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This report offers updated information from crystalline artifact research results initially presented in 2014 by Michael C. Moore and colleagues. At that time, worked and raw crystal items from four Mississippian sites in the Middle Cumberland Region of Tennessee were assessed by the Tennessee Geological Survey as calcite through visual techniques. Subsequent analysis using Fiber Optic Reflectance Spectroscopy (FORS) has determined these specimens are, in fact, fluorite. The known sample of six worked crystal artifacts in 2014 has also increased by 50% through the recent discovery of two earplugs and one bead from three Mississippian period sites. FORS analysis determined these three artifacts to be fluorite as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adenosine was tested whether it had differential effects on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression under normoxic and hypoxic conditions and whether A1 or A2 receptors (A1R;A2R) mediated these effects. Under normoxic conditions, VEGF protein levels at A1R stimulatory concentrations were not increased by the adenosine A1R agonists. An approximate fourfold increase in VEGF protein and mRNA expression was caused by hypoxia, which could not be augmented by exogenous adenosine. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that adenosine increases VEGF protein.

The females of certain species are highly aggressive but little is known about the effects on such behaviour of steroid hormones. A new study of mountain spiny lizards examines seasonal patterns of territorial aggression and relates them to levels of the plasma steroid hormones testosterone, corticosterone, dihydrotestosterone and oestradiol. It is suggested that testosterone and oestradiol may promote female aggression while corticosterone suppresses it. However, no one-to-one association between steroid hormones and female aggression has been found, suggesting that other factors and interactions may be involved.

Steroid hormones are responsible for the hormonal responses to aggressive encounters in the two male morphs of tree lizards, Urosaurus ornatus. The two morphs are an aggressive, territorial morph and a less aggressive, non-territorial morph. The aggressive morphs have increased levels of corticosterone and decreased levels of testosterone when subjected to an encounter. The hormonal changes in the less aggressive morph influence the agonistic behavior in male-male interactions and the energy spent during these interactions.

A new archeological site consisting of structural ruins, burials and ash pits emerged out of land leveling activities in Roger Mills County, OK. Analysis of the recovered remnants revealed that the new site, named New Smith, is in some ways similar to the Zimms complex, a plains village mortuary site also situated in Oklahoma. This significant find will provide archeologists with the insight needed to analyze the socio-religious activities practiced by the Zimms complex settlers.

The use of small patches of colour, called badges, as signals of fighting ability (status signals) across age or sex classes has been well described. Examples of within age- or sex-class status signals are more poorly known. Most populations of adult male tree lizards, Urosaurus ornatus, are polymorphic in throat (dewlap) colour within the same age class; dewlap colour may be orange, yellow, or blue or bicolour combinations of an orange perimeter (background) surrounding a central blue spot that varies in size among individuals from 1 to 55% of the surface area of the unextended dewlap. To test the hypothesis that the size of the central blue spot signals status among males, laboratory contests were staged between pairs of size-matched males for a limiting resource. Contests were staged between males that had dewlaps with the (1) same background colour but different size central blue spots, and (2) same background colour and similar size central blue spots in which one male's dewlap was painted orange and the other male's was painted orange with a large blue centre. In both experiments, encounters were dominated by the male with the larger central blue spot. These results support the hypothesis that the size per se of the central blue spot reliably signals fighting ability among males both within and across age classes. Furthermore, this is the first documented case of an inexpensive (badge) status signal that develops prior to sexual maturity and remains phenotypically unchanged during adult life.

Alternative hypotheses for the costs of aggression in male mountain spiny lizards, Sceloporus jarrovi, were examined using testosterone manipulations and food supplementation. In the first experiment, feeding testosterone-implanted males increased both their energy stores and survivorship relative to those of males given empty implants. This evidence supports the hypothesis that lower survivorship of testosterone-implanted males is a result of the energeticf costs of increased territorial aggression. This result, by itself, does not eliminate the hypothesis that testosterone-implanted males have lower survivorship as a result of increased conspicuousness to predators, because feeding may have altered conspicuousness. Contrary to this possibility, it was further demonstrated that giving supplementary food to testosterone-implanted males results in a slight increase in conspicuousness. These fed testosterone-implanted males displayed a slight increase in activity after male-male encounters compared with testosterone-implanted males that were not given supplementary food, but the two groups did not differ with respect to daily activity period, territorial displays or escalation of aggressive encounters. Therefore, because fed testosterone-implanted males were slightly more conspicuous, but still survived better, the data from these two experiments strongly support the hypothesis that energetic costs, rather than costs related to increased conspicuousness to predators, constrain levels of aggression in male S. jarrovi during the summer non-breeding season.