Relatedness threshold for the production of female sexuals in colonies of a polygynous ant, Myrmica tahoensis, as revealed by microsatellite DNA analysis.

The genetic relationships of colony members in the ant Myrmica tahoensis were determined on the basis of highly polymorphic microsatellite DNA loci. These analyses show that colonies fall into one of two classes. In roughly half of the sampled colonies, workers and female offspring appear to be full sisters. The remaining colonies contain offspring produced by two or more queens. Colonies that produce female sexuals are always composed of highly related females, while colonies that produce males often show low levels of nestmate relatedness. These results support theoretical predictions that workers should skew sex allocation in response to relatedness asymmetries found within colonies. The existence of a relatedness threshold below which female sexuals are not produced suggests a possible mechanism for worker perception of relatedness. Two results indicate that workers use genetic cues, not queen number, in making sex-allocation decisions. (i) The number of queens in a colony was not significantly correlated with either the level of relatedness asymmetry or the sex ratio. (ii) Sex-ratio shifts consistent with a genetically based mechanism of relatedness assessment were seen in an experiment involving transfers of larvae among unrelated nests. Thus workers appear to make sex-allocation decisions on the basis of larval cues and appear to be able to adjust sex ratios long after egg laying.

Um olhar sobre o grou, a felicidade, a neve e o mistério: as quatro irmãs Makioka

O Japão de meados do século XX apresentava um contexto em que influências advindas do ocidente desde a abertura dos portos mesclavam-se à tradição japonesa. Nesse contexto viviam as irmãs Makioka, personagens centrais do romance de Junichiro Tanizaki e objeto principal da presente pesquisa. Por meio da figura de cada uma delas temos acesso ao modo como essas influências adentraram no dia a dia de parte da sociedade japonesa, mais especificamente da família Makioka, tradicional da região de Osaka, e seu círculo social. Para desenvolver esse estudo, faremos a contextualização do período vivido pelo autor e pelas personagens por ele criadas, bem como de que maneira os acontecimentos tiveram participação na formação das mesmas. Também será feita uma análise das personagens secundárias a fim de ampliar a visão acerca das principais. E, finalmente, de acordo com conceitos a respeito da construção de personagem, faremos um estudo das quatro irmãs, levando em consideração aquilo que estava mais na superfície, acessível num primeiro olhar, além dos elementos que compunham o modo de ser de cada uma delas, com as amálgamas e sobreposições resultantes do período.

Hôtel-Dieu de París: reformas materiales, estructurales y funcionales entre los siglos XII y XVIII

El presente estudio tiene como objetivo conocer y divulgar la historia del Hôtel-Dieu de París entre los siglos XII y XVIII, periodo de tiempo en el que se llevaron a cabo grandes obras en sus instalaciones, se cambió el sistema de administración y se desarrolló una estructura funcional de las Hermanas Agustinas con la aparición de supervisoras y especialistas en diferentes áreas. La metodología usada para este estudio es de investigación cualitativo-descriptiva que se inicia con una búsqueda bibliográfica y continúa con el análisis hermenéutico de los documentos encontrados. Las conclusiones de este estudio versan sobre la problemática del paso de la gestión de la asistencia sanitaria caritativo-religiosa a la gestión laica de la misma con la pérdida del cariz altruista; del desarrollo de súper-estructuras físicas para la atención sanitaria y de las jerarquías organizativas y funcionales de esas súper-estructuras, todo esto en el amplio contexto temporal de seis siglos.

Nosocomios higienistas: el caso Florence Nightingale

Los impresionantes cambios surgidos tras el inicio de la Revolución Industrial ayudaron a que de manera reiterada se buscaran soluciones a los diferentes problemas que se sucedían, uno tras de otro, como resultado del hacinamiento y las modificaciones sociopolíticas y económicas. Los avances en el campo de la ciencia, y en particular en las ciencias de la salud, fueron innumerables, estableciéndose en la sociedad una preocupación marcada por solucionar los problemas de las clases más desfavorecidas. En el campo de la sanidad, progresivamente se fueron dejando atrás posturas ancladas en los modelos basados en los «miasmas», para pasar a fundamentarse en el modelo microbiano de la mano de Pasteur y Lister. Estos descubrimientos fueron trasladados a la arquitectura progresivamente, dando paso a edificios que buscaban mantener unas condiciones higiénicas adecuadas que exiliaran las enfermedades del interior de los «paramentos de los hospitales». Ejemplo de esta lucha fue la llevada a cabo por la enfermera Florence Nightingale, que gracias a la observación y a sus conocimientos adquiridos tanto en el Instituto de Diaconisas de Kaiserswerth en Alemania como en la Maison de la Providence de las Hermanas de la Caridad de París, logró establecer una serie de pautas que aplicó al establecimiento que gestionó, el Hospital Scutari, durante la Guerra de Crimea.

La labor científica de fray Jerónimo de Alcalá, OFM: una etnografía misionera del siglo XVI

En el presente artículo revisamos el trabajo etnográfico que un misionero franciscano del siglo XVI, fray Jerónimo de Alcalá, realizó por medio de la traducción. Su principal obra, la Relación de Michoacán, constituye uno de los más valiosos manuscritos coloniales de toda América. Para su elaboración recopiló, tradujo y fijó en el papel la tradición oral purépecha, rescatando del olvido el testimonio histórico y antropológico de la riqueza cultural michoacana. El rigor científico de su trabajo de campo, que acometió humildemente como “fiel intérprete” y con mera intención misional, ha hecho de su obra una fuente documental imprescindible.

