Frequency and consequences of individual dietary specialisation in a wide-ranging marine predator, the northern gannet

Individual specialisations in animals are important contributors to a wide range of ecological and evolutionary processes, and have been particularly documented in relation to multiple aspects of foraging behaviours. Central-place foragers, such as seabirds, frequently exhibit pronounced specialisations and individual differences in a variety of foraging traits. In particular, the availability of fisheries discards alongside natural prey resources provides additional potential for differentiation and specialisation for opportunistically scavenging seabird species. However, the consequences of such specialisations for at-sea distributions and intraspecific interactions are not well known. Here, we investigated the links between the degree of dietary specialisation on natural or discarded prey and the foraging movements and spatial occupancy of northern gannets Morus bassanus in relation to differing intraspecific competition at 6 colonies of differing sizes. We found that, at most colonies, individuals with different dietary strategies concentrated foraging at differing levels of intraspecific competition. In addition, individuals pursuing different strategies were frequently, but not consistently, spatially separated, distinctions that were most acutely seen in females. However, this variation in individual strategy had no significant impact on current body condition. These analyses demonstrate how foraging-associated metrics need not covary within an unconstrained system. They also reveal that specialisation can have important consequences for the competitive regimes individuals experience, highlighting the complexity of examining interacting consequences at large spatial scales

Sustainable Urban Systems: Co-design and Framing for Transformation

Rapid urbanisation generates risks and opportunities for sustainable development. Urban policy and decision makers are challenged by the complexity of cities as social–ecological–technical systems. Consequently there is an increasing need for collaborative knowledge development that supports a whole-of-system view, and transformational change at multiple scales. Such holistic urban approaches are rare in practice. A co-design process involving researchers, practitioners and other stakeholders, has progressed such an approach in the Australian context, aiming to also contribute to international knowledge development and sharing. This process has generated three outputs: (1) a shared framework to support more systematic knowledge development and use, (2) identification of barriers that create a gap between stated urban goals and actual practice, and (3) identification of strategic focal areas to address this gap. Developing integrated strategies at broader urban scales is seen as the most pressing need. The knowledge framework adopts a systems perspective that incorporates the many urban trade-offs and synergies revealed by a systems view. Broader implications are drawn for policy and decision makers, for researchers and for a shared forward agenda

How Abnormal Is the Behaviour of Captive, Zoo-Living Chimpanzees?

Background. Many captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) show a variety of serious behavioural abnormalities, some of which have been considered as possible signs of compromised mental health. The provision of environmental enrichments aimed at reducing the performance of abnormal behaviours is increasing the norm, with the housing of individuals in (semi-)natural social groups thought to be the most successful of these. Only a few quantitative studies of abnormal behaviour have been conducted, however, particularly for the captive population held in zoological collections. Consequently, a clear picture of the level of abnormal behaviour in zoo-living chimpanzees is lacking. Methods. We present preliminary findings from a detailed observational study of the behaviour of 40 socially-housed zoo-living chimpanzees from six collections in the United States of America and the United Kingdom. We determined the prevalence, diversity, frequency, and duration of abnormal behaviour from 1200 hours of continuous behavioural data collected by focal animal sampling. Results, conclusion, and significance. Our overall finding was that abnormal behaviour was present in all sampled individuals across six independent groups of zoo-living chimpanzees, despite the differences between these groups in size, composition, housing, etc. We found substantial variation between individuals in the frequency and duration of abnormal behaviour, but all individuals engaged in at least some abnormal behaviour and variation across individuals could not be explained by sex, age, rearing history or background (defined as prior housing conditions). Our data support a conclusion that, while most behaviour of zoo-living chimpanzees is ‘normal’ in that it is typical of their wild counterparts, abnormal behaviour is endemic in this population despite enrichment efforts. We suggest there is an urgent need to understand how the chimpanzee mind copes with captivity, an issue with both scientific and welfare implications

Older and wiser? First year BDS graduate entry students and their views on using social media and professional practice

Introduction The use of social media sites (SMS) has increased exponentially since their creation and introduction in the early 2000s. The number of regular users of SMS is estimated at over two billion people worldwide. Ethical and legal guidelines exert an additional responsibility on the behaviour of both graduate and undergraduate dentists when compared to members of the general public with some assumption that life experience can offer some insight into attitudes about online use of social media in relation to professional practice. Aim We set out to explore the views of the first year graduate entry programme students at the University of Central Lancashire and their use of SMS together with their opinions on what they consider to be professional online behaviour. Methods A mixed-methods approach was adopted with a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews which were designed to elicit the students' opinions. Results For this group of students, 100% were using social media sites and some were aware of some of their limitations and possible impact on their careers. There was some rather superficial knowledge of what is and is not professional to post via social media, however, students were not fully aware about the legal and ethical guidelines in place in relation to the topic. Conclusion Results from this study present an opportunity and a challenge for educators to incorporate additional details not only about professionalism and ethical and legal aspects within the undergraduate curriculum but more specific emphasis on the use of social media as part of the undergraduate BDS course

