Bumblebees at work in an emotion-like state.

Pretest sucrose affects a dopamine-modulated response of bumblebees to an ambiguous cue to reward as well as a response to a simulated attack (Perry, Baciadonna, & Chittka, Science, 353(6307), 1529-1531, 2016). The contribution of the study lies in opening the door to research on the inner experience of insects, the learning and motivational mechanisms of their behavior, and the evolutionary analysis of emotions.

Getting to the start line: how bumblebees and honeybees are visually guided towards their first floral contact.

Much of the literature on foraging behaviour in bees focuses on what they learn after they have had rewarded experience with flowers. This review focuses on how honeybees and bumblebees are drawn to candidate food sources in the first place: the foundation on which learning is built. Prior to rewarded foraging experience, flower-naïve bumblebees and honeybees rely heavily on visual cues to discover their first flower. This review lists methodological issues that surround the study of flower-naïve behaviour and describes technological advances. The role of distinct visual properties of flowers in attracting bees is considered: colour, floral size, patterning and social cues. The research reviewed is multi-disciplinary and takes the perspectives of both the bees and the plants they visit. Several avenues for future research are proposed.

Recalibration of the delirium prediction model for ICU patients (PRE-DELIRIC): a multinational observational study.

PURPOSE: Recalibration and determining discriminative power, internationally, of the existing delirium prediction model (PRE-DELIRIC) for intensive care patients. METHODS: A prospective multicenter cohort study was performed in eight intensive care units (ICUs) in six countries. The ten predictors (age, APACHE-II, urgent and admission category, infection, coma, sedation, morphine use, urea level, metabolic acidosis) were collected within 24 h after ICU admission. The confusion assessment method for the intensive care unit (CAM-ICU) was used to identify ICU delirium. CAM-ICU screening compliance and inter-rater reliability measurements were used to secure the quality of the data. RESULTS: A total of 2,852 adult ICU patients were screened of which 1,824 (64%) were eligible for the study. Main reasons for exclusion were length of stay <1 day (19.1%) and sustained coma (4.1%). CAM-ICU compliance was mean (SD) 82 ± 16% and inter-rater reliability 0.87 ± 0.17. The median delirium incidence was 22.5% (IQR 12.8-36.6%). Although the incidence of all ten predictors differed significantly between centers, the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve of the eight participating centers remained good: 0.77 (95% CI 0.74-0.79). The linear predictor and intercept of the prediction rule were adjusted and resulted in improved re-calibration of the PRE-DELIRIC model. CONCLUSIONS: In this multinational study, we recalibrated the PRE-DELIRIC model. Despite differences in the incidence of predictors between the centers in the different countries, the performance of the PRE-DELIRIC-model remained good. Following validation of the PRE-DELIRIC model, it may facilitate implementation of strategies to prevent delirium and aid improvements in delirium management of ICU patients.

Social interactions and their connection to aggression and ovarian development in orphaned worker bumblebees (Bombus impatiens).

This study examines the social dynamics of reproductive conflict. Orphaned worker bumblebees (Bombus impatiens) with comparatively high or low levels of social activity were paired to determine whether aggression and reproduction could be traced to earlier social interactions. The workers were paired according to their levels of social activity (a socially active+another socially active worker, socially active+socially inactive, and two socially inactive workers). The presence or absence of brood was also manipulated. The absence of brood increased both aggression and ovarian development, suggesting that aggression and reproduction are associated or that there is a third variable that affects both. Socially active pairs were significantly more aggressive: here, social activity can be taken as an early indicator of aggression. No such effect, however, was obtained on ovarian development as the socially active pairs did not differ on their degree of ovarian development compared to the others. Within the socially active+socially inactive pairs, the socially active worker did not have more developed ovaries and was not more aggressive than her socially inactive partner. Results highlight that environmental conditions (the absence of brood) can predict ovarian development and although social activity can be observed prior to aggression, differences in aggression do not translate into differences in ovarian development under these conditions.

