Quantification of IGF-1 Receptor May Be Useful in Diagnosing Polycythemia Vera–Suggestion to Be Added to Be One of the Minor Criterion

Endogenous erythroid colony (EEC) formation is one of the minor criteria for diagnosing polycythemia vera (PV) according to 2008 WHO diagnostic criteria. But EEC requires bone marrow aspiration and sophisticated laboratory procedures; therefore, practically it is rarely used to diagnose PV. Insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) was found to be constitutively phosphorylated and was responsible for the EEC formation in PV; therefore, we measured IGF-1R levels in the peripheral blood of 26 PV patients and compared them with those of 33 patients with secondary polycythemia and 29 normal controls. Among the PV patients, 16 were treated with only phlebotomy, 9 received hydroxyurea, and 1 was treated with ruxolinitinib. We found that PV patients treated with only phlebotomy had significantly higher IGF-1R levels than did those PV patients treated with hydroxyurea or ruxolinitinib. None of the secondary PV patients or normal controls had elevated IGR-1R levels, while 14 of 16 (87%) PV patients had significantly elevated IGF-1R levels. The new 2016 WHO has eliminated EEC as a minor criterion for diagnosing PV, but there are still some cases that cannot be definitively diagnosed by the current criteria. Therefore, we suggest that quantifying the IGF-1R level in peripheral blood by flow cytometry to replace EEC as the minor criterion for diagnosing PV.     

Murder or Not? Cold Temperature Makes Criminals Appear to Be Cold-Blooded and Warm Temperature to Be Hot-Headed

Temperature-related words such as cold-blooded and hot-headed can be used to describe criminal behavior. Words associated with coldness describe premeditated behavior and words associated with heat describe impulsive behavior. Building on recent research about the close interplay between physical and interpersonal coldness and warmth, we examined in a lab experiment how ambient temperature within a comfort zone influences judgments of criminals. Participants in rooms with low temperature regarded criminals to be more cold-blooded than participants in rooms with high temperature. Specifically, they were more likely to attribute premeditated crimes, ascribed crimes resulting in higher degrees of penalty, and attributed more murders to criminals. Likewise, participants in rooms with high temperature regarded criminals to be more hot-headed than participants in rooms with low temperature: They were more likely to attribute impulsive crimes. Results imply that cognitive representations of temperature are closely related to representations of criminal behavior and attributions of intent.     

What Does It Mean to Be Musical?

Music can be seen as a model system for understanding gene × environment interactions and how these can influence neurocognitive development. The concept of musicality, however, is underspecified and not well understood. Here, I propose a framework for defining musicality to provide a foundation for studying the contributions of biological and environmental factors.     

Must There Be a Balance of Nature?

The balance of nature concept is an old idea that manifests itself in anumber of forms in population and community ecology. This paper focuseson population ecology, where controversy surrounding the balance ofnature takes the form of perennial debates over the significance ofdensity dependence, population regulation, and species interactions suchas competition. One of the most striking features of these debates, overthe course of the previous century in ecology, is the tendency to arguethe case on largely conceptual grounds. This paper explores twoquestions. Why this tendency to settle on conceptual grounds what is soobviously an empirical issue? Are there any good conceptual arguments tobe had in this area?     

Are Unfamiliar Neighbours Considered to Be Dear-Enemies?

Background

Discriminating threatening individuals from non-threatening ones allow territory owners to modulate their territorial responses according to the threat posed by each intruder. This ability reduces costs associated with territorial defence. Reduced aggression towards familiar adjacent neighbours, termed the dear-enemy effect, has been shown in numerous species. An important question that has never been investigated is whether territory owners perceive distant neighbours established in the same group as strangers because of their unfamiliarity, or as dear-enemies because of their group membership.

Methodology/Principal Findings

To investigate this question, we played back to male skylarks (Alauda arvensis) songs of adjacent neighbours, distant neighbours established a few territories away in the same microdialect area and strangers. Additionally, we carried out a propagation experiment to investigate how far skylark songs are propagated in their natural habitat and we estimated repertoire similarity between adjacent neighbours, distant neighbours and strangers. We show that skylarks, in the field, respond less aggressively to songs of their distant and likely unfamiliar neighbours, as shown by the propagation experiment, compared to stranger songs. The song analysis revealed that individuals share a high amount of syllables and sequences with both their adjacent and distant neighbours, but only few syllables and no sequences with strangers.

Conclusions

The observed reduction of aggression between distant neighbours thus probably results from their familiarity with the vocal group signature shared by all members of the neighbourhood. Therefore, in skylarks, dear-enemy-like relationships can be established between unfamiliar individuals who share a common acoustic code.     

