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The religious world is but the reflex of the real world. – Karl Marx, Capital , 1906, 91 What Gods were for The young priest had been told exactly what to do, and he had been up all night, keeping watch on the sacred things, the first dates anyone had harvested from anywhere throughout the city. They were green and mushy and not particularly appetizing. He preferred them dried, but the goddess wanted the very first and as soon as possible. He was drowsy but attentive as the first light of dawn appeared over the horizon, and gradually he could make out the web of the basket and the sleeping city, with only one or two plumes of smoke rising from the homes of early risers. The old priest had told him exactly how to do it, and the priest could no longer mount the stairs to the terrace, so he had better get it right. He had thought he would be a little cold in the night because he had been supposed to sit there, in front of the mud brick temple, with absolutely nothing on. But in fact, it was still high summer, although the harvesting of the rest of the dates would stretch into autumn. The night had been almost pleasant after the scorching day. The nakedness was to show his purity to the goddess; it might have been embarrassing except that no one else was around at all. Even the day-shift priests had not yet arrived to clean up the temple terrace and to prepare the rest of the goddess's breakfast. For his was a special offering that had to be made on the dawn after the first pickings were available. So here he was, naked.

Understanding the costs of learning may allow us to understand variation in learning abilities across species. The costs of learning stem from the costs of obtaining information, whether acquisition, processing or storage. The costs of acquiring information are present at the behavioral level in terms of the time, energy, and risk associated with sampling a range of behavioral traits and environments. The costs of information processing and storage come at the tissue level, in terms of the energy required to develop, maintain, and use neural tissue. The costs of learning may result in life history trade-offs or they may select for changes in development that reduce such information costs.

Adaptive phenotypic plasticity allows organisms to cope with environmental variability, and yet, despite its adaptive significance, phenotypic plasticity is neither ubiquitous nor infinite. In this review, we merge developmental and population genetic perspectives to explore costs and limits on the evolution of plasticity. Specifically, we focus on the role of modularity in developmental genetic networks as a mechanism underlying phenotypic plasticity, and apply to it lessons learned from population genetic theory on the interplay between relaxed selection and mutation accumulation. We argue that the environmental specificity of gene expression and the associated reduction in pleiotropic constraints drive a fundamental tradeoff between the range of plasticity that can be accommodated and mutation accumulation in alternative developmental networks. This tradeoff has broad implications for understanding the origin and maintenance of plasticity and may contribute to a better understanding of the role of plasticity in the origin, diversification, and loss of phenotypic diversity.

Intranasal 7-thia-8-oxoguanosine (NARI 10146) compared with placebo had no influence on the course of experimental coronavirus 229E infections in human volunteers. Possible reasons are discussed for the failure to confirm successful rodent experiments in man.

Developmental plasticity can generate, from one genotype, diverse alternative phenotypes appropriate to local environmental conditions (West-Eberhard 2003). However, our understanding of the developmental-genetic mechanisms that underlie plastic responses remains incomplete. Recent research suggests that DNA methylation, a system of gene silencing heritable across cell divisions, may serve as a mechanism underlying the evolution of plasticity. In particular, several recent studies in Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps, and sawflies) highlight the potential importance of methylation for understanding plasticity (Wang et al. 2006; Kronforst et al. 2008; Kucharski et al. 2008).

The role of brain size as a cost of learning remains enigmatic; the nature and timing of such costs is particularly uncertain. On one hand, comparative studies suggest that congenitally large brains promote better learning and memory. In that case, brain size exacts a global cost that accrues even if learning does not take place; on the other hand, some developmental studies suggest that brains grow with experience, indicating a cost that is induced when learning occurs. The issue of how costs are incurred is an important one, because global costs are expected to constrain the evolution of learning more than would induced costs. We tested whether brain size represented a global and/or an induced cost of learning in the cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae. We assayed the ability of full sibling families to learn to locate either green hosts, for which butterflies have an innate search bias, or red hosts, which are more difficult to learn to locate. Naïve butterflies were sacrificed at emergence and congenital brain volume estimated as a measure of global costs; experienced butterflies were sacrificed after learning and change in brain volume estimated as a measure of induced costs. Only for the mushroom body, a brain region involved in learning and memory in other insects, was volume at emergence related to learning or host-finding. Butterfly families that emerged with relatively larger mushroom bodies showed a greater tendency to improve their ability to find red hosts across the two days of host-search. The volume of most brain regions increased with time in a manner suggesting host experience itself was important: first, total number of landings during host-search was positively related to mushroom body calyx volume, and, second, experience with the red host was positively related to mushroom body lobe volume. At the family level, the relative volume of the mushroom body calyx and antennal lobes following learning was positively related to overall success in finding red hosts. Overall, our results suggest that within species, brain size might act as a small global cost of learning, but that environment-specific changes in brain size might reduce the overall costs of neural tissue in the evolution of learning.

