties of an instrument designed to measure birth satisfaction in a Greek population of postnatal women. Study design: We assessed factor structure, internal consistency, divergent validity and known-groups discriminant validity of the 30-item Greek Birth Satisfaction Scale – Long Form (30-item G-BSS-LF) and its revised version the 10-item Greek-BSS-Revised (10-item-G-BSS-R), using survey data collected in Athens. Participants: A convenience sample of healthy Greek postnatal women (n = 162) aged 22–46 years who had delivered between 34 and 42 weeks’ gestation. Results: The 30-item-G-BSS-LF performed poorly in terms of factor structure. The short-form 10-item-G-BSS-R performed well in terms of measurement replication of the English equivalent version as a multidimensional instrument. The short-form 10-item-G-BSS-R comprises three subscales which measure distinct but correlated domains of: (1) quality of care provision (4 items), (2) women’s personal attributes (2 items), and (3) stress experienced during labour (4 items). Key conclusions: The 10-item-G-BSS-R is a valid and reliable multidimensional psychometric instrument for measuring birth satisfaction in Greek postnatal women.

Developmental Learning for Autonomous Robots

M.H. Lee, Q. Meng and F. Chao, 'Developmental Learning for Autonomous Robots', Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 55(9), pp 750-759, 2007.

Os benefícios da amamentação

Projeto de Pós-Graduação/Dissertação apresentado à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Medicina Dentária

How Does the Cerebral Cortex Work? Developement, Learning, Attention, and 3D Vision by Laminar Circuits of Visual Cortex

A key goal of behavioral and cognitive neuroscience is to link brain mechanisms to behavioral functions. The present article describes recent progress towards explaining how the visual cortex sees. Visual cortex, like many parts of perceptual and cognitive neocortex, is organized into six main layers of cells, as well as characteristic sub-lamina. Here it is proposed how these layered circuits help to realize the processes of developement, learning, perceptual grouping, attention, and 3D vision through a combination of bottom-up, horizontal, and top-down interactions. A key theme is that the mechanisms which enable developement and learning to occur in a stable way imply properties of adult behavior. These results thus begin to unify three fields: infant cortical developement, adult cortical neurophysiology and anatomy, and adult visual perception. The identified cortical mechanisms promise to generalize to explain how other perceptual and cognitive processes work.

A Neural Network Model of Speech Acquisition and Motor Equivalent Speech Production

This article describes a neural network model that addresses the acquisition of speaking skills by infants and subsequent motor equivalent production of speech sounds. The model learns two mappings during a babbling phase. A phonetic-to-orosensory mapping specifies a vocal tract target for each speech sound; these targets take the form of convex regions in orosensory coordinates defining the shape of the vocal tract. The babbling process wherein these convex region targets are formed explains how an infant can learn phoneme-specific and language-specific limits on acceptable variability of articulator movements. The model also learns an orosensory-to-articulatory mapping wherein cells coding desired movement directions in orosensory space learn articulator movements that achieve these orosensory movement directions. The resulting mapping provides a natural explanation for the formation of coordinative structures. This mapping also makes efficient use of redundancy in the articulator system, thereby providing the model with motor equivalent capabilities. Simulations verify the model's ability to compensate for constraints or perturbations applied to the articulators automatically and without new learning and to explain contextual variability seen in human speech production.

Vector Associative Maps: Unsupervised Real-time Error-based Learning and Control of Movement Trajectories

This article describes neural network models for adaptive control of arm movement trajectories during visually guided reaching and, more generally, a framework for unsupervised real-time error-based learning. The models clarify how a child, or untrained robot, can learn to reach for objects that it sees. Piaget has provided basic insights with his concept of a circular reaction: As an infant makes internally generated movements of its hand, the eyes automatically follow this motion. A transformation is learned between the visual representation of hand position and the motor representation of hand position. Learning of this transformation eventually enables the child to accurately reach for visually detected targets. Grossberg and Kuperstein have shown how the eye movement system can use visual error signals to correct movement parameters via cerebellar learning. Here it is shown how endogenously generated arm movements lead to adaptive tuning of arm control parameters. These movements also activate the target position representations that are used to learn the visuo-motor transformation that controls visually guided reaching. The AVITE model presented here is an adaptive neural circuit based on the Vector Integration to Endpoint (VITE) model for arm and speech trajectory generation of Bullock and Grossberg. In the VITE model, a Target Position Command (TPC) represents the location of the desired target. The Present Position Command (PPC) encodes the present hand-arm configuration. The Difference Vector (DV) population continuously.computes the difference between the PPC and the TPC. A speed-controlling GO signal multiplies DV output. The PPC integrates the (DV)·(GO) product and generates an outflow command to the arm. Integration at the PPC continues at a rate dependent on GO signal size until the DV reaches zero, at which time the PPC equals the TPC. The AVITE model explains how self-consistent TPC and PPC coordinates are autonomously generated and learned. Learning of AVITE parameters is regulated by activation of a self-regulating Endogenous Random Generator (ERG) of training vectors. Each vector is integrated at the PPC, giving rise to a movement command. The generation of each vector induces a complementary postural phase during which ERG output stops and learning occurs. Then a new vector is generated and the cycle is repeated. This cyclic, biphasic behavior is controlled by a specialized gated dipole circuit. ERG output autonomously stops in such a way that, across trials, a broad sample of workspace target positions is generated. When the ERG shuts off, a modulator gate opens, copying the PPC into the TPC. Learning of a transformation from TPC to PPC occurs using the DV as an error signal that is zeroed due to learning. This learning scheme is called a Vector Associative Map, or VAM. The VAM model is a general-purpose device for autonomous real-time error-based learning and performance of associative maps. The DV stage serves the dual function of reading out new TPCs during performance and reading in new adaptive weights during learning, without a disruption of real-time operation. YAMs thus provide an on-line unsupervised alternative to the off-line properties of supervised error-correction learning algorithms. YAMs and VAM cascades for learning motor-to-motor and spatial-to-motor maps are described. YAM models and Adaptive Resonance Theory (ART) models exhibit complementary matching, learning, and performance properties that together provide a foundation for designing a total sensory-cognitive and cognitive-motor autonomous system.

