Search results for " FLEX"
showing 10 items of 320 documents
Foraging Bumblebees Selectively Attend to Other Types of Bees Based on Their Reward-Predictive Value.
2020
Using social information can be an efficient strategy for learning in a new environment while reducing the risks associated with trial-and-error learning. Whereas social information from conspecifics has long been assumed to be preferentially attended by animals, heterospecifics can also provide relevant information. Because different species may vary in their informative value, using heterospecific social information indiscriminately can be ineffective and even detrimental. Here, we evaluated how selective use of social information might arise at a proximate level in bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) as a result of experience with demonstrators differing in their visual appearance and in thei…
Bachelor groups form due to individual choices or environmental disrupters in African striped mice
2021
International audience; In several mammal species, bachelor groups occur as a regular life history stage between dispersal and becoming the breeding male of a multi-female group. However, it is rarely investigated how such groups come into existence and how males that choose this strategy differ in life history traits from other males. Males of the socially flexible African striped mouse Rhabdomys pumilio have been historically reported to adopt one of three alternative tactics, i.e., small group-living philopatric males, intermediate solitary living roaming males, or large group-living territorial males. Here, we describe for the first time, bachelors as a fourth male tactic. Using long-te…
A methodology for evaluating the flexibility potential of domestic air-conditioning systems
2020
The paper presents a methodology for quantifying the electrical flexibility potential of air-conditioning systems (ACS) installed in residential buildings according to the building envelope characteristics and the ACS performance. In order to provide a thorough analysis of the issue, the ACS baseline consumption referred to the indoor temperature of 24°C has been computed for three typical residential buildings built in the South of Italy over different periods. The baseline consumption was used as a reference to estimate the effect of the set point temperature change on the ACS power profile. The results showed that increasing the set-point temperature of ACS by 2°C and 4°C leads to a redu…
Early Cognitive Training Rescues Remote Spatial Memory but Reduces Cognitive Flexibility in Alzheimer’s Disease Mice
2020
Background: Spatial memory dysfunction has been demonstrated in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) which is consistent with the clinical finding that the early signature of AD includes difficulties in the formation and/or storage of a memory. A stored memory—a long term memory—can be modulated via process called as memory retrieval that can either lead toward memory reconsolidation or even memory extinction. Objective: We aim to shed light on the fate of the spatial memory during memory reactivation and memory extinction using a water maze task. Methods: In Set-up I, we trained 3-month-old mice (wild-type mice and mice with cerebral β-amyloidosis) and assessed the fate of remote memor…
Molecular characterisation of quinolone-resistant Shigella strains isolated in Tehran, Iran.
2016
Over the past few years, the number of Shigella strains resistant to nalidixic acid has increased and has made the selection of effective antimicrobial therapy more difficult. The purpose of this study was to investigate the molecular mechanism of quinolone resistance in Shigella strains. Shigella strains isolated from 1100 diarrhoeal patients in Tehran, Iran, were assessed for their susceptibility to nalidixic acid prior to PCR-RFLP and sequence analysis of their quinolone resistance genes. Among 73 Shigella strains isolated, 23 (31.5%) were resistant to nalidixic acid. The most common Shigella spp. was Shigella sonnei (54; 74.0%). Of the 23 quinolone-resistant isolates, 4 (17.4%) (includi…
Evaluating the stability of pharmacophore features using molecular dynamics simulations.
2016
Abstract Molecular dynamics simulations of twelve protein—ligand systems were used to derive a single, structure based pharmacophore model for each system. These merged models combine the information from the initial experimental structure and from all snapshots saved during the simulation. We compared the merged pharmacophore models with the corresponding PDB pharmacophore models, i.e., the static models generated from an experimental structure in the usual manner. The frequency of individual features, of feature types and the occurrence of features not present in the static model derived from the experimental structure were analyzed. We observed both pharmacophore features not visible in …
Microbial community composition but not diversity changes along succession in arctic sand dunes
2017
The generality of increasing diversity of fungi and bacteria across arctic sand dune succession was tested. Microbial communities were examined by high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA genes (bacteria) and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions (fungi). We studied four microbial compartments (inside leaf, inside root, rhizosphere and bulk soil) and characterized microbes associated with a single plant species (Deschampsia flexuosa) across two sand dune successional stages (early and late). Bacterial richness increased across succession in bulk soil and leaf endosphere. In contrast, soil fungal richness remained constant while root endosphere fungal richness increased across succession. …
Contrasting coping styles meet the wall: A dopamine driven dichotomy in behavior and cognition
2017
Individual variation in the ability to modify previously learned behaviour is an important dimension of trait correlations referred to as coping styles, behavioral syndromes or personality. These trait clusters have been shaped by natural selection, and underlying control mechanisms are often conserved throughout vertebrate evolution. In teleost fishes, behavioral flexibility and coping style have been studied in the high (HR) and low-responsive (LR) rainbow trout lines. Generally, proactive LR trout show a behaviour guided by previously learned routines, while HR trout show a more flexible behaviour relying on environmental cues. In mammals, routine dependent vs flexible behavior has been …
Determinants for Tight and Selective Binding of a Medicinal Dicarbene Gold(I) Complex to a Telomeric DNA G-Quadruplex: a Joint ESI MS and XRD Investi…
2016
International audience; The dicarbene gold(I) complex [Au(9-methylcaffein-8-ylidene)(2)]BF4 is an exceptional organometallic compound of profound interest as a prospective anticancer agent. This gold(I) complex was previously reported to be highly cytotoxic toward various cancer cell lines invitro and behaves as a selective G-quadruplex stabilizer. Interactions of the gold complex with various telomeric DNA models have been analyzed by a combined ESI MS and X-ray diffraction (XRD) approach. ESI MS measurements confirmed formation of stable adducts between the intact gold(I) complex and Tel 23 DNA sequence. The crystal structure of the adduct formed between [Au(9-methylcaffein-8-ylidene)(2)]…
Native arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis alters foliar bacterial community composition.
2017
The effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi on plant-associated microbes are poorly known. We tested the hypothesis that colonization by an AM fungus affects microbial species richness and microbial community composition of host plant tissues. We grew the grass, Deschampsia flexuosa in a greenhouse with or without the native AM fungus, Claroideoglomus etunicatum. We divided clonally produced tillers into two parts: one inoculated with AM fungus spores and one without AM fungus inoculation (non-mycorrhizal, NM). We characterized bacterial (16S rRNA gene) and fungal communities (internal transcribed spacer region) in surface-sterilized leaf and root plant compartments. AM fungus inoculat…