Tuberculosis (TB) is now an uncommon disease in the United Kingdom (U.K.) and its overall incidence is declining. However, the incidence of TB in immigrants from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh (the Indian sub-continent, ISC) is much higher than in the native white population or immigrant groups from other areas, and this is so even for children of ISC ethnic origin born in the U.K. The clinical pattern of the disease also differs, extrapulmonary involvement being commoner in ISC patients than white patients. The epidemiology and management of TB in pediatric patients of ISC origin is reviewed and reasons for differences from other ethnic groups in the U.K. are discussed.

This study investigated the viability of including the Learning Styles Inventory and an aptitude and interest test in assessment, to predict group learning style. Analysis gave a 40 4% ht rate, 15.4% above the base rate of 25%. Academic major, accommodating interest, science interest, and numerical aptitude significantly contributed to classification. The sample included 147 community college students enrolled in social science courses. Inferences drawn from the data suggest that including a learning styles inventory as part of a preassessment package for entering students can provide valuable information for students in making choices of academic goals and careers.

Key studies have explored the economics of rising stars, superstars and ‘has beens’, but relatively little economic literature exists on the associated parallel memorabilia markets. Using a random sample of 1151 pieces of autographed artefacts, on sale through a retail and internet outlet, hedonic analysis is undertaken to elicit significant characteristics in price determination. The data principally consists of autographs of past and current cultural icons along with some sporting and historical figures. We explore, inter alia, price differences with respect to ‘dead’ or ‘alive’ signatories, gender, sphere of fame, nationality, the age of the signatory and the nature of the artefact on which the signature is written. Alternative model specifications have been explored and compared. A notable difference emerges between those autographs with photographs and those without. There are also differences in prices according to whether individuals had been famous for their roles in just films, just television, or in both.

Objectives: To test: (1) whether citation under the Minors in Possession (MIP) law, vicarious citation (knowing someone who was cited), and threat of driving licence suspension are associated with decreased intentions to smoke next year; and (2) whether the policy is differentially enforced. Subjects: 28 249 white, Hispanic, and African American students in grades 6-12 (11-18 years old) participated in the study. Method: The 86 item anonymous Texas Youth Tobacco Survey was completed by students attending 37 schools in 14 east and central Texas communities. Results: Hierarchical linear modelling showed that MIP citation was unrelated to the future smoking intentions of most youth. However, there was a negative association between citation and smoking intentions for ever daily smoking youth at four schools. Threat of licence suspension was associated with a lower likelihood of future smoking intentions among ever daily smoking youth and vicarious citation did not deter youth from future smoking. African American and Hispanic youth had a higher probability of being cited than their peers. Conclusions: Threat of driving licence suspension has the intended effect upon youth who are/were committed smokers and MIP citation has the intended effect upon committed smokers at only four schools. However, differential enforcement of the law based on ethnicity may be occurring. Before drawing firm conclusions, current findings must be replicated with longitudinal data to determine the consequences of citation on subsequent tobacco use.

The authors discuss the ethical considerations involved in using psychotropic medications with incarcerated offenders. Medications cannot be used as tool of oppression. Medication cannot be used to justify overpopulation, to quietly terminate prisoners, and must be administered by licensed health professionals. There must be informed consent.

recent environmental change versus a responsive adaptation that evolved during long-term interaction with a predictably variable environment. Only by integrating proximate and ultimate approaches can these distinct stages of evolutionary change be recognized. Yet, despite many appeals over the years (Stamps 1991; Bateson 2001; Thierry 2007; Duckworth 2010), integration of “proximate” and “ultimate” mechanisms of behavioral variation remains elusive (see extensive discussion in Laland et al. 2011). This is, at least in part, because of the difficulty of investigating developmental mechanisms, including epigenetic effects, in natural systems. Yet, these difficulties are well worth the effort because the ultimate reward of such an integration is a deeper understanding, not only of the maintenance of behavioral variation, but also of its origin and evolution.

