Brood parasitic birds lay eggs in the nests of other birds,and the parasitized hosts can reduce the cost of raising unrelated offspring through the recognition of parasitic eggs.Hosts can adopt vision-based cognitive ...Brood parasitic birds lay eggs in the nests of other birds,and the parasitized hosts can reduce the cost of raising unrelated offspring through the recognition of parasitic eggs.Hosts can adopt vision-based cognitive mechanisms to recognize foreign eggs by comparing the colors of foreign and host eggs.However,there is currently no uniform conclusion as to whether this comparison involves the single or multiple threshold decision rules.In this study,we tested both hypotheses by adding model eggs of different colors to the nests of Barn Swallows(Hirundo rustica)of two geographical populations breeding in Hainan and Heilongjiang Provinces in China.Results showed that Barn Swallows rejected more white model eggs(moderate mimetic to their own eggs)and blue model eggs(highly non-mimetic eggs with shorter reflectance spectrum)than red model eggs(highly nonmimetic eggs with longer reflectance spectrum).There was no difference in the rejection rate of model eggs between the two populations of Barn Swallows,and clutch size was not a factor affecting egg recognition.Our results are consistent with the single rejection threshold model.This study provides strong experimental evidence that the color of model eggs can has an important effect on egg recognition in Barn Swallows,opening up new avenues to uncover the evolution of cuckoo egg mimicry and explore the cognitive mechanisms underlying the visual recognition of foreign eggs by hosts.展开更多
A discrete Hopf fibration of S15 over S8 with S7 (unit octonions) as fibers leads to a 16D Polytope P16 with 4320 vertices obtained from the convex hull of the 16D Barnes-Wall lattice Λ16. It is argued (conjectured) ...A discrete Hopf fibration of S15 over S8 with S7 (unit octonions) as fibers leads to a 16D Polytope P16 with 4320 vertices obtained from the convex hull of the 16D Barnes-Wall lattice Λ16. It is argued (conjectured) how a subsequent 2-1 mapping (projection) of P16 onto a 8D-hyperplane might furnish the 2160 vertices of the uniform 241 polytope in 8-dimensions, and such that one can capture the chain sequence of polytopes 241,231,221,211in D=8,7,6,5dimensions, leading, respectively, to the sequence of Coxeter groups E8,E7,E6,SO(10)which are putative GUT group candidates. An embedding of the E8⊕E8and E8⊕E8⊕E8lattice into the Barnes-Wall Λ16 and Leech Λ24 lattices, respectively, is explicitly shown. From the 16D lattice E8⊕E8one can generate two separate families of Elser-Sloane 4D quasicrystals (QC’s) with H4 (icosahedral) symmetry via the “cut-and-project” method from 8D to 4D in each separate E8 lattice. Therefore, one obtains in this fashion the Cartesian product of two Elser-Sloane QC’s Q×Qspanning an 8D space. Similarly, from the 24D lattice E8⊕E8⊕E8one can generate the Cartesian product of three Elser-Sloane 4D quasicrystals (QC’s) Q×Q×Qwith H4 symmetry and spanning a 12D space.展开更多
Various studies indicate that low levels of estradiol negatively impact cognitive abilities. Extracts from the fungus Hericium erinaceus (HE) contain bioactive components that promote the proper functioning of the ner...Various studies indicate that low levels of estradiol negatively impact cognitive abilities. Extracts from the fungus Hericium erinaceus (HE) contain bioactive components that promote the proper functioning of the nervous system and potential effects on protection against neurodegenerative diseases, including dementia and motor dysfunctions. The objective was to evaluate the effects of the administration of the HE mushroom extract on visuospatial memory and morphology of neurons in the CA1 and CA3 regions of the hippocampus in ovariectomized rats. 40 young Wistar rats weighing 90 ± 10 g BW were used, which were distributed into four groups of 10 animals;Control Group, non-ovariectomized and untreated rats;Group E2, ovariectomized rats treated with estradiol (2 μg/kg/body weight);Group HE, ovariectomized rats treated with the extract of the fungus Hericium erinaceus (0.5 mg/kg body weight) and Group Ovx/ST, ovariectomized rats, without treatment. The animals were tested in the Barnes and Open Field maze, then they were sacrificed, and their brains were obtained to perform a histological analysis of neuronal morphology in the CA1 and CA3 areas of the hippocampus. The most outstanding results showed that the Ovx/ST group recorded the longest time to arrive at the escape box and stay in the Barnes maze. A correlation was observed between neuronal damage and function;in the groups that did not present satisfactory performance in the maze tests, morphological alterations were identified such as the presence of some neuronal somata with degeneration characteristics such as pyknosis, nuclear basophilia and shrinkage of the cells. Its soma, as well as a decrease in the nuclear area of CA1 and CA3 neurons. It is concluded that the fungus Hericium erinaceus exerted a neuroprotective effect on the neuronal bodies of the hippocampus, associated with better performance in the visuospatial recognition memory test.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.31970427 and 32270526 to W.L.)。