Should Bacteriophages Be Classified As Parasites Or Predators?

Bacteriophages are viruses infecting bacteria and propagating in bacterial cells. They were discovered over 100 years ago, and for decades they played crucial roles as models in genetics and molecular biology and as tools in genetic engineering and biotechnology. Now we also recognize their huge role in natural environment and their importance in human health and disease. Despite our understanding of bacteriophage mechanisms of development, these viruses are described as parasites or predators in the literature. From the biological point of view, there are fundamental differences between parasites and predators. Therefore, in this article, I asked whether bacteriophages should be classified as former or latter biological entities. Analysis of the literature and biological definitions led me to conclude that bacteriophages are parasites rather than predators and should be classified and described as such. If even more precise ecological classification is needed, bacteriophages can perhaps be included in the group of parasitoids. It might be the most appropriate formal classification of these viruses, especially if strictly virulent phages are considered, contrary to phages which lysogenize host cells and those which develop according to the permanent infection mode (or chronic cycle, like filamentous phages) revealing features of classical parasites.     

Should Children Be Given Priority in Kidney Allocation?

Kidneys for transplantation are scarce, and many countries give priority to children in allocating them. This paper explains and criticizes the paediatric priority. We set out the relevant ethical principles of allocation, such as utility and severity, and the relevant facts to do with such matters as sensitization and child development. We argue that the facts and principles do not support and sometimes conflict with the priority given to children. We next consider various views on how age or the status of children should affect allocation. Again, these views do not support priority to children in its current form. Since distinctions based on age ought to be positively justified, the failure of all these attempts at justification implies that the priority to children is ethically mistaken. Finally, the paper points to evidence that the paediatric priority reduces the overall supply of kidneys, at least in the United States. Paediatric priority is a real-world policy that seems discriminatory, in some places probably reduces the supply of organs, has no robust official defence, and is unsupported by mainstream ethical principles. Consequently, it should be ended.     

How Many Genetic Variants Remain to Be Discovered?

A great majority of genetic markers discovered in recent genome-wide association studies have small effect sizes, and they explain only a small fraction of the genetic contribution to the diseases. How many more variants can we expect to discover and what study sizes are needed? We derive the connection between the cumulative risk of the SNP variants to the latent genetic risk model and heritability of the disease. We determine the sample size required for case-control studies in order to achieve a certain expected number of discoveries in a collection of most significant SNPs. Assuming similar allele frequencies and effect sizes of the currently validated SNPs, complex phenotypes such as type-2 diabetes would need approximately 800 variants to explain its 40% heritability. Much smaller numbers of variants are needed if we assume rare-variants but higher penetrance models. We estimate that up to 50,000 cases and an equal number of controls are needed to discover 800 common low-penetrant variants among the top 5000 SNPs. Under common and rare low-penetrance models, the very large studies required to discover the numerous variants are probably at the limit of practical feasibility. Under rare-variant with medium- to high-penetrance models (odds-ratios between 1.6 and 4.0), studies comparable in size to many existing studies are adequate provided the genotyping technology can interrogate more and rarer variants.     

Should Forest Restoration with Natural Hybrids Be Allowed?

One of the greatest challenges of forest restoration is the choice of appropriate plant material that is adapted to local environments, provides the desired ecological services, and does not compromise the local biodiversity. Plant restoration programs use native seeds, a mixture of local and introduced seeds of the same species or allopatric species. However, restoration programs rarely use local hybrid individuals if a local species exhibits natural hybridization. Hybridization is an important evolutionary process that can result in new genotypic combinations that might be suited better to the target habitat than the parental species and allow adaptation to rapid environmental change. European forests are generally under strict legal regulations so that only certified seeds can be used for their restoration. The European certification procedure for seeds from forest trees has been devised to commercialize clearly identified species with known adaptation to a given area. Natural hybrids, for which taxonomic status is uncertain and fitness is generally unknown, are excluded, which is not the case of artificial hybrids because they have been previously tested in the field. Here we discuss the pressing need to include natural hybrid populations as a source of certified seeds for restoration purposes. Using the example of two ash species and their well‐adapted hybrids along the Loire River in France, we show why European forest guidelines must be made more flexible to allow the provision of stable ecosystem services.     

Closing Yield Gaps: How Sustainable Can We Be?

