Long-term effects of nestling condition on blood parasite resistance in blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus)

2008 ◽  
Vol 86 (9) ◽  
pp. 937-946 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Stjernman ◽  
L. Råberg ◽  
J.-Å. Nilsson

Little is know about whether the conditions experienced during ontogeny affect resistance to parasites later in life in wild animals. Here, we used a population of blue tits ( Cyanistes caeruleus (L., 1758)) to investigate to what extent conditions experienced during the nestling stage could explain the ability to control blood parasite ( Haemoproteus majoris (Laveran, 1902)) infections 1 year later. Although short-term effects may be expected based on the well-known sensitivity of the immune system to current conditions, it is less known whether this translates into a permanent alteration of parasite resistance. By relating nestling condition (measured as body mass or size-corrected body mass) at the beginning and end of the nestling stage to parasite intensity of individual recruiting birds 1 year later, we indeed found significant positive effects of both early and late nestling condition on the long-term ability to control parasites. These results indicate that parasites may be important as a mechanistic explanation for the trade-off between number and quality of offspring. It further points to the potential relevance for maternal effects in host–parasite interactions.

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 663-665 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josué Martínez-de la Puente ◽  
Santiago Merino ◽  
Gustavo Tomás ◽  
Juan Moreno ◽  
Judith Morales ◽  
...  

While avian chronic haemoparasite infections induce reproductive costs, infection has not previously been shown to affect survival. Here, we experimentally reduced, through medication, the intensity of infection by Haemoproteus parasites in wild-breeding female blue tits Cyanistes caeruleus . However, this treatment did not reduce the intensity of infection in males or the intensity of infection by Leucocytozoon . Medicated females, but not males, showed increased local survival until the next breeding season compared with control birds. To our knowledge, this is the first empirical evidence showing long-term direct survival costs of chronic Haemoproteus infections in wild birds.


Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1019
Author(s):  
Barbara Frączek ◽  
Aleksandra Pięta ◽  
Adrian Burda ◽  
Paulina Mazur-Kurach ◽  
Florentyna Tyrała

The aim of this meta-analysis was to review the impact of a Paleolithic diet (PD) on selected health indicators (body composition, lipid profile, blood pressure, and carbohydrate metabolism) in the short and long term of nutrition intervention in healthy and unhealthy adults. A systematic review of randomized controlled trials of 21 full-text original human studies was conducted. Both the PD and a variety of healthy diets (control diets (CDs)) caused reduction in anthropometric parameters, both in the short and long term. For many indicators, such as weight (body mass (BM)), body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference (WC), impact was stronger and especially found in the short term. All diets caused a decrease in total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and triglycerides (TG), albeit the impact of PD was stronger. Among long-term studies, only PD cased a decline in TC and LDL-C. Impact on blood pressure was observed mainly in the short term. PD caused a decrease in fasting plasma (fP) glucose, fP insulin, and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) in the short run, contrary to CD. In the long term, only PD caused a decrease in fP glucose and fP insulin. Lower positive impact of PD on performance was observed in the group without exercise. Positive effects of the PD on health and the lack of experiments among professional athletes require longer-term interventions to determine the effect of the Paleo diet on athletic performance.


Author(s):  
Andrew E. McKechnie

The direct impacts of higher temperatures on birds are manifested over timescales ranging from minutes and hours to years and decades. Over short timescales, acute exposure to high temperatures can lead to hyperthermia or dehydration, which among arid-zone species occasionally causes catastrophic mortality events. Over intermediate timescales of days to weeks, high temperatures can have chronic sub-lethal effects via body mass loss or reduced nestling growth rates, negatively affecting sev eral fitness components. Long-term effects of warming manifested over years to decades involve declining body mass or changes in appendage size. Key directions for future research include elucidating the role of phenotypic plasticity and epigenetic processes in avian adaptation to climate change, examining the role of stress pathways in mediating responses to heat events, and understanding the consequences of higher temperatures for species that traverse hot regions while migrating.


Author(s):  
Marta Szulkin ◽  
Colin J. Garroway ◽  
Michela Corsini ◽  
Andrzej Z. Kotarba ◽  
Davide Dominoni

Environmental variation was quantified at nestboxes monitored as part of a prospectively long-term project on the ecology and evolution of great tits Parus major and blue tits Cyanistes caeruleus in Warsaw, Poland. Nine axes of environmental variation were investigated across 9 different urban sites, for a total of 565 specific locations (here: nestboxes). Data was collected on the ground, with the use of GIS and remote sensing using the following methodology:...


