This thesis focuses on individually specific differences in behavioural strategies, personalities, with two microtine rodents (Microtus arvalis and M. oeconomus) as study species. The work evaluates methodology necessary to reveal and measure consistent individual differences in behaviour, identifies possible proximate and ultimate mechanisms behind the existence of individual behavioural variability, and describes some ecological, evolutionary and behavioural consequences of personalities.

A rabbit lateral meniscectomy model was used to induce osteoarthritis. Separate studies were conducted to evaluate the progression of osteoarthritis and to identify possible biological markers. First, 21 male, New Zealand White rabbits were divided into 3 groups (n = 7 / group). A randomly selected left or right stifle underwent a lateral meniscectomy. The 3 groups were: corticosteroid administration, forced exercise and surgical control. An open field maze was used to assess mobility weekly. The rabbits were euthanitized 47 days after surgery. Histopathologic examination found that the lateral meniscectomy induced more severe lesions than in the non-surgical contralateral stifle. It also showed a significant sparing effect on erosion of cartilage in the corticosteroid group. The corticosteroid group, but not the exercise group, caused a significant increase in mobility (p = 0.008) compared to the surgical control. Secondly, synovial fluid was harvested from the 12 rabbits on days 0, 6, 26, 40, and 57 with surgery occurring on day 12. Trypan blue was used in the lavage fluid to estimate the volume of harvested synovial fluid. There was a significant increase in the volume harvested on day 26 (p < 0.001). Superoxide dismutase concentration in synovial fluid increased after surgery, although not significantly. These studies verify that the lateral meniscectomy model produce histopathologic lesions consistent with osteoarthritis. Furthermore, use of trypan blue appears to be a reliable concentration marker in a lavage sample to measure harvested synovial fluid. / Master of Science

The thesis deals with assortative behaviour of Poecilia wingei. The aims of the thesis are to describe character traits of fish and their heritability, then set breeding pairs of Endler's Livebearer (Poecilia wingei) and to determine their traits (shy or bold). After that, the offspring generation of such pairs was bred and their personal traits were determined too. Finally a comparison of the parents and the offspring generation was carried out and the heritability was analyzed. The traits were analyzed using the Open Field test. Fifty pairs of the parent generation were measured, coupled into pairs according to their traits. After that the offspring generation was measured too. The intraclass correlation coefficient was calculated, determining the share of the total phenotypic variance that is conditioned by the variability of genetic information in the population. The results were analysed using Statistica 12. The comparisons of the results revealed the heritability of the traits.

Anxiety disorders commonly emerge during adolescence, and girls are diagnosed with these disorders more frequently than boys. Understanding why anxiety disorders emerge and why non-clinical anxiety symptoms increase during adolescence is important for understanding this sex difference and how to treat adolescent sufferers. Potential mechanisms, such as puberty or cognitive biases, can be investigated both in humans and in rodent models of anxiety. This thesis aimed to characterise sex differences and changes in anxiety-like behaviour across adolescence and into adulthood in the rat, and to examine anxiety and interpretive bias in adolescent humans. In rats, we examined performance on common tests of anxiety-like behaviour: the emergence test, open field and elevated plus-maze. Exploration on these tests increased from mid-adolescence into adulthood, and greater exploration by females was apparent from late adolescence. While the behaviours themselves remain interesting, caution on interpreting these behaviours as anxiety-related warranted and is discussed throughout the thesis. Potential effects of the ovarian cycle and testing order on EPM performance were also examined. In humans, 12-14 year old adolescents complete visual and written interpretive bias tasks, this bias being considered to be a cognitive vulnerability for anxiety. The results showed that, when imagining themselves in ambiguous scenarios, girls were more negative in their interpretations than boys. Additionally, both sexes also interpreted social scenarios more negatively than non-social scenarios. As puberty is thought to be important to the emergence of disorder during adolescence, interpretive bias could potentially mediate the puberty-anxiety relationship. While more interpretive bias work is needed in both species, the recent development of interpretive bias tasks for rodents provides an opportunity to move away from difficult to interpret tests of anxiety-like behaviour in rodents, and should allow for greater convergence of the human and rodent anxiety research.

