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In September 2001, 21 satellite-monitored radio tags were deployed on southern right whales in South African waters, 15 of which transmitted for 25–161 d. Most coastwise movement on the south coast occurred in a westerly direction with cowcalf pairs moving slowest. Three whales tagged on the west coast and one tagged on the south coast moved north into St Helena Bay, a probable feeding ground, where residence times were 36–100 d. Five animals tracked after leaving the coast maintained a bearing of 201◦–220◦ before branching out over the southeast Atlantic from 37◦ to 60◦S and between 13◦W and 16◦E, traveling 3,800–8,200 km over the ensuing 53–110 d before transmissions ceased. Their locations were categorized as migrating or nonmigrating based on the relative orientation of the track and net speed. An average of 42% of nonmigrating locations were between 37◦S and 45◦S, and 53% were south of 52◦S, possibly associated with the Subtropical Convergence and Antarctic Polar Front, respectively. Whaling data suggest right whales fed largely on copepods at the former and euphausiids at the latter. If the nonmigrating locations represented feeding at these frontal zones,switching between them would seem to have obvious cost-benefit implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Indigenous palliative persons and their families often have different values, spiritual traditions, and practices from Western culture and Canadian health systems. Additionally, many healthcare policies and practices have been established without adequate consultation of the Indigenous populations they are meant to serve. This can result in barriers to Innu receiving culturally safe end-of-life care. Innu community leaders from Sheshatshiu, Labrador, have identified a need for further research in this area. The purpose of this study is to: (1) describe the cultural and spiritual practices related to death and dying of the Innu in Sheshatshiu; (2) identify aspects of current end-of-life care delivery that serve and/or fail to meet the cultural and spiritual needs of the Innu in Sheshatshiu; and (3) explore ways to integrate current end-of-life care delivery practices with Innu cultural and spiritual practices to achieve culturally safer care delivery for the Innu., Methods: This qualitative patient-oriented research study was co-led by Innu investigators and an Innu advisory committee to conduct semi-structured interviews of 5 healthcare providers and 6 decision-makers serving the community of Sheshatshiu and a focus group of 5 Innu Elders in Sheshatshiu. Data was analyzed thematically from verbatim transcripts. The codebook, preliminary themes, and final themes were all reviewed by Innu community members, and any further input from them was then incorporated. Quotations in this article are attributed to Innu Elders by name at the Elders' request., Results: The findings are described using eight themes, which describe the following: relationships and visitation support a "peaceful death"; traditional locations of death and dying; the important role of friends and community in providing care; flexibility and communication regarding cultural practices; adequate and appropriate supports and services; culturally-informed policies and leadership; and Innu care providers and patient navigators., Conclusions: The Innu in Sheshatshiu have a rich culture that contributes to the health, care, and overall well-being of Innu people approaching end of life. Western medicine is often beneficial in the care that it provides; however, it becomes culturally unsafe when it fails to take Innu cultural and spiritual knowledge and traditions into account., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Engaging with the public for their input about genomic medicine is critical before it is implemented into routine healthcare practice. In order to inform discussion and planning for the introduction of genome sequencing into clinical care in an Eastern Canadian province, we implemented a program of public engagement activities. Here, we report a qualitative summary of two town hall discussions utilizing a hybrid information-consultation approach with 20 residents of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Discussion revealed largely positive attitudes towards genomic medicine; however, critical reflection around informed consent models, the return of sequencing findings, and access to qualified healthcare professionals revealed numerous public concerns. Public support will be important to realize the potential benefits of genomics and precision medicine to health outcomes. Our findings highlight public concerns that must be addressed in educational and informed consent documents related to sequencing. Town hall attendees endorsed ongoing public education and awareness-building initiatives which could help foster transparency and trust as genomics is integrated into healthcare systems.

The evolution of stable social groups can be promoted by both indirect and direct fitness benefits. Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) are highly social, with a hierarchical social structure based around core groups of adult females and subadults, a rare level of complexity among mammals. We combined long-term satellite tracking (ranging from 11 to 607 days) of 51 individual sperm whales with genetic kinship analysis to assess the pattern of kin associations within and among coherent social units. Unlike findings for other species with similar social structure, we find no consistent correlation between kinship and association apart from close associations between two pairs of first-order relatives. A third pair of first-order relatives did not associate, and overall, the mean relatedness was the same within as among social groups. However, social behaviour can also be promoted by ecological factors such as resource dispersion. We assessed putative foraging behaviour during travel from the satellite-tracking data, which suggested that prey resources were dispersed and unpredictable, a condition that could promote living in groups., (© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)

Between 1937 and 1940 the Taxonomic Principles Committee of the newly-founded Association for the Study of Systematics in Relation to General Biology (later the Systematics Association) attempted to define the relationship between evolution and taxonomy. The people who took part in the discussion were W.T. Caleman, C.R.P. Diver, J.S.L. Gilmour, J.S. Huxley, W.D. Lang, J.R. Norman, R. Melville, O.W. Richards, M.A. Smith, T.A. Sprague, H. Hamshaw Thomas, W.B. Turrill, B.P. Uvarov, A.F. Watkins, E.I. White, and A.J. Wilmott. Most of the botanists asserted that taxonomy was a practical matter to be kept distinct from phylogenetic speculation, and most of the zoologists insisted that taxonomists must strive to represent evolution if they wished to be scientific. The disagreement seemed to be hardening rather than approaching compromise when World War Two stopped the committee's work.