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This study examined the effects of two types of physical activities on stereotypic behaviors (SBs) and task engagement of young children with autism spectrum disorder. Locomotor activities and object manipulation activities were applied to three preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder. A multi-element design with a three-component test sequence (Morrison et al. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 44, 523–541, 2011) was used to identify changes in SBs and task engagement in the following three consecutive 5-min phases: pre-physical activity (pre-PA), physical activity (PA), and post-physical activity (post-PA). For the locomotor activity condition, all participants engaged in less SBs in post-PA compared to pre-PA, while increased SBs were observed in post-PA compared to pre-PA for the object manipulation activity condition. Positive effects of locomotor activities on task engagement were found, but the effects were clear to only one of the three participants.

Rationale Yohimbine demonstrated both anxiogenic and anxiolytic properties under different conditions in rodents. Few studies were conducted on zebrafish, a newly emerged vertebrate model organism. Zebrafish larvae are particularly suitable for high-throughput screening of drug effects. Objectives The aim of this study was to elucidate the effect of yohimbine on the anxiety-related behaviors of zebrafish larvae. Methods AB strain zebrafish larvae at both 5 and 7 days postfertilization (dpf) were treated with different concentrations of yohimbine. General locomotor activities and thigmotaxis behavior were analyzed under continuous illumination, which represented normal condition, or under alternating light-dark challenges, which represented stressful environment. Results Under continuous illumination, the 5-dpf larvae demonstrated increased swimming distances at low yohimbine concentrations, whereas the 7-dpf larvae demonstrated progressively decreased swimming distances with increases in yohimbine concentration. Low concentrations of yohimbine reduced thigmotaxis of the larvae, while high concentrations of yohimbine increased it. During the dark period of the lightdark challenge phase, low concentrations of yohimbine increased swimming distances of the larvae at both 5 and 7 dpf, while high concentrations of yohimbine decreased it. Yohimbineinducedincreasedthigmotaxisinboth5-and7-dpflarvae during the dark period. Conclusions Undernormalcondition(lightson),low dosesof yohimbine were anxiolytic in both the 5- and 7-dpf larvae, whereas high doses of yohimbine were anxiogenic only in the 7-dpf larvae. Under mildly stressful condition (lights off), yohimbine treatment demonstrated dose-dependent effects to potentiate anxiety-related behaviors in both the 5- and 7-dpf larvae, although the significant dose varied with age.

Self-feeding of grouped ayu Plecoglossus altivelis altivelis was examined under an artificial light-dark (LD) cycle and natural day length using a trigger with a photosensitive sensor. In Experiment 1, approximately 15 juvenile fish (mean body weight, 0.6 g) were kept in 60-L glass tanks (four tanks) under LD 12∶12 (lighting period 06∶00–18∶00 hours) and self-feeding and locomotor activities were simultaneously recorded. Self-feeding was detected within one day and feeding activities were strongly synchronized to the LD cycle, with almost strictly diurnal feeding (98.2%). Although locomotor activities in the upper part of the tank were also greatest during the light phase (76.8%), the activity profiles were different from those of self-feeding, suggesting the validity of the photosensitive sensor. In Experiment 2,25 fish (mean body weight, 15 g) were kept in outdoor 1000-L tanks (four tanks) under natural day length and water temperatures in May, and self-feeding was recorded from mid-August. Stable self-feeding was observed from early September in all the tanks. Nearly all food demands were diurnal, and usually crepuscular. Somatic growth was seen in all tanks. These results demonstrate that the self-feeding system using a photosensitive sensor is applicable for grouped juvenile ayu as small as 0.6 g and adult fish reared under natural conditions.

