Involvement of the neural social behaviour network during social information acquisition in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata).

Female zebra finches Taeniopygia guttata will copy the novel foraging choice of males. The degree to which they do so, however, can vary considerably. Among-individual differences in social learning and their underlying neural pathways have received relatively little attention and remain poorly understood. Here, then, we allowed female zebra finches to observe live-streamed male demonstrators feeding from one of two novel-coloured feeders (social information acquisition phase). After this social information acquisition phase, we tested from which feeder the females preferred to feed to determine whether they copied the feeder choice of the male demonstrator (social learning test phase). We then examined the brains of these females for immediate early gene activity (c-fos) in the neural social behaviour network for the time during which they were observing the male feeding. Of the 12 regions and sub-regions in the brain examined we found only one weak correlation: greater copying was associated with lower activity in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, BSTmv. Future work should perhaps focus on neural activity that occurs during the stage in which there is evidence that animals have copied a demonstrator (i.e., social learning test phase in the current experiment) rather than during the period in which those animals observe that demonstrator (i.e., social information acquisition phase in the current experiment). What is clear is that the considerable emphasis on examining the behavioural component of social learning has not yet been accompanied by neural analyses.

Numerical ordinality in a wild nectarivore.

Ordinality is a numerical property that nectarivores may use to remember the specific order in which to visit a sequence of flowers, a foraging strategy also known as traplining. In this experiment, we tested whether wild, free-living rufous hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus) could use ordinality to visit a rewarded flower. Birds were presented with a series of linear arrays of 10 artificial flowers; only one flower in each array was rewarded with sucrose solution. During training, birds learned to locate the correct flower independent of absolute spatial location. The birds' accuracy was independent of the rewarded ordinal position (1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th), which suggests that they used an object-indexing mechanism of numerical processing, rather than a magnitude-based system. When distance cues between flowers were made irrelevant during test trials, birds could still locate the correct flower. The distribution of errors during both training and testing indicates that the birds may have used a so-called working up strategy to locate the correct ordinal position. These results provide the first demonstration of numerical ordinal abilities in a wild vertebrate and suggest that such abilities could be used during foraging in the wild.

Laparoscopic salvage for malfunctioning of peritoneal dialysis catheters.

AIM: The aim of this study was to emphasize the efficacy of the laparoscopic surgical method performed for elimination of catheter-induced mechanical complications developing in CAPD patients. METHODS: Medical records of 31 patients who had undergone CAPD catheter implantation at the Dicle University Medical Faculty Hemodialysis Unit between January 2001 and June 2012 were examined retrospectively. Double-felted spiral Tenckhoff catheters were used in all patients for peritoneal access. RESULTS: We performed a retrospective review of 31 patients who, over an 11-year period, underwent revision of a peritoneal dialysis catheter using laparoscopy. Chronic renal failure requiring dialysis occurred in 31 patients (12 males and 19 female). Ages ranged from 13 to 77 years (mean age 35.8 years). CONCLUSION: As a conclusion, CAPD is currently a choice to be frequently used in patients with ESRD. In the treatment of CAPD-associated mechanical catheter complications laparoscopic method may be preferred because of patient comfort, short hospital stay, and lesser postoperative complications.

Electrophysiological assessment of sexual dysfunction in spinal cord injured patients.

STUDY DESIGN: Survey. OBJECTIVES: To determine associations between sexual dysfunctions and electrophysiological examinations of the genital system in spinal cord injured patients. SETTING: Ege University Hospital, Izmir, Turkey. METHODS: In total, 25 patients (17 men, eight women) who were out of the spinal shock period were examined. Neurological levels were determined according to the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) impairment scale. Data about erection, ejaculation and vaginal lubrication were obtained via inquiry forms. Bulbocavernosus reflex (BCR), pudendal somatosensorial evoked potentials (pSEP) and perineal sympathetic skin responses (pSSR) were recorded by an electromyographer unaware of the sexual state or neurological level of the patient. RESULTS: BCRs could be obtained from all patients with lesion levels above the sacral centre. A significant association was found between reflex erection and BCR positivity, while psychogenic erection was shown to have a significant association with the preservation of pSSR in men. Despite the lack of statistical significance due to the small sample size of the women examined, a similar association with lubrication was observed. Ejaculation and orgasm were not shown to be significantly associated with any electrophysiological examination. However, ejaculation was preserved in all men with a lesion level below T12 and with positive pSSR. There was no significant relationship between pSEP and sexual functions. The relationship between the existence of sacral sensation and pSEP positivity was statistically significant. CONCLUSION: This study has proved that BCR and pSSR have an important role in the estimation of the remaining sexual function in spinal cord injured patients. STATEMENT ON ETHICS: We certify that all applicable institutional and governmental regulations concerning the ethical use of human volunteers were followed during the course of this research.

Intracranial Lipoma of the Sylvian Fissure: MR and CT Findings. A Case Report.