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 44-48
Author(s):  
Bárbara A Pires ◽  
Anabela DF Belo ◽  
Fernanda Diamantino ◽  
João E Rabaça ◽  
Santiago Merino

Some passerines incorporate aromatic plants in their nest cups, and several hypotheses have been formulated to explain this behaviour. One of those, the Drug Hypothesis, states that aromatic plants present in nests have positive effects on nestlings’ development through increased immune function. In this study, we aimed to examine if experimental addition of aromatic plants had positive effects on reproductive performance (the number of fledglings produced and nestling survival rate) and nestling development (weight and tarsus length). In addition, we study whether those potential effects were more noticeable in different brood sizes–small and large–through an observational approach. We expect that large broods, due to increased resource competition between nestlings, will benefit more from aromatic plant incorporation, as compared to small broods. Nestlings were significantly heavier in 2015 as compared to 2016 and 2017 and in small broods. No effect of treatment was observed in nestling weight. Although there was no overall effect of treatment on nestling tarsus length, nestlings from aromatic nests had significantly longer tarsi as compared to nestlings from control nests, in large broods.


2014 ◽  
Vol 205 (2) ◽  
pp. 88-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matti Penttilä ◽  
Erika Jääskeläinen ◽  
Noora Hirvonen ◽  
Matti Isohanni ◽  
Jouko Miettunen

BackgroundDuration of untreated psychosis (DUP) is one of the few potentially modifiable predictors of outcomes of schizophrenia. Long DUP as a predictor of poor short-term outcome has been addressed in previous meta-analyses, but the long-term effects of DUP remain unclear.AimsTo analyse the associations between DUP and long-term outcomes of schizophrenia.MethodA systematic literature search was performed using seven electronic databases and manual searches. Random effects weighted meta-analysis with correlation coefficients was used to pool the results.ResultsWe identified 3493 unique publications, from which 33 samples met our predefined selection criteria. Long DUP correlated statistically significantly with poor general symptomatic outcome, more severe positive and negative symptoms, lesser likelihood of remission and poor social functioning and global outcome (correlations 0.13–0.18). Long DUP was not associated with employment, quality of life or hospital treatment.ConclusionsThe small but mostly consistent correlation between long DUP and poor outcome indicates that early intervention in psychosis may have at least subtle positive effects on the long-term course of illness.


Oecologia ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 162 (4) ◽  
pp. 825-835 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara del Cerro ◽  
Santiago Merino ◽  
Josué Martínez-de la Puente ◽  
Elisa Lobato ◽  
Rafael Ruiz-de-Castañeda ◽  
...  

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angel Gómez ◽  
Anja Eller ◽  
Alexandra Vázquez

AbstractAlmost six decades of research have consistently demonstrated that intergroup contact is one of the most powerful ways of improving intergroup attitudes. At least two important limitations, however, still compel researchers to continue work in this area: the issue of long-term effects of contact, and the processes underlying such effects. This report makes a theoretical and empirical contribution with regard to these two aspects introducing a new mediator of the effects of contact: verification of qualities of typical ingroup members that may or may not characterize individual group members (e.g. verification of ingroup identities). One hundred and forty-two high school students participated in a two-wave longitudinal study with 12 weeks’ lag in Spain. Cross-sectional and longitudinal mediational analyses using multiple imputation data showed that intergroup contact improves general outgroup evaluation through increasing verification of ingroup identities. This research demonstrates the relevance of considering verification of ingroup identity as a mediator for the positive effects of intergroup contact.


2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominika Stygar ◽  
Tomasz Sawczyn ◽  
Bronisława Skrzep-Poloczek ◽  
Iwona Karcz-Socha ◽  
Bogdan Doleżych ◽  
...  

AbstractObjective: Ileal transposition procedure (IT), in combination with sleeve gastrectomy, is widely used to induce diabetes remission and to control related metabolic abnormalities. A transposition of a long segment of distal ileum in obese Zucker rats improved glucose tolerance 6 months after IT. The premise of our study was to to examine the long - term effects of ileum transposition on the liver glycolytic enzymes content in a euglycemic group of operated Zucker rats. Methods: Twenty male Zucker rats underwent either the transposition of 50% distal ileum or a sham surgery. Six months after surgery, liver tissue concentrations of glycogen synthase kinase alpha (GSK-3α), glucose 6-phosphatase (G6PC), glycogen phosphorylase (PYGM) and phosphofructokinase (PFK) and HSP70 were assessed by immunoenzymatic methods. Results: HSP70 values were significantly higher in the IT group compared to SHAM. G6PC liver concentrations in the IT group were almost 1.45-fold lower than in the SHAM operated rats. Statistical analyses (F-test) showed HSP70 levels were significantly related to caveolin-1and SHAM group. Conclusions: Lowered glycolytic enzyme concentrations assessed in the liver suggest positive effects on glucose metabolism in long-term observations.


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