Depression is a common prenatal psychological complication. We aimed to investigate if maternal pre-pregnancy diet can impact prenatal depressive symptoms and the mediating role of pre-pregnancy BMI and inflammation. We used data (N 1141) from the Alberta Pregnancy Outcomes and Nutrition cohort study. We calculated Mediterranean diet adherence (MED) and dietary inflammatory index (DII) scores using data from pre-pregnancy FFQ. In the third-trimester, we assessed depressive symptoms using Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS) and inflammation through serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels. BMI was calculated from self-reported pre-pregnancy weight. Race-stratified analyses (white and people of colour) were run. We observed no association between MED or DII tertiles and depressive symptoms. However, white participants in the MED tertile-3 had lower risk of depression (EPDS < 10) compared with tertile-1 (OR = 0·56, 95 % CI, 0·33, 0·95). White individuals in MED tertile-3 had lower BMI (MD = –1·08; 95 % CI, −1·77, −0·39) and CRP (MD = –0·53; 95 % CI, −0·95, −0·11) than tertile-1, and those in DII tertile-2 (MD = 0·44; 95 % CI, 0·03, 0·84) and tertile-3 (MD = 0·42; 95 % CI, 0·01, 0·83) had higher CRP than tertile-1. Among people of colour, neither MED nor DII was associated with BMI or CRP, but BMI was negatively associated with depressive symptoms (β = –0·25, 95 % CI, −0·43, −0·06). We found no association between diet and depressive symptoms through BMI or CRP, in either race. Pre-pregnancy diet might affect the risk of prenatal depression in a race-specific way. Further research is required to explore the racial differences in the association between maternal diet and prenatal depressive symptoms/depression risk.

Plant growth requires the integration of internal and external cues, perceived and transduced into a developmental programme of cell division, elongation and wall thickening. Mechanical forces contribute to this regulation, and thigmomorphogenesis typically includes reducing stem height, increasing stem diameter, and a canonical transcriptomic response. We present data on a bZIP transcription factor involved in this process in grasses. Brachypodium distachyon SECONDARY WALL INTERACTING bZIP (SWIZ) protein translocated into the nucleus following mechanostimulation. Classical touch-responsive genes were upregulated in B. distachyon roots following touch, including significant induction of the glycoside hydrolase 17 family, which may be unique to grass thigmomorphogenesis. SWIZ protein binding to an E-box variant in exons and introns was associated with immediate activation followed by repression of gene expression. SWIZ overexpression resulted in plants with reduced stem and root elongation. These data further define plant touch-responsive transcriptomics and physiology, offering insights into grass mechanotranduction dynamics.

Using a 1-year longitudinal design, we examined the role of personal demands and personal resources in long-term health impairment and motivational processes among master students. Based on the job demands-resources theory and transactional model of stress, we hypothesized that students’ personal demands (i.e., irrational performance demands, awfulizing and irrational need for control) predict perceived study demands one year later, and indirectly relate to burnout. Furthermore, we predicted that personal resources indirectly associate with study engagement via students’ perceived study resources one year later. These hypotheses were tested in a sample of Dutch master students (N = 220 at T1 and T2) using structural equation modelling. As hypothesized, personal demands and personal resources at T1 predicted study demands and study resources one year later (T2, β = .25–.42, p <. 05), respectively. Study-home interference [study demand] mediated the association between personal demands and burnout (β = .08, p = .029), whereas opportunities for development [study resource] mediated the association between personal resources and study engagement (β = .08, p = .014). Hence, personal demands and personal resources relate indirectly to students’ burnout and engagement one year later via a heightened level of specific study demands and study resources. Accordingly, the present research expands the propositions of the JD-R Theory by proposing personal demands as a relevant factor for students’ long-term well-being.

Frontal ablation, the combination of submarine melting and iceberg calving, changes the geometry of a glacier's terminus, influencing glacier dynamics, the fate of upwelling plumes and the distribution of submarine meltwater input into the ocean. Directly observing frontal ablation and terminus morphology below the waterline is difficult, however, limiting our understanding of these coupled ice–ocean processes. To investigate the evolution of a tidewater glacier's submarine terminus, we combine 3-D multibeam point clouds of the subsurface ice face at LeConte Glacier, Alaska, with concurrent observations of environmental conditions during three field campaigns between 2016 and 2018. We observe terminus morphology that was predominately overcut (52% in August 2016, 63% in May 2017 and 74% in September 2018), accompanied by high multibeam sonar-derived melt rates (4.84 m d−1 in 2016, 1.13 m d−1 in 2017 and 1.85 m d−1 in 2018). We find that periods of high subglacial discharge lead to localized undercut discharge outlets, but adjacent to these outlets the terminus maintains significantly overcut geometry, with an ice ramp that protrudes 75 m into the fjord in 2017 and 125 m in 2018. Our data challenge the assumption that tidewater glacier termini are largely undercut during periods of high submarine melting.

