Pseudomyxoma peritonei - a report of two cases and a review of the literature

Introduction: PMP is a rare disease with a slow but progressive course leading to death. According to the literature PMP encompass wide variety of conditions. To avoid the confusion and to facilitate the treatment and comparison of the results several authors suggested that the term `PMP` should include only the cases with appendiceal origin.Case report: We report two cases with low-grade paseudomyxoma peritonei. The first case was managed by debulking surgery alone with survival 2 years. The second case underwent complete cytoreduction plus HIPEC and 3 years later is still alive and free of disease. There was one patient with a benign appendiceal mucocele treated by appendectomy, who is free of disease 3 years later.Introduction: PMP is a rare disease with a slow but progressive course leading to death. According to the literature PMP encompass wide variety of conditions. To avoid confusion and to facilitate treatment and comparison of the results several authors suggested that the term `PMP` should include only the cases with appendiceal origin.Case report: We report two cases with low-grade paseudomyxoma peritonei. The first case was managed by debulking surgery alone with survival 2 years. The second case underwent complete cytoreduction plus HIPEC and 3 years later is still alive and free of disease. There was one patient with a benign appendiceal mucocele treated by appendectomy, who is free of disease 3 years later.Conclusion: Despite the high complication rate, cytoreductive surgery with HIPEC remains the gold standard in the treatment of pseudomyxoma peritonei. The tumor grade and completeness of cytoreduction are the main prognostic factors. Due to the rarity of the condition most of the surgeons are not experienced enough to manage these patients. Additionally, the incomplete cytoreduction is associated with poorer prognosis and significantly hampers the subsequent interventions. Thus, in the cases when it is found incidentally, the best strategy is the taking of biopsy, appendectomy and subsequent referral to a specialized center for a treatment by multidisciplinary team

A glimpse on the pattern of rodent diversification:a phylogenetic approach

RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are.Abstract Background Development of phylogenetic methods that do not rely on fossils for the study of evolutionary processes through time have revolutionized the field of evolutionary biology and resulted in an unprecedented expansion of our knowledge about the tree of life. These methods have helped to shed light on the macroevolution of many taxonomic groups such as the placentals (Mammalia). However, despite the increase of studies addressing the diversification patterns of organisms, no synthesis has addressed the case of the most diversified mammalian clade: the Rodentia. Results Here we present a rodent maximum likelihood phylogeny inferred from a molecular supermatrix. It is based on 11 mitochondrial and nuclear genes that covers 1,265 species, i.e., respectively 56% and 81% of the known specific and generic rodent diversity. The inferred topology recovered all Rodentia clades proposed by recent molecular works. A relaxed molecular clock dating approach provided a time framework for speciation events. We found that the Myomorpha clade shows a greater degree of variation in diversification rates than Sciuroidea, Caviomorpha, Castorimorpha and Anomaluromorpha. We identified a number of shifts in diversification rates within the major clades: two in Castorimorpha, three in Ctenohystrica, 6 within the squirrel-related clade and 24 in the Myomorpha clade. The majority of these shifts occurred within the most recent familial rodent radiations: the Cricetidae and Muridae clades. Using the topological imbalances and the time line we discuss the potential role of different diversification factors that might have shaped the rodents radiation. Conclusions The present glimpse on the diversification pattern of rodents can be used for further comparative meta-analyses. Muroid lineages have a greater degree of variation in their diversification rates than any other rodent group. Different topological signatures suggest distinct diversification processes among rodent lineages. In particular, Muroidea and Sciuroidea display widespread distribution and have undergone evolutionary and adaptive radiation on most of the continents. Our results show that rodents experienced shifts in diversification rate regularly through the Tertiary, but at different periods for each clade. A comparison between the rodent fossil record and our results suggest that extinction led to the loss of diversification signal for most of the Paleogene nodes

