BACKGROUND Pain in the back or pelvis or fear of back pain may affect the timing or cocontraction of the core muscles.In both static and dynamic movements,the Sahrmann core stability test provides an assessment of cor...BACKGROUND Pain in the back or pelvis or fear of back pain may affect the timing or cocontraction of the core muscles.In both static and dynamic movements,the Sahrmann core stability test provides an assessment of core muscle activation and a person's ability to stabilize the lumbopelvic complex.Preparatory cues and images can be used to increase the activation of these muscles.To attain optimal movement patterns,it will be necessary to determine what cueing will give the most effective results for core stability.AIM To investigate the effects of external and internal cues on core muscle activation during the Sahrmann five-level core stability test.METHODS Total 68 participants(21.83±3.47 years)were randomly allocated to an external(n=35)or internal cue group(n=33).Participants performed the Sahrmann fivelevel core stability test without a cue as baseline and the five-level stability exercises with an internal or external cue.External cue group received a pressure biofeedback unit(PBU),and the internal cue group received an audio cue.A Delsys Trigno^(TM)surface electromyography unit was used for muscle activation from the rectus abdominis,external oblique,and transverse abdominis/internal oblique muscles.RESULTS Linear mixed effects model analysis showed that cueing had a significant effect on core muscle activation(P=0.001);however,there was no significant difference between cue types(internal or external)(P=0.130).CONCLUSION Both external and internal cueing have significant effects on core muscle activation during the Sahrmann five-level core stability test and the PBU does not create higher muscle activation than internal cueing.展开更多
Face forgery detection is drawing ever-increasing attention in the academic community owing to security concerns.Despite the considerable progress in existing methods,we note that:Previous works overlooked finegrain f...Face forgery detection is drawing ever-increasing attention in the academic community owing to security concerns.Despite the considerable progress in existing methods,we note that:Previous works overlooked finegrain forgery cues with high transferability.Such cues positively impact the model’s accuracy and generalizability.Moreover,single-modality often causes overfitting of the model,and Red-Green-Blue(RGB)modal-only is not conducive to extracting the more detailed forgery traces.We propose a novel framework for fine-grain forgery cues mining with fusion modality to cope with these issues.First,we propose two functional modules to reveal and locate the deeper forged features.Our method locates deeper forgery cues through a dual-modality progressive fusion module and a noise adaptive enhancement module,which can excavate the association between dualmodal space and channels and enhance the learning of subtle noise features.A sensitive patch branch is introduced on this foundation to enhance the mining of subtle forgery traces under fusion modality.The experimental results demonstrate that our proposed framework can desirably explore the differences between authentic and forged images with supervised learning.Comprehensive evaluations of several mainstream datasets show that our method outperforms the state-of-the-art detection methods with remarkable detection ability and generalizability.展开更多
Background: Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among women, making it a significant global public health issue. Although developed countries have a higher incidence of breast cancer, developing coun...Background: Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among women, making it a significant global public health issue. Although developed countries have a higher incidence of breast cancer, developing countries like Nigeria have a low incidence rate but higher rates of morbidity and mortality from the disease. Objective: This study explored how cues to action influenced the use of immunohistochemistry by women in Imo State and how many of them used immunohistochemistry (IHC) to diagnose their condition. Methodology: We used a descriptive study methodology for the investigation, and 121 participants were chosen at random from the 891 total population. The respondents were chosen through a systematic sampling procedure. Structured questionnaire was used as the data collection tool, and the statistical software for social science (SPSS) was used to analyze the data. Results: The mean age of the 121 participants in the study was 45.2 ± 0.7 years. The study found that awareness of IHC services is a significant influencing factor for the uptake and health personnel is the major source of awareness of IHC services. Cues to action particularly from health workers, as well as knowledge of any victim of breast cancer and user of IHC services, also significantly influenced uptake of the IHC services (P Conclusion: In our study, utilization of IHC services was also impacted by cues to action, particularly from healthcare professionals, as well as awareness of any breast cancer victims and those who used IHC services thus cues to action is a major predicator of immunohistochemistry uptake among women with breast cancer.展开更多
Mechanisms of predator detection and the influence of the presence of nonlethal predators on antipredator defense behavior and metamorphic traits were studied in the Indian tree frog, Polypedates maculatus. Exposure o...Mechanisms of predator detection and the influence of the presence of nonlethal predators on antipredator defense behavior and metamorphic traits were studied in the Indian tree frog, Polypedates maculatus. Exposure of P. maculatus tadpoles to chemical cues of caged predator（crabs, Barytelphusa spp.） fed with either conspecific or heterogeneric tadpoles, or were starved elicited defense behavior（by avoiding predator zone） in them. Such a behavior was not evident when exposed to predators housed in a glass beaker（visual cues）. Both early（Gosner stage 27–28） and later（Gosner stage 35–36） stage tadpoles when exposed to caged predators（fed with conspecific tadpoles）, prey tadpoles spent less time swimming and remained motionless for longer periods. Yet, the time spent by prey in feeding was unaffected. Further, the predator avoidance behavior exhibited by them was of the same intensity regardless of whether the caged predators were fed or starved implying the influence of predator＇s kairomones. Tadpoles reared with caged predator reached the metamorphic climax stage（MC stage; Gosner stage 42） earlier than those reared without a predator. Size at emergence（Gosner stage 46） was comparable in both the groups. The findings suggest that P. maculatus tadpoles assess predation risk chiefly by sensing kairomones of the predator in eliciting antipredator defense behaviors. Accelerated development and early metamorphosis without any compromise of the size at emergence may be due to their unaltered feeding activity.展开更多
The use of multisensory cues to locate mates can increase an organism＇s success by acting as a back-up plan when one system fails, by providing additional information to the receiver, and by increasing their ability ...The use of multisensory cues to locate mates can increase an organism＇s success by acting as a back-up plan when one system fails, by providing additional information to the receiver, and by increasing their ability to detect mates using senses that have different ranges in a variable aquatic environment. In this contribution we review the sensory cues that male horseshoe crabs Lirnulus polyphemus are known to use when locating mates and then provide new data that shed light on this subject. Dur- ing the breeding season, females migrate into shore during high tides to spawn. Males attach to females as they approach the beach or are attracted to pairs already spawning. Vision is well established as an important cue in attracting males. Although chemoreception is well known in other marine arthropods, and horseshoe crabs have the anatomy available, there are few studies on chemical cues in this species. Experiments are presented here that provide evidence for chemical cue use. We show that the attraction, and retention, of attached and satellite males to actively spawning females and mating pairs involves multimodal cues展开更多
