Holocene record of the Antarctic shag (Notocarbo bransfieldensis) in Fuegian waters

International audienceThe Antarctic Shag can be discriminated from its congeners by five osteological characters. Using these characters, we were able to identify bones of this species in five shell middens located in southern Fuego-Patagonia. The temporal distribution of these elements extends from historical times (280 YBP) to the middle Holocene (6,100 YBP). These extra-limital birds may have reached Fuegian waters through chance events, by postbreeding dispersal, or as vagrants from a yet undiscovered Fuegian colony. We discuss the implication of these and other findings on the specific status of the Antarctic Shag and its sympatry with the Imperial Shag. The current designation of the Antarctic Shag is proposed as Notocarbo bransfieldensis (Friedmann 1945)

The Western Aleutians: Cultural Isolation and Environmental Change

International audienceRecent research in the westem Aleutians addresses two primary issues: the nature and extent of cultural exchange along the Aleutian chain, and Holocene environmental change and its effects on the development of Aleut culture. Cultural isolation is a major paradigm of researchers working in the Aleutians. Review of the distribution of several cultural traits suggests the Aleuts adopted many cultural elements originating outside the chain, but the distribution of these to the westem islands was uneven

Historical diversity of cormorants and shags from Amchitka Island, Alaska

International audienceWe studied the historical biodiversity of cormorants and shags in the central Aleutians by examining the presence and abundance of bones deposited in two large Aleut middens located on Amchitka Island, Alaska. The temporal range of discrete strata in these deposits was from Russian-era contact to about 2,650 years before present. We found six species in these middens: Pelagic, Red-faced, and Kenyon' s Shags (Stictocarbo [Phalacro-corax] pelagicus, S. urile, S. kenyoni), Double-crested (Hypoleucus [Phalacrocorax] auritus), Japanese (Phalacrocorax capillatus) and Pallas' s Cormorants (Compsohalieus [Phalacroco-rax] perspicillatus), ranked in order of abundance. Historical patterns of abundance differed among species. Japanese and Pallas' s Cormorants were most likely chance arrivals to the island, Double-crested Cormorants were not found post-contact and we hypothesize that Arctic Foxes may have extirpated them here; Pelagic and Red-faced Shags have remained in constant proportion over the years and abundances may relate to environmental or climatic change. Little is known about S. kenyoni. These results suggest that the diversity of the marine coastal avifauna has experienced dynamic change during the late Holocene and that the distributions of shags and cormorants in particular were different than now known

Excavations at KIS-008, Buldir Island: Evaluation and Potential

International audienc

Plasma proteome responses in salmonid fish following immunization

Data Availability Statement The datasets presented in this study can be found in online repositories. The names of the repository/repositories and accession number(s) can be found in the article/Supplementary Material. Ethics Statement The animal study was reviewed and approved by UK home office and University of Aberdeen’s Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Body (AWERB). Author Contributions Study conception and design: DM and HD. Animal work: MM and HD. Proteomics lab work: DS. Proteomic data analysis: FB, DC, AD. Data interpretation: FB, DM, and HD. Drafted figures and tables: FB and DM. Drafted manuscript: FB, DM, and HD. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version. Funding This work was supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) grant numbers: BB/M010996/1, BB/M026345/1, BBS/E/D/20002174, and BBS/E/D/10002071. Conflict of Interest The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. Acknowledgments Our thanks to Prof. Chris Secombes (University of Aberdeen) for the 4C10 anti-salmonid IgM mAb used in our ELISAs and for his valuable intellectual contributions during the planning of this project. We also gratefully acknowledge the supervisory support given by Prof. Sam Martin (University of Aberdeen) to FB.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Cotton Rats and House Sparrows as Hosts for North and South American Strains of Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus

TOC summary: Wild rodents and wild birds can serve as amplification hosts

Time to Recurrence and Survival in Serous Ovarian Tumors Predicted from Integrated Genomic Profiles

Serous ovarian cancer (SeOvCa) is an aggressive disease with differential and often inadequate therapeutic outcome after standard treatment. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) has provided rich molecular and genetic profiles from hundreds of primary surgical samples. These profiles confirm mutations of TP53 in ∼100% of patients and an extraordinarily complex profile of DNA copy number changes with considerable patient-to-patient diversity. This raises the joint challenge of exploiting all new available datasets and reducing their confounding complexity for the purpose of predicting clinical outcomes and identifying disease relevant pathway alterations. We therefore set out to use multi-data type genomic profiles (mRNA, DNA methylation, DNA copy-number alteration and microRNA) available from TCGA to identify prognostic signatures for the prediction of progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). prediction algorithm and applied it to two datasets integrated from the four genomic data types. We (1) selected features through cross-validation; (2) generated a prognostic index for patient risk stratification; and (3) directly predicted continuous clinical outcome measures, that is, the time to recurrence and survival time. We used Kaplan-Meier p-values, hazard ratios (HR), and concordance probability estimates (CPE) to assess prediction performance, comparing separate and integrated datasets. Data integration resulted in the best PFS signature (withheld data: p-value = 0.008; HR = 2.83; CPE = 0.72).We provide a prediction tool that inputs genomic profiles of primary surgical samples and generates patient-specific predictions for the time to recurrence and survival, along with outcome risk predictions. Using integrated genomic profiles resulted in information gain for prediction of outcomes. Pathway analysis provided potential insights into functional changes affecting disease progression. The prognostic signatures, if prospectively validated, may be useful for interpreting therapeutic outcomes for clinical trials that aim to improve the therapy for SeOvCa patients

Landscape Ecology of Sylvatic Chikungunya Virus and Mosquito Vectors in Southeastern Senegal

The risk of human infection with sylvatic chikungunya (CHIKV) virus was assessed in a focus of sylvatic arbovirus circulation in Senegal by investigating distribution and abundance of anthropophilic Aedes mosquitoes, as well as the abundance and distribution of CHIKV in these mosquitoes. A 1650 km2 area was classified into five land cover classes: forest, barren, savanna, agriculture and village. A total of 39,799 mosquitoes was sampled from all classes using human landing collections between June 2009 and January 2010. Mosquito diversity was extremely high, and overall vector abundance peaked at the start of the rainy season. CHIKV was detected in 42 mosquito pools. Our data suggest that Aedes furcifer, which occurred abundantly in all land cover classes and landed frequently on humans in villages outside of houses, is probably the major bridge vector responsible for the spillover of sylvatic CHIKV to humans