Mate choice by females is an important component of sexual selection in many species. Theoretically, female sexual traits may be influenced by selection acting on the females via male mate choice, ...while the evolutionary consequences of male mate preferences are largely unknown, especially in the context of sexual conflict. We tested whether male mate choice affects the evolution of female colour in the damselfly Ischnura senegalensis in which females exhibit dimorphism consisting of a gynomorph that experiences ontogenetic colour change and an andromorph that does not. We first quantitatively confirmed that only gynomorphs change their body colour in relation to sexual maturation. In field experiments, males were unwilling to mate with sexually immature gynomorphs, although they attempted to mate with immature andromorphs. This is because males changed their mating preference for female colour depending on previous copulation experiences with sexually mature females. As a result, immature andromorphs received more male harassment than sexually immature gynomorphs, and then showed decreased food intake. Immature-specific colour functioned to avoid costly male harassment during female prereproductive stages, suggesting that ontogenetic colour changes in females have evolved as an antiharassment strategy of females via male mate choice.
► Female damselfly experienced ontogenetic colour change. ► Females with immature-specific colour efficiently avoided male harassment. ► Avoiding harassment increased food intake in females. ► Male choice may lead to the evolution of antiharassment strategy in females.
The domestication syndrome refers to a set of traits that are the by-products of artificial selection for increased tolerance toward humans 1–3. One hypothesis is that some species, like humans and ...bonobos, “self-domesticated" and have been under selection for that same suite of domesticated phenotypes 4–8. However, the evidence for this has been largely circumstantial. Here, we provide evidence that, in marmoset monkeys, the size of a domestication phenotype—a white facial fur patch—is linked to their degree of affiliative vocal responding. During development, the amount of parental vocal feedback experienced influences the rate of growth of this facial white patch, and this suggests a mechanistic link between the two phenotypes, possibly via neural crest cells. Our study provides evidence for links between vocal behavior and the development of morphological phenotypes associated with domestication in a nonhuman primate.
•Marmoset monkeys exhibit a number of domestication phenotypes•White facial patch size correlates with vocal responses•The development of patch is influenced by parental vocal feedback•Paucity of melanocytes in patch supports neural crest hypothesis
Like humans and bonobos, marmoset monkeys share a suite of phenotypes associated with the domestication syndrome. Ghazanfar et al. show that the size of their white facial fur patch—a common domestication phenotype—is correlated with vocal behavior. They then reveal that the two traits are causally linked during development.
Objective: Limited data are available with regard to longitudinal changes in body weight by food taste preference. Here, we examined the associations between taste preferences and weight change in ...adults for a large-scale cohort study in Japan. Design: Longitudinal analysis of data from a population-based cohort study, the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study (JPHC Study). Subjects: A total of 29 103 middle-aged men and women, who participated in a JPHC Study and returned questionnaires on lifestyle and diet, including taste preferences, at both baseline and the 10th year of follow-up. Measurements: We assessed the relations of preferences for rich and heavy taste and a sweet taste to weight changes between the age of 20 years and baseline and those during the 10-year follow-up period. Results: Preferences for rich and heavy taste and for sweet taste were significantly positively associated with weight increases between the age of 20 years and baseline (P for trend <0.001); the fully adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence interval) comparing the 'like' versus 'dislike' groups with a preference for rich and heavy taste were 1.45 (1.31–1.24) for men and 1.28 (1.16–1.41) for women, whereas that for a sweet taste preference was 1.22 (1.09–1.36) for women. As regards weight change during the 10 years of follow-up, subjects who liked the sweet taste and those who neither liked nor disliked this taste experienced a significantly greater increase than those who disliked it in both men and women. There was no such difference for rich and heavy taste. Conclusion: These results suggest that food taste preferences may be an important predictor of weight changes in adults. Taste preferences need to be considered when counseling patients to achieve weight control.
A new project to develop a terahertz (THz)-wave light source is in progress at the parametric X-ray (PXR) beamline of the Laboratory for Electron Beam Research and Application (LEBRA) at Nihon ...University. The THz-wave source is based on coherent transition radiation (CTR) emitted from a metal foil inserted downstream from a crystal target that is the PXR radiator. Beryllium or titanium foil is the most promising candidate for a THz-wave radiator. Since the electron linac of LEBRA was developed for a free electron laser (FEL), electron beam with bunch length of 1 ps (rms) can be provided by magnetic bunching at the bending magnet section. Thus, very intense coherent transition radiation (CTR) can be obtained in the frequency region around 1 THz. The results of preliminary experiments for CTR production suggested that sufficiently intense THz-CTR can be obtained using the LEBRA linac. In order to realize a THz-wave source for practical application studies, we have a plan to add the extraction feature for THz waves to the PXR beamline.
