The naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber) is one of the most social mammals on the planet. These animals live in underground colonies consisting of a breeding female (the “queen”), 1 to 3 breeding males and up to 300 nonreproductive “workers” organized in a dominance hierarchy. In addition to their eusociality, naked mole-rats have evolved many extreme biological characteristics including an exquisite sense of touch and insensitivity to certain types of pain. However, the overlap between the social and somatosensory abilities of naked mole-rats remains mysterious. In this work, we show that naked mole-rats exhibit caste-like behavioral signatures linked to eusociality, predominantly utilize snout-to-snout interactions in social behavior and possess a somatosensory profile to mechanical stimuli distinct from mice. In the first chapter of this work, we leveraged machine learning and molecular biology tools to create a behavioral atlas of naked mole-rat behavior. We first utilized a computational pipeline of pose-tracking using SLEAP and behavioral segmentation using keypoint-MoSeq to identify 20+ behavioral syllables. This showed that the queen naked mole-rat has a distinct behavioral phenotype from the workers, consisting of faster movements, less anxiety-like freezing, and less colony maintenance behaviors such as digging. We next showed that behavioral differences exist between the workers and that the dominance rank of a given individual could be predicted by its spontaneous behaviors in an open field. Relative rank differential appeared to have relevance for social behaviors: during a tube test for dominance, pairings of a high-ranked and low-ranked animal occurred more quickly and were won more frequently by the dominant animal. Snout touch played an integral role in these dominance tests (perhaps in the communication of individual ID information). This prompted us to investigate snout-to-snout interactions in the open field. We found that two familiar naked mole-rats from the same colony engaged in hundreds of snout interactions in a 10-minute period, and the number of interactions was nearly twice as high between two foreign animals. Follow-up experiments explored the molecular basis of this snout touch and showed that mechanosensory channels (e.g. Piezo2) are likely involved in social snout-to-snout interactions. Furthermore, trimming the sensory whiskers of naked mole-rats disrupts their ability to recognize conspecifics and alters their relative dominance relationships. These findings uncover face touch as a prominent social behavior in naked mole-rats that is intimately linked to social recognition. In the second chapter of this work, we more deeply investigated naked mole-rat somatosensation by using high-speed videography. We began by determining how naked mole-rats respond to both innocuous stimuli (cotton swab, dynamic brush) and noxious stimuli (light and heavy pinpricks) when given to the hindpaw. Compared to mice, naked mole-rats showed a distinct hindpaw phenotype, never responding to innocuous touch stimuli, responding to light pinprick, but rarely responding to heavy pinprick (normally the most noxious stimulus that elicits the strongest pain response in mice). Interestingly, naked mole-rats do respond to brush stimuli to the back skin with a dorsiflexion posture. These animals also exhibit an idiosyncratic withdrawal response to a brush applied to the snout skin which appears to be highly aversive. Interestingly, the velocity of this aversive snout withdrawal appears to be socially modulated and is decreased in the presence of another naked mole-rat in the testing chamber. This phenotype does not occur in mice and provides additional evidence that the naked mole-rat snout is not only extremely sensitive but plays a role in processing socially relevant information.

Being the longest-lived rodent, naked mole-rats (NMR; Heterocephalus glaber) are an exceptional model for biogerontological research. However, unlike other rodents, not much is known about their wound healing process. To investigate that, full-thickness wounds were created in the back skin of naked mole rats. Our initial data confirmed that wound closure in NMR skin was achieved primarily by reepithelialization and granulation tissue formation, with only ~26% wound contraction, making them an excellent model to study human cutaneous wound healing. Similar to mice and human skin, changes in wound epithelial tongue included progressive enlargement of wound epithelium, increased proliferation and changes in the expression pattern of epidermal markers including K14, K17, integrin α6 and E-cadherin. Further analysis revealed characteristics of reduced scarring in NMR wounds including low collagen I to III ratio, increased HA expression (HMW) and increased fibronectin expression. Transcriptional profiling of TGFβ isoforms and different pro/anti-inflammatory cytokines revealed a balance in the expression and repression of different cytokines, potentially contributing into reduced scarring. Comparison of RNA-seq data from NMR and human fullthickness wounds revealed a delay in the activation of important biological processes and pathways in NMR skin in response to injury. Further analysis based on cultured human and NMR cells revealed differential regulation of TGFβ signalling pathway between both species. 3-D collagen gel contraction assay revealed that NMR fibroblast showed noticeable contraction but independently of TGFβ treatment, while human fibroblast showed marked increased in gel contraction in the presence of TGFβ. In conclusion, NMR can serve as a very useful model to study human cutaneous wound healing. The reduced scarring in NMR could be a result of multiple factors including HMW-HA, balanced cytokine expression and differential regulation of different TGFβ cytokines as observed in the in vitro studies.