With the increasing presence of robots in our daily life,there is a strong need and demand for the strategies to acquire a high quality interaction between robots and users by enabling robots to understand users’mood...With the increasing presence of robots in our daily life,there is a strong need and demand for the strategies to acquire a high quality interaction between robots and users by enabling robots to understand users’mood,intention,and other aspects.During human-human interaction,personality traits have an important influence on human behavior,decision,mood,and many others.Therefore,we propose an efficient computational framework to endow the robot with the capability of understanding the user’s personality traits based on the user’s nonverbal communication cues represented by three visual features including the head motion,gaze,and body motion energy,and three vocal features including voice pitch,voice energy,and mel-frequency cepstral coefficient(MFCC).We used the Pepper robot in this study as a communication robot to interact with each participant by asking questions,and meanwhile,the robot extracts the nonverbal features from each participant’s habitual behavior using its on-board sensors.On the other hand,each participant’s personality traits are evaluated with a questionnaire.We then train the ridge regression and linear support vector machine(SVM)classifiers using the nonverbal features and personality trait labels from a questionnaire and evaluate the performance of the classifiers.We have verified the validity of the proposed models that showed promising binary classification performance on recognizing each of the Big Five personality traits of the participants based on individual differences in nonverbal communication cues.展开更多
Nerve guidance channels for peripheral nerve injury： Over the past decade, nerve guidance channels （NGCs） have emerged as a promising technology for regenerating gap injuries in peripheral nerves. Nerve gap injurie...Nerve guidance channels for peripheral nerve injury： Over the past decade, nerve guidance channels （NGCs） have emerged as a promising technology for regenerating gap injuries in peripheral nerves. Nerve gap injuries resulting from neurodegeneration and trauma, such as car accidents and battlefield wounds, affect hun- dreds of thousands of people annually. Motivated by suboptimal results obtained with the current gold standard of autologous grafting （i.e., autografts）, various commercially available NGCs composed of synthetic and biomaterials are now alternatively available （Jia et al., 2014; Jones et al., 2016）.展开更多
Adult horseshoe crabs Limulus polyphemus have long served as models for the study of vision in marine arthropods. Yet, little is known about the ability of early life history stages to detect and respond to visual cue...Adult horseshoe crabs Limulus polyphemus have long served as models for the study of vision in marine arthropods. Yet, little is known about the ability of early life history stages to detect and respond to visual cues. We examined the visually directed movements of larvae and first stage juveniles to horizons containing dark visual targets of different sizes. The study tested the hypotheses that （1） larval and juvenile crabs can detect and respond to visual targets and （2） the direction of orientation varies with the presence of chemical cues associated with settlement habitats. Orientation of larval and juvenile crabs to rectangles subtending angles from 30--330~ was tested in a circular arena containing water that either lacked estuarine chemical cues （offshore water） or contained odors from aquatic vegetation or known predators. In the absence of chemical odors, larvae oriented toward and juveniles moved away from dark horizons subtending angles 〉 60~. When placed in water containing chemical odors from potential nursery habitats, including the seagrasses Halodule wrightii and Syringodium filiforme, crabs reversed their direction of orientation relative to their responses in offshore water. Odors from two known predators, the mummichug Fundulus grandis and blue crab Callinectes sapidus, had no affect on the orientation of larvae. Yet, juveniles responded to both odors by moving toward the visual target. Results support the hypothesis that the visual orientation of larval and juvenile horseshoe crabs changes upon exposure to habitat and predator cues and that the direction of the response undergoes an ontogenetic shift following metamorphosis展开更多
The objective of this pilot study was to compare two different methods of educating prenatal women regarding breast-feeding. Comparisons were made between traditional and innovative methods to determine which was more...The objective of this pilot study was to compare two different methods of educating prenatal women regarding breast-feeding. Comparisons were made between traditional and innovative methods to determine which was more effective in increasing breastfeeding duration. Over a 32 month period, 197 prenatal women were assigned to either a control (C, n = 139) or an experimental (E, n = 51) group. The C group received standard breastfeeding education, while the E group received standard education in addition to information about infant hunger cues. Cox Regression and Kap-lan- Meier analysis were performed. Estimated mean number of weeks for C and E groups to continue breastfeeding was 14.3 + 17.4 weeks and 18.5 + 17.1 weeks, respectively. At 26 weeks, duration of breastfeeding approached significance (chi square = 2.907, df = 1, p = 0.088), indicating probability of continuing to breastfeed was about 28% better for those in E group when compared to C group. Duration of breastfeeding may increase when prenatal women are taught to identify infant behavior such as hunger cues.展开更多
Cell reprograming technologies have broad applications in cell therapy,disease modeling and drug screening.Direct reprogramming is the process of converting from one cell type into a very distantly related cell type.I...Cell reprograming technologies have broad applications in cell therapy,disease modeling and drug screening.Direct reprogramming is the process of converting from one cell type into a very distantly related cell type.In this direct conversion process,cells do not proceed through a pluripotent stage,which can be time-consuming and challenging due to spontaneous differentiation.This method also offers the advantage of circumventing the teratoma potential that is associated with using iPSCs.Previous works have demonstrated that with the use of genetic manipulation,fibroblasts can be directly converted into other cell types,including neurons,cardiomyocytes,blood cell progenitors,and hepatocytes.It is well known that the microenvironment can directs cell fate,and in turn cells interact with or remodel their niches.Accumulative evidence suggests that biophysical factors such as the microtopography and mechanical property of cell adhesive substrates regulate a variety of cellular functions such as migration,proliferation and differentiation,which in turn can modulate wound healing,tissue remodeling and tumor growth,but there are limited number of studies on the roles of biophysical cues in cell reprogramming[1].Passive topographical cues offer a simple and effective method to improve reprogramming efficiency without the need for biochemical manipulations.Our previous study has demonstrated that somatic cells cultured on the parallel microgrooves,which can replace the effects of small-molecule epigenetic modifiers and significantly improve the iPSCs reprogramming efficiency.The mechanism relies on the mechanomodulation of the cells’epigenetic state,specifically,an increase of histone H3 acetylation and H3K4 methylation[2].Additionally,in cardiomyocytes reprogramming study,culturing the fibroblasts on microgrooved substrate enhances the expression of cardiomyocyte genes by day 2 and improves the yield of partially reprogrammed cells at day 10.By combining microgrooved substrate with an optimized culture protocol,the conversion from fibroblasts to cardiomyocytes is increased through genetic changes and structural organization of sarcomeres[3].Besides biomaterial topography,recent studies have demonstrated the effects of matrix stiffness on cell reprogramming.For example,a decrease of substrate stiffness can improve the iPSCs reprogramming efficiency,while an intermediate stiffness can significantly enhance the efficiency of neuronal reprogramming [4].Further analysis suggests that intracellular biomechanical changes play an important role in reprogramming process.Cells interact with the biophysical factors in the microenvironment through an'inside-out'and'outside-in'feedback loop,which is mediated by focal adhesions and cytoskeleton [5].Therefore,we investigated the role of the intracellular mechanical structure in cell reprogramming.We showed,for the first time,that the mechanical property of cells was modulated during the early phase of reprogramming as determined by atomic force microscopy(AFM)and high-throughput quantitative deformability cytometry(q-DC).We observed that cell stiffness increased by day 1 during reprogramming process,which was followed by a pronounced decrease within a few days.Examination of actin cytoskeleton showed that actin assembled into a network with a cage-like structure around the nucleus by day 1,but this structure along with the majority of the cytoskeleton gradually disappeared,coinciding with the changes in intracellular mechanical property.Furthermore,inhibition of actin contractility by using small molecules significantly altered the reprogramming efficiency.These findings provide new insights into the mechanisms of how biophysical cues modulate cell fate.In any given physiological microenvironment,cells may experience various of biophysical inputs,which,as we show,may affect cell phenotype changes.展开更多
