Phylogeny, molecular and fossil dating, and biogeographic history of Annonaceae and Myristicaceae (Magnoliales)

Annonaceae and Myristicaceae, the two largest families of Magnoliales, are pantropical groups of uncertain geographic history. The most recent morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses identify the Asian-American genus Anaxagorea as sister to all other Annonaceae and the ambavioids, consisting of small genera endemic to South America, Africa, Madagascar, and Asia, as a second branch. However, most genera form a large clade in which the basal lines are African, and South American and Asian taxa are more deeply nested. Although it has been suggested that Anaxagorea was an ancient Laurasian line, present data indicate that this genus is basically South American. These considerations may mean that the family as a whole began its radiation in Africa and South America in the Late Cretaceous, when the South Atlantic was narrower, and several lines dispersed from Africa-Madagascar into Laurasia as the Tethys closed in the Tertiary. This scenario is consistent with the occurrence of annonaceous seeds in the latest Cretaceous of Nigeria and the Eocene of England and with molecular dating of the family. Based on distribution of putatively primitive taxa in Madagascar and derived taxa in Asia, it has been suggested that Myristicaceae had a similar history. Phylogenetic analyses of Myristicaceae, using morphology and several plastid regions, confirm that the ancestral area was Africa-Madagascar and that Asian taxa are derived. However, Myristicaceae as a whole show strikingly lower molecular divergence than Annonaceae, indicating either a much younger age or a marked slowdown in molecular evolution. The fact that the oldest diagnostic fossils of Myristicaceae are Miocene seeds might be taken as evidence that Myristicaceae are much younger than Annonaceae, but this is implausible in requiring transoceanic dispersal of their large, animal-dispersed seeds.

Perceptions of marketing journals by senior academics in Australia and New Zealand

Increasingly, business schools are under pressure to produce quality outputs, including high quality international refereed journal publications. Understanding senior Australian and New Zealand marketing academics' views of journal quality is valuable to individual scholars and to the marketing discipline. This paper presents the findings of a study of such perceptions provided by senior academics in Australia and New Zealand. A survey containing a comprehensive list of 73 journals was sent to all professorial members of ANZMAC and Heads of Marketing Schools in Australia and New Zealand, with an overall response rate of 45%. Respondents rated the journals on a 5-point quality scale and means of ratings were used to establish overall rank. The results suggested that, while senior faculty in Australia and New Zealand have their own distinct perceptions of journal quality, these views are not inconsistent with international views. The implications of the results and directions for future research are discussed.

Cadherin/catenin complex appears to be intact in hepatocellular carcinomas from Australia and South Africa

Background and aim: E-cadherin binds to beta-catenin to form the cadherin/catenin complex required for strong cell adhesion. Inactivation of this complex in tumors facilitates invasion into surrounding tissues. Alterations of both proteins have been reported in hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC). However, the interactions between E-cadherin and beta-catenin in HCC from different geographical groups have not been explored. The aim of the present study was to assess the role of E-cadherin and beta-catenin in Australian and South African patients with HCC. Methods: DNA was extracted from malignant and non-malignant liver tissue from 37 Australian and 24 South African patients, and from histologically normal liver from 20 transplant donors. Chromosomal instability at 16q22, promoter methylation at E-cadherin, beta-catenin mutations and E-cadherin and beta-catenin protein expression was assessed using loss of heterozygosity, methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction, denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography and immunohistochemistry, respectively. Results: Loss of heterozygosity at 16q22 was prevalent in South African HCC patients (50%vs 11%; P < 0.05, chi(2)). In contrast, E-cadherin promoter hypermethylation was common in Australian cases in both malignant (30%vs 13%; P = not significant, chi(2)) and non-malignant liver (57%vs 8%, respectively, P < 0.001, chi(2)). Methylation of non-malignant liver was more likely to be detected in patients over the age of 50 years (P < 0.001, chi(2)), the overall mean age for our cohort of patients. Only one beta-catenin mutation was identified. E-cadherin protein expression was reduced in one HCC, while abnormalities in protein expression were absent in beta-catenin. Conclusion: Contrary to previous observations in HCC from other countries, neither E-cadherin nor beta-catenin appears to play a role in hepatocarcinogenesis in Australian and South African patients with HCC. (C) 2004 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

How useful is the genuine savings rate as a sustainability indicator for regions within countries? Australia and Queensland compared

This article shows how macroeconomic indicators of sustainable development can be applied to the Queensland economy. While recognising the complex and contentious theoretical and practical issues in deriving the Genuine Savings Rate (GSR) to serve as such an indicator, we use the World Bank's methodology, which includes only mineral depletion, deforestation and carbon dioxide emissions as environmental terms, to estimate GSRs for Queensland for the period 1989 to 1999, and compare these to World Bank estimates of Australia's GSR for the same period. We find that Queensland has a higher rate of natural resource depletion and a lower GSR than the whole of Australia. We also examine how well the World Bank GSR performs as a 'headline' measure of overall sustainability, review criticisms of the GSR, and compare its implicit policy implications with those of net state savings, and of the GSR plus a suite of other indicators.

Continuous plankton recorder database: history, current issues and future directions

The Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey, operated by the Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science (SAHFOS), is the largest plankton monitoring programme in the world and has spanned > 70 yr. The dataset contains information from -200 000 samples, with over 2.3 million records of individual taxa. Here we outline the evolution of the CPR database through changes in technology, and how this has increased data access. Recent high-impact publications and the expanded role of CPR data in marine management demonstrate the usefulness of the dataset. We argue that solely supplying data to the research community is not sufficient in the current research climate; to promote wider use, additional tools need to be developed to provide visual representation and summary statistics. We outline 2 software visualisation tools, SAHFOS WinCPR and the digital CPR Atlas, which provide access to CPR data for both researchers and non-plankton specialists. We also describe future directions of the database, data policy and the development of visualisation tools. We believe that the approach at SAHFOS to increase data accessibility and provide new visualisation tools has enhanced awareness of the data and led to the financial security of the organisation; it also provides a good model of how long-term monitoring programmes can evolve to help secure their future.