At the brink of eusociality: transcriptomic correlates of worker behaviour in a small carpenter bee

Background: There is great interest in understanding the genomic underpinnings of social evolution, in particular, the evolution of eusociality (caste-containing societies with non-reproductives that care for siblings). Subsociality is a key precursor for the evolution of eusociality and characterized by prolonged parental care and parent-offspring interaction. Here, we provide the first transcriptomic data for the small carpenter bee, Ceratina calcarata. This species is of special interest because it is subsocial and in the same family as the highly eusocial honey bee, Apis mellifera. In addition, some C. calcarata females demonstrate alloparental care without reproduction, which provides a unique opportunity to study worker behaviour in a non-eusocial species. Results: We uncovered similar gene expression patterns related to maternal care and sibling care in different groups of females. This agrees with the maternal heterochrony hypothesis, specifically, that changes in timing of offspring care gene expression are related to worker behaviour in incipient insect societies. In addition, we also detected some similarity to caste-related gene expression patterns in highly eusocial honey bees, and uncovered large lifetime changes in gene expression that accompany shifts in reproductive and maternal care behaviour. Conclusions: For Ceratina calcarata, we found that transcript expression profiles were most similar between sibling care and maternal care females. The maternal care behaviour exhibited post-reproductively by Ceratina mothers is concordant in terms of transcript expression with the alloparental care exhibited by workers. In line with theoretical predictions, our data are consistent with the maternal heterochrony hypothesis for the evolutionary development of worker behaviour in subsocial bees

Patterns of post endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) complications- experience from an university hospital

In the treatment of common bile duct stones and palliative decompression of malignant strictures, endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is the gold standard. However, there are still concerns about procedure-related complications and patient discom- fort. To evaluate the pattern of the post ERCP complications. This prospective observational study was conducted at the Department of Gastroenterology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Dhaka from February 2017 to October 2017. A total of one hundred patients who were eligible for ERCP were included in this study but five patients were excluded due to cannulation failure. Clinical examination , biochemical, and radiological investigation were performed before and after ERCP to assess the complication that occurred. The majority of patients in this study were under the age of 50, with a mean age of 49.74 }14.07 years between the ages of 18 and 80 years. Males (54.7%) were predominant than female (45.3%) and male to female ratio was 1.21:1. The most common diagnosis was choledocholithiasis (58.9%) followed by proximal cholangiocarcinoma (13.7%), Carcinoma-gallbladder with biliary infiltration (8.4%), Distal cholangiocarcinoma (6.3%), Chronic calcific pancreatitis and Periampullary carcinoma each (3.2%), Suspected SOD & Chronic pancreatitis each (2.1%) and Worm in CBD and benign biliary stricture each (1.1%). In this study, the overall post-ERCP complication rate was 12.6% with pancreatitis accounting for 9.4%, bleeding accounting for 2.1%, and cholangitis accounting for 2.1%. From the study data it can be concluded that pancreatitis is the most frequent Post-ERCP complication. BSMMU J 2022; 15(1): 50-5

Experiences, attitudes and barriers towards research amongst junior faculty of Pakistani medical universities

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The developing world has had limited quality research and in Pakistan, research is still in its infancy. We conducted a study to assess the proportion of junior faculty involved in research to highlight their attitude towards research, and identify the factors associated with their research involvement.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional study was conducted in four medical universities/teaching hospitals in Pakistan, representing private and public sectors. A pre-tested, self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information from 176 junior faculty members of studied universities/hospitals. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors related to attitudes and barriers in research among those currently involved in research with those who were not.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Overall, 41.5% of study subjects were currently involved in research. A highly significant factor associated with current research involvement was research training during the post-graduate period (p < 0.001). Other factors associated with current involvement in research were male gender, working in the public sector and previous involvement in research. Overall, a large majority (85.2%) of doctors considered research helpful in their profession and had a positive attitude towards research; nevertheless this positive attitude was more frequently reported by doctors who were currently involved in research compared to those who were not (OR = 4.69; 95% CI = 1.54-14.26). Similarly, a large proportion (83.5%) of doctors considered research difficult to conduct; higher by doctors who were not presently involved in research (OR = 2.74; 95% CI = 1.20-6.22)</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Less than half of the study participants were currently involved in research. Research output may improve if identified barriers are rectified. Further studies are recommended in this area.</p