I modify the quasilocal energy formalism of Brown and York into a purely Hamiltonian form. As part of the reformulation, I remove their restriction that the time evolution of the boundary of the spacetime be orthogonal to the leaves of the time foliation. Thus the new formulation allows an arbitrary evolution of the boundary which physically corresponds to allowing general motions of the set of observers making up that boundary. I calculate the rate of change of the quasilocal energy in such situations, show how it transforms with respect to boosts of the boundaries, and use the Lanczos-Israel thin shell formalism to reformulate it from an operational point of view. These steps are performed both for pure gravity and gravity with attendant matter fields. I then apply the formalism to characterize naked black holes and study their properties, investigate gravitational tidal heating, and combine it with the path integral formulation of quantum gravity to analyze the creation of pairs of charged and rotating black holes. I show that one must use complex instantons to study this process though the probabilities of creation remain real and consistent with the view that the entropy of a black hole is the logarithm of the number of its quantum states.

Phylogeny of selected genera of geckos in the Mediterranean and adjacent regions Jan Červenka Ph.D. thesis Abstract This Ph.D. thesis is composed of three published articles and one manuscript, and is focused on the phylogenetic relationships of selected species of geckos from the Mediterranean and surrounding areas. The group of geckos of interest shares the common characteristic of an absence of adhesive lamellas on their toes. Historically, it was assumed that these species were closely related. Molecular-phylogenetic approaches were used in order to reveal the phylogenetic relationships within this group, especially using the sequential data from mitochondrial genes. Morphological characteristics commonly used in lizards were studied in connection with the ecology of the group. This thesis provides the first more detailed view of the phylogeny of the studied species. The results show that the genus Cyrtopodion, previously considered as monophyletic, in fact is not monophyletic as the genera Bunopus and Agamura represent its inner groups. Mediodactylus, the subgenus of Cyrtopodion, forms monophylum but is not closely related to the other members of the genus and so was reclassified as the independent genus. The enigmatic and yet so far very poorly studied genus Carinatogecko was discovered to be the...

O propósito desta investigação foi identificar e analisar os incidentes positivos e negativos, que envolveram a exposição corporal do cliente e a invasão da sua privacidade durante a assistência em Unidade de Terapia Intensiva, visto que para a realização de vários cuidados e procedimentos a nudez parcial ou total é inevitável. A população constitui-se de 15 enfermeiras lotadas em UTIs de atendimento ao adulto, no município de Maringá - PR. Como procedimento metodológico empregou-se a Técnica do Incidente Crítico (TIC), obtendo-se 30 relatos, 15 positivos e 15 negativos, dos quais extraíram-se 22 incidentes críticos positivos (ICP) e 30 negativos (ICN). Estes foram compilados em 6 categorias denominadas como Necessidades Básicas, Admissão e Permanência na UTI, Procedimentos Terapêuticos, Avaliação Física, Horário de Visita e Manifestação da Sexualidade. Os comportamentos da equipe de saúde extraídos dos incidentes críticos foram agrupados em 5 categorias, constituindo-se em Questão de Gênero, Proteção e Manutenção da Privacidade, Atitudes do Profissional, Orientação ao Cliente e Orientação à Equipe de Saúde. Da mesma forma, os comportamentos dos clientes identificados foram distribuídos em 3 categorias, definidas como Questão de Gênero, Proteção e Manutenção da Privacidade e Atitudes do Cliente. As conseqüências para a equipe de saúde e para os clientes oriundas dos incidentes constituíram 4 categorias, formuladas como Sentimentos Negativos, Sentimentos Positivos, Prejuízo na Qualidade da Assistência e Garantia da Qualidade da Assistência. A interpretação dos resultados evidenciou que a categoria de situação mais freqüente nos ICP foi Necessidades Básicas (21,2%) e entre os ICN foi Admissão e Permanência na UTI (15,4%). A categoria de comportamento da equipe de saúde que prevaleceu nos ICP (41,1%) e nos ICN (41,4%) foi Proteção e Manutenção da Privacidade, ao passo que a categoria de comportamento dos clientes predominante entre os ICP foi Questão de Gênero (45,1%) e nos ICN foi Proteção e Manutenção da Privacidade (59,6%). A categoria de conseqüência mais freqüente para a equipe de saúde entre os ICP foi Garantia da Qualidade da Assistência (41,1%) e para os clientes foram os Sentimentos Positivos (37,6%), evidenciando-se que prevaleceram Sentimentos Negativos nos ICN para a equipe de saúde (41,5%) e para os clientes (57,3%). Verificou-se melhor preparo da enfermagem