Evolution of nectarivory in phyllostomid bats (Phyllostomidae Gray, 1825, Chiroptera: Mammalia)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Bats of the family Phyllostomidae show a unique diversity in feeding specializations. This taxon includes species that are highly specialized on insects, blood, small vertebrates, fruits or nectar, and pollen. Feeding specialization is accompanied by morphological, physiological and behavioural adaptations. Several attempts were made to resolve the phylogenetic relationships within this family in order to reconstruct the evolutionary transitions accompanied by nutritional specialization. Nevertheless, the evolution of nectarivory remained equivocal.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Phylogenetic reconstructions, based on a concatenated nuclear-and mitochondrial data set, revealed a paraphyletic relationship of nectarivorous phyllostomid bats. Our phylogenetic reconstructions indicate that the nectarivorous genera <it>Lonchophylla </it>and <it>Lionycteris </it>are closer related to mainly frugivorous phyllostomids of the subfamilies Rhinophyllinae, Stenodermatinae, Carolliinae, and the insectivorous Glyphonycterinae rather than to nectarivorous bats of the Glossophaginae. This suggests an independent origin of morphological adaptations to a nectarivorous lifestyle within Lonchophyllinae and Glossophaginae. Molecular clock analysis revealed a relatively short time frame of about ten million years for the divergence of subfamilies.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our study provides strong support for diphyly of nectarivorous phyllostomids. This is remarkable, since their morphological adaptations to nutrition, like elongated rostrums and tongues, reduced teeth and the ability to use hovering flight while ingestion, closely resemble each other. However, more precise examinations of their tongues (e.g. type and structure of papillae and muscular innervation) revealed levels of difference in line with an independent evolution of nectarivory in these bats.</p

Adaptive Evolution of the Myo6 Gene in Old World Fruit Bats (Family: Pteropodidae)

PMCID: PMC3631194This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Rekonstruktion der Art und der Geschwindigkeit der Evolution von Fledermäusen mit unterschiedlichen molekularen Markern: Morphologische Konvergenzen in Adaptiven Radiationen.

The aim of the study was to get a better understanding of the mode and tempo of the evolution of bats. Two different, very species-rich bat families were chosen as study objects. In the first chapter, bats of the family Phyllostomidae were analyzed. They show a unique diversity in feeding specializations. This taxon includes species that are highly specialized on insects, blood, small vertebrates, fruits or nectar, and pollen. Feeding specialization is accompanied by morphological, physiological and behavioral adaptations. Phylogenetic reconstructions, based on a concatenated nuclear- and mitochondrial data set, revealed a paraphyletic relationship of the nectarivorous subfamilies Lonchophyllinae and Glossophaginae. This is remarkable, since their morphological adaptations to nutrition closely resemble each other (e.g. elongated rostrums and tongues, reduced teeth, hovering flight). Further, molecular clock analysis revealed a relatively short time frame of about ten million years for the divergence of all subfamilies within the Phyllostomidae. In the second chapter, genetic variation among Mongolian bats of the family Vespertilionidae was screened and compared with taxa of the Western Palaearctic region. This is the first comprehensive, molecular genetic analysis of a whole bat family in the Eastern Palaearctic region. A total of 16 distinct mitochondrial lineages were found within Mongolia. Thirteen lineages differed by at least five percent sequence divergence to Western Palaearctic species, what implies the occurrence of cryptic diversity. Only three lineages showed lower divergence values. The data demonstrate a clear separation between most Western and Eastern Palaearctic vespertilionid bats likely due to multiple refugia during Pleistocene glaciations and independent recolonizations in the West and East.Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war ein besseres Verständnis der Art und der Geschwindigkeit der Evolution von Fledermäusen zu erlangen. Hierzu wurden zwei sehr artenreiche Fledermausfamilien untersucht. Das erste Kapitel widmet sich den Blattnasenfledermäusen (Familie: Phyllostomidae). Diese erlangten eine einmalige Vielfalt an Ernährungsspezialisationen. Einige Arten sind hoch spezialisiert und ernähren sich von Insekten, Blut, kleinen Wirbeltieren, Früchten oder Nektar und Pollen. Mit dieser Ernährungsspezialisation gehen Anpassungen der Morphologie, Physiologie und des Verhaltens einher. Die Rekonstruktion der Stammesgeschichte, basierend auf mehr als 10.000 DNA Basenpaaren pro Art, ergab eine konvergente Evolution zahlreicher Ernährungsspezialisationen innerhalb der sich von Nektar ernährenden Unterfamilien Lonchophyllinae und Glossophaginae. Dies ist erstaunlich, da sich die morphologischen Anpassungen an die Ernährungsweise sehr ähneln. Die Fledermäuse besitzen verlängerte Schnauzen und Zungen, reduzierte Zähne und können im Schwirrflug ihre Blüten ausbeuten. Die Analyse der Divergenzzeiten ergab einen relativ kurzen Zeitraum von zehn Millionen Jahren, indem alle Unterfamilien der Phyllostomidae entstanden. Im zweiten Kapitel wurde die genetische Variation mongolischer Fledermäuse, aus der Familie der Glattnasen (Vespertilionidae), untersucht und mit Vertretern der Westpaläarktis verglichen. Diese Arbeit stellt die erste umfangreiche, molekulargenetische Studie einer gesamten Fledermausfamilie der Ostpaläarktis dar. Insgesamt konnten 16 unterschiedliche mitochondriale Linien für die Mongolei nachgewiesen werden. Dreizehn Linien zeigten mindestens fünf Prozent Sequenzunterschied zu den westpalärktischen Linien, was auf die Existenz kryptischer Artenvielfalt hinweist. Nur bei drei Arten wurde ein geringer Sequenzunterschied zwischen Tieren der Ost- und Westpaläarktis gefunden. Das beobachtete Muster lässt sich am besten mit der Existenz zahlreicher Refugien während der Vereisungen im Pleistozän erklären

