Eumelanin-based coloration and fitness parameters in birds: a meta-analysis

Although melanin is the most common pigment in animal integuments, the adaptive function of variation in melanin-based coloration remains poorly understood. The individual fitness returns associated with melanin pigments can be variable across species as these pigments can have physical and biological protective properties and genes involved in melanogenesis may vary in the intensity of pleiotropic effects. Moreover, dark and pale coloration can also enhance camouflage in alternative habitats and melanin-based coloration can be involved in social interactions. We investigated whether darker or paler individuals achieve a higher fitness in birds, a taxon wherein associations between melanin-based coloration and fitness parameters have been studied in a large number of species. A meta-analysis showed that the degree of melanin-based coloration was not significantly associated with laying date, clutch size, brood size, and survival across 26 species. Similar results were found when restricting the analyses to non-sexually dimorphic birds, colour polymorphic and monomorphic species, in passerines and non-passerines and in species for which inter-individual variation in melanism is due to colour intensity. However, eumelanic coloration was positively associated with clutch and brood size in sexually dimorphic species and those that vary in the size of black patches, respectively. Given that greater extent of melanin-based coloration was positively associated with reproductive parameters and survival in some species but negatively in other species, we conclude that in birds the sign and magnitude of selection exerted on melanin-based coloration is species- or trait-specific

Isolation and characterization of 21 microsatellite markers in the barn owl (Tyto alba).

We report 21 new polymorphic microsatellite markers in the European barn owl (Tyto alba). The polymorphism of the reported markers was evaluated in a population situated in western Switzerland and in another from Tenerife, Canary Islands. The number of alleles per locus varies between two and 31, and expected heterozygosity per population ranges from 0.16 to 0.95. All loci are in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and no linkage disequilibrium was detected. Two loci exhibit a null allele in the Tenerife population

Effects of dietary supplementation with krill meal on serum pro-inflammatory markers after the iditarod sled dog race

A seafood-based supplement from krill, rich in omega-3 phospholipids and proteins was tested on a group of dogs competing in the 2016 Iditarod dog sled race to investigate the effects of krill meal on exercise-induced inflammation and muscle damage in comparison to a control group. A single team of 16 dogs received 8% krill meal for 5 weeks prior to the start of race, while another team of 16 dogs received no supplementation. Ten dogs of the treatment and 11 dogs of the control group finished the race and their blood was analyzed for omega-3 index, inflammation (CRP) and muscle damage (CK). The omega-3 index of the krill meal-fed dogs was significantly higher at the beginning of the race (mean 6.2% in the supplemented vs 5.2% in the control group, p < .001). CRP concentrations increased from 7.05 ± 2.27 to 37.04 ± 9.16 μg/ml in the control and from 4.26 ± 0.69 to 16.56 ± 3.03 μg/ml in the treatment group, with a significant difference between the groups (p < .001). CK activity was increased from 90.75 ± 8.15 IU/l to 715.90 ± 218.9 IU/l in the control group and from 99.55 ± 12.15 to 515.69 ± 98.98 in the supplemented group, but there were no differences between groups (p = .266). The results showed that krill meal supplementation led to significantly higher omega-3 index, which correlated with lower inflammation and a tendency for reduced muscle damage after this long-distance sled dog competition. However, these results need to be confirmed by more controlled studies, since it was a field study and effects of race speed or other performance-related factors such as fitness and musher skill on the results cannot be excluded

Self-Calibration of Cameras with Euclidean Image Plane in Case of Two Views and Known Relative Rotation Angle

The internal calibration of a pinhole camera is given by five parameters that are combined into an upper-triangular $3\times 3$ calibration matrix. If the skew parameter is zero and the aspect ratio is equal to one, then the camera is said to have Euclidean image plane. In this paper, we propose a non-iterative self-calibration algorithm for a camera with Euclidean image plane in case the remaining three internal parameters --- the focal length and the principal point coordinates --- are fixed but unknown. The algorithm requires a set of $N \geq 7$ point correspondences in two views and also the measured relative rotation angle between the views. We show that the problem generically has six solutions (including complex ones). The algorithm has been implemented and tested both on synthetic data and on publicly available real dataset. The experiments demonstrate that the method is correct, numerically stable and robust.Comment: 13 pages, 7 eps-figure

ECMELLA as a bridge to heart transplantation in refractory ventricular fibrillation: A case report.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is an effective cardiorespiratory support technique in refractory cardiac arrest (CA). In patients under veno-arterial ECMO, the use of an Impella device, a microaxial pump inserted percutaneously, is a valuable strategy through a left ventricular unloading approach. ECMELLA, a combination of ECMO with Impella, seems to be a promising method to support end-organ perfusion while unloading the left ventricle. The present case report describes the clinical course of a patient with ischemic and dilated cardiomyopathy who presented with refractory ventricular fibrillation (VF) leading to CA in the late postmyocardial infarction (MI) period, and who was successfully treated with ECMO and IMPELLA as a bridge to heart transplantation. In the case of CA on VF refractory to conventional resuscitation maneuvers, early extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) associated with an Impella seems to be the best strategy. It provides organ perfusion, left ventricular unloading, and ability for neurological evaluation and VF catheter ablation before allowing heart transplantation. It is the treatment of choice in cases of end-stage ischaemic cardiomyopathy and recurrent malignant arrhythmias

