The historical origins of palaeotropical intercontinental disjunctions in the pantropical flowering plant family Annonaceae

Geographic isolation of sister taxa in the African and Asian tropics (palaeotropical intercontinental disjunction; PID) is a major biogeographic pattern explained by four competing hypotheses: rafting on the Indian tectonic plate (‘Gondwanan vicariance hypothesis’); migration facilitated by a northern mid-latitude corridor of frost-free climates during the Eocene (‘boreotropical migration hypothesis’); overland dispersal across Arabia associated with the Miocene Climatic Optimum; and transoceanic dispersal. The explanatory challenges posed by PIDs are addressed here using the pantropical flowering plant family Annonaceae as a study system. Molecular dating and ancestral area reconstructions were undertaken using plastid DNA sequence data (ca. 6 kb) derived from an extensive taxon sampling, incorporating ca. 75% of all genera, with phylogenetically informed sampling of species within genera that are distributed across the African and Asian tropics. Statistical dispersal-vicariance analysis and likelihood reconstructions indicated 12 intercontinental dispersal events between Africa and Asia. All but one of these dispersals were from Africa to Asia. Between 10 and 12 vicariance events were inferred, ranging from the late Palaeocene to the late Miocene, with mean divergence times of seven events in the Miocene. Although migration through the Eocene boreotropics has previously been highlighted as the predominant process underlying intercontinental disjunctions in Annonaceae, our results indicate that post-boreotropical processes have also had a major impact on shaping PIDs. Palaeogeographic reconstructions and the fossil record from the Arabian Peninsula support the plausibility of a hypothesized window of overland dispersal opportunity for lowland tropical forest taxa prior to climate deterioration commencing in the late Middle Miocene, providing an alternative to transoceanic dispersal. The patterns observed underscore the hypothesis that intercontinental floristic exchange, facilitated by both the Eocene boreotropics and the erosion of oceanic and climatic biogeographic barriers between Africa and Asia in the Miocene, had a substantial impact on the assembly of palaeotropical forest floras

Phylogenomic analysis of the hemp family (Cannabaceae) reveals deep cyto-Nuclear discordance and provides new insights into genric relationships.

Cannabaceae are a relatively small family of angiosperms, but they include several species of huge economic and cultural significance: marijuana or hemp (Cannabis sativa) and hops (Humulus lupulus). Previous phylogenetic studies have clarified the most deep relationships in Cannabaceae, but relationships remain ambiguous among several major lineages. Here, we sampled 82 species representing all genera of Cannabaceae and utilized a new dataset of 90 nuclear genes and 82 chloroplast loci from Hyb-Seq to investigate the phylogenomics of Cannabaceae. Nuclear phylogenetic analyses revealed a robust and consistent backbone for Cannabaceae. We observed nuclear gene-tree conflict at several deep nodes in inferred species trees, also cyto-nuclear discordance concerning the relationship between Gironniera and Lozanella and the relationships among Trema s.l. (including Parasponia), Cannabis + Humulus, and Chaetachme + Pteroceltis. Coalescent simulations and network analyses suggest that observed deep cyto-nuclear discordances were most likely to stem from incomplete lineage sorting (ILS); nuclear gene-tree conflict might be caused by both ILS and gene flow between species. All genera of Cannabaceae were recovered as monophyletic, except for Celtis, which consisted of two distinct clades: Celtis I (including most Celtis species) and Celtis II (including Celtis gomphophylla and Celtis schippii). We suggest that Celtis II should be recognized as the independent genus Sparrea based on both molecular and morphological evidence. Our work provides the most comprehensive and reliable phylogeny to date for Cannabaceae, enabling further exploration of evolutionary patterns across this family and highlighting the necessity of comparing nuclear with chloroplast data to examine the evolutionary history of plant groups

Exclusion and inclusion of parents of hospitalized children in Norway in the period 1877–2017

Abstract Background Today, Norwegian parents have the right to stay with their children when they are in hospital. This right is relatively new. The purpose of this article is to examine the nursing profession’s ideas on how parents should be included/excluded when their children are in hospital, and to examine the social and ideological conditions that made the nursing profession’s ideas on inclusion/exclusion practices possible. Methods The analyses are done in the tradition of the French philosopher Michel Foucault’s writings on how different kinds of knowledge have been used to discipline citizens. Such studies include analyses of descriptive and normative material and analyses of the ideological and social conditions that made the practices possible. The analyses are based on Norwegian textbooks on nursing. Results Parents are rarely mentioned in Norwegian nursing textbooks from the period 1877–1940, and they are not present in photos from hospitals. The exclusion of parents may be due to the absence of welfare services and the fear of parents transmitting diseases from the hospitals to the general population. The first Norwegian nursing textbook that argued for the importance of letting parents visit their children in hospital was published in 1941. In 1968, nursing textbooks started to argue for parents’ participation in the care. Since 1987, nursing textbooks have advocated full parental participation. The inclusion of parents was in accordance with humanistic ideology. The inclusion of parents occurred in a period of great nursing shortage. In this situation, it would have been of interest to entrust as much as possible of the nurse’s work to the family. Conclusions Our conclusion is that ideas break through when they are in line with social conditions. From 1877 to 1940 social and economic conditions made it difficult for parents to be with their children in hospital, and hygiene ideology/theory contributed to legitimization of the exclusion of the parents in the care. During the period 1941–2017 it has been economically advantageous for the hospitals that parents care for their children. Ideas on the vulnerable child and self-help ideology have contributed to legitimization of the inclusion of the parents