Subchronic 90-day feeding studies were conducted in male and female (F-344) rats on highly refined white mineral oils and waxes representative of those used for food applications. The goal was to help clarify the mixed results found in other toxicity studies with laboratory animals. Seven white oils and 5 waxes were fed at dietary doses of 20,000, 2,000, 200, and 20 ppm and compared with control groups on untreated diet; toxicity was assessed at 90 days and also after a reversal period of 28 days and/or 85 days. Higher molecular-sized hydrocarbons (microcrystalline waxes and the higher viscosity oils) were without biological effects. Paraffin waxes and low-to midviscosity oils produced biological effects that were inversely related to molecular weight, viscosity, and melting point; oil type and processing did not appear to be determinants. Biological effects were more pronounced in females than in males. Effects occurred mainly in the liver and mesenteric lymph nodes and included increased organ weights, microscopic inflammatory changes, and evidence for the presence of saturated mineral hydrocarbons in affected tissues. Inflammation of the cardiac mitral valve was also observed at high doses in rats treated with paraffin waxes. Further studies are required to elucidate the mechanism for the responses observed and the relevance of these inflammatory responses in the F-344 rat to other species, including humans.

DNA-based parentage determination accelerates genetic improvement in sheep by increasing pedigree accuracy. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers can be used for determining parentage and to provide unique molecular identifiers for tracing sheep products to their source. However, the utility of a particular “parentage SNP” varies by breed depending on its minor allele frequency (MAF) and its sequence context. Our aims were to identify parentage SNPs with exceptional qualities for use in globally diverse breeds and to develop a subset for use in North American sheep. Starting with genotypes from 2,915 sheep and 74 breed groups provided by the International Sheep Genomics Consortium (ISGC), we analyzed 47,693 autosomal SNPs by multiple criteria and selected 163 with desirable properties for parentage testing. On average, each of the 163 SNPs was highly informative (MAF≥0.3) in 48±5 breed groups. Nearby polymorphisms that could otherwise confound genetic testing were identified by whole genome and Sanger sequencing of 166 sheep from 54 breed groups. A genetic test with 109 of the 163 parentage SNPs was developed for matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization–time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The scoring rates and accuracies for these 109 SNPs were greater than 99% in a panel of North American sheep. In a blinded set of 96 families (sire, dam, and non-identical twin lambs), each parent of every lamb was identified without using the other parent’s genotype. In 74 ISGC breed groups, the median estimates for probability of a coincidental match between two animals (PI), and the fraction of potential adults excluded from parentage (PE) were 1.1×10(−39) and 0.999987, respectively, for the 109 SNPs combined. The availability of a well-characterized set of 163 parentage SNPs facilitates the development of high-throughput genetic technologies for implementing accurate and economical parentage testing and traceability in many of the world’s sheep breeds.

This investigation compared the effects of feeding rats diets containing food grade white oil processed by either conventional oleum treatment or the more modem method of catalytic hydrogenation. In two separate experiments, male or female Fischer-344 rats were given free access for 90 days to diets containing 0, 10, 100, 500, 5,000, 10,000, or 20,000 ppm of either oleum-treated white oil (OTWO) or hydrotreated white oil (HTWO). There were no mortalities and no adverse clinical signs associated with feeding either white oil. Treatment-related effects evidenced by hematological, clinical chemical, and pathological changes were generally dose-related and more marked in female than in male rats, and the OTWO caused a greater pathological response than the HTWO. Tissue residues of saturated hydrocarbons were up to 5.2 times higher in female rats than in males. Rats fed 5,000 ppm or more of either white oil showed dose-related alterations in several hematological and clinical chemistry variates associated mainly with hepatic damage or functional alteration. At necropsy, mesenteric lymph nodes were enlarged, and increases in weight of liver, kidney, and spleen were significant. Microscopic changes were characterized by multifocal lipogranulomata in mesenteric lymph node and liver. No changes were observed in rats fed OTWO or HTWO for 90 days at dietary concentrations of 10 or 100 ppm, equivalent to a minimum intake of 0.65 and 6.4 mg/kg/day, respectively. Differences in degree of pathological response associated with each oil may have been due to their differences in specification rather than processing method.