Bibliografická identifikace v angličtině Author's first name and surname: Lenka Boťchová, BA Title of the master thesis: Does status epilepticus during early postnatal period influence laboratory rat psychomotor development? Department: Department of Rehabilitation and Exercise Medicine Supervisor: doc. PharmDr. H. Kubová, DrSc. The year of presentation: 2013 Abstract: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the influence of status epilepticus (SE) in postnatal development early phase on laboratory rat psychomotor development. Experimentally caused (SE) is the most common mode of epileptogenesis, which is the process leading to the epilepsy creation, and typical comorbidities. The influence of the early SE was studied when using lithium/pilocarpine model of SE induced on 12 days old rat cubs, which were repeatedly exposed to the "open field" test until 32nd day of their lives that means until the puberty beginning. The evaluation is focused on cognition and overall locomotion changes and anxiety demonstrations. The results show that in short periods after SE (up to 1 month) the cognitive functions regarding the habituation disorder are not worsened. However, hyperactivity short-term disposition and worse adaptability to experimental conditions due to animal anxiety increase were detected. Motor skills of...

Testes comportamentais do tipo Campo Aberto figuram dentre os mais básicos e consolidados para estudos de comportamento animal, sendo, portanto, amplamente utilizados em pesquisas de Neurociência e Farmacologia. Através dele se pode avaliar os efeitos da imposição de diferentes condições no comportamento de animais, bem como comparar ou caracterizar perfis típicos de comportamento entre linhagens de uma mesma espécie. Consistindo de soltar animal em uma caixa e observar, dentre outros parâmetros, seu deslocamento e preferência em permanecer nas áreas próximas às paredes ou nas centrais, a extração desses dados pela forma tradicional acabar por ser limitante à obtenção plena de resultados. Isso posto, este trabalho visa oferecer aos pesquisadores um meio para obter os dados de maneira automatizada, sem o desgaste de ficar assistindo o vídeo do teste para anotar o deslocamento. Escrita em Python, utilizando técnicas consolidadas de Visão Computacional e operações de compreensão acessível, esta ferramenta além de ser Open Source pode ser ajustada à extração de outros parâmetros e à aplicação em outras modalidades do teste, além de oferecer a medida do deslocamento de forma mais precisa. / Open Field Test is a basic and consolidated test used in Animal Behavior studies, especially Neuroscience and Pharmacology. Through it, its possible to evaluate the effects in behavior of imposing different conditions, as well to compare or characterize typical behavior profiles between lineages of the same species. Consisting of releasing an animal in a box and observing, among other parameters, its displacement and preference in remaining in the areas near the walls or in the central ones, the extraction of these data in the traditional way ends up being limiting to obtaining full results. That said, this essay aims to offer researchers a way to get the data in an automated way, without need watching the video of the test to note the displacement. Written in Python, using consolidated techniques of Computational Vision and operations of accessible comprehension, this tool besides being Open Source can be adjusted to the extraction of other parameters and application in other modalities of the test, besides offer a more accurate measure of displacement.