The effect of feeder location on pollen collection by bumble bees in a tomato greenhouse in Ontario, Canada.

The foraging behavior of bumble bees (Bombus impatiens Cresson) was examined as a function of feeder location containing sugar solution in a commercial tomato greenhouse in Manotick, Ontario, Canada. The feeders were located within the nest-box (fed-close) or placed 1.5 m away (fed-far) and the placement of the two types of colonies was counterbalanced over time. No effect of feeder location was found in colony activity levels or in pollen load size. A foraging trade-off between sugar solution and pollen collection, however, was found: the proportion of foraging trips in which pollen was brought back was significantly reduced for fed-far colonies, which contrasts with our laboratory study in which the opposite effect was found. We interpret our findings as possibly reflecting a limitation in pollen supply in the greenhouse: an already possibly strained ability to find and bring back pollen to the colony was accentuated by increasing the task demands of collecting sugar solution.

Health care assistants' role, function and development: results of a national survey.

Intensive care has developed as a speciality since the 1950s; during this time there have been major technological advances in health care provision leading to a rapid expansion of all areas of critical care. The ongoing problem of recruiting appropriately qualified nurses has affected staffing levels in many units and continues to be a national problem. For many, the answer lies in employing health care assistants to support the work of registered nurses. A key aim of the British Association of Critical Care Nurses is to promote the art and science of critical care nursing by providing representation for its members, by responding to political and professional change and by producing and publishing position statements. A primary component of the work surrounding the development of this second position statement was the gathering of contemporary information in relation to the role of health care assistants within critical care units throughout the UK, through a survey of 645 critical care units within the UK. At present the impact upon the role of the critical care nurse is not fully understood, with research in this area suggesting that although there is a role for the health care assistant in the critical care environment, this should only be undertaken with a full analysis of this impact upon the work of the registered nurse.

Position statement on the role of health care assistants who are involved in direct patient care activities within critical care areas.

Intensive care has developed as a speciality since the 1950s, and during this time, there have been major technological advances in health care provision, leading to a rapid expansion of all areas of critical care. The ongoing problem in recruiting qualified nurses in general has affected, and continues to be a problem for, all aspects of critical care areas. During the past decade, nursing practice has evolved, as qualified nurses have expanded their own scope of practice to develop a more responsive approach to the complex care needs of the critically ill patient. The aim of this paper is to present the British Association of Critical Care Nurses (BACCN) position statement on the role of health care assistants involved in direct patient care activities, and to address some of the key work used to inform the development of the position statement.

Recognition of incomplete patterns by bumble bees.

Bumble bees were trained to discriminate between two visual patterns, one of which was rewarding (S+) and one of which was unrewarding (S-). Subsequently, they were tested for discrimination between two non-rewarding patterns: the top halves of the training patterns, the bottom halves or the side halves. Three conditions were tested: (1) When the S+ was a star and the S- was a circle, all halves of the star were chosen above chance level, which may reflect an unlearned preference for radial patterns. (2) When the S+ and S- were reversed, the bottom half and the side half of the circle were chosen above chance level, but not the top half. (3) In the last condition, the S+ was again a circle, but the feeder tube was placed below the training pattern rather than above, and again the bottom halves were discriminated but neither the top nor the side halves were. In learning pattern discriminations, the ventral portion of the pattern is weighted more strongly than the dorsal portion, which enables recognition of incomplete patterns, and the weighting depends little on angle of approach.

Intensive therapy unit nurses' beliefs about and attitudes towards visiting in three district general hospitals.

The beliefs and attitudes of intensive therapy unit (ITU) nurses regarding visiting of critically ill patients are believed to be influenced by many factors, such as the need to promote patient rest, the need to prevent physiological and psychological complications to the patient and the need to improve communications between all parties. In this paper, some of the factors are examined with attempts to establish whether there are any correlations between such factors as the length of time individual nurses have worked in the area, their professional qualifications, their job satisfaction and their perceptions of visiting and visitors. Sixty-eight nurses from three general ITUs situated in district general hospitals were interviewed. The conclusion was that nurses still have many negative beliefs and attitudes towards visiting and visitors. ITU nurses in this study generally appeared to consider the effects of visiting pessimistically, suggesting they believe they are doing so in the best interests of the patients, themselves and the ITU itself.

