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Rizzolatti, G., Fogassi, L., & Gallese, V. (2006). Mirrors of the mind. Sci Am, 295(5), 54–61.
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Candura, S. M., Verni, P., Minelli, C. M., Rosso, G. L., Cappelli, M. I., Strambi, S., et al. (2006). [Occupational risks among public safety and security forces]. G Ital Med Lav Ergon, 28(1), 53–62.
Abstract: The present paper tries to identify the occupational risk factors (physical, chemical, biological, psychological), variable depending on jobs and tasks, to which the heterogeneous public safety/security workers are exposed. The fight against criminality and public order maintenance imply (sometimes fatal) traumatic risks, and expose to psychophysical and sensorial tiring, unfavourable macro- and microclimatic conditions, the risk of baropathy (air navigation, underwater activities), noise (generated by firearms and several other sources), vibrations and shakings (automatic weapons, transport vehicles), the risk of electric injury, ionizing (X and gamma rays) and non-inonizing (ultraviolet rays, microwaves and radiofrequencies, electromagnetic fields) radiations. Chemical hazards include carbon monoxide and other combustion products (fires, urban traffic), substances released in chemical accidents, tear gases, lead (firing grounds, metal works, environmental pollution), solvents, lubrificants and cutting oils (mechanic repair and maintenance), laboratory materials and reagents, irritant and/or sensitizing agents contained in gloves. The main biological risks are tetanus, blood-borne diseases (viral hepatitis, AIDS), aerogenous diseases (e.g., tuberculosis, Legionnaire's disease, epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis), dog- or horse-transmitted zoonosis. Finally, emotional, psychosomatic and behavioural stress-related disorders (e.g., burn-out syndrome, post-traumatic stress disorder) are typically frequent. The presence of numerous and diversified hazards among public safety/security forces imposes the adoption of occupational medicine measures, including risk assessment, health education, technical and environmental prevention, personal protective devices, sanitary surveillance and biological monitoring, clinical interventions (diagnosis, therapy and rehabilitation of occupational accidents and illnesses), prompt medico-legal evaluation of occupational-related compensation claims.
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Bovet, D., Vauclair, J., & Blaye, A. (2005). Categorization and abstraction abilities in 3-year-old children: a comparison with monkey data. Anim. Cogn., 8(1), 53–59.
Abstract: Three-year-old children were tested on three categorization tasks of increasing levels of abstraction (used with adult baboons in an earlier study): the first was a conceptual categorization task (food vs toys), the second a perceptual matching task (same vs different objects), and the third a relational matching task in which the children had to sort pairs according to whether or not the two items belonged to the same or different categories. The children were tested using two different procedures, the first a replication of the procedure used with the baboons (pulling one rope for a category or a relationship between two objects, and another rope for the other category or relationship), the second a task based upon children's prior experiences with sorting objects (putting in the same box objects belonging to the same category or a pair of objects exemplifying the same relation). The children were able to solve the first task (conceptual categorization) when tested with the sorting into boxes procedure, and the second task (perceptual matching) when tested with both procedures. The children were able to master the third task (relational matching) only when the rules were clearly explained to them, but not when they could only watch sorting examples. In fact, the relational matching task without explanation requires analogy abilities that do not seem to be fully developed at 3 years of age. The discrepancies in performances between children tested with the two procedures, with the task explained or not, and the discrepancies observed between children and baboons are discussed in relation to differences between species and/or problem-solving strategies.
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Whiten, A. (2005). The second inheritance system of chimpanzees and humans. Nature, 437(7055), 52–55.
Abstract: Half a century of dedicated field research has brought us from ignorance of our closest relatives to the discovery that chimpanzee communities resemble human cultures in possessing suites of local traditions that uniquely identify them. The collaborative effort required to establish this picture parallels the one set up to sequence the chimpanzee genome, and has revealed a complex social inheritance system that complements the genetic picture we are now developing.
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Rosa, P. A. J., Azevedo, A. M., & Aires-Barros, M. R. (2007). Application of central composite design to the optimisation of aqueous two-phase extraction of human antibodies. J Chromatogr A, 1141(1), 50–60.
Abstract: The partition of human antibodies in aqueous two-phase systems (ATPSs) of polyethylene glycol (PEG) and phosphate was systematically studied using first pure proteins systems and then an artificial mixture of proteins containing 1mg/ml human immunoglobulin G (IgG), 10mg/ml serum albumin and 2mg/ml myoglobin. Preliminary results obtained using pure proteins systems indicated that the PEG molecular weight and concentration, the pH value and the salts concentration had a pronounced effect on the partitioning behaviour of all proteins. For high ionic strengths and pH values higher than the isoelectric point (pI) of the contaminant proteins, IgG could be selectively recovered on the top phase. According to these results, a face centred composite design was performed in order to optimise the purification of IgG from the mixture of proteins. The optimal conditions for the isolation of IgG were observed for high concentrations of NaCl and low concentrations of both phase forming components. The best purification was achieved using an ATPS containing 8% (w/w) PEG 3350, 10% (w/w) phosphate pH 6 and 15% (w/w) NaCl. A recovery yield of 101+/-7%, a purity of 99+/-0% and a yield of native IgG of 97+/-4% were obtained. Back extraction studies of IgG to a new phosphate phase were performed and higher yields were obtained using 10% phosphate buffer at pH 6. The total extraction yield was 76% and the purity 100%.