Abstract Background The aim of this study was to assess the differences in pharmacokinetic (PK) profiles after the 1:1 ratio-based conversion from a twice-daily to a once-daily tacrolimus formulation ...(TD-TAC and OD-TAC, respectively) in pediatric recipients of kidney transplants. Methods TD-TAC was initially administered to 29 pediatric patients who underwent kidney transplantations between April 2010 and September 2015 and were then subsequently switched to OD-TAC. The switch dose ratio was 1:1, and the 24-hour complete PK parameter assessment was performed before and after the regimen was changed from TD-TAC to OD-TAC. Results The mean total daily dose at baseline was 5.5 ± 2.9 mg (0.18 ± 0.10 mg/kg body weight). Consecutive PK studies revealed no significant difference in the mean time to achieve maximum concentrations and the area under the concentration–time curve from 0 to 24 hours (AUC0–24 ) of both drug formulations. However, the mean trough concentration (Cmin ) and the maximum concentration of OD-TAC were 22% and 6% lower and higher, respectively, than those of TD-TAC. Therefore, a better correlation was observed between the AUC0–24 and Cmin of OD-TAC than between those of TD-TAC. Conclusions After the change from TD-TAC to OD-TAC, the AUC0–24 values were equivalent despite a 22% reduction in Cmin . Cmin may therefore be an excellent predictor in the therapeutic drug monitoring of OD-TAC because of its superior correlation with AUC0–24.
1 Department of Physiology, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 1130033
2 Laboratory for Neurobiology of Synapse, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Saitama 3510198, Japan
Submitted ...29 December 2003;
accepted in final form 9 February 2004
Mitral and tufted cells in the mammalian olfactory bulb are principal neurons, each type having distinct projection pattern of their dendrites and axons. The morphological difference suggests that mitral and tufted cells are functionally distinct and may process different aspects of olfactory information. To examine this possibility, we recorded odorant-evoked spike responses from mitral and middle tufted cells in the aliphatic acid- and aldehyde-responsive cluster at the dorsomedial part of the rat olfactory bulb. Homologous series of aliphatic acids and aldehydes were used for odorant stimulation. In response to adequate odorants, mitral cells showed spike responses with relatively low firing rates, whereas middle tufted cells responded with higher firing rates. Examination of the molecular receptive range (MRR) indicated that most mitral cells exhibited a robust inhibitory MRR, whereas a majority of middle tufted cells showed no or only a weak inhibitory MRR. In addition, structurally different odorants that activated neighboring clusters inhibited the spike activity of mitral cells, whereas they caused no or only a weak inhibition in the middle tufted cells. Furthermore, responses of mitral cells to an adequate excitatory odorant were greatly inhibited by mixing the odorant with other odorants that activated neighboring glomeruli. In contrast, odorants that activated neighboring glomeruli did not significantly inhibit the responses of middle tufted cells to the adequate excitatory odorant. These results indicate a clear difference between mitral and middle tufted cells in the manner of decoding the glomerular odor maps.
Address for reprint requests and other correspondence: K. Mori, Dept. of Physiol., Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, 731 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 1130033, Japan (E-mail: moriken{at}m.u-tokyo.ac.jp ).
Fish meat was easily liquefied by hydrolysis under subcritical conditions without oxidants, and aqueous phase and water‐insoluble phase containing oil and fat‐like solid were formed. Lactic acid ...found in the raw fish meat (about 0.03 g/g‐dry meat) was stable up to the reaction temperature 513 K (3.35 MPa). Pyroglutamic acid was produced with a yield of 0.095 kg/kg of dry meat by 30 min reaction at 553 K (6.42 MPa). Amino acids such as cystine, alanine, glycine, and leucine were produced in the temperature range 513–623 K with a maximum peak at 543 K. Amounts of cystine, alanine, glycine, and leucine produced in 5 min at 543 K (5.51 MPa) were 0.024, 0.013, 0.009, and 0.004 kg/kg of dry meat, respectively. The oil extracted with hexane contained useful fatty acids such as eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) and docosahexianoic acid (DHA). Thus, subcritical water hydrolysis would be an efficient process for recovering useful substances from organic waste such as fish waste discarded from fish market.
In this paper, we propose a musical-noise-controllable algorithm for array signal processing with the aim for high-performance and high-quality noise reduction. Recently, many methods of integrating ...linear microphone array signal processing and nonlinear signal processing for noise reduction have been studied, but these methods often suffer from the problem of musical noise. In the proposed algorithm, channelwise spectral subtraction is applied before adaptive array signal processing. We also introduce a new automatic control algorithm to obtain the subtraction strength parameter used in the spectral subtraction, which depends on the amount of generated musical noise, measured by higher order statistics. We confirm the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm via objective and subjective evaluations.
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