•Predicted brown bear habitat suitability matched current habitat use well overall.•Orchards and shrubs were used more; mixed woods, conifers and pastures less.•Only two potential corridors for ...eastward population expansion were identified.•The Adige Valley is main constraint to larger scale population connectivity with Dinaric–Pindos populations.
Large carnivores are declining worldwide and few examples of successful reintroductions exist, because of their large home-ranges, low reproductive rates, and penchant for human–wildlife conflict that is the main cause of their decline. Moreover, few studies assess whether habitat suitability predicted before reintroduction, a critical evaluation step, matches post-reintroduction habitat selection. We examined habitat-related factors contributing to a successful brown bear (Ursus arctos) reintroduction in central Europe. Starting in 1999, 10 brown bears were translocated from Slovenia to Trentino in the Italian Alps, and this population has since grown by >10%/year. First, we estimated multi-scale resource selection functions (RSF) with GPS collar data and validated models with k-folds cross validation and external VHF data. Then, we used Kappa-statistics to compare our population-scale RSF with a habitat suitability model (HSM) developed to predict potential habitat before reintroduction. Lastly, we employed least-cost path (LCP) analyses integrating our within home-range scale RSF to define movement paths. Overall, the HSM predicted post-reintroduction habitat selection well in many areas, but bears used orchards and shrubs more, and mixed/conifer forests and pastures less than expected prior to reintroduction. Finally, we identified road crossings of predicted paths between preferred habitat patches. We found two potential crossings in the Adige Valley, likely the biggest constraint for the study population to expand eastward and impeding dispersal to/from the closest bear population (Dinaric–Pindos population). Increasing awareness for key brown bear habitats and corridors, especially in potential ecological traps within cultural landscapes, will be necessary for large carnivore conservation.
It is widely known that humans have a tendency to imitate each other and that appropriate modulation of automatic imitative behaviors has a crucial function in social interactions. Gilles de la ...Tourette syndrome (GTS) is a childhood-onset neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by motor and phonic tics. Apart from tics, patients with GTS are often reported to show an abnormal tendency to automatically imitate others' behaviors (i.e., echophenomena), which may be related to a failure in top-down inhibition of imitative response tendencies. The aim of the current study is to explore the top-down inhibitory mechanisms on automatic imitative behaviors in youngsters with GTS. Error rates and reaction times from 32 participants with GTS and 32 controls were collected in response to an automatic imitation task assessing the influence of observed movements displayed in the first-person perspective on congruent and incongruent motor responses. Results showed that participants with GTS had higher error rates than controls, and their responses were faster than those of controls in incompatible stimuli. Our findings provide novel evidence of a key difference between youngsters with GTS and typically developing participants in the ability to effectively control the production of own motor responses to sensory inputs deriving from observed actions.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The management and conservation of large carnivores is a challenging task because of their great spatial requirements and the hostility encountered in certain socio-political contexts. Particular ...fundamental requirements concern those species, such as brown bears (
Ursus arctos
), that need to hibernate in order to optimise the balance between energy acquisition and energy expenditure during winter. Thus, a thorough knowledge of bears’ winter behaviour is critical to ensure a proper management and protection of this species. The aim of the present study was to assess the location and features of the hibernation sites of a bear population reintroduced in the Central-Eastern Alps (Italy). Sixty-five bear dens and 85 unused caves were located and described. Bears were found to select natural rock caves (
N
= 64) located in medium-high slope at an altitude between 520 and 1950 m a.s.l.. Caves usually were in poorly accessible areas with low human disturbance. In particular, the comparison between used and unused caves showed that three main factors drove the selection of hibernation sites by brown bear: (i) small entrance and suitable length of the cave, (ii) their location in wooded areas and (iii) high level of solar radiation and favourable internal micro-climatic conditions. Caves selected by bears showed significantly higher monthly temperatures from October to March (especially in October and November, when bears typically search for a suitable hibernation site) than caves that were not used despite their similar structural characteristics. No differences in cave selection were found between native and reintroduced bears, suggesting that cave selection was driven by objective cave characteristics, rather than by population-specific traditions. Lastly, among different age and sex classes, pregnant females were found to select caves with a greater total length, located in more hidden areas and with more solar radiation around the entrance. Brown bear cave selection seems therefore to be driven mainly by measures, exterior habitat features and inner temperature.
