Article
Psychology, Biological
Lauren M. Guillette, Tas I. F. Vamos, Susan D. Healy, Simone L. Meddle
Summary: Female zebra finches are capable of copying the novel foraging choices made by males, but the extent to which they do so can vary. This study examines the differences in social learning and neural pathways in female zebra finches. The findings suggest that further research should focus on neural activity during the social learning test phase, rather than the social information acquisition phase.
LEARNING & BEHAVIOR
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Julia A. Taylor, Benjamin L. Coe, Toshi Shioda, Frederick S. vom Saal
Summary: Differential placental blood flow and nutrient transport can lead to both intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and macrosomia, which in turn can result in adult obesity and metabolic syndrome. The study used a crowded uterus model to compare IUGR and macrosomia in male mice. It identified rapid and low postweaning weight gain in IUGR males, with rapid growth leading to glucose intolerance and down-regulation of adipocyte signaling pathways. Macrosomia resulted in increased fat mass and altered adipocyte size distribution, as well as down-regulation of signaling pathways for carbohydrate and fat digestion and absorption. Clustering analysis indicated more similarities between IUGR males with rapid postweaning growth and macrosomic males than IUGR males with low postweaning weight gain.
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Ravivarma Ramalingam, Sunanda Jha, Upendra Prasad Sahu, Bhardwaj Narayan Chaudhary, Surabhi Baxla, Pawan Kumar, R. Surekha, Akanksha Kumari
Summary: According to the study, preterm newborns are more likely to have insulin resistance at birth compared to term newborns. SGA preterm babies have a higher incidence of insulin resistance compared to AGA preterm babies. Serum cortisol levels increase with gestational age and birth weight, which help in fetal maturation and neonatal adaptation at birth.
CUREUS JOURNAL OF MEDICAL SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Oscar Vedder, Maria Moiron, Coraline Bichet, Christina Bauch, Simon Verhulst, Peter H. Becker, Sandra Bouwhuis
Summary: The study found that telomere length in wild seabirds is highly heritable and strongly positively genetically correlated with lifespan, indicating that the heritable differences between individuals set at conception may present an important component of somatic state variation.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jelle Boonekamp, Rolando Rodriguez-Munoz, Paul Hopwood, Erica Zuidersma, Ellis Mulder, Alastair Wilson, Simon Verhulst, Tom Tregenza
Summary: Telomeres were found at chromosome-ends of the model insect Gryllus campestris, with lengths much longer than human infants' telomeres. Neither temperature treatment nor age affected telomere length, although high heritability of telomere length was observed. Further investigation is needed to explore the relationship between telomere length maintenance and fitness during rapid growth phases.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Els Atema, Arie J. van Noordwijk, Simon Verhulst
Summary: The study found that increasing workload did not significantly accelerate telomere attrition in male great tits, suggesting that they were able to compensate for the additional locomotion costs. Additionally, individuals with higher reproductive success tended to lose fewer telomere base pairs in the subsequent year, with longer telomeres and less telomere shortening associated with higher survival rates. These patterns varied between species and may be influenced by factors such as ecology and social organization.
