Mobbing behavior

In many social animals, females mate with multiple males, but the adaptive value of female extra-pair mating is not fully understood. Here, we tested whether male pied flycatchers ( Ficedula hypoleuca ) engaging in extra-pair copulations with neighboring females were more likely to assist their neighbors in antipredator defense. We found that extra-pair sires joined predator-mobbing more often, approached predators more closely, and attacked predators more aggressively than males without extra-pair offspring in the neighboring nest...

Methods to measure physical activity and sedentary behaviors typically quantify the amount of time devoted to these activities. Among patients with chronic diseases, these methods can provide interesting behavioral information, but generally do not capture detailed body motion and fine movement behaviors. Fine detection of motion may provide additional information about functional decline that is of clinical interest in chronic diseases. This perspective paper highlights the need for more developed and sophisticated tools to better identify and track the decomposition, structuration, and sequencing of the daily movements of humans...

What explains popular support for political violence in the contemporary United States, particularly the anti-institutional mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol in January 2021? Recent scholarship gives reason to suspect that a constellation of beliefs known as "Christian nationalism" may be associated with support for such violence. We build on this work, arguing that religious ideologies like Christian nationalism should be associated with support for violence, conditional on several individual characteristics that can be inflamed by elite cues...

ConspectusThe development of highly active noble-metal-free catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is the focus of current fundamental research, aiming for a more efficient and economically affordable water-splitting process. While most HER catalysts are studied only at the nanoscale (small particle size and high surface area), metal borides (MBs) are mostly studied in bulk form. This offers a unique opportunity for designing highly efficient and nonprecious HER MBs electrocatalysts based on structure-activity relationships, especially because of their rich compositional and structural diversity...

Mobbing, group attack of prey on predator, is a behavior seen in many animal species in which prey animals use numbers and coordination to counter individually superior predators. We studied attack behavior of Pseudomonas aeruginosa toward the bacterivore Acanthamoeba castellanii. This behavior consists of directed motility toward and specific adhesion to the predator cells, enacted in seconds and responding to both prey and predator population densities. Attack coordination relies on remote sensing of the predator and the use of the Pseudomonas quinolone signal (PQS), a P...

Sexually naïve female mice do not display high levels of sexual receptivity in their first sexual experience; they require around 4-5 sexual encounters to display the full receptive response, assessed by the lordosis reflex. In this study, we evaluated if repeated sexual stimulation with the same male is associated with changes in synaptic remodeling evaluated by synaptophysin (SYP) in brain structures involved in the control of sexual behavior such as the main and accessory olfactory bulbs (MOB and AOB, respectively), medial preoptic area (MPOA), ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH), and amygdala (AMG)...

Molybdenum borides have been of interest due to their potential applications as electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). As one of the common molybdenum borides, β-MoB2 is deemed to exhibit low electrocatalytic activity due to the presence of puckered B layers, and improvement of its behavior is hindered by the lack of convenient synthetic methods. Herein, we report the synthesis of crystalline β-MoB2 for the first time via the simple reaction of MoCl3 and B at 850 °C in LiCl-KCl. The as-prepared β-MoB2 sample was shown to exhibit a nanosheet structure with a large Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area of 48 m2 /g...

Collective decision-making is a widespread phenomenon across organisms. Studying how animal societies make group decisions to the mutual benefit of group members, while avoiding exploitation by cheaters, can provide unique insights into the underlying cognitive mechanisms. As a step toward dissecting the proximate mechanisms that underpin collective decision-making across animals, we developed an agent-based model of antipredatory alarm signaling and mobbing during predator-prey encounters. Such collective behaviors occur in response to physical threats in many distantly related species with vastly different cognitive abilities, making it a broadly important model behavior...

OBJECTIVE: To compare the analgesic effects of two types of spinal manipulation (SM) in acute lumbar radiculopathy (ALR) model rats induced by self-transplantation of autologous nucleus pulposus (ANP), and clarify the therapeutic mechanism. METHODS: Totally 108 male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 6 groups by a random number table (18 rats in each group), including a blank group with no interference, a sham operation group with a surgery by making a local soft tissue incision on the left side of L5-6 vertebral segment, a model group with ALR of L5 extraforaminal nerve by ANP self-transplantation without other interference, a sham manipulation (SMA) group with simulating physical rotation, as well as a mobilization (MOB) group with simulating low-velocity and variable-amplitude rotation and a manipulation (MAN) group with simulating high-velocity and low-amplitude rotation...

Background: Musk ( Moschus moschiferus ) has been described to have a significant impact on the central nervous system, as well as anticonvulsion and antidepressant effects. This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of musk in alleviating alterations induced in olfactory bulb of depressed mice exposed to chronic stress and identify the mechanism behind it. Methods: Fifty male albino mice were divided into five groups ( n = 10 each): control, musk, chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS), fluoxetine-treated, and musk-treated groups were included in this study...

