A survey of parasites was conducted on 258 Symphodus ocellatus (Teleostei: Labridae) collected in Corsica National Park (west Mediterranean). In addition, the total length, sex and social status were recorded for each individual fish. Three species of trematodes were found in the digestive tract. One of the parasites, Genitocotyle mediterranea, was only present, with one exception, in males of large size, and principally in the individuals that had the highest status and that were involved in nest construction. Two hypotheses are suggested to explain this particular distribution of a parasite: the immunocompetence handicap and the changing trophic behaviour as the fish grows.

The digestive microbiota plays a decisive role in shaping and preserving health throughout life. Rabbit younglings are born with a sterile digestive tract but then it gets progressively colonised by the microbiota of the nursing mother, by entering in contact with or ingesting the maternal droppings present in the nest. Here we posit that (i) offspring survival and (ii) lifespan of female rabbits are linked to how diverse their microbiota are. To test the hypothesis that maternal microbiota evolves in females having had different levels of offspring survival in their lifetime, we obtained 216 hard faecal samples from 75 female rabbits at ages 19.6, 31.6, 62.6 and 77.6 weeks. The annual mean offspring survival (MOS) at 64 days was calculated for each female then crossed against three alpha-diversity indexes (operational taxonomic units (OTUs), inverse Simpson index and Shannon index). Age was also analysed against these three parameters. The alpha-diversity indexes of the female faecal microbiota did not correlate with MOS, but they did decrease with age (e.g. from 712 OTUs at age 19.6 weeks to 444 OTUs at 77.6 weeks; P < 0.05). The age effect was also found in beta-diversity non-metric multidimensional scaling plots using the Bray–Curtis dissimilarity index and the unweighted UniFrac index but not for MOS. The ability of the microbiota composition from the faecal samples of young females (19.6 weeks old) to predict their lifespan was also evaluated. After subdividing the initial population into two classes (females that weaned a maximum of three litters and females living longer), we found no clear distinction between these two classes. To our knowledge, this is the first long-term study to characterise the gut microbiota of adult female rabbits through their reproductive life, thus laying foundations for using the gut microbiota data and its influence in studies on adult rabbits.

In young rabbit, digestive disorders are frequently observed around weaning. Stimulating the onset of feed intake in the suckling rabbit might be a way to promote gut health. The aim of this study was to determine the rabbit’s acceptability for different feed presentations and its preferences for flavours at an early stage of life. Two trials were conducted to evaluate the effects of physical form and flavouring on creep feed attractiveness. All the diets tested were provided in the nest from 3 to 17 days, and the daily intake per litter was recorded as of 8 days of age. In the first trial, five feed presentations were tested separately (n = 60 litters). Three dry presentations were chosen: commercial pellet (P), crumb from commercial pellet (cP) and crumb from beet pulp pellet (cBP). Hydrated feeds were also provided with either raw fodder beetroot (B) or a semi-solid feed in agar gel form produced with fodder beetroot juice and pulp (gB). In the second trial, double-choice tests were performed on four feed gels (n = 72 litters), leading to six comparison treatments. These agar gels were made of pellet mash without or with a sensory additive: one non-odorised control gel and three gels with 0.20% banana flavour, 0.06% red berry flavour and 0.10% vanilla flavour, respectively. In the first trial, kits ate more gB in fresh matter than other feed presentations (P < 0.001), with a total intake of 7.0 ± 1.8 g/rabbit from 8 to 17 days. In DM, the total consumption of pellets P (1.6 ± 0.4 g of DM/rabbit) was the highest together with the gB form (1.4 ± 0.4 g of DM/rabbit), whereas cBP was barely consumed (0.3 ± 0.1 g of DM/rabbit). Gel feed supplemented with vanilla was slightly more consumed than other flavoured and non-odorised gels (relative consumption of 57% when compared to control gel; P = 0.001). The gel feed intake was independent of the milk intake but was correlated with the litter weight at 3 days (r = 0.40, P < 0.001). In both trials, rabbit growth before and after weaning was not affected by the type of creep feed provided. Our results confirmed that providing creep feed promotes the solid intake of rabbits at early stages. Gel feed form motivated rabbits to eat and vanilla flavour supplementation increased the feed palatability. Those creep feed characteristics should be explored further for seeking effective stimulation of the onset of the feed intake in suckling rabbit.

