Studying pigeons during homing has offered an opportunity to investigate visual-functional brain lateralization in the context of free flying and long distance navigation. In the current study we examine at a high scale of spatial resolution the flight paths of pigeons, which vary with respect to monocular and binocular treatment, as they familiarise themselves with landscape and landmark features during repeated flights home from two locations. The analysis of the flight paths of monocularly occluded pigeons revealed that pigeons using the right eye/left hemisphere visual system were more likely to display more tortuous paths over tracts of 500 m along the flight path home compared to both pigeons using the left eye/right hemisphere visual system and control birds. Accompanying this finding was the observation that pigeons using the right eye/left hemisphere system were more likely to perform flight "loops", suggesting that, without right hemispheric visual processing, pigeons are more motivated to seek out visual input, behaviourally expanding the now monocularly reduced visual field. Taken together, the data are consistent with a more important role of the left eye/right hemisphere system in processing visual features of the landscape, which may contribute to the construction of the familiar landmark-based map used for navigation. More broadly, our data are consistent with the hypothesis that the right cerebral hemisphere of the avian brain plays a more important role in memorising and using the relational properties of visual stimuli to guide performance on spatial tasks. Pigeons challenged to learn visual landscape features with only the left or right eye displayed different patterns of flight behaviour.Birds using the right eye/left hemisphere showed a greater high spatial resolution tortuosity than birds using the left eye/right hemisphere.The results are consistent with an important role of the avian right brain hemisphere in memory-based, visuo-spatial tasks.

Camels (Camelus dromedarius) are known to have good navigational abilities and can find their home after displacement to far places; however, there are no studies available on the navigational strategies employed by the camels in homing behavior. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate these strategies by displacing female camels equipped with GPS trackers 6 km away from home to totally unfamiliar locations. The experiments comprised displacing nursing or non-nursing female camels 6 km from their living pens to an unfamiliar release site. Some camels were taken to the release site on foot, others were hauled on a truck, both during daytime and nighttime. Displacements journeys were either in a straight direction to the release points, or they consisted of a convoluted path. As a result, camels that had straight outward journeys were able to return home efficiently and rather directly, but camels that had convoluted trips to the release point failed to do so. Moreover, impairing olfactory. visual, and auditory inputs by using mouth/nose muzzles, eye covers and headphones did not affect homing ability. Based on these experiments the most likely hypothesis is that during their small-scale round trips the camels relied on path integration, and that this strategy is disrupted when the camels were subjected to disorientation procedures before release.

Opercular display during agonistic encounters between male Betta splendens was previously proposed to be a suitable bioindicator of organophosphate water pollution. The experiments reported here tested the effect of disulfoton, a notorious and widely banned organophosphate, on the males aggressive opercular expansion display. Male Bettas were placed in water that had disulfoton concentration of 5 mg/l for 24 hr. The males were then paired together in an aquarium for 10 min, and the rate and duration of opercular display was recorded. Experimental males had significantly lower opercular expansion compared to controls that were placed in nonpolluted water. The findings support that use of aggressive male Bettas display to be used as bioindicator of organophosphates' water pollution.

The WRKY33 transcription factor was reported for resistance to the necrotrophic fungus Botrytis cinerea. Using microarray-based analysis, we compared Arabidopsis WRKY33 overexpressing lines and wrky33 mutant that showed altered susceptibility to B. cinerea with their corresponding wild-type plants. In the wild-type, about 1660 genes (7% of the transcriptome) were induced and 1054 genes (5% of the transcriptome) were repressed at least twofold at early stages of inoculation with B. cinerea, confirming previous data of the contribution of these genes in B. cinerea resistance. In Arabidopsis wild-type plant infected with B. cinerea, the expressions of the differentially expressed genes encoding for proteins and metabolites involved in pathogen defense and non-defense responses, seem to be dependent on a functional WRKY33 gene. The expression profile of 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid- and phytoprostane A1-treated Arabidopsis plants in response to B. cinerea revealed that cyclopentenones can also modulate WRKY33 regulation upon inoculation with B. cinerea. These results support the role of electrophilic oxylipins in mediating plant responses to B. cinerea infection through the TGA transcription factor. Future directions toward the identification of the molecular components in cyclopentenone signaling will elucidate the novel oxylipin signal transduction pathways in plant defense.

