Social cognition in autism is associated with the neurodevelopment of the posterior superior temporal sulcus.

OBJECTIVE: The posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) plays a critical role in the 'social brain'. Its neurodevelopment and relationship with the social impairment in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are not well understood. We explored the relationship between social cognition and the neurodevelopment of the pSTS in ASD. METHOD: We included 44 adults with high-functioning ASD and 36 controls. We assessed their performances on the 'Reading the mind in the eyes' test (for 34 of 44 subjects with ASD and 30 of 36 controls), their fixation time on the eyes with eye tracking (for 35 of 44 subjects with ASD and 30 of 36 controls) and the morphology of the caudal branches of the pSTS (length and depth), markers of the neurodevelopment, with structural MRI. RESULTS: The right anterior caudal ramus of the pSTS was significantly longer in patients with ASD compared with controls (52.6 mm vs. 38.3 mm; P = 1.4 × 10-3 ; Cohen's d = 0.76). Its length negatively correlated with fixation time on the eyes (P = 0.03) in the ASD group and with the 'Reading the mind in the eyes' test scores in both groups (P = 0.03). CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that the neurodevelopment of the pSTS is related to the ASD social impairments.

Gonadal sperm reserve in purebred Landrace and Large White boars of high average daily gain.

The present study investigated the effects of average growth rate (AGR) levels and age on the number of sperm cells per gram of testis parenchyma and on the gonadal reserve in Landrace (LD) and Large White (LW) boars. In Experiment 1, the effects of breed (LD, LW), level of AGR from birth up to 90 days of age (Level 1: 384 +/- 32 g/day; Level 2: 512 +/- 22 g/day; Level 3: 624 +/- 41 g/day), and age (13, 15, 17, 19 and 21 weeks) on testicular cell concentration were evaluated. Data were analyzed under a 2 x 3 x 4 factorial design. There were significant effects associated with breed (P < 0.001) and age (P < 0.001) but not with AGR (P > 0.05) on sperm cell number per gram of testicular parenchyma. The number of cells increased with age and was greater in LW than in LD young boars, mainly those up to 19 weeks of age. In Experiment 2, the effect of two AGR levels (Level 1: 649-694 g/day; Level 2: 813-885 g/day) from birth up to 100 kg body weight on the number of sperm cells per gram of testis parenchyma and on the gonadal reserve was investigated using 59 purebred LD and LW boars. The boars were castrated at 23, 25, 29 and 33 weeks of age. Age of boars significantly affected gonadal sperm reserve and the number of sperm cells per gram of testicular tissue (P < 0.001). Breed of boars and AGR Levels did not significantly affect number of sperm cells and gonadal sperm reserve (P > 0.05). It was concluded that the number of sperm cells in the testicular tissue of young boars is influenced by their breed and age, but not by the level of their AGR.

Efeito de pré-infusöes uterinas sobre a fertilidade de Marräs (Sus scrofa domestica, Linnaeus, 1758) / The effect of intrauterine sensitilization on gilt (Sus scrofa domestica, Linnaeus, 1758) fertility

O objetivo deste estudo foi investigar o efeito da pré-sensibilizaçäo uterina com antígenos espermáticos ou seminais sobre a fertilidade da marrä de reposiçäo. Cento e quarenta e uma marräs cruzadas pré-púberes com 160-165 dias de idade foram alojadas. O estro foi induzido pela aplicaçäo de PMSG-hCG no alojamento. A detecçäo de estro foi realizada duas vezes ao dia com o auxílio do macho. As pré-infusöes uterinas foram realizadas 24 horas após o início do estro no primeiro e segundo estro. As marräs foram agrupadas em 5 diferentes tratamentos: espermatozóides mortos (EM, n = 29), plasma seminal (PS, n = 29), plasma seminal e espermatozóides mortos (PS + EM, n = 28), soluçäo salina fisiológica (SS, n = 28) e controle (n = 27). Marräs que sempre apresentaram reflexo de tolerância ao macho (RTM) positivo no momento da infusäo foram analisadas separadamente (Grupo 1) daquelas que tiveram no mínimo uma vez um RTM negativo no momento da infusäo (Grupo 2). Somente uma inseminaçäo artificial (IA) foi realizada 24 horas após a manifestaçäo do RTM no terceiro cio. Aos 28-32 dias após a IA, as marräs foram abatidas e os fetos e corpos lúteos foram contados. No Grupo 1, a taxa de prenhez do grupo PS (100 por cento) foi superior (p<0,05) ao controle (90 por cento), PS + EM (90,9 por cento) e SS (80 por cento), entretanto foi similar à do EM (92,9 por cento). No grupo 2, nao ocorreram diferenças entre os grupos (p<0,05). Näo houve diferenças entre os tratamentos com relaçäo à taxa ovulatória, taxa de perda embrionária e número de embriöes viáveis. Os resultados sugerem que melhora significativa causada pela pré-sensibilizaçäo uterina possa ser observada somente se, por alguma outra razäo, os índices reprodutivos do rebanho deixassem a desejar

Effect of the time of artificial insemination with frozen-thawed or fresh semen on embryo viability and early pregnancy rate in gilts.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of artificial insemination time (before or after ovulation) using either fresh or frozen-thawed boar semen on embryo viability and early pregnancy rate. Seventy-seven prepubertal crossbred (Landrace x Large White x Duroc) gilts were inseminated in 4 treatments. Artificial inseminations were performed 6 h either after (A) or before (B) ovulation using frozenthawed (A-frozen, n = 19; B-frozen, n = 19) or fresh semen (A-fresh, n = 21; B-fresh, n = 18). The gilts were induced to puberty by administration of 400 IU of eCG and 200 IU hCG (sc) followed by 500 IU of hCG (sc) 72 h later. Ovulation was predicted to occur 42 h after the second injection. All animals were slaughtered 96 h after AI. Embryos were collected and classified as viable (5- to 8-cells, morulae, compacted morulae and early blastocysts) and nonviable (fragmented, degenerated and 1- to 4-cell embryos). The total embryo viability rate was: 64.3% (A-frozen), 54.2% (A-fresh), 76.0% (B-frozen), 91.9% (B-fresh); (A-fresh vs B-fresh, P = 0.018; A-frozen vs B-frozen, P = 0.094). It was observed that AI before ovulation resulted in a higher percentage of total viable embryos than AI after ovulation (P = 0.041). The early pregnancy rate, defined as presence of at least one viable embryo, was 78.9, 80.9, 84.2 and 94.4% for A-frozen, A-fresh, B-frozen, B-fresh, respectively. There was no significant difference in the early pregnancy rate among groups. In conclusion, there was a detrimental effect upon total embryo viability rate when AI was performed after ovulation with either frozen-thawed or fresh semen. The total embryo viability rate and the early pregancy rate were not affected by AI with either frozen-thawed or fresh semen regardless of the time of AI.