Half of a yellow sun

A beautiful sweeping story of two sisters caught up in the events of the Nigerian civil war, ending in chilling violence which shocked the entire world.

Letters to family members, 1799

Four letters dated March 11, 1799, written from debtors' prison ("Debtors' Apartment") in Philadelphia. Includes descriptions of his life in the prison and fellow prisoners.

Letter from William Abbot to William Tudor,

One letter from Tudor’s Phi Beta Kappa brother thanking him for a visit to Rockwood and commenting on the deportment of his sisters, as well as the progress his brother John was making at Harvard.

Letters from Benjamin Vaughan,

Six letters in which Vaughan writes about prominent scientists, artists, and musicians, such as violinist Louis Ostinelli and engraver Jacob Perkins. Other topics include social interactions with Tudor’s sisters Delia Tudor Stewart and Emma Tudor Gardiner, and Emma’s husband, Robert Hallowell Gardiner.

Letters from Benjamin Welles to John Henry Tudor, 1799-1801

Benjamin Welles wrote these six letters to his friend and classmate, John Henry Tudor, between 1799 and 1801. Four of the letters are dated, and the dates of the other two can be deduced from their contents. Welles wrote Tudor four times in September 1799, at the onset of their senior year at Harvard, in an attempt to clear up hurt feelings and false rumors that he believed had caused a chill in their friendship. The cause of the rift is never fully explained, though Welles alludes to "a viper" and "villainous hypocrite" who apparently spread rumors and fueled discord between the two friends. In one letter, Welles asserts that "College is a rascal's Elysium - or the feeling man's hell." In another he writes: "College, Tudor, is a furnace to the phlegmatic, & a Greenland to thee feeling man; it has an atmosphere which breathes contagion to the soul [...] Villains fatten here. College is the embryo of hell." Whatever their discord, the wounds were apparently eventually healed; in a letter written June 26, 1800, Welles writes to ask Tudor about his impending speech at Commencement exercises. In an October 29, 1801 letter, Welles writes to Tudor in Philadelphia (where he appears to have traveled in attempts to recover his failing health) and expresses strong wishes for his friend's recovery and return to Boston. This letter also contains news of their classmate Washington Allston's meeting with painters Henry Fuseli and Benjamin West.

Moya moya disease : literature review and case report

Trabalho Final do Curso de Mestrado Integrado em Medicina, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, 2014

Pulmonary hypoplasia and anasarca syndrome in Cika cattle

BACKGROUND: Hydrops foetalis is defined as excessive fluid accumulation within the foetal extravascular compartments and body cavities. It has been described in human and veterinary medicine, but despite several descriptive studies its aetiology is still not fully clarified. Pulmonary hypoplasia and anasarca (PHA) syndrome is a rare congenital abnormality in cattle that is characterised by hydrops foetalis including extreme subcutaneous oedema (anasarca) and undeveloped or poorly formed lungs (pulmonary hypoplasia). Until now, sporadic cases of PHA were reported in cattle breeds like Australian Dexter, Belted Galloway, Maine-Anjou, and Shorthorn. This report describes the first known cases of PHA syndrome in Slovenian Cika cattle. CASE PRESENTATION: A 13-year-old cow aborted a male calf in the seventh month of pregnancy, while a male calf was delivered by caesarean section on the due date from a 14-year-old cow. The pedigree analysis showed that the calves were sired by the same bull, the dams were paternal half-sisters and the second calf was the product of a dam-son mating. Gross lesions were similar in both cases and characterized by severe anasarca, hydrothorax, hydropericardium, ascites, hypoplastic lungs, absence of lymph nodes, and an enlarged heart. The first calf was also athymic. Histopathology of the second affected calf confirmed severe oedema of the subcutis and interstitium of the organs, and pulmonary hypoplasia. The lymph vessels in the subcutis and other organs were severely dilated. Histopathology of the second calf revealed also lack of bronchus associated lymphoid tissue and adrenal gland hypoplasia. CONCLUSIONS: The findings were consistent with known forms of the bovine PHA syndrome. This is the first report of the PHA syndrome occurring in the local endangered breed of Cika cattle. Observed inbreeding practice supports that this lethal defect most likely follows an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance. In the light of the disease phenotype it is assumed that a mutation causing an impaired development of lymph vessels is responsible for the hydrops foetalis associated malformations in bovine PHA.

Composition of Aleutian forearc sediments

The ultimate composition of any sandstone is affected by a host of primary and secondary factors, including the lithologies present in source terranes, climate, depositional environment and diagenesis. In the case of a subduction complex, however, unequivocal identification of detrital provenance may be impossible because of the cumulative effects of tectonic and sedimentary transport. Long-distance sedimentary transport (> 1000 km) is common within trenches, and abyssal-plain turbidites can be tectonically transported for long distances as the underlying oceanic basement drifts towards a subduction front. Post-accretionary displacement can occur as a consequence of strike-slip faulting, and the total distance of tectonic dislocation may reach several thousand kilometers. The present-day Aleutian forearc region (North Pacific Ocean) illustrates many of the "problems" which typify subduction zones. Several petrologic suites can be identified, and there are significant variations in detrital modes in both time and space. The Aleutian region serves as a sobering modern analog for accreted rock units such as the Franciscan Complex of California, where intercalations of discrete sandstone suites have been noted. In the absence of paleomagnetic control, interpretations of sediment provenance within ancient subduction complexes probably should be restricted to the generic level.

Ennyimba ezisanyusa.

Ganda songbook.

The Feast of lamps : a story of India /

Meenakshi and her brother Arumukam so by ox cart with their parents to Madura to see the god Siva, and the goddess Meenakshi for whom the Indian girl is named.