A limited survey of aflatoxins and fumonisins in retail maizebased products in the UK using immunoassay detection

A total of 27 maize-based products destined for human consumption were collected from retail outlets within the city of Glasgow in the UK and were analysed for the presence of aflatoxins using immunoaftinity column chromatography with fluorescence detection and for fumonisins by competitive ELISA. Aflatoxins were detected at a trace level below 4 in eight (30%) of the 27 samples tested, no sample contained aflatoxins at a high level although one sample of sweetcorn did contain aflatoxins at a level of 5-10 Fumonisins were detected in eight (30%) of the samples at levels from 1 to 8mgkg^-1 and a further eight samples contained fumonisin at a level below 1 mgkg^-1 but above the detectable level. The highest concentration of fumonisins was found in a sample of fine corn meal at 8-12mgkg^-1.     

Partial protein domains: evolutionary insights and bioinformatics challenges

Protein domains are generally thought to correspond to units of evolution. New research raises questions about how such domains are defined with bioinformatics tools and sheds light on how evolution has enabled partial domains to be viable.With the rapid expansion in the number of determined protein sequences - over 92 million in UniProt in March 2015 - an ever-increasing number of biologists are using bioinformatics tools for annotation of these sequences. One widely used strategy is to identify occurrences of Pfam families within the sequence of interest [1]. A Pfam family is a multiple sequence alignment of the occurrences of a particular domain both in different species and in different regions of the same protein. The concept underpinning Pfam is that proteins typically comprise one or more domains (regions), each of which is an evolutionary unit that generally has a well-defined biological function. A significant sequence similarity between a query protein and a Pfam family provides the basis for annotations. Two recent articles [2,3] in Genome Biology evaluate the implications of having the query sequence only matching part of a Pfam family, which is an intriguing finding, given that a Pfam family is considered to be an evolutionary unit.     

The evolutionary emergence of stochastic phenotype switching in bacteria

Stochastic phenotype switching - or bet hedging - is a pervasive feature of living systems and common in bacteria that experience fluctuating (unpredictable) environmental conditions. Under such conditions, the capacity to generate variable offspring spreads the risk of being maladapted in the present environment, against offspring likely to have some chance of survival in the future. While a rich subject for theoretical studies, little is known about the selective causes responsible for the evolutionary emergence of stochastic phenotype switching. Here we review recent work - both theoretical and experimental - that sheds light on ecological factors that favour switching types over non-switching types. Of particular relevance is an experiment that provided evidence for an adaptive origin of stochastic phenotype switching by subjecting bacterial populations to a selective regime that mimicked essential features of the host immune response. Central to the emergence of switching types was frequent imposition of 'exclusion rules' and 'population bottlenecks' - two complementary faces of frequency dependent selection. While features of the immune response, exclusion rules and bottlenecks are likely to operate in many natural environments. Together these factors define a set of selective conditions relevant to the evolution of stochastic switching, including antigenic variation and bacterial persistence.     

Scats and den contents as indicators of the diet of stoats (Mustela erminea) in the Tasman Valley,South Canterbury,New Zealand

Stoats are significant predators of native fauna in New Zealand. They occur in many habitat types and consume a wide range of prey. The diet of stoats in the Tasman River, South Canterbury, was studied by analysis of scats and den contents. Analysis of 206 scats showed that stoats ate mainly lagomorphs, birds and invertebrates. Minor components included mice, lizards, fish and hedgehogs. Stoats ate more birds in spring than in autumn, and female stoats ate more invertebrates than did males. The contents of 219 dens collected in the same area at the same time provided further information. Birds and lagomorphs occurred at high frequency in dens, and other components were minor. Remains in dens were larger than in scats and allowed identification of many more prey items to species level. Den contents revealed a potentially substantial impact of stoats on threatened shorebirds locally; this impact was not detected by analysis of scats.     

Cross-National Validation of an Eight-Factor Model of Societal Risk Perception

This study cross-nationally tested an eight-factor model of societal risk perception. The factors in the model were: Common individual hazards, Pollutants, Energy production and public transportation, Outdoor activities, Sex, deviance and addictions, Medical care, Weapons, and Psychotropic drugs. Using confirmatory factor analyses, the model was tested on a sample of Greek students and on a sample of French students, and was shown to satisfactorily account for the data in both samples. This model may be considered as a potentially useful tool for studying cross-national as well as individual differences (e.g., age, gender, worldviews or personality) in risk perception. Future studies are needed to determine: (a) whether this model applies to samples composed of persons of different ages or composed of persons from non-Western countries and (b) whether this model could be usefully expanded with one or more factors.     

Cambodian patients' and health professionals' views regarding the allocation of antiretroviral drugs

The way Cambodian patients and health professionals judge the priority of HIV-infected patients in relation to the allocation of antiretroviral drugs was examined. Participants were either HIV-infected patients attending the HIV/AIDS Care and Support Centre for People Living with HIV/AIDS in Phnom Penh (29 females and 21 males) or members of the staff (9 physicians, 6 pharmacists and 15 health counsellors and health educators). They were presented with stories of a few lines depicting a patient's situation and were instructed to judge the extent to which the patient should be given priority for HIV drugs. The stories were composed according to a four within-subject factor design: (a) the patient's family responsibilities, (b) the severity of infection, (c) the time elapsed since the first consultation, and (d) the financial difficulties of the family. Most patients expressed the view that the drugs should be used for the patients who are most important from a familial point of view, namely, when the family contains small children and/or is already in a precarious financial condition.