Kinship does not affect litter defence in pairs of communally nesting female house mice

Communal litter defence by sister and nonsister female mice can provide a valuable experimental paradigm to test whether females invest preferentially in kin. Since females within sister and nonsister pairs have different coefficients of relatedness with the young, the cumulative litter has more fitness value for related than for unrelated partners. Sister and nonsister paired females that gave birth simultaneously (n = 18), or at least within 7 days from each other (n = 12), were tested for maternal aggression on post partum day 7, or 10 days after the first delivery, respectively. Sister (n = 14) and nonsister pairs (n = 16) did not differ in cumulative values of post partum aggression or in the extent to which aggression was balanced within the pair. The aggressive behavior of each female was not correlated with her relative proportion of pups in the litter. Rather, the combined scores of aggression within the pairs were found to be positively correlated with the cumulative litter size. The analysis of mouse litter defence behavior shows that, under conditions of communal nesting, kinship does not seem to affect parental investment in the young significantly. Rather, the cumulative litter size could be used by paired females as a major indicator for parental investment allocation.     

Residual reading capability in a patient with alexia without agraphia

A case of pure alexia due to an ischemic lesion of the occipital temporal region is described. Written words could be matched but not read. Immediate memory span for graphemes was defective. The reading defect probably depends on the inability to modify the written word “globally”; the phonological process was intact, but the memory disturbance impeded reading. The dissociation is explained by the preservation of word forms, which are linked to the semantic stage. Nonwritten stimuli trigger a “meaning” which evokes the word form and so the written word is recognized even though it cannot be read.     

Impaired drawing from memory in a visual agnosic patient

A case is reported of an associative visual agnosic patient who could not draw from memory objects he could recognize, even though he could copy drawings flawlessly. His ability to generate mental visual images was found to be spared, as was his ability to operate upon mental images. These data suggest that the patient could generate mental images but could not draw from memory because he did not have access to stored knowledge about pictorial attributes of objects. A similar functional impairment can be found in some other visual agnosic patients and in patients affected by optic aphasia. The present case allows a discussion of relationships among drawing from memory, imagery, and copying procedures.     

The Professional Autonomy of the Medical Doctor in Italy

This contribution deals with the issue of the professional autonomy ofthe medical doctor. Worldwide, the physician's autonomy is guaranteedand limited, first of all, by Codes of Medical Ethics. InItaly, the latest version of the national Code of MedicalEthics (Code 1998) was published in 1998 by the Federation ofprovincial Medical Associations (FnomCeO). The Code 1998acknowledges the physician's autonomy regarding the scheduling, thechoice and application of diagnostic and therapeutic means, within theprinciples of professional responsibility. This responsibility has tomake reference to the following fundamental ethical principles:(1) the protection of human life; (2) the protection of thephysical and psychological health of the human being; (3) therelief from pain; (4) the respect for the freedom and the dignityof the human person, without discrimination; (5) an up-to-datescientific qualification (Art. 5). The authors underline that autonomyis an anthropological – and consequently ethical –characteristic of the human person. Different positions on autonomy inbioethics (individualistic, evolutionistic, utilitarian andpersonalistic models) are explained. The relation between theprofessional autonomy of the physician and the autonomy of the patientand of colleagues is discussed. In fact, the medical doctor isobliged: (1) to respect the fundamental rights of the person,first of all his/her life; (2) to ensure the continuity of thecare, even if he can only relieve the patient's suffering; (3) tomaintain, except under certain circumstances, professional secrecy andconfidentiality regarding patients and their medical records. Moreover,the physician cannot deny the patient correct and appropriateinformation. He/she should not perform any diagnostic or therapeuticactivity without the informed consent of the patient and the medicaldoctor must give up medical treatment in case of documented refusal ofthe individual. Furthermore, the medical doctor has the right to raiseconscientious objections if he/she is requested to perform medicalactions that are contrary to his/her conscience or medical opinion,unless this attitude would seriously and immediately harm the patient.Regarding the relationships with colleagues, the physician is obliged tosolidarity, mutual respect, and care of sick colleagues. Finally, theauthors discuss the Italian legislation affecting the physician'sprofessional autonomy: (1) the SSN health care Acts; (2) theso-called Charter for Public Health Care Services; (3) the Acts onprivacy; (4) Good Clinical Practice.     