Investigation of growth and stress tolerance characteristics of Cronobacter spp.

Cronobacter spp. are opportunistic pathogens which can be isolated from a wide variety of foods and environments. They are Gram negative, motile, non-spore forming, peritrichous rods of the Enterobacteriaceae family. This food-borne pathogen is associated with the ingestion of contaminated infant milk formula (IMF), causing necrotizing enterocolitis, sepsis and meningitis in neonatal infants. The work presented in this thesis involved the investigation and characterisation of a bank of Cronobacter strains for their ability to tolerate physiologically relevant stress conditions that are commonly encountered in the gastrointestinal tract. While all strains were able to endure the suboptimal conditions tested, noteworthy variations were observed between strains. A collection of these strains were Lux-tagged to determine if their growth could be tracked in IMF by measuring bioluminescence. The resulting strains could be easily and reproducibly monitored in real time by measuring light emission. Following this a transposon mutagenesis library was created in one of the Lux-tagged strains of Cronobacter sakazakii. This library was screened for mutants with affected growth in milk. The majority of mutants identified were associated with amino acid metabolism. The final section of this thesis identified genes involved in the tolerance of C. sakazakii to the milk derived antimicrobial peptide, Lactoferricin B (Lfcin B). This was achieved by creating a transposon mutagenesis library in C. sakazakii and screening for mutants with increased susceptibility to Lfcin B. Overall this thesis demonstrates the variation between Cronobacter strains. It also identifies genes required for growth of the bacteria in milk, as well as genes needed for antimicrobial peptide tolerance.

Shining light on food microbiology; applications of luciferase-tagged microorganisms in the food industry

Bioluminescence is the production of light by living organisms as a result of a number of enzyme catalysed reactions caused by enzymes termed luciferases. The lux genes responsible for the emission of light can be cloned from one bioluminescent microorganism into one that is not bioluminescent. The light emitted can be monitored and quantified and will provide information on the metabolic activity, quantity and location of cells in a particular environment, in real-time. The primary aim of this thesis was to investigate and identify several food industry related applications of lux-tagged microorganisms. The first aim was to monitor a lux-tagged Cronobacter sakazakii in reconstituted infant milk formula, in realtime. The second aim was to investigate a bioluminescent-based early warning system for starter culture disruption by bacteriophages and antibiotic residues. The third of this thesis was to examine the use of a bioluminescent-based assay to test the activity of bioengineered Nisin derivatives M21V and S29A against foodborne pathogens in laboratory media and selected foods.

Early nutrition and eczema in infancy

Eczema prevalence rates among Irish infants are unreported, despite eczema being the most common inflammatory condition of infancy. Maternal and infant nutritional status including vitamin D and other fat-soluble vitamins as well as early infant feeding have been linked with eczema initiation and development. Therefore, early nutrition could be a potential modifiable risk factor. The objective of this thesis was to prospectively describe early infant feeding and complementary feeding practices, to evaluate infant vitamin D supplementation practice, to quantify cord serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] and propose reference intervals for vitamin D metabolites, to report eczema prevalence and explore the potential role of infant nutrition and eczema. These research needs were investigated through the Cork BASELINE (Babies After SCOPE: Evaluating the Longitudinal Impact with Neurological and Nutritional Endpoints) Birth Cohort Study (n 2137). This thesis was the first comprehensive report from the birth cohort, therefore it was important to describe the cohort sociodemographic profile. Although socio-demographic characteristics compared well with national data, there was an over-representation of educated mothers which may limit the generalizability of the results. From August 2008 through November 2011, comprehensive postnatal assessments were completed at day 2 and at 2, 6, 12 and 24 months. Breastfeeding rates were low, while complementary feeding practices were broadly compliant with national guidelines. The implementation of a national infant vitamin D supplementation policy had a major impact on supplementation practice. Low levels of serum 25(OH)D were universal among Irish neonates. Eczema is a complex and multifaceted disease, which is increasing globally. This was the first report of eczema prevalence data among Irish infants which compared with international reports. Given the high prevalence and considerable burden eczema has on the lives of sufferers, intensive research efforts to identify a cause and therapeutic strategies to prevent/reduce eczema was re-emphasized in this thesis.