Carry-over effect of captive breeding reduces reproductive fitness of wild-born descendants in the wild

Supplementation of wild populations with captive-bred organisms is a common practice for conservation of threatened wild populations. Yet it is largely unknown whether such programmes actually help population size recovery. While a negative genetic effect of captive breeding that decreases fitness of captive-bred organisms has been detected, there is no direct evidence for a carry-over effect of captive breeding in their wild-born descendants, which would drag down the fitness of the wild population in subsequent generations. In this study, we use genetic parentage assignments to reconstruct a pedigree and estimate reproductive fitness of the wild-born descendants of captive-bred parents in a supplemented population of steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). The estimated fitness varied among years, but overall relative reproductive fitness was only 37 per cent in wild-born fish from two captive-bred parents and 87 per cent in those from one captive-bred and one wild parent (relative to those from two wild parents). Our results suggest a significant carry-over effect of captive breeding, which has negative influence on the size of the wild population in the generation after supplementation. In this population, the population fitness could have been 8 per cent higher if there was no carry-over effect during the study period.     

CYTOEMBRYOLOGY OF ALLIUM TEXTILE NELS. & MACBR.

Root tip mitosis, meiosis, sporogeneses, and the development of gametophytes are described for eight populations of Allium textile Nels. & Macbr., native to Montana. The basic chromosome number is n = 7, with tetraploids being predominant. Of the eight populations studied, only one was composed entirely of diploids (2n = 14). Meiosis is generally normal with bivalents and tetravalents formed during the process. Laggard chromosomes leading to the formation of micronuclei are frequently observed during microsporogeny. The anther wall is five-layered and its development corresponds to the Monocotyledonous type. The tapetum is glandular and its cells remain uninucleate throughout microsporogeny. The adjacent anther locules coalesce before dehiscence. Pollen grains are shed at the three-celled stage. A stomium is organized. Ovules are anatropous, tenuinucellar and bitegminal. The archesporial cell develops directly into a megasporocyte. Development of the female gametophyte is bisporic and corresponds to the Allium type. These observations support Traub's classification (1975) on Allium.     

Nurses taking on junior doctors' work: a confusion of accountability.

The number of hospital based posts in which nurses take over clinical work previously done by junior doctors is growing. Accountability for the scope of such new roles and the standards of practice which apply to them are still unclear. When analysed together and compared, the regulations arising from the professional bodies (GMC and UKCC), civil law concerning certain wrongs to patients, and employment law are sometimes contradictory and hard to interpret. The resulting uncertainties about appropriate management for clinical roles evolving between the professions, coupled with an increasingly litigious public, put the nurses and consultants involved at risk of complaints and of disciplinary and legal action. Drawing on our current research into changing clinical roles at the medical-nursing interface, we suggest strategies to reduce risk. Doctors and nurses should be equal partners in planning and managing these new posts, patients should be informed adequately about the nature of the postholder''s role and training, significant changes in the work of such postholders should be formally acknowledged by the employer and relevant insurers, individuals taking up new roles should have access to legal advice and support to cover legal risk, and national regulatory bodies need to work together to harmonise their codes of practice in relation to changing clinical roles between the professions.     

Epigenomic regulation of human T-cell leukemia virus by chromatin-insulator CTCF

Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is a retrovirus that causes an aggressive T-cell malignancy and a variety of inflammatory conditions. The integrated provirus includes a single binding site for the epigenomic insulator, CCCTC-binding protein (CTCF), but its function remains unclear. In the current study, a mutant virus was examined that eliminates the CTCF-binding site. The mutation did not disrupt the kinetics and levels of virus gene expression, or establishment of or reactivation from latency. However, the mutation disrupted the epigenetic barrier function, resulting in enhanced DNA CpG methylation downstream of the CTCF binding site on both strands of the integrated provirus and H3K4Me3, H3K36Me3, and H3K27Me3 chromatin modifications both up- and downstream of the site. A majority of clonal cell lines infected with wild type HTLV-1 exhibited increased plus strand gene expression with CTCF knockdown, while expression in mutant HTLV-1 clonal lines was unaffected. These findings indicate that CTCF binding regulates HTLV-1 gene expression, DNA and histone methylation in an integration site dependent fashion.     

Australian Anthropologists and Public Anthropology

In 2004, the authors convened a session entitled ‘Public Anthropology’ at the Australian Anthropology Society's annual conference. The session examined the development of a specific stream of public anthropology in the USA and Britain and its articulation by writers such as Robert Borofsky in the aftermath of the Yanomami controversy and Richard Werbner in the African context. In pursuing this discussion, we identify three key characteristics that distinguish public anthropology: the broader application of ethnography to urgent and political social issues in a way that shows the profoundly relational nature of current crises to historical, political and local events and forces; a focus on this approach as a central aspect of training, particularly at the postgraduate level; and an active and accessible engagement in public discussion and debate. We present a short case study from Skidmore's research on disease, suffering and the health system in Burma to illustrate ways in which a public anthropology approach could represent the current health crisis in Burma in an effective manner. Drawing also on the work of our fellow panellists, we argue for the timeliness of the development of a public anthropology stream in Australia and for the deliberate inclusion of public anthropology in the Australian Anthropology Society's mandate.