Recently, we reported that Rhus coriaria exhibits anticancer activities by promoting cell cycle arrest and autophagic cell death of the metastatic triple negative MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. Here, we investigated the effect of Rhus coriaria on the migration, invasion, metastasis and tumor growth of TNBC cells. Our current study revealed that non-cytotoxic concentrations of Rhus coriaria significantly inhibited migration and invasion, blocked adhesion to fibronectin and downregulated MMP-9 and prostaglandin E 2 (PgE2). Not only did Rhus coriaria decrease their adhesion to HUVECs and to lung microvascular endothelial (HMVEC-L) cells, but it also inhibited the transendothelial migration of MDA-MB-231 cells through TNF-α-activated HUVECs. Furthermore, we found that Rhus coriaria inhibited angiogenesis, reduced VEGF production in both MDA-MB-231 and HUVECs and downregulated the inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-8. The underlying mechanism for Rhus coriaria effects appears to be through inhibiting NFκB, STAT3 and nitric oxide (NO) pathways. Most importantly, by using chick embryo tumor growth assay, we showed that Rhus coriaria suppressed tumor growth and metastasis in vivo . The results described in the present study identify Rhus coriaria as a promising chemopreventive and therapeutic candidate that modulate triple negative breast cancer growth and metastasis.

Male Siamese fighting fish are highly territorial and aggressive towards conspecifics. We have suggested that aggressive behavior of Betta splendens males is highly sensitive and might be useful as a bioindicator of fresh water pollution. This was tested by determining opercular expansion count and duration when pollutant-exposed fish were confronted by naive fish. We found that paraoxon, a commonly used pesticide used as a model pollutant, inhibits aggressive behavior of Betta males. The results indicate that males treated with paraoxon for 24 hours were significantly less aggressive than control males. The findings suggest that aggressive behavior in Betta splendens may have use as a bioindicator of organophosphate pollution in fresh water.

A previous work has indicated that fighting fish behaviour of Betta splendens can be used as a bio-indicator of heavy metal pollution. In this article, the effect of methyl parathion on the fighting behaviour of male Siamese fighting fish was investigated. The frequency and duration of opercular erection were taken as indicators of male aggressiveness towards another male. All male fish were housed in glass jars for 1-2 weeks prior to experiments. Sixteen naive males were randomly assigned to two experimental groups: methyl parathion (5 mg/L) and control. Males were placed in their respective treatment jars for 24 h, and then, each male was paired with another male of matching size in an 30x25x25 cm aquarium. The aquarium had an opaque divider to keep the two males separate for 10 min of acclimation period. The divider was then removed and behavioural measurements were taken for another 10 min. The results showed that fish placed in methyl parathion had significantly lower aggressive behaviour, as indicated by lower frequency and shorter duration of opercular erection. It can be concluded that aggressive behaviour of male Betta splendens is a suitable bio-indicator of organophosphate pollution.

Male Siamese fighting fish, Betta splendens, are known for their ferociousness when defending their territories against male or female conspecific intruders. The aim of this study was to investigate whether this species exhibits the dear enemy phenomenon, where territorial males would be less aggressive toward neighbors with already established territories than toward complete stranger males. In experiment 1, a male Betta was placed in an aquarium. A second male was placed in a glass jar that was fitted in one corner of the aquarium. After 24 h, a cover was placed around the jar, and then removed after 1 h. Alternatively, the jar male was replaced with a different male of a different color while the jar was covered. The frequency and duration of opercular expansion by the aquarium male were recorded. In experiment 2, two male Bettas were placed, each in a half of a large aquarium that was equally divided by a clear, perforated Plexiglas divider. After 24 h, one male (intruder) was transferred into the other male’s (resident) half. In another variation of the experiment, the intruder was a stranger male Betta that the resident male had never encountered before. The opercular expansion and duration were scored for the resident male. The results indicated that male Siamese fish reacted similarly to familiar and stranger males. This lack of dear enemy effect in Siamese fish could be due to an inability to discriminate between neighboring males and non-neighboring males. Alternatively, territorial males could be equally aggressive to all intruders because all intruders represent equal danger.

