Society for the Study of Behavioural Phenotypes 10th annual meeting. Birmingham, United Kingdom, November 18-19, 1999. Abstracts.
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The Drosophila bipectinata species complex belongs to the ananassae subgroup of the melanogaster species group (Genus Drosophila, Subgenus Sophophora). The members of the complex are: D. bipectinata, D. parabipectinata, D. malerkotliana, and D. pseudoananassae. Of the four species, D. bipectinata is most widely distributed. Females are indistinguishable, but males are distinguishable by their sex-comb teeth number and pattern and by abdominal colouration. Chromosomal inversions have been detected in these species. In natural populations of D. bipectinata the frequency of inversions and the level of inversion heterozygosity were found to be very low but in laboratory stocks inversions persisted for more than 20 generations due to heterotic buffering. On an average 9.3 fixed interspecific inversions separate each species pair. Non-random association between linked inversions indicated epistatic interaction in natural populations of D. bipectinata. Certain spontaneous mutations were detected and mapped for the first time in D. bipectinata. Low frequency of spontaneous male recombination has also been reported in D. bipectinata. Sexual isolation study in the complex indicated strong preference for homogamic mating. The results also indicated incomplete sexual isolation among different members of this complex. The isolation estimate among six different geographic populations of D. bipectinata ranged from 0.54 - 0.92 representing positive assortative mating which is an evidence for incipient sexual isolation. Incipient sexual isolation was also found within D. malerkotliana and D. parabipectinata . Chromosomal, hybridization and allozyme studies revealed close phylogenetic relationship among the four species of the bipectinata complex. Mitochondrial DNA study revealed net nucleotide difference (delta) between these species to be very small (0.0002 +/- 0.0008) reflecting closeness. Evidence for genetic control of sexual activity and existence of sexual selection in D. bipectinata has been shown on the basis of mating propensity tests carried out on geographic strains, their hybrids and diallel crosses. Significant variation was found among the strains tested with respect to courtship time, duration of copulation and fertility. A positive correlation between duration of copulation and fertility in D. bipectinata was found. Evidence for rare-male mating advantage was also found in D. bipectinata. A positive response to selection for high and low mating activity provided evidence for polygenic control of this phenomenon in D. bipectinata. Bilateral outgrowths on thorax, a unique phenotype, reported for the first time in D. bipectinata has been shown to affect mate recognition ability. Results of the study on pupation site preference (larval behaviour) and oviposition site preference (non-sexual behaviour) have also been included.
Obesity is the most common nutritional disease in industrialized countries and constitutes an important public health issue. Strictly speaking, obesity is an excess of adipose tissue. In practice, body mass index (BMI)=weight (kg)/height (m)(2) is used to determine the degree of excess body weight in a patient. A BMI >=30 kg/m(2), which is associated with significantly higher morbidity and mortality, is generally used as a threshold value for obesity. Despite this measurement, obesity includes a very wide range of variable symptoms. Development of obesity is a multifactorial phenomenon implicating biological, genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors whose interaction and inter-association vary from individual to individual. There are many extra-respiratory complications of obesity which may be somatic (cardiovascular, mechanic, metabolic.), psychological, or social. Abdominal adipose tissue plays an important role in metabolic and vascular complications of obesity independently of the degree of corpulence. As an introduction, we discuss here the definitions concerned as well as the epidemiology, basic pathophysiological mechanisms, and extra-respiratory complications of adult obesity.
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Bacteriocins produced by lactic acid bacteria are a heterogeneous group of peptide inhibitors. Most of bacteriocins have relatively narrow inhibitory spectra. A few of them have wider inhibitory spectra, being active against a wide range of gram-positive bacteria. Bacteriocins can be divided into three types. There are small heat-stable peptides, large heat-labile proteins, and lantibiotics. Their physico-chemical nature, genetic behavior and application are reviewed.
The Department of Psychiatry was first opened in April 1978. It is one of the largest sector of the hospital and contains 90 beds including a sleep laboratory and an adolescent unit. The clinical activities are broad and multidisciplinary, including novel psychopharmacological and psychotherapeutic and psychosocial approaches. Educational and research activities have also been developed, in particular in the areas of behavioral genetics, sleep physiology, brain imaging and psychosocial research and training.
