Morphological adaptations linked to flight efficiency and aerial lifestyle determine natal dispersal distance in birds

Natal dispersal—the movement from birthplace to breeding location—is often considered the most significant dispersal event in an animal's lifetime. Natal dispersal distances may be shaped by a variety of intrinsic and extrinsic factors, and remain poorly quantified in most groups, highlighting the need for indices that capture variation in dispersal among species. In birds, it is hypothesized that dispersal distance can be predicted by flight efficiency, which can be estimated using wing morphology. However, the use of morphological indices to predict dispersal remains contentious and the mechanistic links between flight efficiency and natal dispersal are unclear. Here, we use phylogenetic comparative models to test whether hand-wing index (HWI, a morphological proxy for wing aspect ratio) predicts natal dispersal distance across a global sample of 114 bird species. In addition, we assess whether HWI is correlated with flight usage in foraging and daily routines. We find that HWI is a strong predictor of both natal dispersal distance and a more aerial lifestyle. Our results support the use of HWI as a valid proxy for relative natal dispersal distance, and also suggest that evolutionary adaptation to aerial lifestyles is a major factor connecting flight efficiency with patterns of natal dispersal

Verified and potential pathogens of predatory mites (Acari: Phytoseiidae)

Several species of phytoseiid mites (Acari: Phytoseiidae), including species of the genera Amblyseius, Galendromus, Metaseiulus, Neoseiulus, Phytoseiulus and Typhlodromus, are currently reared for biological control of various crop pests and/or as model organisms for the study of predator¿prey interactions. Pathogen-free phytoseiid mites are important to obtain high efficacy in biological pest control and to get reliable data in mite research, as pathogens may affect the performance of their host or alter their reproduction and behaviour. Potential and verified pathogens have been reported for phytoseiid mites during the past 25 years. The present review provides an overview, including potential pathogens with unknown host effects (17 reports), endosymbiotic Wolbachia (seven reports), other bacteria (including Cardinium and Spiroplasma) (four reports), cases of unidentified diseases (three reports) and cases of verified pathogens (six reports). From the latter group four reports refer to Microsporidia, one to a fungus and one to a bacterium. Only five entities have been studied in detail, including Wolbachia infecting seven predatory mite species, other endosymbiotic bacteria infecting Metaseiulus (Galendromus, Typhlodromus) occidentalis (Nesbitt), the bacterium Acaricomes phytoseiuli infecting Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henriot, the microsporidium Microsporidium phytoseiuli infecting P. persimilis and the microsporidium Oligosproridium occidentalis infecting M. occidentalis. In four cases (Wolbachia, A. phytoseiuli, M. phytoseiuli and O. occidentalis) an infection may be connected with fitness costs of the host. Moreover, infection is not always readily visible as no obvious gross symptoms are present. Monitoring of these entities on a routine and continuous basis should therefore get more attention, especially in commercial mass-production. Special attention should be paid to field-collected mites before introduction into the laboratory or mass rearing, and to mites that are exchanged among rearing facilities. However, at present general pathogen monitoring is not yet practical as effects of many entities are unknown. More research effort is needed concerning verified and potential pathogens of commercially reared arthropods and those used as model organisms in research

Swiss residents' arguments for and against a career in medicine

BACKGROUND: In some Western countries, the medical profession is continuously losing prestige, doctors are claiming of high demands, low rewards, and difficult structural working conditions. This study aimed to investigate the arguments given by Swiss residents for and against a career in medicine. METHODS: As part of a prospective cohort study of Swiss medical school graduates on career development, 567 fourth-year residents were asked to answer the free-response item of what arguments there still were in favour of or against a career in medicine. They also indicated whether they would choose the medical profession all over again (yes/no). The statements were transcribed, content categories inductively formulated, and their descriptions written down in a code manual. Arguments were encoded according to the code manual and assigned to eight content categories (Mayring's content analysis). Frequency distributions were given for categories and tested with Chi(2)-tests for differences in gender, speciality fields, and whether or not the respondent would again choose a career in medicine. RESULTS: The 567 participants made 1,640 statements in favour of and 1,703 statements against a career in medicine. The content analysis of the residents' answers yielded eight categories with arguments both for and against a career in medicine. Of all "statements for" responses, 70% fell into the two top-ranking categories of Personal experiences in day-to-day working life (41.2%) and Interpersonal experiences in professional relationships (28.8%). The top-ranking category of the "statements against" arguments was General work-related structural conditions (32%), followed by Social prestige and health-policy aspects (21%). Main arguments in favour of a career in medicine were interdisciplinary challenge, combination of basic sciences and interpersonal concerns, helping suffering people, guarantee of a secure job; arguments against comprised high workload, time pressure, emotional stress, poorly structured continuing education, increasing bureaucracy, work-life imbalance, low income, and decreasing social prestige. The statements revealed few differences depending on gender, medical field, and attitude towards choosing the medical profession again; one out of five young doctors would not do so. CONCLUSION: Residents' chief complaint is deteriorating structural working conditions, including unfavourable work-life balance. Making medicine an attractive profession again will require sustainable changes in health-policy framework and social reward

Preferred Reporting Items for a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Diagnostic Test Accuracy Studies: The PRISMA-DTA Statement.