para contornar problemas relacionados ao atendimento das necessidades básicas, porém denota-se despreparo e falta de habilidade para lidar com a maioria das situações. Constatou-se que equipe de saúde e clientes, principalmente a enfermagem, manifesta os mesmos sentimentos frente à exposição corporal do cliente durante a assistência. Evidenciou-se que os aspectos que garantem melhor qualidade à assistência para ambos são proteção da intimidade, respeito, confiança, orientação e compreensão da mesma, ao passo que as que mais prejudicam a qualidade da assistência são desproteção e invasão da intimidade, desconsideração do profissional pelo cliente e dificuldade da equipe em lidar com algumas situações. Denotam-se como fatores complicadores, a diferença de gênero entre cuidador e cliente e a disposição dos leitos nestas unidades, predispondo o cliente à exposição e dificultando o resguardo da privacidade. Emergiu a necessidade de se preparar melhor a equipe para contornar situações de conflito oriundas da exposição corporal, devendo-se considerar os aspectos sócio-culturais das pessoas envolvidas. Por fim, ressalta-se que a compreensão dos aspectos que permeiam a exposição corporal na esfera do cuidado é imprescindível quando se tem por objetivo a humanização no contexto da assistência à saúde. / This study aimed at identifying and analyzing positive and negative incidents involving clients’ physical exposure and the invasion of their privacy during caregiving in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) resulting from the need of partial or total nudity for the performance of various types of care and procedures. The population consisted of 15 nurses working in the ICU for adults in the city of Maringá – PR, Brazil. The Critical Incident Technique (CIT) was used as a methodological procedure, thus obtaining 30 accounts of which 15 were positive and 15 were negative. From these, 22 positive critical incidents (PCIs) and 30 negative critical incidents (NCIs) were extracted. The incidents were compiled in 6 categories: basic needs, admission and permanence in the ICU, therapeutic procedures, physical evaluation, visiting hours and sexuality manifestation. The behaviors presented by the health team which were extracted from the critical incidents were grouped in 5 categories: gender-related questions, privacy protection and maintenance, attitudes from professionals, client orientation and health team orientation. The identified client’s behaviors were distributed in 3 categories defined as gender-related questions, protection and maintenance of clients’ privacy and attitudes. The outcomes to the health team and clients stemming from the incidents comprised four categories formulated as negative feelings, positive feelings, impairment of caregiving quality and assurance of caregiving quality. The interpretation of results showed that the most frequent situation category in the PCIs was basic needs (21.2%), whereas in the NCIs, it was admission and permanence in the ICU (15.4%). The health team’s behavior category which prevailed in the PCIs (41.1%) and in the NCIs (41.4%) was privacy protection and maintenance. The predominant clients’ behavior category in the PCIs was gender-related questions (45.1%) and in the NCIs it was privacy protection and maintenance (59.6%). The health team’s most frequent consequence category in the PCIs was assurance of caregiving quality (41.1%), and the clients’ was positive feelings (37.6%). It was also shown that the category negative feelings prevailed in the NCIs for the health team (41. 5%) as well as for clients (57.3%). It was verified that the nursing staff was better prepared to deal with problems related to meeting basic needs; however, lack of preparation and skills to manage most situations was also observed. It was found that the health team and clients, particularly the nursing staff, showed similar feelings concerning the client’s physical exposure during caregiving. Additionally, it was shown that the aspects ensuring better caregiving quality to both were intimacy protection, respect, trust, orientation and understanding with regard to such protection, whereas those which most frequently impaired caregiving quality were lack of protection, intimacy invasion, disregard of clients by the professionals and the team’s difficulty in dealing with certain situations. Gender difference between the caregiver and the client was noted as a complicating factor in addition to the arrangement of beds in the units, which predisposes the client to exposure and impairs privacy protection. The need to better prepare the health team to cope with conflict situations stemming from physical exposure arose, while the sociocultural aspects of the individuals involved must be taken into account. Finally, it is pointed out that understanding the aspects which permeate physical exposure in the realms of caregiving is essential if the humanization of health care settings is to be achieved.