Article
Biology
Bibiana Montoya, Michael Briga, Blanca Jimeno, Simon Verhulst
Summary: This study found that higher glucose tolerance is associated with better survival in old birds, but not in young birds. Environmental factors such as low temperature and difficult foraging conditions can affect glucose tolerance. These findings support the importance of physiological challenge coping ability in predicting lifespan.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Christina Bauch, Marie Claire Gatt, Simon Verhulst, Jose Pedro Granadeiro, Paulo Catry
Summary: Mercury contamination is a major concern in the marine environment due to its high toxicity and potential harm to wildlife and human health. This study found that Cory's Shearwaters with higher mercury concentrations had shorter telomeres, particularly in males. The effect of mercury on telomere length was stronger in individuals with longer telomeres. This suggests that mercury contamination may have sublethal effects on aging and health.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ilona Nenko, Michael Briga, Agnieszka Micek, Grazyna Jasienska
Summary: This study analyzed the seasonality of births in a rural Polish community using 200 years of birth data and tested the effects of high workload and/or low access to food on the number of births. The results showed the existence of birth seasonality but did not support the hypothesis that it was related to women's energetic status.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Immunology
Tsung-Po Lai, Simon Verhulst, Casey L. Dagnall, Amy Hutchinson, Stephen R. Spellman, Alan Howard, Hormuzd A. Katki, John E. Levine, Wael Saber, Abraham Aviv, Shahinaz M. Gadalla
Summary: The age and hematopoietic cell telomere length of allogeneic HCT donors may affect recipients' outcomes. Donors' age and pre-HCT hematopoietic cell telomere length are major predictors of recipients' post-HCT hematopoietic cell telomere length. Hematopoietic cell telomere length shortening is observed in all recipients post-HCT, with Southern blotting and the Telomeres Shortest Length Assay being more sensitive than quantitative PCR.
FRONTIERS IN IMMUNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ornithology
Felipe Campos-Cerda, Roxana Torres, Liliana Nava, Cecilia Cuatianquiz-Lima, Yendi Navarro-Noya, Bibiana Montoya
Summary: Animals develop microbial associations early in life, and eggshells may serve as a potential microbial source for the initial colonization of some bird species.
JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY
(2023)
Editorial Material
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Pat Monaghan, Mats Olsson, David S. Richardson, Simon Verhulst, Sean M. Rogers
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Yoran H. Gerritsma, Merijn M. G. Driessen, Simon Verhulst
Summary: Individual variation in animal personality is influenced by developmental conditions and environmental factors. In this study, we manipulated parental foraging conditions in zebra finches and found that adverse environmental conditions during development and larger brood sizes negatively affected offspring growth but did not impact behavior in standardized tests. These results suggest that variation in personality can be attributed to environmental effects, but not early life adversity as manipulated in this study.
Article
Ornithology
Mirjam J. Borger, Christina Bauch, Jelle J. Boonekamp, Simon Verhulst
Summary: Variation in developmental conditions can influence fitness in later life, and in jackdaws, larger eggs result in larger nestlings. A cross-foster experiment was conducted to determine if this association is due to egg size alone or if it is influenced by proficient parents producing larger eggs and nestlings. The study found that 92% of the association between egg size and nestling mass can be attributed to a direct effect of egg size. The remaining 8% could be explained by parental chick rearing ability, although this component was not significantly different from zero.
JOURNAL OF AVIAN BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Justin R. Eastwood, Andreaz Dupoue, Kaspar Delhey, Simon Verhulst, Andrew Cockburn, Anne Peters
Summary: Suboptimal conditions during development can shorten telomeres, but the relationship between early-life telomere length (TL) and survival or lifespan may vary due to biological or methodological differences. In a study on superb fairy-wrens, early-life TL did not predict mortality across different life stages, contrary to a similar study on another species. A meta-analysis of 23 studies including 32 effect sizes found a significant effect of early-life TL on mortality, but publication bias weakened the effect. However, early-life TL had negative effects on mortality risk throughout life.
Article
Biology
Susanna Ukonaho, Simon N. N. Chapman, Michael Briga, Virpi Lummaa
Summary: The presence of grandmothers can improve the survival rates of their grandchildren, specifically in terms of lethal infections and accidents. However, this effect is not mediated through increased or earlier vaccination. These findings have important implications for public health, societal development, and human life-history evolution.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Meeting Abstract
Clinical Neurology
S. J. van Hasselt, D. Martinez-Gonzalez, G-J Mekenkamp, A. L. Vyssotski, S. Verhulst, N. C. Rattenborg, P. Meerlo
JOURNAL OF SLEEP RESEARCH
(2022)
Meeting Abstract
Clinical Neurology
S. J. van Hasselt, M. Rusche, A. L. Vyssotski, S. Verhulst, N. C. Rattenborg, P. Meerlo