The current study investigated whether domestic dogs encode local and/or global cues in spatial working memory. Seven dogs were trained to use a source of allocentric information (local and/or global cues) to locate a...The current study investigated whether domestic dogs encode local and/or global cues in spatial working memory. Seven dogs were trained to use a source of allocentric information (local and/or global cues) to locate an attractive object they saw move and disappear behind one of the three opaque boxes arrayed in front of them. To do so, after the disappearance of the target object and out of the dogs’ knowledge, all sources of allocentric information were simultaneously shifted to a new spatial position and the dogs were forced to follow a U-shaped pathway leading to the hiding box. Out of the seven dogs that were trained in the detour problem, only three dogs learned to use the cues that were moved from trial to trial. On tests, local (boxes and experimenter) and/or global cues (walls of the room) were systematically and drastically shifted to a new position in the testing chamber. Although they easily succeeded the control trials, the three dogs failed to use a specific source of allocentric information when local and global cues were put in conflict. In discussion, we explore several hypotheses to explain why dogs have difficulties to use allocentric cues to locate a hidden object in a detour problem and why they do not differentiate the local and global cues in this particular experimental setting.展开更多
Many studies have looked at how dogs respond to human communicative information. Here, we examined which human communicative factors were important in influencing dogs’ responses. Eleven healthy pet dogs with no appa...Many studies have looked at how dogs respond to human communicative information. Here, we examined which human communicative factors were important in influencing dogs’ responses. Eleven healthy pet dogs with no apparent aggressive behaviour toward people were recruited. Five sensory conditions (all cues presented;either a visual, an auditory, or an olfactory cue presented;no cues presented) were provided three times randomly to each dog during the tests. All tests were video recorded, and both the dogs’ behaviour and time taken to reach the person when she presented each of the sensory cue conditions were observed. Total rates of reaching the person were as follows: 97.0% (all cues), 87.9% (auditory cues), 84.4% (visual cues), 84.4% (olfactory cues), and 69.7% (no cues). The time taken for the dog to notice the person in the box and then obtain a reward from her differed among the five conditions: all cues (6.00 ± 0.32 s) and visual cues (6.02 ± 0.91 s) were significantly faster than auditory cues (18.56 ± 9.57 s) and no cues (26.55 ± 11.72 s). Thus the type of information input was important in recognition of the person by the dogs and influenced the dogs’ response times;visual cues appeared advantageous in confirming the person’s presence.展开更多
Male-male vocal competition in anuran species may be influenced by cues related to the temporal sequence of male calls as well by internal temporal, spectral and spatial ones. Nevertheless, the conditions under which ...Male-male vocal competition in anuran species may be influenced by cues related to the temporal sequence of male calls as well by internal temporal, spectral and spatial ones. Nevertheless, the conditions under which each type of cue is important remain unclear. Since the salience of different cues could be reflected by dynamic properties of male-male competition under certain experimental manipulation, we investigated the effects of repeating playbacks of conspecific calls on male call production in the Emei music frog（Babina daunchina）. In Babina, most males produce calls from nest burrows which modify the spectral features of the cues. Females prefer calls produced from inside burrows which are defined as highly sexually attractive（HSA） while those produced outside burrows as low sexual attractiveness（LSA）. In this study HSA and LSA calls were broadcasted either antiphonally or stereophonically through spatially separated speakers in which the temporal sequence and/or spatial position of the playbacks was either predictable or random. Results showed that most males consistently avoided producing advertisement calls overlapping the playback stimuli and generally produced calls competitively in advance of the playbacks. Furthermore males preferentially competed with the HSA calls when the sequence was predictable but competed equally with HSA and LSA calls if the sequence was random regardless of the availability of spatial cues, implying that males relied more on available sequence cues than spatial ones to remain competitive.展开更多
The effects of four ions and eight neuroactive compounds on inducing larval settlement ofA. japonicus were assessed in the present study. All bioassays were conducted in 60 × 9mm Petri dishes, each contained 10mL...The effects of four ions and eight neuroactive compounds on inducing larval settlement ofA. japonicus were assessed in the present study. All bioassays were conducted in 60 × 9mm Petri dishes, each contained 10mL of the test solution and 10 doliolaria larvae. There were significant inductive effects of K＋ （10 mmol L-l）, NH4＋ （0.1 mmol L-l）, GABA （10-3 tool L-l）, acetylcholine （10-5 molL-l）, L-DOPA （10-SmolL-1）, norepinephrine （10-SmolL-1） and dopamine （10-TmolL-1 and 10-5 molL-1） on the settlement of sea cucumber larvae. L-DOPA and dopamine are the most efficient chemical cues to induce A.japonicus larvae to settle. The highest percentage of larval settlement was induced by 10-5 tool L-1 L-DOPA and dopamine （33% and 40%） compared to the control （7%）. However, Ca2＋, Mg2＋, choline, serotonin, and epinephrine were less effective on larval settlement at all tested concentrations. This study evaluated the stability and feasibility of chemical cues for larval settlement in different culture systems, which can be applied to improve the hatchery production of this valuable species.展开更多
We investigated if attentional bias directed to the right increased with age. We assessed the characteristics of the following types of eye-gaze by using the Posner cueing paradigm. Younger (n =16) and older (n = 20) ...We investigated if attentional bias directed to the right increased with age. We assessed the characteristics of the following types of eye-gaze by using the Posner cueing paradigm. Younger (n =16) and older (n = 20) adults participated in this study. First of all, a face which looked straight ahead was presented at the center of screen, followed by a gaze cue that looked left or right. Immediately after this informative cue, a target stimulus (“*”) appeared to the left or right of the face. The stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA) between the cue and the target was selected from 300, 700, and 1100 ms. Participants were required to judge whether the target appeared to the left or the right of the gaze cue as quickly and accurately as possible. Results showed that older adults indicate a larger positive gaze-cueing effect when the eye-gaze shifted rightward, whereas this effect was not observed for a leftward shift. Moreover, a negative gaze-cueing effect (inhibition of return) was observed when the SOA was longer only for the leftward eye-gaze shift of older adults. These modulations of the cueing effect did not appear in younger adults. These findings demonstrate that the rightward attentional bias in older adults is more robust than the leftward bias.展开更多
