Blood Parasite Infection Differentially Relates to Carotenoid-Based Plumage and Bill Color in the American Goldfinch

Male and female American goldfinches (Spinus tristis) express condition-dependent carotenoid-based plumage and bill coloration. Plumage color is relatively static, as pigments incorporated into feathers during the spring molt cannot be mobilized thereafter. In contrast, bill color is dynamic, reflecting changes in condition over short time periods. Previous studies have shown that male and female ornaments, though similar in expression, are differentially related to measures of immunocompetence, suggesting that the relationship between ornamentation and parasite infection may differ between the sexes. In this study, we evaluate the relationship between condition-dependent ornamentation (plumage and bill color) and blood parasite infection in male and female American goldfinches. We captured goldfinches after completion of the pre-alternate molt and prior to the onset of nesting and assessed prevalence of Trypanosoma parasites via blood smears. Plumage color strongly predicted trypanosome infection: Birds with more colorful plumage were less likely to present infections. In contrast, we detected no relationship between infection and bill color, which in other studies has been shown to dynamically reflect current condition. Sex did not affect the relationship between infection status and either ornament. Together, these results suggest that physiological pathways linking carotenoid ornamentation and infection may vary even within a single species

Relationships Between Traits Other Than Production and Longevity in New Zealand Dairy Cows

Reduced longevity in dairy cattle is recognised world-wide to be a considerable cost to the dairy industry, especially in seasonal calving grazing production environments. The objective of the present study was to investigate the relationships among traits other than production (TOP) and true and functional longevity in purebred and crossbred New Zealand cows from commercial herds operating seasonal calving grass-based systems of milk production. This study made use of survival analysis, a technique used to allow the inclusion of incomplete (i.e., censored) longevity data in the analysis while simultaneously accounting for the skewed distribution of longevity data and the changing environmental and genetic effects over time

House price Keynesianism and the contradictions of the modern investor subject

This article conceptualises the marked downturn in UK house prices in the 2007-2009 period in relation to longer-term processes of national economic restructuring centred on a new model of homeownership. The structure of UK house prices has been impacted markedly by the Labour Government‟s efforts to ingrain a particular notion of financial literacy amid the move towards an increasingly asset-based system of welfare. New model welfare recipients and new model homeowners have thereby been co-constituted in a manner consistent with a new UK growth regime of „house price Keynesianism‟. However, the investor subjects who drive such growth are necessarily rendered uncertain as compared with the idealised image of Government policy because of their reliance on the credit-creating decisions of private financial institutions. The recent steep decline in UK house prices is explained here as an epiphenomenon of the disruptive effect on the idealised image caused by the dependence of investor subjects on pricing dynamics not of their making

Seeing-good-gene-based mate choice:From genes to behavioural preferences

1. Although vertebrates have been reported to gain higher reproductive outputs by choosing mates, few studies have been conducted on threatened species. However, species recovery should benefit if natural mate choice could improve reproductive output (i.e., pair performance related to offspring number, such as increased clutch size, numbers of fertilized egg and fledglings). We assessed the evidence for major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-based mate preference in the endangered crested ibis (Nipponia nippon), and quantified the impacts of such choice on reproductive output. 2. We tested the hypothesis that crested ibis advertise “good genes” through external traits, by testing whether nuptial plumage characteristics and body morphology mediate mate choice for underlying genetic MHC variation. 3. We found differences between males and females in preferred MHC genotypes, external traits used in mate choice, and contributions to reproductive outputs. Females preferred MHC-heterozygous males, which had darker [i.e., lower total reflectance and ultraviolet (UV) reflectance] nuptial plumage. Males preferred females lacking the DABd allele at the MHC classⅡDAB locus, which had higher average body mass. DABd-free females yielded heavier eggs and more fledglings, while MHC-heterozygous males contributed to more fertilized eggs and fledglings. Fledging rate was highest when both parents had the preferred MHC genotypes (i.e., MHC-heterozygous father and DABd-free mother). Comparisons showed that free-mating wild and seminatural pairs yielded more fertilized eggs and more fledglings, with a higher fledging rate, than captive pairs matched artificially based on pedigree. 4. Conservation programs seldom apply modern research results to population management, which could hinder recovery of threatened species. Our results show that mate choice can play an important role in improving reproductive output, with an example in which an endangered bird selects mates using UV visual capability. Despite the undoubted importance of pedigree-based matching of mates in conservation programs, we show that free-mating can be a better alternative strategy

