Metabolism, oxidative stress and territorial behaviour in a female colour polymorphic cichlid fish

Intrasexual selection on body coloration is thought to play an important role in the evolution of colour polymorphism, but its physiological underpinnings have received limited attention. In the colour polymorphic cichlid Neochromis omnicaeruleus, three fully sympatric female colour morphs— a plain morph (P) and two conspicuously coloured blotched morphs, black-and-white blotched (WB) and orange blotched (OB)—differ in agonistic behaviour. We compared routine metabolic rate (when females were housed in social isolation), short-term energetic costs of interacting with a same-colour rival housed in an adjacent transparent chamber and oxidative stress between the three female colour morphs. WB females had a lower routine metabolic rate compared with the other colour morphs. WB females also had a lower active metabolic rate during inter-female interactions than OB females, while OB females used more oxygen per unit aggressive act than the other two colour morphs. However, there were no consistent differences in oxidative stress between the three morphs. Concerted divergence in colour, behaviour and metabolism might contribute to the evolution of these polymorphisms in sympatry.

Decomposing speed of information processing in elementary cognitive tasks

Many studies obtained reliable individual differences in speed of information processing (SIP) as measured by elementary cognitive tasks (ECTs). ECTs usually employ response times (RT) as measure of SIP, but different ECTs target different cognitive processes (e.g., simple or choice reaction, inhibition). Here we used modified versions of the Hick and the Eriksen Flanker task to examine whether these tasks assess dissociable or common aspects of SIP. In both tasks, task complexity was systematically varied across three levels. RT data were collected from 135 participants. Applying fixed-links modeling, RT variance increasing with task complexity was separated from RT variance unchanging across conditions. For each task, these aspects of variance were represented by two independent latent variables. The two latent variables representing RT variance not varying with complexity of the two tasks were virtually identical (r = .83). The latent variables representing increasing complexity in the two tasks were also highly correlated (r = .72) but clearly dissociable. Thus, RT measures contain both task-unspecific, person-related aspects of SIP as well as task-specific aspects indicating the cognitive processes manipulated with the respective task. Separating these aspects of SIP facilitates the interpretation of individual differences in RT.

The "Profiles" document: a modern revision of the objectives of undergraduate medical studies in Switzerland

The Joint Commission of the Swiss Medical Schools (SMIFK/CIMS) decided in 2000 to establish a Swiss Catalogue of Learning Objectives (SCLO) for undergraduate medical training, which was adapted from a similar Dutch blueprint. A second version of the SCLO was developed and launched in 2008. The catalogue is a prerequisite for the accreditation of the curricula of the six Swiss medical faculties and defines the contents of the Federal Licensing Examination (FLE). Given the evolution of the field of medicine and of medical education, the SMIFK/CIMS has decided to embark on a total revision of the SCLO. This article presents the proposed structure and content of Profiles, a new document which, in the future, will direct the format of undergraduate studies and of the FLE. Profiles stands for the Principal Relevant Objectives for Integrative Learning and Education in Switzerland. It is currently being developed by a group of experts from the six Swiss faculties as well as representatives of other institutions involved in these developments. The foundations of Profiles are grounded in the evolution of medical practice and of public health and are based on up-to-date teaching concepts, such as EPAs (entrustable professional activities). An introduction will cover the concepts and a tutorial will be displayed. Three main chapters will provide a description of the seven 2015 CanMEDS roles, a list of core EPAs and a series of ≈250 situations embracing the most frequent and current conditions affecting health. As Profiles is still a work in progress, it is hoped that this paper will attract the interest of all individuals involved in the training of medical students.

Origin and history of ureilitic material in the solar system: The view from asteroid 2008 TC3 and the Almahata Sitta meteorite

Asteroid 2008 TC3 (approximately 4m diameter) was tracked and studied in space for approximately 19h before it impacted Earth's atmosphere, shattering at 44-36km altitude. The recovered samples (>680 individual rocks) comprise the meteorite Almahata Sitta (AhS). Approximately 50-70% of these are ureilites (ultramafic achondrites). The rest are chondrites, mainly enstatite, ordinary, and Rumuruti types. The goal of this work is to understand how fragments of so many different types of parent bodies became mixed in the same asteroid. Almahata Sitta has been classified as a polymict ureilite with an anomalously high component of foreign clasts. However, we calculate that the mass of fallen material was 0.1% of the pre-atmospheric mass of the asteroid. Based on published data for the reflectance spectrum of the asteroid and laboratory spectra of the samples, we infer that the lost material was mostly ureilitic. Therefore, 2008 TC3 probably contained only a few percent nonureilitic materials, similar to other polymict ureilites except less well consolidated. From available data for the AhS meteorite fragments, we conclude that 2008 TC3 samples essentially the same range of types of ureilitic and nonureilitic materials as other polymict ureilites. We therefore suggest that the immediate parent of 2008 TC3 was the immediate parent of all ureilitic material sampled on Earth. We trace critical stages in the evolution of that material through solar system history. Based on various types of new modeling and re-evaluation of published data, we propose the following scenario. (1) The ureilite parent body (UPB) accreted 0.5-0.6Ma after formation of calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (CAI), beyond the ice line (outer asteroid belt). Differentiation began approximately 1Ma after CAI. (2) The UPB was catastrophically disrupted by a major impact approximately 5Ma after CAI, with selective subsets of the fragments reassembling into daughter bodies. (3) Either the UPB (before breakup), or one of its daughters (after breakup), migrated to the inner belt due to scattering by massive embryos. (4) One daughter (after forming in or migrating to the inner belt) became the parent of 2008 TC3. It developed a regolith, mostly 3.8Ga ago. Clasts of enstatite, ordinary, and Rumuruti-type chondrites were implanted by low-velocity collisions. (5) Recently, the daughter was disrupted. Fragments were injected or drifted into Earth-crossing orbits. 2008 TC3 comes from outer layers of regolith, other polymict ureilites from deeper regolith, and main group ureilites from the interior of this body. In contrast to other models that have been proposed, this model invokes a stochastic history to explain the unique diversity of foreign materials in 2008 TC3 and other polymict ureilites.