Deep mtDNA divergences indicate cryptic species in a fig-pollinating wasp

Background: Figs and fig-pollinating wasps are obligate mutualists that have coevolved for ca 90 million years. They have radiated together, but do not show strict cospeciation. In particular, it is now clear that many fig species host two wasp species, so there is more wasp speciation than fig speciation. However, little is known about how fig wasps speciate. Results: We studied variation in 71 fig-pollinating wasps from across the large geographic range of Ficus rubiginosa in Australia. All wasps sampled belong to one morphological species (Pleistodontes imperialis), but we found four deep mtDNA clades that differed from each other by 9–17% nucleotides. As these genetic distances exceed those normally found within species and overlap those (10–26%) found between morphologically distinct Pleistodontes species, they strongly suggest cryptic fig wasp species. mtDNA clade diversity declines from all four present in Northern Queensland to just one in Sydney, near the southern range limit. However, at most sites multiple clades coexist and can be found in the same tree or even the same fig fruit and there is no evidence for parallel sub-division of the host fig species. Both mtDNA data and sequences from two nuclear genes support the monophyly of the "P. imperialis complex" relative to other Pleistodontes species, suggesting that fig wasp divergence has occurred without any host plant shift. Wasps in clade 3 were infected by a single strain (W1) of Wolbachia bacteria, while those in other clades carried a double infection (W2+W3) of two other strains. Conclusion: Our study indicates that cryptic fig-pollinating wasp species have developed on a single host plant species, without the involvement of host plant shifts, or parallel host plant divergence. Despite extensive evidence for coevolution between figs and fig wasps, wasp speciation may not always be linked strongly with fig speciation

A systematic review of the relationship between behavioral and psychological symptoms (BPSD) and caregiver well-being

Background: Behavioural and psychological symptoms in dementia (BPSD) are important predictors of institutionalisation as well as caregiver burden and depression. Previous reviews have tended to group BPSD as one category with little focus on the role of the individual symptoms. This review investigates the role of the individual symptoms of BPSD in relation to the impact on different measures of family caregiver wellbeing. Methods: Systematic review and meta-analysis of articles published in English between 1980 and December 2015 reporting which BPSD affect caregiver wellbeing. Article quality was appraised using the Downs and Black Checklist (1998). Results: 40 medium and high quality quantitative articles met the inclusion criteria, 16 were suitable to be included in a meta-analysis of mean distress scores. Depressive behaviours were the most distressing for caregivers followed by agitation/aggression and apathy. Euphoria was the least distressing. Correlation coefficients between mean total behaviour scores and mean distress scores were pooled for 4 studies. Irritability, aberrant motor behaviour and delusions were the most strongly correlated to distress, disinhibition was the least correlated. Conclusion: The evidence is not conclusive as to whether some BPSD impact caregiver wellbeing more than others. Studies which validly examined BPSD individually were limited, and the included studies used numerous measures of BPSD and numerous measures of caregiver wellbeing. Future research may benefit from a consistent measure of BPSD, examining BPSD individually, and by examining the causal mechanisms by which BPSD impact wellbeing by including caregiver variables so that interventions can be designed to target BPSD more effectively

War and Human Nature

Stephen Peter Rosen is Michael Kaneb Professor of National Security and Military Affairs at Harvard University. In this ambitious volume he attempts to counter the view that economic- rationality models of human behavior adequately explain human decision making. He defines economic rational- ity as the assumption that people “have a stable, ordered, and consistent set of preferences and that they have a stable way of making choices about how to use scarce resources in a manner that gives them the most utility for a given expenditure of resources.” Rosen at- tempts to demonstrate the inadequacy of economic rationality to explain or predict human behavior by drawing on a wide range of empirical research

Remarks, Stockdale to Pilots, 1965

In Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot, his collection of reflective essays published long after his time in Vietnam, Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale writes eloquently about the importance of the study of philosophy in helping him to endure the prisoner of war (POW) experience. While at Stanford completing a degree in economics, he found his most important questions being deflected by the economics faculty, often with the remark, “Well, we’re getting into philosophy now.” Exasperated by that reaction, Stockdale found his way to the Philosophy Department and embarked on a course of reading in the subject, guided by Pro- fessor Philip H. Rhinelander

Designing a toolkit to support dialogue in learning

Whilst the use of dialogue has many pedagogic advantages to offer Higher Education, implementing it effectively in teaching practice is a complex and problematic process that requires a wide range of expertise. This paper describes one strategy for addressing this issue: the development of a toolkit that supports the process of planning and reflection that practitioners must engage in when attempting to use dialogue in their teaching. After identifying and illustrating some of the issues relating to the use of dialogue, the notion of toolkits will be defined and a methodology for their development outlined. This is then exemplified with the specific case of the design of a toolkit for using dialogue in learning. A study is then described in which this prototype toolkit was evaluated, demonstrating its impact both in terms of changing practice and of developing a critical awareness of the issues relating dialogue and learning, before conclusions are drawn about the wider relevance of the work

Behavioural and psychological symptoms in dementia and the challenges for family carers: systematic review

Background: Tailored psychosocial interventions can help families to manage behavioural and psychological symptoms in dementia (BPSD), but carer responses to their relative's behaviours contribute to the success of support programmes. Aims: To understand why some family carers have difficulty in dealing with BPSD, in order to improve the quality of personalised care that is offered. Method: A systematic review and meta-ethnographic synthesis was conducted of high-quality quantitative and qualitative studies between 1980 and 2012. Results: We identified 25 high-quality studies and two main reasons for behaviours being reported as challenging by family carers: changes in communication and relationships, resulting in ‘feeling bereft’; and perceptions of transgressions against social norms associated with ‘misunderstandings about behaviour’ in the relative with dementia. The underlying belief that their relative had lost, or would inevitably lose, their identity to dementia was a fundamental reason why family carers experienced behaviour as challenging. Conclusions: Family carers' perceptions of BPSD as challenging are associated with a sense of a declining relationship, transgressions against social norms and underlying beliefs that people with dementia inevitably lose their ‘personhood’. Interventions for the management of challenging behaviour in family settings should acknowledge unmet psychological need in family carers