Virányi, Z., Topál, J., Gácsi, M., Miklósi, Á., & Csányi, V. (2004). Dogs respond appropriately to cues of humans' attentional focus. Behav. Process., 66(2), 161–172.
Abstract: Dogs' ability to recognise cues of human visual attention was studied in different experiments. Study 1 was designed to test the dogs' responsiveness to their owner's tape-recorded verbal commands (Down!) while the Instructor (who was the owner of the dog) was facing either the dog or a human partner or none of them, or was visually separated from the dog. Results show that dogs were more ready to follow the command if the Instructor attended them during instruction compared to situations when the Instructor faced the human partner or was out of sight of the dog. Importantly, however, dogs showed intermediate performance when the Instructor was orienting into 'empty space' during the re-played verbal commands. This suggests that dogs are able to differentiate the focus of human attention. In Study 2 the same dogs were offered the possibility to beg for food from two unfamiliar humans whose visual attention (i.e. facing the dog or turning away) was systematically varied. The dogs' preference for choosing the attentive person shows that dogs are capable of using visual cues of attention to evaluate the human actors' responsiveness to solicit food-sharing. The dogs' ability to understand the communicatory nature of the situations is discussed in terms of their social cognitive skills and unique evolutionary history.
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van Niekerk, H. P. (1980). Ethological studies within the man-horse relationship. J S Afr Vet Assoc, 51(4), 237–238.
Abstract: Certain aspects of ethology and the horse's senses are discussed to bring about a better understanding between man and horse. Furthermore the behaviour of horses with respect to housing, feeding, breeding, veterinary treatment and work are considered.
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Valova, G. P., & Mefod'ev, V. V. (1972). [Specific features of an epidemic process in leptospiroses in northern conditions in Western Siberia]. Zh Mikrobiol Epidemiol Immunobiol, 49(11), 138–145.
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Vallortigara, G., & Rogers, L. J. (2005). Survival with an asymmetrical brain: advantages and disadvantages of cerebral lateralization. Behav Brain Sci, 28(4), 575–89; discussion 589–633.
Abstract: Recent evidence in natural and semi-natural settings has revealed a variety of left-right perceptual asymmetries among vertebrates. These include preferential use of the left or right visual hemifield during activities such as searching for food, agonistic responses, or escape from predators in animals as different as fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. There are obvious disadvantages in showing such directional asymmetries because relevant stimuli may be located to the animal's left or right at random; there is no a priori association between the meaning of a stimulus (e.g., its being a predator or a food item) and its being located to the animal's left or right. Moreover, other organisms (e.g., predators) could exploit the predictability of behavior that arises from population-level lateral biases. It might be argued that lateralization of function enhances cognitive capacity and efficiency of the brain, thus counteracting the ecological disadvantages of lateral biases in behavior. However, such an increase in brain efficiency could be obtained by each individual being lateralized without any need to align the direction of the asymmetry in the majority of the individuals of the population. Here we argue that the alignment of the direction of behavioral asymmetries at the population level arises as an “evolutionarily stable strategy” under “social” pressures occurring when individually asymmetrical organisms must coordinate their behavior with the behavior of other asymmetrical organisms of the same or different species.
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Valero, N. (2003). West Nile virus: a new challenge? Invest Clin, 44(3), 175–177.
Abstract: West Nile Virus (WNV), a member of the family Flaviviridae, was first isolated in 1937. Since the original isolation of the WNV outbreaks have occurred with increase in frequency of cases in humans and horses, apparent increase in severe human disease and high avian death rates. In 1999, 2000 and 2002 outbreaks of the WNV encephalitis were reported in horses, birds and humans from New York and Canada. Ornithophilic mosquitoes are the principal vectors of the WNV and birds of several species chiefly migrants appear to be the major introductory or amplifying host. The pattern of outbreaks in the old and new world suggests that viremic migratory birds may also contribute to movement of the virus. If so, Central America, Caribbean Islands and countries of South America including Venezuela, are in potential risk for suffering a severe outbreak for WNV, since several species of birds have populations that pass trough New York and cross the western north Atlantic or Caribbean Sea. It is important the knowledge of the ecology of WNV as well of the efficacy of control efforts in order to minimize the public health impact in these countries, where all population is susceptible to this infection.
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Ulloa, A., Gonzalez-Ceron, L., & Rodriguez, M. H. (2006). Host selection and gonotrophic cycle length of Anopheles punctimacula in southern Mexico. J Am Mosq Control Assoc, 22(4), 648–653.
Abstract: The host preference, survival rates, and length of the gonotrophic cycle of Anopheles punctimacula was investigated in southern Mexico. Mosquitoes were collected in 15-day separate experiments during the rainy and dry seasons. Daily changes in the parous-nulliparous ratio were recorded and the gonotrophic cycle length was estimated by a time series analysis. Anopheles punctimacula was most abundant during the dry season and preferred animals to humans. The daily survival rate in mosquitoes collected in animal traps was 0.96 (parity rate = 0.86; gonotrophic cycle = 4 days). The length of gonotrophic cycle of 4 days was estimated on the base of a high correlation coefficient value appearing every 4 days. The minimum time estimated for developing mature eggs after blood feeding was 72 h. The proportion of mosquitoes living enough to transmit Plasmodium vivax malaria during the dry season was 0.35.
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Turpeinen, O. (1979). Effect of cholesterol-lowering diet on mortality from coronary heart disease and other causes. Circulation, 59(1), 1–7.
Abstract: International statistics indicate that there is a close correlation between the consumption of saturated fats (dairy fats and meat fats) and the mortality from coronary heart disease (CHD), and this conception has been confirmed by many epidemiological studies. Such studies alone, however, cannot prove the existence of a cause-and-effect relationship between these two variables; dietary intervention trials are needed. The Finnish Mental Hospital Study was such a trial, conducted in two hospitals near Helsinki in 1959--1971. Practically total replacement of dairy fats by vegetable oils in the diets of these hospitals was followed by a substantial reduction in the mortality of men from CHD. Total mortality also appeared to be reduced. As to the causes of death other than CHD, none was significantly influenced by dietary change. This was also true for malignant neoplasms. To alleviate the burden of CHD on public health, many investigators have recommended important changes in the quantity and quality of dietary fats.
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Topál, J., Byrne, R. W., Miklósi, Á., & Csányi, V. (2006). Reproducing human actions and action sequences: “Do as I Do!” in a dog. Anim. Cogn., 9(4), 355–367.
Abstract: We present evidence that a dog (Philip, a 4-year-old tervueren) was able to use different human actions as samples against which to match his own behaviour. First, Philip was trained to repeat nine human-demonstrated actions on command ('Do it!'). When his performance was markedly over chance in response to demonstration by one person, testing with untrained action sequences and other demonstrators showed some ability to generalise his understanding of copying. In a second study, we presented Philip with a sequence of human actions, again using the 'Do as I do' paradigm. All demonstrated actions had basically the same structure: the owner picked up a bottle from one of six places; transferred it to one of the five other places and then commanded the dog ('Do it!'). We found that Philip duplicated the entire sequence of moving a specific object from one particular place to another more often than expected by chance. Although results point to significant limitations in his imitative abilities, it seems that the dog could have recognized the action sequence, on the basis of observation alone, in terms of the initial state, the means, and the goal. This suggests that dogs might acquire abilities by observation that enhance their success in complex socio-behavioural situations.
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Tomasello, M., & Call, J. (2004). The role of humans in the cognitive development of apes revisited. Anim. Cogn., 7(4), 213–215.
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Thrower, W. R. (1970). Aggression in horses. Proc R Soc Med, 63(2), 163–167.
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