Retrospective data evaluated increases in advanced medical support for children with medically attended acute respiratory illness (MAARI) during influenza outbreak periods (IOP). Advanced support included hospitalisation, intensive care unit admission, or mechanical ventilation, for children aged 0–17 years hospitalised in Maryland's 50 acute-care hospitals over 12 influenza seasons. Weekly numbers of positive influenza tests in the Maryland area defined IOP for each season as the fewest consecutive weeks, including the peak week containing at least 85% of positive tests with a 2-week buffer on either side of the IOP. Peak IOP (PIOP) was defined as four consecutive weeks containing the peak week with the most number of positive influenza tests. Off-PIOP was defined as the ‘shoulder’ weeks during each IOP. Non-influenza season (NIS) was the remaining weeks of that study season. Rate ratios of mean daily MAARI-related admissions resulting in advanced medical support outcomes during PIOP or Off-PIOP were compared with the NIS and were significantly elevated for all 12 study seasons combined. The results suggest that influenza outbreaks are associated with increased advanced medical support utilisation by children with MAARI. We feel that this data may help preparedness for severe influenza epidemics or pandemic.

Cercariae, like miracidia, are non-parasitic larval stages implicated in the life cycle of all trematodes for the host-to-host parasite transmission. Almost all cercariae are free-living in the external environment. With a few exceptions (cercariae of Halipegus occidualis (Halipegidae) can live several months, Shostak & Esch, 1990a), cercariae have a short active life during which they do not feed, living on accumulated reserves. Most cercariae encyst as metacercariae in second intermediate hosts which are prey of the definitive host; in certain species, the interruption of the active life is achieved by an encystment in the external environment (or a simple immobile waiting strategy in a few species). In some two-host life cycles, the cercariae develop into adults after penetration (this is the case for various species causing human schistosomiasis). Some cercariae do not leave the mollusc which must then be ingested by the definitive host.

In this talk, I will present the result of high resolution numerical simulations of disk galaxies with various bulge/disk ratios evolving isolated, showing that:

• • Most of migration takes place when the bar strength is high and decreases in the phases of low activity (in agreement with the results by Brunetti et el. 2011, Minchev et al. 2011).

• • Most of the stars inside the corotation radius (CR) do not migrate in the outer regions, but stay confined in the inner disk, while stars outside CR can migrate either inwards or outwards, diffusing over the whole disk.

• • Migration is accompanied by significative azimuthal variations in the metallicity distribution, of the order of 0.1 dex for an initial gradient of ~-0.07 dex/kpc.

• • Boxy bulges are an example of stellar structures whose properties (stellar content, vertical metallicity, [α/Fe] and age gradients, ..) are affected by radial migration (see also Fig. 1).

A year-long intervention trial was conducted to characterise the responses of multiple biomarkers of Se status in healthy American adults to supplemental selenomethionine (SeMet) and to identify factors affecting those responses. A total of 261 men and women were randomised to four doses of Se (0, 50, 100 or 200 μg/d as l-SeMet) for 12 months. Responses of several biomarkers of Se status (plasma Se, serum selenoprotein P (SEPP1), plasma glutathione peroxidase activity (GPX3), buccal cell Se, urinary Se) were determined relative to genotype of four selenoproteins (GPX1, GPX3, SEPP1, selenoprotein 15), dietary Se intake and parameters of single-carbon metabolism. Results showed that supplemental SeMet did not affect GPX3 activity or SEPP1 concentration, but produced significant, dose-dependent increases in the Se contents of plasma, urine and buccal cells, each of which plateaued by 9–12 months and was linearly related to effective Se dose (μg/d per kg0·75). The increase in urinary Se excretion was greater for women than men, and for individuals of the GPX1 679 T/T genotype than for those of the GPX1 679 C/C genotype. It is concluded that the most responsive Se-biomarkers in this non-deficient cohort were those related to body Se pools: plasma, buccal cell and urinary Se concentrations. Changes in plasma Se resulted from increases in its non-specific component and were affected by both sex and GPX1 genotype. In a cohort of relatively high Se status, the Se intake (as SeMet) required to support plasma Se concentration at a target level (Sepl-target) is: .