As escolas de hoje possuem ainda forte herança da revolução industrial, com um viés assistencialista, visando “guardar” as crianças e prepará-las para o mercado de trabalho. No entanto, há escolas que buscam fugir deste modelo, encontrando em seu caminho fortes pressões homogeneizantes, seja de parâmetros curriculares de órgãos governamentais, de pressões mercadológicas e, até mesmo, dos pais de seus alunos. Mesmo existindo tais pressões, algumas escolas ainda desenvolvem a sua autonomia, encontrando práticas de gestão e educação próprias. Essa pesquisa busca olhar estas práticas – que demonstram aspectos de unicidade das escolas –, propondo-se a observar como emerge o novo em um ambiente marcado predominantemente por um pensamento tradicional, burocrático e empresarial. Para embasar esta análise, trazemos alguns elementos teóricos. Em primeiro lugar, discute-se o momento da educação no Brasil, questionando a lógica instrumental predominante a partir das visões de autores como Guerreiro Ramos, Tragtenberg e Prestes Motta. Em seguida, para analisar o surgimento de novas ações e práticas de gestão e educação, nos fizemos valer de autores que se pautam em uma abordagem processual, utilizando, portanto, o conceito de Campo Aberto de Robert Cooper (1976). O autor nos oferece a possibilidade de observar as organizações de forma mais compreensiva, em seus momentos de estrutura e processo, permitindo perceber como se dá a criação do novo. Como se resgatam coisas que estão em sua não forma, no latente, abstratas para o universo concreto, real, a circunstância literal. Isso se dá a partir das crises, rupturas, acasos, modelos abertos de mudança, como crescem e se desenvolvem os projetos de forma natural – da projeção à construção –, ou fazendo um caminho inverso Foi a partir desse subsídio teórico que esse estudo buscou três escolas brasileiras para conhecer e observar: Escola Waldorf Querência, em Porto Alegre – RS; Oga Mitá, no Rio de Janeiro – RJ; e Casa Escola, em Natal – RN. Para a análise de cada uma dessas escolas – que compuseram um estudo de casos múltiplos –, foram utilizados dados secundários a partir de pesquisa documental e dados primários coletados a partir de observação participante, diários de campo, entrevistas abertas e entrevistas semiestruturadas realizadas em três períodos: novembro e dezembro de 2016 na Escola Waldorf Querência; fevereiro e março de 2017 na Oga Mitá; e maio de 2017 na Casa Escola. Através da análise dos dados coletados, com o auxílio do software Nvivo, observou-se que as escolas estudadas valorizam o aspecto humano da educação, respeitando a individualidade dos alunos, assim como o cuidado com os profissionais da escola e os familiares dos estudantes. As três escolas mostram-se bastante abertas ao diálogo e à participação – de diferentes formas e intensidades Observou-se, ainda, que as práticas desenvolvidas nestas escolas repercutem na comunidade escolar fazendo com que haja, muitas vezes, uma ressignificação de sua compreensão do que é escola, que passa a ser visto como algo mais amplo e prazeroso. Por fim, ao se analisarem como surgem as práticas inovadoras, percebeu-se que estas escolas não se prendem tanto às imagens prévias e aos padrões, mostrando abertura para a emergência de novas práticas através de momentos de ruptura, crises, acasos, mudanças abertas, dentre outros, em uma clara alternância entre períodos de maior propensão à estrutura e outros que se inclinam ao processo. Ao analisarmos os casos da Querência, Casa Escola e Oga Mitá, percebemos que os novos elementos, práticas e ações que caracterizam estas escolas e as tornam diferentes das instituições que seguem linhas tradicionais, emergem dada sua capacidade de abrir-se à mudança, mantendo espaços de resistência ao mesmo tempo em que equilibram pressões diversas para conformarem-se. / Schools today still possess a great heritage from the industrial revolution, with an assistentialist bias, aiming to “keep” the children and preparing them to the workplace. However, there are schools that aim to escape from such model, finding in their path a great deal of homogenizing pressure, from obligatory curriculums issued by the state, education market and even from parents of students. Even with such pressures, a few schools manage to develop some autonomy, creating their own personal practices of management and education. This research aims to investigate such practices – which demonstrate unique aspects of the schools –, observing how new practices emerge in an environment marked predominantly by a traditional, bureaucratic and business mindset. To base our analysis, we bring different theoretical elements. First, we discuss the moment of education in Brazil, questioning the predominant instrumental logic from the point of view of authors such as Guerreiro Ramos, Maurício Tragtenberg and Prestes Motta. Second, to analyze the emergence of new actions and practices in management and education, we make use of authors that use an approach based on process philosophy, mainly the Open Field concept from Robert Cooper (1976). Cooper offers us the possibility to observe organizations in a more comprehensive manner, in its moments of structure and process, allowing us to perceive the emergence of novel actions and practices; how to rescue things that are still potential, latent, abstract to the concrete, real universe. This happens through crisis, ruptures, chance, open models of change, which grow and develop the projects naturally – from projection to construction –, or making the inverse path. develop the projects naturally – from projection to construction –, or making the inverse path. It was from this theoretical subsidy that this study looked for three Brazilian schools to visit and observe: Querência Waldorf School, in Porto Alegre (RS), Oga Mitá, in Rio de Janeiro (RJ), and Casa Escola, in Natal (RN). To analyze each school – as a multiple case study – secondary data was used from documental research and primary data was collected from participant observation, research diaries, and open and semi-structured interviews in the following periods: November and December 2016 at Waldorf Querência; February and March 2017 at Oga Mitá and May of 2017 at Casa Escola. Through analysis of collected data using Nvivo software, it was observed that these schools value the human aspect of education, respecting students’ individuality, and caring for their professionals and the family of the students. The three schools were shown to be very open to dialogue and participation – in different ways and intensities. It was observed, also, that the practices developed in these schools reverberate through the school community creating in many cases a change in the comprehension of what a school is, becoming something broader and more positive Finally, while analyzing how innovative practices emerge, it was perceived that this schools do not fixate excessively in past images and patterns, showing an opening to the emergence of new practices through moments of rupture, crisis, chances, planned open changes, among others, in a clear interchange between moments closer to a structure and others closer to process. When analyzing the cases of Querência, Casa Escola and Oga Mitá, we perceive that new elements, practices and actions that characterize these schools and make them different from more traditional institutions emerge from their capacity to remain open to change, keeping spaces of resistance at the same time in which they balance many pressures to conform.