The needs of parents with a child on an adult intensive therapy unit.

This review examines, by means of a literature search, the needs of parents who have a critically ill child on adult intensive therapy units. These needs are compared with the needs of relatives of adult patients in ITUs. Whether nurses trained in adult nursing have the necessary skills, knowledge and attitudes to care for the parents is also discussed. Recommendations for ensuring care of the parent point to addressing skills gaps in adult-trained nurses and to reappraising visiting policies.

Revisiting visiting in intensive therapy units.

The aim of this study is to investigate whether, 2 years after the study by Biley et al (1993), visiting in intensive therapy units (ITU) remains restricted. The study was conducted over the summer months of 1995, and ITUs in southern England were contacted. It revealed more favourable results regarding some aspects of visiting practices, but not others.

The effect of competition on choice by pigeons: foraging rate, resource availability and learning.

The effect of competition on food choice by pigeons was examined in a within-subject laboratory study. Pigeons foraged on maize (the more preferred item) and wheat (the less preferred item) in two conditions: alone and with a competitor. Over the course of the experiment an effect of competition on individual choice developed: the pigeons came to choose less maize before the first grain of wheat was taken, and to show a higher proportion of choices of wheat. The effect of competition was entirely due to resource availability: no effect of the competitor per se was found once the number of grains of maize and wheat available for any one choice was taken into account. Choice behaviour changed over time because the birds learned to forage faster in competition, which in turn led to faster depletion rates.

Simultaneous processing of short delays and higher order temporal intervals within a session by pigeons.

This study tests the ability of pigeons to process simultaneously two kinds of temporal intervals of the sort relevant in foraging problems: delays within trials on the order of seconds as well as 'higher order' intervals, on the order of minutes, within the session. Pigeons were given 20 min sessions of a chained VI 5 s-FI 10 s schedule reinforcement. A particularly large reinforcer was delivered either after 16 min or after 6 min, in a blocked design. In probe sessions no large reinforcer was given. The rate of responding in probe sessions following training with the early reinforcer showed a peak in rate of responding at about 6 min. In probe sessions following training with the late reinforcer, the rate of responding showed only a linear increase. In addition, empty trials using the peak procedure showed that the pigeons timed the FI 10 s within trials, as predicted by models of timing with two accumulators. Baseline sessions with no large reinforcer at the beginning of the experiment showed a bitonic function with slight changes in rates of responding.

Auditing quality of nursing care.

Nurses working in intensive therapy units (ITU) may perceive that they provide a good quality of nursing care to patients and relatives in the ITU. But how can this be assessed, to enable nurses to have an indication of the actual quality of nursing care? This article examines quality and audit within nursing, and then examines one of the commercially produced tools that can be utilised to give an indication of the nursing care provided within the ITU. The results of a part pilot study are imparted and then further discussed. ITU nurses need to be aware that if they do not commence auditing their nursing care then someone with no specialist knowledge may dictate to them what to do to audit their care.

Needs of visitors in the intensive care unit.

Visitors are defined as biological relatives and significant others, including friends and partners. Meeting the needs of visitors will reduce their stress levels. Nurses have an important role to play in meeting visitors' needs. Visitors needs can be categorised as: informational, emotional, personal, physical, and environmental.

Anticipatory contrast and diet selection by pigeons.

