3 research outputs found
First World Consensus Conference on pancreas transplantation: part II - recommendations
The First World Consensus Conference on Pancreas Transplantation provided 49 jury deliberations regarding the impact of pancreas transplantation on the treatment of diabetic patients, and 110 experts' recommendations for the practice of pancreas transplantation. The main message from this consensus conference is that both simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation (SPK) and pancreas transplantation alone can improve long-term patient survival, and all types of pancreas transplantation dramatically improve the quality of life of recipients. Pancreas transplantation may also improve the course of chronic complications of diabetes, depending on their severity. Therefore, the advantages of pancreas transplantation appear to clearly surpass potential disadvantages. Pancreas after kidney transplantation increases the risk of mortality only in the early period after transplantation, but is associated with improved life expectancy thereafter. Additionally, preemptive SPK, when compared to SPK performed in patients undergoing dialysis, appears to be associated with improved outcomes. Time on dialysis has negative prognostic implications in SPK recipients. Increased long-term survival, improvement in the course of diabetic complications, and amelioration of quality of life justify preferential allocation of kidney grafts to SPK recipients. Audience discussions and live voting are available online at the following URL address:
Past climate changes, population dynamics and the origin of Bison in Europe
International audienceBackground: Climatic and environmental fluctuations as well as anthropogenic pressure have led to theextinction of much of Europe’s megafauna. The European bison or wisent (Bison bonasus), one of the last wildEuropean large mammals, narrowly escaped extinction at the onset of the 20th century owing to hunting andhabitat fragmentation. Little is known, however, about its origin, evolutionary history and population dynamicsduring the Pleistocene.Results: Through ancient DNA analysis we show that the emblematic European bison has experienced severalwaves of population expansion, contraction, and extinction during the last 50,000 years in Europe, culminatingin a major reduction of genetic diversity during the Holocene. Fifty-seven complete and partial ancient mitogenomesfrom throughout Europe, the Caucasus, and Siberia reveal that three populations of wisent (Bison bonasus) andsteppe bison (B. priscus) alternately occupied Western Europe, correlating with climate-induced environmentalchanges. The Late Pleistocene European steppe bison originated from northern Eurasia, whereas the modernwisent population emerged from a refuge in the southern Caucasus after the last glacial maximum. A populationoverlap during a transition period is reflected in ca. 36,000-year-old paintings in the French Chauvet cave. Bayesiananalyses of these complete ancient mitogenomes yielded new dates of the various branching events during theevolution of Bison and its radiation with Bos, which lead us to propose that the genetic affiliation betweenthe wisent and cattle mitogenomes result from incomplete lineage sorting rather than post-speciation gene flow.Conclusion: The paleogenetic analysis of bison remains from the last 50,000 years reveals the influence ofclimate changes on the dynamics of the various bison populations in Europe, only one of which survived intothe Holocene, where it experienced severe reductions in its genetic diversity. The time depth and geographicalscope of this study enables us to propose temperate Western Europe as a suitable biotope for the wisentcompatible with its reintroduction