Bilateral Remote Ischaemic Conditioning in Children (BRICC) trial:protocol for a two-centre, double-blind, randomised controlled trial in young children undergoing cardiac surgery

IntroductionMyocardial protection against ischaemic-reperfusion injury is a key determinant of heart function and outcome following cardiac surgery in children. However, with current strategies, myocardial injury occurs routinely following aortic cross-clamping, as demonstrated by the ubiquitous rise in circulating troponin. Remote ischaemic preconditioning, the application of brief, non-lethal cycles of ischaemia and reperfusion to a distant organ or tissue, is a simple, low-risk and readily available technique which may improve myocardial protection. The Bilateral Remote Ischaemic Conditioning in Children (BRICC) trial will assess whether remote ischaemic preconditioning, applied to both lower limbs immediately prior to surgery, reduces myocardial injury in cyanotic and acyanotic young children.Methods and analysisThe BRICC trial is a two-centre, double-blind, randomised controlled trial recruiting up to 120 young children (age 3 months to 3 years) undergoing primary repair of tetralogy of Fallot or surgical closure of an isolated ventricular septal defect. Participants will be randomised in a 1:1 ratio to either bilateral remote ischaemic preconditioning (3×5 min cycles) or sham immediately prior to surgery, with follow-up until discharge from hospital or 30 days, whichever is sooner. The primary outcome is reduction in area under the time-concentration curve for high-sensitivity (hs) troponin-T release in the first 24 hours after aortic cross-clamp release. Secondary outcome measures include peak hs-troponin-T, vasoactive inotrope score, arterial lactate and central venous oxygen saturations in the first 12 hours, and lengths of stay in the paediatric intensive care unit and the hospital.Ethics and disseminationThe trial was approved by the West Midlands-Solihull National Health Service Research Ethics Committee (16/WM/0309) on 5 August 2016. Findings will be disseminated to the academic community through peer-reviewed publications and presentation at national and international meetings. Parents will be informed of the results through a newsletter in conjunction with a local charity.Trial registration numberISRCTN12923441

DIALIGN-TX and multiple protein alignment using secondary structure information at GOBICS

We introduce web interfaces for two recent extensions of the multiple-alignment program DIALIGN. DIALIGN-TX combines the greedy heuristic previously used in DIALIGN with a more traditional ‘progressive’ approach for improved performance on locally and globally related sequence sets. In addition, we offer a version of DIALIGN that uses predicted protein secondary structures together with primary sequence information to construct multiple protein alignments. Both programs are available through ‘Göttingen Bioinformatics Compute Server’ (GOBICS)

In the wake of austerity: social impact bonds and the financialisation of the welfare state in Britain

This paper provides an analysis of the financialisation of the British welfare state. In a continuation of neo-liberal privatisation and labour market activation, the financialised welfare state pursues a policy of welfare retrenchment, while engaging in forms of social engineering aimed at producing self-responsibilised individuals and communities who are financially literate, ‘investment-ready’ and economically productive. New financial instruments such as social impact bonds are deployed to these ends, both to ‘solve social problems’ and enable cost saving. Through the use of such financial instruments, the implementation of regulatory infrastructures and tax incentives, the financialised welfare state becomes a vehicle for the transfer of wealth from the public to private investors, while subjecting the domain of social policy to the vicissitudes of global financial markets. This paper offers a critique of these developments, situating the case of Britain within the broader global context and with regard to the implications for understanding the current political economy of the welfare state