Opening the adaptive toolbox

This is a discussion of the following three papers appearing in this special issue on adaptive designs: 'A regulatory view on adaptive/flexible clinical trial design' by H. M. James Hung, Robert T. O'Neill, Sue-Jane Wang and John Lawrence; 'Confirmatory clinical trials with an adaptive design' by Armin Koch; and 'FDA's critical path initiative: A perspective on contributions of biostatistics' by Robert T. O'Neill.     

Methodological developments vs. regulatory requirements

This is a discussion of the following three papers appearing in this special issue on adaptive designs: 'FDA's critical path initiative: A perspective on contributions of biostatistics' by Robert T. O'Neill, 'A regulatory view on adaptive/flexible clinical trial design' by H. M. James Hung, Robert T. O'Neill, Sue-Jane Wang and John Lawrence; and 'Confirmatory clinical trials with an adaptive design' by Armin Koch.     

Adaptive designs from the viewpoint of an academic biostatistician

This is a discussion of the following three papers appearing in this special issue on adaptive designs: 'FDA's critical path initiative: A perspective on contributions of biostatistics' by Robert T. O'Neill, 'A regulatory view on adaptive/flexible clinical trial design' by H. M. James Hung, Robert T. O'Neill, Sue-Jane Wang and John Lawrence; and 'Confirmatory clinical trials with an adaptive design' by Armin Koch.     

A consultant's perspective on the regulatory hurdles to adaptive trials

This is a discussion of the following two papers appearing in this special issue on adaptive designs: 'A regulatory view on adaptive/flexible clinical trial design' by H. M. James Hung, Robert T. O'Neill, Sue-Jane Wang and John Lawrence and 'Confirmatory clinical trials with an adaptive design' by Armin Koch.     

Modification of arthropod vector competence via symbiotic bacteria

Some of the world's most devastating diseases are transmitted by arthropod vectors. Attempts to control these arthropods are currently being challenged by the widespread appearance of insecticide resistance. It is therefore desirable to develop alternative strategies to complement existing methods of vector control. In this review, Charles Beard, Scott O'Neill, Robert Tesh, Frank Richards and Serap Aksoy present an approach for introducing foreign genes into insects in order to confer refractoriness to vector populations, ie. the inability to transmit disease-causing agents. This approach aims to express foreign anti-parasitic or anti-viral gene products in symbiotic bacteria harbored by insects. The potential use of naturally occurring symbiont-based mechanisms in the spread of such refractory phenotypes is also discussed.     

Development of 'DFG-out' inhibitors of gatekeeper mutant kinases

HG-7-85-01(22) and HG-7-86-01(26) are thiazolo[5,4-b]pyridine containing type II tyrosine kinase inhibitors with potent cellular activity against both wild-type and 'gatekeeper' mutant T315I- Bcr-Abl. Here we report on the 'hybrid design' concept and subsequent structure activity guided optimization efforts that resulted in the development of these inhibitors.     

Audio-Visual Approaches to Science Teaching

From Instinct to Intelligence/How Animals Learn by Gloria Kirshner. Grosset &; Dunlap Publishers, 51 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10010. 1970. 127 pp., $3.95. Reviewed by Robert C. Hayden.

A Pictorial History of Oceanographic Submersibles by James B. Sweeney, Crown Publishers, Inc., 419 Park Ave. South, New York, N.Y. 10016. 1970. 314 pp., Indexed, Bibliography. $9.95. Reviewed by Robert C. Hayden.

Where the Winds Sleep: Man's Future on the Moon—A Projected History by Neil P. Ruzic. Doubleday &; Co., Inc., Garden City, New York, 1970. 236 pp., Indexed. $5.95. Reviewed by Robert C. Hayden.

Hunters and Collectors by George H. T. Kimble. McGraw-Hill Book Co., 330 West 42nd St., New York, N.Y. 10036. 1970. 48 pp., Indexed. $4.95 trade edn., $4.72 lib. edn. Reviewed by Robert C. Hayden.

Life in Ponds by Jean Gorvett. American Heritage Press, New York. 1920. 31 pp. Reviewed by Robert C. Hayden.

Discovering What Goldfish Do by Seymour Simon. McGraw-Hill Book Co., 330 West 42nd St., New York, N.Y. 1970. 47 pp. $3.95 trade edn. $3.83 lib. edn. Reviewed by Robert C. Hayden.

Building and Flying Scale Model Aircraft 3rd Edition by Walter A. Musciano. Herman Publishing Service, Division of Cahners Pub. Co., Inc., 221 Columbus Ave., Boston, Mass. 02116. 1970. 245 pp. Glossary, $7.95. Reviewed by Robert C. Hayden.     

