Population genetics of the understory fishtail palm Chamaedorea ernesti-augusti in Belize: high genetic connectivity with local differentiation.

BACKGROUND: Developing a greater understanding of population genetic structure in lowland tropical plant species is highly relevant to our knowledge of increasingly fragmented forests and to the conservation of threatened species. Specific studies are particularly needed for taxa whose population dynamics are further impacted by human harvesting practices. One such case is the fishtail or xaté palm (Chamaedorea ernesti-augusti) of Central America, whose wild-collected leaves are becoming progressively more important to the global ornamental industry. We use microsatellite markers to describe the population genetics of this species in Belize and test the effects of climate change and deforestation on its recent and historical effective population size. RESULTS: We found high levels of inbreeding coupled with moderate or high allelic diversity within populations. Overall high gene flow was observed, with a north and south gradient and ongoing differentiation at smaller spatial scales. Immigration rates among populations were more difficult to discern, with minimal evidence for isolation by distance. We infer a tenfold reduction in effective population size ca. 10,000 years ago, but fail to detect changes attributable to Mayan or contemporary deforestation. CONCLUSION: Populations of C. ernesti-augusti are genetically heterogeneous demes at a local spatial scale, but are widely connected at a regional level in Belize. We suggest that the inferred patterns in population genetic structure are the result of the colonization of this species into Belize following expansion of humid forests in combination with demographic and mating patterns. Within populations, we hypothesize that low aggregated population density over large areas, short distance pollen dispersal via thrips, low adult survival, and low fruiting combined with early flowering may contribute towards local inbreeding via genetic drift. Relatively high levels of regional connectivity are likely the result of animal-mediated long-distance seed dispersal. The greatest present threat to the species is the potential onset of inbreeding depression as the result of increased human harvesting activities. Future genetic studies in understory palms should focus on both fine-scale and landscape-level genetic structure

The IBER study: a feasibility randomised controlled trial of imagery based emotion regulation for the treatment of anxiety in bipolar disorder

BACKGROUND: Intrusive mental imagery is associated with anxiety and mood instability within bipolar disorder and therefore represents a novel treatment target. Imagery Based Emotion Regulation (IBER) is a brief structured psychological intervention developed to enable people to use the skills required to regulate the emotional impact of these images. METHODS: Participants aged 18 and over with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and at least a mild level of anxiety were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive IBER plus treatment as usual (IBER + TAU) or treatment as usual alone (TAU). IBER was delivered in up to 12 sessions overs 16 weeks. Clinical and health economic data were collected at baseline, end of treatment and 16-weeks follow-up. Objectives were to inform the recruitment process, timeline and sample size estimate for a definitive trial and to refine trial procedures. We also explored the impact on participant outcomes of anxiety, depression, mania, and mood stability at 16-weeks and 32-weeks follow-up. RESULTS: Fifty-seven (28: IBER + TAU, 27: TAU) participants from two sites were randomised, with 50 being recruited within the first 12 months. Forty-seven (82%) participants provided outcome data at 16 and 32-weeks follow-up. Thirty-five participants engaged in daily mood monitoring at the 32-week follow-up stage. Retention in IBER treatment was high with 27 (96%) attending ≥ 7 sessions. No study participants experienced a serious adverse event. DISCUSSION: The feasibility criteria of recruitment, outcome completion, and intervention retention were broadly achieved, indicating that imagery-focused interventions for bipolar disorder are worthy of further investigation

Insights into the Ecology and Evolutionary Success of Crocodilians Revealed through Bite-Force and Tooth-Pressure Experimentation

