Monkey mountain as a megazoo: analysing the naturalistic claims of “wild monkey parks” in Japan

In Japan yaen koen or ‘wild monkey parks’ are popular visitor attractions that show free-ranging monkey troops to the paying public. Unlike zoos, which display animals through confinement, monkey parks control the movements of the monkeys through provisioning. The parks project an image of themselves as ‘natural zoos’, claiming to practice a more authentic form of wild animal display than that practiced by the zoo. This article critically evaluates the monkey park’s claim by examining park management of the monkeys. The monkey park’s claim to display ‘wild monkeys’ is shown to be questionable because of the way that provisioning changes monkey behaviour. Against the background of human encroachment onto the forest habitat of the monkey, the long-term effect of provisioning is to sedentarize what were nomadic monkeys and to turn the ‘wild monkey park’ into a megazoo.

Increased cerebral output of free radicals during hypoxia: implications for acute mountain sickness?

Bailey DM, Taudorf S, Berg RMG, Lundby C, McEneny J, Young IS, Evans KA, James PE, Shore A, Hullin DA, McCord JM, Pedersen BK, Moller K. Increased cerebral output of free radicals during hypoxia: implications for acute mountain sickness? Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 297: R1283-R1292, 2009. First published September 2, 2009; doi: 10.1152/ajpregu.00366.2009.-This study examined whether hypoxia causes free radical-mediated disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and impaired cerebral oxidative metabolism and whether this has any bearing on neurological symptoms ascribed to acute mountain sickness (AMS). Ten men provided internal jugular vein and radial artery blood samples during normoxia and 9-h passive exposure to hypoxia (12.9% O-2). Cerebral blood flow was determined by the Kety-Schmidt technique with net exchange calculated by the Fick principle. AMS and headache were determined with clinically validated questionnaires. Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy and ozone-based chemiluminescence were employed for direct detection of spin-trapped free radicals and nitric oxide metabolites. Neuron-specific enolase (NSE), S100 beta, and 3-nitrotyrosine (3-NT) were determined by ELISA. Hypoxia increased the arterio-jugular venous concentration difference (a-v(D)) and net cerebral output of lipid-derived alkoxyl-alkyl free radicals and lipid hydroperoxides (P

The Skills Agenda and the Competencies for Managing Diversity and Space

This paper evaluates skills for managing ethno-religious diversity in the context of regeneration, spatial planning and the pursuit of sustainable communities. It draws on experiences in Northern Ireland to explore the type and range of skills required in a society emerging from prolonged conflict and residential segregation. The paper concludes by highlighting the need for a more direct political engagement with agnostic practice that challenges the technical reductionism implied in generic skills frameworks. Here, the implications for practice outside the region are identified.

Antimicrobial peptides from the skin secretion of the Wuyi Mountain torrent frog, Amolops wuyiensis: An inhabitant of a pristine aquatic environment

The antimicrobial peptides of amphibian skin secretions are proposed to aid survival in microbe-rich environments. While many amphibians inhabit such environments, other such as the Wuyi Mountain torrent frog, Amolops wuyiensis, live in pristine waters flowing from underground mountain springs. This species thus represents an interesting model in which to study antimicrobial peptides. “Shotgun” cloning of a skin-derived cDNA library from this species identified transcripts encoding a brevinin-1 and a ranatuerin-2. Peptides with coincident molecular masses to both predicted mature peptides were identified in HPLC fractions of skin secretion. Synthetic replicates of both peptides were generated by solid-phase peptide synthesis and tested for activity using Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Candida albicans. The brevinin was found to be broad-spectrum and potent with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of 24 µM (Sa), 5 µM (Ec) and 20 µM (Ca). In contrast, the ranatuerin was less effective and of narrower spectrum with an MIC > 200 µM for Sa, 40 µM (Ec) and 120 µM (Ca). Thus this species of amphibian that lives in a pristine environment does indeed possess at least one potent and broad-spectrum antimicrobial peptide in its skin secretion arsenal. This phenomenon could be explained in several ways. Firstly, it may represent an ancestral peptide required when the stem species inhabited microbe-rich environments. However, there is mounting evidence for the second reason, that suggests the function of such peptides is not primarily in antimicrobial defence.

Managing time: integration of care and paid work amongst low income families and the role of the United Kingdom’s tax credit system

Under the New Labour Governments in the UK, successive reforms of the tax and benefit system sought to improve the financial benefits of paid work. Drawing on two waves of qualitative interviews with low-income working families this article examines the role of the UK tax credit system in shaping decisions about employment and unpaid care work. The article suggests that the financial support provided for lone parent participants by the tax credit system enhanced their temporal autonomy, permitting participation in paid work to align more closely with temporally situated notions of parental responsibility for caring. For couple families however, parental perceptions of responsibility for pre-school children, along with childcare constraints and the structure of the tax credit system served to constrain the autonomy of the main carer and implicitly encourage a gendered specialisation in caring or employment.