The genetic history of the Southern Arc: a bridge between West Asia and Europe

By sequencing 727 ancient individuals from the Southern Arc (Anatolia and its neighbors in Southeastern Europe and West Asia) over 10,000 years, we contextualize its Chalcolithic period and Bronze Age (about 5000 to 1000 BCE), when extensive gene flow entangled it with the Eurasian steppe. Two streams of migration transmitted Caucasus and Anatolian/Levantine ancestry northward, and the Yamnaya pastoralists, formed on the steppe, then spread southward into the Balkans and across the Caucasus into Armenia, where they left numerous patrilineal descendants. Anatolia was transformed by intra–West Asian gene flow, with negligible impact of the later Yamnaya migrations. This contrasts with all other regions where Indo-European languages were spoken, suggesting that the homeland of the Indo-Anatolian language family was in West Asia, with only secondary dispersals of non-Anatolian Indo-Europeans from the steppe

The value of the "Tin-Tack" sign of Hulusi Behcet in the clinical diagnosis of cutaneous Leishmaniasis

Çivi belirtisi, kaldırılan bir kurutun altında boynuzumsu çıkıntıların gözlenmesidir. Diskoid lupus eritematozusun iyi bilinen bir özelliği olmakla beraber diğer bazı skuamlı veya kurutlu lezyonlarda özellikle kutanöz leishmaniasis lezyonlarında da görülebilir. Bu çalışma, çivi belirtisinin kutanöz leishmaniasisin klinik tanısındaki değerini ortaya koyabilmek amacıyla planlandı. Bu amaca yönelik olarak çivi belirtisinin görüldüğü bilinen hastalık gruplarından 472 olgu çalışma kapsamına alındı. Söz konusu olgularda kurutlar dikkatlice kaldırılarak çivi belirtisi arandı ve pozitif olguların özellikleri kayıt edildi. Çivi belirtisi olguların %10'unda pozitif saptandı. Bunların %75'den fazlasını kutanöz leishmaniasisin geç ülser evresindeki olgular oluşturmaktaydı. Çivi belirtisinin kutanöz leishmaniasis tanısındaki sensitivite ve negatif prediktif değerleri düşük ama spesifite ve pozitif prediktif değerleri yüksek bulundu. Çivi belirtisinin, nonspesifik bir bulgu olmasına karşın, endemik bölgelerde büyük bir olasılıkla kutanöz leishmaniasisi işaret eden önemli bir klinik bulgu olduğu sonucuna varılmıştırBackground: The 'tin-tack' sign (TTS) is the appearance of horny processes that project from the under-surface of a crust. Although it is a well-known feature of discoid lupus erythematosus it may be also seen in other crusted lesions particularly in cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the value of TTS in the clinical diagnosis of CL. Materials and Methods: We studied 472 patients with diseases known to have the potential of producing 'tin-tack' crusts or scales. After detection of the crusted lesions, the presence of TTS was investigated in these lesions. Results: TTS was positive in approximately 10% of the study group. The positive TTS was a frequent finding (over 75%) in the late ulcer stage of CL. The positive TTS was found to have a poor sensitivity and negative predictive value but a high specificity and positive predictive value in diagnosis of the patients with CL. Conclusion: Although it is not disease-specific, a positive TTS may be an indicative sign of CL with a high probability in the regions where CL is endemic

Histological and immunofluorescence findings of non-follicular papulopustular lesions in patients with Behçet's disease

PubMedID: 12941085Background. Papulopustular lesions (PPL), the most common type of cutaneous lesions in Behçet's disease (BD), clinically may not be differentiated from ordinary acne. Disagreement exists as to the exact nature of these acneiform and folliculitis-like lesions and whether to include them as a major criterion. Objective. We investigated whether PPL can be a useful tool for the diagnosis of BD when non-follicular lesions over the trunk or extremities were selected, and were correlated with histological and/or immunofluorescence study. Methods. Seventeen patients with BD (five women, 12 men; mean ± SEM age, 32 ± 7.9 years), were enrolled in the study with blind histopathological and immunofluorescence studies. Biopsies of the PPL and adjacent (approximately 2 cm distant) normal-appearing skin were performed from the extremities and trunk. Follicle-based acneiform lesions and those lesions over face were excluded. Histological evaluation primarily included epidermal and dermal alterations, cellular infiltration and vascular changes. We also performed direct immunofluorescence studies, using polyclonal antibodies for IgA, IgG, IgM, C3 and fibrin. Results. Lesional specimens of the patients with BD revealed a significant leucocytoclastic vasculitis as compared with non-lesional skin (P < 0.05). The vessels of the lesional skin showed a higher IgM deposition than non-lesional skin (52.9% and 17.6%) (P < 0.05). IgG, C3 and fibrin deposits on the vessels of the lesional skin were also higher than non-lesional skin (35.3, 11.8%; 41.2, 17.6%; and 47.1, 17.6%, respectively), but the differences were not statistically significant. Conclusions. Our findings indicate that non-follicular PPL over the trunk or extremities are more specific, and immune complex-mediated vasculitis is likely to be the main feature of these lesions, as they are in other cutaneous lesions of BD