BackgroundIn recent years, the use of genomic information in livestock species for genetic improvement, association studies and many other fields has become routine. In order to accommodate different market requirements in terms of genotyping cost, manufacturers of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays, private companies and international consortia have developed a large number of arrays with different content and different SNP density. The number of currently available SNP arrays differs among species: ranging from one for goats to more than ten for cattle, and the number of arrays available is increasing rapidly. However, there is limited or no effort to standardize and integrate array- specific (e.g. SNP IDs, allele coding) and species-specific (i.e. past and current assemblies) SNP information.ResultsHere we present SNPchiMp v.3, a solution to these issues for the six major livestock species (cow, pig, horse, sheep, goat and chicken). Original data was collected directly from SNP array producers and specific international genome consortia, and stored in a MySQL database. The database was then linked to an open-access web tool and to public databases. SNPchiMp v.3 ensures fast access to the database (retrieving within/across SNP array data) and the possibility of annotating SNP array data in a user-friendly fashion.ConclusionsThis platform allows easy integration and standardization, and it is aimed at both industry and research. It also enables users to easily link the information available from the array producer with data in public databases, without the need of additional bioinformatics tools or pipelines. In recognition of the open-access use of Ensembl resources, SNPchiMp v.3 was officially credited as an Ensembl E!mpowered tool. Availability at http://bioinformatics.tecnoparco.org/SNPchimp.

The relationship between ethnographic approaches to research and the mechanisms for ethical review that are now being put in place to oversee that research results in significant tensions. This article draws on the author's experience of ethical review systems and interviews with research students in order to explore the nature of these tensions and the consequences they have for how ethnography is conducted now and in the future. A fundamental distinction is identified between an ethics of the body (with a person attached) and an ethics of the person (with a body attached). The former is described in terms of conventional ‘human subject research’ with a genealogy rooted in the Nuremburg Code. The latter opens up the possibility of an ethics of ‘social subject research’ which provokes ethical reflection on what it is to engage with the ‘open subject’. The article concludes by presenting research as a series of ethical moments which arise throughout research and on into the writing up of ethnography rather than as a single moment at its outset. Résumé La relation entre les approches ethnographiques de la recherche et les mécanismes de vérification éthique qui se mettent en place pour superviser ces recherches est une source d'importantes tensions. L'auteur tire ici parti de son expérience des systèmes de revue éthique et d'entretiens avec des étudiants chercheurs pour explorer la nature de ces tensions et leurs conséquences sur la manière dont l'ethnographie est menée aujourd'hui et le sera demain. Il identifie une distinction fondamentale entre l'éthique du corps (auquel une personne est attachée) et l'éthique de la personne (à laquelle un corps est attaché). La première est décrite en termes de « recherche sur un sujet humain » conventionnelle, avec une généalogie remontant au Code de Nuremberg. La deuxième ouvre la possibilité d'une éthique la « recherche sur un sujet social », qui suscite une réflexion éthique sur ce qu'est l'approche du « sujet ouvert ». L'article se conclut en présentant la recherche comme une série de moments éthiques qui surviennent à chaque étape du travail, jusqu'à la mise par écrit de l'ethnographie, plutôt que comme un moment unique au tout début.

The ethical concerns generated by transactions in human tissue touch on fundamental ideas of the body, society, and the nature of giving. These issues have generally been discussed using Euro‐American terms of reference. Drawing on fieldwork carried out in Sri Lanka, this article describes the ways in which a distinctively Theravāda Buddhist notion of giving and charity has been linked to the development of strategies to encourage the donation of human tissue. Eye and blood donation are used as illustrations of the linkages that have been forged between religious duty, other‐wordly aspirations, and nationalist sentiment in the development of national donation services. The key question which is then addressed is how these distinctive beliefs and values inform attempts to frame donations of sperm and ova which are now beginning to take place in Sri Lanka. In religious and cultural terms the candidacy of sperm and ova as gifts appears to be evaluated very differently. Explaining these differences opens up the possibility of a more thoroughgoing anthropological critique of bioethics and the manner of its diffusion both within and beyond the Euro‐American context.

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Recent demands for accountability in 'data management' by funding agencies, universities, international journals and other academic institutions have worried many anthropologists and ethnographers. While their demands for transparency and integrity in opening up data for scrutiny seem to enhance scientific integrity, such principles do not always consider the way the social relationships of research are properly maintained. As a springboard, the present Forum, triggered by such recent demands to account for the use of 'data', discusses the present state of anthropological research and academic ethics/integrity in a broader perspective. It specifically gives voice to our disciplinary concerns and leads to a principled statement that clarifies a particularly ethnographic position. This position is then discussed by several commentators who treat its viability and necessity against the background of wider developments in anthropology -sustaining the original insight that in ethnography, research materials have been coproduced before they become commoditised into 'data'. Finally, in moving beyond such a position, the Forum broadens the issue to the point where other methodologies and forms of ownership of research materials will also need consideration.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. 25 See Baud et al. (2013). It might have made a difference if the committee could have seen Bax's original materials (which he claimed to have destroyed), but only after the fact. FO RU M 4 01