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a b s t r a c t Free-living hummingbirds can learn the refill schedules of individual experimental flowers but little is known about what information they use to do this. Colour cues, in particular, may be important to hummingbirds when learning about rewarded flower properties. We investigated, therefore, whether colour cues facilitated the learning of flower refill schedules in wild, free-living rufous hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus). In the Cued condition, we presented birds with an array of six flowers, three of one colour, each of which were refilled 10 min after being emptied by the bird and three of a different colour, which were refilled 20 min after being emptied. In the Uncued condition we presented birds with six flowers of the same colour, three of which were refilled after 10 min and three of which were refilled after 20 min as for the birds in the Cued condition. In the second part of the experiment, we moved the array 2 m and changed the shape of the array. Across both phases, birds in the Cued condition learned to discriminate between 10 and 20-min flowers more quickly than did the birds in the Uncued condition. The Cued birds were also better at discriminating between the two distinct refill intervals. Colour cues can, therefore, facilitate learning the refill schedules of experimental flowers in these birds. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Cognition in the wild.

Developmental, behavioural, and neurological similarities in the processing of different magnitudes (time, number, space) support the existence of a common magnitude processing system (e.g., a theory of magnitude, ATOM). It is, however, unclear whether the recruitment of wider cognitive resources (short-term memory, STM; and executive function) during magnitude processing is similar across magnitude domains or is domain specific. The current study used an individual differences approach to examine the relationship between STM, executive function, and magnitude processing. In two experiments, participants completed number, length, and duration bisection tasks to assess magnitude processing and tasks that have been shown to assess STM span and executive component processes. The results suggest that the recruitment of STM and executive resources differed for the different magnitude domains. Duration perception was associated with access, inhibition, and STM span. Length processing was associated with updating, and number processing was associated with access to semantic memory. For duration and length, greater difficulty in the magnitude judgement task resulted in more relationships to STM and executive function. It is suggested that duration perception may be more demanding of STM and executive resources because it is represented sequentially, unlike length and number which can be represented nonsequentially.

Patients with head and neck cancer are at high risk for second primary malignancies. Human papillomavirus (HPV)-driven tumors are generally high-grade oropharyngeal cancers. We analyzed the incidence of second primary malignancy of the head and neck in patients with primary squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the head and neck and temporal trends in the HPV era.The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database was queried for patients with SCC of the head and neck (range, 1973-2008). Cumulative incidence rates of second primary malignancy of the head and neck were compared based on competing risk analysis.A total of 104,639 cases were included in this study, of which 4616 patients had second primary malignancy of the head and neck. Oropharyngeal cancer incidence increased over time. Estimated incidence rate/10,000 person-years (105.5, 80.6, and 50.2 for 1973-1989, 1990-1999, and 2000-2008, respectively) and cumulative incidence rates (10-year rates of 6.68%, 5.72%, and 4.59% for 1973-1989, 1990-1999, and 2000-2008, respectively) of second primary malignancies of the head and neck for patients with oropharyngeal cancer decreased over time (p .001). The second primary malignancy of the head and neck incidence rate was significantly lower in patients with high-grade oropharyngeal cancer from 2000 to 2008 (30.3 vs 65.5 and 54.6 from 1973-1989 and 1990-1999, respectively; p .001).The incidence of second primary malignancy of the head and neck in patients with head and neck cancer has decreased over time. This is driven by lower rates in patients with high-grade oropharyngeal cancer, is temporally related with increases in HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer, and suggests that incidence rates of second primary malignancy of the head and neck may be lower for HPV-associated cancer. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 38: E873-E883, 2016.

Cancer cachexia is a common problem among advanced cancer patients. A mixture of beta-hydroxyl beta-methyl butyrate, glutamine, and arginine (HMB/Arg/Gln) previously showed activity for increasing lean body mass (LBM) among patients with cancer cachexia. Therefore a phase III trial was implemented to confirm this activity.Four hundred seventy-two advanced cancer patients with between 2% and 10% weight loss were randomized to a mixture of beta-hydroxyl beta-methyl butyrate, glutamine, and arginine or an isonitrogenous, isocaloric control mixture taken twice a day for 8 weeks. Lean body mass was estimated by bioimpedance and skin-fold measurements. Body plethysmography was used when available. Weight, the Schwartz Fatigue Scale, and the Spitzer Quality of Life Scale were also measured.Only 37% of the patients completed protocol treatment. The majority of the patient loss was because of patient preference (45% of enrolled patients). However, loss of power was not an issue because of the planned large target sample size. Based on an intention to treat analysis, there was no statistically significant difference in the 8-week lean body mass between the two arms. The secondary endpoints were also not significantly different between the arms. Based on the results of the area under the curve (AUC) analysis, patients receiving HMB/Arg/Gln had a strong trend higher LBM throughout the study as measured by both bioimpedance (p = 0.08) and skin-fold measurements (p = 0.08). Among the subset of patients receiving concurrent chemotherapy, there were again no significant differences in the endpoints. The secondary endpoints were also not significantly different between the arms.This trial was unable to adequately test the ability of beta-hydroxy beta-methylbutyrate, glutamine, and arginine to reverse or prevent lean body mass wasting among cancer patients. Possible contributing factors beyond the efficacy of the intervention were the inability of patients to complete an 8-week course of treatment and return in a timely fashion for follow-up assessment, and because the patients may have only had weight loss possible not related to cachexia, but other causes of weight loss, such as decreased appetite. However, there was a strong trend towards an increased body mass among patients taking the Juven compound using the secondary endpoint of AUC.

Introduction To evaluate the efficacy and safety of myeloid growth factors in patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer treated with combined modality therapy (CMT). Methods Patients with stage IIIA/B non-small cell lung cancer, performance status 0 to 1, and forced expiratory volume in 1 second ≥1.5, received cisplatin 75 mg/m 2 on day 1 + etoposide 80 mg/m 2 on days 1 to 3 every 3 weeks for 2 cycles concurrent with thoracic radiotherapy to 61 Gy. filgrastim 5 mcg/kg/d was administered for 10 days beginning on day 4 of each chemotherapy cycle. Patients without progression received docetaxel 75 mg/m 2 every 21 days for 3 cycles with peg-filgrastim 6 mg on day 2. The primary end point was a 50% reduction in the incidence of grade ¾ neutropenia compared with historical controls. Results A total of 26 eligible patients were enrolled. Median age was 67, 76% were men, and 58% had stage IIIA. Gr3/4 neutropenia during CMT was 19.2% and 3.8%, respectively. There were no episodes of febrile neutropenia. Gr4 thrombocytopenia was 15.4% with 2 patients requiring transfusions. Gr3 esophagitis was noted in 7.7% and Gr ¾ pneumonitis in 21.6% of patients. No patients died of treatment-related toxicities. Dose reductions/delays occurred in 3.8% of patients during CMT. Median progression-free survival and median survival were 10.7 and 27.6 months, respectively. The 1- and 2-year survival rates were 61.5% and 46.2%, respectively. Conclusions Our data suggest that the addition of filgrastim to CMT is safe and effective. The rate of grade ¾ toxicities, including febrile neutropenia, compares favorably to previous trials using a similar regimen. Dose intensity is maintained. This strategy merits further evaluation.