Guidelines of the American Society of Mammalogists for the use of wild mammals in research

Guidelines for use of wild mammal species are updated from the American Society of Mammalogists (ASM) 2007 publication. These revised guidelines cover current professional techniques and regulations involving mammals used in research and teaching. They incorporate additional resources, summaries of procedures, and reporting requirements not contained in earlier publications. Included are details on marking, housing, trapping, and collecting mammals. It is recommended that institutional animal care and use committees (IACUCs), regulatory agencies, and investigators use these guidelines as a resource for protocols involving wild mammals. These guidelines were prepared and approved by the ASM, working with experienced professional veterinarians and IACUCs, whose collective expertise provides a broad and comprehensive understanding of the biology of nondomesticated mammals in their natural environments. The most current version of these guidelines and any subsequent modifications are available at the ASM Animal Care and Use Committee page of the ASM Web site (http://mammalsociety.org/committees/index.asp).American Society of Mammalogist

'To live and die [for] Dixie': Irish civilians and the Confederate States of America

Around 20,000 Irishmen served in the Confederate army in the Civil War. As a result, they left behind, in various Southern towns and cities, large numbers of friends, family, and community leaders. As with native-born Confederates, Irish civilian support was crucial to Irish participation in the Confederate military effort. Also, Irish civilians served in various supporting roles: in factories and hospitals, on railroads and diplomatic missions, and as boosters for the cause. They also, however, suffered in bombardments, sieges, and the blockade. Usually poorer than their native neighbours, they could not afford to become 'refugees' and move away from the centres of conflict. This essay, based on research from manuscript collections, contemporary newspapers, British Consular records, and Federal military records, will examine the role of Irish civilians in the Confederacy, and assess the role this activity had on their integration into Southern communities. It will also look at Irish civilians in the defeat of the Confederacy, particularly when they came under Union occupation. Initial research shows that Irish civilians were not as upset as other whites in the South about Union victory. They welcomed a return to normalcy, and often 'collaborated' with Union authorities. Also, Irish desertion rates in the Confederate army were particularly high, and I will attempt to gauge whether Irish civilians played a role in this. All of the research in this paper will thus be put in the context of the Drew Gilpin Faust/Gary Gallagher debate on the influence of the Confederate homefront on military performance. By studying the Irish civilian experience one can assess how strong the Confederate national experiment was. Was it a nation without a nationalism

In Vitro and In Vivo Characterization of the Alkaloid Nuciferine

RationaleThe sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) contains many phytochemicals and has a history of human use. To determine which compounds may be responsible for reported psychotropic effects, we used in silico predictions of the identified phytochemicals. Nuciferine, an alkaloid component of Nelumbo nucifera and Nymphaea caerulea, had a predicted molecular profile similar to antipsychotic compounds. Our study characterizes nuciferine using in vitro and in vivo pharmacological assays.MethodsNuciferine was first characterized in silico using the similarity ensemble approach, and was followed by further characterization and validation using the Psychoactive Drug Screening Program of the National Institute of Mental Health. Nuciferine was then tested in vivo in the head-twitch response, pre-pulse inhibition, hyperlocomotor activity, and drug discrimination paradigms.ResultsNuciferine shares a receptor profile similar to aripiprazole-like antipsychotic drugs. Nuciferine was an antagonist at 5-HT2A, 5-HT2C, and 5-HT2B, an inverse agonist at 5-HT7, a partial agonist at D2, D5 and 5-HT6, an agonist at 5-HT1A and D4 receptors, and inhibited the dopamine transporter. In rodent models relevant to antipsychotic drug action, nuciferine blocked head-twitch responses and discriminative stimulus effects of a 5-HT2A agonist, substituted for clozapine discriminative stimulus, enhanced amphetamine induced locomotor activity, inhibited phencyclidine (PCP)-induced locomotor activity, and rescued PCP-induced disruption of prepulse inhibition without induction of catalepsy.ConclusionsThe molecular profile of nuciferine was similar but not identical to that shared with several approved antipsychotic drugs suggesting that nuciferine has atypical antipsychotic-like actions

