On the Timing of Marriage and Childbearing: Family Formation Pathways Among Immigrants in Switzerland.

This paper examines childbearing in and outside of marriage as a manifestation of the Second Demographic Transition among immigrant populations in Switzerland. Based on full-population register data, we simultaneously analyse fertility and partnership changes at different stages of the migration process. Results from a multistate event history model show that most of the differences in family formation patterns between migrant groups and natives are in the sequencing of marriage and first birth among childless unmarried women.

Generated Randomly and Selected Functionally? The Nature of Enterovirus Recombination.

Genetic recombination in RNA viruses is an important evolutionary mechanism. It contributes to population diversity, host/tissue adaptation, and compromises vaccine efficacy. Both the molecular mechanism and initial products of recombination are relatively poorly understood.

Perspectives for systems biology in the management of tuberculosis.

Standardised management of tuberculosis may soon be replaced by individualised, precision medicine-guided therapies informed with knowledge provided by the field of systems biology. Systems biology is a rapidly expanding field of computational and mathematical analysis and modelling of complex biological systems that can provide insights into mechanisms underlying tuberculosis, identify novel biomarkers, and help to optimise prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease. These advances are critically important in the context of the evolving epidemic of drug-resistant tuberculosis.

Genetic Lesions of Type I Interferon Signalling in Human Antiviral Immunity.

The concept that type I interferons (IFN-I) are essential to antiviral immunity derives from studies on animal models and cell lines. Virtually all pathogenic viruses have evolved countermeasures to IFN-I restriction, and genetic loss of viral IFN-I antagonists leads to virus attenuation. But just how important is IFN-I to antiviral defence in humans? The recent discovery of genetic defects of IFN-I signalling illuminates this and other questions of IFN biology, including the role of the mucosa-restricted type III IFNs (IFN-III), informing our understanding of the place of the IFN system within the concerted antiviral response.

Conditionals and testimony.

Conditionals and conditional reasoning have been a long-standing focus of research across a number of disciplines, ranging from psychology through linguistics to philosophy. But almost no work has concerned itself with the question of how hearing or reading a conditional changes our beliefs. Given that we acquire much-perhaps most-of what we believe through the testimony of others, the simple matter of acquiring conditionals via others' assertion of a conditional seems integral to any full understanding of the conditional and conditional reasoning.

Spontaneous social tool use in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

Although there is good evidence that social animals show elaborate cognitive skills to deal with others, there are few reports of animals physically using social agents and their respective responses as means to an end-social tool use. In this case study, we investigated spontaneous and repeated social tool use behavior in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). We presented a group of chimpanzees with an apparatus, in which pushing two buttons would release juice from a distantly located fountain.

A simulation approach to assessing environmental risk of sound exposure to marine mammals.

Intense underwater sounds caused by military sonar, seismic surveys, and pile driving can harm acoustically sensitive marine mammals. Many jurisdictions require such activities to undergo marine mammal impact assessments to guide mitigation. However, the ability to assess impacts in a rigorous, quantitative way is hindered by large knowledge gaps concerning hearing ability, sensitivity, and behavioral responses to noise exposure.

Quality of life and adolescents' communication with their significant others (mother, father, and best friend): the mediating effect of attachment to pets.

The relationship between adolescents' communication with their significant others (mother, father, and best friend) and quality of life (KIDSCREEN) was investigated in 2262 Scottish adolescent pet owners. The variable attachment to pets was also tested and assessed as a mediator of this relationship. A positive relationship between adolescents' communication with their significant other (mother, father, and best friend) and quality of life decreased when controlling for attachment to dogs.

Global and regional dissemination and evolution of Burkholderia pseudomallei.

The environmental bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei causes an estimated 165,000 cases of human melioidosis per year worldwide and is also classified as a biothreat agent. We used whole genome sequences of 469 B. pseudomallei isolates from 30 countries collected over 79 years to explore its geographic transmission.

High-performance liquid chromatographic separations of stereoisomers of chiral basic agrochemicals with polysaccharide-based chiral columns and polar organic mobile phases.

The separation of the stereoisomers of 23 chiral basic agrochemicals was studied on six different polysaccharide-based chiral columns in high-performance liquid chromatography with various polar organic mobile phases. Along with the successful separation of analyte stereoisomers, emphasis was placed on the effect of the chiral selector and mobile phase composition on the elution order of stereoisomers. The interesting phenomenon of reversal of enantiomer/stereoisomer elution order function of the polysaccharide backbone (cellulose or amylose), type of derivative (carbamate or benzoate), nature, and position of the substituent(s) in the phenylcarbamate moiety (methyl or chloro) and the nature of the mobile phase was observed.

Calves as social hubs: dynamics of the social network within sperm whale units.

It is hypothesized that the primary function of permanent social relationships among female sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) is to provide allomothers for calves at the surface while mothers make foraging dives. In order to investigate how reciprocity of allocare within units of sperm whales facilitates group living, we constructed weighted social networks based on yearly matrices of associations (2005-2010) and correlated them across years, through changes in age and social role, to study changes in social relationships within seven sperm whale units. Pairs of association matrices from sequential years showed a greater positive correlation than expected by chance, but as the time lag increased, the correlation coefficients decreased.

From dioxime oxalates to dihydropyrroles and phenanthridines via iminyl radicals.

Dioxime oxalates are useful precursors for the clean generation of iminyl radicals by sensitised UV photolysis and can be adapted for serviceable preparations of 3,4-dihydro-2H-pyrroles and phenanthridines.

The origin of chemoselectivity in the hydrocarbonylation of alkenes catalysed by trialkylphosphine complexes of rhodium.

The formation of monophosphine acyl intermediates explains why PPr(i)(3) and PBu(i)(3) generate aldehydes in alkene hydrocarbonylation reactions carried out in protic solvents, whilst PEt(3), for which the acyl complex contains two phosphines, produces alcohols.

Accessing semantic knowledge in dementia: evidence from a word definition task.

We examine production of word definitions by people with probable Alzheimer's disease (pAD). In the first experiment, healthy young adults defined concrete, imageable nouns to provide a baseline of definitional ability. Analysis of these definitions identified the key defining features of each target item.

Exploring the pathology of quality failings: measuring quality is not the problem--changing it is.

The USA can boast a long history of investigation into quality failings in health care. From Ernest Codman and Abraham Flexner in the opening decades of this century through to the intense activity of the 1980s and 1990s, much careful study has exposed extraordinary and at times scandalous deficiencies in the quality of care (Millenson 1997; Chassin & Galvin 1998; Schuster et al. 1998).