Kin selection predicts that helpers in cooperative systems should preferentially aid relatives to maximize fitness. In family-based groups, this can be accomplished simply by assisting all group members. In more complex societies, where large numbers of kin and non-kin regularly interact, more sophisticated kin-recognition mechanisms are needed. Bell miners (Manorina melanophrys) are just such ...

Hamilton demonstrated that the evolution of cooperative behaviour is favoured by high relatedness, which can arise through kin discrimination or limited dispersal (population viscosity). These two processes are likely to operate with limited overlap: kin discrimination is beneficial when variation in relatedness is higher, whereas limited dispersal results in less variable and higher average re...

I recently gave a lecture to the faculty and house officers in my department on the topic of submitting a manuscript for publication. I covered how to choose a journal, the importance of following the instructions for authors, responsibilities of authorship, communications with the editor, misuse of figures and tables, linking cited references to Medline and PubMed, what happens at the journal ...

The pathological superoxidative condition that retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells experience contributed to the advancement of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which was accompanied by significant neovascularization. Therefore, the discovery of novel pharmacological candidates to ameliorate oxidative damage (H2O2) against RPE cells and inhibit the following angiogenesis simultaneousl...

OBJECTIVES The well-being and physical function among patients with ALS and their next of kin was studied over time. MATERIALS AND METHODS Thirty-five patients with ALS and their next of kin were studied with respect to physical, general and psychological well-being by the visual analogue scale (VAS) every 4-6 months. Physical function in patients was rated by the ALSFRS-R and the Norris scal...

Synopsis. This paper examines mechanisms of individual identification in the kin rec? ognition process. In type 1 kin recognition, the individual {e.g., a parent) learns the identifying cues (the "signature") of particular kin {e.g., offspring) at some stage when there are reliable contextual cues as to kinship {e.g., the parent finds the young in its nest). These kin are subsequently recognize...

Diverse forms of kin discrimination, broadly defined as alteration of social behavior as a function of genetic relatedness among interactants, are common among social organisms from microbes to humans. However, the evolutionary origins and causes of kin-discriminatory behavior remain largely obscure. One form of kin discrimination observed in microbes is the failure of genetically distinct colo...

Kin selection theory has been one of the most significant advances in our understanding of social behavior . However, the discovery of widespread promiscuity has challenged the evolutionary importance of kin selection because it reduces the benefit associated with helping nestmates . This challenge would be resolved if promiscuous species evolved a self-referent kin-recognition mechanism that e...