Changes in metabolic state alter foraging behavior and food preference in animals. Here, I show that normally attractive food becomes repulsive to Caenorhabditis elegans if animals are chronically undernourished as a result of alimentary tract defects. This behavioral plasticity is achieved in two ways: increased food leaving and induction of aversive behavior towards food. A particularly stron...

Chemosensation in C. elegans Worms have a very simple chemosensory system composed of 32 neurons. Despite this simplicity, they are capable of detecting and appropriately responding to a Dallas, Texas 75235-9111 wide range of chemicals (Bargmann et al. Lucretius, one of the early Greek atomists, suggested have shown that chemoattraction to a number of mole-that all substances having odor gave o...

Phenotypic analysis of the daf-11 and daf-21 mutants of Caenorhabditis elegans suggests that they have defects in components shared by processes analogous to vertebrate taste and olfaction. daf-11 and daf-21 mutations were previously shown to cause inappropriate response to the dauer-inducing pheromone. By mutational analysis and by disabling specific chemosensory sensilla with a laser, we show...

Multi-agent problem solving in a real-time environment is one of the hardest and most fascinating research area. In this paper, we propose a method for quick adaptation to changes in a problem in a real-time environment as an extension of an Asynchronous Weak-commitment (AWC) search algorithm. The basic idea of our proposing method is to limit the scope of search. Variables which are affected b...

The aim of the study is the individuation of convective cells over the Italian peninsula with the conjunction use of geostationary satellite data (METEOSAT, MSG satellite) in the IR and WV channels and lightning data. We will use GCD (Global Convective Diagnostic) algorithm developed at Aviation Weather Centre (AWC) of NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). This algorithm is ba...

Neuropeptide signaling remodels the composition of a chemosensory circuit and shapes behavior in Caenorhabditis elegans. We reported that the ASE left (ASEL) salt sensory neuron uses a proprotein convertase, BLI-4, to cleave the insulin-like peptide INS-6. INS-6 peptides are released from the ASEL neuron in response to large, but not small changes in salt stimuli. Fast INS-6 signaling functiona...

A community based prospective study was conducted to find the association of maternal bio-social determinants with birth weight in urban slums. A random sample of 50 AWCs (7 AWC from each zone) catering the population of urban slums and constituting about 25% of the total was taken giving due representation to all zones. 303 expectant mothers registered with AWCs in their third trimester (>28 w...