Diversity patterns and conservation gaps of Magnoliaceae species in China

Postponed access: the file will be available after 2023-12-27Magnoliaceae, a primitive group of angiosperms and distinguished ornamental plants with more than 100 species in China, is one of the most threatened plant family in the wild due to logging, habitat loss, over-collection and climate change. To provide a scientific guide of its conservation for policymakers, we explore the diversity patterns of 114 Magnoliaceae species in China using three diversity indices (species richness, weighted endemism, β-diversity) with a spatial resolution of 10 km by 10 km. Two methods, the top 5% richness algorithm and complementary algorithm, are used to identify diversity hotspots. Conservation gaps are recognized by overlapping the diversity hotspots with Chinese nature reserves. Our results indicate that Magnoliaceae species richness and weighted endemism are high in tropical to subtropical low montane forests in southern China, exceptionally high in southernmost Yunnan and boundary of Guizhou, Guangxi and Hunan. The β-diversity are scattered in southern China, suggesting a different species composition among grid cells. We identify 2524 grids as diversity hotspots for Magnoliaceae species in China, with 24 grids covered by three diversity indices (first-level diversity hotspots), 561 grids covered by two indices (second-level diversity hotspots) simultaneously and 1939 grids (76.8%) covered by only one index (third-level diversity hotspots). The first-level diversity hotspots include over 70% of the critically endangered Magnoliaceae species and are the priority areas for Magnoliaceae conservation. However, only 24% of the diversity hotspots fall in nature reserves and only ten grids are from the first-level diversity hotspots. Zhejiang, Guizhou and Fujian have less than 20% of diversity hotspots covered by nature reserves and need attention in future Magnoliaceae conservation. Using multiple diversity indices and algorithms, our study identifies diversity hotspots and conservation gaps and provides scientific basis for Magnoliaceae conservation in future.acceptedVersio

Spatio-temporal patterns in the woodiness of flowering plants

Under embargo until: 2023-12-31Aim Woody and herbaceous habits represent one of the most distinct contrasts among angiosperms, and the proportion of woody species in floras (i.e., “woodiness” hereafter) represents a fundamental structural element of plant diversity. Despite its core influence on ecosystem processes, spatio-temporal patterns in woodiness remain poorly understood. Here, we aim to demonstrate the global spatio-temporal patterns in angiosperm woodiness and their relationship with environmental factors. Location Global. Time period Cenozoic, 66 Ma to present. Major taxa studied Angiosperms. Methods Using newly compiled data on the growth forms and distributions of c. 300,000 angiosperm species and an angiosperm phylogeny, we mapped the current global geographical patterns in angiosperm woodiness, reconstructed ancestral states of growth forms through the angiosperm phylogeny and demonstrated the Cenozoic evolutionary dynamics of woodiness. We evaluated the relationships between woodiness and current climate and palaeoclimate. Results We found that c. 42.7% of angiosperms are woody. Woodiness decreased spatially from the equator towards high latitudes, temporally since the early Cenozoic. Temperature was the best predictor of the spatio-temporal decline in woodiness and was positively correlated with woodiness. Despite the temporal decline in woodiness, macroevolutionary herbaceous-to-woody transitions increased through time and contributed to the evolution of woody floras in temperate drylands, whereas the opposite transitions decreased through time and contributed to herbaceous floras in tropical and subtropical drylands. Main conclusions Our study improves understanding of the spatio-temporal dynamics of angiosperm woodiness. Our findings suggest that temperature is likely to be a determinant of spatio-temporal variations in woodiness, highlighting the role of temperature in maintaining the growth form composition of ecosystems. Our study also calls for attention to growth form transitions (e.g., secondary woodiness) in temperate drylands that have been neglected before.acceptedVersio

A molecular phylogeny of the European nesticid spiders (Nesticidae, Araneae): Implications for their systematics and biogeography

Nesticidae is a small family of spiders with a worldwide distribution that includes 15 genera and 272 described species. Seven genera and 56 species are known from Europe, distributed from the Iberian Peninsula to the Caucasus and the Ural Mountains. Most of these European species are cave dwellers and many of them are troglobites. In this study we present the first molecular phylogeny of the family Nesticidae in Europe with a wide geographical sampling across the continent. In our analysis the European nesticid fauna is well represented, including six genera and 40 of the 56 currently accepted species including the type species of all sampled genera. We have included in the analysis representatives of the North American and Asian fauna to test the monophyly of the European species and the phylogenetic relationships of European lineages. Phylogenetic relationships were reconstructed using maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference. As part of our Bayesian analyses, we also dated the phylogeny using two approaches, one based only on fossil calibrations and one that included an additional biogeographical constraint. Our results show paraphyly of the European nesticids with respect to the Asian and North American taxa. We recover four main lineages within Europe. These four European lineages and all European genera have 100% bootstrap support and high posterior probability support in the BEAST2 analysis. The Typhlonesticus lineage is the earliest branching clade present in Europe and includes seven species, the five currently accepted species plus T. parvus from Bosnia and Herzegovina and T. silvestrii from western North America. The Eastern lineage includes the genus Aituaria and is the sister group of the Asian genera Nesticella and Wraios. The Domitius lineage is likely the sister group of the Central European lineage and spreads over the Iberian and Italian peninsulas. Finally, the Central European lineage includes three genera: Kryptonesticus, distributed from the karstic massifs of the Balkan Peninsula to Turkey, Nesticus with a single synanthropic species N. cellulanus and Carpathonesticus, exclusive to the Carpathian Mountains. With the exception of the genus Typhlonesticus, all European genera show an allopatric distribution (except for the two European synanthropic species). The results obtained in this study together with the revision of the original descriptions, redescriptions, and illustrations, lead us to propose 11 nomenclatural changes (new combinations) concerning the genera Typhlonesticus, Nesticus and Carpathonesticus.publishedVersio