The aim of this study was to analyze and report sites and patterns of obstruction observed during sleep endoscopy in a large group of patients and suggest consequent therapeutic prescriptions. 614 ...consecutive patients who approached the Centre for Diagnosis and Treatment of Respiratory Sleep Disorders underwent sleep endoscopy. We used propofol to induce sleep, monitoring the value of bispectral index to evaluate the depth of sedation. For each patient, we recorded obstruction sites,obstruction patterns and the effects of the mandibular pull-up manoeuvre on both obstruction and snoring. We ascertained that, in almost all patients, the noise of snoring was generated at the oropharyngeal level. The obstruction at the oropharyngeal level, either in isolation or in combination with other structures, is far more common. The mandibular pull-up manoeuvre was effective in reducing or resolving the obstruction in a large number of patients, even though their AHI values were high. For those patients having an AHI over 15, we point out the various therapeutic indications gained from the sleep endoscopy examinations. Drug-induced (propofol) sleep endoscopy can be considered be a safe procedure, easily practicable, valid and reliable; we therefore consider it a fundamental clinical investigation that can be essential when choosing treatment.
We present a new surgical technique for the treatment of snoring and mild obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome. This is a modification of anterior palatoplasty, and its main features are the use of ...self-locking (barbed) threads and the possibility of stabilise the palatal suture by fixing it to anatomical bone and fibrous structures. The technique is described in detail and some preliminary results are presented.
Pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration (PKAN) is a rare disorder associated with brain iron accumulation. The brain MRI abnormality consists of T2 hypointensity in the globus pallidus with ...a small hyperintensity in its medial part, called the "eye-of-the-tiger" sign. We report on 2 patients affected by PKAN, in whom MRI examination did not demonstrate the "eye-of-the-tiger" sign in the early stages; the typical abnormalities were detected only in the following examinations. Case 1 is a 4-year-old boy first studied at age 2 years for psychomotor delay. The brain MRI was normal. In the following 2 years, the motor impairment progressed. The second brain MRI at age 4 years demonstrated the "eye-of-the-tiger" sign. Molecular analysis of the PANK2 gene revealed a missense mutation F228S in exon 2 in homozygosis. Case 2 is a 6-year-old boy first studied at age 2 years because of psychomotor delay. His brain MRI did not demonstrate abnormalities in the globus pallidus. In the following years spastic-dystonic tetraparesis became evident. A brain MRI at age 4 years demonstrated the "eye-of-the-tiger" sign. Molecular analysis of the PANK2 gene revealed a missense mutation in exon 5 (N501I). Our 2 cases demonstrate that the observation of a normal globus pallidus in the early stage of the disease does not exclude the diagnosis of classic PKAN.
After evaluating approaches proposed, over the last few years, by several Authors, to make the procedure of adenoidectomy safer and more accurate, we have developed a new procedure based on the ...combined use of a rigid 70 degrees endoscope with a video attachment and a microdebrider, both introduced through the oral cavity. This procedure offers several advantages: an improved field of vision, continuous suction of blood, and extreme precision in removing the adenoid tissue. Compared with current practices which employ the adenotome or curette, it is possible with our approach to remove adenoid tissue in the most important centres: the choanal and tubaric regions. The validity and safety of this videoendoscopic adenoidectomy with microdebrider has been demonstrated in 201 patients.
Abstract We report on the results of a clinical and polymyographic retrospective study of 61 paediatric patients with tremor, dystonia and/or myoclonus. Aim of the study was to verify the ...contribution of polymyography in the classification of these movement disorders and in their aetiological definition. Methods The movement disorders were clinically classified by two experts, based on clinical and videotape recordings evaluation; all patients underwent standardized polymyographic evaluation; aetiological diagnosis was performed according to diagnostic protocols for dystonia, myoclonus, tremor and psychogenic movement disorders. The polymyographic features were summarized in five different patterns (dystonia, subcortical myoclonus, myoclonic dystonia, tremor, normal) and compared with the clinical classification and with aetiological diagnosis. Results In more than 70% of the patients the polymyographic features were in accordance with the clinical classification; in 31% the polymyographic features allowed to identify a clinically unclassified movement disorder and in 19.6% disclosed a not clinically evident associated movement disorder. The polymyographic study did not contribute to the aetiological diagnosis, but was useful in supporting the clinical diagnosis of psychogenic movement disorder.
