Object grasping and manipulation in capuchin monkeys (genera Cebus and Sapajus)

The abilities to perform skilled hand movements and to manipulate objects dexterously are landmarks in the evolution of primates. The study of how primates use their hands to grasp and manipulate objects in accordance with their needs sheds light on how these species are physically and mentally equipped to deal with the problems they encounter in their daily life. We report data on capuchin monkeys, highly manipulative platyrrhine species that usually spend a great deal of time in active manipulation to search for food and to prepare it for ingestion. Our aim is to provide an overview of current knowledge on the ability of capuchins to grasp and manipulate objects, with a special focus on how these species express their cognitive potential through manual behaviour. Data on the ability of capuchins to move their hands and on the neural correlates sustaining their actions are reported, as are findings on the manipulative ability of capuchins to anticipate future actions and to relate objects to other objects and substrates. The manual behaviour of capuchins is considered in different domains, such as motor planning, extractive foraging and tool use, in both captive and natural settings. Anatomofunctional and behavioural similarities to and differences from other haplorrhine species regarding manual dexterity are also discussed

Tactile information improves visual object discrimination in kea, Nestor notabilis, and capuchin monkeys, Sapajus spp.

In comparative visual cognition research, the influence of information acquired by nonvisual senses has received little attention. Systematic studies focusing on how the integration of information from sight and touch can affect animal perception are sparse. Here, we investigated whether tactile input improves visual discrimination ability of a bird, the kea, and capuchin monkeys, two species with acute vision, and known for their tendency to handle objects. To this end, we assessed whether, at the attainment of a criterion, accuracy and/or learning speed in the visual modality were enhanced by haptic (i.e. active tactile) exploration of an object. Subjects were trained to select the positive stimulus between two cylinders of the same shape and size, but with different surface structures. In the Sight condition, one pair of cylinders was inserted into transparent Plexiglas tubes. This prevented animals from haptically perceiving the objects' surfaces. In the Sight and Touch condition, one pair of cylinders was not inserted into transparent Plexiglas tubes. This allowed the subjects to perceive the objects' surfaces both visually and haptically. We found that both kea and capuchins (1) showed comparable levels of accuracy at the attainment of the learning criterion in both conditions, but (2) required fewer trials to achieve the criterion in the Sight and Touch condition. Moreover, this study showed that both kea and capuchins can integrate information acquired by the visual and tactile modalities. To our knowledge, this represents the first evidence of visuotactile integration in a bird species. Overall, our findings demonstrate that the acquisition of tactile information while manipulating objects facilitates visual discrimination of objects in two phylogenetically distant species

M\"ossbauer, nuclear inelastic scattering and density functional studies on the second metastable state of Na2[Fe(CN)5NO]⋅\cdot2H2O

The structure of the light-induced metastable state SII of Na2[Fe(CN)5NO]$\cdot$2H2O 14 was investigated by transmission M\"ossbauer spectroscopy (TMS) in the temperature range 15 between 85 and 135 K, nuclear inelastic scattering (NIS) at 98 K using synchrotron 16 radiation and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The DFT and TMS results 17 strongly support the view that the NO group in SII takes a side-on molecular orientation 18 and, further, is dynamically displaced from one eclipsed, via a staggered, to a second 19 eclipsed orientation. The population conditions for generating SII are optimal for 20 measurements by TMS, yet they are modest for accumulating NIS spectra. Optimization 21 of population conditions for NIS measurements is discussed and new NIS experiments on 22 SII are proposed

Meropenem vs standard of care for treatment of neonatal late onset sepsis (NeoMero1): A randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: The early use of broad-spectrum antibiotics remains the cornerstone for the treatment of neonatal late onset sepsis (LOS). However, which antibiotics should be used is still debatable, as relevant studies were conducted more than 20 years ago, recruited in single centres or countries, evaluated antibiotics not in clinical use anymore and had variable inclusion/exclusion criteria and outcome measures. Moreover, antibiotic-resistant bacteria have become a major problem in many countries worldwide. We hypothesized that efficacy of meropenem as a broad-spectrum antibiotic is superior to standard of care regimens (SOC) in empiric treatment of LOS and aimed to compare meropenem to SOC in infants aged 44 weeks meeting the Goldstein criteria of sepsis, were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive meropenem or one of the two SOC regimens (ampicillin+gentamicin or cefotaxime+gentamicin) chosen by each site prior to the start of the study for 8-14 days. The primary outcome was treatment success (survival, no modification of allocated therapy, resolution/improvement of clinical and laboratory markers, no need of additional antibiotics and presumed/confirmed eradication of pathogens) at test-of-cure visit (TOC) in full analysis set. Stool samples were tested at baseline and Day 28 for meropenem-resistant Gram-negative organisms (CRGNO). The primary analysis was performed in all randomised patients and in patients with culture confirmed LOS. Proportions of participants with successful outcome were compared by using a logistic regression model adjusted for the stratification factors. From September 3, 2012 to November 30th 2014, total of 136 patients (instead of planned 275) in each arm were randomized; 140 (52%) were culture positive. Successful outcome at TOC was achieved in 44/136 (32%) in the meropenem arm vs. 31/135 (23%) in the SOC arm (p = 0.087). The respective numbers in patients with positive cultures were 17/63 (27%) vs. 10/77 (13%) (p = 0.022). The main reason of failure was modification of allocated therapy. Treatment emergent adverse events occurred in 72% and serious adverse events in 17% of patients, the Day 28 mortality was 6%. Cumulative acquisition of CRGNO by Day 28 occurred in 4% of patients in the meropenem and 12% in the SOC arm (p = 0.052). CONCLUSIONS: Within this study population, we found no evidence that meropenem was superior to SOC in terms of success at TOC, short term hearing disturbances, safety or mortality were similar in both treatment arms but the study was underpowered to detect the planned effect. Meropenem treatment did not select for colonization with CRGNOs. We suggest that meropenem as broad-spectrum antibiotic should be reserved for neonates who are more likely to have Gram-negative LOS, especially in NICUs where microorganisms producing extended spectrum- and AmpC type beta-lactamases are circulating

