Conflict, constraint, and the evolution of the multivariate performance phenotype

Performance is key to survival. From day-to-day foraging events, to reproductive activities, to life-or-death crises, how well an organism performs these tasks can determine success or failure. Selection, therefore, both natural and sexual, act upon performance, and performance demands on individuals shape a population’s morphological and physiological trait distributions. While studies of morphological adaptations to ecological pressures implicitly center on the idea that responses to selection improve performance via changes in morphology, the relationships between morphology, performance, and fitness are not always well understood. In this dissertation, I investigate these relationships explicitly, as well as determine the effects that different ecological and genetic contexts have on selection and how populations respond to performance pressures. Using a model of lizard locomotor performance, I address three issues that may impact selection on performance that are often overlooked in performance studies. First, performance is not a static trait. Rather, individuals possess a range of performance abilities or intensities that can be expressed as needed. Using a novel, individual-based, quantitative genetic simulation model, I demonstrate the effects of variable performance expression and genetic constraints on how a population experiences and responds to selection on sprint and endurance performance. Second, sex differences in performance are expected in sexually dimorphic species, but empirical evidence for this is lacking. To this end, I measured and analyzed multivariate morphology and performance in Anolis carolinensis to identify sex-specific patterns in functional morphology and functional trade-offs within a broad suite of performance traits. Third, intralocus sexual conflict should constrain the evolution of the multivariate performance phenotype in both sexes. By extending the simulation model to include correlated trait inheritance between sexes and sex-specific selection on certain performance traits, I demonstrate the extent to which this sexual conflict constrains performance evolution. In combining studies of natural populations with simulation studies of selection, this dissertation embraces the complexity of performance to address the multiple contributing factors and constraints on performance evolution, and demonstrates the importance of accounting for such complexity when studying animal performance

Conflict, constraint, and the evolution of the multivariate performance phenotype

Performance is key to survival. From day-to-day foraging events, to reproductive activities, to life-or-death crises, how well an organism performs these tasks can determine success or failure. Selection, therefore, both natural and sexual, act upon performance, and performance demands on individuals shape a population’s morphological and physiological trait distributions. While studies of morphological adaptations to ecological pressures implicitly center on the idea that responses to selection improve performance via changes in morphology, the relationships between morphology, performance, and fitness are not always well understood. In this dissertation, I investigate these relationships explicitly, as well as determine the effects that different ecological and genetic contexts have on selection and how populations respond to performance pressures. Using a model of lizard locomotor performance, I address three issues that may impact selection on performance that are often overlooked in performance studies. First, performance is not a static trait. Rather, individuals possess a range of performance abilities or intensities that can be expressed as needed. Using a novel, individual-based, quantitative genetic simulation model, I demonstrate the effects of variable performance expression and genetic constraints on how a population experiences and responds to selection on sprint and endurance performance. Second, sex differences in performance are expected in sexually dimorphic species, but empirical evidence for this is lacking. To this end, I measured and analyzed multivariate morphology and performance in Anolis carolinensis to identify sex-specific patterns in functional morphology and functional trade-offs within a broad suite of performance traits. Third, intralocus sexual conflict should constrain the evolution of the multivariate performance phenotype in both sexes. By extending the simulation model to include correlated trait inheritance between sexes and sex-specific selection on certain performance traits, I demonstrate the extent to which this sexual conflict constrains performance evolution. In combining studies of natural populations with simulation studies of selection, this dissertation embraces the complexity of performance to address the multiple contributing factors and constraints on performance evolution, and demonstrates the importance of accounting for such complexity when studying animal performance

Adipose Tissue Distribution and Survival Among Women with Nonmetastatic Breast Cancer.

ObjectivePrevious studies of breast cancer survival have not considered specific depots of adipose tissue such as subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT).MethodsThis study assessed these relationships among 3,235 women with stage II and III breast cancer diagnosed between 2005 and 2013 at Kaiser Permanente Northern California and between 2000 and 2012 at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. SAT and VAT areas (in centimeters squared) were calculated from routine computed tomography scans within 6 (median: 1.2) months of diagnosis, covariates were collected from electronic health records, and vital status was assessed by death records. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs were estimated using Cox regression.ResultsSAT and VAT ranged from 19.0 to 891 cm2 and from 0.484 to 454 cm2 , respectively. SAT was related to increased risk of death (127-cm2 increase; HR [95% CI]: 1.13 [1.02-1.26]), but no relationship was found with VAT (78.18-cm2 increase; HR [95% CI]: 1.02 [0.91-1.14]). An association with VAT was noted among women with stage II cancer (stage II: HR: 1.17 [95% CI: 0.99-1.39]; stage III: HR: 0.90 [95% CI: 0.76-1.07]; P interaction < 0.01). Joint increases in SAT and VAT were associated with mortality above either alone (simultaneous 1-SD increase: HR 1.19 [95% CI: 1.05-1.34]).ConclusionsSAT may be an underappreciated risk factor for breast cancer-related death