Anti-predation strategies are critical to animal survival and are fundamental to deciphering predator–prey interactions.As an important defense strategy,sensory predator detection(such as through acoustic and visual ...Anti-predation strategies are critical to animal survival and are fundamental to deciphering predator–prey interactions.As an important defense strategy,sensory predator detection(such as through acoustic and visual cues)enables animals to assess predation risk and execute predator-avoidance behavior;however,there are limited studies on the anti-predation behavior of nocturnal animals.The prey of bats provides an excellent representative system for examining the anti-predation behavior of nocturnal animals.Here,we broadcasted different types of echolocation calls of the bird-eating bat Ia io to two wild passerine birds,namely,Zosterops japonicus and Sinosuthora webbiana,that are preyed upon by I.io,and presented the birds with individual bats under different light intensities.The results showed that both bird species were able to perceive the low-frequency audible portion of the bats’echolocation calls;however,they did not exhibit escape responses to the acoustic stimuli.In the dark and under moonlit conditions,both bird species were unable to respond to active bats at close range and the birds only exhibited evasive flight behavior when bats approached or touched them.These results suggest that nocturnal passerine birds may not be able to use acoustic or visual cues to detect bats and adopt evasive maneuvers to avoid predation.This work suggests that bat predation pressure may not elicit primary predator-avoidance responses in nocturnal passerine birds.The results provide new insights into the anti-predation behavior of nocturnal animals.展开更多
As a highly specialized shock-absorbing connective tissue,articular cartilage(AC)has very limited self-repair capacity after traumatic injuries,posing a heavy socioeconomic burden.Common clinical therapies for small-t...As a highly specialized shock-absorbing connective tissue,articular cartilage(AC)has very limited self-repair capacity after traumatic injuries,posing a heavy socioeconomic burden.Common clinical therapies for small-to medium-size focal AC defects are well-developed endogenous repair and cell-based strategies,including microfracture,mosaicplasty,autologous chondrocyte implantation(ACI),and matrix-induced ACI(MACI).However,these treatments frequently result in mechanically inferior fibrocartilage,low cost-effectiveness,donor site morbidity,and short-term durability.It prompts an urgent need for innovative approaches to pattern a pro-regenerative microenvironment and yield hyaline-like cartilage with similar biomechanical and biochemical properties as healthy native AC.Acellular regenerative biomaterials can create a favorable local environment for AC repair without causing relevant regulatory and scientific concerns from cell-based treatments.A deeper understanding of the mechanism of endogenous cartilage healing is furthering the(bio)design and application of these scaffolds.Currently,the utilization of regenerative biomaterials to magnify the repairing effect of joint-resident endogenous stem/progenitor cells(ESPCs)presents an evolving improvement for cartilage repair.This review starts by briefly summarizing the current understanding of endogenous AC repair and the vital roles of ESPCs and chemoattractants for cartilage regeneration.Then several intrinsic hurdles for regenerative biomaterials-based AC repair are discussed.The recent advances in novel(bio)design and application regarding regenerative biomaterials with favorable biochemical cues to provide an instructive extracellular microenvironment and to guide the ESPCs(e.g.adhesion,migration,proliferation,differentiation,matrix production,and remodeling)for cartilage repair are summarized.Finally,this review outlines the future directions of engineering the next-generation regenerative biomaterials toward ultimate clinical translation.展开更多
Aims it is generally accepted that visual displays and floral scent play important roles in communication between flowering plants and their pollinators.However,the relative role of visual and olfactory cues in pollin...Aims it is generally accepted that visual displays and floral scent play important roles in communication between flowering plants and their pollinators.However,the relative role of visual and olfactory cues in pollinator attraction is largely unknown.in this study,we determined the roles of both types of cue in attracting pollinators to Cornus capitata,a medium sized tree with each capitulum sur-rounded by four large,white,petaloid bracts.Methods Pollinator observations and pollination experiments were con-ducted in a natural population;the inflorescences’visual and olfactory signals were characterized by spectral and chemical analyses;the responses of pollinators to visual and olfactory cues were tested using dual-choice behavioural bioassays;the relative roles of visual and olfactory cues in pollinator attrac-tion were tested by comparing the responses of pollinators to inflorescences subjected to three experimental treatments(intact,all bracts removed,and capitulum removed)within the natural population.Important Findings For fruit set,C.capitata is entirely dependent on pollinators,with a bee,Anthophora sp.,being the main pollinator.bracts present high colour distance and green contrast against the leaves.Twelve volatile compounds in the floral scent were detected,most of which have previously been reported to be attractive to a broad spectrum of bee species.behavioural bioassays showed that both,visual cues alone and olfactory cues alone,are attractive to pollinating bees.However,vis-ual cues alone attracted significantly more approaches than olfactory cues alone,while olfactory cues alone elicited a significantly higher landing percentage than visual cues alone.The finding suggests that,in the C.capitata-Anthophora sp.interaction,visual cues are mainly used for location from long distances,while olfactory cues mainly aid landing from short distances.our results indicate that different modalities of floral cues should be considered together to understand fully the communication between flowering plant and pollinators.展开更多
The cashew stem girdler, Analeptes trifasciata Fabricius (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), damages cashew by its girdling activities in the stem thereby causing huge economic losses. The stem girdler is managed through cult...The cashew stem girdler, Analeptes trifasciata Fabricius (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), damages cashew by its girdling activities in the stem thereby causing huge economic losses. The stem girdler is managed through cultural practice of burning girdled stems and beetles, though this has drawbacks. The objective of this study was to explore the cues mediating attraction to the cashew host plant;hence the role of olfaction in host plant location by A. trifasciata underlying the semio-chemical option for controlling this insect pest. A diffusional Y-tube olfactometer was used to study the behavioural response of A. trifasciata, to freshly cut cashew stem and leaves odour sources. Methanol-extract of these plant tissues was subjected to the coupled gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. Y-tube olfactometric assays demonstrated that both sexes oriented towards and spent significantly more time in stem odour arm compared to the leaf odour arm in both male (male: t = 2.228, d.f = 11, P = 0.040) and female (t = 2.341, d.f = 11, P = 0.040). A combination of fatty acids, amino acids and carbohydrates were detected in cashew stems. Some of these fatty acids are attractants to other insect pests. It is suspected that these fatty acid blends may possibly be responsible for facilitating host plant location by both sexes. In conclusion, both sexes were independently and strongly attracted to the stem volatiles;this study opens the possibility of utilizing cashew stem volatiles as surveillance and control tools.展开更多
文摘BACKGROUND Pain in the back or pelvis or fear of back pain may affect the timing or cocontraction of the core muscles.In both static and dynamic movements,the Sahrmann core stability test provides an assessment of core muscle activation and a person's ability to stabilize the lumbopelvic complex.Preparatory cues and images can be used to increase the activation of these muscles.To attain optimal movement patterns,it will be necessary to determine what cueing will give the most effective results for core stability.AIM To investigate the effects of external and internal cues on core muscle activation during the Sahrmann five-level core stability test.METHODS Total 68 participants(21.83±3.47 years)were randomly allocated to an external(n=35)or internal cue group(n=33).Participants performed the Sahrmann fivelevel core stability test without a cue as baseline and the five-level stability exercises with an internal or external cue.External cue group received a pressure biofeedback unit(PBU),and the internal cue group received an audio cue.A Delsys Trigno^(TM)surface electromyography unit was used for muscle activation from the rectus abdominis,external oblique,and transverse abdominis/internal oblique muscles.RESULTS Linear mixed effects model analysis showed that cueing had a significant effect on core muscle activation(P=0.001);however,there was no significant difference between cue types(internal or external)(P=0.130).CONCLUSION Both external and internal cueing have significant effects on core muscle activation during the Sahrmann five-level core stability test and the PBU does not create higher muscle activation than internal cueing.
