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Social interactions shape both the physiological and behavioural development of offspring, and poor care/early caregiver loss is known to promote adverse outcomes during infancy in both animals and humans. How affiliative behaviours impact the future development of offspring remains an open question. Here, we used Equus caballus (domestic horse) as a model to investigate this question. By coupling magnetic resonance imaging, longitudinal biobehavioural assessments and advanced multivariate statistical modelling, we found that prolonged maternal presence during infancy promotes the maturation of brain regions involved in both social behaviour (anterior cingulate cortex and retrosplenial cortex) and physiological regulation (hypothalamus and amygdala). Additionally, offspring benefiting from a prolonged maternal presence showed higher default mode network connectivity, improved social competences and feeding behaviours, and higher concentrations of circulating lipids (triglyceride and cholesterol). The findings of the present study underscore the salient role of social interactions in the development of allostatic regulation in offspring. The present study shows that maternal presence beyond early life remains crucial for brain, behavioural and physiological development in young horses, highlighting the importance of the mother–offspring relationship during a childhood-like stage.

This work provided a novel analytical procedure for rapid and precise uranium isotopic determination in marine sediment and seawater, using a new type of extraction resin, TK200 resin, in combination with microwave digestion (for marine sediments), Fe(OH) 3 co-precipitation (for seawater), and single collector sector field-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SF ICP-MS) measurement. The removal ability of TK200 extraction chromatography for the interfering elements (IEs) Hg, Pb, Th, Pt, Tl, and the matrix rare earth elements (REEs) was carefully investigated. High decontamination factors (DFs) were obtained for IEs and REEs. Accurate quantification of uranium isotope ratios was accomplished based on a “double-cycle” ICP-MS measurement method. The analytical method was optimized and validated with isotopic standards (IRMM-187), matrix-containing certified reference marine sediments (IAEA-384, IAEA-385, and IAEA-412), and seawater reference material (IAEA-443). A stable chemical recovery of ~ 90% was obtained for both types of marine environmental samples, and the method showed great efficiency with a total analytical time of less than 6 h. The proposed procedure was validated following ISO/IEC 17025 guidelines. The important factors affecting the isotope ratio results (instrument background, procedural blank, memory effects, peak tailing, mass discrimination, dead time, and hydride interferences) were considered in the estimation of combined uncertainties. This work provides an alternative way for the determination of trace uranium isotope ratios and can be applied in the emergency monitoring of nuclear accidents and marine environmental analysis.

Sources of plutonium isotopes to the marine environment are well defined, both spatially and temporally which makes plutonium (Pu) a potential tracer for oceanic processes. This paper presents the optimisation and validation of an analytical procedure for ultra-trace determination of Pu isotopes ( 239 Pu and 240 Pu) in seawater based on the external calibration and sector field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SF ICP-MS) determination. Additionally, method for Pu isotope ratio ( 240 Pu/ 239 Pu) in marine samples is also discussed. A combination of two-step anion exchange (AG1-X8) and one-step extraction chromatography (TEVA) was very efficient resulting in uranium (U) decontamination factor of 5 × 10 6 –1 × 10 8 . A full validation approach in line with ISO 17025 standard and Eurachem guidelines was followed. With this in mind, blanks, recovery (87 ± 8 %, k = 2 ), within-laboratory repeatability (5.6 %), limits of detection (0.12 and 0.08 fg mL −1 for 239 Pu and 240 Pu, respectively) and expanded uncertainty (13 %, k  = 2) were systematically assessed. The procedure was applied for the determination of 239 Pu and Pu in seawater sample coming from Mediterranean Sea. Obtained results were in good agreement with results obtained with alpha spectrometry, applied on the same seawater sample. Pu/ 239 Pu atom ratio in seawater sample from the Mediterranean Sea was also determined. The precision and accuracy of 240 Pu/ 239 Pu isotopic ratio analysis were carefully examined using NBS-947 isotopic standard. 240 Pu/ 239 Pu ratio was found to be 0.187 ± 0.006 and is in agreement with accepted ratios for the global fallout of Pu.

There has been a growing interest over the past few years in the impact of male nutrition on fertility. Infertility has been linked to male overweight or obesity, and conventional semen parameter values seem to be altered in case of high body mass index （BMI）. A few studies assessing the impact of BMI on sperm DNA integrity have been published, but they did not lead to a strong consensus. Our objective was to explore further the relationship between sperm DNA integrity and BMI, through a 3-year multicentre study. Three hundred and thirty male partners in subfertile couples were included. Using the terminal uridine nick-end labelling （TUNEL） assay, we observed an increased rate of sDerm DNA damage in obese men （odds ratio （95% confidence interval）： 2.5 （1.2-5.1））.

