For amphibians specifically, preferences can depend on factors such as food availability, AZD6738 purchase water quality, and the presence of potential predators. Because some amphibians breed in permanent bodies of water (e.g., ponds), the threat of predation (e.g., from fish) is constant. Thus, some amphibians are unpalatable to many predators, allowing them to coexist

in the same habitats. However, the addition of anthropogenic stressors (i.e., pesticides) may alter the perceived palatability of prey items to predators. The authors tested the hypothesis that bluegill fish (Lepomis macrochirus), previously exposed to the pesticide carbaryl, would consume more unpalatable prey (Fowler’s toad [Anaxyrus fowleri] tadpoles) than unexposed predators. Carbaryl is a pesticide that attacks the nervous system and is linked to taste sense in organisms.

Moreover, the authors conducted an identical test using palatable prey (gray treefrog [Hyla versicolor] tadpoles) and predicted that no change in preference would be observed. In support of the primary hypothesis, bluegill exposed to the highest concentration of carbaryl consumed more A. fowleri tadpoles compared with those exposed to carbaryl at the lowest concentration or water control. Moreover, an effect of carbaryl on predation success on H. versicolor Autophagy inhibitor mw tadpoles was not observed. The present study shows that an anthropogenic stressor (carbaryl) can alter the perceived palatability of noxious prey to fish predators, potentially altering predator-prey relationships in natural settings. (c) 2013 SETAC”
“Objective Current diagnostic methods for gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) have moderate sensitivity/specificity and can be invasive and expensive. Pepsin detection in saliva has been proposed as an ‘office-based’ method for GORD diagnosis. The aims of this study were to establish normal values of salivary pepsin in healthy asymptomatic subjects and to determine its value to discriminate

patients with reflux-related symptoms (GORD, hypersensitive oesophagus (HO)) from functional heartburn (FH). Design 100 asymptomatic controls and 111 patients with heartburn underwent MII-pH monitoring and simultaneous salivary pepsin determination on waking, after lunch and dinner. Cut-off value for pepsin AZD1152 inhibitor positivity was 16 ng/mL. Patients were divided into GORD (increased acid exposure time (AET), n=58); HO (normal AET and + Symptom Association Probability (SAP), n=26) and FH (normal AET and-SAP, n=27). Results 1/3 of asymptomatic subjects had pepsin in saliva at low concentration (0(0-59) ng/mL). Patients with GORD and HO had higher prevalence and pepsin concentration than controls (HO, 237(52-311) ng/mL and GORD, 121(29-252) ng/mL)(p smaller than 0.05). Patients with FH had low prevalence and concentration of pepsin in saliva (0(0-40) ng/mL). A positive test had 78.6% sensitivity and 64.9% specificity for diagnosis of GORD + HO (likelihood ratio: 2.23).