The motion of neutral test particles, both massive and massless, in the space time of a charged source described by the Reissner-Nordström solution is studied. This solution is characterized by two parameters, mass and charge, which defines the horizons of the source. When the mass is larger than the charge, the solution describes a black hole, with two distinct horizons. When the mass and charge are equal there is an extremal black hole, and both horizons merge to one. Finally, when the charge is larger than the mass there is a naked singularity, with no horizon. The structure and properties of these different type of solution are presented and discussed. A general solution of the equations of motion is presented in function of the Weierstrass elliptic function ℘. In addition, the possible orbits for test particles are discussed, and the conditions for existence of closed, circular or escape orbits are presented. The classifications is made based on the particles energy, and the mass and charge of the source. We find that all mentioned orbits are allowed for the three different type of solutions. In particular, for extremal black holes and naked singularities, we find stable circular orbits located outside the event horizon and hence being visible for an external observer. / O movimento de partículas teste neutras, ambas massivas e sem massa, no espaço-tempo de uma fonte carregada descrita pela solução de Reissner-Nordström é estudada. Essa solução é caracterizada por dois parâmetros, massa e carga, que definem os horizontes da fonte. Quando a massa é maior que a carga tal solução descreve um buraco negro com dois horizontes distintos. Quando a massa e a carga são iguais há um buraco negro extremo, e ambos os horizontes se unem em um. Finalmente, quando a carga é maior que a massa, há uma singularidade nua, sem horizontes. A estrutura e as propriedades dessas diferentes soluções são apresentadas e discutidas. Uma solução geral da equação de movimento é apresentada em termos da função elíptica de Weierstrass, ℘. Além do mais as possiveis órbitas para uma partícula teste são discutidas, e as condições para existência de órbitas fechadas, circulares e de escape são apresentadas. A classificação é feita a partir da energia da partícula, e da massa e carga da fonte. Encontramos que todas as orbitas mencionadas são permitidas nos três diferentes tipos de soluções. Em partícular, para buracos negros extremos e singularidades nuas, encontramos órbitas circulares estáveis localizadas fora do horizonte de eventos e, consequentemente, sendo visível para observadores externos.

I modify the quasilocal energy formalism of Brown and York into a purely Hamiltonian form. As part of the reformulation, I remove their restriction that the time evolution of the boundary of the spacetime be orthogonal to the leaves of the time foliation. Thus the new formulation allows an arbitrary evolution of the boundary which physically corresponds to allowing general motions of the set of observers making up that boundary. I calculate the rate of change of the quasilocal energy in such situations, show how it transforms with respect to boosts of the boundaries, and use the Lanczos-Israel thin shell formalism to reformulate it from an operational point of view. These steps are performed both for pure gravity and gravity with attendant matter fields. I then apply the formalism to characterize naked black holes and study their properties, investigate gravitational tidal heating, and combine it with the path integral formulation of quantum gravity to analyze the creation of pairs of charged and rotating black holes. I show that one must use complex instantons to study this process though the probabilities of creation remain real and consistent with the view that the entropy of a black hole is the logarithm of the number of its quantum states.