The pedometer has become a popular instrument to measure physical activity in humans. The pedometer records physical activity as a simple, raw measure of ambulatory movement: the number of steps taken. Two fundamental questions of the use of the pedometer in pediatric research are: How many steps do children take in a day? How many steps should children accumulate on a daily basis? This raises the question: is 13,000 steps the same amount of physical activity in a 6-year-old and a 12-year-old, given the difference in body size and stride length? Although previous authors have concluded that the number of steps taken is an equivalent amount of physical activity in children regardless of body size, the conclusion has not been explained by a scientific rationale or on an empirical basis depending on the energetics and mechanics of terrestrial locomotion and body size. One approach to explain this question is allometric scaling, which has long been utilized by comparative physiologists to show the relationships between body size and locomotion in animals from shrews to elephants. The aim of this paper was to use allometric equations, examples from comparative mammalian physiology, and results from previous papers that have examined the cost of locomotion in children to provide a better understanding of the interpretation of the pedometer in pediatric research. We show that empirically derived results confirm to allometric equations that consider the relationship between body size and terrestrial locomotion to cover a given distance at a given speed. Thus, the number of steps taken and the energy expended for a particular task is greater in smaller children. However, if the cost of locomotion is related to one step, animals tend to be equally economical, whether large or small. Therefore, the number of steps taken as measured by a pedometer may be interpreted as an equivalent level of physical activity between a 6-year-old and a 12-year-old, if taken at the same speed. However, the locomotor activities in daily life consist of walking and running up- and downhill, carrying loads, and at varying speeds or work intensities, and this exemplifies the limitations of the pedometer. In conclusion, this paper provides a better understanding of the interpretation of pedometer counts and highlights that the findings depend on the expression of physical activity.

Glass eels of the temperate anguillid species, Anguilla japonica, clearly showed a nocturnal activity rhythm under laboratory conditions. Light-dark cycle was a determinant factor affecting their photonegative behavior, nocturnal locomotor activity, and feeding behavior. Under natural light conditions, glass eels remained in shelters with little daytime feeding, but came out to forage during darkness. They moved and foraged actively in the following dark, and then their activity gradually declined possibly because of food satiation. They finally buried in the sand or stayed in tubes immediately after the lights came on. Under constant light, glass eels often came out of the shelters to forage in the lights but spent little time moving outside the shelters (e.g. swimming or crawling on the sand). Glass eels took shelter to avoid light and preferred tubes to sand for shelter possibly because tubes were much easier for them to take refuge in than sand. Feeding and locomotor activities of the glass eels were nocturnal and well synchronized. They appeared to depend on olfaction rather than vision to detect and capture prey in darkness. Feeding was the driving force for glass eels to come out of sand under constant light. However, in the dark, some glass eels swam or crept actively on sand even when they were fully fed. The lunar cycles of activity rhythms of glass eels that have been observed in some estuarine areas were not detected under these laboratory conditions.

In walking humans, arm to leg coordination is a well established phenomenon. The origin of this coordination, however, remains a matter for debate. It could derive from the intrinsic organisation of the human CNS, but it could also consist of a movement induced epiphenomenon. In order to establish which of these alternatives applies, we recorded arm and leg movements as well as their muscle activities during walking, creeping on all fours and swimming. The relationship between arm and leg cycle frequency observed under these various conditions was then investigated. We found that during walking, creeping on all fours or swimming, arm and leg movements remain frequency locked with a fixed relationship of 1/1, 2/1, 3/1, 4/1 or 5/1. When movements of the legs are slowed by flippers, the frequency relationship may skip to a different value, but the coordination is preserved. Furthermore, minimising the mechanical interactions between the limbs does not abolish coordination. These findings demonstrate that the arm to leg coordination observed in the walking human is also present during other human locomotor activities. The characteristics of this coordination correspond to those of a system of two coupled oscillators like that underlying quadruped locomotion.

An isoperibolic heat flow calorimeter is described for the determination of heat production rates during the tethered flight of small insects such as flies, honeybees or hornets. The insects are fixed with their thoraces to one arm of a low-friction carousel. A sensor counts the number of revolutions per time and determines the speed of flight. Wing sound is monitored by a microphone with an audio recorder, so that wing beat frequencies and hence locomotor activities can be determined. Different illumination means are incorporated to guarantee the illumination levels necessary for flight.

The effects were ascertained of two partial inverse agonists at benzodiazepine receptors (beta-CCE and FG 7142) on the incidence of timid (defensive-escape), aggressive, sociable and locomotor activities in both timid and aggressive singly-housed male mice, treated with drugs in paired interactions with untreated non-aggressive males. FG 7142 (5 mg/kg) and beta-CCE (8 mg/kg) increased defenses and escapes without producing other behavioral changes in timid mice. FG 7142 (20 mg/kg) and beta-CCE (1-8 mg/kg) moderately increased defenses and alert postures in aggressive mice and this effect was associated with marked reduction of aggressive behavior. FG 7142 (20 and 80 mg/kg) also decreased walking across cage in aggressive mice. It is concluded that beta-CCE and FG 7142 produced behavioral changes which could be interpreted as "anxiogenic".