<p>Domestication is a process in which animals become adapted to a life among humans by means of selection. A reduced fear of humans is probably one of the first aims of selection, intentionally or unintentionally. Animals that have undergone the process of domestication have a different appearance than animals in the wild (domestic phenotype) and behave in a different way towards humans. In this study I have looked at foraging and explorative behaviours in an unselected parental generation of red junglefowl and their offspring. The parental generation were bred in three lines, a high line, with birds displaying a strong fear of humans, an intermediate line, birds showing a modest fear, and one low line, with birds performing a more tame behaviour towards humans. I presented the birds with three different feeding alternatives, familiar chicken food, meal worms camouflaged with wood shavings and just wood shavings. I counted number of pecks in the different food options, number of changes between sites and how many sites a bird visited. The results show that females of both generations were more explorative than males, by pecking more in cups of meal worms hidden in wood shavings whereas the males pecked more in cups containing chicken food. Females also moved around more in the arena. Results from the first selected generation show significant differences between the selection lines among the females, with females from the high and low groups being the most explorative.</p>

The anterior claustrum (CLA) has been implicated in epileptogenesis and epileptiform activity due to its abundant and widespread bilateral connections to some of the structures believed to play an important role in seizure generalization: the motor cortex, entorhinal cortex, limbic structures, and brainstem sites. Kindling in the CLA has been characterized as comprising two distinct phases: an early phase and a late phase. Early phase seizures progress quickly into generalized seizures, are short in duration, and resemble cortical seizures. Late phase seizures are characterized as being more severe in intensity, having longer durations, and resembling limbic-type seizures.<p>It is unknown whether kindling in the CLA will lead to changes in behaviour as seen after kindling of limbic sites. Thus, I measured the behavioural effects of kindling in the anterior CLA to investigate potential changes in learning, memory, and anxiety-related behaviours. I hypothesized that changes in behaviour would occur after kindling of late phase seizures, because of their close resemblance to limbic-type seizures, but not after kindling of early phase seizures. Anxiety-like behaviour was assessed in the elevated plus maze and open field. Object memory was assessed in an object recognition test, and spatial learning and memory were assessed in the water maze.<p>I found no significant changes in behaviour in the late phase group in comparison to the early phase and control groups. Thus, contrary to my hypothesis, late phase kindling of the CLA does not produce changes in learning and memory or alterations in anxiety-related behaviours.

The anterior claustrum (CLA) has been implicated in epileptogenesis and epileptiform activity due to its abundant and widespread bilateral connections to some of the structures believed to play an important role in seizure generalization: the motor cortex, entorhinal cortex, limbic structures, and brainstem sites. Kindling in the CLA has been characterized as comprising two distinct phases: an early phase and a late phase. Early phase seizures progress quickly into generalized seizures, are short in duration, and resemble cortical seizures. Late phase seizures are characterized as being more severe in intensity, having longer durations, and resembling limbic-type seizures.<p>It is unknown whether kindling in the CLA will lead to changes in behaviour as seen after kindling of limbic sites. Thus, I measured the behavioural effects of kindling in the anterior CLA to investigate potential changes in learning, memory, and anxiety-related behaviours. I hypothesized that changes in behaviour would occur after kindling of late phase seizures, because of their close resemblance to limbic-type seizures, but not after kindling of early phase seizures. Anxiety-like behaviour was assessed in the elevated plus maze and open field. Object memory was assessed in an object recognition test, and spatial learning and memory were assessed in the water maze.<p>I found no significant changes in behaviour in the late phase group in comparison to the early phase and control groups. Thus, contrary to my hypothesis, late phase kindling of the CLA does not produce changes in learning and memory or alterations in anxiety-related behaviours.