This is the final version of the article. Available from American Medical Association via the DOI in this record.Importance: Systematic reviews of diagnostic test accuracy synthesize data from primary diagnostic studies that have evaluated the accuracy of 1 or more index tests against a reference standard, provide estimates of test performance, allow comparisons of the accuracy of different tests, and facilitate the identification of sources of variability in test accuracy. Objective: To develop the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) diagnostic test accuracy guideline as a stand-alone extension of the PRISMA statement. Modifications to the PRISMA statement reflect the specific requirements for reporting of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of diagnostic test accuracy studies and the abstracts for these reviews. Design: Established standards from the Enhancing the Quality and Transparency of Health Research (EQUATOR) Network were followed for the development of the guideline. The original PRISMA statement was used as a framework on which to modify and add items. A group of 24 multidisciplinary experts used a systematic review of articles on existing reporting guidelines and methods, a 3-round Delphi process, a consensus meeting, pilot testing, and iterative refinement to develop the PRISMA diagnostic test accuracy guideline. The final version of the PRISMA diagnostic test accuracy guideline checklist was approved by the group. Findings: The systematic review (produced 64 items) and the Delphi process (provided feedback on 7 proposed items; 1 item was later split into 2 items) identified 71 potentially relevant items for consideration. The Delphi process reduced these to 60 items that were discussed at the consensus meeting. Following the meeting, pilot testing and iterative feedback were used to generate the 27-item PRISMA diagnostic test accuracy checklist. To reflect specific or optimal contemporary systematic review methods for diagnostic test accuracy, 8 of the 27 original PRISMA items were left unchanged, 17 were modified, 2 were added, and 2 were omitted. Conclusions and Relevance: The 27-item PRISMA diagnostic test accuracy checklist provides specific guidance for reporting of systematic reviews. The PRISMA diagnostic test accuracy guideline can facilitate the transparent reporting of reviews, and may assist in the evaluation of validity and applicability, enhance replicability of reviews, and make the results from systematic reviews of diagnostic test accuracy studies more useful.The research was supported by grant 375751 from the Canadian Institute for Health Research; funding from the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health; funding from the Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies Group; funding from the University of Ottawa Department of Radiology Research Stipend Program; and funding from the National Institute for Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care South West Peninsula

The characterisation of microsatellite markers reveals tetraploidy in the Greater Water Parsnip, Sium latifolium (Apiaceae).

BACKGROUND: The Greater Water Parsnip, Sium latifolium (Apiaceae), is a marginal aquatic perennial currently endangered in England and consequently the focus of a number of conservation translocation projects. Microsatellite markers were developed for S. latifolium to facilitate comparison of genetic diversity and composition between natural and introduced populations. RESULTS: We selected 65 S. latifolium microsatellite (MiSeq) sequences and designed primer pairs for these. Primer sets were tested in 32 individuals. We found 15 polymorphic loci that amplified consistently. For the selected 15 loci, the number of alleles per locus ranged from 8 to 17. For all loci, S. latifolium individuals displayed up to four alleles indicating polyploidy in this species. CONCLUSIONS: These are the first microsatellite loci developed for S. latifolium and each individual displayed 1-4 alleles per locus, suggesting polyploidy in this species. These markers provide a valuable resource in evaluating the population genetic composition of this endangered species and thus will be useful for guiding conservation and future translocations of the species

Error determination in the photogrammetric assessment of shoreline changes

The evaluation of error or uncertainty in shoreline change studies is an issue of prime importance for providing an adequate framework for calculated rates of change and to allow the establishment of threshold values above which the rates would be significant. In this note, a practical, easy-to-use method is presented to estimate error involved in the calculation of shoreline changes on aerial photographs, including the three most used types of shoreline indicators: high water line, dune/cliff toe and cliff top. This approach takes into account the specific characteristics of each shoreline proxy, such as relief in the case of the cliff top or tidal oscillations in the case of the high water line. At the same time it includes the error components that are independent from the proxy, basically related to the technical aspects of the process such as photo scanning and georeferencing. A practical example of application of the method is provided for several types of data inputs, based on shoreline changes around the Bay of Cádiz (SW Spain)

