Wardium ponticum sp. n. (Cestoda, Cyclophyllidea, Hymenolepidoidea), a Parasite of Pratincole (Glareola pratincola) from the Black Sea Coas

The new species Wardium ponticum Kornyushin, Georgiev et Greben, sp. n. (Aploparksidae Mayhew, 1925) parasitic in pratincole (Glareola pratincola Linnaeus, 1766) from Bulgaria and Ukraine is described. The species is characterized by 10 aploparaksoid hooks, 9—10 mm long, and clearly differs from all congeneric species by the shape and armament of the cirrus.Приводится описание нового вида цестод семейства Aploparksidae (Mayhew, 1925) — Wardium ponticum Kornyushin, Georgiev et Greben, sp. n. от луговой тиркушки (Glareola pratincola Linnaeus, 1766) по материалу из Украины и Болгарии. Новый вид характеризуется аплопараксоидными крючьями длиной 9–10 мкм, отличается от других представителей рода формой и вооружением цирруса.We are grateful to Svetlana Bondarenko for her useful comments on the text of the manuscript. This work was carried out in the framework of the cooperative program between the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the Ministry of Education and Science of Lithuania (project nos Ì/182—2009 and N 31V—157)

Cestode communities in non-breeding populations of four grebe species (Aves: Podicipedidae) from the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast

Cestode communities in Podiceps cristatus, P. grisegena, P. nigricollis and Tachybaptus ruficollis during their migrations and overwintering are studied at the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. The infracommunities exhibit high richness, abundance and dominance, and low diversity and similarity. The component communities have a similar taxonomic structure at the levels higher than species, a small number of core species and a high portion of grebe specialists in the richness and abundance. The comparison with cestode communities in grebes from Canada (Stock & Holmes, 1987) reveals several differences and similarities. The higher richness and abundance of the infracommunities in Canada are explained by the constant conditions of breeding habitats enhancing higher transmission rates. At the component community level, there is a significant difference between the two species lists. The degree of parasite exchange among the grebe species in Bulgaria is lower. Several characters of cestode component communities in grebes do not depend on either historical factors or different habitats. These are the similar patterns of the taxonomic structure at the levels higher than species, almost the same list of generalists, the participation of specialists of anatids, and the leading role of grebe specialists in the structure

Fauna Europaea: Helminths (Animal Parasitic)

Fauna Europaea provides a public web-service with an index of scientific names (including important synonyms) of all living European land and freshwater animals, their geographical distribution at country level (up to the Urals, excluding the Caucasus region), and some additional information. The Fauna Europaea project covers about 230,000 taxonomic names, including 130,000 accepted species and 14,000 accepted subspecies, which is much more than the originally projected number of 100,000 species. This represents a huge effort by more than 400 contributing specialists throughout Europe and is a unique (standard) reference suitable for many users in science, government, industry, nature conservation and education. Helminths parasitic in animals represent a large assemblage of worms, representing three phyla, with more than 200 families and almost 4,000 species of parasites from all major vertebrate and many invertebrate groups. A general introduction is given for each of the major groups of parasitic worms, i.e. the Acanthocephala, Monogenea, Trematoda (Aspidogastrea and Digenea), Cestoda and Nematoda. Basic information for each group includes its size, host-range, distribution, morphological features, life-cycle, classification, identification and recent key-works. Tabulations include a complete list of families dealt with, the number of species in each and the name of the specialist responsible for data acquisition, a list of additional specialists who helped with particular groups, and a list of higher taxa dealt with down to the family level. A compilation of useful references is appended

Natural products in drug discovery: advances and opportunities

Natural products and their structural analogues have historically made a major contribution to pharmacotherapy, especially for cancer and infectious diseases. Nevertheless, natural products also present challenges for drug discovery, such as technical barriers to screening, isolation, characterization and optimization, which contributed to a decline in their pursuit by the pharmaceutical industry from the 1990s onwards. In recent years, several technological and scientific developments — including improved analytical tools, genome mining and engineering strategies, and microbial culturing advances — are addressing such challenges and opening up new opportunities. Consequently, interest in natural products as drug leads is being revitalized, particularly for tackling antimicrobial resistance. Here, we summarize recent technological developments that are enabling natural product-based drug discovery, highlight selected applications and discuss key opportunities. © 2021, Springer Nature Limited

Predictors for anastomotic leak, postoperative complications, and mortality after right colectomy for cancer: Results from an international snapshot audit

Background: A right hemicolectomy is among the most commonly performed operations for colon cancer, but modern high-quality, multination data addressing the morbidity and mortality rates are lacking. Objective: This study reports the morbidity and mortality rates for right-sided colon cancer and identifies predictors for unfavorable short-term outcome after right hemicolectomy. Design: This was a snapshot observational prospective study. Setting: The study was conducted as a multicenter international study. Patients: The 2015 European Society of Coloproctology snapshot study was a prospective multicenter international series that included all patients undergoing elective or emergency right hemicolectomy or ileocecal resection over a 2-month period in early 2015. This is a subanalysis of the colon cancer cohort of patients. Main Outcome Measures: Predictors for anastomotic leak and 30-day postoperative morbidity and mortality were assessed using multivariable mixed-effect logistic regression models after variables selection with the Lasso method. Results: Of the 2515 included patients, an anastomosis was performed in 97.2% (n = 2444), handsewn in 38.5% (n = 940) and stapled in 61.5% (n = 1504) cases. The overall anastomotic leak rate was 7.4% (180/2444), 30-day morbidity was 38.0% (n = 956), and mortality was 2.6% (n = 66). Patients with anastomotic leak had a significantly increased mortality rate (10.6% vs 1.6% no-leak patients; p 65 0.001). At multivariable analysis the following variables were associated with anastomotic leak: longer duration of surgery (OR = 1.007 per min; p = 0.0037), open approach (OR = 1.9; p = 0.0037), and stapled anastomosis (OR = 1.5; p = 0.041). Limitations: This is an observational study, and therefore selection bias could be present. For this reason, a multivariable logistic regression model was performed, trying to correct possible confounding factors. Conclusions: Anastomotic leak after oncologic right hemicolectomy is a frequent complication, and it is associated with increased mortality. The key contributing surgical factors for anastomotic leak were anastomotic technique, surgical approach, and duration of surgery