A computationally efficient ion implantation damage model based on the Kinchin-Pease formula has been developed and implemented into UT-MARLOWE Version 4.0. A speed improvement of up to an order of magnitude over previous damage models has been achieved with an accuracy equal to or better than that of the previous version of UT-MARLOWE. Based on this damage model, a simple but extremely powerful and general method for performing multiple implant simulations has been developed, and very good agreement with experimental data has been obtained.

We have investigated the effects of decreased levels of the complex between glycoprotein VI (GPVI) and the Fc receptor gamma-chain (FcRgamma) on responses to collagen and GPVI-specific ligands in murine platelets. We show that levels of GPVI-FcRgamma of the order of 50% and 20% of wild-type levels caused 2- and 5-fold shifts to the right respectively in the dose-response curve for aggregation in response to collagen, the snake toxin convulxin and the monoclonal antibody JAQ1. In addition, there is a delay in the onset of aggregation in response to collagen. In contrast, the stimulation of protein tyrosine phosphorylation by collagen (as measured after 150 s) and adhesion to a collagen-coated surface under static conditions were unaffected in platelets with 50% and 20% of wild-type levels of GPVI. In contrast, responses to a collagen-related peptide (CRP), made up of repeat glycine-proline-hydroxyproline motifs, were markedly inhibited and abolished in platelets expressing 50% and 20% of wild-type levels of GPVI respectively. We suggest that the marked effect of a reduction in GPVI levels on the CRP-induced activation of platelets is due to the multivalent nature of CRP and the fact that GPVI is its sole receptor on platelets. Thus it appears that the interaction of CRP with GPVI is determined by a combination of affinity and avidity. The observation that collagen does not behave like CRP in platelets expressing reduced levels of GPVI, even in the combined presence of blocking antibodies against integrin alpha2beta1 and GPV, suggests that collagen has a greater affinity than CRP for GPVI, and/or that other receptors are involved in its binding to platelets. The clinical significance of these results is discussed.

There is extensive evidence that FcR gamma-chain couples to the collagen receptor glycoprotein VI (GPVI) and becomes phosphorylated on tyrosines upon receptor cross-linking. However, it is not established whether this receptor complex is sufficient to initiate the signalling cascade. We transfected GPVI and the FcR gamma-chain into the human erythroleukaemia cell line K562, which lacks detectable expression of GPVI and the FcR gamma-chain. The results show that GPVI is unable to signal when expressed alone, despite its surface expression, upon stimulation with the snake C-type lectin, convulxin. Coexpression of the FcR gamma-chain confers signalling properties on the receptor. Furthermore, cotransfection of the FcR gamma-chain and two mutant versions of GPVI shows that the transmembrane arginine and cytoplasmic tail of GPVI are necessary for association with the FcR gamma-chain. These results demonstrate that reconstitution of the GPVI-FcR gamma-chain complex in cells expressing the necessary signalling network is sufficient to initiate signalling events in response to convulxin and collagen-related peptide.

Abstract Of the many deepwater platform concepts that were developed as deepwater platform technology matured, the TLP has been the most frequently selected for deepwater construction projects. Over the past two decades, TLP technology has proven to be a safe and reliable means for establishing deepwater real estate for supporting drilling, production, and transportation operations. As the deepwater exploration province evolves from a frontier area toward maturity, the commercial and technological environment of field development concept selection has changed and has opened opportunity for secondgeneration deepwater platform concepts, such as the SeaStar® Mono-column TLP. This concept has been used to successfully exploit deepwater opportunities in the Gulf of Mexico including AGIP's Morpeth Field, AGIP's Allegheny Field, Chevron's Typhoon Field, and now TotalFinaElf's Matterhorn Field. This paper briefly describes these four projects and then discusses the continuing evolution of this technology. Introduction In parallel with the beginning of exploration for oil and gas reserves in deep water, major oil companies began developing platform concepts to exploit deepwater discoveries. Tension-Leg Platform (TLP) technology emerged as a cost-effective means for providing stable deepwater real estate for drilling and production operations. Over three decades, the Offshore Industry invested enormous amounts of money and manpower to develop the design and analysis methods, software, specialized hardware, fabrication techniques, and installation equipment necessary to safely construct and operate TLP's. Early TLP's resembled semisubmersible Mobile Offshore Drilling Units (MODU's), in which the catenary mooring system had been replaced by a tension-leg mooring that eliminated vertical motions. Figure 1 presents a summary of TLP's installed to date. The structural reliability of a tendon, like the structural reliability of an airplane wing, is an essential safety issue, that receives focused attention throughout the project. Note that there has never been an operational tendon failure on any of these fifteen TLP's, three of which have been operating for a decade or more. The number of service years that tendon system components have delivered, with zero failures, is very impressive, measuring in the tens of thousands of service years. As exploration drilling proceeded in deepwater and a mix of large and small fields were found, it became apparent that there was a need for a new generation of less expensive TLP's, which would permit economic development of heretofore sub-marginal fields. In response to this need, Atlantia developed the SeaStar mono-column TLP, thanks to the help of funding from the U.S. Department of Energy. The primary geometric difference between a SeaStar TLP and a conventional TLP is the former's single column. The single column allows deck and hull to be separately optimized, resulting in a most versatile and cost-effective solution. The tension leg mooring was the key to allowing the platform size to be reduced while maintaining the favorable motion characteristics needed for the safe operation of facilities and risers. A freely floating platform, such as a spar, experiences relatively large angular motions that must be accommodated with respect to the earth-bound risers.

