Males and females of the social wasp Ropalidia marginata do not differ in their cuticular hydrocarbon profiles and do not seem to use any long-distance volatile mate attraction cues

Sex pheromones are vital in communication between individuals belonging to opposite sexes and form an integral part of the reproductive biology of various species. Among insects, sexual dimorphism in CHCs has been reported from diverse taxa spanning seven different orders, and thereby CHCs have been implicated as sex pheromones. Because males and females of the primitively eusocial wasp Ropalidia marginata touch each other with their antennae during mating, before engaging in sperm transfer, a sex pheromone that is perceived via contact chemosensation through the antennae can possibly exist in this species. Since CHCs have been implied as sex pheromones in various insects (including hymenopterans), and since sexual dimorphism of CHCs should be an obligatory prerequisite for them to act as sex pheromones, we investigated whether males and females of R. marginata differ in their CHC profiles. We found only nonvolatile CHCs, and our results show absence of sexual dimorphism in CHCs, suggesting that CHCs do not function as sex pheromone in this species. A behavioral assay failed to show presence of mate attraction at a distance, thereby showing the absence of volatile long-distance mate attraction cues (that may originate from sources other than and in addition to CHCs).

Why labor income shares seem to be constant?

The common assumptions that labor income share does not change over time or across countries and that factor income shares are equal to the elasticity of output with respect to factors have had important implications for economic theory. However, there are various theoretical reasons why the elasticity of output with respect to reproducible factors should be correlated with the stage of development. In particular, the behavior of international trade and capital flows and the existence of factor saving innovations imply such a correlation. If this correlation exists and if factor income shares are equal to the elasticity of output with respect to factors then the labor income share must be negatively correlated with the stage of development. We propose an explanation for why labor income share has no correlation with income per capita: the existence of a labor intensive sector which produces non tradable goods.

Entomofauna visitante de Stenolobium stans (Juss.) Seem (Bignoniaceae), durante seu período de floração

Realizaram-se estudos sobre as formas de reprodução de Stenolobium stans (Juss.) Seem e determinou-se a diversidade, freqüência e constância dos insetos visitantes nas flores em diferentes horas, durante quatro anos. As flores de S. stans começam a se abrir nas primeiras horas do dia entre 5 e 6h, com duração de 3 a 8h. Quando o estigma está receptivo, o pólen tem 90% de viabilidade. Além do pólen, a flor possui outros atrativos para os insetos visitantes, ou seja, os osmóforos responsáveis pelo odor adocicado, luz ultravioleta refletida e néctar com 25% de açúcar. A planta é autocompatível, reproduzindo-se por autogamia, geitonogamia ou xenogamia o que determina a necessidade de polinizadores externos e justifica ser a espécie vegetal em estudo uma séria invasora de campos e pastagens. Grande diversidade de insetos foi verificada visitando as flores, com predominância das abelhas. Os polinizadores foram Centris collaris Lepeletier, Bombus morio (Swederus), Eulaema nigrita Lepeletier e Epicharis sp. No meio rural houve menor incidência das espécies nativas do que no ambiente urbano, com predominância da abelha introduzida Apis mellifera L. Fatores ambientais, principalmente a temperatura, luminosidade, umidade relativa do ar e velocidade do vento, influenciaram a atividade forrageadora dos insetos.

Three sympatric karyomorphs in the fish Astyanax fasciatus (Teleostei, Characidae) do not seem to hybridize in natural populations

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Efficacy of New Generation Antidepressants: Differences Seem Illusory

Background: Recently, Cipriani and colleagues examined the relative efficacy of 12 new-generation antidepressants on major depression using network meta-analytic methods. They found that some of these medications outperformed others in patient response to treatment. However, several methodological criticisms have been raised about network meta-analysis and Cipriani’s analysis in particular which creates the concern that the stated superiority of some antidepressants relative to others may be unwarranted. Materials and Methods: A Monte Carlo simulation was conducted which involved replicating Cipriani’s network metaanalysis under the null hypothesis (i.e., no true differences between antidepressants). The following simulation strategy was implemented: (1) 1000 simulations were generated under the null hypothesis (i.e., under the assumption that there were no differences among the 12 antidepressants), (2) each of the 1000 simulations were network meta-analyzed, and (3) the total number of false positive results from the network meta-analyses were calculated. Findings: Greater than 7 times out of 10, the network meta-analysis resulted in one or more comparisons that indicated the superiority of at least one antidepressant when no such true differences among them existed. Interpretation: Based on our simulation study, the results indicated that under identical conditions to those of the 117 RCTs with 236 treatment arms contained in Cipriani et al.’s meta-analysis, one or more false claims about the relative efficacy of antidepressants will be made over 70% of the time. As others have shown as well, there is little evidence in these trials that any antidepressant is more effective than another. The tendency of network meta-analyses to generate false positive results should be considered when conducting multiple comparison analyses.