We present the CT and MR features of a rare intracranial lipoma located in the right sylvian fissure in a patient who presented with a five-year history of headache. The lesion was well demonstrated on Fluid Attenuated Inversion Recovery (FLAIR), Turbo Spin Echo (TSE), T1 weighted and fat supressed T2 weighted sequences.

A challenging problem. Vertebral pseudoaneurysm and arteriovenous fistula involving vertebral artery and ipsilateral internal jugular vein due to craniocervical penetrating trauma.

SUMMARY: Vertebral pseudoaneurysm and arteriovenous fistulas are very rare and are commonly due to penetrating trauma to craniocervical region. A 20-year-old man was presented with progressive swelling and pulsatile mass on the left side of his face. He had been stabbed two weeks ago on the left side of his face. Doppler Ultrasound revealed large left vertebral pseudoaneursym and arteriovenous fistulisation with the ipsilateral internal jugulat vein. MR Angiography and conventional angiography confirmed arteriovenous fistula between left vertebral artery and ipsilateral internal jugular vein and large pseudoaneurysm formation on vertebral artery. Arteriovenous fistula was closed surgically and embolized with surgicell. But the pseudoaneurysm was treated with endovascular covered stent placement.

Seropositivity of toxoplasmosis among reproductive-age women in Malatya, Turkey.

A total of 996 sera from women between the ages of 17-45 years were examined for Toxoplasma gondii; IgG and IgM antibodies by solid-phase-enzyme immunoassay. The overall prevalence of toxoplasmosis was found to be 39.9%. Of 996 women, 396 (39.6%) had specific IgG, 26 (2.6%) had both IgG and IgM, and 3 (0.3%) had only IgM antibodies. The results obtained in this study & other previous studies done in Turkey indicated the high prevalence of T. gondii infection in this country.

Crosses between sexual and apomictic dandelions (Taraxacum). I. The inheritance of apomixis.

Some dandelions, Taraxacum, are diplosporous gametophytic apomicts. Crosses between closely related diploid sexuals and triploid apomicts were made to study the inheritance of apomixis. Seed-set was less than one-third of that in diploid x diploid crosses, probably because of the inviability of aneuploid pollen or zygotes. Almost 90% of the viable offspring were diploid and the result of selfing, as was shown by a discriminating allozyme marker. Aneuploid outcross pollen had a mentor effect on self-pollen, causing a breakdown of the sporophytic self-incompatibility system. A similar phenomenon has been reported before in wide crosses. Of the 26 allozyme-confirmed hybrids, four were diploids, 15 were triploids and seven were tetraploids. Diploid hybrids were significantly less frequent than triploid hybrids, suggesting either low fitness of haploid pollen or more numerous formation of diploid pollen. Emasculation and bagging of flowers indicated apomictic seed-set in none of the diploid, in one-third of the triploid and in all of the tetraploid hybrids. All apomictic hybrids showed partial seed-set, but additional cross-pollination did not increase seed-set. Cytological analysis of the F2 progeny confirmed that partial apomixis was caused by semisterility and not by residual sexuality (facultative apomixis). The difference in segregation for apomixis between triploid and tetraploid hybrids may be because the triploids originated from partially reduced diploid pollen grains, whereas the tetraploids originated from unreduced triploid pollen grains.

The ultrasonographic diagnosis of bleeding into a pancreatic pseudocyst.

Bleeding into a pancreatic pseudocyst is a rare but life-threatening entity. Early diagnosis is crucial in its management. There are reports suggesting that computed tomography (CT), scintigraphy, endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), and angiography could be the diagnostic maneuvers. In this report, we present a case of arterial bleeding into a pancreatic pseudocyst, which was diagnosed by the turbulent echo-currents seen in real-time ultrasonography.

Crosses between sexual and apomictic dandelions (Taraxacum). II. The breakdown of apomixis.

Some dandelions are diplosporous gametophytic apomicts. In order to study the inheritance and breakdown of apomixis, crosses were made between diploid sexuals and triploid apomicts. To investigate their breeding system, four nonapomictic diploid and 10 nonapomictic triploid hybrids were pollinated with diploids and the progenies were analysed. Seed fertility was significantly reduced in two diploid hybrids. Nine triploid hybrids were fertile and could be classified into three types, with respect to the composition of their progenies. Type A produced n+n hybrids. Type B produced either a mixture of n + n and 2n + n hybrids, or a mixture of pseudogamous 2n + 0 apomicts and 2n + n hybrids. Type C produced exclusively 2n + n hybrids. Inheritance of a microsatellite marker strongly suggested that 2n egg cells in type C plants were produced by a first division restitution mechanism. As in apomicts, microsporogenesis in type C plants was reductional. This suggests that type C plants are diplosporous plants that lack parthenogenesis. Such plants are very rare in other apomictic plant species. It is concluded that 'elements of apomixis', diplospory and parthenogenesis, can be uncoupled. This is inconsistent with the single-locus model for apomixis in Taraxacum as suggested by Mogie (1992). Instead, our results suggest that several loci are involved in the genetic control of apomixis in Taraxacum.