Film Review

Book reviewed in this article:
Becoming American . 1982. Produced by Ken Levine and Ivory Waterworth Levine
The Best Place to Live . 1982. Produced and directed by Peter O'Neill and Ralph Rugoff     

REVIEWS

O n the N orthwest : C ommercial W haling in the P acific N orthwest 1790–1967. Robert Lloyd Webb.
T he S ei W hale : P opulation B iology , E cology and M anagement . Joseph Horwood
W ildlife R adio T agging , E quipment , F ield T echniques and D ata A nalysis . Robert Hayward.
B iology of the G enus C ephalorhynchus . R. L. Brownell, Jr. and G. P. Donovan, eds.
H andbook of M arine M ammals . V olume 4: R iver D olphins and the L arger T oothed W hales . S. H. Ridgway and R. Harrison, eds.
P olar B ears . Ian Stirling.
T he W hales of H awaii . Kenneth C. Balcomb, III.
W hales , D olphins and P orpoises . Richard Harrison and M. M. Bryden, eds.     

Film Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
The Tree of Iron . 1988. A film by Peter O'Neill, Frank Muhly, Jr ., and Peter Schmidt
The Blooms of Banjeli: Technology and Gender in African Ironmaking . 1986. A film by Carlyn Saltman, Candice Goucher , and Eugenia Herbert     

The skull of the rare Malaysian snake Anomochilus leonardi Smith, based on high-resolution X-ray computed tomography

The skull of the rare Malaysian snake Anomochilus leonardi is described in detail on the basis of a high-resolution X-ray computed tomographic scan of a mature specimen. Its skull anatomy is compared with that of Anomochilus weberi , as well as with that of scolecophidians and basal alethinophidians such as Anilius , Cylindrophis , uropeltines and selected Booidea. Anomochilus leonardi is found to be more paedomorphic than Anomochilus weberi . The genus Anomochilus most closely resembles uropeltines in skull anatomy. Both Anomochilus and uropeltines develop a 'central rod design' of skull morphology, which requires the presence of medial frontal pillars, in adaptation to burrowing habits. These pillars are an alethinophidian characteristic, absent in the skull of scolecophidians, which develop an 'outer shell design' in adaptation to burrowing. These results are discussed in the light of the hypothesis that scolecophidians and basal (i.e. non-macrostomatan) alethinophidians are 'regressed macrostomatans'.  © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2007, 149 , 671–685.     

Eugene O'Neill and Addison's disease

A detailed review of hospital records, physician's notes, diaries, letters, and autopsy reports offers sufficient clinical grounds to establish that Eugene O'Neill developed adrenal insufficiency, secondary to tuberculosis, in later life--a fact hitherto unknown--the condition not becoming manifest until after he had abdominal surgery in 1936.     

Looking Reality in the Eye: Museums and Social Responsibility

Looking Reality in the Eye: Museums and Social Responsibility . Robert P. Janesand Gerald T. Conaty, eds. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2005. 196 pp.     

Book Reviews

Lowery, G. H., Jr. The Mammals of Louisiana and its Adjacent Waters Louisiana State University Press 565 pp., $15.00, Reviewed by Paul F. Connor

Hutchins, Ross E. How Animals Survive (Finding-out books) New York: Parents' Magazine Press, 1974 64 pp., $4.59, Reviewed by Carl Gans

Macan, T.T. Ponds and Lakes New York: Crane, Russak & Company, Inc. 1974 148 pp., $10.50, Reviewed by Robert E. Knowlton

Kurtén, Bjorn The Age of Mammals New York: Columbia University Press, 1974 250 pp., $4.95, Paperback, Reviewed by Austin T. Hyde, Jr., M.D.

Friedman, Judi Jelly Jam Activity Book Chicago: Educational Methods, 1975 64 pp., $1.00, Reviewed by Rose Henninge     

Food-web complexity emerging from ecological dynamics on adaptive networks

Food webs are complex networks describing trophic interactions in ecological communities. Since Robert May's seminal work on random structured food webs, the complexity-stability debate is a central issue in ecology: does network complexity increase or decrease food-web persistence? A multi-species predator-prey model incorporating adaptive predation shows that the action of ecological dynamics on the topology of a food web (whose initial configuration is generated either by the cascade model or by the niche model) render, when a significant fraction of adaptive predators is present, similar hyperbolic complexity-persistence relationships as those observed in empirical food webs. It is also shown that the apparent positive relation between complexity and persistence in food webs generated under the cascade model, which has been pointed out in previous papers, disappears when the final connection is used instead of the initial one to explain species persistence.     

