Recent updates in renal cell carcinoma

This review will examine the recent advances in our understanding of the genetic and molecular events that shape this cancer, and overview the emerging targeted therapies that have altered the landscape for renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients

Defining conservation units with enhanced molecular tools to reveal fine scale structuring among Mediterranean green turtle rookeries

This is the final version. Available on open access from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordData accessibility: the data associated with this article is avaiable in the Dryad Digital Repository: https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.7db01Understanding the connectivity among populations is a key research priority for species of conservation concern. Genetic tools are widely used for this purpose, but the results can be limited by the resolution of the genetic markers in relation to the species and geographic scale. Here, we investigated natal philopatry in green turtles (Chelonia mydas) from four rookeries within close geographic proximity (~200 km) on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. We genotyped hypervariable mtSTRs, a mtDNA control region sequence (CR) and 13 microsatellite loci to genetically characterise 479 green turtles using markers with different modes of inheritance. We demonstrated matrilineal stock structure for the first time among Mediterranean green turtle rookeries. This result contradicts previous regional assessments and supports a growing body of evidence that green turtles exhibit a more precise level of natal site fidelity than has commonly been recognised. The microsatellites detected weak male philopatry with significant stock structure among three of the six pairwise comparisons. The absence of Atlantic CR haplotypes and mtSTRs amongst these robust sample sizes reaffirms the reproductive isolation of Mediterranean green turtles and supports their status as a subpopulation. A power analysis effectively demonstrated that the mtDNA genetic markers previously employed to evaluate regional stock identity were confounded by an insufficient resolution considering the recent colonisation of this region. These findings improve the regional understanding of stock connectivity and illustrate the importance of using suitable genetic markers to define appropriate units for management and conservation.Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spai

Satellite tracking and stable isotope analysis highlight differential recruitment among foraging areas in green turtles

This is the final version. Available on open access from Inter Research via the DOI in this recordIdentifying links between breeding and non-breeding sites in migratory animals is an important step in understanding their ecology. Recognising the relative importance of foraging areas and ascertaining site-specific levels of recruitment can provide fundamental and applied insights. Here, satellite telemetry and the stable isotope ratios (δ13C, δ15N and δ34S) of 230 green turtles Chelonia mydas from a regionally important rookery in northern Cyprus were employed to evaluate the relative importance of 4 foraging areas. A preliminary analysis of stable isotope ratios suggested that a major foraging area had been missed through satellite telemetry as a large proportion of turtles had isotope ratios that did not correspond to sites previously identified. Stable isotope ratios were then employed to select 5 turtles to be fitted with platform terminal transmitters in 2015. All 5 turtles were subsequently tracked to the same location, Lake Bardawil in Egypt. Serially collected tissue samples from 45 females, ranging over 2 to 4 breeding seasons, suggested that foraging site fidelity was very common, with 82% of females exhibiting extremely high temporal consistency in isotope ratios. Quantifying fidelity allowed an evaluation of foraging area-specific contributions to each breeding cohort over the past 2 decades and demonstrated that recruitment was unequal among sites, and dynamic over time, with Egypt now currently the major contributor to the nesting aggregation. This work demonstrates the utility of stable isotope analysis to elucidate the spatial ecology of cryptic taxa and illustrates how more robust baselines can be assembled against which to measure the success of future marine conservation initiatives.P.J.B. is funded by a National Environment Research Council grant 1353865. C.C. is supported by the project CTM2013-48163 from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad. We thank the following for their support: Marine Turtle Conservation Project (MTCP), Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles (MEDASSSET), North Cyprus Department of Environmental Protection, seaturtle. org, Society for the Protection of Sea Turtles in North Cyprus (SPOT); and for funding: Apache, British Chelonia Group, BP Egypt, the British High Commission and British Residents Society of North Cyprus, Darwin Initiative, Erwin Warth Foundation, Friends of SPOT, INNPA, Kuzey Kıbrıs Turkcell, NERC, Marine Conservation Society Sea Turtle Conservation Fund, and MEDASSET, UK

Linking functional with personal income distribution: a stock-flow consistent approach