Implementation and Effectiveness of Novel Therapeutic Substances for Advanced Malignant Melanoma in Saxony, Germany, 2010&ndash;2020&mdash;Cohort Study Based on Administrative Data

(1) Background: Targeted (TT) and immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapies have become available in the routine care of metastatic melanoma in recent years. (2) Objective: We compared mortality in patients with metastatic melanoma and different systemic therapies. (3) Methods: A retrospective cohort study, based on pseudonymized health insurance data of about two million individuals from Saxony, Germany, was conducted for the years 2010 to 2020. Only patients with an advanced stage, i.e., distant metastases were considered for the main analysis. Relative survival since metastasis and predicted survivor curves derived from a Cox model were used to assess potential differences in mortality. (4) Results: Relative survival was highest in the subgroup with sequential use of ICI and TT. All treatments except interferon had significant hazard ratios (HR) in the Cox model with time-dependent effects indicating a protective effect after treatment initiation (HR 0.01&ndash;0.146) but decreasing over time (HR 1.351&ndash;2.310). The predicted survivor curves revealed best survival under ICI-TT treatment and worst survival under TT treatment alone. (5) Conclusions: We found real-world evidence for survival benefits of patients with metastatic melanoma who received sequential ICI and TT treatment. It is conceivable that the observed high survival differences were overestimated due to bias, such as confounding by indication

CytoSorb removes MDMA in vitro, but is it an effective therapy in vivo?

Background: 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine intoxication can result in potentially lethal multi-organ failure, for which the current treatment is largely supportive. Recently, a report of the use of the CytoSorb device as a part of the successful treatment of a patient with 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine intoxication and multi-organ failure has been described. Main body: While 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine was very effectively removed by CytoSorb in vitro, the degree of removal in the clinical setting described may have been minimal. Indeed, the therapy was started relatively late in this case, and, as the therapy is concentration dependent, the removal of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine is likely to have been limited. On the other hand, in this case, CytoSorb hemoadsorption was very effective to treat rhabdomyolysis and hyperinflammation. Conclusion: The in vitro experimentation demonstrates that 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine is effectively removed by CytoSorb. However, it is debatable whether the case report confirms the possibility of in vivo removal of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine by CytoSorb. Nevertheless, the potential of the CytoSorb device to contribute to the treatment of many critically ill patients has yet to be fully explored, and further studies are warranted.SCOPUS: no.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Implementation and Effectiveness of Novel Therapeutic Substances for Advanced Malignant Melanoma in Saxony, Germany, 2010–2020—Cohort Study Based on Administrative Data