Interspecific hybridization induced amplification of Mdm2 on double minutes in a Mus hybrid

We report a case of interspecific hybridization induced amplification of Chromosome 10 on double minutes (dm) in the karyotype of a hybrid Mus embryo. Stable, non-mosaic dm were previously found in tissues of a 16.5-day Mus Musculus x Mus Caroli hybrid (Graves, 1984). Dm in tissues of the hybrid was of interest to us because of previous reports of genomic instability in interspecific hybrids (O'Neill et al., 1998) and thus we decided to characterize the dm in the hybrid karyotypes. Whole chromosome painting of the hybrid cell lines showed amplification of Chromosome 10 sequences. Southern analysis with a probe for the candidate gene Mdm2 showed amplification of the paternal allele of this oncogene. Overexpression of Mdm2 was confirmed by a western analysis that also showed an associated inactivation of the tumor suppressor, Trp53. Evidence indicates that the event leading to the instability observed was an early adaptive response to stress on the genome, i.e. interspecific hybridization.     

Book notices

ENTOMOLOGY IN HUMAN AND ANIMAL HEALTH. 7th edn. By Robert F. Harwood and Maurice T. James
BIOLOGICAL CLOCKS: THEIR FUNCTION IN NATURE. By J. L. Cloudsiey-Thompson
SEXUAL SELECTION AND REPRODUCTIVE COMPETITION IN INSECTS. Edited by Murray S. Blum and Nancy A. Blum
INSECT NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL TECHNIQUES. By T. A. Miller
INSECT HEMOCYTES. DEVELOPMENT, FORMS, FUNCTIONS AND TECHNIQUES. Edited by A. P. Gupta     

Inhibition of protein crystallization by evolutionary negative design

Why are proteins so hard to crystallize? We propose an 'evolutionary negative design' principle to explain this difficulty. Proteins have evolved to avoid crystallization because crystallization compromises the viability of the cell. Evolutionary negative design is supported by much evidence in the literature, including the effect of mutations on the crystallizability of a protein, the correlations found in the properties of crystal contacts in bioinformatics databases, and the positive use of protein crystallization by bacteria and viruses.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
ETHNOLOGY: Les Citadins Katangais et Leur Jardin: Aspects Psycho-sociaux de la Vie en Milieu Africain Urbain. Robert Dethier. Foreword by René Clémens.
ETHNOLOGY: Une Famille de Citadins du Katanga. Robert Dethier. Foreword by René Clémens.     

Besprechungen

Book reviewed in this article: Alcock , J. (1971): Interspecific differences in Avian feeding behavior and the evolution of Batesian mimikry Murton , R. K. (1971): The significance of a specific search image in the feeding behaviour of the Wood Pigeon Peeke , Harman V. S., Michael J. Herz und James E. Gallagher Free , J. P. (1971): Stimuli eliciting mating behaviour of Bumblebee Sayler , Anne, und Michael Salmon (1971): An ethological analysis of communal nursing by the House Mouse Banerjee , U. (1971): An inquiry into the genesis of aggression in Mice induced by isolation Narayanan , C. H., M. W. Fox und V. Hamburger White , R. E. C. (1971): Wrats: a computer compatible system for automatically recording and transcribing behavioural data Dawkins , R. (1971): A cheap method of recording behavioural events for direct computer access Snyder , Noel F. R. und Helen A. (1971): Defences of the Florida Apple Snail Vessey , Stephen H. (1971): Free-ranging Rhesus Monkeys: behavioural effects of removal Wootton , R. J. (1971): Measures of the aggression of parental male three-spined Sticklebacks Grant , P. R. (1971): Interactive behaviour of Puffins Gehlbach , Frederick R., Julian F. Watkins II and James C. Kroll (1971): Pheromone trail-following studies of typhlopid Espmark , Yngve (1971): Individual recognition by voice in Reindeer mother-young relationship Plutchik , Robert (1971): Individual and breed differences in approach and withdrawal in dogs Russell , Eleanor M., und G. A. Pearce (1971): Exploration of novel objects by Marsupials Orr , Robert T. (1970): Animals in migration (Tierwanderungen) Horwich , Robert H. (1971): The ontogeny of social behavior in the Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) Schöne , H., und H. A. Udo de Haes (1971): Space orientation in humans with special reference to the interaction of vestibular Gardner , Beatrice T. und R. Allen (1971): Two-way communication with an infant Chimpanzee Bondy , Stephen C., und Frank L. Margolis (1971): Sensory deprivation and brain development, the avian visual system as a model