2016 Guidelines of the American Society of Mammalogists for the use of wild mammals in research and education.

Guidelines for use of wild mammal species in research are updated from Sikes et al. (2011). These guidelines cover current professional techniques and regulations involving the use of mammals in research and teaching; they also incorporate new resources, procedural summaries, and reporting requirements. Included are details on capturing, marking, housing, and humanely killing wild mammals. It is recommended that Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs), regulatory agencies, and investigators use these guidelines as a resource for protocols involving wild mammals, whether studied in the field or in captivity. These guidelines were prepared and approved by the American Society of Mammalogists (ASM), in consultation with professional veterinarians experienced in wildlife research and IACUCs, whose collective expertise provides a broad and comprehensive understanding of the biology of nondomesticated mammals. The current version of these guidelines and any subsequent modifications are available online on the Animal Care and Use Committee page of the ASM website (http://mammalogy.org/uploads/committee_files/CurrentGuidelines.pdf). Additional resources pertaining to the use of wild animals in research are available at: http://www.mammalsociety.org/committees/animal-care-and-use#tab3. Resumen—Los lineamientos para el uso de especies de mamíferos de vida silvestre en la investigación con base en Sikes et al. (2011) se actualizaron. Dichos lineamientos cubren técnicas y regulaciones rofesionales actuales que involucran el uso de mamíferos en la investigación y enseñanza; también incorporan recursos nuevos, resúmenes de procedimientos y requisitos para reportes. Se incluyen detalles acerca de captura, marcaje, manutención en cautiverio y eutanasia de mamíferos de vida silvestre. Se recomienda que los comités institucionales de uso y cuidado animal (cifras en inglés: IACUCs), las agencias reguladoras y los investigadores se adhieran a dichos lineamientos como fuente base de protocolos que involucren mamíferos de vida silvestre, ya sea investigaciones de campo o en cautiverio. Dichos lineamientos fueron preparados y aprobados por la ASM, en consulta con profesionales veterinarios experimentados en investigaciones de vida silvestre y IACUCS, de quienes cuya experiencia colectiva provee un entendimiento amplio y exhaustivo de la biología de mamíferos no-domesticados. La presente version de los lineamientos y modificaciones posteriores están disponibles en línea en la página web de la ASM, bajo Cuidado Animal y Comité de Uso: http://mammalogy.org/uploads/committee_files/CurrentGuidelines.pdf). Recursos adicionales relacionados con el uso de animales de vida silvestre para la investigación se encuentran disponibles en (http://www.mammalsociety.org/committees/animal-care-and-use#tab3)

Commutative association schemes

Association schemes were originally introduced by Bose and his co-workers in the design of statistical experiments. Since that point of inception, the concept has proved useful in the study of group actions, in algebraic graph theory, in algebraic coding theory, and in areas as far afield as knot theory and numerical integration. This branch of the theory, viewed in this collection of surveys as the "commutative case," has seen significant activity in the last few decades. The goal of the present survey is to discuss the most important new developments in several directions, including Gelfand pairs, cometric association schemes, Delsarte Theory, spin models and the semidefinite programming technique. The narrative follows a thread through this list of topics, this being the contrast between combinatorial symmetry and group-theoretic symmetry, culminating in Schrijver's SDP bound for binary codes (based on group actions) and its connection to the Terwilliger algebra (based on combinatorial symmetry). We propose this new role of the Terwilliger algebra in Delsarte Theory as a central topic for future work.Comment: 36 page

The MBA as Careerist: An Analysis of Early-Career Job Change

This study examined the job changes of 680 early-career business school graduates. Although a number of anecdotal articles characterize MBAs as overly “careerist” and oriented toward job-hopping, little empirical research has focused on this issue. The research included a direct comparison of job-hopping behavior of MBAs with bachelor S degree graduates, taking into account a number of control variables, including demographic and economic variables. Results indicated that MBAs changed jobs less frequently than bachelor 5 degree graduates, even when a variety of other factors were controlled.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