It has been suggested that variation in aggressive behaviour of male Betta splendens might be used as a bioindicator for the presence of the heavy metal pollutants mercury and sodium azide. In this study, the effect of HgCl2 on aggressive behaviours of male Betta splendens was assessed. Aggressive behaviour was quantified as frequency and duration of opercular extension in response to an intruder (another male). In the experimental set up, a male Betta was placed in an aquarium. A glass jar fitted with an opaque cover and containing a second Betta male was situated in one corner of the aquarium. Records of opercular extension frequency and duration exhibited by the resident male were recorded over a 10-min test period during which the cover was removed from the jar permitting visual contact with the intruder. A second trial was conducted the next day between 10:00-12:00 pm. The aquaria and jars were filled with clean water under control and with polluted water under experimental conditions. The results showed that male Betta splendens placed in polluted water for 24 h had significantly lower opercular extension rates (13 +/- 10.2) in response to an intruder compared to control fish placed in clean water (30.3 +/- 9.1).

Male Betta splendens are known to be highly territorial and aggressive towards conspecifics. The influence of two metal pollutants, mercuric chloride (HgCl2) and sodium azide (NaN3) on specific aggressive behaviours of the male Betta species was investigated. The aim was to determine if aggressive behaviour can be used as a metal pollution bio-indicator. For this purpose, two males were placed in an aquarium (60 x 25 x 25 cm) that was divided into two equal compartments by a clear, perforated Plexiglas wall. The aquarium was filled with untreated water as control, and with polluted water under experimental conditions. After 24 h, one male (intruder) was placed in the other male's (resident) half of the aquarium. The behaviour of both males, particularly, air gulping rate, latency to first bite and to first opercular expansion, were recorded. The results indicate that the males under treatment conditions were less aggressive than those under control conditions. Thus, the male Betta splendens aggressive behaviour can be potentially used as a biological indicator of pollutants in freshwater.

I investigated whether mice, after learning to home by relying on visual extra-arena landmarks, still required instantaneous access to such cues for successful navigation. Two groups of lactating mice were trained to retrieve their pups from the centre of a circular arena back to their peripheral nest. On test trials, mice from one group were allowed to view distal visual cues while moving from the nest towards the centre, and mice from the other group were allowed to view distal visual cues when homing from the centre towards the nest. The results indicate that viewing the visual cues when homing is necessary for landmark-based navigation.

The experiments reported here were designed to find out whether mice are capable of homing by visual extra-arena landmarks, W hen deprived of visual access to such landmarks. Mice were placed in a circular arena, where they could view the experimental room only from a peripheral nest and the centre of the arena, while they could not access the visual cues when moving in-between. This resulted in poor homing in mice. The conclusion drawn is that mice need to view visual,cues while moving for their landmark-based navigation.

Navigation in rodents is mediated by at least 3 mechanisms: guidance, path integration, and landmark learning. The hippocampus is necessary for spatial learning based on distal landmarks, and it has been suggested that the hippocampal formation performs a form of path integration in updating place cell firing; however, the necessity of the hippocampus for path integration has not been clearly established. Rats with extensive neurotoxin lesions of the hippocampus and control rats were trained on 2 tasks in which they were required to move in total darkness from one location to another and then return to the start point. Hippocampal and control rats both used path integration in solving these tasks and did not differ in terms of the distributions of their arrival points on the return paths. We conclude that neuronal circuits sufficient for computing a homing vector using path integration are located outside the hippocampus.