We develop the hypothesis that parasites do not invade extreme environments, i.e. hostile hosts, but rather ‘create’ them. We argue that parasites may have driven the evolution of the constitutive and adaptive immune system. This leads to several implications. First, parasites respond to ‘genes to kill’ by ‘genes to survive’ and this triggers an indefinite selection of measures and counter-measures. Second, these revolutionary arms races may lead to local adaptation, in which parasite populations perform better on local hosts. Third, the evolution of the immune system, whose responses are predictable, may allow parasites to specialize, to evade and even to manipulate. Finally we show that the correlations between the increase in the antibody repertoire, the expansion of MHC loci and parasite pressures support our hypothesis that both host complexity and parasite pressures can be invoked to explain the diversity of antibodies, T-receptors and MHC molecules.

Cercarial production related to miracidial dose variation with Schistosoma bovis strains from Sudan and Spain in Bulinus truncatus from Tunisia was studied. Results showed that an increase in the miracidial dose proposed to the host-mollusc (1 and 5 miracidia) gave rise to a decrease in cercarial productivity of Sudanese S. bovis and to an increase for Spanish s. bovis. It is concluded that this response difference tothe miracidial dose variation depends on genetic characters peculiar to the parasite strain and represents a new aspect of genetic variability of schistosome populations.

The abundance of six species of trematodes: Aphanurus stossichi, Bacciger israelensis, Diphterostomum israelense, Plagioporus idoneus, Lepocreadium album and L. pegorchis, parasitic in the digestive tract of marine teleostei (Sparidae) collected near Jounieh (east Mediterranean), was analysed as a function of the host-size. In two parasite/host systems, infections were observed from the lowest size classes of the sample, with a clear tendency to an increase of abundance in older fish. In four others, parasites appear only above a rather high threshold class, young individuals never being infected. In the last three parasite/host systems, host invasion may occur early or late, but infection decreases above a well defined size class, old fishes rarely or never being infected. A given trematode species. when parasitizing several host species, shows similar abundance/host size relationships, e.g. P. idoneus in Diplodus vulgaris and Oblada melanura. When more than one species of trematode infects a single host species, curves can be markedly distinct; for instance, L. pegorchis was collected from Pagellus erythrinus below 15 cm. whereas D. israelense parasitized the same fish approximately above the same size. There is no evidence that such a replacement of one trematode by another in the course of host growth is a result of interspecific competition.

Monogenean richness of marine fish is highly variable among host families and species. On the basis of 160 fish species selected because their parasite fauna was considered as ‘adequately’ investigated, an attempt was made to find associations between parasite richness and various characters of the hosts. No clear correlation was found with maximal size, although the smallest species (less than 10cm) seem to never harbour monogeneans. Correlations were found with nectonic, migrating and gregarious behaviours. However, taxonomy of fish appears to be extremely important as a determinant of monogenean richness. In the absence of a satisfactory phylogeny of hosts, no attempt was made to control the analysis for phylogeny. However, removing some families characterized by a high parasite richness (sparids, sciaenids, mugilids) shows that the association with gregariousness holds, whereas the others tend to disappear.

A study of larval development of Schistosoma haematobium in the snail Planorbarius metidjensis infected by transplanted sporocysts showed that some embryos in daughter sporocysts have characters intermediate between cercariae and sporocysts. These embryos are interpreted to be nearly mature cercariae that have partially reverted to be secondary sporocysts. If this explanation is correct, it would mean that the embryos which develop within trematode daughter sporocysts can differentiate either into cercariae or into a new generation of sporocysts, but originate from a single type of germinal cell.

Experimental infections of white laboratory mice and wild rats (Rattus rattus) with cercariae of Schistosoma mansoni of different descent, whether murine or human, demonstrate that there is no significant difference in the probability of maturation of these cercariae into adult schistosomes.