British signals intelligence and the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland

Historians for decades have placed Room 40, the First World War British naval signals intelligence organization, at the centre of narratives about the British anticipation of and response to the Easter Rising in Ireland in 1916. A series of crucial decrypts of telegrams between the German embassy in Washington and Berlin, it has been believed, provided significant advance intelligence about the Rising before it took place. This article upends previous accounts by demonstrating that Room 40 possessed far less advance knowledge about the Rising than has been believed, with most of the supposedly key decrypts not being generated until months after the Rising had taken place

Association of Escherichia coli O157:H7 tir polymorphisms with human infection

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Emerging molecular, animal model and epidemiologic evidence suggests that Shiga-toxigenic <it>Escherichia coli </it>O157:H7 (STEC O157) isolates vary in their capacity to cause human infection and disease. The translocated intimin receptor (<it>tir</it>) and intimin (<it>eae</it>) are virulence factors and bacterial receptor-ligand proteins responsible for tight STEC O157 adherence to intestinal epithelial cells. They represent logical genomic targets to investigate the role of sequence variation in STEC O157 pathogenesis and molecular epidemiology. The purposes of this study were (1) to identify <it>tir </it>and <it>eae </it>polymorphisms in diverse STEC O157 isolates derived from clinically ill humans and healthy cattle (the dominant zoonotic reservoir) and (2) to test any observed <it>tir </it>and <it>eae </it>polymorphisms for association with human (vs bovine) isolate source.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Five polymorphisms were identified in a 1,627-bp segment of <it>tir</it>. Alleles of two <it>tir </it>polymorphisms, <it>tir </it>255 T>A and repeat region 1-repeat unit 3 (RR1-RU3, presence or absence) had dissimilar distributions among human and bovine isolates. More than 99% of 108 human isolates possessed the <it>tir </it>255 T>A T allele and lacked RR1-RU3. In contrast, the <it>tir </it>255 T>A T allele and RR1-RU3 absence were found in 55% and 57%, respectively, of 77 bovine isolates. Both polymorphisms associated strongly with isolate source (p < 0.0001), but not by pulsed field gel electrophoresis type or by <it>stx</it>1 and <it>stx</it>2 status (as determined by PCR). Two <it>eae </it>polymorphisms were identified in a 2,755-bp segment of 44 human and bovine isolates; 42 isolates had identical <it>eae </it>sequences. The <it>eae </it>polymorphisms did not associate with isolate source.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Polymorphisms in <it>tir </it>but not <it>eae </it>predict the propensity of STEC O157 isolates to cause human clinical disease. The over-representation of the <it>tir </it>255 T>A T allele in human-derived isolates vs the <it>tir </it>255 T>A A allele suggests that these isolates have a higher propensity to cause disease. The high frequency of bovine isolates with the A allele suggests a possible bovine ecological niche for this STEC O157 subset.</p

The Future of the Correlated Electron Problem

The understanding of material systems with strong electron-electron interactions is the central problem in modern condensed matter physics. Despite this, the essential physics of many of these materials is still not understood and we have no overall perspective on their properties. Moreover, we have very little ability to make predictions in this class of systems. In this manuscript we share our personal views of what the major open problems are in correlated electron systems and we discuss some possible routes to make progress in this rich and fascinating field. This manuscript is the result of the vigorous discussions and deliberations that took place at Johns Hopkins University during a three-day workshop January 27, 28, and 29, 2020 that brought together six senior scientists and 46 more junior scientists. Our hope, is that the topics we have presented will provide inspiration for others working in this field and motivation for the idea that significant progress can be made on very hard problems if we focus our collective energies.Comment: 55 pages, 19 figure