Geographically Widespread Swordfish Barcode Stock Identification: A Case Study of Its Application

Background: The swordfish (Xiphias gladius) is a cosmopolitan large pelagic fish inhabiting tempered and tropical waters and it is a target species for fisheries all around the world. The present study investigated the ability of COI barcoding to reliably identify swordfish and particularly specific stocks of this commercially important species. Methodology: We applied the classical DNA barcoding technology, upon a 682 bp segment of COI, and compared swordfish sequences from different geographical sources (Atlantic, Indian Oceans and Mediterranean Sea). The sequences of the 59 hyper-variable fragment of the control region (59dloop), were also used to validate the efficacy of COI as a stockspecific marker. Case Report: This information was successfully applied to the discrimination of unknown samples from the market, detecting in some cases mislabeled seafood products. Conclusions: The NJ distance-based phenogram (K2P model) obtained with COI sequences allowed us to correlate the swordfish haplotypes to the different geographical stocks. Similar results were obtained with 59dloop. Our preliminary data in swordfish Xiphias gladius confirm that Cytochrome Oxidase I can be proposed as an efficient species-specific marker that has also the potential to assign geographical provenance. This information might speed the samples analysis in commercia

Pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate administered during ex-vivo lung perfusion promotes rehabilitation of injured donor rat lungs obtained after prolonged warm ischemia.

Damaged lung grafts obtained after circulatory death (DCD lungs) and warm ischemia may be at high risk of reperfusion injury after transplantation. Such lungs could be pharmacologically reconditioned using ex-vivo lung perfusion (EVLP). Since acute inflammation related to the activation of nuclear factor kappaB (NF-κB) is instrumental in lung reperfusion injury, we hypothesized that DCD lungs might be treated during EVLP by pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC), an inhibitor of NF-κB. Rat lungs exposed to 1h warm ischemia and 2 h cold ischemia were subjected to EVLP during 4h, in absence (CTRL group, N = 6) or in presence of PDTC (2.5g/L, PDTC group, N = 6). Static pulmonary compliance (SPC), peak airway pressure (PAWP), pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR), and oxygenation capacity were determined during EVLP. After EVLP, we measured the weight gain of the heart-lung block (edema), and the concentration of LDH (cell damage), proteins (permeability edema) and of the cytokines IL-6, TNF-α and CINC-1 in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), and we evaluated NF-κB activation by the degree of phosphorylation and degradation of its inhibitor IκBα in lung tissue. In CTRL, we found significant NF-κB activation, lung edema, and a massive release of LDH, proteins and cytokines. SPC significantly decreased, PAWP and PVR increased, while oxygenation tended to decrease. Treatment with PDTC during EVLP inhibited NF-κB activation, did not influence LDH release, but markedly reduced lung edema and protein concentration in BAL, suppressed TNFα and IL-6 release, and abrogated the changes in SPC, PAWP and PVR, with unchanged oxygenation. In conclusion, suppression of innate immune activation during EVLP using the NF-κB inhibitor PDTC promotes significant improvement of damaged rat DCD lungs. Future studies will determine if such rehabilitated lungs are suitable for in vivo transplantation

Internet Gaming Disorder Behaviors in emergent adulthood: a pilot study examining the interplay between anxiety and family cohesion

Understanding risk and protective factors associated with Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) has been highlighted as a research priority by the American Psychiatric Association, (2013). The present study focused on the potential IGD risk effect of anxiety and the buffering role of family cohesion on this association. A sample of emerging adults all of whom were massively multiplayer online (MMO) gamers (18–29 years) residing in Australia were assessed longitudinally (face-to-face: N = 61, Mage = 23.02 years, SD = 3.43) and cross-sectionally (online: N = 64, Mage = 23.34 years, SD = 3.39). IGD symptoms were assessed using the nine-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale-Short Form (IGDS-SF9; Pontes & Griffiths Computers in Human Behavior, 45, 137–143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.12.006, 2015). The Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI; Beck and Steer, 1990) and the balanced family cohesion scale (BFC; Olson Journal of Marital & Family Therapy, 3(1) 64–80. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-0606.2009.00175.x, 2011) were applied to assess anxiety and BFC levels, respectively. Linear regressions and moderation analyses confirmed that anxiety increased IGD risk and that BFC weakened the anxiety-related IGD risk