Mycobacterium tuberculosis genetic diversity and drug resistance conferring mutations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Background: The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) belongs to the 22 tuberculosis (TB) high-burden countries and to the 27 high-burden multidrug-resistant (MDR)-TB countries. To date, there are no data on the genetic diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the DRC.Objective: To describe the genetic diversity and the distribution of drug resistance conferring mutations of clinical M. tuberculosis isolates from the DRC.Design: We analysed consecutive M. tuberculosis single patient isolates cultured in 2010 at the laboratory of the National TB Control Programme in Kinshasa.Setting: National TB Control Programme in Kinshasa, DRC.Results: Isolates from 50 patients with pulmonary TB were analysed, including 45 patients (90%) who failed treatment. All isolates belonged to the Euro-American lineage (main phylogenetic Lineage 4). Six different spoligotype families were observed within this lineage, including LAM (20 patients, 40%), T (15 patients; 30%), U (4 patients; 8%), S (3 patients; 6%), Haarlem (2 patients; 4%), and X (1 patient; 2%). No M. africanum strains were observed. The most frequently detected drug  resistance-conferring mutations were rpoB S531L and katG S315T1. Various other mutations, including previously unreported mutations, were detected.Conclusions: The Euro-American lineage dominates in the DRC, with substantial variation in spoligotype families. This study fills an important gap on the molecular map of M. tuberculosis in sub-Saharan Africa

The genetic basis of color-related local adaptation in a ring-like colonization around the Mediterranean.

Uncovering the genetic basis of phenotypic variation and the population history under which it established is key to understand the trajectories along which local adaptation evolves. Here, we investigated the genetic basis and evolutionary history of a clinal plumage color polymorphism in European barn owls (Tyto alba). Our results suggest that barn owls colonized the Western Palearctic in a ring-like manner around the Mediterranean and meet in secondary contact in Greece. Rufous coloration appears to be linked to a recently evolved nonsynonymous-derived variant of the melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) gene, which according to quantitative genetic analyses evolved under local adaptation during or following the colonization of Central Europe. Admixture patterns and linkage disequilibrium between the neutral genetic background and color found exclusively within the secondary contact zone suggest limited introgression at secondary contact. These results from a system reminiscent of ring species provide a striking example of how local adaptation can evolve from derived genetic variation

Company Law and Autonomous Systems: A Blueprint for Lawyers, Entrepreneurs, and Regulators

In discussions of the regulation of autonomous systems, private law — specifically, company law — has been neglected as a potential legal and regulatory interface. As one of us has suggested previously,1 there are several possibilities for the creation of company structures that might provide functional and adaptive legal “housing” for advanced software, various types of artificial intelligence, and other programmatic systems and organizations — phenomena that we refer to here collectively as autonomous systems, for ease of reference. In particular, this prior work introduces the notion that an operating agreement or private entity constitution (such as a corporation’s charter or a partnership’s operating agreement) can adopt, as the acts of a legal entity, the state or actions of arbitrary physical systems. We call this the algorithm-agreement equivalence principle. Given this principle and the present capacities existing forms of legal entities, companies of various kinds can serve as a mechanism through which autonomous systems might engage with the legal system. This paper considers the implications of this possibility from a comparative and international perspective. Our goal is to suggest how, under U.S., German, Swiss and U.K. law, company law might furnish the functional and adaptive legal “housing” for an autonomous system — and, in turn, we aim to inform systems designers, regulators, and others who are interested in, encouraged by, or alarmed at the possibility that an autonomous system may “inhabit” a company and thereby gain some of the incidents of legal personality. We do not aim here to be normative. Instead, the paper lays out a template suggesting how existing laws might provide a potentially unexpected regulatory framework for autonomous systems, and to explore some legal consequences of this possibility. We do suggest that these considerations might spur others to consider the relevant provisions of their own national laws with a view to locating similar legal “spaces” that autonomous systems could “inhabit.

Genomic and dietary transitions during the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic in Sicily

Southern Italy is a key region for understanding the agricultural transition in the Mediterranean due to its central position. We present a genomic transect for 19 prehistoric Sicilians that covers the Early Mesolithic to Early Neolithic period. We find that the Early Mesolithic hunter-gatherers (HGs) are a highly drifted sister lineage to Early Holocene western European HGs, whereas a quarter of the Late Mesolithic HGs ancestry is related to HGs from eastern Europe and the Near East. This indicates substantial gene flow from (south-)eastern Europe between the Early and Late Mesolithic. The Early Neolithic farmers are genetically most similar to those from the Balkan and Greece, and carry only a maximum of ~7% ancestry from Sicilian Mesolithic HGs. Ancestry changes match changes in dietary profile and material culture, except for two individuals who may provide tentative initial evidence that HGs adopted elements of farming in Sicily

Deliberating stratospheric aerosols for climate geoengineering and the SPICE project

Increasing concerns about the narrowing window for averting dangerous climate change have prompted calls for research into geoengineering, alongside dialogue with the public regarding this as a possible response. We report results of the first public engagement study to explore the ethics and acceptability of stratospheric aerosol technology and a proposed field trial (the Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering (SPICE) ‘pipe and balloon’ test bed) of components for an aerosol deployment mechanism. Although almost all of our participants were willing to allow the field trial to proceed, very few were comfortable with using stratospheric aerosols. This Perspective also discusses how these findings were used in a responsible innovation process for the SPICE project initiated by the UK’s research councils