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PloS One 2019Socially competent animals must learn to modify their behavior in response to their social partner in a contextually appropriate manner. Dominant-subordinate...
Socially competent animals must learn to modify their behavior in response to their social partner in a contextually appropriate manner. Dominant-subordinate relationships are a particularly salient social context for mice. Here we observe and analyze the microstructure of social and non-social behaviors as 21 pairs of outbred CD-1 male mice (Mus Musculus) establish dominant-subordinate relationships during daily 20-minute interactions for five consecutive days in a neutral environment. Firstly, using a Kleinberg burst detection algorithm, we demonstrate aggressive and subordinate interactions occur in bursting patterns followed by quiescent periods rather than being uniformly distributed across social interactions. Secondly, we identify three phases of dominant-subordinate relationship development (pre-, middle-, and post-resolution) by utilizing two statistical methods to identify stability in aggressive and subordinate behavior across these bursts. Thirdly, using First Order Markov Chains we find that dominant and subordinate mice show distinct behavioral transitions, especially between tail rattling and other aggressive/subordinate behaviors. Further, dominant animals engaged in more digging and allogrooming behavior and were more likely to transition from sniffing their partner's body to head, whereas subordinates were more likely to transition from head sniffing to side-by-side contact. Lastly, we utilized a novel method (Forward Spike Time Tiling Coefficient) to assess how individuals respond to the behaviors of their partner. We found that subordinates decrease their tail rattling and aggressive behavior in response to aggressive but not subordinate behavior exhibited by dominants and that tail rattling in particular may function to deescalate aggressive behavior in pairs. Our findings demonstrate that CD-1 male mice rapidly establish dominance relationships and modify their social and non-social behaviors according to their current social status. The methods that we detail also provide useful tools for other researchers wishing to evaluate the temporal dynamics of rodent social behavior.
Topics: Animals; Dominance-Subordination; Female; Male; Markov Chains; Mice; Sexual Behavior, Animal; Social Behavior; Social Environment
PubMed: 31821344
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0220596 -
Experimental Brain Research Feb 2021Speed accuracy trade-off, the inverse relationship between movement speed and task accuracy, is a ubiquitous feature of skilled motor performance. Many previous studies...
Speed accuracy trade-off, the inverse relationship between movement speed and task accuracy, is a ubiquitous feature of skilled motor performance. Many previous studies have focused on the dominant arm, unimanual performance in both simple tasks, such as target reaching, and complex tasks, such as overarm throwing. However, while handedness is a prominent feature of human motor performance, the effect of limb dominance on speed-accuracy relationships is not well-understood. Based on previous research, we hypothesize that dominant arm skilled performance should depend on visual information and prior task experience, and that the non-dominant arm should show greater skill when no visual information nor prior task information is available. Forty right-handed young adults reached to 32 randomly presented targets across a virtual reality workspace with either the left or the right arm. Half of the participants received no visual feedback about hand position throughout each reach. Sensory information and task experience were lowest during the first cycle of exposure (32 reaches) in the no-vision condition, in which visual information about motion was not available. Under this condition, we found that the left arm group showed greater skill, measured in terms of position error normalized to speed, and by error variability. However, as task experience and sensory information increased, the right arm group showed substantial improvements in speed-accuracy relations, while the left arm group maintained, but did not improve, speed-accuracy relations throughout the task. These differences in performance between dominant and non-dominant arm groups during the separate stages of the task are consistent with complimentary models of lateralization, which propose different proficiencies of each hemisphere for different features of control. Our results are incompatible with global dominance models of handedness that propose dominant arm advantages under all performance conditions.
Topics: Arm; Biomechanical Phenomena; Functional Laterality; Hand; Humans; Movement; Psychomotor Performance; Young Adult
PubMed: 33388816
DOI: 10.1007/s00221-020-06011-6 -
Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) Oct 2022Recent studies showed that the current endemic of carbapenem-resistant (CRE) in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi is dominated by highly resistant clones ST14, ST231, and...