Vulnerability Across the Life Course

This issue defines vulnerability as a key interdisciplinary concept for understanding life trajectories. Moreover, it develops a life course framework to study vulnerability along three structuring axes of research: multidimensionality, multilevel, and multidirectionality.     

Temperament, ADHD and peer relations among schoolchildren: the mediating role of school bullying

The goal of the study is to investigate the link between temperament, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, social preference, bullying and victimization. The study sample consisted of 195 children attending the fourth and fifth grade (age 8-10), their mothers and their teachers. A multiinformant approach was used: mothers were interviewed about the temperament of their children; teachers were asked about ADHD symptoms; children responded to a peer nominations inventory designed to investigate their roles as bullies and/or victims and their social preferences (liked and disliked peers). A Structural Equation Model multigroup analysis (males and females) was used to test the relationships among variables hypothesized by the authors. The analysis showed that temperamental variables have a direct relation to ADHD symptoms, that ADHD has a direct relation to bullying behavior in males and to victimization in females and that bullies and victims are less well accepted than peers who belong to neither category. ADHD has only an indirect relation to social preference through the mediating role of school bullying.     

Changing history: doctored photographs affect memory for past public events

We investigated how doctored photographs of past public events affect memory for those events. Italian participants viewed either original images or misleading digitally doctored images depicting the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest in Beijing and a 2003 protest in Rome against the war in Iraq, and they subsequently answered questions about those events. Viewing the doctored images affected the way participants remembered the events. Those who viewed the doctored photograph of the Beijing event estimated that a larger number of people participated in it. Those who viewed the doctored photograph of the Rome event rated the event as more violent and more negative, recalled more physical confrontation, damage to property, and injuries to demonstrators, and were less inclined to participate in future protests. Both younger and older adult participants were affected by the manipulation. Results indicate that doctored photographs of past public events can influence memory, attitudes and behavioural intentions. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An experimental investigation of the automatic/voluntary dissociation in limb apraxia

The ability of apraxic patients to perform gestures in everyday life is a controversial issue. In this paper, we aimed to evaluate the automatic/voluntary dissociation (AVD) in four patients affected by clinically relevant limb apraxia. For this purpose, we sampled different kinds of gestures belonging to patients' motor repertoire and then assessed their production in a testing session. Our experimental procedure consisted of two steps: in the first phase, we recorded gestures produced by patients in two natural conditions; in the second phase, we assessed production of correctly produced tool-actions, and of spontaneous non tool-actions and meaningless conversational (cohesive and beats) gestures under different modalities. AVD was observed for all types of gestures, albeit to different degree in single patients. The present findings demonstrate that the context provides strong bottom-up cues for the retrieval of motor patterns, while artificial testing conditions impose an additional cognitive load.     

Synthesis of autonomous robots through evolution

Evolutionary robotics is the attempt to develop robots through a self-organized process based on artificial evolution. This approach stresses the importance of the study of systems that have a body and that are situated in a physical environment, and which autonomously develop their own skills in close interaction with the environment. In this review we briefly illustrate the method and the main concept of evolutionary robotics, and examine the most significant contribution in this area. We also discuss some of the contributions that this research area is making to the foundational debate in cognitive science.     

Interfacial waves between two magneto-electro-elastic half-spaces with magneto-electro-mechanical imperfect interface

The propagation of shear horizontal waves between the interface of two magneto-electro-elastic materials with an magneto-electro-mechanical imperfect contact has been studied. Mechanical, electrical and magnetical imperfections are modelled by means of a spring, a capacitor and an inductor, respectively. A general expression for the dispersion relation is given in an explicit form. Some limit cases are analysed in detail. The influence of imperfect contacts is shown in some numerical results.