Who should fund and control the direction of human behavior genetics? Review of Nuffield Council on Bioethics 2002 Report,Genetics and Human Behaviour: the Ethical Context

In this ( Nuffield Council on Bioethics 2002) , the third in its series on ethics and related issues in genetics (see also Nuffield Council on Bioethics 1993 and Nuffield Council on Bioethics 1998) , the Nuffield Council has focused on four 'normal' behaviors; intelligence, personality, antisocial behavior and sexual orientation. This is a narrow range of behaviors and one where their discussion of the potential impact of predictive genetic testing is probably inappropriate. They also take an unduly narrow view of the purposes of behavior genetics in the 21st century. It is not simply to estimate heritability but to understand more about the structure of behavior and the processes which underlie it. Their narrow focus and their negative approach to the history and achievements of genetics is reflected in their less than positive support for future behavior genetic research. Behavior geneticists need to do more to publicize what their field has achieved in order to counter the very extensive antibehavior genetics initiatives which are almost unique in science. At the same time, organizations such as the Nuffield Council need to consider carefully the impact their deliberations may have on research funding.     

Philip Cohen

Philip Cohen trained at University College London and, after postdoctoral research at the University of Washington, joined the University of Dundee Scotland, in 1971, where he has worked ever since. He is a Royal Society Research Professor and Director of the Medical Research Council Protein Phosphorylation Unit. His main contributions have been in the area of protein phosphorylation and its role in cell regulation and human disease. In 1998, he was knighted for his contributions to biochemistry and the development of Life Sciences at Dundee.     

Effects of five years of grazing on a salt-marsh vegetation

Plant Ecology - In a salt-marsh, which was ungrazed from 1958 to 1971, grazing was reintroduced in 24 out of 32 ha from 1972 onwards. Vegetation changes under these conditions were investigated....     

BOOK REVIEWS

Books Reviewed in this Article:
Graham, A. (1971) . British Prosobranch and Other Operculate Gastropod Molluscs .
Mills, D. (1971) . Salmon and Trout: A Resource, its Ecology, Conservation and Management .     

Ecology through time, an overview.

This brief review is an attempt to condense the major events in the history of Ecology into short 10 sections. In little more than two generations, a new science has emerged and developed into a fundamental part of our lives, spurred on by increasing interest in "natural systems" and concerns over the environmental changes we are witnessing. Ecology, rather neglected until the early decades of last century, flourished and established itself as mature science during the mid-1900s, producing many theories, models, hypothesis and trends of thought. Ecology deals with interacting natural systems and eclectically applies tools drawn from several different sciences (Biology, Mathematics, Statistics, Chemistry, Geology, Physics and so on). The beauty of the subject and its multidisciplinary approach makes Ecology extremely intriguing for researchers. One of the main goals of Ecology is to forecast population, community and ecosystem trends over time. Ecological systems are complex: they are composed of such a large number of different, interacting components that their overall behavior can only be understood in terms of emerging properties. Therefore, some interactions and effects are difficult to predict. However, some insights into population and community trends can be inferred from exhaustive data sets and sufficiently long-term, time-series data and dynamic models. Unfortunately, due to the limited funding of environmental data collection, only a few exhaustive, long-term samplings have been carried out, and systematic record keeping for the purposes of ecological research has only recently become widespread. However, it is still possible to garner some insights from historical reports (proxies), which clearly show how the population structures of most of today's communities have been affected by human activities.This short review is based on a talk given at Arcidosso (Grosseto, Italy) during the September, 2005 workshop: "Scientific research and society during the last fifty years", organized by the Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Complex Systems of the University of Pisa (CISSC), in cooperation with the Domus Galilaeana. The talk was addressed to scientists in various fields with the threefold aim of presenting Ecology as a true science, stimulating curiosity and laying the bases for further insights. We hope that this review, as brief as it is, may at least partially attain such goals.     

Le bioclimat Mediterraneen: Analyse des formes climatiques par le systeme d'Emberger

Plant Ecology - In this second report on the Mediterranean bioclimate, the author treats the method developed by Emberger (1930 to 1971) to analyse the Mediterranean climate as defined in the...     

Coronary Care Units—The Status in California

In order to determine the status of Coronary Care Unit activity in California hospitals, especially as it pertains to nurse training, a survery was conducted by the California State Department of Public Health. More than 95 percent of hospitals that were questioned responded. Only one-third of the hospitals reported they neither had a unit nor plans to build one. All units in operation were either directed by an individual medical director or by a Coronary Care Unit Committee.The survey indicated that in some hospitals with operational units, nurses were not permitted to perform life-saving resuscitative procedures. All operational units reported in-service education programs of some type. Many hospitals indicated they would like to have Coronary Care Unit training programs to which they could send nurses. The reasons why nurses may not perform important resuscitative procedures are discussed as well as the need for Coronary Care Unit training programs for both physicians and nurses in California.     

Ownership and uses of human tissue: does the Nuffield bioethics report accord with opinion of surgical inpatients?

