Search results for "Thorax"
showing 10 items of 177 documents
A BRIEF DISSECTION GUIDE TO HUMAN THORAX
2020
The purpose of this technical report is to present the experience that, in summer 2018, a group of students from the University of Palermo did at the University of Malta. The students have had the experience to dissected a thorax under the guide of expert dissectors. This work would be also a small dissection guide for young medical students who want to learn the main bases of dissection.
Diverse societies are more productive: a lesson from ants
2012
The fitness consequences of animal personalities (also known as behavioural syndromes) have recently been studied in several solitary species. However, the adaptive significance of collective personalities in social insects and especially of behavioural variation among group members remains largely unexplored. Although intracolonial behavioural variation is an important component of division of labour, and as such a key feature for the success of societies, empirical links between behavioural variation and fitness are scarce. We investigated aggression, exploration and brood care behaviour in Temnothorax longispinosus ant colonies. We focused on two distinct aspects: intercolonial variabil…
Data from: Gene expression patterns associated with caste and reproductive status in ants: worker-specific genes are more derived than queen-specific…
2013
Variation in gene expression leads to phenotypic diversity and plays a central role in caste differentiation of eusocial insect species. In social Hymenoptera, females with the same genetic background can develop into queens or workers, which are characterized by divergent morphologies, behaviors and lifespan. Moreover, many social insects exhibit behaviorally distinct worker castes, such as brood-tenders and foragers. Researchers have just started to explore which genes are differentially expressed to achieve this remarkable phenotypic plasticity. Although the queen is normally the only reproductive individual in the nest, following her removal, young brood-tending workers often develop ov…
Data from: Ant societies buffer individual-level effects of parasite infections
2012
Parasites decrease host fitness and can induce changes in host behavior, morphology, and physiology. When parasites exploit social insects, they influence not only infected individuals but the society as a whole. Workers of the ant Temnothorax nylanderi are an intermediate host for the cestode Anomotaenia brevis. We studied a heavily parasitized population and found that while parasite infection had strong and diverse consequences for individual workers, colony fitness remained unchanged. On the individual level, we uncovered differences among the three worker types: infected and healthy workers from parasitized colonies and healthy workers from non-parasitized colonies. Infected workers we…
Data from: Tandem-running and scouting behavior are characterized by up-regulation of learning and memory formation genes within the ant brain
2019
Tandem-running is a recruitment behavior in ants that has been described as a form of teaching, where spatial information possessed by a leader is conveyed to following nestmates. Within Temnothorax ants, tandem-running is used within a variety of contexts, from foraging and nest relocation to – in the case of slavemaking species – slave raiding. Here, we elucidate the transcriptomic basis of scouting, tandem-leading, and tandem-following behavior across two species with divergent lifestyles: the slavemaking Temnothorax americanus and its primary, non-parasitic host T. longispinosus. Analysis of gene expression data from brains revealed that only a small number of unique differentially-expr…
Data from: The influence of slavemaking lifestyle, caste and sex on chemical profiles in Temnothorax ants: insights into the evolution of cuticular h…
2016
Chemical communication is central for the formation and maintenance of insect societies. Generally, social insects only allow nest-mates into their colony, which are recognized by their cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs). Social parasites, which exploit insect societies, are selected to circumvent host recognition. Here, we studied whether chemical strategies to reduce recognition evolved convergently in slavemaking ants, and whether they extend to workers, queens and males alike. We studied CHCs of three social parasites and their related hosts to investigate whether the parasitic lifestyle selects for specific chemical traits that reduce host recognition. Slavemaker profiles were characterized…
Data from: Collective defence portfolios of ant hosts shift with social parasite pressure
2014
Host defences become increasingly costly as parasites breach successive lines of defence. Because selection favours hosts that successfully resist parasitism at the lowest possible cost, escalating coevolutionary arms races are likely to drive host defence portfolios towards ever more expensive strategies. We investigated the interplay between host defence portfolios and social parasite pressure by comparing 17 populations of two Temnothorax ant species. When successful, collective aggression not only prevents parasitation but also spares host colonies the cost of searching for and moving to a new nest site. However, once parasites breach the host's nest defence, host colonies should resort…
Data from: Fitness costs of worker specialisation for ant societies
2015
Division of labour is of fundamental importance for the success of societies, yet little is known about how individual specialization affects the fitness of the group as a whole. While specialized workers may be more efficient in the tasks they perform than generalists, they may also lack the flexibility to respond to rapid shifts in task needs. Such rigidity could impose fitness costs when societies face dynamic and unpredictable events, such as an attack by socially parasitic slavemakers. Here, we experimentally assess the colony-level fitness consequences of behavioural specialization in Temnothorax longispinosus ants that are attacked by the slavemaker ant T. americanus. We manipulated …
Data from: Gene expression is more strongly associated with behavioural specialisation than with age or fertility in ant workers
2018
The ecological success of social insects is based on division of labour, not only between queens and workers, but also among workers. Whether a worker tends the brood or forages is influenced by age, fertility and nutritional status, with brood carers being younger, more fecund and more corpulent. Here, we experimentally disentangle behavioural specialisation from age and fertility in Temnothorax longispinosus ant workers and analyse how these parameters are linked to whole-body gene expression. A total of 3644 genes were associated with behavioural specialisation which is ten times more than associated with age and 50 times more than associated with fertility. Brood carers were characteriz…
F75Determining fetal lung volume using three-dimensional-ultrasonography
2000
Background The aim of the study was to establish fetal lung, thoracic and heart volume nomograms using 3D-ultrasonography. Method For this purpose 115 fetuses were examined (between 18 and 33 weeks of gestation) using Voluson 530D (Kretztechnik, Austria) ultrasound device and 5 MHZ three-dimensional annular volume transducer. Lung volumes of 15 fetuses suffering from skeletal dysplasia, renal agenesis or hydrothorax and secondary pulmonary hypoplasia were compared with previously established nomograms. Results Lung volumes in the pathologic group of fetuses compared to the nomograms were below the 5% for gestational age. Conclusion The encouraging first results suggest that this method coul…