The monotypic genus Buobellenden Yin & Nomura, 2009 is placed as a junior synonym of Bellenden Chandler, 2001. This act results in Bellenden jingyuanensis (Yin & Nomura), comb. n. (from Buobellenden). A new species, Bellenden siguniang Yin & Jang, sp. n., collected from the alpine area in Sichuan, SW China, is described, illustrated, and distinguished from all congeners. A new illustration of t...

Gestational diabetes mellitus has been associated with various maternal and perinatal adverse outcomes. Screening and subsequent treatment are associated with short term benefit. With the recent recommended diagnostic criteria by the International Association of Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Groups and increasing rate of obesity, the prevalence will continue to rise. It remains uncertain whether...

Despite widespread interest in kin selection and nepotism, relatively little is known about the perceptual abilities of animals to recognize their relatives. Here I show that a highly nepotistic species, Belding's ground squirrels (Spermophilus beldingi), produces odours from at least two sources that correlate with relatedness ('kin labels'), and that ground squirrels can use these odours to m...

Aim and Objectives: To increase the understanding of next of kin’s life situation in the context of supporting persons who are long term ill, disabled and/or older by describing their experienced burden and quality of life and also the relationship between QoL, burden and socioeconomic variables. Methods: Cross-sectional, descriptive and correlative design. Eighty-four next of kin answered two ...

The ability to recognize close relatives in order to cooperate or to avoid inbreeding is widespread across all taxa. One accepted mechanism for kin recognition in birds is associative learning of visual or acoustic cues. However, how could individuals ever learn to recognize unfamiliar kin? Here, we provide the first evidence for a novel mechanism of kin recognition in birds. Zebra finch (Taeni...

Relatives play an important role in human reproduction according to evolutionary theories of reproductive behavior, but previous empirical studies show large differences in the effects of kin on fertility outcomes. In our paper we examine the effect of co-resident kin and non-kin on the length of birth intervals over the reproductive life course of Dutch women born between 1842 and 1920. We est...

Social interactions among individuals are wide-spread, both in natural and domestic populations. As a result, trait values of individuals may be affected by genes in other individuals, a phenomenon known as Indirect Genetic Effects (IGEs). IGEs can be estimated using linear mixed models. The traditional IGE-model assumes that an individual interacts equally with all its partners, whether kin or...

Since W. D. Hamilton's seminal work on the evolution of sociality, a large body of research has accumulated on how kin selection might explain the evolution of cooperation in many group-living species. Our study examined the evolutionary basis of philopatry and cooperation; specifically, whether individuals benefit from the presence of close kin. We applied an individual fitness approach to a 1...