BackgroundCrocodilians have dominated predatory niches at the water-land interface for over 85 million years. Like their ancestors, living species show substantial variation in their jaw proportions, dental form and body size. These differences are often assumed to reflect anatomical specialization related to feeding and niche occupation, but quantified data are scant. How these factors relate to biomechanical performance during feeding and their relevance to crocodilian evolutionary success are not known.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe measured adult bite forces and tooth pressures in all 23 extant crocodilian species and analyzed the results in ecological and phylogenetic contexts. We demonstrate that these reptiles generate the highest bite forces and tooth pressures known for any living animals. Bite forces strongly correlate with body size, and size changes are a major mechanism of feeding evolution in this group. Jaw shape demonstrates surprisingly little correlation to bite force and pressures. Bite forces can now be predicted in fossil crocodilians using the regression equations generated in this research.Conclusions/SignificanceCritical to crocodilian long-term success was the evolution of a high bite-force generating musculo-skeletal architecture. Once achieved, the relative force capacities of this system went essentially unmodified throughout subsequent diversification. Rampant changes in body size and concurrent changes in bite force served as a mechanism to allow access to differing prey types and sizes. Further access to the diversity of near-shore prey was gained primarily through changes in tooth pressure via the evolution of dental form and distributions of the teeth within the jaws. Rostral proportions changed substantially throughout crocodilian evolution, but not in correspondence with bite forces. The biomechanical and ecological ramifications of such changes need further examination

The Evolution of Bat Vestibular Systems in the Face of Potential Antagonistic Selection Pressures for Flight and Echolocation

PMCID: PMC3634842This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

A Phylogeny and Timescale for the Evolution of Pseudocheiridae (Marsupialia: Diprotodontia) in Australia and New Guinea

Pseudocheiridae (Marsupialia: Diprotodontia) is a family of endemic Australasian arboreal folivores, more commonly known as ringtail possums. Seventeen extant species are grouped into six genera (Pseudocheirus, Pseudochirulus, Hemibelideus, Petauroides, Pseudochirops, Petropseudes). Pseudochirops and Pseudochirulus are the only genera with representatives on New Guinea and surrounding western islands. Here, we examine phylogenetic relationships among 13 of the 17 extant pseudocheirid species based on protein-coding portions of the ApoB, BRCA1, ENAM, IRBP, Rag1, and vWF genes. Maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian methods were used to estimate phylogenetic relationships. Two different relaxed molecular clock methods were used to estimate divergence times. Bayesian and maximum parsimony methods were used to reconstruct ancestral character states for geographic provenance and maximum elevation occupied. We find robust support for the monophyly of Pseudocheirinae (Pseudochirulus + Pseudocheirus), Hemibelidinae (Hemibelideus + Petauroides), and Pseudochiropsinae (Pseudochirops + Petropseudes), respectively, and for an association of Pseudocheirinae and Hemibelidinae to the exclusion of Pseudochiropsinae. Within Pseudochiropsinae, Petropseudes grouped more closely with the New Guinean Pseudochirops spp. than with the Australian Pseudochirops archeri, rendering Pseudochirops paraphyletic. New Guinean species belonging to Pseudochirops are monophyletic, as are New Guinean species belonging to Pseudochirulus. Molecular dates and ancestral reconstructions of geographic provenance combine to suggest that the ancestors of extant New Guinean Pseudochirops spp. and Pseudochirulus spp. dispersed from Australia to New Guinea ∼12.1–6.5 Ma (Pseudochirops) and ∼6.0–2.4 Ma (Pseudochirulus). Ancestral state reconstructions support the hypothesis that occupation of high elevations (>3000 m) is a derived feature that evolved on the terminal branch leading to Pseudochirops cupreus, and either evolved in the ancestor of Pseudochirulus forbesi, Pseudochirulus mayeri, and Pseudochirulus caroli, with subsequent loss in P. caroli, or evolved independently in P. mayeri and P. forbesi. Divergence times within the New Guinean Pseudochirops clade are generally coincident with the uplift of the central cordillera and other highlands. Diversification within New Guinean Pseudochirulus occurred in the Plio-Pleistocene after the establishment of the Central Range and other highlands

A multi-stage genome-wide association study of bladder cancer identifies multiple susceptibility loci.