Uncommon presentation of cutaneous leishmaniasis as eczema-like eruption [2]

PubMedID: 10461653[No abstract available

The genetic history of the Southern Arc: a bridge between West Asia and Europe

By sequencing 727 ancient individuals from the Southern Arc (Anatolia and its neighbors in Southeastern Europe and West Asia) over 10,000 years, we contextualize its Chalcolithic period and Bronze Age (about 5000 to 1000 BCE), when extensive gene flow entangled it with the Eurasian steppe. Two streams of migration transmitted Caucasus and Anatolian/Levantine ancestry northward, and the Yamnaya pastoralists, formed on the steppe, then spread southward into the Balkans and across the Caucasus into Armenia, where they left numerous patrilineal descendants. Anatolia was transformed by intra?West Asian gene flow, with negligible impact of the later Yamnaya migrations. This contrasts with all other regions where Indo-European languages were spoken, suggesting that the homeland of the Indo-Anatolian language family was in West Asia, with only secondary dispersals of non-Anatolian Indo-Europeans from the steppe. Stories about the peopling?and people?of Southern Europe and West Asia have been passed down for thousands of years, and these stories have contributed to our historical understanding of populations. Genomic data provide the opportunity to truly understand these patterns independently from written history. In a trio of papers, Lazaridis et al. examined more than 700 ancient genomes from across this region, the Southern Arc, spanning 11,000 years, from the earliest farming cultures to post-Medieval times (see the Perspective by Arbuckle and Schwandt). On the basis of these results, the authors suggest that earlier reliance on modern phenotypes and ancient writings and artistic depictions provided an inaccurate picture of early Indo-Europeans, and they provide a revised history of the complex migrations and population integrations that shaped these cultures. ?SNV A web of migrations between Anatolia, its neighbors, and the Steppe suggests a West Asian origin of Indo-Anatolian languages

The genetic history of the Southern Arc. A bridge between West Asia and Europe

By sequencing 727 ancient individuals from the Southern Arc (Anatolia and its neighbors in Southeastern Europe and West Asia) over 10,000 years, we contextualize its Chalcolithic period and Bronze Age (about 5000 to 1000 BCE), when extensive gene flow entangled it with the Eurasian steppe. Two streams of migration transmitted Caucasus and Anatolian/Levantine ancestry northward, and the Yamnaya pastoralists, formed on the steppe, then spread southward into the Balkans and across the Caucasus into Armenia, where they left numerous patrilineal descendants. Anatolia was transformed by intra-West Asian gene flow, with negligible impact of the later Yamnaya migrations. This contrasts with all other regions where Indo-European languages were spoken, suggesting that the homeland of the IndoAnatolian language family was in West Asia, with only secondary dispersals of non-Anatolian IndoEuropeans from the steppe

Ancient DNA from Mesopotamia suggests distinct Pre-Pottery and Pottery Neolithic migrations into Anatolia

We present the first ancient DNA data from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of Mesopotamia (Southeastern Turkey and Northern Iraq), Cyprus, and the Northwestern Zagros, along with the first data from Neolithic Armenia. We show that these and neighboring populations were formed through admixture of pre-Neolithic sources related to Anatolian, Caucasus, and Levantine hunter-gatherers, forming a Neolithic continuum of ancestry mirroring the geography of West Asia. By analyzing Pre-Pottery and Pottery Neolithic populations of Anatolia, we show that the former were derived from admixture between Mesopotamian-related and local Epipaleolithic-related sources, but the latter experienced additional Levantine-related gene flow, thus documenting at least two pulses of migration from the Fertile Crescent heartland to the early farmers of Anatolia