Recent studies showed that the current endemic of carbapenem-resistant (CRE) in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi is dominated by highly resistant clones ST14, ST231, and CC147, respectively. In the absence of continuous, molecular typing-based surveillance, it remained unknown whether they lately emerged and rapidly became dominant, or they had been present from the early years of the endemic. Therefore, antibiotic resistance, the presence of carbapenemase and 16S methylase genes, and the sequence types of CRE strains collected between 2009 and 2015 were compared with those collected between 2018 and 2019. It was found that members of these three clones, particularly those of the most prevalent ST14, started dominating already in the very early years of the CRE outbreak. Furthermore, while severely impacting the overall antibiotic resistance patterns, the effect of these clones was not exclusive: for example, increasing trends of colistin or decreasing rates of tigecycline resistance were also observed among nonclonal isolates. The gradually increasing prevalence of few major, currently dominating clones raises the possibility that timely, systematic, molecular typing-based surveillance could have provided tools to public health authorities for an early interference with the escalation of the local CRE epidemic.
PubMed: 36290093
DOI: 10.3390/antibiotics11101435 -
The ISME Journal Nov 2022The mammalian intestine harbors heterogeneous distribution of microbes among which specific taxa (e.g. Lactobacillus) dominate across mammals. Deterministic factors such...
The mammalian intestine harbors heterogeneous distribution of microbes among which specific taxa (e.g. Lactobacillus) dominate across mammals. Deterministic factors such as nutrient availability and utilization may affect microbial distributions. Due to physiological complexity, mechanisms linking nutrient utilization and the dominance of key taxa remain unclear. Lactobacillus amylovorus is a predominant species in the small intestine of pigs. Employing a pig model, we found that the small intestine was dominated by Lactobacillus and particularly L. amylovorus, and enriched with peptide-bound amino acids (PBAAs), all of which were further boosted after a peptide-rich diet. To investigate the bacterial growth dominance mechanism, a representative strain L. amylovorus S1 was isolated from the small intestine and anaerobically cultured in media with free amino acids or peptides as sole nitrogen sources. L. amylovorus S1 grew preferentially with peptide-rich rather than amino acid-rich substrates, as reflected by enhanced growth and PBAA utilization, and peptide transporter upregulations. Utilization of free amino acids (e.g. methionine, valine, lysine) and expressions of transporters and metabolic enzymes were enhanced simultaneously in peptide-rich substrate. Additionally, lactate was elevated in peptide-rich substrates while acetate in amino acid-rich substrates, indicating distinct metabolic patterns depending on substrate forms. These results suggest that an increased capability of utilizing PBAAs contributes to the dominance of L. amylovorus, indicating amino acid utilization as a deterministic factor affecting intestinal microbial distribution. These findings may provide new insights into the microbe-gut nutrition interplay and guidelines for dietary manipulations toward gut health especially small intestine health.
Topics: Amino Acids; Animals; Lactates; Lactobacillus; Lactobacillus acidophilus; Lysine; Mammals; Methionine; Nitrogen; Swine; Valine
PubMed: 35896730
DOI: 10.1038/s41396-022-01287-8 -
Scientific Reports Sep 2023The Bay of Bengal, the world's largest bay, is bordered by populous countries and rich in resources like fisheries, oil, gas, and minerals, while also hosting diverse...
The Bay of Bengal, the world's largest bay, is bordered by populous countries and rich in resources like fisheries, oil, gas, and minerals, while also hosting diverse marine ecosystems such as coral reefs, mangroves, and seagrass beds; regrettably, its microbial diversity and ecological significance have received limited research attention. Here, we present amplicon (16S and 18S) profiling and shotgun metagenomics data regarding microbial communities from BoB's eastern coast, viz., Saint Martin and Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. From the 16S barcoding data, Proteobacteria appeared to be the dominant phylum in both locations, with Alteromonas, Methylophaga, Anaerospora, Marivita, and Vibrio dominating in Cox's Bazar and Pseudoalteromonas, Nautella, Marinomonas, Vibrio, and Alteromonas dominating the Saint Martin site. From the 18S barcoding data, Ochrophyta, Chlorophyta, and Protalveolata appeared among the most abundant eukaryotic divisions in both locations, with significantly higher abundance of Choanoflagellida, Florideophycidae, and Dinoflagellata in Cox's Bazar. The shotgun sequencing data reveals that in both locations, Alteromonas is the most prevalent bacterial genus, closely paralleling the dominance observed in the metabarcoding data, with Methylophaga in Cox's Bazar and Vibrio in Saint Martin. Functional annotations revealed that the microbial communities in these samples harbor genes for biofilm formation, quorum sensing, xenobiotics degradation, antimicrobial resistance, and a variety of other processes. Together, these results provide the first molecular insight into the functional and phylogenetic diversity of microbes along the BoB coast of Bangladesh. This baseline understanding of microbial community structure and functional potential will be critical for assessing impacts of climate change, pollution, and other anthropogenic disturbances on this ecologically and economically vital bay.