Global food production needs to be increased by 60–110% between 2005 and 2050 to meet growing food and feed demand. Intensification and/or expansion of agriculture are the two main options available to meet the growing crop demands. Land conversion to expand cultivated land increases GHG emissions and impacts biodiversity and ecosystem services. Closing yield gaps to attain potential yields may be a viable option to increase the global crop production. Traditional methods of agricultural intensification often have negative externalities. Therefore, there is a need to explore location-specific methods of sustainable agricultural intensification. We identified regions where the achievement of potential crop calorie production on currently cultivated land will meet the present and future food demand based on scenario analyses considering population growth and changes in dietary habits. By closing yield gaps in the current irrigated and rain-fed cultivated land, about 24% and 80% more crop calories can respectively be produced compared to 2000. Most countries will reach food self-sufficiency or improve their current food self-sufficiency levels if potential crop production levels are achieved. As a novel approach, we defined specific input and agricultural management strategies required to achieve the potential production by overcoming biophysical and socioeconomic constraints causing yield gaps. The management strategies include: fertilizers, pesticides, advanced soil management, land improvement, management strategies coping with weather induced yield variability, and improving market accessibility. Finally, we estimated the required fertilizers (N, P₂O₅, and K₂O) to attain the potential yields. Globally, N-fertilizer application needs to increase by 45–73%, P₂O₅-fertilizer by 22–46%, and K₂O-fertilizer by 2–3 times compared to the year 2010 to attain potential crop production. The sustainability of such agricultural intensification largely depends on the way management strategies for closing yield gaps are chosen and implemented.     

Moral Hypocrisy on the Basis of Construal Level: To Be a Utilitarian Personal Decision Maker or to Be a Moral Advisor?

BackgroundPeople encounter various moral issues that involve making decisions for others by giving advice.ObjectiveThis study investigated the characteristics of providing suggestions for oneself versus providing suggestions for others in ethical decision-making and the differences between them based on Construal Level Theory (CLT).MethodsA total of 768 undergraduate students from three universities in China were randomly assigned to eight groups on the basis of a grid of two Construal Levels (self or others) by two different numbers of people saved (5 people or 15 people) by two problem situations (trolley problem vs. footbridge problem). The investigation examined participants’ decisions to opt to take action or refrain from action that would have the consequence of saving more people.ResultsThe main effects of Construal Level (F_{1, 752} = 6.46, p = .011), saving number (F_{1, 752} = 35.81, p < .001), and problem situation type (F_{1, 752} = 330.55, p < .001) were all significant. The interaction of the problem situation and saving number (F_{1, 752} = 1.01, p = .31), and social distance and saving number (F_{1, 752} = 0.85, p = .36), and interaction of the three independent factors (F_{1, 752} = 0.47, p = .49) were not significant. However, the interaction of social distance and problem situation (F_{1, 752} = 9.46, p = .002) was significant. Results indicated the participants utilized a component of utilitarian reasoning in the decision-making, and their behaviors appeared more utilitarian at low Construal Levels (CLs) compared to high.ConclusionCLs, saving numbers, and problem situation significantly affected moral decision-making and exhibited significant interaction. Making decisions for oneself (low-construal) rather than giving advice to others (high-construal) was one important factor that determined whether the people were utilitarian or not. Utilitarian considerations are more relevant in impersonal dilemmas.     

Why Be Vigilant? The Case of the Alpha Animal

We compared patterns of vigilance behavior in a male- and a female-dominant species—white-faced capuchins and ring-tailed lemurs—and used the results to test four hypotheses to explain vigilance behavior in primates. Adult male white-faced capuchins spent significantly more time vigilant than females did, and much male vigilance appeared to be directed toward males from other social groups. This finding supports the protection of paternity hypothesis. No sex difference existed in vigilance behavior among the ring-tailed lemurs, and subjects of both sexes exhibited more vigilance toward predators/potential predators than toward extragroup conspecifics, which supports the predator detection hypothesis. A trade-off argument, suggesting that females tolerate males in a group in return for greater male vigilance, does not apply to ring-tailed lemurs in our study. In both the male-dominant capuchins and the female-dominant ring-tailed lemurs, the alpha subject in the majority of the study groups was significantly more vigilant than other group members were. In white-faced capuchins, the alpha male mates more often than subordinate males do; therefore, the greater degree of vigilance exhibited by the alpha male may correspond to the protection of his reproductive investment. In ring-tailed lemurs, there can be more than one matriline in a group. Thus, the greater amount of vigilance behavior exhibited by the alpha female may be related to protection of her matriline, which could ultimately lead to greater inclusive fitness. Alpha subjects in our study groups exhibited certain behaviors more frequently or exclusively. Accordingly, there may be a constellation of behaviors characteristic of alpha animals.