New taxonomic records and regional trends for the Marquesan prehistoric marine fishery, Eiao Island, Polynesia

Eiao Island (39.2 km2, 577 m elevation), situated at the northern extent of the Marquesas Archipelago, features rocky and steep coastlines with few sheltered embayments that allow easy access to the sea and marine resources. We report the first evidence of prehistoric fishing practices from Eiao Island based on three inland sites (possibly dating from the 14th to 17th centuries), and explore variation in fish exploitation (NISP = 1021; MNI = 157). All previous archaeological fishing records from the archipelago are from coastal sites, with inland Eiao Island assemblages offering comparative data on site location and taxonomic composition. The Eiao Island fish bone assemblages are dominated by piscivorous taxa, specifically grouper (Serranidae). Few tuna, mackerel and bonito (Scombridae) remains were recovered from the Eiao Island assemblages, compared to reports from Ua Pou, Tahuata and Ua Huka. New family-level taxonomic records added for the archipelago include: bonefish (Albulidae), requiem sharks (Carcharhinidae), butterflyfish (Chaetodontidae), flagtail (Kuhliidae), damselfish (Pomacentridae) and rabbitfish (Siganidae). These results further contribute to our understanding of prehistoric Marquesan fishing practices and allow elucidation of subsistence in coastal vs. inland settings, variability in taxonomic composition between islands of the archipelago, and importantly inform on human-environment interactions in East Polynesia

La formation professionnelle agricole Tendances et perspectives

Cet article résulte d'un entretien avec deux responsables de l'enseignement technique agricole associés à la recherche pédagogique. Il fait le point sur les tendances et les perspectives de cet enseignement, après dix années de rénovation pédagogique, et face au nouveau défi que représente l'évolution du secteur professionnel agricole, dans le contexte de la nouvelle politique agricole européenne. Les auteurs rappellent les acquis de cette rénovation, en particulier la pluridisciplinarité et la pédagogie de l'action, et précisent les particularités de l'enseignement technique agricole, principalement dans les supports pédagogiques utilisés. Ils soulignent l'importance des recherches en didactique dans le nouveau contexte de cet enseignement

A female signal reflects MHC genotype in a social primate.

BACKGROUND: Males from many species are believed to advertise their genetic quality through striking ornaments that attract mates. Yet the connections between signal expression, body condition and the genes associated with individual quality are rarely elucidated. This is particularly problematic for the signals of females in species with conventional sex roles, whose evolutionary significance has received little attention and is poorly understood. Here we explore these questions in the sexual swellings of female primates, which are among the most conspicuous of mammalian sexual signals and highly variable in size, shape and colour. We investigated the relationships between two components of sexual swellings (size and shape), body condition, and genes of the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) in a wild baboon population (Papio ursinus) where males prefer large swellings. RESULTS: Although there was no effect of MHC diversity on the sexual swelling components, one specific MHC supertype (S1) was associated with poor body condition together with swellings of small size and a particular shape. The variation in swelling characteristics linked with the possession of supertype S1 appeared to be partially mediated by body condition and remained detectable when taking into account the possession of other supertypes. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest a pathway from immunity genes to sexual signals via physical condition for the first time in females. They further indicate that mechanisms of sexual selection traditionally assigned to males can also operate in females.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

Frequency of infant stroking reported by mothers moderates the effect of prenatal depression on infant behavioural and physiological outcomes

