Inspired by the pioneering work by Held and Hein (1963) on the development of kitten visuo-motor systems, we explore the role of active body movement in the developmental process of the visual system by using robots. The receptive fields in an evolved mobile robot are developed during active or passive movement with a Hebbian learning rule. In accordance to experimental observations in kittens,...

Although it has been known for decades that monocular deprivation shifts ocular dominance in kitten striate cortex, uncertainty persists about the adequate stimulus for deprivation-induced losses of cortical responsiveness. In the current study we compared the effects of 2 days of lid closure and 2 days of monocular blur using an overcorrecting contact lens. Our finding of comparable ocular dom...

Dermatophyte fungi causing tinea capitis can be divided into anthropophilic and zoophilic organisms. Anthropophilic fungi grow preferentially on humans, and the most common type forms large conidia of approximately 3-4 mm in diameter within the hair shaft (endothrix). Common causes of endothrix infection include Trichophyton tonsurans , T schoenleinii and T violaceum. Zoophilic fungi are acquir...

Several infectious diseases are the cause or associated with the female and occasionally the male reproductive system of the cat.1>2,3,4,5,6^7,a Most notable are the viral diseases that cause infertility, embryonal-fetal death and resorption, malformations, abortion, mummification, stillborns and kitten neonatal death. Two classical viral infections, panleukopenia and feline viral rhinotracheit...

bleeding at the mouth, become extremely thin, and succumb in a month or less. To increase the hardiness of this beautiful mutation, many ranchers outcross them with standard black minks. No effective treatment is yet known. The gray fleshfly (of Wohljahriia species) is responsible for the death of many young minks. The female fly deposits eggs, which are quickly transformed into moving maggots ...