Harvester ant colonies differ in collective behavioural plasticity to regulate water loss.

Collective behavioural plasticity allows ant colonies to adjust to changing conditions. The red harvester ant (Pogonomyrmex barbatus), a desert seed-eating species, regulates foraging activity in response to water stress. Foraging ants lose water to evaporation. Reducing foraging activity in dry conditions sacrifices food intake but conserves water. Within a year, some colonies tend to reduce foraging on dry days while others do not. We examined whether these differences among colonies in collective behavioural plasticity persist from year to year. Colonies live 20-30 years with a single queen who produces successive cohorts of workers which live only a year. The humidity level at which all colonies tend to reduce foraging varies from year to year. Longitudinal observations of 95 colonies over 5 years between 2016 and 2021 showed that differences among colonies, in how they regulate foraging activity in response to day-to-day changes in humidity, persist across years. Approximately 40% of colonies consistently reduced foraging activity, year after year, on days with low daily maximum relative humidity; approximately 20% of colonies never did, foraging as much or more on dry days as on humid days. This variation among colonies may allow evolutionary rescue from drought due to climate change.

A systematic review of interventions targeting primary care or community based professionals on cardio-metabolic risk factor control in people with diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: To review the interventions targeting primary care or community based professionals on glycaemic and cardiovascular risk factor control in people with diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: A systematic review of randomised controlled trials evaluating the effectiveness of interventions targeting primary care or community based professionals on diabetes and cardiovascular risk factor control. We conducted searches in MEDLINE database from inception up to 27th September 2015. We also retrieved articles related to diabetes from the Cochrane EPOC database and EMBASE and scanned bibliographies for key articles. RESULTS: There was heterogeneity in terms of interventions and participants amongst the 30 studies (39,439 patients) that met the inclusion criteria. Nine of the studies focused on general or family practitioners, five on pharmacists, three on nurses and one each on dieticians and community workers. Twelve studies targeted multi-disciplinary teams. Educational interventions did not seem to have a positive impact on HbA1c, systolic blood pressure or lipid profiles. The use of telemedicine, clinician reminders and feedback showed mixed results but there was a level of consistency in improvement in HbA1c when multifaceted interventions on multidisciplinary teams were implemented. Targeting general or family physicians was largely ineffective in improving the cardiovascular risk factors considered, except when using a computer application on insulin handling of type 2 diabetes or customised simulated cases with feedbacks. Similarly, interventions targeting nurses did not improve outcomes compared to standard care. CONCLUSIONS: Multifaceted professional interventions were more effective than single interventions targeting single primary or community care professionals in improving glycaemic control.

An integrated clinical computer system: implications for a medical information services department.

The hybrid record--both paper and electronic--is a cumbersome byproduct of the evolution to the computer-based patient record. Nancy Walker describes how William Beaumont Hospital managed its information services with this mixed media record. Her article provides practical solutions for health information managers including downtime procedures, report distribution plans, release of information steps, and audit procedures for maintaining confidentiality.

Non-linear temporal summation by simple cells in cat striate cortex demonstrated by failure of superposition.

Simple cells in area 17 of the anaesthetized, paralysed cat were stimulated with stationary sinusoidal gratings whose contrast was temporally modulated in different ways. The response to a temporal waveform which was the sum of two sinusoids (1.25 Hz and 7.75 Hz) was compared with the response elicited by each component when presented alone. The responses to the high temporal frequency in the compound stimulus were relatively enhanced by the addition of the low temporal frequency; those to the low frequency were relatively depressed.

Non-linearities of temporal summation in neurones in area 17 of the cat.

Sinusoidal temporal modulation of the contrast of sinusoidal gratings has been used to provide one description of the temporal properties of neurones in area 17 of the cat's visual cortex. Concurrently, the waveforms of the neurones' responses to 2 s flashes of identical gratings were examined. In most neurones, the response to the long flash was much more transient than would be expected from the shape of the temporal-frequency tuning curve. Temporal summation in cortical neurones is non-linear.

An analysis of motor coordination components for various localization tasks.

Localization abilities of subjects in three perceptual-motor tasks were considered before and after an exposure to a visual distortion. During this distortion the subject observed his hand ballistically point to an invisible but audible target while either receiving or not receiving knowledge of results (KR) concerning pointing accuracy. Also, subjects either received a 1- or a 4-sec rest period between each of 30 exposure ballistic pointing actions. The pre- and postexposure tasks involved the ability of a subject to accurately point to an occluded and stationary auditory target, to point to the straight-ahead position in space, and to indicate when a moving, auditory target was perceived as being in the straight-ahead position. For these tasks, the pre- vs. postexposure localization difference scores are referred to as the negative aftereffect, the proprioceptive shift, and the auditory shift, respectively. Wilkinson's (1971) two-component additive model (negative aftereffect = proprioceptive shift plus auditory shift) held when KR was given regardless of amount of rest between exposure pointing responses. With a 4-sec rest and no KR, the relationship between coordination components was nonadditive (negative aftereffect greater than proprioceptive shift plus auditory shift).