Phylogenetic relationships of African Caecilians (Amphibia: Gymnophiona): insights from mitochondrial rRNA gene sequences

Africa (excluding the Seychelles) has a diverse caecilian fauna, including the endemic family Scolecomorphidae and six endemic genera of the more cosmopolitan Caeciliidae. Previous molecular phylogenetic studies have not included any caecilians from the African mainland. Partial 12S and 16S mitochondrial gene sequences were obtained for two species of the endemic African Scolecomorphidae and five species and four genera of African Caeciliids, aligned against previously reported sequences for 16 caecilian species, and analysed using parsimony, maximum likelihood, Bayesian and distance methods. Results are in agreement with traditional taxonomy in providing support for the monophyly of the African Caeciliid genera Boulengerula and Schistometopum and for the Scolecomorphidae. They disagree in indicating that the Caeciliidae is paraphyletic with respect to the Scolecomorphidae. Although more data from morphology and/or molecules will be required to resolve details of the interrelationships of the African caecilian genera, the data provide strong support for at least two origins of caecilians in which the eye is reduced and covered with bone, and do not support the hypotheses that the caecilian assemblages of Africa, and of East and of West Africa are monophyletic

Present-day stress orientations and tectonic provinces of the NW Borneo collisional margin

Extent: 15p.Borehole failure observed on image and dipmeter logs from 55 petroleum wells across the NW Borneo collisional margin were used to determine maximum horizontal stress (σH) orientations; combined with seismic and outcrop data, they define seven tectonic provinces. The Baram Delta–Deepwater Fold-Thrust Belt exhibits three tectonic provinces: its inner shelf inverted province (σH is NW-SE, margin-normal), its outer shelf extension province (σH is NE-SW, margin-parallel), and its slope to basin floor compression province (σH is NW-SE, margin-normal). In the inverted province, σH reflects inversion of deltaic normal faults. The σH orientations in the extension and compression provinces reflect deltaic gravitational tectonics. The shale and minibasin provinces have been recognized in offshore Sabah. In the shale province, σH is N010°E, which aligns around the boundary of a massif of mobile shale. Currently, no data are available to determine σH in the minibasin province. In the Balingian province, σH is ESE-WNW, reflecting ESE absolute Sunda plate motions due to the absence of a thick detachment seen elsewhere in NW Borneo. The Central Luconia province demonstrates poorly constrained and variable σH orientations. These seven provinces result from the heterogeneous structural and stratigraphic development of the NW Borneo margin and formed due to complex collisional tectonics and the varied distribution and thicknesses of stratigraphic packages.Rosalind C. King, Mark R. P. Tingay, Richard R. Hillis, Christopher K. Morley, and James Clar

Coevolution of Generative Adversarial Networks

Generative adversarial networks (GAN) became a hot topic, presenting impressive results in the field of computer vision. However, there are still open problems with the GAN model, such as the training stability and the hand-design of architectures. Neuroevolution is a technique that can be used to provide the automatic design of network architectures even in large search spaces as in deep neural networks. Therefore, this project proposes COEGAN, a model that combines neuroevolution and coevolution in the coordination of the GAN training algorithm. The proposal uses the adversarial characteristic between the generator and discriminator components to design an algorithm using coevolution techniques. Our proposal was evaluated in the MNIST dataset. The results suggest the improvement of the training stability and the automatic discovery of efficient network architectures for GANs. Our model also partially solves the mode collapse problem.Comment: Published in EvoApplications 201

Design and rationale of the tobacco, exercise and diet messages (TEXT ME) trial of a text message-based intervention for ongoing prevention of cardiovascular disease in people with coronary disease: a randomised controlled trial protocol

Abstract Background Although supporting lifestyle change is an effective way of preventing further events in people with cardiovascular disease, providing access to such interventions is a major challenge. This study aims to investigate whether simple reminders about behaviour change sent via mobile phone text message decrease cardiovascular risk. Methods and analysis Randomised controlled trial with 6 months of follow-up to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability and effect on cardiovascular risk of repeated lifestyle reminders sent via mobile phone text messages compared to usual care. A total of 720 patients with coronary artery disease will be randomised to either standard care or the TEXT ME intervention. The intervention group will receive multiple weekly text messages that provide information, motivation, support to quit smoking (if relevant) and recommendations for healthy diets and exercise. The primary end point is a change in plasma low-density lipoprotein cholesterol at 6 months. Secondary end points include a change in systolic blood pressure, smoking status, quality of life, medication adherence, waist circumference, physical activity levels, nutritional status and mood at 6 months. Process outcomes related to acceptability and feasibility of TEXT ME will also be collected. Ethics and dissemination Primary ethics approval was received from Western Sydney Local Health Network Human Research Ethics Committee—Westmead. Results will be disseminated via the usual scientific forums including peer-reviewed publications and presentations at international conferences. Clinical trials registration number ACTRN12611000161921