基金This study is supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of PPSUC under Grant 2022JKF02009.
文摘Face forgery detection is drawing ever-increasing attention in the academic community owing to security concerns.Despite the considerable progress in existing methods,we note that:Previous works overlooked finegrain forgery cues with high transferability.Such cues positively impact the model’s accuracy and generalizability.Moreover,single-modality often causes overfitting of the model,and Red-Green-Blue(RGB)modal-only is not conducive to extracting the more detailed forgery traces.We propose a novel framework for fine-grain forgery cues mining with fusion modality to cope with these issues.First,we propose two functional modules to reveal and locate the deeper forged features.Our method locates deeper forgery cues through a dual-modality progressive fusion module and a noise adaptive enhancement module,which can excavate the association between dualmodal space and channels and enhance the learning of subtle noise features.A sensitive patch branch is introduced on this foundation to enhance the mining of subtle forgery traces under fusion modality.The experimental results demonstrate that our proposed framework can desirably explore the differences between authentic and forged images with supervised learning.Comprehensive evaluations of several mainstream datasets show that our method outperforms the state-of-the-art detection methods with remarkable detection ability and generalizability.
文摘Background: Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among women, making it a significant global public health issue. Although developed countries have a higher incidence of breast cancer, developing countries like Nigeria have a low incidence rate but higher rates of morbidity and mortality from the disease. Objective: This study explored how cues to action influenced the use of immunohistochemistry by women in Imo State and how many of them used immunohistochemistry (IHC) to diagnose their condition. Methodology: We used a descriptive study methodology for the investigation, and 121 participants were chosen at random from the 891 total population. The respondents were chosen through a systematic sampling procedure. Structured questionnaire was used as the data collection tool, and the statistical software for social science (SPSS) was used to analyze the data. Results: The mean age of the 121 participants in the study was 45.2 ± 0.7 years. The study found that awareness of IHC services is a significant influencing factor for the uptake and health personnel is the major source of awareness of IHC services. Cues to action particularly from health workers, as well as knowledge of any victim of breast cancer and user of IHC services, also significantly influenced uptake of the IHC services (P Conclusion: In our study, utilization of IHC services was also impacted by cues to action, particularly from healthcare professionals, as well as awareness of any breast cancer victims and those who used IHC services thus cues to action is a major predicator of immunohistochemistry uptake among women with breast cancer.
文摘Mechanisms of predator detection and the influence of the presence of nonlethal predators on antipredator defense behavior and metamorphic traits were studied in the Indian tree frog, Polypedates maculatus. Exposure of P. maculatus tadpoles to chemical cues of caged predator（crabs, Barytelphusa spp.） fed with either conspecific or heterogeneric tadpoles, or were starved elicited defense behavior（by avoiding predator zone） in them. Such a behavior was not evident when exposed to predators housed in a glass beaker（visual cues）. Both early（Gosner stage 27–28） and later（Gosner stage 35–36） stage tadpoles when exposed to caged predators（fed with conspecific tadpoles）, prey tadpoles spent less time swimming and remained motionless for longer periods. Yet, the time spent by prey in feeding was unaffected. Further, the predator avoidance behavior exhibited by them was of the same intensity regardless of whether the caged predators were fed or starved implying the influence of predator＇s kairomones. Tadpoles reared with caged predator reached the metamorphic climax stage（MC stage; Gosner stage 42） earlier than those reared without a predator. Size at emergence（Gosner stage 46） was comparable in both the groups. The findings suggest that P. maculatus tadpoles assess predation risk chiefly by sensing kairomones of the predator in eliciting antipredator defense behaviors. Accelerated development and early metamorphosis without any compromise of the size at emergence may be due to their unaltered feeding activity.
基金supported by the National Science Foundation IOB-0641750
文摘The use of multisensory cues to locate mates can increase an organism＇s success by acting as a back-up plan when one system fails, by providing additional information to the receiver, and by increasing their ability to detect mates using senses that have different ranges in a variable aquatic environment. In this contribution we review the sensory cues that male horseshoe crabs Lirnulus polyphemus are known to use when locating mates and then provide new data that shed light on this subject. Dur- ing the breeding season, females migrate into shore during high tides to spawn. Males attach to females as they approach the beach or are attracted to pairs already spawning. Vision is well established as an important cue in attracting males. Although chemoreception is well known in other marine arthropods, and horseshoe crabs have the anatomy available, there are few studies on chemical cues in this species. Experiments are presented here that provide evidence for chemical cue use. We show that the attraction, and retention, of attached and satellite males to actively spawning females and mating pairs involves multimodal cues
基金supported by the EU-Japan coordinated R&D project on“Culture Aware Robots and Environmental Sensor Systems for Elderly Support,”commissioned by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan and EC Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme(737858)financial supports from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research(AFOSR-AOARD/FA2386-19-1-4015)。
文摘With the increasing presence of robots in our daily life,there is a strong need and demand for the strategies to acquire a high quality interaction between robots and users by enabling robots to understand users’mood,intention,and other aspects.During human-human interaction,personality traits have an important influence on human behavior,decision,mood,and many others.Therefore,we propose an efficient computational framework to endow the robot with the capability of understanding the user’s personality traits based on the user’s nonverbal communication cues represented by three visual features including the head motion,gaze,and body motion energy,and three vocal features including voice pitch,voice energy,and mel-frequency cepstral coefficient(MFCC).We used the Pepper robot in this study as a communication robot to interact with each participant by asking questions,and meanwhile,the robot extracts the nonverbal features from each participant’s habitual behavior using its on-board sensors.On the other hand,each participant’s personality traits are evaluated with a questionnaire.We then train the ridge regression and linear support vector machine(SVM)classifiers using the nonverbal features and personality trait labels from a questionnaire and evaluate the performance of the classifiers.We have verified the validity of the proposed models that showed promising binary classification performance on recognizing each of the Big Five personality traits of the participants based on individual differences in nonverbal communication cues.