(1) Background: Targeted (TT) and immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapies have become available in the routine care of metastatic melanoma in recent years. (2) Objective: We compared mortality in patients with metastatic melanoma and different systemic therapies. (3) Methods: A retrospective cohort study, based on pseudonymized health insurance data of about two million individuals from Saxony, Germany, was conducted for the years 2010 to 2020. Only patients with an advanced stage, i.e., distant metastases were considered for the main analysis. Relative survival since metastasis and predicted survivor curves derived from a Cox model were used to assess potential differences in mortality. (4) Results: Relative survival was highest in the subgroup with sequential use of ICI and TT. All treatments except interferon had significant hazard ratios (HR) in the Cox model with time-dependent effects indicating a protective effect after treatment initiation (HR 0.01–0.146) but decreasing over time (HR 1.351–2.310). The predicted survivor curves revealed best survival under ICI-TT treatment and worst survival under TT treatment alone. (5) Conclusions: We found real-world evidence for survival benefits of patients with metastatic melanoma who received sequential ICI and TT treatment. It is conceivable that the observed high survival differences were overestimated due to bias, such as confounding by indication

Outdoor air pollution, green space, and cancer incidence in Saxony: a semi-individual cohort study

Abstract Background There are a few epidemiological studies that (1) link increased ambient air pollution (AP) with an increase in lung cancer incidence rates and (2) investigate whether residing in green spaces could be protective against cancer. However, it is completely unclear whether other forms of cancer are also affected by AP and if residential green spaces could lower cancer incidence rates in general. Therefore, the objective was to estimate whether AP and green space are associated with several cancer types. Methods The analysis was based on routine health care data from around 1.9 million people from Saxony who were free of cancer in 2008 and 2009. Incident cancer cases (2010–2014) of mouth and throat, skin (non-melanoma skin cancer - NMSC), prostate, breast, and colorectum were defined as: (1) one inpatient diagnosis, or (2) two outpatient diagnoses in two different quarters within one year and a specific treatment or death within two quarters after the diagnosis. Exposures, derived from freely available 3rd party data, included particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter of less than 10 μm (PM10) and nitrogen dioxide (N02) as well as green space (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index - NDVI). Associations between air pollutants, green space, and cancer incidence were assessed by multilevel Poisson models. Age, sex, physician contacts, short- and long-term unemployment, population density, and having an alcohol-related disorder were considered as potential confounders. Results Three thousand one hundred seven people developed mouth and throat cancer, 33,178 NMSC, 9611 prostate cancer, 9577 breast cancer, and 11,975 colorectal cancer during the follow-up period (2010–2014). An increase in PM10 of 10 μg/m3 was associated with a 53% increase in relative risk (RR) of mouth and throat cancer and a 52% increase in RR of NMSC. Prostate and breast cancer were modestly associated with PM10 with an increase in RR of 23 and 19%, respectively. The associations with N02 were in the same direction as PM10 but the effect estimates were much lower (7–24%). A 10% increase in NDVI was most protective of mouth and throat cancer (− 11% RR) and of NMSC (− 16% RR). Colorectal cancer was not affected by any of the exposures. Conclusions In addition to the studies carried out so far, this study was able to provide evidence that higher ambient AP levels increase the risk of mouth and throat cancer as well as of NMSC and that a higher residential green space level might have a protective effect for NMSC in areas with low to moderate UV intensity. Nevertheless, we cannot rule out residual confounding by socioeconomic or smoking status

A molecular phylogeny of the genus Psittacula sensu lato (Aves: Psittaciformes: Psittacidae: Psittacula, Psittinus, Tanygnathus, † Mascarinus) with taxonomic implications

Braun, Michael P., Datzmann, Thomas, Arndt, Thomas, Reinschmidt, Matthias, Schnitker, Heinz, Bahr, Norbert, Sauer-Gürth, Hedwig, Wink, Michael (2019): A molecular phylogeny of the genus Psittacula sensu lato (Aves: Psittaciformes: Psittacidae: Psittacula, Psittinus, Tanygnathus, † Mascarinus) with taxonomic implications. Zootaxa 4563 (3): 547-562, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4563.3.

Target arterial PO2 according to the underlying pathology: a mini-review of the available data in mechanically ventilated patients

There is an ongoing discussion whether hyperoxia, i.e. ventilation with high inspiratory

Additional file 2: of Outdoor air pollution, green space, and cancer incidence in Saxony: a semi-individual cohort study

Table S1. ICD-10 Codes; Analyzed cancer entities and corresponding ICD-10-GM codes are shown. (DOCX 12 kb