Stress-induced flexibility and individuality in female and male zebra finch distance calls.

Vocal recognition is central to the coordination and organization of behavior in pair-bonding species such as zebra finches. Zebra finches' vocalizations are individualized and support acoustic discrimination processes. Physiological states - such as the ones involved in emotional stress - can modify vocal production and consequently the structure of vocalizations. These modifications might signal the state of the caller but also impair individual recognition processes. This may represent a signaling trade-off, especially in contexts where both pieces of information can be critically important, for example when mates use calls to reunite after social isolation. Here we study the impact of a stress on the individual vocal signature in both female and male zebra finch distance calls. We built a manually curated database of distance calls of several individuals (both females and males) recorded in control and stress conditions. The stress was induced either by social isolation of the bird or using exogenous corticosterone. We developed a machine learning approach to assess the impact of stress on the individual characterization of calls. We show that while calls' spectral structure is significantly modified by stress, it still allows for the correct classification of calls to the caller. Moreover, we also show that the stress-induced modification of calls' structure is not a 'general feature signal' that can be detected as a 'stress' signal regardless of identity. Thus, female and male zebra finch calls' structure show stress-induced flexibility that stays within the range of individual vocal signatures.

Expression of Fas, FasL, and soluble Fas mRNA in endomyocardial biopsies of human cardiac allografts.

Apoptosis mediated by the Fas/Fas ligand (FasL) has been implicated in rejection of solid organ allografts and it has been recently proposed that soluble forms of Fas could interfere with this interaction, blocking apoptosis. The purpose of this study was to analyze intragraft Fas, FasL, and soluble Fas mRNA levels in relation to acute rejection in cardiac allografts in humans. mRNA levels were determined by quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction in 42 samples of endomyocardial biopsies obtained from 18 cardiac transplant recipients within the first 6 months after transplantation. FasL and Fas mRNA levels were higher in biopsies with rejection than in biopsies without rejection, and no difference was observed in soluble Fas mRNA. During rejection, there was a positive correlation between the mRNA levels of Fas-FasL, Fas-soluble Fas, and FasL-soluble Fas. During quiescent periods, however, the only correlation observed was between Fas and soluble Fas mRNA levels. In conclusion, our findings do not suggest a role for soluble Fas, confirm the heightened expression of FasL, and indicate, for the first time, an increased expression of Fas in acute rejection of cardiac allografts.

A national study: stress perception by nurse anesthesia students.

Anesthesia education is highly stressful. Some stress motivates students, but excess stress leads to failure and unhappiness. While stress cannot be eradicated from the practice of anesthesia, it can be managed, especially when its signs are recognized early. The purposes of this study were to determine the perception of students' stress in nurse anesthesia programs and to examine the presence and use of stress management programs and open-door policies existing in nurse anesthesia schools. An author-developed questionnaire assessed the stress management programs and open-door policies of nurse anesthesia programs, Life Event Scale scores of the students, school-related stressors, and student coping strategies. The study, which surveyed all 2,200 of the nation's nurse anesthesia students, with a 68.4% response rate, showed that students experience a significant level of stress. It also demonstrated a need for schools to develop stress management programs.

All-optical implementation of a self-organizing map: Learning and taxonomy capability assessment.

We present some experimental results obtained with an all-optical implementation of a self-organizing map. The system is based on two ferroelectric liquid-crystal, bistable optically addressed spatial light modulators (BOASLM's) used as parallel read/write optical memories and as thresholding devices. Modifications made to adapt the basic algorithm to the BOASLM's are studied in computer simulations that predict training-class loss due to the simplified decision stage as the principal drawback. Experimental results show good system behavior in recognition mode, demonstrating generalization properties and confirming the choice of a BOASLM memory. All-optical learning is shown in simple cases, and the elementary BOASLM decision function is confirmed as the major limiting factor. The ultimate possible system performance is discussed, and ways of overcoming present limits are suggested.