Dufour gland secretion in the harvester ant genus <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pogonomyrmex</Emphasis>

Summary. Dufour gland secretions of the harvester ants Pogonomyrmex barbatus, P. rugosus and P. maricopa were investigated. The glandular blends exhibit species specific patterns, but more importantly, based on indiviual profiles of Dufour gland contents of colony members it is possible to separate the colonies from each other in each species. It is possible that these collective colony specific cues serve as longer lasting trunk route markers. Behavioral tests demonstrate that workers of P. rugosus prefer homing routes marked by members of their own colony to routes marked by a foreign conspecific colony.     

Cleanup Options for Navajo Abandoned Uranium Mines

This article summarizes the current status of known contamination arising from abandoned uranium mines (AUMs) within the Navajo Nation and examines the options for addressing the elevated risks to health that AUM waste poses to the people of the Navajo Nation. More specifically, this article provides the following:

1. An overview of past uranium mining conducted on the Navajo Nation, the current status of AUM waste within the Navajo Nation, and the human health risks associated with uranium exposure.
2. A discussion of Navajo Fundamental Law, the Diné (the Navajo People) Uranium Remediation Advisory Commission, and the Navajo Nation Department of Justice's position regarding institutional controls and cleanup of AUMs.
3. A summary of cleanup actions taken to date to address AUM waste and the lessons learned from such actions.
4. Options for cleanup of AUM waste consistent with Diné Fundamental Law, the Diné Natural Resources Protection Act of 2005, and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA).

The information summarized in this article was previously presented as an “Initial White Paper on Cleanup Options for Navajo Abandoned Uranium Mines,” prepared with participation from multiple stakeholders including the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency (NNEPA), the Navajo Nation Department of Justice (NNDOJ), and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). ©2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Challenges in providing residual risks in carrier testing

The probability an individual is a carrier for a recessive disorder despite a negative carrier test, referred to as residual risk, has been part of carrier screening for over 2 decades. Residual risks are calculated by subtracting the frequency of carriers of pathogenic variants detected by the test from the carrier frequency in a population, estimated from the incidence of the disease. Estimates of the incidence (and therefore carrier frequency) of many recessive disorders differ among different population groups and are inaccurate or unavailable for many genes on large carrier screening panels for most of the world's populations. The pathogenic variants detected by the test and their frequencies also vary across groups and over time as variants are newly discovered or reclassified, which requires today's residual carrier risks to be continually updated. Even when a residual carrier risk is derived using accurate data obtained in a particular group, it may not apply to many individuals in that group because of misattributed ancestry or unsuspected admixture. Missing or inaccurate data, the challenge of determining meaningful ancestry-specific risks and applying them appropriately, and a lack of evidence they impact management, suggest that patients be counseled that although carrier screening may miss a small fraction of carriers, residual risks with contemporary carrier screening are well below the risk posed by invasive prenatal diagnosis, even if one member of the couple is a carrier, and that efforts to provide precise residual carrier risks are unnecessary.     

Using self‐determination theory to understand the relationship between calling enactment and daily well‐being

This paper contributes to the calling literature by using self‐determination theory—a theory that makes distinctions between different types of motivation—in order to gain a better understanding of how enacting a calling may relate both positively and negatively to well‐being. We use a daily diary method novel to the calling field and a sample with a distinctive calling, Church of England clergy. We expect daily calling enactment to relate positively to daily well‐being via more autonomous forms of motivation (intrinsic and identified motivation) and negatively via less autonomous forms (introjected motivation). Furthermore, we consider how the relationship between calling enactment and motivation may be moderated by perceived competence. The hypotheses were tested using multi‐level structural equation modeling. There was strong support for calling enactment relating positively to well‐being, and this relationship was fully mediated by intrinsic and identified motivation; the hypothesized negative pathway, from calling enactment, to introjected motivation, to well‐being, was not supported. However, perceived competence was found to moderate some of the relationships between calling and the motivation types, where calling enactment is linked to lower introjected motivation at high levels of competence. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.