Long-distance dispersal via ocean currents connects Omani clownfish populations throughout entire species range.

notes: PMCID: PMC4167857types: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tOpen-access articleDispersal is a crucial ecological process, driving population dynamics and defining the structure and persistence of populations. Measuring demographic connectivity between discreet populations remains a long-standing challenge for most marine organisms because it involves tracking the movement of pelagic larvae. Recent studies demonstrate local connectivity of reef fish populations via the dispersal of planktonic larvae, while biogeography indicates some larvae must disperse 100-1000 s kilometres. To date, empirical measures of long-distance dispersal are lacking and the full scale of dispersal is unknown. Here we provide the first measure of long-distance dispersal in a coral reef fish, the Omani clownfish Amphiprion omanensis, throughout its entire species range. Using genetic assignment tests we demonstrate bidirectional exchange of first generation migrants, with subsequent social and reproductive integration, between two populations separated by over 400 km. Immigration was 5.4% and 0.7% in each region, suggesting a biased southward exchange, and matched predictions from a physically-coupled dispersal model. This rare opportunity to measure long-distance dispersal demonstrates connectivity of isolated marine populations over distances of 100 s of kilometres and provides a unique insight into the processes of biogeography, speciation and adaptation.NERCRoyal Society ExchangeEPHE Fellowshi

Assessing the Sensitivity of Different Life Stages for Sexual Disruption in Roach (Rutilus rutilus) Exposed to Effluents from Wastewater Treatment Works

Surveys of U.K. rivers have shown a high incidence of sexual disruption in populations of wild roach (Rutilus rutilus) living downstream from wastewater treatment works (WwTW), and the degree of intersex (gonads containing both male and female structural characteristics) has been correlated with the concentration of effluent in those rivers. In this study, we investigated feminized responses to two estrogenic WwTWs in roach exposed for periods during life stages of germ cell division (early life and the postspawning period). Roach were exposed as embryos from fertilization up to 300 days posthatch (dph; to include the period of gonadal sex differentiation) or as postspawning adult males, and including fish that had received previous estrogen exposure, for either 60 or 120 days when the annual event of germ cell proliferation occurs. Both effluents induced vitellogenin synthesis in both life stages studied, and the magnitude of the vitellogenic responses paralleled the effluent content of steroid estrogens. Feminization of the reproductive ducts occurred in male fish in a concentration-dependent manner when the exposure occurred during early life, but we found no effects on the reproductive ducts in adult males. Depuration studies (maintenance of fish in clean water after exposure to WwTW effluent) confirmed that the feminization of the reproductive duct was permanent. We found no evidence of ovotestis development in fish that had no previous estrogen exposure for any of the treatments. In wild adult roach that had previously received exposure to estrogen and were intersex, the degree of intersex increased during the study period, but this was not related to the immediate effluent exposure, suggesting a previously determined programming of ovotestis formation

Management of type 2 diabetes mellitus in people with severe mental illness: an online cross-sectional survey of healthcare professionals

Objectives To establish healthcare professionals’ (HCPs) views about clinical roles, and the barriers and enablers to delivery of diabetes care for people with severe mental illness (SMI). Design Cross-sectional, postal and online survey. Setting Trusts within the National Health Service (NHS), mental health and diabetes charities and professional bodies. Participants HCPs who care for people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and/or SMI in the UK. Primary and secondary outcome measures The barriers, enablers and experiences of delivering T2DM care for people with SMI, informed by the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF). Results Responders were 273 HCPs, primarily mental health nurses (33.7%) and psychiatrists (32.2%). Only 25% of respondents had received training in managing T2DM in people with SMI. Mental health professionals felt responsible for significantly fewer recommended diabetes care standards than physical health professionals (p<0.001). For those seeing diabetes care as part of their role, the significant barriers to its delivery in the regression analyses were a lack of knowledge (p=0.003); a need for training in communication and negotiation skills (p=0.04); a lack of optimism about the health of their clients (p=0.04) and their ability to manage T2DM in people with SMI (p=0.003); the threat of being disciplined (p=0.02); fear of working with people with a mental health condition (p=0.01); a lack of service user engagement(p=0.006) and a need for incentives (p=0.04). The significant enablers were an understanding of the need to tailor treatments (p=0.04) and goals (p=0.02) for people with SMI. Conclusions This survey indicates that despite current guidelines, diabetes care in mental health settings remains peripheral. Even when diabetes care is perceived as part of a HCP’s role, various individual and organisational barriers to delivering recommended T2DM care standards to people with SMI are experienced

Sustainable bioethanol production combining biorefinery principles using combined raw materials from wheat undersown with clover-grass