Developmental responses to nutritional variation represent one of the ecologically most important classes of adaptive plasticity. However, knowledge of genome-wide patterns of nutrition-responsive gene expression is limited. Here, we studied genome-wide transcriptional responses to nutritional variation and their dependency on trait and sex in the beetle Onthophagus taurus. We find that averaged across the transcriptome, nutrition contributes less to overall variation in gene expression than do sex or body region, but that for a modest subset of genes nutrition is by far the most important determinant of expression variation. Furthermore, our results reject the hypothesis that a common machinery may underlie nutrition-sensitive development across body regions. Instead, we find that magnitude (measured by number of differentially expressed contigs), composition (measured by functional enrichment) and evolutionary consequences (measured by patterns of sequence variation) are heavily dependent on exactly which body region is considered and the degree of sexual dimorphism observed on a morphological level. More generally, our findings illustrate that studies into the developmental mechanisms and evolutionary consequences of nutrition-biased gene expression must take into account the dynamics and complexities imposed by other sources of variation in gene expression such as sexual dimorphism and trait type.

SummaryThe major activation-inducing collagen receptor glycoprotein VI (GPVI) has been cloned within the last two years. It is a member of the Ig superfamily of proteins and is constitutively associated with the ITAM-bearing Fc receptor γ-chain (FcR γ-chain). GPVI signals through a pathway that involves several of the proteins used by Fc, B- and T-lymphocyte receptors and which takes place in glycolipid-enriched membrane domains in the plasma membrane known as GEMs. Responses to GPVI are regulated by PECAM-1 (CD31) and possibly other ITIM-bearing receptors. Despite a pivotal role for GPVI, there are important differences between signalling events to collagen and GPVI-specific ligands. This may reflect a role for co-receptors in the response to collagen.

The immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activatory motif (ITAM) containing glycoprotein, GPVI, plays an important signalling role in platelet activation. GPVI binds to exposed collagen fibres at the site of vascular damage and the ensuing signalling events contribute to formation of a thrombus to repair the damaged area. The control of this activatory signalling pathway by immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motif (ITIM) containing molecules is beginning to be understood in the platelet. Two such ITIM molecules are known in platelets. CD31 is expressed on human and mouse platelets, whilst PIR-B is expressed only on murine platelets. CD31 associates with the cytoplasmic phosphatases SHP-1 and SHP-2 and is phosphorylated upon platelet activation by collagen, thrombin and FcγRIIA cross-linking. Mice deficient in CD31 show enhanced responses to GPVI agonists, demonstrating that CD31 is a negative regulator of platelet-collagen responses. PIR-B has recently been shown to be expressed on murine platelets and megakaryocytes. PIR-B is constitutively phosphorylated in murine platelets and associates with unidentified tyrosine phosphorylated proteins of 80, 73 and 38 kDa upon activation by thrombin or GPVI. In megakaryocytes, there is minimal phosphorylation of PIR-B under basal or activated conditons. No functional inhibitory response for PIR-B has been identified in platelets and no phosphatases have been associated with this molecule in platelets. The role for inhibitory receptor systems in platelets to control collagen-induced activation is still in its infancy and further work in this field is rapidly progressing.