1674–1753: Strumpets and Wenches

Women in Restoration London were actively involved in public life and often blamed for manipulating men to violence. Other than neonaticide which was punished severely under a draconian Statute of 1624, women were most likely to be accused of killing an unrelated adult male in a public brawl. Women convicted of murdering their husbands were burned at the stake for petty treason, though juries often showed sympathy for women who had lashed out during a violent struggle. Women were also charged with the deaths of servants and, in the early period, bailiffs. Women were very rarely accused of killing their own children other than illegitimate newborns. Cases where the accused had clearly been insane were rarely prosecuted. Women tried for homicide were assumed to have made a rational decision to behave in a wicked manner. Though juries were becoming less likely to convict in neonaticide cases by mid-century, most women were held fully accountable for their actions without regard to gender or circumstances.

Juvenile socio-ecological environment shapes material technology in nest-building birds

Variation in animal material technology, such as tool use and nest construction, is thought to be caused, in part, by differences in the early-life socio-ecological environment—that is, who and what is around—but this developmental hypothesis remains unconfirmed. We used a tightly controlled developmental paradigm to determine whether adult and/or raw-material access in early life shape first-time nest construction in laboratory-bred zebra finches Taeniopygia guttata at sexual maturity. We found that juvenile access to both an unrelated adult and raw material of one color led to a majority preference (75%) by novice builders for this color of material over that for either natal-nest or novel-colored material, whereas a lack of juvenile access to both an unrelated adult and raw material led to a 4- and nearly 3-fold reduction in the speed at which novice builders initiated and completed nest construction, respectively. Contrary to expectation, neither the amount of time juveniles nor their adult groupmate spent handling the raw material appear to drive these early-life effects on zebra finches’ first-time nest construction, suggesting that adult presence might be sufficient to drive the development of animal material technology. Together these data show that the juvenile socio-ecological environment can trigger variation in at least two critical aspects of animal material technology (material preference and construction speed), revealing a potentially powerful developmental window for technological advancement. Thus, to understand selection on animal material technology, the early-life environment must be considered.

Polycystic liver in two adult llamas

Polycystic liver is usually considered an incidental finding in human and veterinary medicine. Two unrelated adult llamas ( Lama glama) with a history of marked anorexia and weight loss were received for autopsy and diagnostic workup. The main gross change in the liver of both animals was multiple variably sized cysts randomly distributed throughout the parenchyma. Histologically, the cysts compressed the adjacent parenchyma and were lined by a single layer of cuboidal-to-columnar epithelium, surrounded by a fibrous collagen capsule. The lumen of the cysts contained finely granular-to-homogeneous basophilic material. The lining epithelium displayed strong immunoreactivity for pancytokeratin AE1/AE3 and cytokeratins 7, 8, 8/18, and 19, and was negative for vimentin, confirming the biliary epithelial origin of the cysts. No parasitic or infectious agents, or neoplastic changes, were detected. All other laboratory tests performed in both llamas were negative or non-diagnostic, suggesting that the congenital hepatic cysts described may have been at least partly responsible for clinical disease in both animals.

Dissecting the mechanisms underlying indirect genetic effects on biomedical phenotypes: a study of 170 behavioural, physiological and morphological phenotypes measured in adult laboratory mice

The phenotype of an individual can be affected not only by the individual’s own genotypes (direct genetic effects, DGE) but also by genotypes of other, interacting individuals (indirect genetic effects, IGE). IGE have been detected, using polygenic models, for a broad range of biomedical phenotypes. However, little is known about the loci, genes and traits of interacting partners mediating the effects, especially where non-familial IGE are concerned. To address this question, we studied IGE arising in cages of unrelated, adult laboratory mice. We leveraged a dataset of 170 behavioural, physiological and morphological phenotypes measured in 1,812 genetically heterogeneous mice and developed two approaches. First, we used variance components models to estimate, for each phenotype, the correlation between DGE and IGE. Our results demonstrate some overlap but also differences between the mechanisms of DGE and IGE for a given phenotype. Second, we developed and applied methods for the genome-wide association study of IGE (igeGWAS) in order to identify loci, genes and traits of cage mates mediating IGE. We identified 24 genomewide significant IGE loci for 17 phenotypes (FDR < 10%), none of which overlapped with genome-wide significant DGE loci for the same phenotype. Using an exhaustive list of single nucleotide polymorphisms at each locus, we fine-mapped each association. At six loci this pointed to a single candidate gene, which we used to formulate specific hypotheses as to the mechanisms of IGE. The empirical insights from our study and the analytical strategies we have developed pave the way for using igeGWAS to unravel mechanisms of phenotypic variation that are expressed only in the context of social interactions.

Identification of canine papillomavirus by PCR in Greyhound dogs

Background Corns are hard protuberances that occur on the digital footpads of Greyhound dogs. The cause of these lesions is unknown and there is little information about them in the veterinary literature. We received anecdotal examples of dog to dog spread of corns suggesting an infectious cause. The aim of this study was to determine if papillomavirus (PV) is associated with Greyhound corns. Methods We examined four corns from two unrelated adult Greyhound dogs that resided in Florida and Washington, respectively, for PV by PCR. The samples were obtained by owner coring of two lesions from one dog and laser removal of two lesions from the other dog. Total nucleic acid was extracted and DNA was amplified using two PCR primer sets that have been shown to amplify a broad range of PVs from humans and animals: FAP59/ FAP64 and MY11/ MY09. The DNA sequences were compared with all sequences in GenBank. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue from the footpads of four dogs with other inflammatory dermatoses were also examined. Results PV DNA was amplified from all four corn lesions, while no PV DNA was amplified from other tissues. Comparison of the 444-bp sequences amplified by the MY11/ MY09 primers identified two different PVs. One showed 96% nucleotide sequence similarity with the L1 gene of canine PV type 12. The other showed 78% similarity to canine PV type 16 and, therefore, represents a novel PV. In one of the corns, infection by two of the identified PVs was found. Discussion These results suggest PV infection could be involved in the pathogenesis of corns in Greyhound dogs.

Identification of canine papillomavirus by PCR in Greyhound dogs

Background – Corns are hard protuberances that occur on the digital footpads of Greyhound dogs. The cause of these lesions is unknown and there is little information about them in the veterinary literature. We received anecdotal examples of dog to dog spread of corns suggesting an infectious cause. The aim of this study was to determine if papillomavirus (PV) is associated with Greyhound corns. Methods – We examined four corns from two unrelated adult Greyhound dogs that resided in Florida and Washington, respectively, for PV by PCR. The samples were obtained by owner coring of two lesions from one dog and laser removal of two lesions from the other dog. Total nucleic acid was extracted and DNA was amplified using two PCR primer sets that have been shown to amplify a broad range of PVs from humans and animals: FAP59/ FAP64 and MY11/ MY09. The DNA sequences were compared with all sequences in GenBank. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue from the footpads of four dogs with other inflammatory dermatoses were also examined. Results – PV DNA was amplified from all four corn lesions, while no PV DNA was amplified from other tissues. Comparison of the 300-400-bp sequences amplified by the MY11/ MY09 primers identified two different PVs. One showed 96% nucleotide sequence homology with the L1 gene of canine PV type 12. The other showed 78% homology to canine PV type 16, and, therefore, represents a novel PV. In one of the corns, infection by two of the identified PVs was found. Discussion – These results suggest PV infection could be involved in the pathogenesis of corns in Greyhound dogs.