Bone loss associated with osteoporosis occurs with high frequency among the elderly and often results in debilitating fractures. A combination of lifestyle behaviors, genetic predisposition, and disease processes contributes to bone metabolism. Therefore, any discussion regarding bone health must address these factors. The impact of menopause on bone turnover has been generally well studied and characterized. Breastfeeding places significant stress on calcium metabolism and, as a consequence, directly influences bone metabolism. The most significant factors affecting bone mineral density (BMD) and bone metabolism are the duration and frequency of lactation, the return of menses, and pre-pregnancy weight. Although transient, lactation is associated with bone loss. As clinical guidelines and public health policies are being formulated, there is a compelling need for further investigation into the relationship of lactation, BMD, and subsequent risk of osteoporosis. Better understanding of this relationship will provide new opportunities for early intervention and ultimately help in the prevention of bone loss in postmenopausal women.
This study presents a methodology, derived from behavioral genetic research, designed to evaluate the validity of retrospective self-report inventories. The application of this technique to college student, twin, and sibling data demonstrated the reliability and validity of a retrospective self-report questionnaire on the timing of pubertal onset. Support was provided by four main findings: (1) substantial test-retest reliability coefficients for individual items (r ranged from .73 to .97) were obtained for a sample of college students; (2) nearly all of the monozygotic twin (MZ) intraclass correlations exceeded those for dizygotic twins (DZ); (3) the magnitude of the test-retest and intraclass correlations for recall of the timing of pubertal onset followed theoretical expectations for a trait demonstrating significant genetic influence (i.e., r for the same individual tested twice greater than r for MZs greater than r for DZs greater than r for siblings); (4) the expected secular trend of a cross-generational decrease in the age of sexual maturation was demonstrated for retrospective self-reports of family members representing three different generations. Moreover, the size of the mean differences across generations mirrored those reported for nonretrospective assessments of the actual age of pubertal onset. Finally, the value of retrospective self-report surveys in psychological research is discussed, and the relative merits of these instruments as indices of individual differences in pubertal development, as opposed to indices of the actual age of sexual maturation, are emphasized.
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Invariant values of inheritance factors within and between different populations can show the existence of and measure the degree of genetic determination of behavioural characters. The absence of inbred depression of quantitative behavioural characters in isolated populations of highland inhabitants of Daghestan is demonstrated by means of comparative analysis of the mean population values of psychophysiological characters in outbred, moderately isolated, and extremely isolated (and inbred) populations. The absence of pronounced adverse effects of inbred marriages, known as the 'Daghestan phenomenon', is explained by the antiquity of the native populations and the severe ecological conditions under which these populations live which have led to elimination of carriers of hereditary diseases and other detrimental phenotypes.
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Cardiovascular disorders pose a major health problem for industrialized societies in terms of excess morbidity and mortality. Hypertension (HT) is a major risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD) and cerebrovascular disease. The impact of psychosocial factors, personality traits, genetic-behavioral interactions, sodium sensitivity, obesity, insulin metabolism, and psychophysiology on HT status is discussed. An understanding of pathophysiologic processes is needed to provide a better basis for risk factor reduction and other aspects of treatment. The study of myocardial ischemia appears to provide an important link between the development of coronary artery disease and the occurrence of CHD. Further studies are needed to assess the clinical significance of stress-induced myocardial ischemia as well as whether mental stress is predictive of future CHD. Associations have been made between behavioral risk factors and CHD, but the exact nature of the relationship remains to be clarified. Hostility has been identified as an important aspect of coronary-prone behavior, but considerable research will have to be completed before a comprehensive understanding of coronary-prone behavior and the manner in which it has an impact on disease can be fully understood.
Four groups of human characters (mendelian markers, anthropometry, neurodynamics and psychodynamics) were studied in eight human populations characterized by different degrees of isolation and different ethnic backgrounds, and located in different ecological conditions. The populations examined were proved to display phenotypic and genetic differentiation for the studied groups of characters which were compared with linguistic and geographical distances. The role of genetic factors and that of environmental factors was shown to diminish and to increase, respectively, as the degree of complexity of expression of the group of characters under study (from anthropometry to psychodynamics) goes up.
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The segregation analysis is made of inheritance of the E factor of the Cattell's 16PF Questionnaire on the basis of a population sample consisting of 108 free-structured pedigrees. The possibility of major gene control of inheritance for this quantitative trait is confirmed.