BACKGROUND: Addressing the enhancement of ill health self-management skills in adults diagnosed with bipolar disorder may be considered an important intervention for health care systems worldwide. OBJECTIVE: This protocol describes the study "Management of my Bipolarity" (MoB), which aims to develop an educational intervention for adults with bipolar disorder and assess its effectiveness. The objectives include (a) a literature review on bipolar disorder educational interventions; (b) a qualitative exploration of the educational needs of people with bipolar disorder; (c) development of an educational intervention based on objectives (a) and (b) (ie, the MoB educational intervention); and (d) exploration of the effectiveness of the intervention regarding participants' knowledge of their mental health condition and enhancement of their ill health self-management skills...

Species recognition is an essential behavioral outcome of social discrimination, flocking, mobbing, mating, and/or parental care. In songbirds, auditory species recognition cues are processed through specialized forebrain circuits dedicated to acoustic discrimination. Here we addressed the direction of behavioral and neural metrics of zebra finches' (Taeniopygia guttata) responses to acoustic cues of unfamiliar conspecifics vs. heterospecifics. Behaviorally, vocal response rates were greater for conspecific male zebra finch songs over heterospecific Pin-tailed Whydah (Vidua macroura) songs, which paralleled greater multiunit spike rates in the auditory forebrain in response to the same type of conspecific over heterospecific auditory stimuli...

The relationship between the father and mother during pregnancy has been linked to pregnancy outcomes. However, factors that influence this relationship have not been studied in depth. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) of the father have been associated with poor health and functioning in adulthood, and may be important factors that impact the prenatal relationship between the parents. We recruited 117 fathers from a study that examined the risk of preterm birth in pregnant Black women. Of the fathers recruited, 113 completed questionnaires and provided survey data to determine behavioral, health, psychosocial, social, and sociodemographic characteristics...

In this work, we combined biochemical and structural investigations with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to analyze the very different thermal-dependent allosteric behavior of two lactate dehydrogenases (LDH) from thermophilic bacteria. We found that the enzyme from Petrotoga mobilis (P. mob) necessitates an absolute requirement of the allosteric effector (fructose 1, 6-bisphosphate) to ensure functionality. In contrast, even without allosteric effector, the LDH from Thermus thermophilus (T. the) is functional when the temperature is raised...

OBJECTIVE: Little research has investigated variables affecting the relationship between weight- or shape-related bullying (WSB) and specific forms of disordered eating in adolescence. This study aimed to examine the relationship between WSB and eating disorder behaviors in Australian adolescents, and whether this relationship was moderated by body image attitudes. METHOD: Data were used from the first wave of the EveryBODY study, a survey of body image concerns and eating disorders in a large representative sample of Australian adolescents (N = 573), aged 11-19 years...

OBJECTIVE: Total joint arthroplasty (TJA) often reduces pain and improves function, but it is also a risk factor for the development of chronic pain and postoperative opioid use. To protect against these untoward postsurgical outcomes, TJA patients need better, non-pharmacological pain management strategies. This study compared two, promising, mindfulness-based pain management techniques. METHOD: We conducted a single-site, three-arm, parallel-group randomized controlled study conducted at an orthopedic clinic among patients undergoing TJA of the knee or hip...

Gaslighting is an insidious, pernicious form of bullying that is gaining notoriety in nursing academia anecdotally. Attempting to identify the behaviors associated with gaslighting are difficult because of the subtle nature with which gaslighting is performed by the perpetrator. Traditional tools/models used for identifying bullying and horizontal violence are not sensitive enough to pick up gaslighting behaviors. Perpetual lies and mistruths, vexatious or frivolous complaints, praise and positive reinforcement, the use of blame or mobbing, and coercion are some of the tactics a gaslighter will use to create confusion and chaos for the gaslightee...

In the current issue of Acta Physiologica Sun et al.1 find that oxytocin modulates olfactory signal processing in the main olfactory bulb (MOB). Oxytocin is a cyclic nine amino acid neuropeptide that was first synthesized by biochemist Vincent du Vigneaud (Nobel Prize, 1955). Oxytocin is produced in the hypothalamus and is released to peripheral circulation by the posterior pituitary. In addition, axonal projections from the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus provide intracerebral oxytocin inputs to multiple brain regions including the olfactory system2 (Figure 1)...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the mobbing perception levels of health workers, who were mobbed and to determine whether the socio-demographic characteristics of the employees made a significant difference in the perception of mobbing. Within the scope of the study, the mobbing perception levels of 516 healthcare personnel were evaluated by using relational screening model. In order to collect data, socio-demographic data form and Leymann Psychological Terrorist Scale developed by Heinz Leymann were used...

AIM: This study aimed to (1) assess the current status of Chinese nurses' exposure to workplace violence; (2) identify the cluster of interrelationships between abusive supervision, anxiety and depression symptoms, work ability, and workplace violence in nursing settings; and (3) clarify the functional mechanism among these variables. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted online from September to October 2020 in China. A total of 1,221 valid questionnaires were collected across 100 cities in 31 provinces...