Weight loss induced by increased daily physical activity without caloric restriction substantially reduces obesity (particularly abdominal obesity) and insulin resistance in men. Exercise without weight loss reduces abdominal fat and prevents further weight gain.

One hundred and seventy-two patients with partial or complete hypopituitarism diagnosed between 1967 and 1994 were studied retrospectively. Those with acromegaly or Cushing's disease were excluded. One hundred and two patients were male (median age at, diagnosis, 53 yr; range, 12-78 yr) and 70 female (median age at diagnosis, 51 yr; range, 1-74 yr). In 131 patients the cause of hypopituitarism was a pituitary tumor or the effects of its treatment, as the majority underwent surgery and/or radiotherapy. In 22, the cause was an extrapituitary tumor, 14 were termed idiopathic, 2 developed hypopituitarism as a result of basal sarcoid, 2 were due to trauma, and 1 was the result of Sheehan's syndrome. The patients were treated with standard replacement therapy. Mortality due to all causes was higher than expected in an age- and sex-matched control population (ratio of observed/expected deaths, 1.73; 95% confidence interval, 1.28-2.28; P < 0.01). Females tended to have a worse prognosis (ratio of observed/expected deaths, 2.29; 95% confidence interval, 1.37-3.58; P < 0.01) than their male counterparts (ratio of observed/expected deaths, 1.50; 95% confidence interval, 1.02-2.13; P < 0.01). There was a small but nonsignificant increase in the number of deaths due to vascular disease (ratio of observed/expected deaths, 1.35; 95% confidence interval, 0.84-2.07; P = 0.11). The only significant independent predictive factors for survival were age at diagnosis and hypogonadism. The majority of the male hypogonadal cohort received replacement therapy (79%), but fewer of the females did so (27%). Hypogonadal patients had a better prognosis than their eugonadal counterparts (log rank, 6.85; P < 0.01). Our data confirmed that mortality in patients with hypopituitarism is significantly increased. However, the contribution of vascular disease to this poor prognosis was not as great as previously reported, and overall, our results favor a multifactorial explanation of the poor long term outcome.

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SUMMARY Changes in the fat and flight muscle protein reserves of adult Red‐billed Queleas Quelea quelea were followed in two colonies in Tanzania and Botswana. At the start of a breeding attempt the protein reserves were higher that at any other time of the year, particularly in females which had heavier flight muscles (non‐fat dry weight) than did the (larger) males at that time. The pre‐breeding increase in the labile component of the muscle protein (the actual protein reserve) is calculated at 80% for females, but only 14% for males. The fat reserve was only increased slightly at the beginning of the breeding attempt. In both sexes, though for different reasons, the protein and fat reserves fell rapidly during the first few days of the attempt, in some individuals to dangerously low levels. During the incubation period there was rapid recovery while the situation during the rearing period appeared to vary between colonies. It is proposed that the proximate control of breeding is provided by the individual's own body condition, and particularly the state of its protein reserves. No environmental releasers are required for the birds to breed at the appropriate time of the year. Individual females producing two, three and four egg clutches differed in the rate at which their reserves fell during egg formation. The results are used to support the view that in this quelea the actual clutch‐size produced on any occasion is the largest the female can produce before becoming too enfeebled. Thus, clutch‐size appears to be determined phenotypically downward from a maximum which is indirectly under genetic control.

Archipelago-endemic bird radiations are familiar to evolutionary biologists as key illustrations of evolutionary patterns. However, such radiations are in fact rare events. White-eyes (Zosteropidae) are birds with an exceptionally high colonization and speciation potential; they have colonized more islands globally than any other passerine group and include the most species-rich bird genus. The multiplication of white-eye island endemics has been consistently attributed to independent colonizations from the mainland; the white-eyes of the Gulf of Guinea archipelago had been seen as a classic case, spanning as great a breadth of phenotypic diversity as the family worldwide. Contrary to this hypothesis, our molecular phylogenetic analysis places the Gulf of Guinea white-eyes in just two radiations, one grouping all five oceanic island taxa and the other grouping continental island and land-bridge taxa. Numerous 'aberrant' phenotypes (traditionally grouped in the genus Speirops) have evolved independently over a short space of time from nonaberrant (Zosterops) phenotypes; the most phenotypically divergent species have separated as recently as 0.22 Ma. These radiations rival those of Darwin's finches and the Hawaiian honeycreepers in terms of the extent of adaptive radiation per unit time, both in terms of species numbers and in terms of phenotypic diversity. Tempo and patterns of morphological divergence are strongly supportive of an adaptive radiation in the oceanic islands driven by ecological interactions between sympatric white-eyes. Here, very rapid phenotypic evolution mainly affected taxa derived from the youngest wave of colonization, in accordance with the model of asymmetric divergence owing to resource competition in sympatry.

The source of nutrients used for egg formation are poorly known for most bird species. This study of the zebra finch Poephila guttata showed that food intake did not increase during egg production, but the decline in female body reserves of protein and fat were sufficient to account for most of the nutrients in a clutch of four eggs. Female birds significantly reduced their activity levels during ova enlargement, which may play a role in diverting resources to egg production. Birds increased their intake of calcium‐rich food items when eggs were being laid, and this intake accounted for all the calcium needed for eggshell formation. The zebra finch depends heavily on stored body reserves for egg formation, which is probably unusual in small passerines.