NCBIminer:sequences harvest from Genbank

NCBIminer is freely available, cross-platform and user-friendly software for mining nucleotide sequence data from GenBank. It has several features that enable users to accurately and efficiently download sequences with specific attributes from the GenBank database: 1) it uses a novel search strategy, and can download sequences for distantly related taxonomic groups with high accuracy; 2) it deals with genes, CDS, rRNA, and other GenBank-defined feature types; 3) it can filter sequences by length and similarities with the reference sequence using user-defined parameters; 4) it can download information on DNA sample collections, e.g. voucher specimen, country, latitude and longitude, and collector; 5) it takes advantage of parallelization for a high efficiency workflow. We demonstrate the use and performance of NCBIminer by downloading sequences for the plant family Campanulaceaes. Compared to other methods, NCBIminer harvests more and longer sequences, and is less sensitive to query sequences.Chinese Scholarship Council; Marie Curie Actions [PIEF-GA-2010-275666]; Danish National Research Foundation; National Natural Science Foundation of China [31470564, 31400467, 31321061]; 111 Project [B14001]SCI(E)[email protected],SI426-4303

Distribution of serotonin positive mast cells in the intrapulmonary airways of rats

Based on the scarce information about the expression of serotonin by mast cells in normal rat lung, we aimed to describe in detail the distribution of these cells in the wall of bronchi and bronchioles, as well as in the interalveolar septa. To visualize serotonin-positive mast cells a toluidine blue staining was performed immediately after the immunohistochemical staining on the same sections. Thus, we estimated the density of mast cell in different layers of intrapulmonary airways and in alveolar parenchyma. A reduction of mast cell numbers from bronchi to bronchioles, and then to alveolar septa was detected. In conclusion, detailed information about the density of serotonin positive mast cells in the layers of the wall of intrapulmonary airways and alveolar parenchyma is presented. Our findings confirm the role of these cells as one of the main sources of serotonin, which participate in maintaining the homeostasis in the lung

The Tetragnatha kauaiensis Genome Sheds Light on the Origins of Genomic Novelty in Spiders

Spiders (Araneae) have a diverse spectrum of morphologies, behaviors, and physiologies. Attempts to understand the genomic-basis of this diversity are often hindered by their large, heterozygous, and AT-rich genomes with high repeat content resulting in highly fragmented, poor-quality assemblies. As a result, the key attributes of spider genomes, including gene family evolution, repeat content, and gene function, remain poorly understood. Here, we used Illumina and Dovetail Chicago technologies to sequence the genome of the long-jawed spider Tetragnatha kauaiensis, producing an assembly distributed along 3,925 scaffolds with an N50 of ∼2 Mb. Using comparative genomics tools, we explore genome evolution across available spider assemblies. Our findings suggest that the previously reported and vast genome size variation in spiders is linked to the different representation and number of transposable elements. Using statistical tools to uncover gene-family level evolution, we find expansions associated with the sensory perception of taste, immunity, and metabolism. In addition, we report strikingly different histories of chemosensory, venom, and silk gene families, with the first two evolving much earlier, affected by the ancestral whole genome duplication in Arachnopulmonata (∼450 Ma) and exhibiting higher numbers. Together, our findings reveal that spider genomes are highly variable and that genomic novelty may have been driven by the burst of an ancient whole genome duplication, followed by gene family and transposable element expansion