OBJECTIVE: To compare opinion of surgical inpatients with the conclusions of the report of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics regarding the ownership and uses of human tissue. DESIGN: Survey of results of questionnaires completed by patients. SETTING: Large teaching hospital. SUBJECTS: 384 postoperative adult surgical patients. RESULTS: There was strong support among patients for the use of tissues in medical education, research, and science with the exception of those tissues which may transmit disease to others. Few patients (39; 10%) believed that they retained ownership of tissue removed at surgery. Most believed that the tissue belonged to the hospital (103; 27%), to nobody (103; 27%), or to the laboratory (77; 20%). Most patients had not been given any information about the possible uses of their tissues after removal. CONCLUSIONS: Surgical inpatients seem to endorse the conclusions of the Nuffield report regarding the ownership and uses of human tissue. The recommendations regarding patient information and consent procedures should be implemented at the earliest opportunity.     

Rethinking soil water repellency and its management

Plant Ecology - Soil water repellency (SWR) is a widespread challenge to plant establishment and growth. Despite considerable research, it remains a recalcitrant problem for which few alleviation...     

Meta分析：综述中的一次大革命

科学研究应建立于许多实验结果的重复之上，除了少数新发现外，单个实验结果很难对科学的发展作出极为显著的贡献。所以为了阐明某一主题，在许多科学领域有众多研究者在对不同的实验对象或对同一对象在不同的实验环境中进行实验，如生态学中ＣＯ２倍增对植物光合作用的影响是目前一个比较热的话题，于是在短短的几年内就有大量的文章报道ＣＯ２倍增对各种植物光合作用的影响；在医学界，如胎教对婴儿智力的影响，吸烟与肺癌的相关程度等，都曾有大量的临床或调查实验对这些大众所关心的问题进行统计分析研究，但结果不尽相同。面对如此多结…     

Avian peptidase isozymes: Tissue distributions,substrate affinities,and assignment of homology

Peptidase (EC 3.4.13.9 and EC 3.4.13.11) isozymes were examined from 14 tissues of 19 species of birds, representing 8 families and 6 orders, via horizontal starch gel electrophoresis. Peptidases were detected by employing histochemical staining techniques utilizing 13 di-, tri-, and tetrapeptides as substrates. It was determined that there is a minimum of six presumptive structural gene loci encoding peptidases in birds (excluding those encoding cytosol aminopeptidase; EC 3.4.11.1). The products of the peptidase loci were widely expressed in most tissues with the exception of Pep-F, which was restricted to pancreas. Products of most loci have multiple, overlapping substrate affinities (except for the products of Pep-D, which react only with a peptide containing a carboxyterminal proline). By using a combination of differential electrophoretic mobility and substrate preferences, the products of the various peptidase loci can be distinguished from one another. The homologies of the avian peptidases with those in other vertebrates were tentatively established and it is suggested that the nomenclature proposed by Rapleyet al. (Ann. Hum. Genet. 34:307, 1971) be applied to avian peptidases. Financial support for this research was provided by several Organismal Biology Grants provided through the Department of Biology, UCLA; UCLA Travel and Research Grants; and a NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (BSR 85-01245) to RHM; and the UCLA Biomedical Support Grant and UCLA Committee on Research Grant (U.R. 3674) to D. G. Buth.     

Stimuli governing intraspecific egg predation in the flour beetles,Tribolium confusum andT. castaneum

Population Ecology - The present research has not identified all of the factors that interact to produce the observed egg cannibalism rates inTribolium. It has, however, shown that some physical...     

Wartime research on malaria chemotherapy

Malaria was a major problem for the opposing forces in World War II. During the first year of operations in the South West Pacific the casualties caused by this disease greatly exceeded the numbers of battle casualties. In response to this situation comprehensive research and development programs to discover new antimalarial drugs were undertaken in the United States and Britain. In both countries compounds synthesised by co-operating chemical laboratories were screened against bird malaria and those with high activity and low toxicity were tested in man. The wartime program in America was funded by the Office of Scientific Research and Development and co-ordinated through a specially designated body under the Committee on Medical Research of the National Research Council. It was an enormous undertaking involving a massive co-operative effort between pharmacologists, chemists, and clinical research scientists from American universities, the US Public Health Service, and the laboratories of commercial pharmaceutical companies. The British program, on a much smaller scale, was based on a co-operative arrangement between the research laboratories of Imperial Chemical Industries at Manchester, the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and the British Medical Research Council. The wartime programs in both countries identified a number of promising leads but lacked the resources to permit their rapid clinical evaluation against field strains of human malaria. This deficiency was overcome by experiments conducted by the Land Headquarters Medical Research Unit of the Australian Army in Cairns, Queensland with the use of army volunteers. Large scale clinical trials of the most promising compounds which emerged from the American and British programs were carried out in Australia. This co-operative endeavour among allied scientists resulted in a range of new drugs which have had an enduring influence on malaria chemotherapy.     

