All mynas consuming carotenoids had higher levels of plasma carotenoids, but only males showed a significant increase by the end of the experiment. Dietary carotenoids and macronutrient intake consumed in combination tended to increase plasma carotenoid concentrations the most. These results demonstrate for the first time that consuming specific combinations of macronutrients along with carotenoids contributes to optimizing a colorful signal, and point to sex-specific nutritional strategies. Our findings improve our knowledge of how diet choices affect signal expression and, by extension, how nutritionally impoverished diets, such as those consumed by birds in cities, might affect sexual selection processes and, ultimately, population dynamics.Circadian rhythms optimize health by coordinating the timing of physiological processes to match predictable daily environmental challenges. The circadian rhythm of body temperature is thought to be an important modulator of molecular clocks in peripheral tissues, but how daily temperature cycles affect physiological function is unclear. Here, we examined the effect of constant temperature (Tcon, 25°C) and cycling temperature (Tcyc, 28°C22°C during lightdark) paradigms on lifespan of Drosophila melanogaster, and the expression of clock genes, heat shock protein 83 (Hsp83), Frost (Fst) and senescence marker protein-30 (smp-30). Male and female D. melanogaster housed at Tcyc had longer median lifespans than those housed at Tcon. Tcyc induced robust Hsp83 rhythms and rescued the age-related decrease in smp-30 expression that was observed in flies at Tcon, potentially indicating an increased capacity to cope with age-related cellular stress. Ageing under Tcon led to a decrease in the amplitude of expression of all clock genes in the bodies of male flies, except for cyc, which was non-rhythmic, and for per and cry in female flies. Strikingly, housing under Tcyc conditions rescued the age-related decrease in amplitude of all clock genes, and generated rhythmicity in cyc expression, in the male flies, but not the female flies. The results suggest that ambient temperature rhythms modulate D. melanogaster lifespan, and that the amplitude of clock gene expression in peripheral body clocks may be a potential link between temperature rhythms and longevity in male D. melanogaster. Longevity due to Tcyc appeared predominantly independent of clock gene amplitude in female D. melanogaster.The brainstem region medullary raphe modulates non-shivering and shivering thermogenesis and cutaneous vasomotion in rodents. Whether the same scenario occurs in the other endothermic group, i.e. birds, is still unknown. Therefore, we hypothesised that the medullary raphe modulates heat gain and loss thermoeffectors in birds. We investigated the effect of glutamatergic and GABAergic inhibitions in this specific region on body temperature (Tb), oxygen consumption (thermogenesis), ventilation (O2 supply in cold, thermal tachypnea in heat) and heat loss index (cutaneous vasomotion) in one-week-old chicken exposed to neutral (31°C), cold (26°C) and heat (36°C) conditions. Intra-medullary raphe antagonism of NMDA glutamate (AP5; 0.5, 5 mM) and GABAA (bicuculline; 0.05, 0.5 mM) receptors reduced Tb of chicks at 31°C and 26oC, due mainly to an O2 consumption decrease. AP5 transiently increased breathing frequency during cold exposure. At 31°C, heat loss index was higher in the bicuculline and AP5 groups (higher doses) than vehicle at the beginning of the Tb reduction. No treatment affected any variable tested at 36oC. The results suggest that glutamatergic and GABAergic excitatory influences on the medullary raphe of chicks modulate thermogenesis and glutamatergic stimulation prevents tachypnea, without having any role in warmth-defence responses. A double excitation influence on the medullary raphe may provide a protective neural mechanism for supporting thermogenesis during early life, when energy expenditure to support growth and homeothermy is high. This novel demonstration of a thermoregulatory role for the raphe in birds suggests a convergent brainstem neurochemical regulation of body temperature in endotherms.Pheromonal bile salts are important for sea lampreys (Petromyzon marinus Linnaeus) to complete their life cycle. The synthesis and release of a releaser/primer pheromone 3-keto petromyzonol sulfate (3kPZS) by spermiating males have been well characterized. 3kPZS evokes sexual behaviors in ovulatory females, induces immediate 3kPZS release in spermiating males, and elicits neuroendocrine responses in prespawning adults. Another primer pheromone released by spermiating males, 3-keto allocholic acid (3kACA), antagonizes the neuroendocrine effects of 3kPZS in prespermiating males. However, the effects of 3kACA and 3kPZS on pheromone production in prespawning adults is unclear. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/cy-09.html To understand the foundation of pheromone production, we examined sea lamprey bile salt levels at different life stages. To investigate the priming effects of 3kACA and 3kPZS, we exposed prespawning adults with vehicle or synthetic 3kACA or 3kPZS. We hypothesized that endogenous bile salt levels were life-stage and sex-dependent, and differentially affected by 3kACA and 3kPZS in prespawning adults. Using ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, we found that sea lampreys contained distinct mixtures of bile salts in the liver and plasma at different life stages. Males usually contained higher amounts of bile salts than females. Petromyzonamine disulfate was the most abundant C27 bile salt and petromyzonol sulfate was the most abundant C24 bile salt. Waterborne 3kACA and 3kPZS exerted differential effects on bile salt production in the liver and gill, their circulation and clearance in the plasma, and their release into water. We conclude that bile salt levels are life-stage and sex-dependent and differentially affected by primer pheromones.The neural monitoring of visceral inputs might play a role in first-person perspective (i.e., the unified viewpoint of subjective experience). In healthy participants, how the brain responds to heartbeats, measured as the heartbeat-evoked response (HER), correlates with perceptual, bodily, and self-consciousness. Here we show that HERs in resting-state EEG data distinguishes between postcomatose male and female human patients (n = 68, split into training and validation samples) with the unresponsive wakefulness syndrome and in patients in a minimally conscious state with high accuracy (random forest classifier, 87% accuracy, 96% sensitivity, and 50% specificity in the validation sample). Random EEG segments not locked to heartbeats were useful to predict unconsciousness/consciousness, but HERs were more accurate, indicating that HERs provide specific information on consciousness. HERs also led to more accurate classification than heart rate variability. HER-based consciousness scores correlate with glucose metabolism in the default-mode network node located in the right superior temporal sulcus, as well as with the right ventral occipitotemporal cortex.