Topics: Bays; Phylogeny; Microbiota; Alteromonas; Dinoflagellida
PubMed: 37749192
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-43306-4 -
Social Science & Medicine (1982) Jan 2020Manual Vacuum Aspirators (MVA), Dilation and Curettage (D&C), and medical abortifacients (Misoprostol, Mifepristone and Divabo) are available in clinical settings that...
Manual Vacuum Aspirators (MVA), Dilation and Curettage (D&C), and medical abortifacients (Misoprostol, Mifepristone and Divabo) are available in clinical settings that offer abortion and post-abortion care in Uganda. While these technologies imply appropriate and safe abortion care, legal and policy ambiguities impact health outcomes. In this article, we draw on an ethnography of abortion care delivery practice conducted in one district in Eastern Uganda between August 2018 and March 2019, with data from interviews and observations, both of interactions and during quality of care improvement and training meetings. We illuminate how, in the context of a financialized healthcare system and legal restrictions, the meanings and use of medical technologies and abortion care vary across different health facility types. In public health facilities, health workers become state agents in the control of women's bodies. In private health facilities, they become transgressors, who use medical technologies to help women attain termination surreptitiously. Health workers offset risks associated with any involvement in termination, such that pecuniary interests dominate their motivation. Normalized and disciplinary power enact and reproduce unsafe and risky conditions, leading to poor abortion care outcomes. We illustrate the mechanisms of domination and tactics of resistance in abortion care, and expose conditions upon which unsafe and risky outcomes are contingent.
PubMed: 32058197
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.112813 -
Personality and Individual Differences Jun 2021This study used reversal theory to examine motivational predictors of well-being and coping during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. 149 UK based respondents completed an...
This study used reversal theory to examine motivational predictors of well-being and coping during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. 149 UK based respondents completed an online survey including measures of demographics, well-being, coping, motivational style, and dominance. Well-being was predicted by optimism (positively), autic and mastery (negatively) dominances, by alloic sympathy, optimism and paratelic motivation styles (positively), and, negatively by arousal seeking, arousability and pessimism. Coping was positively predicted by optimism and negativism dominances and by negativist, paratelic and telic motivations, and, negatively by arousability and pessimism. Using motivational dominances, indirect support was identified for the link between psychodiversity and well-being, but not coping. Findings suggest that well-being and, to a lesser degree, coping could be enhanced by encouraging individuals to experience a range of motivations, possibly focusing on those identified here as significant predictors. Future research needs to determine the context specificity of these findings and explore psychodiversity, well-being and coping using both metamotivational states and composite profiles incorporating the full range of motivational constructs.
PubMed: 33531726
DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2021.110703 -
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior Apr 2022Social subordination increases risk for psychiatric disorders, while dominance increases resilience to these disorders. Fluoxetine, a selective serotonin (5HT) reuptake...
Social subordination increases risk for psychiatric disorders, while dominance increases resilience to these disorders. Fluoxetine, a selective serotonin (5HT) reuptake inhibitor whose actions are mediated in part by the 5HT1A receptor (5HT1AR), has sex- and social status-specific effects on socioemotional behavior and aggressive behavior. However, the impact of social status on these sex-specific effects remains unclear. The current study evaluated the impact of acute fluoxetine treatment and social status on dominance-related behaviors in female and male hamsters, and the impact of chronic fluoxetine treatment on socioemotional behavior and 5HT1AR binding potential (5HT1AR) in female rhesus macaques. We hypothesized that sex differences in the effects of fluoxetine on aggression in hamsters would be diminished in dominant and enhanced in subordinate males and that aggression in female hamsters would be enhanced in dominants and diminished in subordinates. In female rhesus macaques, we hypothesized that chronic fluoxetine would alter socioemotional behaviors and site-specific 5HT1AR in a status-dependent manner. Male (n = 46) and female (n = 56) hamsters were paired with conspecifics for three days to establish social rank. Hamsters received a single dose of 20 mg/kg fluoxetine or vehicle two-hours prior to a test with a non-aggressive intruder. Female rhesus monkeys (n = 14) housed were administered fluoxetine (2.8 mg/kg/day) or vehicle injections chronically for 14-days, separated by a three-week washout period. On Day 15, positron emission tomography neuroimaging for 5HT1AR was conducted. Fluoxetine treatment decreased aggression in subordinate female monkeys and subordinate female hamsters but not in dominant females of either species. Fluoxetine decreased aggression in dominant but not in subordinate male hamsters. Fluoxetine also reduced and increased prefrontal 5HT1AR in dominant and subordinate females, respectively. Taken together, these results provide cross-species evidence that social status and sex impact how increased 5HT modulates agonistic behavior.