Altruism in a volatile world

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Springer Nature via the DOI in this record.The evolution of altruism – costly self-sacrifice in the service of others – has puzzled biologists since The Origin of Species. For half a century, attempts to understand altruism have been built on the insight that altruists may help relatives to have extra offspring in order to spread shared genes . This theory – known as inclusive fitness – is founded on a simple inequality termed ‘Hamilton’s rule’. However, explanations of altruism have typically ignored the stochasticity of natural environments, which will not necessarily favour genotypes that produce the greatest average reproductive success. Moreover, empirical data across many taxa reveal associations between altruism and environmental stochasticity, a pattern not predicted by standard interpretations of Hamilton’s rule. Here, we derive Hamilton’s rule with explicit stochasticity, leading to novel predictions about the evolution of altruism. We show that of offspring produced by relatives. Consequently, costly altruism can evolve even if it has a net negative effect on the average reproductive success of related recipients. The selective pressure on volatility suppressing altruism is proportional to the coefficient of variation in population fitness, and is therefore diminished by its own success. Our results formalise the hitherto elusive link between bet-hedging and altruism, and reveal missing fitness effects in the evolution of animal societies.PK was supported by the National Geographic Society (GEF-NE 145-15) and a University of Bristol Research Studentship; ADH was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (NE/L011921/1); ANR was supported by a European Research Council Consolidator Grant (award no. 682253); and SS was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (NE/M012913/2)

First evidence for a massive extinction event affecting bees close to the K-T boundary

Bees and eudicot plants both arose in the mid-late Cretaceous, and their co-evolutionary relationships have often been assumed as an important element in the rise of flowering plants. Given the near-complete dependence of bees on eudicots we would expect that major extinction events affecting the latter would have also impacted bees. However, given the very patchy distribution of bees in the fossil record, identifying any such extinctions using fossils is very problematic. Here we use molecular phylogenetic analyses to show that one bee group, the Xylocopinae, originated in the mid-Cretaceous, coinciding with the early radiation of the eudicots. Lineage through time analyses for this bee subfamily show very early diversification, followed by a long period of seemingly no radiation and then followed by rapid diversification in each of the four constituent tribes. These patterns are consistent with both a long-fuse model of radiation and a massive extinction event close to the K-T boundary. We argue that massive extinction is much more plausible than a long fuse, given the historical biogeography of these bees and the diversity of ecological niches that they occupy. Our results suggest that events near the K-T boundary would have disrupted many plant-bee relationships, with major consequences for the subsequent evolution of eudicots and their pollinators.Sandra M. Rehan, Remko Leys, Michael P. Schwar

The Antiquity and Evolutionary History of Social Behavior in Bees

A long-standing controversy in bee social evolution concerns whether highly eusocial behavior has evolved once or twice within the corbiculate Apidae. Corbiculate bees include the highly eusocial honey bees and stingless bees, the primitively eusocial bumble bees, and the predominantly solitary or communal orchid bees. Here we use a model-based approach to reconstruct the evolutionary history of eusociality and date the antiquity of eusocial behavior in apid bees, using a recent molecular phylogeny of the Apidae. We conclude that eusociality evolved once in the common ancestor of the corbiculate Apidae, advanced eusociality evolved independently in the honey and stingless bees, and that eusociality was lost in the orchid bees. Fossil-calibrated divergence time estimates reveal that eusociality first evolved at least 87 Mya (78 to 95 Mya) in the corbiculates, much earlier than in other groups of bees with less complex social behavior. These results provide a robust new evolutionary framework for studies of the organization and genetic basis of social behavior in honey bees and their relatives

Environmental barriers to sociality in an obligate eusocial sweat bee

This is the final version of the article. Available from Springer Verlag via the DOI in this record.All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary materials.Understanding the ecological and environmental contexts in which eusociality can evolve is fundamental to elucidating its evolutionary origins. A sufficiently long active season is postulated to have been a key factor facilitating the transition to eusociality. Many primitively eusocial species exhibit an annual life cycle, which is thought to preclude the expression of eusociality where the active season is too short to produce successive worker and reproductive broods. However, few studies have attempted to test this idea experimentally. We investigated environmental constraints on the expression of eusociality in the obligate primitively eusocial sweat bee Lasioglossum malachurum, by transplanting nest foundresses from the south to the far north of the United Kingdom, far beyond the natural range of L. malachurum. We show that transplanted bees can exhibit eusociality, but that the short length of the season and harsher environmental conditions could preclude its successful expression. In one year, when foundresses were transplanted only after provisioning first brood (B1) offspring, workers emerged in the north and provisioned a second brood (B2) of reproductives. In another year, when foundresses were transplanted prior to B1 being provisioned, they were just as likely to initiate nesting and provisioned just as many B1 cells as foundresses in the south. However, the life cycle was delayed by approximately 7 weeks and nests suffered 100% B1 mortality. Our results suggest that short season length together with poor weather conditions represent an environmental barrier to the evolution and expression of eusociality in sweat bees.This work formed part of a studentship (1119965) awarded to PJD funded by the Natural Environment Research Council and the University of Sussex, supervised by JF

