The interactive effects of predator density and prey distribution on the foraging behavior of an important estuarine predator were studied, at a fine temporal scale, using ultrasonic telemetry. The movement and agonistic activity of individual blue crabs Callinectes sapidus were monitored in large field enclosures, in which the density of crabs and the distribution of patches of bivalve prey Ma...

OBJECTIVE Co-stimulatory and co-inhibitory molecules are mainly expressed on T cells and antigen presenting cells and strongly orchestrate adaptive immune responses. Whereas co-stimulatory molecules enhance immune responses, signaling via co-inhibitory molecules dampens the immune system, thereby showing great therapeutic potential to prevent cardiovascular diseases. Signaling via co-inhibitory...

We examined the ways in which preschool children’s agonistic and cooperative behaviors related to their social dominance. First, two common assumptions associated with theories of social dominance were tested. We hypothesized that directly observed agonistic interactions would decrease across the school year and that same-sex agonism would be greater than cross-sex agonism. Both of these hypoth...

Female social dominance is rare in mammals, but common in lemurs. We investigated social dominance in two Eulemur species; the polygynous crowned lemur (E. coronatus) and the monogamous red-bellied lemur (E. rubriventer), using four and two social groups, respectively. We collected data on agonistic interactions and two types of affiliative behavior (grooming and maintaining spatial proximity)....

High fat, low carbohydrate diets have become popular, as short-term studies show that such diets are effective for reducing body weight, and lowering the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. There is growing evidence from both humans and other animals that diet affects behaviour and intake of fat has been linked, positively and negatively, with traits such as exploration, social interac...

Only a few years ago the nature nurture issue seemed to have mercifully receded into a comfortable state of scientific oblivion. But as so many times before, this reliable ogre has now managed to raise its ugly head again. Due to the recent wildfirelike spreading of evolutionary thinking to the social sciences the problem is once more in need of clarification. A kind of tacit agreement that see...

I first met Bob Blanchard at an international conference in Paris some 40 years ago. We collaborated intensively during the late 1980s/early 1990s on the ethopharmacology of antipredator defence in wild and laboratory rats, and remained good friends until his untimely passing in November 2013. Bob will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the most influential behavioural neuroscientists of the 2...

Recent success in cancer immunotherapy has reinvigorated the hypothesis that the immune system can control many if not most cancers, in some cases producing durable responses in a way not seen with many small-molecule drugs. Agonistic CD40 monoclonal antibodies (mAb) offer a new therapeutic option which has the potential to generate anticancer immunity by various mechanisms. CD40 is a TNF recep...