第19届国际昆虫学大会筹备工作简介

<正> 1920年以来,4年一届的国际昆虫学大会已经开过18次了,但从未在我国开过。第19届国际昆虫学大会,经过我国昆虫学家的努力争取,即将于1992年6月28日至7月4日在我国首都北京亚运村举行。这是又一次举世瞩目的昆虫界盛会。它必将推动我国昆虫事业的     

Altruism and Reward: Motivational Compatibility in Deceased Organ Donation

Acts of helping others are often based on mixed motivations. Based on this claim, it has been argued that the use of a financial reward to incentivize organ donation is compatible with promoting altruism in organ donation. In its report Human Bodies: Donation for Medicine and Research, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics uses this argument to justify its suggestion to pilot a funeral payment scheme to incentivize people to register for deceased organ donation in the UK. In this article, I cast a sceptical eye on the above Nuffield report's argument that its proposed funeral payment scheme would prompt deceased organ donations that remain altruistic (as defined by and valued the report). Specifically, I illustrate how this scheme may prompt various forms of mixed motivations which would not satisfy the report's definition of altruism. Insofar as the scheme produces an expectation of the reward, it stands diametrical to promoting an ‘altruistic perspective’. My minimal goal in this article is to argue that altruism is not motivationally compatible with reward as an incentive for donation. My broader goal is to argue that if a financial reward is used to incentivize organ donation, then we should recognize that the donation system is no longer aiming to promote altruism. Rewarded donation would not be altruistic but it may be ethical given a persistent organ shortage situation.     

Will technology trample peer review in ecology? Ongoing issues and potential solutions

The classical view of peer review is that it is our primary process for assessing and judging whether research results should be published in a scholarly journal. However, the increased pressure to publish and technological developments are transforming peer review such that it is becoming a system that judges where work is published rather than whether the research is publishable (a ‘where rather than if’ process). Ecology is a field in which publication numbers puts a particular pressure on the review system. In this forum piece, I summarize the issues with the current publication system and discuss how technology is changing it, while suggesting solutions for important prior and ongoing issues with the peer review system. The view explored here is that technological developments (e.g. ease of creating journals, internet sites, storage, data generation, sharing of data and analytical code) will not eliminate peer review per se but will allow for a new set of parameters in which ethics and the optimal use of public funding will play a vital role in the evolution of the review process. Synthesis The number of papers and journals in Ecology has increased dramatically in the past decade. I present a critical overview of our review system and proposes that pressure to publish and technological developments have transformed peer review into a system that decides “where rather than if” papers are publishable. While reviewing the current pressures and factors playing a vital role in the evolution of the review and publication systems, I propose potential solutions to deal with current and future challenges to the peer review and publication systems.     

Methods for studying allometry in geometric morphometrics: a comparison of performance

Evolutionary Ecology - Allometry has been the focus of growing interest in studies using geometric morphometric methods to address a wide range of research questions at the interface of ecology and...     

Space flight micro-fungi after 27 years storage in water and in continuous culture

Four species of micro-fungi were selected for study in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Apollo Microbial Ecology Evaluation Device (MEED) mycology experiments. Trichophyton terrestre, Rhodotorula rubra, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Chaetomium globosum were selected from a series of preflight test fungi for the MEED mycology studies during the 2 years prior to the actual flight (Volz, 1971a, 1972b). Conidia of T. terrestre, ascospores of C. globosum and yeast cells of R. rubra and S. cerevisiae were suspended in sterile distilled water and loaded into wet and dry cuvettes for exposure to specific space flight parameters according to the filters built into the space flight hardware (Volz, 1971b). Living cells were found in the original inocula and phenotype water storage after 27 years. Colony cells were also examined after 27 years of continuous culture.     

Twentyfive years of changes in the distribution and biomass of eelgrass,Zostera marina,in Grevelingen lagoon,The Netherlands

The wax and wane of the eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) population in Grevelingen lagoon (East Atlantic; The Netherlands) has been documented for over 25 years, together with quantitative and semi-quantitative data on environmental variables. The population expanded after the closure of the Grevelingen estuary in 1971, but declined from 4600 ha surface area in 1978 to less than 100 ha in 1993. There is little causal evidence which factors are responsible for the observed dynamics of the population. The incomplete picture emerging from the data is that of an extremely impoverished eelgrass population, living under constant oligo-mesotrophic marine conditions. Both the sexual and the vegetative modes of reproduction are severely stressed by environmental variables, most likely a combination of low temperatures, high salinity, low dissolved silicate and low ammonium concentrations. Survival of the population asks for the restoration of moderate estuarine conditions.Contribution No. 2180 of the Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Nieuwersluis, The Netherlands.     

Cadaveric tissue retrieval service for research: one-year review and options for the future

The Tissue Acquisition Unit at Peterborough has an established service for collecting cadaveric human tissue for research. A one-year, on-going, in-house review was undertaken to evaluate the cost- and time-effectiveness of the service. The review identified referrals that failed to result in post mortem tissue retrieval. Only 28.6% of potential donors referred to the Unit led to successful tissue retrieval and the main reason for failure was post mortem time delay in some cases related to distance of location of the body from the Unit. The evolving novel role of the Pathology Liaison Nurses in the Unit is expected to increase the proportion of tissue acquisition from the local population and provide a more efficient service for donors and their families and researchers who use human tissue. This work was presented at the BATB Annual Scientific meeting in Edinburgh, April 2004.