We conducted a multi-stage, genome-wide association study of bladder cancer with a primary scan of 591,637 SNPs in 3,532 affected individuals (cases) and 5,120 controls of European descent from five studies followed by a replication strategy, which included 8,382 cases and 48,275 controls from 16 studies. In a combined analysis, we identified three new regions associated with bladder cancer on chromosomes 22q13.1, 19q12 and 2q37.1: rs1014971, (P = 8 × 10⁻¹²) maps to a non-genic region of chromosome 22q13.1, rs8102137 (P = 2 × 10⁻¹¹) on 19q12 maps to CCNE1 and rs11892031 (P = 1 × 10⁻⁷) maps to the UGT1A cluster on 2q37.1. We confirmed four previously identified genome-wide associations on chromosomes 3q28, 4p16.3, 8q24.21 and 8q24.3, validated previous candidate associations for the GSTM1 deletion (P = 4 × 10⁻¹¹) and a tag SNP for NAT2 acetylation status (P = 4 × 10⁻¹¹), and found interactions with smoking in both regions. Our findings on common variants associated with bladder cancer risk should provide new insights into the mechanisms of carcinogenesis

An exceptionally well-preserved skeleton of Palaeothentes from the Early Miocene of Patagonia, Argentina: new insights into the anatomy of extinct paucituberculatan marsupials

International audienc

A common framework for approaches to extreme event attribution

The extent to which a given extreme weather or climate event is attributable to anthropogenic climate change is a question of considerable public interest. From a scientific perspective, the question can be framed in various ways, and the answer depends very much on the framing. One such framing is a risk-based approach, which answers the question probabilistically, in terms of a change in likelihood of a class of event similar to the one in question, and natural variability is treated as noise. A rather different framing is a storyline approach, which examines the role of the various factors contributing to the event as it unfolded, including the anomalous aspects of natural variability, and answers the question deterministically. It is argued that these two apparently irreconcilable approaches can be viewed within a common framework, where the most useful level of conditioning will depend on the question being asked and the uncertainties involved

Cancer patients' needs during hospitalisation: a quantitative and qualitative study

BACKGROUND: The evaluation of cancer patients needs, especially during that delicate period when they are hospitalized, allows the identification of those areas of care that require to be improved. Aims of the study were to evaluate the needs in cancer inpatients and to improve the understanding of the meanings of the needs expressed. METHODS: The study was conducted during a "sample day", with all the cancer patients involved having been hospitalized at the Istituto Nazionale Tumori of Milan (INT) for at least 48 hours beforehand. The study was carried out using quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The quantitative part of the study consisted in making use of the Needs Evaluation Questionnaire (NEQ), a standardized questionnaire administered by the INT Psychology Unit members, supported by a group of volunteers from the Milan section of the Italian League Against Cancer. The aim of the qualitative part of the study, by semi-structured interviews conducted with a small sample of 8 hospitalized patients, was to improve our understanding of the meanings, implications of the needs directly described from the point of view of the patients. Such an approach determines the reasons and conditions of the dissatisfaction in the patient, and provides additional information for the planning of improvement interventions. RESULTS: Of the 224 eligible patients, 182 (81%) completed the questionnaire. Four of the top five needs expressed by 40% or more of the responders concerned information needs (diagnosis, future conditions, dialogue with doctors, economic-insurance solutions related to the disease). Only one of the 5 was concerned with improved "hotel" services (bathrooms, meals, cleanliness). Qualitative analysis showed that the most expressed need (to receive more information on their future conditions) has the meaning to know how their future life will be affected more than to know his/her actual prognosis. CONCLUSIONS: Some of the needs which emerged from this investigation could be immediately satisfied (the need for psychological support, the need for economic aid, the need for spiritual support), while others will have to be faced in the longer term; for example, the presence of a high percentage of needs in patient-physician relationships and/or information-communication issues, could be resolved by setting up structured introductory training courses for all clinicians in the institution. On the other hand, the needs related to the living infrastructure (bathrooms, meals, etc...) could encourage the Institution to improve its services