Mitochondrial genome diversity and evolution in Branchiopoda (Crustacea)

BackgroundThe crustacean class Branchiopoda includes fairy shrimps, clam shrimps, tadpole shrimps, and water fleas. Branchiopods, which are well known for their great variety of reproductive strategies, date back to the Cambrian and extant taxa can be mainly found in freshwater habitats, also including ephemeral ponds. Mitochondrial genomes of the notostracan taxa Lepidurus apus lubbocki (Italy), L. arcticus (Iceland) and Triops cancriformis (an Italian and a Spanish population) are here characterized for the first time and analyzed together with available branchiopod mitogenomes.ResultsOverall, branchiopod mitogenomes share the basic structure congruent with the ancestral Pancrustacea model. On the other hand, rearrangements involving tRNAs and the control region are observed among analyzed taxa. Remarkably, an unassigned region in the L. apus lubbocki mitogenome showed a chimeric structure, likely resulting from a non-homologous recombination event between the two flanking trnC and trnY genes. Notably, Anostraca and Onychocaudata mitogenomes showed increased GC content compared to both Notostraca and the common ancestor, and a significantly higher substitution rate, which does not correlate with selective pressures, as suggested by dN/dS values.ConclusionsBranchiopod mitogenomes appear rather well-conserved, although gene rearrangements have occurred. For the first time, it is reported a putative non-homologous recombination event involving a mitogenome, which produced a pseudogenic tRNA sequence. In addition, in line with data in the literature, we explain the higher substitution rate of Anostraca and Onychocaudata with the inferred GC substitution bias that occurred during their evolution

Understanding The Correlation Of Libs And Acoustic Measurements Of Rocks And Soils Found In The Traverse Of The Perseverance Rover Across The Jezero Crater, Mars

The SuperCam instrument of the NASA MARS 2020 Perseverance rover combines a suite of atomic and molecular spectroscopies intended for an extensive description of rocks, soils and minerals in the surroundings of the landing site of the mission – the Jezero crater. The microphone installed on the SuperCam instrument allows the acquisition of acoustic signals resulting from the expansion of laser-induced plasmas towards the atmosphere. Apart from being affected by the propagation characteristics of the Mars atmosphere, the acoustic signal has an additional component related to the properties of the target including surface morphology, hardness, deformation parameters, and elasticity, among others. This information is currently being investigated as a complementary resource for characterization of the ablated material and may well supplement the LIBS data gathered from coincident laser shots. This talk will present SuperCam acoustic data of rocks and minerals found in the traverse of the Perseverance rover and will discuss its correlation with LIBS spectra.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Propranolol 0.2% eye micro-drops for retinopathy of prematurity : a prospective phase IIb study

Background: Oral propranolol reduces retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) progression, although not safely. Propranolol 0.1% eye micro-drops administered to newborns with stage 2 ROP are well-tolerated, but not sufficiently effective. Methods: A multi-center open-label trial was conducted to assess the safety and efficacy of propranolol 0.2% eye micro-drops in newborns with stage 1 ROP. The progression of the disease was evaluated with serial ophthalmologic examinations. Hemodynamic, respiratory, biochemical parameters, and propranolol plasma levels were monitored. Demographic and perinatal characteristics, co-morbidities and co-intervention incidences, together with ROP progression, were compared with a historical control group in the same centers participating in the trial. Results: Ninety-eight newborns were enrolled and compared with the historical control group. Populations were not perfectly homogeneous (as demonstrated by the differences in the Apgar score and the different incidence rate in surfactant administration and oxygen exposure). The progression to ROP stage 2 or 3 plus was significantly lower than the incidence expected on the basis of historical data (Risk Ratio 0.521, 95% CI 0.297- 0.916). No adverse effects related to propranolol were observed and the mean propranolol plasma level was significantly lower than the safety cutoff of 20 ng/mL. Unexpectedly, three newborns treated with oral propranolol before the appearance of ROP, showed a ROP that was unresponsive to propranolol eye micro-drops and required laser photocoagulation treatment. Conclusion: Propranolol 0.2% eye micro-drops were well-tolerated and appeared to reduce the ROP progression expected on the basis of a comparison with a historical control group. Propranolol administered too early appears to favor a more aggressive ROP, suggesting that a \u3b2-adrenoreceptor blockade is only useful during the proliferative phase. Further randomized placebo-controlled trials are required to confirm the current results

The sound of geological targets on Mars from the absolute intensity of laser-induced sparks shock waves