Animal studies find that prenatal stress is associated with increased physiological and emotional reactivity later in life, mediated via fetal programming of the HPA axis through decreased glucocorticoid receptor (GR) gene expression. Post-natal behaviours, notably licking and grooming in rats, cause decreased behavioural indices of fear and reduced HPA axis reactivity mediated via increased GR gene expression. Post-natal maternal behaviours may therefore be expected to modify prenatal effects, but this has not previously been examined in humans. We examined whether, according to self-report, maternal stroking over the first weeks of life modified associations between prenatal depression and physiological and behavioral outcomes in infancy, hence mimicking effects of rodent licking and grooming. From a general population sample of 1233 first time mothers recruited at 20 weeks gestation we drew a stratified random sample of 316 for assessment at 32 weeks based on reported inter-partner psychological abuse, a risk to child development. Of these 271 provided data at 5, 9 and 29 weeks post delivery. Mothers reported how often they stroked their babies at 5 and 9 weeks. At 29 weeks vagal withdrawal to a stressor, a measure of physiological adaptability, and maternal reported negative emotionality were assessed. There was a significant interaction between prenatal depression and maternal stroking in the prediction of vagal reactivity to a stressor (p = .01), and maternal reports of infant anger proneness (p = .007) and fear (p = .043). Increasing maternal depression was associated with decreasing physiological adaptability, and with increasing negative emotionality, only in the presence of low maternal stroking. These initial findings in humans indicate that maternal stroking in infancy, as reported by mothers, has effects strongly resembling the effects of observed maternal behaviours in animals, pointing to future studies of the epigenetic, physiological and behavioral effects of maternal stroking

Integrating findings of traditional medicine with modern pharmaceutical research: the potential role of linked open data

One of the biggest obstacles to progress in modern pharmaceutical research is the difficulty of integrating all available research findings into effective therapies for humans. Studies of traditionally used pharmacologically active plants and other substances in traditional medicines may be valuable sources of previously unknown compounds with therapeutic actions. However, the integration of findings from traditional medicines can be fraught with difficulties and misunderstandings. This article proposes an approach to use linked open data and Semantic Web technologies to address the heterogeneous data integration problem. The approach is based on our initial experiences with implementing an integrated web of data for a selected use-case, i.e., the identification of plant species used in Chinese medicine that indicate potential antidepressant activities

Towards an interoperable information infrastructure providing decision support for genomic medicine

Genetic dispositions play a major role in individual disease risk and treatment response. Genomic medicine, in which medical decisions are refined by genetic information of particular patients, is becoming increasingly important. Here we describe our work and future visions around the creation of a distributed infrastructure for pharmacogenetic data and medical decision support, based on industry standards such as the Web Ontology Language (OWL) and the Arden Syntax

Chemogenetic Inhibition of Corticotropin-Releasing Factor Neurons in the Central Amygdala Alters Binge-Like Ethanol Consumption in Male Mice

Repetitive bouts of binge drinking can lead to neuroplastic events that alter ethanol's pharmacologic effects and perpetuate excessive consumption. The corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) system is an example of ethanol-induced neuroadaptations that drive excessive ethanol consumption. Our laboratory has previously shown that CRF antagonist, when infused into the central amygdala (CeA), reduces binge-like ethanol consumption. The present study extends this research by assessing the effects of silencing CRF-producing neurons in CeA on binge-like ethanol drinking stemming from "Drinking in the Dark" (DID) procedures. CRF-ires-Cre mice underwent surgery to infuse Gi/o-coupled Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADD) virus or a control virus into either the CeA or basolateral amygdala (BLA). Gi/o-DREADD-induced CRF-neuronal inhibition in the CeA resulted in a 33% decrease in binge-like ethanol consumption. However, no effect on ethanol consumption was seen after DREADD manipulation in the BLA. Moreover, CeA CRF-neuronal inhibition had no effect on sucrose consumption. The effects of silencing CRF neurons in the CeA on ethanol consumption are not secondary to changes in motor function or anxiety-like behaviors as assessed in the open-field test (OFT). Finally, the DREADD construct's functional ability to inhibit CRF-neuronal activity was demonstrated by reduced ethanol-induced c-Fos following DREADD activation. Together, these data suggest that the CRF neurons in the CeA play an important role in binge ethanol consumption and that inhibition of the CRF-signaling pathway remains a viable target for manipulating binge-like ethanol consumption