To obtain the best possible net energy balance of the bioethanol production the biomass raw materials used need to be produced with limited use of non-renewable fossil fuels. Intercropping strategies are known to maximize growth and productivity by including more than one species in the crop stand, very often with legumes as one of the components. In the present study clover-grass is undersown in a traditional wheat crop. Thereby, it is possible to increase input of symbiotic fixation of atmospheric nitrogen into the cropping systems and reduce the need for fertilizer applications. Furthermore, when using such wheat and clover-grass mixtures as raw material, addition of urea and other fermentation nutrients produced from fossil fuels can be reduced in the whole ethanol manufacturing chain. Using second generation ethanol technology mixtures of relative proportions of wheat straw and clover-grass (15:85, 50:50, and 85:15) were pretreated by wet oxidation. The results showed that supplementing wheat straw with clover-grass had a positive effect on the ethanol yield in simultaneous saccharification and fermentation experiments, and the effect was more pronounced in inhibitory substrates. The highest ethanol yield (80% of theoretical) was obtained in the experiment with high fraction (85%) of clover-grass. In order to improve the sugar recovery of clover-grass, it should be separated into a green juice (containing free sugars, fructan, amino acids, vitamins and soluble minerals) for direct fermentation and a fibre pulp for pretreatment together with wheat straw. Based on the obtained results a decentralized biorefinery concept for production of biofuel is suggested emphasizing sustainability, localness, and recycling principle

Characterization of globulin storage proteins of a low prolamin cereal species in relation to celiac disease

Brachypodium distachyon, a small annual grass with seed storage globulins as primary protein reserves was used in our study to analyse the toxic nature of non-prolamin seed storage proteins related to celiac disease. The main storage proteins of B. distachyon are the 7S globulin type proteins and the 11S, 12S seed storage globulins similar to oat and rice. Immunoblot analyses using serum samples from celiac disease patients were carried out followed by the identification of immune-responsive proteins using mass spectrometry. Serum samples from celiac patients on a gluten-free diet, from patients with Crohn's disease and healthy subjects, were used as controls. The identified proteins with intense serum-IgA reactivity belong to the 7S and 11-12S seed globulin family. Structure prediction and epitope predictions analyses confirmed the presence of celiac disease-related linear B cell epitope homologs and the presence of peptide regions with strong HLA-DQ8 and DQ2 binding capabilities. These results highlight that both MHC-II presentation and B cell response may be developed not only to prolamins but also to seed storage globulins. This is the first study of the non-prolamin type seed storage proteins of Brachypodium from the aspect of the celiac disease

From social ties to embedded competencies: The case of business groups

Our current views of economic competition are still rooted in the imagery of the isolated firm that transacts with its buyers, suppliers, and competitors via largely anonymous factor and product markets. Yet this view is fundamentally at odds with the growing importance of business groups in the global economy. We thus need a reconceptualized version of our idea of economic competition, which is capable of explaining competitive advantage at the group-versus-group rather than firm-versus-firm level of analysis. In the present paper we build on insights derived from organizational sociology and organizational economics to develop a business group-level theory of competition and competitive advantage based on embedded competencies

Pregnancy postponement and childlessness leads to chronic hypervascularity of the breasts and cancer risk

Epidemiologists have established that women with small families, and particularly nulliparae, are prone to develop breast cancer later in life. We report that physiological mammary hypervascularity may be an intermediate reason against the background that breast-core vascularity is normal in pregnancy but pathological in the vascularisation of cancer. We examined breast ‘core’ vascularity in nulliparae during their potential reproductive life and in parous women after their last birth but before their menopause. Fifty clinically normal pre-menopausal non-pregnant women (100 breasts) were studied daily for one ‘luteal positive’ menstrual cycle. Their parity history varied from zero to five babies. Under controlled domestic conditions each wore a special electronic thermometric bra to automatically record breast ‘core’ temperature changes as a measure of mammary tissue blood flow. In the nulliparae there was a rise of breast vascularity throughout reproductive life. In the parous women, a year or so after each birth, breast vascularity was reset at a lower level than before the pregnancy; thereafter, as in nulliparae, there was progressive increase in mammary vascularity until the menopause

Vocal Learning and Auditory-Vocal Feedback

Vocal learning is usually studied in songbirds and humans, species that can form auditory templates by listening to acoustic models and then learn to vocalize to match the template. Most other species are thought to develop vocalizations without auditory feedback. However, auditory input influences the acoustic structure of vocalizations in a broad distribution of birds and mammals. Vocalizations are dened here as sounds generated by forcing air past vibrating membranes. A vocal motor program may generate vocalizations such as crying or laughter, but auditory feedback may be required for matching precise acoustic features of vocalizations. This chapter discriminates limited vocal learning, which uses auditory input to fine-tune acoustic features of an inherited auditory template, from complex vocal learning, in which novel sounds are learned by matching a learned auditory template. Two or three songbird taxa and four or ve mammalian taxa are known for complex vocal learning. A broader range of mammals converge in the acoustic structure of vocalizations when in socially interacting groups, which qualifies as limited vocal learning. All birds and mammals tested use auditory-vocal feedback to adjust their vocalizations to compensate for the effects of noise, and many species modulate their signals as the costs and benefits of communicating vary. This chapter asks whether some auditory-vocal feedback may have provided neural substrates for the evolution of vocal learning. Progress will require more precise definitions of different forms of vocal learning, broad comparative review of their presence and absence, and behavioral and neurobiological investigations into the mechanisms underlying the skills.PostprintPeer reviewe