Topics: Aggression; Animals; Cricetinae; Female; Fluoxetine; Humans; Macaca mulatta; Male; Mesocricetus; Social Status
PubMed: 35219757
DOI: 10.1016/j.pbb.2022.173362 -
Proceedings. Biological Sciences Feb 2009Common marmosets are cooperatively breeding monkeys that exhibit high reproductive skew: most subordinate females fail to reproduce, while others attempt to breed but... (Review)
Review
Common marmosets are cooperatively breeding monkeys that exhibit high reproductive skew: most subordinate females fail to reproduce, while others attempt to breed but produce very few surviving infants. An extensive dataset on the mechanisms limiting reproduction in laboratory-housed and free living subordinate females provides unique insights into the causes of reproductive skew. Non-breeding adult females undergo suppression of ovulation and inhibition of sexual behaviour; however, they receive little or no aggression or mating interference by dominants and do not exhibit behavioural or physiological signs of stress. Breeding subordinate females receive comparable amounts of aggression to non-breeding females but are able to conceive, gestate and lactate normally. In groups containing two breeding females,however, both dominant and subordinate breeders kill one another's infants. These findings suggest that preconception reproductive suppression is not imposed on subordinate females by dominants, at a proximate level, but is instead self-imposed by most subordinates, consistent with restraint models of reproductive skew. In contrast to restraint models, however, this self-suppression probably evolved not in response to the threat of eviction by dominant females but in response to the threat of infanticide. Thus,reproductive skew in this species appears to be generated predominantly by subordinate self-restraint, in a proximate sense, but ultimately by dominant control over subordinates' reproductive attempts.
Topics: Animals; Behavior, Animal; Callithrix; Male; Reproduction; Social Behavior
PubMed: 18945663
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2008.1374 -
The International Journal of... Apr 2010Social conflicts may engender stress-related behavioural and physiological disturbances in the victims of aggression. In addition, stress-like neurochemical changes and...
Social conflicts may engender stress-related behavioural and physiological disturbances in the victims of aggression. In addition, stress-like neurochemical changes and ensuing depressive and anxiety symptoms might also be evident in the perpetrators of aggressive acts. The present investigation assessed basal levels of circulating corticosterone and of brain serotonin (5-HT) and norepinephrine (NE) in pre-identified submissive and dominant mice. In addition, brain neurochemical changes were determined following a single or three 15-min aggressive episodes both in submissive mice and in those that dominated the aggressive interplay. Three minutes after single and repeated confrontations, plasma corticosterone levels and 5-HT utilization within the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and hippocampus were increased to a comparable extent in submissive and dominant animals. Interestingly, however, NE utilization within the PFC and hippocampus was augmented to a greater level in submissive mice. These results suggest that 5-HT neuronal functioning was generally responsive to aggressive events, irrespective of social rank, whereas NE neuronal activity within the PFC and hippocampus was more sensitive to the submissive/dominance attributes of the social situation. It is possible that NE and 5-HT variations associated with an aggressive experience contribute to depressive- and anxiety-like manifestations typically observed after such psychosocial stressors, particularly in submissive mice. However, given that 5-HT changes occur irrespective of social rank, these data suggest that a toll is taken on both submissive and dominant mice, leaving them vulnerable to stress-related pathology.
Topics: Aggression; Analysis of Variance; Animals; Behavior, Animal; Biogenic Monoamines; Brain; Corticosterone; Disease Models, Animal; Dominance-Subordination; Electrochemical Techniques; Interpersonal Relations; Male; Mice; Neurosecretory Systems; Stress, Psychological
PubMed: 19545478
DOI: 10.1017/S1461145709990174