Haldane's rule in the 21st century

Haldane's Rule (HR), which states that 'when in the offspring of two different animal races one sex is absent, rare, or sterile, that sex is the heterozygous (heterogametic) sex', is one of the most general patterns in speciation biology. We review the literature of the past 15 years and find that among the similar to 85 new studies, many consider taxa that traditionally have not been the focus for HR investigations. The new studies increased to nine, the number of 'phylogenetically independent' groups that comply with HR. They continue to support the dominance and faster-male theories as explanations for HR, although due to increased reliance on indirect data (from, for example, differential introgression of cytoplasmic versus chromosomal loci in natural hybrid zones) unambiguous novel results are rare. We further highlight how research on organisms with sex determination systems different from those traditionally considered may lead to more insight in the underlying causes of HR. In particular, haplodiploid organisms provide opportunities for testing specific predictions of the dominance and faster X chromosome theory, and we present new data that show that the faster-male component of HR is supported in hermaphrodites, suggesting that genes involved in male function may evolve faster than those expressed in the female function. Heredity (2011) 107, 95-102; doi:10.1038/hdy.2010.170; published online 12 January 201

Healthcare quality improvement and ‘work engagement’; concluding results from a national, longitudinal, cross-sectional study of the ‘Productive Ward-Releasing Time to Care’ programme

Concerns about patient safety and reducing harm have led to a particular focus on initiatives that improve healthcare quality. However Quality Improvement (QI) initiatives have in the past typically faltered because they fail to fully engage healthcare professionals, resulting in apathy and resistance amongst this group of key stakeholders. Productive Ward: Releasing Time to Care (PW) is a ward-based QI programme created to help ward-based teams redesign and streamline the way that they work; leaving more time to care for patients. PW is designed to engage and empower ward-based teams to improve the safety, quality and delivery of care