Variation in RNA Virus Mutation Rates across Host Cells

It is well established that RNA viruses exhibit higher rates of spontaneous mutation than DNA viruses and microorganisms. However, their mutation rates vary amply, from 10−6 to 10−4 substitutions per nucleotide per round of copying (s/n/r) and the causes of this variability remain poorly understood. In addition to differences in intrinsic fidelity or error correction capability, viral mutation rates may be dependent on host factors. Here, we assessed the effect of the cellular environment on the rate of spontaneous mutation of the vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), which has a broad host range and cell tropism. Luria-Delbrück fluctuation tests and sequencing showed that VSV mutated similarly in baby hamster kidney, murine embryonic fibroblasts, colon cancer, and neuroblastoma cells (approx. 10−5 s/n/r). Cell immortalization through p53 inactivation and oxygen levels (1–21%) did not have a significant impact on viral replication fidelity. This shows that previously published mutation rates can be considered reliable despite being based on a narrow and artificial set of laboratory conditions. Interestingly, we also found that VSV mutated approximately four times more slowly in various insect cells compared with mammalian cells. This may contribute to explaining the relatively slow evolution of VSV and other arthropod-borne viruses in nature

C2 and CFB Genes in Age-Related Maculopathy and Joint Action with CFH and LOC387715 Genes

Background: Age-related maculopathy (ARM) is a common cause of visual impairment in the elderly populations of industrialized countries and significantly affects the quality of life of those suffering from the disease. Variants within two genes, the complement factor H (CFH) and the poorly characterized LOC387715 (ARMS2), are widely recognized as ARM risk factors. CFH is important in regulation of the alternative complement pathway suggesting this pathway is involved in ARM pathogenesis. Two other complement pathway genes, the closely linked complement component receptor (C2) and complement factor B (CFB), were recently shown to harbor variants associated with ARM. Methods/Principal Findings: We investigated two SNPs in C2 and two in CFB in independent case-control and family cohorts of white subjects and found rs547154, an intronic SNP in C2, to be significantly associated with ARM in both our case-control (P-value 0.00007) and family data (P-value 0.00001). Logistic regression analysis suggested that accounting for the effect at this locus significantly (P-value 0.002) improves the fit of a genetic risk model of CFH and LOC387715 effects only. Modeling with the generalized multifactor dimensionality reduction method showed that adding C2 to the two-factor model of CFH and LOC387715 increases the sensitivity (from 63% to 73%). However, the balanced accuracy increases only from 71% to 72%, and the specificity decreases from 80% to 72%. Conclusions/Significance: C2/CFB significantly influences AMD susceptibility and although accounting for effects at this locus does not dramatically increase the overall accuracy of the genetic risk model, the improvement over the CFH-LOC387715 model is statistically significant. © 2008 Jakobsdottir et al

Absent otoacoustic emissions predict otitis media in young Aboriginal children: A birth cohort study in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children in an arid zone of Western Australia

AbstractBackground: Otitis media (OM) is the most common paediatric illness for which antibiotics areprescribed. In Australian Aboriginal children OM is frequently asymptomatic and starts at a youngerage, is more common and more likely to result in hearing loss than in non-Aboriginal children.Absent transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) may predict subsequent risk of OM.Methods: 100 Aboriginal and 180 non-Aboriginal children in a semi-arid zone of WesternAustralia were followed regularly from birth to age 2 years. Tympanometry was conducted atroutine field follow-up from age 3 months. Routine clinical examination by an ENT specialist wasto be done 3 times and hearing assessment by an audiologist twice. TEOAEs were measured at ages<1 and 1–2 months. Cox proportional hazards model was used to investigate the associationbetween absent TEOAEs and subsequent risk of OM.Results: At routine ENT specialist clinics, OM was detected in 55% of 184 examinations inAboriginal children and 26% of 392 examinations in non-Aboriginal children; peak prevalence was72% at age 5–9 months in Aboriginal children and 40% at 10–14 months in non-Aboriginal children.Moderate-severe hearing loss was present in 32% of 47 Aboriginal children and 7% of 120 non-Aboriginal children aged 12 months or more.TEOAE responses were present in 90% (46/51) of Aboriginal children and 99% (120/121) of non-Aboriginal children aged <1 month and in 62% (21/34) and 93% (108/116), respectively, inAboriginal and non-Aboriginal children at age 1–2 months. Aboriginal children who failed TEOAEat age 1–2 months were 2.6 times more likely to develop OM subsequently than those who passed.Overall prevalence of type B tympanograms at field follow-up was 50% (n = 78) in Aboriginalchildren and 20% (n = 95) in non-Aboriginal children