Effects of ischaemic conditioning on major clinical outcomes in people undergoing invasive procedures: systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE:  To summarise the benefits and harms of ischaemic conditioning on major clinical outcomes in various settings. DESIGN:  Systematic review and meta-analysis. DATA SOURCES:  Medline, Embase, Cochrane databases, and International Clinical Trials Registry platform from inception through October 2015. STUDY SELECTION:  All randomised controlled comparisons of the effect of ischaemic conditioning on clinical outcomes were included. DATA EXTRACTION:  Two authors independently extracted data from individual reports. Reports of multiple intervention arms were treated as separate trials. Random effects models were used to calculate summary estimates for all cause mortality and other pre-specified clinical outcomes. All cause mortality and secondary outcomes with P<0.1 were examined for study quality by using the GRADE assessment tool, the effect of pre-specified characteristics by using meta-regression and Cochran C test, and trial sequential analysis by using the Copenhagen Trial Unit method. RESULTS:  85 reports of 89 randomised comparisons were identified, with a median 80 (interquartile range 60-149) participants and median 1 (range 1 day-72 months) month intended duration. Ischaemic conditioning had no effect on all cause mortality (68 comparisons; 424 events; 11 619 participants; risk ratio 0.96, 95% confidence interval 0.80 to 1.16; P=0.68; moderate quality evidence) regardless of the clinical setting in which it was used or the particular intervention related characteristics. Ischaemic conditioning may reduce the rates of some secondary outcomes including stroke (18 trials; 5995 participants; 149 events; risk ratio 0.72, 0.52 to 1.00; P=0.048; very low quality evidence) and acute kidney injury (36 trials; 8493 participants; 1443 events; risk ratio 0.83, 0.71 to 0.97; P=0.02; low quality evidence), although the benefits seem to be confined to non-surgical settings and to mild episodes of acute kidney injury only. CONCLUSIONS:  Ischaemic conditioning has no overall effect on the risk of death. Possible effects on stroke and acute kidney injury are uncertain given methodological concerns and low event rates. Adoption of ischaemic conditioning cannot be recommended for routine use unless further high quality and well powered evidence shows benefit

Co-Evolutionary Learning for Cognitive Computer Generated Entities

In this paper, an approach is advocated to use a hybrid approach towards learning behaviour for computer generated entities (CGEs) in a serious gaming setting. Hereby, an agent equipped with cognitive model is used but this agent is enhanced with Machine Learning (ML) capabilities. This facilitates the agent to exhibit human like behaviour but avoid an expert having to define all parameters explicitly. More in particular, the ML approach utilizes co-evolution as a learning paradigm. An evaluation in the domain of one-versus-one air combat shows promising results

Data incongruence and the problem of avian louse phylogeny

Recent studies based on different types of data (i.e. morphological and molecular) have supported conflicting phylogenies for the genera of avian feather lice (Ischnocera: Phthiraptera). We analyse new and published data from morphology and from mitochondrial (12S rRNA and COI) and nuclear (EF1-) genes to explore the sources of this incongruence and explain these conflicts. Character convergence, multiple substitutions at high divergences, and ancient radiation over a short period of time have contributed to the problem of resolving louse phylogeny with the data currently available. We show that apparent incongruence between the molecular datasets is largely attributable to rate variation and nonstationarity of base composition. In contrast, highly significant character incongruence leads to topological incongruence between the molecular and morphological data. We consider ways in which biases in the sequence data could be misleading, using several maximum likelihood models and LogDet corrections. The hierarchical structure of the data is explored using likelihood mapping and SplitsTree methods. Ultimately, we concede there is strong discordance between the molecular and morphological data and apply the conditional combination approach in this case. We conclude that higher level phylogenetic relationships within avian Ischnocera remain extremely problematic. However, consensus between datasets is beginning to converge on a stable phylogeny for avian lice, at and below the familial rank