基金supported by the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund(2013-MSCRFE-146-00)(to XJ)in part by the National Institute of Health(R01HL118084)(to XJ)
文摘Nerve guidance channels for peripheral nerve injury： Over the past decade, nerve guidance channels （NGCs） have emerged as a promising technology for regenerating gap injuries in peripheral nerves. Nerve gap injuries resulting from neurodegeneration and trauma, such as car accidents and battlefield wounds, affect hun- dreds of thousands of people annually. Motivated by suboptimal results obtained with the current gold standard of autologous grafting （i.e., autografts）, various commercially available NGCs composed of synthetic and biomaterials are now alternatively available （Jia et al., 2014; Jones et al., 2016）.
基金supported by a grant from the National Park Service (PS180060016)supported by a Graduate Teaching Fellowship (GK-12) from the National Science Foundation (Florida Tech INSTEP Program) under grant Nos.DGE 0440529 and 0638702
文摘Adult horseshoe crabs Limulus polyphemus have long served as models for the study of vision in marine arthropods. Yet, little is known about the ability of early life history stages to detect and respond to visual cues. We examined the visually directed movements of larvae and first stage juveniles to horizons containing dark visual targets of different sizes. The study tested the hypotheses that （1） larval and juvenile crabs can detect and respond to visual targets and （2） the direction of orientation varies with the presence of chemical cues associated with settlement habitats. Orientation of larval and juvenile crabs to rectangles subtending angles from 30--330~ was tested in a circular arena containing water that either lacked estuarine chemical cues （offshore water） or contained odors from aquatic vegetation or known predators. In the absence of chemical odors, larvae oriented toward and juveniles moved away from dark horizons subtending angles 〉 60~. When placed in water containing chemical odors from potential nursery habitats, including the seagrasses Halodule wrightii and Syringodium filiforme, crabs reversed their direction of orientation relative to their responses in offshore water. Odors from two known predators, the mummichug Fundulus grandis and blue crab Callinectes sapidus, had no affect on the orientation of larvae. Yet, juveniles responded to both odors by moving toward the visual target. Results support the hypothesis that the visual orientation of larval and juvenile horseshoe crabs changes upon exposure to habitat and predator cues and that the direction of the response undergoes an ontogenetic shift following metamorphosis
文摘The objective of this pilot study was to compare two different methods of educating prenatal women regarding breast-feeding. Comparisons were made between traditional and innovative methods to determine which was more effective in increasing breastfeeding duration. Over a 32 month period, 197 prenatal women were assigned to either a control (C, n = 139) or an experimental (E, n = 51) group. The C group received standard breastfeeding education, while the E group received standard education in addition to information about infant hunger cues. Cox Regression and Kap-lan- Meier analysis were performed. Estimated mean number of weeks for C and E groups to continue breastfeeding was 14.3 + 17.4 weeks and 18.5 + 17.1 weeks, respectively. At 26 weeks, duration of breastfeeding approached significance (chi square = 2.907, df = 1, p = 0.088), indicating probability of continuing to breastfeed was about 28% better for those in E group when compared to C group. Duration of breastfeeding may increase when prenatal women are taught to identify infant behavior such as hunger cues.
基金supported in part by a grant from the National Institute of Health ( HL121450)UCLA Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research Innovation Award
文摘Cell reprograming technologies have broad applications in cell therapy,disease modeling and drug screening.Direct reprogramming is the process of converting from one cell type into a very distantly related cell type.In this direct conversion process,cells do not proceed through a pluripotent stage,which can be time-consuming and challenging due to spontaneous differentiation.This method also offers the advantage of circumventing the teratoma potential that is associated with using iPSCs.Previous works have demonstrated that with the use of genetic manipulation,fibroblasts can be directly converted into other cell types,including neurons,cardiomyocytes,blood cell progenitors,and hepatocytes.It is well known that the microenvironment can directs cell fate,and in turn cells interact with or remodel their niches.Accumulative evidence suggests that biophysical factors such as the microtopography and mechanical property of cell adhesive substrates regulate a variety of cellular functions such as migration,proliferation and differentiation,which in turn can modulate wound healing,tissue remodeling and tumor growth,but there are limited number of studies on the roles of biophysical cues in cell reprogramming[1].Passive topographical cues offer a simple and effective method to improve reprogramming efficiency without the need for biochemical manipulations.Our previous study has demonstrated that somatic cells cultured on the parallel microgrooves,which can replace the effects of small-molecule epigenetic modifiers and significantly improve the iPSCs reprogramming efficiency.The mechanism relies on the mechanomodulation of the cells’epigenetic state,specifically,an increase of histone H3 acetylation and H3K4 methylation[2].Additionally,in cardiomyocytes reprogramming study,culturing the fibroblasts on microgrooved substrate enhances the expression of cardiomyocyte genes by day 2 and improves the yield of partially reprogrammed cells at day 10.By combining microgrooved substrate with an optimized culture protocol,the conversion from fibroblasts to cardiomyocytes is increased through genetic changes and structural organization of sarcomeres[3].Besides biomaterial topography,recent studies have demonstrated the effects of matrix stiffness on cell reprogramming.For example,a decrease of substrate stiffness can improve the iPSCs reprogramming efficiency,while an intermediate stiffness can significantly enhance the efficiency of neuronal reprogramming [4].Further analysis suggests that intracellular biomechanical changes play an important role in reprogramming process.Cells interact with the biophysical factors in the microenvironment through an'inside-out'and'outside-in'feedback loop,which is mediated by focal adhesions and cytoskeleton [5].Therefore,we investigated the role of the intracellular mechanical structure in cell reprogramming.We showed,for the first time,that the mechanical property of cells was modulated during the early phase of reprogramming as determined by atomic force microscopy(AFM)and high-throughput quantitative deformability cytometry(q-DC).We observed that cell stiffness increased by day 1 during reprogramming process,which was followed by a pronounced decrease within a few days.Examination of actin cytoskeleton showed that actin assembled into a network with a cage-like structure around the nucleus by day 1,but this structure along with the majority of the cytoskeleton gradually disappeared,coinciding with the changes in intracellular mechanical property.Furthermore,inhibition of actin contractility by using small molecules significantly altered the reprogramming efficiency.These findings provide new insights into the mechanisms of how biophysical cues modulate cell fate.In any given physiological microenvironment,cells may experience various of biophysical inputs,which,as we show,may affect cell phenotype changes.