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Bjorklund, D. F., Yunger, J. L., Bering, J. M., & Ragan, P. (2002). The generalization of deferred imitation in enculturated chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Anim. Cogn., 5(1), 49–58.
Abstract: Deferred imitation of object-related actions and generalization of imitation to similar but not identical tasks was assessed in three human-reared (enculturated) chimpanzees, ranging in age from 5 to 9 years. Each ape displayed high levels of deferred imitation and only slightly lower levels of generalization of imitation. The youngest two chimpanzees were more apt to generalize the model's actions when they had displayed portions of the target behaviors at baseline, consistent with the idea that learning is more likely to occur when working within the “zone of proximal development.” We argue that generalization of imitation is the best evidence to date of imitative learning in chimpanzees.
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Steinhoff, H. J., Lieutenant, K., & Redhardt, A. (1989). Conformational transition of aquomethemoglobin: intramolecular histidine E7 binding reaction to the heme iron in the temperature range between 220 K and 295 K as seen by EPR and temperature-jump measurements. Biochim Biophys Acta, 996(1-2), 49–56.
Abstract: Temperature-dependent EPR and temperature-jump measurements have been carried out, in order to examine the high-spin to low-spin transition of aquomethemogobin (pH 6.0). Relaxation rates and equilibrium constants could be determined as a function of temperature. As a reaction mechanism for the high-spin to low-spin transition, the binding of N epsilon of His E7 to the heme iron had been proposed; the same mechanism had been suggested for the ms-effect, found in temperature-jump experiments on aquomethemoglobin. A comparison of the thermodynamic quantities, deduced form the measurements in this paper, gives evidence that indeed the same reaction is investigated in both cases. Our results and most of the findings of earlier studies on the spin-state transitions of aquomethemoglobin, using susceptibility, optical, or EPR measurements, can be explained by the transition of methemoglobin with H2O as ligand (with high-spin state at all temperatures) and methemoglobin with ligand N epsilon of His E7 (with a low-spin ground state). Thermal fluctuations of large amplitude have to be postulated for the reaction to take place, so this reaction may be understood as a probe for the study of protein dynamics.
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Kaiser, L., Smith, K. A., Heleski, C. R., & Spence, L. J. (2006). Effects of a therapeutic riding program on at-risk and special education children. J Am Vet Med Assoc, 228(1), 46–52.
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of a therapeutic riding program on psychosocial measurements among children considered at risk for poor performance or failure in school or life and among children in special education programs. DESIGN: Observational study. POPULATION: 17 at-risk children (6 boys and 11 girls) and 14 special education children (7 boys and 7 girls). PROCEDURE: For the at-risk children, anger, anxiety, perceived self-competence, and physical coordination were assessed. For the special education children, anger and cheerfulness were measured, and the children's and their mothers' perceptions of the children's behavior were assessed. Measurements were made before and after an 8-session therapeutic riding program. RESULTS: For boys enrolled in the special education program, anger was significantly decreased after completion of the riding program. The boys' mothers also perceived significant improvements in their children's behavior after completion of the program. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Results suggest that an 8-session therapeutic riding program can significantly decrease anger in adolescent boys in a special education program and positively affect their mothers' perception of the boys' behavior.
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Heath-Lange, S., Ha, J. C., & Sackett, G. P. (1999). Behavioral measurement of temperament in male nursery-raised infant macaques and baboons. Am. J. Primatol., 47(1), 43–50.
Abstract: We define temperament as an individual's set of characteristic behavioral responses to novel or challenging stimuli. This study adapted a temperament scale used with rhesus macaques by Schneider and colleagues [American Journal of Primatology 25:137-155, 1991] for use with male pigtailed macaque (Macaca nemestrina, n = 7), longtailed macaque (M. fascicularis, n = 3), and baboon infants (Papio cynocephalus anubis, n = 4). Subjects were evaluated twice weekly for the first 5 months of age during routine removal from their cages for weighing. Behavioral measures were based on the subject's interactions with a familiar human caretaker and included predominant state before capture, response to capture, contact latency, resistance to tester's hold, degree of clinging, attention to environment, defecation/urination, consolability, facial expression, vocalizations, and irritability. Species differences indicated that baboons were more active than macaques in establishing or terminating contact with the tester. Temperament scores decreased over time for the variables Response to Capture and Contact Latency, indicating that as they grew older, subjects became less reactive and more bold in their interactions with the tester. Temperament scores changed slowly with age, with greater change occurring at younger ages. The retention of variability in reactivity between and within species may be advantageous for primates, reflecting the flexibility necessary to survive in a changing environment.
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Kozarovitskii, L. B. (1988). [Further comment on the distinction between humans and animals]. Nauchnye Doki Vyss Shkoly Biol Nauki, (3), 42–45.
Abstract: The problem of mind is considered in the aspect of natural scientific and philosophical problem of distinction between human and animal. The widespread confusion of the terms “rudiments”, “elements” of specifically human properties in animals and “biological prerequisites” of these properties are critically analysed. The idea is formulated according to which only in the process of anthropogenesis the rudiments of new social property--mind, conscience--could appear in the developing human beings.
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