Folate and choline are methyl donor nutrients that may play a role in fetal brain development. Animal studies have reported that prenatal folate and choline supplementation are associated with better cognitive outcomes in offspring and that these nutrients may interact and affect brain development. Human studies that have investigated associations between maternal prenatal folate or choline levels and neurodevelopmental outcomes have reported contradictory findings and no human studies have examined the potential interactive effect of folate and choline on children’s neurodevelopment. During the second trimester of pregnancy, maternal red blood cell folate was measured from blood samples and choline intake was estimated using a 24-h dietary recall in 309 women in the APrON cohort. At 3–5 years of age, their children’s neurodevelopment was assessed using the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scales of Intelligence – Fourth EditionCND, NEPSY-II language and memory subtests, four behavioral executive function tasks, and the Movement Assessment Battery for Children – Second Edition. Adjusted regressions revealed no associations between maternal folate and choline levels during pregnancy and most of the child outcomes. On the Dimensional Change Card Sort, an executive function task, there was an interaction effect; at high levels of choline intake (i.e., 1 SD above the mean; 223.03 mg/day), higher maternal folate status was associated with decreased odds of receiving a passing score (β = −0.44; 95%CI −0.81, −0.06). In conclusion, maternal folate status and choline intake during the second trimester of pregnancy were not associated with children’s intelligence, language, memory, or motor outcomes at 3–4 years of age; however, their interaction may have an influence children’s executive functions.

The behaviour of broilers reared at pasture from 4 to 12 weeks of age on a low density diet supplied either indoors or outdoors, was compared with that of birds reared inside on deep litter. This single study found few differences in behaviour. Activity levels of birds outside were initially greater, but from six weeks of age lying increased to comparable levels in all groups.

Surprisingly little use was made of the extra space and facilities such as perches at pasture. It is proposed that the main reason for this was leg weakness as 80 per cent of the birds had a detectable gait abnormality at seven weeks of age. There was no evidence of reduced motivation to extend the behavioural repertoire, as, for example, ground pecking remained at significantly higher levels in the outdoor groups because it could also be performed from a lying posture.

A comparison was made of the behaviour of budgerigars housed singly in commercially available cages obtained from a pet supplier, and budgerigars housed in a group of six in a small aviary. Budgerigars housed in the aviary consumed significantly more food and were more active, performing more wing stretching and flying. Caged budgerigars performed significantly more vocalizations. When tested individually, aviary birds were more active in a novel test chamber and were significantly more likely to approach an unfamiliar bird. Cage birds were generally reluctant to approach an unfamiliar bird, but showed an increasing tendency to approach when allowed a longer period of familiarization. Pet budgerigars are commonly housed in isolation from conspecifics, with little consideration of potential effects on welfare. The aim of this study was to provide some initial information about the effects of social isolation on the behaviour of budgerigars.

In humans, excessive pessimism is strongly indicative of a depressive mental state. The negative outlook demonstrated by the depressed person is seen as the result of the depression in some way biasing the person's thinking in a negative direction (Beck 1967). This negative thinking is most clearly manifested as biases in attention to, and memory for, negative information (Gotlib & Krasnoperova 1998). Conversely, an individual in an elated, positive mood is likely to perceive and recall information in a more ‘optimistic’ manner and be less prone to focusing on negative stimuli. Here we have a situation where an emotional state (positive or negative affect) and a cognitive state (a bias for mood-congruent information) appear closely linked. Assuming a similar link in animals, we are trying to use operant training techniques to derive systematic tests of cognitive bias which may reveal subjective emotional states which are, themselves, very difficult to measure directly. The rationale behind the technique is to train animals to expect positive or negative outcomes to two training tones of differing frequency. Rats were trained on a go, no-go task where one tone signalled pending reward and the animals were required to make an operant lever press in order to receive it, and the other tone signalled a short, unavoidable period of white noise which the animals quickly stopped responding to. Thus, animals were trained to signal what they ‘expected’ to happen given a particular predictive cue. According to cognitive theories of depression, a depressed individual should show a greater level of expectancy of negative events, especially when presented with ambiguous stimuli, ie they should act pessimistically. Positive mood is associated with positive expectations, thus we would expect an individual in such a mood state to evaluate an ambiguous situation in a more optimistic way. We presented our trained animals with novel tones and recorded their responses before and after a period of housing in an ‘enriched’ environment which is often assumed to be a positive treatment for animals.