Genetic Structure of Bluefin Tuna in the Mediterranean Sea Correlates with Environmental Variables

Abstract Background Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (ABFT) shows complex demography and ecological variation in the Mediterranean Sea. Genetic surveys have detected significant, although weak, signals of population structuring; catch series analyses and tagging programs identified complex ABFT spatial dynamics and migration patterns. Here, we tested the hypothesis that the genetic structure of the ABFT in the Mediterranean is correlated with mean surface temperature and salinity. Methodology We used six samples collected from Western and Central Mediterranean integrated with a new sample collected from the recently identified easternmost reproductive area of Levantine Sea. To assess population structure in the Mediterranean we used a multidisciplinary framework combining classical population genetics, spatial and Bayesian clustering methods and a multivariate approach based on factor analysis. Conclusions FST analysis and Bayesian clustering methods detected several subpopulations in the Mediterranean, a result also supported by multivariate analyses. In addition, we identified significant correlations of genetic diversity with mean salinity and surface temperature values revealing that ABFT is genetically structured along two environmental gradients. These results suggest that a preference for some spawning habitat conditions could contribute to shape ABFT genetic structuring in the Mediterranean. However, further studies should be performed to assess to what extent ABFT spawning behaviour in the Mediterranean Sea can be affected by environmental variation.(undefined

Multilocus Bayesian Estimates of Intra-Oceanic Genetic Differentiation, Connectivity, and Admixture in Atlantic Swordfish (Xiphias gladius L.)

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A genetic discontinuity in a continuously distributed species: mitochondrial DNA in the American oyster, Crassostrea virginica.

Restriction site variation in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of the American oyster (Crassostrea virginica) was surveyed in continuously distributed populations sampled from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada, to Brownsville, Texas. mtDNA clonal diversity was high, with 82 different haplotypes revealed among 212 oysters with 13 endonucleases. The mtDNA clones grouped into two distinct genetic arrays (estimated to differ by about 2.6% in nucleotide sequence) that characterized oysters collected north vs. south of a region on the Atlantic mid-coast of Florida. The population genetic "break" in mtDNA contrasts with previous reports of near uniformity of nuclear (allozyme) allele frequencies throughout the range of the species, but agrees closely with the magnitude and pattern of mtDNA differentiation reported in other estuarine species in the southeastern United States. This concordance of mtDNA phylogenetic pattern across independently evolving species provides strong evidence for vicariant biogeographic processes in initiating intraspecific population structure. The post-Miocene ecological history of the region suggests that reduced precipitation levels in an enlarged Floridian peninsula may have created discontinuities in suitable estuarine habitat for oysters during glacial periods, and that today such population separations are maintained by the combined influence of ecological gradients and oceanic currents on larval dispersal. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that historical vicariant events, in conjunction with contemporary environmental influences on gene flow, can result in genetic discontinuities in continuously distributed species with high dispersal capability

Wild-type but not mutant androgen receptor inhibits expression of the hTERT telomerase subunit: a novel role of AR mutation for prostate cancer development

Androgens play a central role in prostate development and prostate cancer proliferation. Induction of telomerase is an early event in prostate carcinogenesis and is considered as a marker for both primary tumors and metastases. Interestingly, several reports suggest that telomerase activity is regulated by androgens in vivo. Here, we show that the wild-type (WT) human androgen receptor (AR) inhibits the expression of the human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) and telomerase activity via inhibition of hTERT promoter activity in the presence of androgen receptor agonists. However, pure androgen antagonists failed to repress hTERT transcription. The androgen-mediated repression of hTERT is abrogated in a human prostate cancer cell line exhibiting hormone-dependent growth, which expresses a mutant AR (T877A) frequently occurring in prostate cancer. We reveal that this single amino acid exchange is sufficient for the lack of transrepression. Interestingly, chromatin immunoprecipitation data suggest that, in contrast to the WT AR, the mutant AR is recruited less efficiently to the hTERT promoter in vivo, indicating that loss of transrepression results from reduced chromatin recruitment. Thus, our findings suggest that the WT AR inhibits expression of hTERT, which is indicative of a protective mechanism, whereas the T877A mutation of AR not only broadens the ligand spectrum of the receptor but abrogates this inhibitory mechanism in prostate cancer cells. This novel role of AR mutations in prostate cancer development suggests the benefit to a search for new AR antagonists that inhibit transactivation but allow transrepression