A Meta-Analysis and Genome-Wide Association Study of Platelet Count and Mean Platelet Volume in African Americans

Several genetic variants associated with platelet count and mean platelet volume (MPV) were recently reported in people of European ancestry. In this meta-analysis of 7 genome-wide association studies (GWAS) enrolling African Americans, our aim was to identify novel genetic variants associated with platelet count and MPV. For all cohorts, GWAS analysis was performed using additive models after adjusting for age, sex, and population stratification. For both platelet phenotypes, meta-analyses were conducted using inverse-variance weighted fixed-effect models. Platelet aggregation assays in whole blood were performed in the participants of the GeneSTAR cohort. Genetic variants in ten independent regions were associated with platelet count (N = 16,388) with p<5×10−8 of which 5 have not been associated with platelet count in previous GWAS. The novel genetic variants associated with platelet count were in the following regions (the most significant SNP, closest gene, and p-value): 6p22 (rs12526480, LRRC16A, p = 9.1×10−9), 7q11 (rs13236689, CD36, p = 2.8×10−9), 10q21 (rs7896518, JMJD1C, p = 2.3×10−12), 11q13 (rs477895, BAD, p = 4.9×10−8), and 20q13 (rs151361, SLMO2, p = 9.4×10−9). Three of these loci (10q21, 11q13, and 20q13) were replicated in European Americans (N = 14,909) and one (11q13) in Hispanic Americans (N = 3,462). For MPV (N = 4,531), genetic variants in 3 regions were significant at p<5×10−8, two of which were also associated with platelet count. Previously reported regions that were also significant in this study were 6p21, 6q23, 7q22, 12q24, and 19p13 for platelet count and 7q22, 17q11, and 19p13 for MPV. The most significant SNP in 1 region was also associated with ADP-induced maximal platelet aggregation in whole blood (12q24). Thus through a meta-analysis of GWAS enrolling African Americans, we have identified 5 novel regions associated with platelet count of which 3 were replicated in other ethnic groups. In addition, we also found one region associated with platelet aggregation that may play a potential role in atherothrombosis

Association between adolescent idiopathic scoliosis prevalence and age at menarche in different geographic latitudes

BACKGROUND: Age at menarche is considered a reliable prognostic factor for idiopathic scoliosis and varies in different geographic latitudes. Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis prevalence has also been reported to be different in various latitudes and demonstrates higher values in northern countries. A study on epidemiological reports from the literature was conducted to investigate a possible association between prevalence of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis and age at menarche among normal girls in various geographic latitudes. An attempt is also made to implicate a possible role of melatonin in the above association. MATERIAL-METHODS: 20 peer-reviewed published papers reporting adolescent idiopathic scoliosis prevalence and 33 peer-reviewed papers reporting age at menarche in normal girls from most geographic areas of the northern hemisphere were retrieved from the literature. The geographic latitude of each centre where a particular study was originated was documented. The statistical analysis included regression of the adolescent idiopathic scoliosis prevalence and age at menarche by latitude. RESULTS: The regression of prevalence of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis and age at menarche by latitude is statistically significant (p < 0.001) and are following a parallel declining course of their regression curves, especially in latitudes northern than 25 degrees. CONCLUSION: Late age at menarche is parallel with higher prevalence of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. Pubarche appears later in girls that live in northern latitudes and thus prolongs the period of spine vulnerability while other pre-existing or aetiological factors are contributing to the development of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. A possible role of geography in the pathogenesis of idiopathic scoliosis is discussed, as it appears that latitude which differentiates the sunlight influences melatonin secretion and modifies age at menarche, which is associated to the prevalence of idiopathic scoliosis