Development of the technique and preliminary results were presented.

The within-farm prevalence of vulva biting in breeding sows in south-west England was investigated using a postal survey sent to 410 pig farmers in January 1997. The response rate was 65 per cent and there were 83 useable replies. The majority of farms where vulva biting was reported indicated a low within-farm prevalence of 1-9 per cent of sows affected, although prevalences as high as 30-60 per cent were reported. The injuries reported ranged from bleeding to removal of the whole vulva, the most commonly reported injuries being bleeding and superficial damage to the vulva. No long-term effects from this injury to service and dry sows were reported by 70 per cent and 76 per cent of farmers respectively. Competition for food, aggressive sows, closeness to farrowing and mixing of sows were the most common reasons suggested by these farmers as causes of vulva biting.

Stereotypic behaviour is generally associated with animals maintained in restrictive environments, and has rarely been described in wild or free-ranging animals. The difference between captive and wild populations may be due to their genetic predisposition or to experience of environmental factors. To investigate genetic and environmental factors, we compared the behaviour of 12 wild caught voles and their 9 pups with that of 12 laboratory reared voles and 14 laboratory bred pups. All voles were observed twice. Adults were observed after 10 days housing in a cage, containing food, water, sawdust and hay, and again after 60 days. Pups were observed in the same cages 10 and 60 days after weaning. For each observation, the voles’ behaviour was recorded both undisturbed in this cage, and following introduction to an unfamiliar cage. Locomotor stereotypies were observed in laboratory adults, but not in wild caught voles, which spent less time on all locomotor activities and more time under cover than laboratory voles. There was no difference in mortality or fecundity of laboratory and wild caught voles, so there appeared to be no selective advantage to stereotyping. There was no difference in the behaviour of wild and laboratory pups, so early environmental experience of the cage environment, rather than parental background, was an important factor in the development of locomotor stereotypies in this species. Pups that developed stereotypies by 60 days spent less time under cover and more time walking and climbing after 10 days than voles that did not develop stereotypic behaviour. Stereotypic behaviour may therefore have been derived from persistence of locomotor behaviour. Wild caught voles may have failed to develop locomotor stereotypies, either because they did not perform a locomotor response to captivity or because older voles are less prone to develop novel responses to external cues. It would, therefore, be dangerous to use the absence of stereotypic behaviour as a reliable indicator of welfare without taking into account the animal's prior experience.

Soiling of nests in modified cages for laying hens might be reduced by using a wire mesh floor for the nest. However, use of such a material might be contrary to the preferences of the hens and compromise their welfare. Twenty-four laying hens were housed singly in modified cages which incorporated two nests. One nest had the standard perforated plastic floor whilst the other had one of two types of metal mesh floor. To determine whether hens preferred any one of the floor types for oviposition, the positions of the nest floors were swapped three times during 110 days. The hens showed a dichotomy in their behaviour after the nestfloors were swapped: the majority (12 of those making a consistent choice) continued to lay in the same nest location (ie location conservative) whereas 6-9 hens changed the nest in which they laid (ie floor type conservative). Only one of the floor type conservative hens preferred to lay on metal mesh. These results show that although the majority of hens showed no apparent aversion to laying in nests with metal mesh floors, 57-68 per cent preferred plastic floors and changed location to lay on this substrate.

Studying group decision-making is challenging for multiple reasons. An important logistic difficulty is studying a sufficiently large number of groups, each with multiple participants. Assembling groups online could make this process easier and also provide access to group members more representative of real-world work groups than the sample of college students that typically comprise lab Face-to-Face (FtF) groups. The main goal of this paper is to compare the decisions of online groups to those of FtF groups. We did so in a study that manipulated gain/loss framing of a risky decision between groups and examined the decisions of both individual group members and groups. All of these dependent measures are compared for an online and an FtF sample. Our results suggest that web-conferencing can be a substitute for FtF interaction in group decision-making research, as we found no moderation effects of communication medium on individual or group decision outcome variables. The effects of medium that were found suggest that the use of online groups may be the preferred method for group research. To wit, discussions among the online groups were shorter, but generated a greater number of thought units, i.e., they made more efficient use of time.