These results enable us to hypothesise that the reverse would be true, i.e. that cercariae of murine or human descent would be capable of infecting man with the same success rate.

Circulation of the parasite from man to the rat and from the rat to man may therefore occur in natural habitats, which does not mean that rodents can maintain indefinitely and independently Schistosoma mansoni, nor does it mean that murine strains may not evolve locally.

Illumination greatly increases the GTPase activity in homogenates of squid (Loligo) whole retinas or rhabdomeric membranes. Adenylylimidodiphosphate inhibits the light-insensitive (but not the light-sensitive) GTPase activity in these homogenates. Illumination also greatly increases the binding of GTP[γS] to the rhabdomeric membranes. This binding at saturating illuminations indicates that there are approximately 10–100 times more rhodopsin molecules than G-protein molecules in squid photoreceptors. Each light-activated rhodopsin molecule activates about 10 G-protein molecules which might provide amplification for the first stage of the phototransduction cascade.

The localization of adult Schistosoma mansoni originating from Guadeloupe (West Indies) was analysed in the natural host Rattus rattus in experimental and natural infections. A transfer of schistosomes from the porto-mesenteric system to the lungs occurs between the 4th and the 20th weeks post-infection, with a peak between 4 and 8 weeks; it should be noted that the worms start laying eggs at 4 weeks post-infection. In both experimentally and naturally infected R. rattus the relocation of schistosomes in the lungs is correlated with the total worm burden. Between 6 and 12 weeks post-infection some adult worms and numerous eggs are trapped in the liver. A high mortality in the worm population coincides with the migration of the parasites from the porto-mesenteric veins to the lungs. In re-infected R. rattus a relationship appears between the presence of schistosomes in the lungs and resistance to reinfection. It is concluded that, as already postulated previously in mice, resistance to re-infection in the natural host R. rattus is at least partly correlated with the hepatic pathology caused by the schistosomes of the primary infection.

A field enquiry mentioned the potential positive impact of a feed restriction on the health of young rabbits, but no objective information relates the intake to digestive health. The effects of a post-weaning feed restriction strategy were thus studied on digestive health and growth and carcass parameters of the growing rabbit, using a monofactorial design that produces a quantitative linear reduction of the intake, from ad libitum (AL group) to 80%, 70% and 60% of AL. The study was performed simultaneously in six experimental sites, on 1984 growing rabbits (496 per treatment) collectively caged from weaning (34 to 38 days of age, depending on the site) to slaughter (68 to 72 days). The feeding programme was applied as followed: restriction during 21 days after weaning, and then ad libitum till slaughter. During the feed restriction period the growth rate was linearly reduced with the restriction level, by 0.5 g/day for each percent of intake reduction. When returning to ad libitum intake (after 54 days old) a compensatory growth and a higher feed efficiency occurred. Therefore, the impact of the feeding programme on the slaughter weight (SW) was significant (−4.5 g/% of restriction), but relatively moderate: the weight loss of the more-restricted rabbits (60%) reached 7.7% (−200 g) compared to the AL group. Over the whole fattening period, the feed restriction reduced linearly and significantly the feed conversion (FC) (−0.0077 unit/% of restriction). Carcass traits were little affected by the feeding programme, except for a slightly lower decrease of the dressing percentage (mean: 1.2 units between AL and the three restricted groups). On the six experimental sites, mortality and morbidity were always caused by acute digestive disorders, namely diarrhoea and/or caecal impaction. Independent of the treatment, the mortality rate strongly varied according to the site (between 7% and 18% from weaning to 54 days and for the AL group). During feed restriction, the mortality was significantly lower from a restriction threshold of 80% (meanly: −9% compared to AL). The morbidity was also significantly reduced (−6%) for the two most restricted groups (70% and 60%). The favourable effect of a lower intake on health did not persist after returning to ad libitum intake (54 days to slaughter), since mortality and morbidity were not significantly different among the treatments. Such a feeding strategy thus represents a double benefit in terms of feed costs and lower losses of young rabbits.

This short report describes some highlights in extragalactic research over the past three years, and lists the main symposia and meetings in the domain.