Adenocarcinomas of the upper third of the rectum and the rectosigmoid junction seem to have similar prognosis as colon cancers even without radiotherapy, SAKK 40/78

Purpose To investigate the prognosis of adenocarcinomas of the upper third of the rectum and the rectosigmoid-junction without radiotherapy. Methods Patients from a multicenter randomized controlled trial from 1987–1993 on adjuvant chemotherapy for R0-resected colorectal cancers with stage I–III disease were retrospectively allocated: cancers of the lower two-thirds of the rectum (11 cm or less from anal-verge, Group A, n = 205), of the upper-third of the rectum and rectosigmoid-junction (>11–20 cm from anal-verge, Group B, n = 142), and of the colon (>20 cm from anal-verge, Group C, n = 378). The total mesorectal excision (TME) technique had not been introduced yet. The adjuvant chemotherapy turned out to be ineffective. None of the patients received neoadjuvant or adjuvant radiotherapy. Results The patients had a regular follow-up (median, 8.0 years). The 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) rate was 0.54 (95%CI, 0.47–0.60) in Group A, 0.68 (95%CI, 0.60–0.75) in Group B, and 0.69 (95%CI, 0.64–0.74) in Group C. The 5-year overall survival (OS) rate was 0.64 (95%CI, 0.57–0.71) in Group A, 0.79 (95%CI, 0.71–0.85) in Group B, and 0.77 (95%CI, 0.73–0.81) in Group C. Compared with Group C, patients in Group A had a significantly worse OS (hazard ratio [HR] for death 2.10) and a worse DFS (HR for relapse/death 1.93), while patients in Group B had a similar OS (HR 1.12) and DFS (HR 1.07). Conclusions Adenocarcinomas of the upper third of the rectum and the rectosigmoid-junction seem to have similar prognosis as colon cancers. Even for surgeons not familiar with the TME technique, preoperative radiotherapy may be avoided for most rectosigmoid cancers above 11 cm from anal-verge.

Human MAMLD1 Gene Variations Seem Not Sufficient to Explain a 46,XY DSD Phenotype

MAMLD1 is thought to cause disordered sex development in 46,XY patients. But its role is controversial because some MAMLD1 variants are also detected in normal individuals, several MAMLD1 mutations have wild-type activity in functional tests, and the male Mamld1-knockout mouse has normal genitalia and reproduction. Our aim was to search for MAMLD1 variations in 108 46,XY patients with disordered sex development, and to test them functionally. We detected MAMDL1 variations and compared SNP frequencies in controls and patients. We tested MAMLD1 transcriptional activity on promoters involved in sex development and assessed the effect of MAMLD1 on androgen production. MAMLD1 expression in normal steroid-producing tissues and mutant MAMLD1 protein expression were also assessed. Nine MAMLD1 mutations (7 novel) were characterized. In vitro, most MAMLD1 variants acted similarly to wild type. Only the L210X mutation showed loss of function in all tests. We detected no effect of wild-type or MAMLD1 variants on CYP17A1 enzyme activity in our cell experiments, and Western blots revealed no significant differences for MAMLD1 protein expression. MAMLD1 was expressed in human adult testes and adrenals. In conclusion, our data support the notion that MAMLD1 sequence variations may not suffice to explain the phenotype in carriers and that MAMLD1 may also have a role in adult life.

“My people seem to be falling to bits”: impotence, memory, and the co-possibility of body and mind in Samuel Beckett’s works

The present thesis examines the representation of the impotent body and mind in a selection of Samuel Beckett’s dramatic and prose works. Aiming to show that the body-mind relation is represented as one of co-implication and co-constitution, this thesis also takes the representation of memory in Beckett’s work as a key site for examining this relation. The thesis seeks to address the centrality of the body and embodied subjectivity in the experience of memory and indeed in signification and experience more generally. In these terms, Chapter 1 analyzes the representation of the figure of the couple in Beckett’s drama of the 1950s – as a metaphor of the body-mind relation – and, in light of Jacques Derrida’s theory of the supplement and Bernard Stiegler’s theory of technics, it discusses how the relationship between physical body and mind is defined by an essential supplementarity that is revealed even (or especially) in their apparent separation. Furthermore, the impotence that marks both elements in Beckett’s writings, when it is seen to lay bare this intrication, can be viewed, in important respects, as enabling rather than merely privative. Chapter 2 discusses the somatic structure of memory as represented in four of Beckett’s later dramatic works composed in the 1970s and 1980s. Similarly to Chapter 1, the second chapter focuses on the more “extreme” representation of bodily impotence in Beckett and demonstrates that rather than a merely “mental” recollection, memory in the work of Beckett is presented as necessarily experienced through, and shaped by, the body itself. In this light, then, it is shown that despite the impotence that marks the body in Beckett’s work of the 1970s and 1980s, the body is a necessary site of memory and retains or discovers a kind of activity in this impotence. Finally, Chapter 3 shifts its attention to Beckett’s prose works in order to explore how such works, reliant on language rather than the physical performance of actors onstage, sustain questions of embodied subjectivity at their heart. Specifically, the chapter argues that, on closer inspection, Beckett’s “literature of the unword” is not an abstention from meaning and its materialization, but one that paradoxically foregrounds that “something” which remains an essential part of it, that is, an embodied subjectivity.