Essential versus accessory aspects of cell death: recommendations of the NCCD 2015

Cells exposed to extreme physicochemical or mechanical stimuli die in an uncontrollable manner, as a result of their immediate structural breakdown. Such an unavoidable variant of cellular demise is generally referred to as ‘accidental cell death’ (ACD). In most settings, however, cell death is initiated by a genetically encoded apparatus, correlating with the fact that its course can be altered by pharmacologic or genetic interventions. ‘Regulated cell death’ (RCD) can occur as part of physiologic programs or can be activated once adaptive responses to perturbations of the extracellular or intracellular microenvironment fail. The biochemical phenomena that accompany RCD may be harnessed to classify it into a few subtypes, which often (but not always) exhibit stereotyped morphologic features. Nonetheless, efficiently inhibiting the processes that are commonly thought to cause RCD, such as the activation of executioner caspases in the course of apoptosis, does not exert true cytoprotective effects in the mammalian system, but simply alters the kinetics of cellular demise as it shifts its morphologic and biochemical correlates. Conversely, bona fide cytoprotection can be achieved by inhibiting the transduction of lethal signals in the early phases of the process, when adaptive responses are still operational. Thus, the mechanisms that truly execute RCD may be less understood, less inhibitable and perhaps more homogeneous than previously thought. Here, the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death formulates a set of recommendations to help scientists and researchers to discriminate between essential and accessory aspects of cell death

Adrenergic Alpha-1 Pathway Is Associated with Hypertension among Nigerians in a Pathway-focused Analysis

The pathway-focused association approach offers a hypothesis driven alternative to the agnostic genome-wide association study. Here we apply the pathway-focused approach to an association study of hypertension, systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) in 1614 Nigerians with genome-wide data.Testing of 28 pathways with biological relevance to hypertension, selected a priori, containing a total of 101 unique genes and 4,349 unique single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) showed an association for the adrenergic alpha 1 (ADRA1) receptor pathway with hypertension (p<0.0009) and diastolic blood pressure (p<0.0007). Within the ADRA1 pathway, the genes PNMT (hypertension P(gene)<0.004, DBP P(gene)<0.004, and SBP P(gene)<0.009, and ADRA1B (hypertension P(gene)<0.005, DBP P(gene)<0.02, and SBP P(gene)<0.02) displayed the strongest associations. Neither ADRA1B nor PNMT could be the sole mediator of the observed pathway association as the ADRA1 pathway remained significant after removing ADRA1B, and other pathways involving PNMT did not reach pathway significance.We conclude that multiple variants in several genes in the ADRA1 pathway led to associations with hypertension and DBP. SNPs in ADRA1B and PNMT have not previously been linked to hypertension in a genome-wide association study, but both genes have shown associations with hypertension through linkage or model organism studies. The identification of moderately significant (10(-2)>p>10(-5)) SNPs offers a novel method for detecting the "missing heritability" of hypertension. These findings warrant further studies in similar and other populations to assess the generalizability of our results, and illustrate the potential of the pathway-focused approach to investigate genetic variation in hypertension

Presence of RD149 Deletions in M. tuberculosis Central Asian Strain1 Isolates Affect Growth and TNFα Induction in THP-1 Monocytes

Central Asian Strain 1 (CAS1) is the prevalent Mycobacterium tuberculosis genogroup in South Asia. CAS1 strains carry deletions in RD149 and RD152 regions. Significance of these deletions is as yet unknown. We compared CAS1 strains with RD149 and concurrent RD149-RD152 deletions with CAS1 strains without deletions and with the laboratory reference strain, M. tuberculosis H37Rv for growth and for induction of TNFα, IL6, CCL2 and IL10 in THP-1 cells. Growth of CAS1 strains with deletions was slower in broth (RD149; p = 0.024 and RD149-RD152; p = 0.025) than that of strains without deletions. CAS1 strains with RD149 deletion strains further showed reduced intracellular growth (p = 0.013) in THP-1 cells as compared with strains without deletions, and also as compared with H37Rv (p = 0.007) and with CAS1 RD149-RD152 deletion strains (p = 0.029). All CAS1 strains induced higher levels of TNFα and IL10 secretion in THP-1 cells than H37Rv. Additionally, CAS1 strains with RD149 deletions induced more TNFα secretion than those without deletions (p = 0.013). CAS1 RD149 deletion strains from extrapulmonary sources showed more rapid growth and induced lower levels of TNFα and IL6 secretion in THP-1 cells than isolates from pulmonary sources. This data suggests that presence of RD149 reduces growth and increases the induction of TNFα in host cells by CAS1 strains. Differences observed for extrapulmonary strains may indicate an adaptation which increases potential for dissemination and tropism outside the lung. Overall, we hypothesise that RD149 deletions generate genetic diversity within strains and impact interactions of CAS1 strains with host cells with important clinical consequences