文摘The current study investigated whether domestic dogs encode local and/or global cues in spatial working memory. Seven dogs were trained to use a source of allocentric information (local and/or global cues) to locate an attractive object they saw move and disappear behind one of the three opaque boxes arrayed in front of them. To do so, after the disappearance of the target object and out of the dogs’ knowledge, all sources of allocentric information were simultaneously shifted to a new spatial position and the dogs were forced to follow a U-shaped pathway leading to the hiding box. Out of the seven dogs that were trained in the detour problem, only three dogs learned to use the cues that were moved from trial to trial. On tests, local (boxes and experimenter) and/or global cues (walls of the room) were systematically and drastically shifted to a new position in the testing chamber. Although they easily succeeded the control trials, the three dogs failed to use a specific source of allocentric information when local and global cues were put in conflict. In discussion, we explore several hypotheses to explain why dogs have difficulties to use allocentric cues to locate a hidden object in a detour problem and why they do not differentiate the local and global cues in this particular experimental setting.
文摘Many studies have looked at how dogs respond to human communicative information. Here, we examined which human communicative factors were important in influencing dogs’ responses. Eleven healthy pet dogs with no apparent aggressive behaviour toward people were recruited. Five sensory conditions (all cues presented;either a visual, an auditory, or an olfactory cue presented;no cues presented) were provided three times randomly to each dog during the tests. All tests were video recorded, and both the dogs’ behaviour and time taken to reach the person when she presented each of the sensory cue conditions were observed. Total rates of reaching the person were as follows: 97.0% (all cues), 87.9% (auditory cues), 84.4% (visual cues), 84.4% (olfactory cues), and 69.7% (no cues). The time taken for the dog to notice the person in the box and then obtain a reward from her differed among the five conditions: all cues (6.00 ± 0.32 s) and visual cues (6.02 ± 0.91 s) were significantly faster than auditory cues (18.56 ± 9.57 s) and no cues (26.55 ± 11.72 s). Thus the type of information input was important in recognition of the person by the dogs and influenced the dogs’ response times;visual cues appeared advantageous in confirming the person’s presence.
基金supported by the grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.31372217 to Guangzhan Fang and No.31270042 to Jianguo Cui)the Youth Professor Project of Chengdu Institute of Biology(Y3B3011)Youth Innovation Promotion Association of Chinese Academy of Sciences(Y2C3011,KSCX2-EW-J-22)to Jianguo Cui
文摘Male-male vocal competition in anuran species may be influenced by cues related to the temporal sequence of male calls as well by internal temporal, spectral and spatial ones. Nevertheless, the conditions under which each type of cue is important remain unclear. Since the salience of different cues could be reflected by dynamic properties of male-male competition under certain experimental manipulation, we investigated the effects of repeating playbacks of conspecific calls on male call production in the Emei music frog（Babina daunchina）. In Babina, most males produce calls from nest burrows which modify the spectral features of the cues. Females prefer calls produced from inside burrows which are defined as highly sexually attractive（HSA） while those produced outside burrows as low sexual attractiveness（LSA）. In this study HSA and LSA calls were broadcasted either antiphonally or stereophonically through spatially separated speakers in which the temporal sequence and/or spatial position of the playbacks was either predictable or random. Results showed that most males consistently avoided producing advertisement calls overlapping the playback stimuli and generally produced calls competitively in advance of the playbacks. Furthermore males preferentially competed with the HSA calls when the sequence was predictable but competed equally with HSA and LSA calls if the sequence was random regardless of the availability of spatial cues, implying that males relied more on available sequence cues than spatial ones to remain competitive.
基金supported by the grants from National Marine Public Welfare Research Program (201205023)the Scientific and Technical Supporting Program (2011 BAD13B03)Shandong Seed Project
文摘The effects of four ions and eight neuroactive compounds on inducing larval settlement ofA. japonicus were assessed in the present study. All bioassays were conducted in 60 × 9mm Petri dishes, each contained 10mL of the test solution and 10 doliolaria larvae. There were significant inductive effects of K＋ （10 mmol L-l）, NH4＋ （0.1 mmol L-l）, GABA （10-3 tool L-l）, acetylcholine （10-5 molL-l）, L-DOPA （10-SmolL-1）, norepinephrine （10-SmolL-1） and dopamine （10-TmolL-1 and 10-5 molL-1） on the settlement of sea cucumber larvae. L-DOPA and dopamine are the most efficient chemical cues to induce A.japonicus larvae to settle. The highest percentage of larval settlement was induced by 10-5 tool L-1 L-DOPA and dopamine （33% and 40%） compared to the control （7%）. However, Ca2＋, Mg2＋, choline, serotonin, and epinephrine were less effective on larval settlement at all tested concentrations. This study evaluated the stability and feasibility of chemical cues for larval settlement in different culture systems, which can be applied to improve the hatchery production of this valuable species.
文摘We investigated if attentional bias directed to the right increased with age. We assessed the characteristics of the following types of eye-gaze by using the Posner cueing paradigm. Younger (n =16) and older (n = 20) adults participated in this study. First of all, a face which looked straight ahead was presented at the center of screen, followed by a gaze cue that looked left or right. Immediately after this informative cue, a target stimulus (“*”) appeared to the left or right of the face. The stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA) between the cue and the target was selected from 300, 700, and 1100 ms. Participants were required to judge whether the target appeared to the left or the right of the gaze cue as quickly and accurately as possible. Results showed that older adults indicate a larger positive gaze-cueing effect when the eye-gaze shifted rightward, whereas this effect was not observed for a leftward shift. Moreover, a negative gaze-cueing effect (inhibition of return) was observed when the SOA was longer only for the leftward eye-gaze shift of older adults. These modulations of the cueing effect did not appear in younger adults. These findings demonstrate that the rightward attentional bias in older adults is more robust than the leftward bias.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.31922050)the Fund of the Jilin Province Science and Technology Development Project(Grant No.20220101273JC)+1 种基金the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(Grant Nos.2412023QD026 and 2412023YQ002)the Special Foundation for National Science and Technology Basic Research Program of China(Grant No.2021FY100301).