Inspection of geological material is one of the main goals of the Perseverance rover during its journey across the landscape of the Jezero crater in Mars. NASA's rover integrates SuperCam, an instrument capable of performing standoff characterization of samples using a variety of techniques. Among those tools, SuperCam can perform laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) studies to elucidate the chemical composition of the targets of interest. Data from optical spectroscopy can be supplemented by simultaneously-produced laser-produced plasma acoustics in order to expand the information acquired from the probed rocks thanks to the SuperCam's microphone (MIC) as it can be synchronized with the LIBS laser. Herein, we report cover results from LIBS and MIC during Perseverance's first 380 sols on the Martian surface. We study the correlation between both recorded signals, considering the main intrasample and environmental sources of variation for each technique, to understand their behavior and how they can be interpreted together towards complimenting LIBS with acoustics. We find that louder and more stable acoustic signals are recorded from rock with compact surfaces, i.e., low presence loose particulate material, and harder mineral phases in their composition. Reported results constitute the first description of the evolution of the intensity in the time domain of shockwaves from laser-produced plasmas on geological targets recorded in Mars. These signals are expected contain physicochemical signatures pertaining to the inspected sampling positions. As the dependence of the acoustic signal recorded on the sample composition, provided by LIBS, is unveiled, the sound from sparks become a powerful tool for the identification of mineral phases with similar optical emission spectra.Many people helped with this project in addition to the co-authors, including hardware and operation teams, and we are most grateful for their support. This project was supported in the USA by NASA’s Mars Exploration Program and in France is conducted under the authority of CNES. Research funded by projects UMA18-FEDERJA-272 from Junta de Andalucía and PID2020-119185GB-I00 from Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion, of Spain. P.P. is grateful to the European Union’s Next Generation EU (NGEU) plan and the Spanish Ministerio de Universidades for his Margarita Salas fellowship under the program ′′Ayudas para la Recualificacion del Sistema Universitario Español′′. RCW was funded by JPL contract 1681089. A.U was funded by NASA Mars 2020 Participating Scientist program 80NSSC21K0330. Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga / CBU

Karyotype Characterisation Of Brazilian Species Of The Genus Psychotria L. - Subfamily Rubioideale (rubiaceae)

