Comparative Phylogeography of a Coevolved Community: Concerted Population Expansions in Joshua Trees and Four Yucca Moths

Comparative phylogeographic studies have had mixed success in identifying common phylogeographic patterns among co-distributed organisms. Whereas some have found broadly similar patterns across a diverse array of taxa, others have found that the histories of different species are more idiosyncratic than congruent. The variation in the results of comparative phylogeographic studies could indicate that the extent to which sympatrically-distributed organisms share common biogeographic histories varies depending on the strength and specificity of ecological interactions between them. To test this hypothesis, we examined demographic and phylogeographic patterns in a highly specialized, coevolved community – Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia) and their associated yucca moths. This tightly-integrated, mutually interdependent community is known to have experienced significant range changes at the end of the last glacial period, so there is a strong a priori expectation that these organisms will show common signatures of demographic and distributional changes over time. Using a database of >5000 GPS records for Joshua trees, and multi-locus DNA sequence data from the Joshua tree and four species of yucca moth, we combined paleaodistribution modeling with coalescent-based analyses of demographic and phylgeographic history. We extensively evaluated the power of our methods to infer past population size and distributional changes by evaluating the effect of different inference procedures on our results, comparing our palaeodistribution models to Pleistocene-aged packrat midden records, and simulating DNA sequence data under a variety of alternative demographic histories. Together the results indicate that these organisms have shared a common history of population expansion, and that these expansions were broadly coincident in time. However, contrary to our expectations, none of our analyses indicated significant range or population size reductions at the end of the last glacial period, and the inferred demographic changes substantially predate Holocene climate changes

Magnetic resonance imaging for detecting root avulsions in traumatic adult brachial plexus injuries: protocol for a systematic review of diagnostic accuracy

Background Adult brachial plexus injuries (BPI) are becoming more common. The reconstruction and prognosis of pre-ganglionic injuries (root avulsions) are different to other types of BPI injury. Preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is being used to identify root avulsions, but the evidence from studies of its diagnostic accuracy are conflicting. Therefore, a systematic review is needed to address uncertainty about the accuracy of MRI and to guide future research. Methods We will conduct a systematic search of electronic databases alongside reference tracking. We will include studies of adults with traumatic BPI which report the accuracy of preoperative MRI (index test) against surgical exploration of the roots of the brachial plexus (reference standard) for detecting either of the two target conditions (any root avulsion or any pseudomeningocoele as a surrogate marker of root avulsion). We will exclude case reports, articles considering bilateral injuries and studies where the number of true positives, false positives, false negatives and true negatives cannot be derived. The methodological quality of the included studies will be assessed using a tailored version of the QUADAS-2 tool. Where possible, a bivariate model will be used for meta-analysis to obtain summary sensitivities and specificities for both target conditions. We will investigate heterogeneity in the performance of MRI according to field strength and the risk of bias if data permits. Discussion This review will summarise the current diagnostic accuracy of MRI for adult BPI, identify shortcomings and gaps in the literature and so help to guide future research

Evaluation de l'arthro-IRM et de l'échographie dans l'étude anatomique des ligamenents du poignet

LILLE2-BU Santé-Recherche (593502101) / SudocPARIS-BIUM (751062103) / SudocSudocFranceF

Endemic level of Lyme borreliosis in a region of central France. A sero-epidemiologic examination involving blood donners

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Molecular evidence of Pleistocene bidirectional faunal exchange between Europe and the Near East: the case of the bicoloured shrew (Crocidura leucodon, Soricidae).

We sequenced 1077 bp of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene and 511 bp of the nuclear Apolipoprotein B gene in bicoloured shrew (Crocidura leucodon, Soricidae) populations ranging from France to Georgia. The aims of the study were to identify the main genetic clades within this species and the influence of Pleistocene climatic variations on the respective clades. The mitochondrial analyses revealed a European clade distributed from France eastwards to north-western Turkey and a Near East clade distributed from Georgia to Romania; the two clades separated during the Middle Pleistocene. We clearly identified a population expansion after a bottleneck for the European clade based on mitochondrial and nuclear sequencing data; this expansion was not observed for the eastern clade. We hypothesize that the western population was confined to a small Italo-Balkanic refugium, whereas the eastern population subsisted in several refugia along the southern coast of the Black Sea

AQUAFIRST: Combined genetic and functional genomic approaches for stress and disease resistance marker assisted selection in fish and shellfish. Final Report

The overall aims of the project is to identify, in sea bream, sea bass, oyster, and rainbow trout, genes of which expression is associated with disease and stress resistance and to develop genetic approaches that allow characterisation of genetic markers for marker-assisted selective breeding of disease and/or stress resistant individuals. For such project, the following main objectives have to be reached

Genetic isolation and diffusion of wild grapevine Italian and Spanish Populations as estimated by nuclear and chloroplast SSR analysis

Genetic relationship among six Italian and four Spanish populations of wild grapevine (Vitis vinifera ssp. silvestris) has been investigated by using nuclear and chloroplast SSR analysis. Results show that the Italian populations are characterised by the high genomic diversity within and among populations, with a peak of heterozygosity (Ho = 0.7537) for a population collected in Southern Italy. The demonstration of high gene flow among the Italian populations suggests a central role for the Italian peninsula as a principal refugial area of wild grapevines during the last glaciation. On the other hand, the high level of genetic distance detected among the Spanish population combined with the detection of low gene flow show that these populations suffered a severe bottleneck during their history. The FST values calculated in the case of an Italian population sampled in the Sardinia island showed that genes of these plants exchanged equally with the Italian and the Spanish populations. This points to Sardinia as a crossing area between Italy and Spain during grapevine postglacial recolonization. By providing information on population history, genetic structure and gene flow, and by identifying areas harbouring high levels of wild grape variability, this study provides the bases for the preservation of biodiversity of wild grapevine