griPASTA: A hacked kitchen scale-based system for quantification of grip strength in rodents

Assessment of neuromuscular function is critical for understanding pathophysiological changes related to motor system dysfunction in animal models of different diseases. Among a number of methods used for quantification of grip performance in rodents, gauge-based grip strength meters seem to provide the most reliable results, however such instruments are unaffordable by many laboratories. Here we demonstrate how to build a grip strength apparatus for rodents from scratch using a digital kitchen scale, an empty cage and a microcontroller, with both hardware and software being completely open-source to enable maximal modularity and flexibility of the instrument in concordance with the principles of open-source bioinstrumentation. Furthermore, we test the griPASTA system for assessment of increased muscular rigidity in the proof-of-concept experiment in the rat model of Parkinson’s disease induced by intrastriatal administration of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA). Finally, the importance of bioinstrumental customization is demonstrated by exploiting the ability of griPASTA to provide raw data and enable calculation of grip strength trial speed, a variable known to affect the grip strength measurements that is not standardly measured by the commercial grip strength meters.

“See this Empty Cage now Corrode”

Our sexually violent predator (SVP) laws are a miserable failure. We suggest a turn to international human rights law (IHR) as a source of rights for this population, and consider this matter from the perspective of comparative law. Many nations have enacted laws that both mirror and contradict early developments in United States jurisprudence, but there, challenges to community containment and preventive detention laws have been more successful when based upon IHR law. Also, registry notification is generally far more limited, and details are usually confined solely to police agencies. We must consider laws and court decisions from other nations when implementing US law reform in this area. In Part I, we consider the implications of IHR law, and assess how realistic it is that such law be embraced by domestic jurisdictions in dealing with relevant cases. We also consider the human rights issues and violations that have resulted from domestic enactment of International Megan’s Law. In Part II, we apply comparative law in an effort to determine how other nations have struggled with some of the basic issues that have been focused on by domestic jurisdictions since the Supreme Court’s decision in Kansas v. Hendricks (1997). In Part III, we assess the application of therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) to the legal and human rights issues discussed prior, in an effort to determine whether other nations have more successfully implemented TJ principles to combat some of the seemingly-intractable problems raised in SVP cases. We conclude by offering suggestions for US-based policymakers.

Mesotocin influences pinyon jay prosociality

Many species exhibit prosocial behaviour, in which one individual's actions benefit another individual, often without an immediate benefit to itself. The neuropeptide oxytocin is an important hormonal mechanism influencing prosociality in mammals, but it is unclear whether the avian homologue mesotocin plays a similar functional role in birds. Here, we experimentally tested prosociality in pinyon jays ( Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus ), a highly social corvid species that spontaneously shares food with others. First, we measured prosocial preferences in a prosocial choice task with two different pay-off distributions: Prosocial trials delivered food to both the subject and either an empty cage or a partner bird, whereas Altruism trials delivered food only to an empty cage or a partner bird (none to subject). In a second experiment, we examined whether administering mesotocin influenced prosocial preferences. Compared to choices in a control condition, we show that subjects voluntarily delivered food rewards to partners, but only when also receiving food for themselves (Prosocial trials), and administration of high levels of mesotocin increased these behaviours. Thus, in birds, mesotocin seems to play a similar functional role in facilitating prosocial behaviours as oxytocin does in mammals, suggesting an evolutionarily conserved hormonal mechanism for prosociality.

Can video playback provide social information for foraging blue tits?

Video playback is becoming a common method for manipulating social stimuli in experiments. Parid tits are one of the most commonly studied groups of wild birds. However, it is not yet clear if tits respond to video playback or how their behavioural responses should be measured. Behaviours may also differ depending on what they observe demonstrators encountering. Here we present blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) videos of demonstrators discovering palatable or aversive prey (injected with bitter-tasting Bitrex) from coloured feeding cups. First we quantify variation in demonstrators’ responses to the prey items: aversive prey provoked high rates of beak wiping and head shaking. We then show that focal blue tits respond differently to the presence of a demonstrator on a video screen, depending on whether demonstrators discover palatable or aversive prey. Focal birds faced the video screen more during aversive prey presentations, and made more head turns. Regardless of prey type, focal birds also hopped more frequently during the presence of a demonstrator (compared to a control video of a different coloured feeding cup in an empty cage). Finally, we tested if demonstrators’ behaviour affected focal birds’ food preferences by giving individuals a choice to forage from the same cup as a demonstrator, or from the cup in the control video. We found that only half of the individuals made their choice in accordance to social information in the videos, i.e., their foraging choices were not different from random. Individuals that chose in accordance with a demonstrator, however, made their choice faster than individuals that chose an alternative cup. Together, our results suggest that video playback can provide social cues to blue tits, but individuals vary greatly in how they use this information in their foraging decisions.

Dipyrone ameliorates behavioural changes induced by unpredictable chronic mild stress: gender differences

Purpose: Antidepressant effects of analgesics have been investigate in both clinical and experimental studies. The purpose of this study was to investigate if the analgesic-antipyretic drug, dipyrone, also had antidepressant-like effects. Methods: Depression-like effects were investigated in an unpredictable chronic mild stress (UCMS) model in both male and female mice. Cage changes, light-dark cycle reversal, cage tilting, wet floor, empty cage, foreign material on the floor and predator sounds were used to induce light stress at different times for six weeks. Dipyrone was administered intraperitoneally beginning from the third week. Splash, rota-rod (RR) and forced swimming (FST) tests were performed at the seventh week as behavioural tests to evaluate the antidepressant-like effects of dipyrone. Coat state score (CSS) and weights of animals were recorded at seventh weeks. Results were analyzed using one or two-way ANOVA followed by the Bonferonni post hoc test. Results: Weight of UCMS-exposed mice did not change compared with controls; however, significant changes were observed in CSS in both sexes of stressed mice (p