文摘Brood parasitic birds lay eggs in the nests of other birds,and the parasitized hosts can reduce the cost of raising unrelated offspring through the recognition of parasitic eggs.Hosts can adopt vision-based cognitive mechanisms to recognize foreign eggs by comparing the colors of foreign and host eggs.However,there is currently no uniform conclusion as to whether this comparison involves the single or multiple threshold decision rules.In this study,we tested both hypotheses by adding model eggs of different colors to the nests of Barn Swallows(Hirundo rustica)of two geographical populations breeding in Hainan and Heilongjiang Provinces in China.Results showed that Barn Swallows rejected more white model eggs(moderate mimetic to their own eggs)and blue model eggs(highly non-mimetic eggs with shorter reflectance spectrum)than red model eggs(highly nonmimetic eggs with longer reflectance spectrum).There was no difference in the rejection rate of model eggs between the two populations of Barn Swallows,and clutch size was not a factor affecting egg recognition.Our results are consistent with the single rejection threshold model.This study provides strong experimental evidence that the color of model eggs can has an important effect on egg recognition in Barn Swallows,opening up new avenues to uncover the evolution of cuckoo egg mimicry and explore the cognitive mechanisms underlying the visual recognition of foreign eggs by hosts.
文摘A discrete Hopf fibration of S15 over S8 with S7 (unit octonions) as fibers leads to a 16D Polytope P16 with 4320 vertices obtained from the convex hull of the 16D Barnes-Wall lattice Λ16. It is argued (conjectured) how a subsequent 2-1 mapping (projection) of P16 onto a 8D-hyperplane might furnish the 2160 vertices of the uniform 241 polytope in 8-dimensions, and such that one can capture the chain sequence of polytopes 241,231,221,211in D=8,7,6,5dimensions, leading, respectively, to the sequence of Coxeter groups E8,E7,E6,SO(10)which are putative GUT group candidates. An embedding of the E8⊕E8and E8⊕E8⊕E8lattice into the Barnes-Wall Λ16 and Leech Λ24 lattices, respectively, is explicitly shown. From the 16D lattice E8⊕E8one can generate two separate families of Elser-Sloane 4D quasicrystals (QC’s) with H4 (icosahedral) symmetry via the “cut-and-project” method from 8D to 4D in each separate E8 lattice. Therefore, one obtains in this fashion the Cartesian product of two Elser-Sloane QC’s Q×Qspanning an 8D space. Similarly, from the 24D lattice E8⊕E8⊕E8one can generate the Cartesian product of three Elser-Sloane 4D quasicrystals (QC’s) Q×Q×Qwith H4 symmetry and spanning a 12D space.
文摘Various studies indicate that low levels of estradiol negatively impact cognitive abilities. Extracts from the fungus Hericium erinaceus (HE) contain bioactive components that promote the proper functioning of the nervous system and potential effects on protection against neurodegenerative diseases, including dementia and motor dysfunctions. The objective was to evaluate the effects of the administration of the HE mushroom extract on visuospatial memory and morphology of neurons in the CA1 and CA3 regions of the hippocampus in ovariectomized rats. 40 young Wistar rats weighing 90 ± 10 g BW were used, which were distributed into four groups of 10 animals;Control Group, non-ovariectomized and untreated rats;Group E2, ovariectomized rats treated with estradiol (2 μg/kg/body weight);Group HE, ovariectomized rats treated with the extract of the fungus Hericium erinaceus (0.5 mg/kg body weight) and Group Ovx/ST, ovariectomized rats, without treatment. The animals were tested in the Barnes and Open Field maze, then they were sacrificed, and their brains were obtained to perform a histological analysis of neuronal morphology in the CA1 and CA3 areas of the hippocampus. The most outstanding results showed that the Ovx/ST group recorded the longest time to arrive at the escape box and stay in the Barnes maze. A correlation was observed between neuronal damage and function;in the groups that did not present satisfactory performance in the maze tests, morphological alterations were identified such as the presence of some neuronal somata with degeneration characteristics such as pyknosis, nuclear basophilia and shrinkage of the cells. Its soma, as well as a decrease in the nuclear area of CA1 and CA3 neurons. It is concluded that the fungus Hericium erinaceus exerted a neuroprotective effect on the neuronal bodies of the hippocampus, associated with better performance in the visuospatial recognition memory test.