© 2015 Taylor & Francis. This paper develops a benchmark stock-flow consistent model that links functional with personal income distribution. The model consists of various household groups that receive income from different sources or from the same sources in different proportions. The dynamic linkage between functional and personal income distribution is formulated as part of a complete macroeconomic system. Inequality decomposition techniques are employed to associate income sources with personal income distribution. Simulation exercises are conducted to reveal the various ways through which functional and personal income distribution interact. In the simulations, a rise in the exogenous component of low-skilled workers’ wage share reduces inequality in the short run; in the medium to long run inequality starts increasing due to certain macroeconomic developments, but remains lower than its initial level in almost all cases. A change in functional income distribution due to a rise in the dividend payout ratio of firms increases inequality both in the short run and the long run

Satellite Tracking of Manta Rays Highlights Challenges to Their Conservation

We describe the real-time movements of the last of the marine mega-vertebrate taxa to be satellite tracked – the giant manta ray (or devil fish, Manta birostris), the world's largest ray at over 6 m disc width. Almost nothing is known about manta ray movements and their environmental preferences, making them one of the least understood of the marine mega-vertebrates. Red listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as ‘Vulnerable’ to extinction, manta rays are known to be subject to direct and incidental capture and some populations are declining. Satellite-tracked manta rays associated with seasonal upwelling events and thermal fronts off the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico, and made short-range shuttling movements, foraging along and between them. The majority of locations were received from waters shallower than 50 m deep, representing thermally dynamic and productive waters. Manta rays remained in the Mexican Exclusive Economic Zone for the duration of tracking but only 12% of tracking locations were received from within Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Our results on the spatio-temporal distribution of these enigmatic rays highlight opportunities and challenges to management efforts

The importance of passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags for measuring life-history traits of sea turtles

Capture-mark-recapture studies rely on the identification of individuals through time, using markers or tags, which are assumed to be retained. This assumption, however, may be violated, having implications for population models. In sea turtles, individual identification is typically based on external flipper tags, which can be combined with internal passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags. Despite the extensive use of flipper tags, few studies have modelled tag loss using continuous functions. Using a 26-year dataset for sympatrically nesting green (Chelonia mydas) and loggerhead (Caretta caretta) turtles, this study aims to assess how PIT tag use increases the accuracy of estimates of life-history traits. The addition of PIT tags improved female identification: between 2000 and 2017, 53% of green turtles and 29% of loggerhead turtles were identified from PIT tags alone. We found flipper and PIT tag losses were best described by decreasing logistic curves with lower asymptotes. Excluding PIT tags from our dataset led to underestimation of flipper tag loss, reproductive periodicity, reproductive longevity and annual survival, and overestimation of female abundance and recruitment for both species. This shows the importance of PIT tags in improving the accuracy of estimates of life-history traits. Thus, estimates where tag loss has not been corrected for should be interpreted with caution and could bias IUCN Red List assessments. As such, long-term population monitoring programmes should aim to estimate tag loss and assess the impact of loss on life-history estimates, to provide robust estimates without which population models and stock assessments cannot be derived accurately

Global review and inventory: how stable isotopes are helping us understand ecology and inform conservation of marine turtles

This is the final version. Available on open access from Inter Research via the DOI in this recordStable isotope analysis (SIA) has become a powerful and widely utilised tool in ecological studies, and more specifically has been used to answer conservation questions regarding key marine indicator species including marine turtles. Undertaking an exhaustive review of peer-reviewed literature, we summarise the current knowledge of marine turtle spatial, foraging, and reproductive ecology gained through stable isotope studies and highlight the considerable flexibility and ecological complexities in the life histories of the six species that have been studied. We demonstrate how SIA can inform conservation initiatives, identify threats faced, and provide pre- and post-disaster information that is otherwise unavailable. We summarise isotope ratios at a global scale and demonstrate intraspecific regional differences and interspecific overlap. We identify the geographical gaps in the current knowledge and the bias in the species studied. To facilitate future research we identify a comprehensive list of recommendations including the need for standardised protocols for tissue collection and analysis; the use of a third forensic marker to provide greater power of inference; combining complementary techniques to enhance the information gained; conducting long-term research; and a need for meta-analytic approaches to combine research findings to better understand the complexities of marine turtle ecology. This review provides a complete list of all published marine turtle stable isotope studies which are summarised in an open access inventory to enable researchers to add new studies and target future work.Natural Environment Research Council (NERC