The pantropical genus Psychotria L., probably the largest among angiosperms, occurs in different Brazilian vegetal formations. This work determined the chromosome numbers and karyotypic characteristics of ten species of Brazilian Psychotria. The chromosome numbers ranged from 2n = 22, in five species (P. hoffmannseggiana (Willd. ex Roem. & Schult.) Müll. Arg., P. lupulina Benth., P. marginata Sw., P. tenerior (Cham.) Müll. Arg., and P. trichophora Müll. Arg.), to 2n = 40, in P. mapourioides DC., and 2n = 44 in four other species (P. carthagenensis Jacq., P. gracilenta Müll. Arg., P. longipes Müll. Arg. and P. suterella Müll. Arg.). In addition to these differences, great variations in chromosome lengths and karyotypic formulae were also observed among these species. Chromosome length varied from 5.59 μm to 0.90 μm and no relationship was detected between chromosome numbers and lengths in any species. Chromosomes are principally metacentric, except for P. mapourioides that presents mainly submetacentric chromosomes. Karyotypic asymmetry rate (TF%) ranged from moderate (TF% = 38.83) to highly symmetric (TF% = 50.00). The difference in chromosome numbers of Psychotria carthagenensis (2n = 44) and P. mapourioides (2n = 40) is very important to taxonomists, because these have great difficulty in identifying and differentiating these two species with the sole use of morphological characteristics, since some individuals have intermediate characteristics between both species. Although this study does not allow for a consistent cytotaxonomic analysis, not even to delimit P. subgen. Psychotria and P. subgen. Heteropsychotria, this karyotype analysis of some Brazilian species, along with their morphology, may contribute to a better knowledge of the genus. © 2010 The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.6514552Andersson, L., Margaritopsis (Rubiaceae, Psychotrieae) is a pantropical genus (2001) Syst. Geogr. Pl., 71, pp. 73-85Andersson, L., Re-establishment of Carapichea (Rubiaceae, Psychotrieae) (2002) Kew Bull., 57, pp. 363-374Andersson, L., Relationships and generic circumscriptions in the Psychotria complex (Rubiaceae, Psychotrieae) (2002) Syst. Geogr. Pl., 72, pp. 167-202Andersson, L., Rova, J.H.E., The rps16 intron and the phylogeny of the Rubioideae (Rubiaceae) (1999) Pl. Syst. Evol., 214, pp. 161-186Bolkhovskikh, Z., Grif, V., Matvejeva, T., Zakaryeva, O., (1969) Chromosome Numbers of Flowering Plants, , Leningrad: Academy of Sciences of the USSRBremer, B., Manen, J.F., Phylogeny and classification of the subfamily Rubioideae (Rubiaceae) (2000) Pl. Syst. Evol., 225, pp. 43-72Corrêa, A.M., Forni-Martins, E.R., Estudos cromossômicos em espécies de Rubiaceae (A. L. de Jussieu) de Cerrado (2004) Caryologia, 57 (3), pp. 250-258Davis, A.P., Bridson, D., Jarvis, C., Govaerts, R., The typification and characterizations of the genus Psychotria L. (Rubiaceae) (2001) Bot. J. Linn. Soc., 135, pp. 35-42Gill, L.S., Obembe, A.O., Chromosome studies in some trees and shrubs from S Nigeria (1991) Willdenowia, 21, pp. 233-238. , http://mobot.mobot.org/W3T/Search/ipcn.html, Accessed 2008 OctoberGuerra, M., O uso de Giemsa em citogenética vegetal - comparação entre a coloração simples e o bandamento (1983) Ci. & Cult., 35, pp. 190-193Guerra, M., Reviewing the chromosome nomenclature of Levan et al (1986) Revista Brasil. Genét. IX, 4, pp. 741-743Hamilton, C.W., A revision of Mesoamerican Psychotria subgenus Psychotria (Rubiaceae). Introductions and species 1-61 (1989) Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard., 76, pp. 67-916Huziwara, Y., Karyotype analysis in some genera of compositae - VIII. Further studies on the chromosome of Asteride (1962) Amer. J. Bot., 49, pp. 116-119Kiehn, M., Karyosystematic studies on Rubiaceae: Chromosome counts from Sri Lanka (1986) Pl. Syst. Evol., 154, pp. 213-223Lopes, S.A., Moreno, P.R.H., Henriques, A.T., Growth characteristics and chemical analysis of Psychotria carthagenensis cell suspension cultures (2000) Enzyme and Microbial Technology, 26, pp. 259-264Nepokroeff, M., Bremer, B., Systma, K.J., Reorganization of the genus Psychotria and the tribe Psychotieae (Rubiaceae) inferred from ITS and rbcL sequence data (1999) Syst. Bot., 24, pp. 5-27Petit, E., Les espèces africaines du genre Psychotria L. (Rubiaceae) - I (1964) Bull. Jard. Bot. État, 34, pp. 1-229Petit, E., Les espèces africaines du genre Psychotria L. (Rubiaceae) - II (1966) Bull. Jard. Bot. État, 36, pp. 65-190Pierozzi, N.I., Pinto-Maglio, C.A.F., da Cruz, N.D., Characterisation of somatic chromosome of two diploid species of Coffea L. with acetic orcein and C-bands techniques (1999) Caryologia, 52, pp. 1-8Robbrecht, E., Manen, J.F., The major evolutionary lineages of the coffee family (Rubiaceae, angiosperms). Combined analysis (nDNA and cDNA) to infer the position of Coptosapelta and Luculia, and supertree construction based on rbcL, rps16, trnL-trnF and atpB-rbcL data. A new classification in two sibfamilies,Cinchonoideae and Rubioideae (2006) Syst. Geogr. Pl., 76, pp. 85-146Taylor, C.M., Overview of the Psychotrieae (Rubiaceae) in the Netropics (1996) Opera Bot. Belg., 7, pp. 261-270Taylor, C.M., Steyermark, J.A., (2004) Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana Volume 8 - Poaceae-Rubiaceae, , St. Louis: Missouri Botanical Garden Pres

Alexithymia in cancer patients: review of the literature.

Objective: To summarize the literature on alexithymia in cancer patients. Methods: The empirical literature published between 1972 and January 2010 was searched through MEDLINE, PSYINFO, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library. Key words were: alexithymia, affective symptoms, cancer, neoplasms. Results: The search identified 16 relevant studies which are methodologically problematic and show conflicting results. However, several interesting hypotheses emerge such as a possible link between alexithymia and the immune system, between alexithymia and quality of life, or between alexithymia, anxiety and depression. The question to what degree alexithymia in cancer patients is a trait or a state cannot be answered by these studies. Conclusions: A lack of methodologically sound studies and the large variations of results among studies suggest that the role of alexithymia in patients with cancer deserves more systematic research. Consequently, studies are needed which investigate the nature (state or trait) of alexithymia, its impact on cancer development and progression, as well as its influence on compliance and on the underestimation of psychological distress and psychiatric outcome in cancer patients