Non-collinear coupling between magnetic adatoms in carbon nanotubes

The long range character of the exchange coupling between localized magnetic moments indirectly mediated by the conduction electrons of metallic hosts often plays a significant role in determining the magnetic order of low-dimensional structures. In addition to this indirect coupling, here we show that the direct exchange interaction that arises when the moments are not too far apart may induce a non-collinear magnetic order that cannot be characterized by a Heisenberg-like interaction between the magnetic moments. We argue that this effect can be manipulated to control the magnetization alignment of magnetic dimers adsorbed to the walls of carbon nanotubes.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, submitted to PR

PRKAB1 (protein kinase, AMP-activated, beta 1 non-catalytic subunit)

Review on PRKAB1 (protein kinase, AMP-activated, beta 1 non-catalytic subunit), with data on DNA, on the protein encoded, and where the gene is implicated

PIK3CA (phosphoinositide-3-kinase, catalytic, alpha polypeptide)

Review on PIK3CA (phosphoinositide-3-kinase, catalytic, alpha polypeptide), with data on DNA, on the protein encoded, and where the gene is implicated

SMARCA4 (SWI/SNF related, matrix associated, actin dependent regulator of chromatin, subfamily a, member 4)

Review on SMARCA4 (SWI/SNF related, matrix associated, actin dependent regulator of chromatin, subfamily a, member 4), with data on DNA, on the protein encoded, and where the gene is implicated

Asymptomatic Renal Colonization of Humans in the Peruvian Amazon by Leptospira

Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease commonly transmitted from animals to humans. The more than 200 types of spiral-shaped bacteria (spirochetes) in the genus Leptospira are classified as pathogenic, intermediately pathogenic, or saprophytic (meaning not causing infection in any mammal) based on their ability to cause disease and on genetic information. Unique among the spirochetes that infect humans, Leptospira live both in the environment (in surface waters and moist soils), and in mammals, where they cause chronic infection by colonizing kidney tubules. Infected animals are the source of human infection, but humans have not been systematically studied as chronic Leptospira carriers. In our study, we found that more than 5% of people (in fact, only women) in a rural Amazonian village, without clinical evidence of infection by Leptospira, were chronically colonized by the bacteria. Chronic infection was not associated with a detectable immune response against the spirochete. Pathogenic and intermediately pathogenic Leptospira caused asymptomatic, chronic kidney infections. Future work is needed to determine whether such chronic infection can lead to human-to-human transmission of leptospirosis, and whether subtle measures of kidney disease are associated with asymptomatic, long-term leptospiral infection

Land Use Planning & Historic Preservation Property Assessment Tool in New Orleans: The Algiers Main Street Demonstration Project

Service-learning is a critical component of the student-centered education model at the University of New Orleans (UNO). For students to apply their knowledge activities within, classes are developed to provide technical service and experiential knowledge for community organizations. In the fall of 2017 students in the MURP 4050/5050 “Urban Land Use Planning & Plan Making” course combined their recently acquired knowledge of how policy affects the use of applying new planning tools in practice. Specifically, the course focused on the application of Federal and State policies for identifying and evaluating the significance of properties under Historic Preservation (HP) guidelines. This training was complemented with the WhoData property survey (PS) methodology & image inventory which evaluated the use, condition, location in combination with public data identification sources. In the fall of 2016 an initial field study in the French Quarter consolidated the HP and PS models but not in a consolidated fashion. The Algiers Historic Preservation Assessment & Land Use Planning Survey demonstration project is the first study which integrates the tools and techniques from two fields of study into a single model that can be replicated nationally. The students in MURP 4050/5050 aided in using, evaluating and improving the tools by applying their knowledge to an active project. Initially the demonstration project was aimed at providing the initial documentation and an implementation plan to expand the existing Algiers Historic District. However, the scope of work had to be changed. The ability to create the resources necessary would not be developed properly without additional training by the course team without further training on historic preservation theory and application. As a result, additional teaching resources were obtained which provided guidance on how to conduct historic property research (The New Orleans Historic Collection), conducting HP & LUP surveys in Algiers (Jennie Garcia, MURP ’17) and State/Federal Historic Preservation guidelines (LA State Historic Preservation Office). The students moved to the role of Planning Analyst in order to complete the research and reporting required to complete the preliminary analysis necessary for community organizations, such as the Algiers Main Street Corporation, to consider the benefits of historic district expansion and the cost of developing the documents to do s