This essay examines the second story of Jacob ben El‘azar’s Sefer ha-meshalim (Book of stories). Dressed as a debate between a poet and a prosaist, the story partakes in the genre of disputation, widespread across diverse literary traditions, in which two entities, human or otherwise, engage in a quarrel praising their own virtues and pointing out the contender’s faults. Well aware of the arguments regarding the falsehood of poetry in both the Arabic and Hebrew traditions, Ben El‘azar lays out a clever disputation, filled with numerous biblical quotations, in which ambiguity reigns: on many occasions, it is up to the reader to decide whether an argument is convincing, logical, or even true, and to consider what truth means in the context of a mixed-form composition that comprises both poetry and prose. After an introductory essay that covers the main trends of the intellectual background from which this work emerges and unveils key topics to better understand the literary form, themes, and imagery of the tale, we present the first English translation of this story.

Social interactions shape both physiological and behavioural development of offspring and poor care/early caregiver loss are known to promote negative outcomes in adulthood in both animals and humans. How affiliative behaviours impact future development of offspring remains unknown. Here, we used Equus caballus (domestic horse) as a model to investigate this question. By coupling magnetic resonance imaging, longitudinal biobehavioural assessment and advanced multivariate statistical modelling we found that maternal presence during childhood promotes maturation of brain territories involved in both social behaviour (anterior cingulate, retrosplenial cortex) and physiological regulation (hypothalamus, amygdala). Additionally, we found that offsprings benefiting from prolonged maternal presence showed higher default mode network (DMN) connectivity, improved social competences, more efficient feeding behaviours, and metabolic profiles. The present study underscores the salient role of social interactions for the development of allostatic regulation in offspring.

Written as prose began to garner attention in literary cultures that had long privileged poetic composition, prosimetra offer a unique perspective on what authors in eleventh-century al-Andalus and thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Spain and Italy singled out as the special capabilities of poetry. Further, as the only shared theme across mixed-form texts in Arabic, Hebrew, Italian, and Spanish, love acts as a go-between across these varied literary traditions. This study examines the role of poetry in the five following love-centric prosimetra of the medieval Mediterranean to demonstrate how each, in its own way, strives towards the creation of an ars poetica: Ibn Hazm's Tawq al-hamāma (Arabic), Jacob Ben El'azar's Sefer ha-meshalim (Hebrew), Dante's Vita Nuova (Italian), Immanuel ha-Romi's Mahbarot Immanuel (Hebrew), and Juan Ruiz's Libro de buen amor (Spanish). With its sustained focus on the lyric, as opposed to narrative, components of the text and its potential formal affinities with Arabic and Hebrew texts, Juan Ruiz's Libro is a fitting counterpart to the other four prosimetra, even though it has traditionally been termed a polymetric (mixed meter), not prosimetric, composition. I employ close readings of selected verse passages, a review of the relative merits of prose and poetry in each literary culture, and discussions of the varied systems of love at work as a base from which to compare the treatments of love poetry in each text. I find that as much as these authors include verse to put forth their respective proposals of an ars poetica, they also do so to impress upon the reader their role in the process. Accordingly, their characterizations of love poetry and of the poet-lover coincide with their reflections on poetic selfhood and seeming impetus towards self-anthology. In addition, I present the two Hebrew prosimetra, Sefer ha-meshalim and the Mahbarot Immanuel, as paradigms for literary-historical convergence in the Mediterranean. Finally, I explore ways in which the prose (or narrative verse in the case of the Libro ) in all five texts facilitates each author's presentation of his notion of poetics, just as it carries his efforts to assert his authority as love poet.

A simple and fast radiochemical procedure for the sequential extraction of U, Np and Pu from small-volume seawater samples (\\(<10\\) L) is presented. The method has been developed and optimized for the final determination of \\(^{236}\\)U, \\(^{237}\\)Np, \\(^{239}\\)Pu and \\(^{240}\\)Pu by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS). It is based on the use of \\(^{242}\\)Pu as tracer for both Np and Pu isotopes. Samples are pre-concentrated by Fe(OH)\\(_2\\) co-precipitation. TEVA and UTEVA resins are used in a very simplified way for the final purification of the Pu+Np and U fractions, respectively. The radiochemical yields of the three elements have been investigated in detail by alpha spectrometry (AS) and gamma spectrometry (GS). The obtained results indicate high and robust chemical yields for the three elements and similar ones for Pu and Np. Furthermore, the use of \\(^{242}\\)Pu as tracer for \\(^{237}\\)Np is validated by analyzing a reference seawater sample (IAEA-443) by radiometric techniques. We demonstrated that, if chemicals are properly chosen, processed blank levels can be kept at the same level of the extremely low detection limits that can be achieved by AMS (\\(10^5 - 10^6\\) atoms/sample). The procedure is finally applied for the study by AMS of a reference seawater sample from the Mediterranean Sea (IAEA-418).