Paired groups of rats (derived from divergent, selective breeding or living in divergent environmental conditions) were compared with regard to locomotor activities. Intrapair differences were found to vary non-systematically, depending upon whether the rats were initially exposed to a test-environment with or without a slight environmental modification (reactive activities), or were allowed to habituate extensively to the environment (spontaneous activity). Since the behavioral patterns were found to represent distinct entities, this pointed to the necessity of differentiating clearly between spontaneous and reactive activities and indicated, once again, that both genetic and environmental influences are important in these behaviors and must be taken into account. Accepting and controlling for these variables makes it possible to use the factor of individual differences in laboratory animal behavior to advantage.

Using standard extracellular techniques, the response properties of neurons in the vestibulocerebellum of the pigeon to movement of a wholefield visual stimulus were determined. Complex spike activity of Purkinje cells was modulated in a direction-selective manner by the stimulus and 94% of cells were binocularly driven. Some neurons preferred the same direction of wholefield motion in both eyes, simulating optic flow which results from self-translation, while others preferred the opposite direction in each eye, simulating optic flow resulting from rotation. Four functional classes of neurons were found: (1) Descent cells preferred upward motion in both eyes; (2) Ascent neurons preferred downward motion in both eyes; (3) Roll cells preferred upward and downward motion in the ipsilateral and contralateral eyes respectively; and (4) Yaw cells preferred forward (temporal to nasal) and backward motion in the ipsilateral and contralateral eyes respectively. The observation that these neurons clearly distinguish rotational and translational optic flow patterns suggests they may play an important role in controlling locomotor activities of the pigeon.

Intracerebral injection of Borna disease virus in tree shrews led to a persistent infection that sometimes resulted in clinical symptoms and/or specific alterations in the animals' behavior. Whereas infective virus in the brain and in the serum antibodies were always present after infection, only some of the animals showed signs of clinical disease and behavior changes. Animals kept in pairs showed especially obvious behavior alterations expressed as an exaggeration of all the components of normal social behavior. The division of the roles between males and females was seriously disturbed. The breeding behavior of females was especially impaired, although no stress factors were given and the animals were obviously in good physical condition. Some females that were maintained solitarily showed considerably exaggerated spontaneous locomotor activities (hyperactivity) 4 weeks after infection, followed by a phase of clinical neurologic symptoms (decline phase), spatial and temporal disorientation, and alterations in comfort behavior. Following a slow recovery the animals remained unusually docile and were much less timid than before infection. A recurrence of the clinical illness is possible, as shown by the occurrence of a second decline phase. All the behavior alterations can be interpreted as a disturbance in the balance of approach and avoidance. In paired animals this imbalance results in interference with normal sociosexual behavior. These alterations indicate that BD preferentially involves the limbic system, an interpretation supported by the results of neuropathologic investigations.

Different groups of mice were injected s.c. daily with lithium chloride in three doses (0.52, 1.58 and 4.72meq/kg) or with saline for a period of 3 weeks. Lithium administered acutely or chronically did not affect spontaneous locomotor activities. However, methamphetamine-induced hyper-locomotor activities were inhibited in the lithium groups as compared with those in the saline group, while the hyper-locomotor activities induced by tetrabenazine in the nialamide-pretreated animals were reduced to some extent but not significantly by lithium. Tetrabenazine brought about an initial transient increase followed by a decrease of spontaneous locomotor activities in the lithium groups, whereas it induced only a decrease of the activities in the saline group. In addition, jumping and vertical jumping behaviors, which were not observed in the saline group, occurred 30–60 min after tetrabenazine in the lithium groups. These effects of lithium tended to increase with an increase of the doses administered and with a prolongation of its daily administration. The results demonstrate that lithium modifies behavioral responses to methamphetamine and tetrabenazine.

Previous data have indicated that in decorticated curarized rabbit preparations, administration of 5-HTP or Dopa significantly modifies the pattern of rhythmic efferent nerve discharges, which mimic the locomotor-like movements of the hind limbs developing in the non curarized preparation. The present data tend to favour the hypothesis that the active substances are, respectively, 5-HT and DA or NA. Animals were given Ro4-4602, an inhibitor of Dopa and 5-HTP decarboxylase (DC) at low and high doses. Low doses had a potentiating action on the 5-HTP and Dopa effects, while high doses delayed their action. Assuming that at low dosage the inhibitor was acting on the peripheral DC and at high doses on both the peripheral and central DC, it may be concluded that the precursors act centrally through transformation into 5-HT and DA or NA respectively.