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Background: Management of WHO grade II gliomas (LGG) can include a combination of observation, surgery, radiotherapy (RT), and chemotherapy; however, optimal management remains unclear in regards to RT. Objective: The current study seeks to investigate the usage of RT in LGG and its effect on survival outcomes. Methods: Patients with diagnosis codes specific for LGG were queried from the National Cancer Database (NCDB) during the years 2004–2016. Kaplan–Meier curves with log-rank testing, univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis, and comparisons of estimated 3- and 7-year survival were performed to investigate the effect of RT on overall survival. Results: 19,382 patients with LGG were identified with histologically confirmed disease. Kaplan–Meier testing demonstrated RT impacted survival in patients undergoing biopsy or no surgery (p < 0.0001), no chemotherapy (p < 0.0001), and in regimens with early RT (p < 0.0001) and high-dose RT (p < 0.0001). Cox multivariate regression demonstrated RT and age less than 40 (HR 0.93, 95% CI 0.89–0.97, p = 0.001), no chemotherapy (HR 0.82, 95% CI 0.77–0.87, p < 0.001), and astrocytoma histology (HR 0.72, 95% CI 0.66–0.79, p < 0.001) were associated with improved survival. 3-year survival of RT versus non-RT groups showed increased survival rates for age less than 40 years (+ 5.7%, p < 0.0001), no surgery or biopsy (+ 8.1%, p < 0.0001), no chemotherapy (+ 10.3%, p < 0.0001), mixed glioma (+ 6.7%, p < 0.0001), astrocytoma (+ 7.1%, p < 0.0001), and in regimens with early RT (+ 7.6%, p < 0.0001) and high-dose RT (+ 4.7%, p < 0.0001). Conclusion: This nationwide analysis of LGG patients found that RT was associated with improved survival outcomes in patients less than 40 years of age, with histology subtypes of astrocytoma and mixed glioma, undergoing biopsy or no surgery, and in regimens with early RT and high-dose RT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to the research studies published within the issue is presented, including an research on the multi-level alliances of a hierarchical complexity formed by male bottlenose dolphins, another research on the ability of orangutans to assess the degree of understanding of their gestures, and another study on the ability of chimpanzees to address physical problems more insightfully in the absence of tools.

This experiment investigated whether domestic pigs can remember the locations of food sites of different relative value, and how a restricted retrieval choice affects their foraging behaviour. Nine juvenile female pigs were trained to relocate two food sites out of a possible eight in a spatial memory task. The two baited sites contained different amounts of food and an obstacle was added to the smaller amount to increase handling time. On each trial, a pig searched for the two baited sites (search visit). Once it had found and eaten the bait, it returned for a second (relocation) visit, in which the two same sites were baited. Baited sites were changed between trials. All subjects learnt the task. When allowed to retrieve both baits, the subjects showed no preference for retrieving a particular one first (experiment 1). When they were allowed to retrieve only one bait, a significant overall preference for retrieving the larger amount emerged across subjects (experiment 2). To test whether this preference reflected an avoidance of the obstacle with the smaller bait, 15 choice-restricted control trials were conducted. In control trials obstacles were present with both baits. Pigs continued to retrieve the larger bait, indicating they had discriminated between the two food sites on the basis of quantity or profitability and adjusted their behaviour accordingly when the relocation choice was restricted. This suggests for the first time that domestic pigs have the ability to discriminate between food sites of different relative value and to remember their respective locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Instead of close and differentiated relationships among adult females, the accepted norm for savanna baboons, groups of Drakensberg mountain baboons (Papio ursinus) showed strong affiliation of females towards a single male. The same male was usually the decision-making animal in controlling group movements. Lactating or pregnant females focused their grooming on this "leader" male, producing a radially patterned sociogram, as in the desert baboon (P. hamadryas.); the leader male supported young animals in the group against aggression and protected them against external threats. Unlike typical savanna baboons, these mountain baboons rarely displayed approach-retreat or triadic interactions, and entirely lacked coalitions among adult females. Both groups studied were reproductively one-male; male-female relationships in one were like those in a unit of a hamadryas male at his peak, while the other group resembled the unit of an old hamadryas male, who still leads the group, with a male follower starting to build up a new unit and already monopolizing mating. In their mountain environment, where the low population density suggests conditions as harsh for baboons as in deserts, adults in these groups kept unusually large distances apart during ranging; kin tended to range apart, and spacing of adults was greatest at the end of the dry, winter season. These facts support the hypothesis that sparse food is responsible for convergence with hamadryas social organization. It is suggested that all baboons, though matrilocal, are better categorized as "cross- sex-bonded" than "female bonded." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Great apes give gestures deliberately and voluntarily, in order to influence particular target audiences, whose direction of attention they take into account when choosing which type of gesture to use. These facts make the study of ape gesture directly relevant to understanding the evolutionary precursors of human language; here we present an assessment of ape gesture from that perspective, focusing on the work of the "St Andrews Group" of researchers. Intended meanings of ape gestures are relatively few and simple. As with human words, ape gestures often have several distinct meanings, which are effectively disambiguated by behavioural context. Compared to the signalling of most other animals, great ape gestural repertoires are large. Because of this, and the relatively small number of intended meanings they achieve, ape gestures are redundant, with extensive overlaps in meaning. The great majority of gestures are innate, in the sense that the species' biological inheritance includes the potential to develop each gestural form and use it for a specific range of purposes. Moreover, the phylogenetic origin of many gestures is relatively old, since gestures are extensively shared between different genera in the great ape family. Acquisition of an adult repertoire is a process of first exploring the innate species potential for many gestures and then gradual restriction to a final (active) repertoire that is much smaller. No evidence of syntactic structure has yet been detected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the abstract of the paper "Spatial Memory of Fruiting States of Rain Forest Trees in Wild Ranging Mangabeys," by K.R. Janmaat and colleagues, to be presented at the 21st Congress of the International Primatological Society in Entebbe, Uganda from June 25-30, 2006.

The article presents an abstract of the paper "Do mangabeys take past weather into account when they revisit ficus trees with fruit," by K.R. Janmaat, R.W. Byrne and K. Zuberbühler, to be presented at the 21st Congress of the International Society of Primatological Society in Entebbe, Uganda on June 25-30, 2006.