Bulk and surface switching in Mn-Fe-based Prussian Blue Analogues

Many Prussian Blue Analogues are known to show a thermally induced phase transition close to room temperature and a reversible, photo-induced phase transition at low temperatures. This work reports on magnetic measurements, X-ray photoemission and Raman spectroscopy on a particular class of these molecular heterobimetallic systems, specifically on Rb0.81Mn[Fe(CN)6]0.95_1.24H2O, Rb0.97Mn[Fe(CN)6]0.98_1.03H2O and Rb0.70Cu0.22Mn0.78[Fe(CN)6]0.86_2.05H2O, to investigate these transition phenomena both in the bulk of the material and at the sample surface. Results indicate a high degree of charge transfer in the bulk, while a substantially reduced conversion is found at the sample surface, even in case of a near perfect (Rb:Mn:Fe=1:1:1) stoichiometry. Thus, the intrinsic incompleteness of the charge transfer transition in these materials is found to be primarily due to surface reconstruction. Substitution of a large fraction of charge transfer active Mn ions by charge transfer inactive Cu ions leads to a proportional conversion reduction with respect to the maximum conversion that is still stoichiometrically possible and shows the charge transfer capability of metal centers to be quite robust upon inclusion of a neighboring impurity. Additionally, a 532 nm photo-induced metastable state, reminiscent of the high temperature Fe(III)Mn(II) ground state, is found at temperatures 50-100 K. The efficiency of photo-excitation to the metastable state is found to be maximized around 90 K. The photo-induced state is observed to relax to the low temperature Fe(II)Mn(III) ground state at a temperature of approximately 123 K.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure

Search for chargino-neutralino production with mass splittings near the electroweak scale in three-lepton final states in √s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for supersymmetry through the pair production of electroweakinos with mass splittings near the electroweak scale and decaying via on-shell W and Z bosons is presented for a three-lepton final state. The analyzed proton-proton collision data taken at a center-of-mass energy of √s=13  TeV were collected between 2015 and 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139  fb−1. A search, emulating the recursive jigsaw reconstruction technique with easily reproducible laboratory-frame variables, is performed. The two excesses observed in the 2015–2016 data recursive jigsaw analysis in the low-mass three-lepton phase space are reproduced. Results with the full data set are in agreement with the Standard Model expectations. They are interpreted to set exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level on simplified models of chargino-neutralino pair production for masses up to 345 GeV

Search for direct stau production in events with two hadronic tau-leptons in root s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of the supersymmetric partners ofτ-leptons (staus) in final stateswith two hadronically decayingτ-leptons is presented. The analysis uses a dataset of pp collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of139fb−1, recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LargeHadron Collider at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. No significant deviation from the expected StandardModel background is observed. Limits are derived in scenarios of direct production of stau pairs with eachstau decaying into the stable lightest neutralino and oneτ-lepton in simplified models where the two staumass eigenstates are degenerate. Stau masses from 120 GeV to 390 GeV are excluded at 95% confidencelevel for a massless lightest neutralino

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

Long-latency modulation of motor cortex excitability by ipsilateral posterior inferior frontal gyrus and pre-supplementary motor area

The primary motor cortex (M1) is strongly influenced by several frontal regions. Dual-site transcranial magnetic stimulation (dsTMS) has highlighted the timing of early (<40 ms) prefrontal/premotor influences over M1. Here we used dsTMS to investigate, for the first time, longer-latency causal interactions of the posterior inferior frontal gyrus (pIFG) and pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) with M1 at rest. A suprathreshold test stimulus (TS) was applied over M1 producing a motor-evoked potential (MEP) in the relaxed hand. Either a subthreshold or a suprathreshold conditioning stimulus (CS) was administered over ipsilateral pIFG/pre-SMA sites before the TS at different CS-TS inter-stimulus intervals (ISIs: 40-150 ms). Independently of intensity, CS over pIFG and pre-SMA (but not over a control site) inhibited MEPs at an ISI of 40 ms. The CS over pIFG produced a second peak of inhibition at an ISI of 150 ms. Additionally, facilitatory modulations were found at an ISI of 60 ms, with supra-but not subthreshold CS intensities. These findings suggest differential modulatory roles of pIFG and pre-SMA in M1 excitability. In particular, the pIFG-but not the pre-SMA-exerts intensity-dependent modulatory influences over M1 within the explored time window of 40-150 ms, evidencing fine-tuned control of M1 output