文摘Anti-predation strategies are critical to animal survival and are fundamental to deciphering predator–prey interactions.As an important defense strategy,sensory predator detection(such as through acoustic and visual cues)enables animals to assess predation risk and execute predator-avoidance behavior;however,there are limited studies on the anti-predation behavior of nocturnal animals.The prey of bats provides an excellent representative system for examining the anti-predation behavior of nocturnal animals.Here,we broadcasted different types of echolocation calls of the bird-eating bat Ia io to two wild passerine birds,namely,Zosterops japonicus and Sinosuthora webbiana,that are preyed upon by I.io,and presented the birds with individual bats under different light intensities.The results showed that both bird species were able to perceive the low-frequency audible portion of the bats’echolocation calls;however,they did not exhibit escape responses to the acoustic stimuli.In the dark and under moonlit conditions,both bird species were unable to respond to active bats at close range and the birds only exhibited evasive flight behavior when bats approached or touched them.These results suggest that nocturnal passerine birds may not be able to use acoustic or visual cues to detect bats and adopt evasive maneuvers to avoid predation.This work suggests that bat predation pressure may not elicit primary predator-avoidance responses in nocturnal passerine birds.The results provide new insights into the anti-predation behavior of nocturnal animals.
基金supported by the Areas of Excellence Scheme from University Grant Council of Hong Kong(AoE/M-402/20)the AO Foundation,Switzerland(AO-OCD Consortium TA1711481)+1 种基金the Theme-based Research Scheme from University Grant Council of Hong Kong(T13-402/17-N)the Mainland-Hong Kong Joint Funding Scheme of Innovation and Technology Fund:ITF MHKJFS(MHP/011/20).
文摘As a highly specialized shock-absorbing connective tissue,articular cartilage(AC)has very limited self-repair capacity after traumatic injuries,posing a heavy socioeconomic burden.Common clinical therapies for small-to medium-size focal AC defects are well-developed endogenous repair and cell-based strategies,including microfracture,mosaicplasty,autologous chondrocyte implantation(ACI),and matrix-induced ACI(MACI).However,these treatments frequently result in mechanically inferior fibrocartilage,low cost-effectiveness,donor site morbidity,and short-term durability.It prompts an urgent need for innovative approaches to pattern a pro-regenerative microenvironment and yield hyaline-like cartilage with similar biomechanical and biochemical properties as healthy native AC.Acellular regenerative biomaterials can create a favorable local environment for AC repair without causing relevant regulatory and scientific concerns from cell-based treatments.A deeper understanding of the mechanism of endogenous cartilage healing is furthering the(bio)design and application of these scaffolds.Currently,the utilization of regenerative biomaterials to magnify the repairing effect of joint-resident endogenous stem/progenitor cells(ESPCs)presents an evolving improvement for cartilage repair.This review starts by briefly summarizing the current understanding of endogenous AC repair and the vital roles of ESPCs and chemoattractants for cartilage regeneration.Then several intrinsic hurdles for regenerative biomaterials-based AC repair are discussed.The recent advances in novel(bio)design and application regarding regenerative biomaterials with favorable biochemical cues to provide an instructive extracellular microenvironment and to guide the ESPCs(e.g.adhesion,migration,proliferation,differentiation,matrix production,and remodeling)for cartilage repair are summarized.Finally,this review outlines the future directions of engineering the next-generation regenerative biomaterials toward ultimate clinical translation.
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China(U1136601,31100179,31200184)the Strategic Priority Research Program(B)of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(XDB03030112)+2 种基金The CAS/SAFEA International Partnership Program for Creative Research Teams to H.S.the Natural Science Foundation of Yunnan Province(2011FB102,2014FB173)the Western Light Talent Culture Project(2014312D11015).
文摘Aims it is generally accepted that visual displays and floral scent play important roles in communication between flowering plants and their pollinators.However,the relative role of visual and olfactory cues in pollinator attraction is largely unknown.in this study,we determined the roles of both types of cue in attracting pollinators to Cornus capitata,a medium sized tree with each capitulum sur-rounded by four large,white,petaloid bracts.Methods Pollinator observations and pollination experiments were con-ducted in a natural population;the inflorescences’visual and olfactory signals were characterized by spectral and chemical analyses;the responses of pollinators to visual and olfactory cues were tested using dual-choice behavioural bioassays;the relative roles of visual and olfactory cues in pollinator attrac-tion were tested by comparing the responses of pollinators to inflorescences subjected to three experimental treatments(intact,all bracts removed,and capitulum removed)within the natural population.Important Findings For fruit set,C.capitata is entirely dependent on pollinators,with a bee,Anthophora sp.,being the main pollinator.bracts present high colour distance and green contrast against the leaves.Twelve volatile compounds in the floral scent were detected,most of which have previously been reported to be attractive to a broad spectrum of bee species.behavioural bioassays showed that both,visual cues alone and olfactory cues alone,are attractive to pollinating bees.However,vis-ual cues alone attracted significantly more approaches than olfactory cues alone,while olfactory cues alone elicited a significantly higher landing percentage than visual cues alone.The finding suggests that,in the C.capitata-Anthophora sp.interaction,visual cues are mainly used for location from long distances,while olfactory cues mainly aid landing from short distances.our results indicate that different modalities of floral cues should be considered together to understand fully the communication between flowering plant and pollinators.
文摘The cashew stem girdler, Analeptes trifasciata Fabricius (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), damages cashew by its girdling activities in the stem thereby causing huge economic losses. The stem girdler is managed through cultural practice of burning girdled stems and beetles, though this has drawbacks. The objective of this study was to explore the cues mediating attraction to the cashew host plant;hence the role of olfaction in host plant location by A. trifasciata underlying the semio-chemical option for controlling this insect pest. A diffusional Y-tube olfactometer was used to study the behavioural response of A. trifasciata, to freshly cut cashew stem and leaves odour sources. Methanol-extract of these plant tissues was subjected to the coupled gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. Y-tube olfactometric assays demonstrated that both sexes oriented towards and spent significantly more time in stem odour arm compared to the leaf odour arm in both male (male: t = 2.228, d.f = 11, P = 0.040) and female (t = 2.341, d.f = 11, P = 0.040). A combination of fatty acids, amino acids and carbohydrates were detected in cashew stems. Some of these fatty acids are attractants to other insect pests. It is suspected that these fatty acid blends may possibly be responsible for facilitating host plant location by both sexes. In conclusion, both sexes were independently and strongly attracted to the stem volatiles;this study opens the possibility of utilizing cashew stem volatiles as surveillance and control tools.