The effect of future rate of reinforcement on choice and rate of responding was examined in three experiments in all of which pigeons performed on an operant simulation of diet selection followed by either a high or low rate of reinforcement. In Experiment 1 the duration of the prey selection task was 20 min. A within-subjects design was used: in one operant chamber a high rate of reinforcement followed the session of diet selection, and in another chamber, a low rate of reinforcement followed. In Experiment 2 a between-subjects design was used with 8 min of diet selection and a stronger manipulation of rate of reinforcement. In Experiment 3, a within-subjects design was used with more highly discriminable operant chambers. The results on rate of responding were consistent with what is known about contrast: A weak contrast effect during the diet selection task was obtained in Experiment 1, a larger contrast effect in Experiment 3, and a conditioning effect was found in Experiment 2. The effect on choice was examined in Experiments 1 and 3 but was weak in both cases. The results suggest that the mechanism underlying contrast in choice and rate of responding are not one and the same. Foraging implications are discussed.

Within-session discrimination between times of reinforcers in the minutes range by pigeons.

This experiment tested whether pigeons could discriminate between a large reinforcer delivered at 6 min (early) vs. 16 min (late) within a 20 min session. A within subject design was used in which an early reinforcer was delivered in one context, and a late reinforcer in another. Rate of responding on the first link of a chain schedule was higher in the early reinforcer condition. Furthermore, in probe sessions during which no large reinforcer was delivered, the discrimination was maintained. Implications for foraging are discussed.

How pigeons estimate rates of prey encounter.

Pigeons were trained on operant schedules simulating successive encounters with prey items. When items were encountered on variable-interval schedules, birds were more likely to accept a poor item (long delay to food) the longer they had just searched, as if they were averaging prey density over a short memory window (Experiment 1). Responding as if the immediate future would be like the immediate past was reversed when a short search predicted a long search next time (Experiment 2). Experience with different degrees of environmental predictability appeared to change the length of the memory window (Experiment 3). The results may reflect linear waiting (Higa, Wynne, & Staddon, 1991), but they differ in some respects. The findings have implications for possible mechanisms of adjusting behavior to current reinforcement conditions.

Assessing resources and stress in parents of severely dysfunctional children through the Clarke modification of Holroyd's Questionnaire on Resources and Stress.

The Holroyd (1974) Questionnaire on Resources and Stress (QRS) although clinically useful may be too inclusive and not exclusively relevant to severely dysfunctional individuals. Hitherto, efforts at shortening and psychometrically validating the QRS have met with some success: the shorter forms however still target both mentally and physically handicapped children and are clinically not as useful as the original instrument. The 78-item Clarke modification of the QRS, mainly a subset of the original, was an attempt to remedy these problems. It was validated with mothers and fathers of autistic, mentally retarded, learning-disabled, and asymptomatic children. Good internal consistency, split-half reliability, and coefficient of stability were obtained. Construct and concurrent validities were also acceptable. The questionnaire discriminated best between the two more severely affected groups and the controls. Group differences were found for 8 of its 9 scales and sex of parent differences were found for 3. The Clarke modification of the QRS is recommended for clinical use with parents of children with autism and mental retardation.

The role of shifting in choice behavior of pigeons on a two-armed bandit.

Pigeons (Columba livia) were confronted with a problem in choice known as the two-armed bandit (TAB): two concurrent discrete trials random-ratio schedules in which the good side changes randomly from day to day. In the first experiment a substantial proportion of the birds' choices were contrary to those predicted by immediate maximization. Under a variety of parameter settings the pigeons chose the bad side more often than expected by immediate maximization. The hypothesis was advanced that shifting, that is, the tendency to avoid the most recently visited location, was responsible for limiting the number of choices on the good side of the TAB. Experiments 2-4 examined this hypothesis. The first of these experiments compared the accuracy on win-shift vs win-stay trials, and lose-shift vs lose-stay. When the response keys were at opposite sides of the operant chamber (keys-far), as in the first TAB experiment, there was a significant tendency to shift. This tendency was not present when the keys were close together (keys-close), in Experiment 3. Experiment 4 compared TAB performance in the original keys-far situation with that in the keys-close chamber. The proportion of choices on the good side of the TAB increased faster and attained a higher level for the keys-close group, and the proportion of choices which were shifts from one side to the other was smaller. A higher proportion of individual choices in the keys-close condition could be accounted for by immediate maximization.