Diversity and consequences of social network structure in toothed whales

This is the final version. Available on open access from Frontiers Media via the DOI in this recordData availability statement: The database of studies generated for this study can be found in the supplemental material.Toothed whales (suborder Odontoceti) are highly social, large brained mammals with diverse social systems. In recent decades, a large body of work has begun investigating these dynamic, complex societies using a common set of analytical tools: social network analysis. The application of social network theory to toothed whales enables insight into the factors that underlie variation in social structure in this taxon, and the consequences of these structures for survival, reproduction, disease transmission, and culture. Here, we perform a systematic review of the literature regarding toothed whale social networks to identify broad patterns of social network structure across species, common drivers of individual social position, and the consequences of network structure for individuals and populations. We also identify key knowledge gaps and areas ripe for future research. We recommend that future studies attempt to expand the taxonomic breadth and focus on standardizing methods and reporting as much as possible to allow for comparative analyses to test evolutionary hypotheses. Furthermore, social networks analysis may provide key insights into population dynamics as indicators of population health, predictors of disease risk, and as direct drivers of survival and reproduction.Natural Environment Research Council (NERC

The evolution of menopause in toothed whales

This is the final version. Available on open access from Nature Research via the DOI in this recordData availability: All data used in this analysis are available as a database at: github.com/samellisq/marinelifehistdataCode availability: All R and stan code used for this analysis are available at osf.io/26s7m/. In addition, the mortality model is implemented as an R package available from: github.com/samellisq/marinesurvivalUnderstanding how and why menopause has evolved is a long-standing challenge across disciplines. Females can typically maximize their reproductive success by reproducing for the whole of their adult life. In humans, however, women cease reproduction several decades before the end of their natural lifespan1,2. Although progress has been made in understanding the adaptive value of menopause in humans3,4, the generality of these findings remains unclear. Toothed whales are the only mammal taxon in which menopause has evolved several times5, providing a unique opportunity to test the theories of how and why menopause evolves in a comparative context. Here, we assemble and analyse a comparative database to test competing evolutionary hypotheses. We find that menopause evolved in toothed whales by females extending their lifespan without increasing their reproductive lifespan, as predicted by the 'live-long' hypotheses. We further show that menopause results in females increasing their opportunity for intergenerational help by increasing their lifespan overlap with their grandoffspring and offspring without increasing their reproductive overlap with their daughters. Our results provide an informative comparison for the evolution of human life history and demonstrate that the same pathway that led to menopause in humans can also explain the evolution of menopause in toothed whales.Leverhulme TrustNatural Environment Research Council (NERC

Importance of old bulls: Leaders and followers in collective movements of all-male groups in African savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana)

This is the final version. Available on open access from Nature Research via the DOI in this record.Due to the sensitive nature of reporting on elephant locations and numbers, the data that support the findings of this study are available on reasonable request from the corresponding author.In long-lived social species, older individuals can provide fitness benefits to their groupmates through the imparting of ecological knowledge. Research in this area has largely focused on females in matrilineal societies where, for example, older female African savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana) are most effective at making decisions crucial to herd survival, and old post-reproductive female resident killer whales (Orcinus orca) lead collective movements in hunting grounds. In pathways in Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, Botswana, we found that the oldest males were more likely to lead collective movements. Our results challenge the assumption that older male elephants are redundant in the population and raise concerns over the biased removal of old bulls that currently occurs in both legal trophy hunting and illegal poaching. Selective harvesting of older males could have detrimental effects on the wider elephant society through loss of leaders crucial to younger male navigation in unknown, risky environments

Common datastream permutations of animal social network data are not appropriate for hypothesis testing using regression models

This is the final version. Available on open access from Wiley via the DOI in this record1. Social network methods have become a key tool for describing, modelling, and testing hypotheses about the social structures of animals. However, due to the non-independence of network data and the presence of confounds, specialized statistical techniques are often needed to test hypotheses in these networks. Datastream permutations, originally developed to test the null hypothesis of random social structure, have become a popular tool for testing a wide array of null hypotheses in animal social networks. In particular, they have been used to test whether exogenous factors are related to network structure by interfacing these permutations with regression models. 2. Here, we show that these datastream permutations typically do not represent the null hypothesis of interest to researchers interfacing animal social network analysis with regression modelling, and use simulations to demonstrate the potential pitfalls of using this methodology. 3. Our simulations show that, if used to indicate whether a relationship exists between network structure and a covariate, datastream permutations can result in extremely high type I error rates, in some cases approaching 50%. In the same set of simulations, traditional node-label permutations produced appropriate type I error rates (~ 5%). 4. Our analysis shows that datastream permutations do not represent the appropriate null hypothesis for these analyses. We suggest that potential alternatives to this procedure may be found in regarding the problems of non-independence of network data and unreliability of observations separately. If biases introduced during data collection can be corrected, either prior to model fitting or within the model itself, node-label permutations then serve as a useful test for interfacing animal social network analysis with regression modellingNatural Environment Research Council (NERC)NI

Do Interventions Designed to Support Shared Decision-Making Reduce Health Inequalities? : A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Copyright: © 2014 Durand et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Background: Increasing patient engagement in healthcare has become a health policy priority. However, there has been concern that promoting supported shared decision-making could increase health inequalities. Objective: To evaluate the impact of SDM interventions on disadvantaged groups and health inequalities. Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials and observational studies.Peer reviewe

Perspective of the Surviving Sepsis Campaign on the Management of Pediatric Sepsis in the Era of Coronavirus Disease 2019

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 is a novel cause of organ dysfunction in children, presenting as either coronavirus disease 2019 with sepsis and/or respiratory failure or a hyperinflammatory shock syndrome. Clinicians must now consider these diagnoses when evaluating children for septic shock and sepsis-associated organ dysfunction. The Surviving Sepsis Campaign International Guidelines for the Management of Septic Shock and Sepsis-associated Organ Dysfunction in Children provide an appropriate framework for the early recognition and initial resuscitation of children with sepsis or septic shock caused by all pathogens, including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. However, the potential benefits of select adjunctive therapies may differ from non-coronavirus disease 2019 sepsis