Cross-species amplification of 36 cyprinid microsatellite loci in Phoxinus phoxinus (L.) and Scardinius erythrophthalmus (L.)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To conduct phylogeographic or population genetic studies, an adequate number of DNA markers for the focal species are required. Due to severe unavailability of genotype markers of any kind for the species Eurasian minnow (<it>Phoxinus phoxinus </it>L.) and rudd (<it>Scardinius erythrophthalmus </it>L.), we set out to attempt cross-amplification of a set of microsatellite loci from related species.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>We tested 36 cyprinid microsatellite loci for cross-species amplification in minnow and rudd. Fifteen species-locus combinations produced amplifications in minnow, seven being polymorphic, while 18 combinations amplified in rudd, nine of these being polymorphic.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The positive cross-species amplifications present potential contributions to the establishment of genetic marker sets for population genetics studies of the two focal species.</p

A retrospective cohort study on oesophageal food bolus obstruction in the North Denmark region in 2021-two thirds were never diagnosed with a cause

BACKGROUND: Food bolus obstruction (FBO) leading to hospital treatment is often associated with eosinophilic oesophagitis (EoE), stenosis, or oesophageal cancer (1). Danish national guidelines recommend that patients with FBO undergo a diagnostic upper endoscopy within two weeks of presentation to exclude possible malignancy, and histological evaluation of eight biopsies (2, 3).AIMS: The aims of this study were to (1) report the incidence and describe the causes and treatment of FBO in the North Denmark Region (NDR), (2) determine the proportion of patients who underwent upper endoscopy and biopsy according to regional and national guidelines, and (3) identify International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision (ICD-10) diagnosis and procedure codes applied to the hospital visits due to FBO in the NDR.METHODS: Among all acute hospital visits in the NDR in 2021, all visits with ICD-10 codes possibly reflecting FBO, as well as a random sample of 14,400 visits with unspecific ICD-10 codes (R and Z codes), were screened manually for possible FBO. Diagnosis, follow-up, and treatment of all patients with FBO were recorded.RESULTS: The median patient age was 66.0 (Q1-Q3: 49.8-81.0) years, and half of the patients had experienced FBO before. Two thirds of patients (66.0%) were never diagnosed with a cause of FBO, followed by 17.3% with EoE. 30% of patients did not undergo upper endoscopy within two weeks of the hospital visit, and 50.7% were never biopsied in the oesophagus. Of 1886 hospital visits with registry ICD-10 codes that possibly reflected FBO, 8.4% were due to FBO, while FBO was present in 0.028% of the random sample of unspecific ICD-10 codes.CONCLUSIONS: Most hospitalized FBO patients in the NDR in 2021 were never diagnosed with a cause. In these patients there is a high risk of overlooked EoE or upper gastrointestinal cancers. The area needs immediate focus and changed routines to improve treatment and prevent new FBO.</p

The genetics of blood pressure regulation and its target organs from association studies in 342,415 individuals

To dissect the genetic architecture of blood pressure and assess effects on target-organ damage, we analyzed 128,272 SNPs from targeted and genome-wide arrays in 201,529 individuals of European ancestry and genotypes from an additional 140,886 individuals were used for validation. We identified 66 blood pressure loci, of which 17 were novel and 15 harbored multiple distinct association signals. The 66 index SNPs were enriched for cis-regulatory elements, particularly in vascular endothelial cells, consistent with a primary role in blood pressure control through modulation of vascular tone across multiple tissues. The 66 index SNPs combined in a risk score showed comparable effects in 64,421 individuals of non-European descent. The 66-SNP blood pressure risk score was significantly associated with target-organ damage in multiple tissues, with minor effects in the kidney. Our findings expand current knowledge of blood pressure pathways and highlight tissues beyond the classic renal system in blood pressure regulation

New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms

The Eurasian minnow: Post-glacial dispersal history and recent invasion patterns in Norway

Den lille karpefisken ørekyt har i løpet av de siste om lag 100 årene spredt seg til stadig nye vassdrag i Norge. I sin doktoravhandling argumenterer Johannes Holmen for at spredningen i all hovedsak skyldes sportsfiskere som har benyttet levende ørekyt som agn på jakt etter storørret, noe som i dag er forbudt. Studiene viser at langt de fleste nyetablerte ørekytbestandene er beslektet med relativt nærliggende naturlig utbredte bestander, noe som indikerer at sportsfiskeren har hentet agnfisken i relativt kort avstand fra fiskeplassen. Videre antyder resultatene at enkelte nyetableringer kan skyldes utsetting av ørretunger, der ørekyt har fulgt med på lasset som blindpassasjer. Ørekytas opprinnelige leveområde i Norge var begrenset til østlige lavereliggende deler av Østlandet og Finnmark i tillegg til enkelte grensenære vassdrag i Trøndelag. Økende utbredelse av ørekyt i Sør-Norges fjellområder har skjedd parallelt med nedgang i mange ørretbestander. Det antydes at ørekyta kan fortrenge ørreten gjennom å konkurrere med ørretunger i matfatet. For å bøte på sviktende rekruttering hos berørte ørretbestander i regulerte vassdrag, blir kraftselskaper som oftest pålagt å gjennomføre fiskeutsettinger. Før pålegg om stedegen settefisk ble iverksatt, var norsk settefiskproduksjon i stor grad sentralisert. Mulig sviktende filtrering av inntaksvannet kan ha medført at naturlig utbredt ørekyt har fulgt med inn i settefiskanlegg, for videre å bli satt ut sammen med ørret i kraftmagasiner i høyfjellet. Gjennom molekylærgenetiske studier har Holmen vist at ørekyta, innenfor dens naturlige utbredelsesområde i Norge, kan deles inn i fire genetiske hovedgrupper, nært knyttet opp til geografisk spredning. Grupperingen har bakgrunn i artens innvandringshistorie til Norge, der hovedsakelig istidsrefugier øst for dagens Østersjøen og ulike innvandringsepoker etter at isen trakk seg tilbake fortsatt er tydelig i gruppenes genetiske fingeravtrykk. Langt de fleste nyetablerte ørekytbestander er beslektet med nært beliggende naturlig utbredte bestander og er i de fleste tilfeller etablert ved at sportsfiskere slipper ut levende ørekyt etter endt fiske. Enkelte av de nyetablerte bestandene viste seg imidlertid å være nærmest beslektet med naturlig utbredte bestander nær gamle settefiskanlegg, geografisk langt unna de nye bestandene. Resultatene fra studien gir myndighetene et bedre kunnskapsgrunnlag for å forhindre videre spredning av ørekyt. Studien viser også viktigheten av å forhindre nye utsettinger i vassdrag der ørekyta allerede finnes, da multiple utsettinger motvirker innavl og antageligvis gjør bestanden mer konkurransedyktig

Avbøtende tiltak i regulerte vassdrag

Det er gjennomført en rekke avbøtende tiltak for forbedring av miljøet i norske vassdrag i forbindelse med vassdragsreguleringer. Erfaringer med tiltakene viser imidlertid at det ofte er mangel på klare målsettinger eller mangel på metoder for å evaluere måloppnåelsen av tiltakene. Denne rapporten presenterer ulike suksesskriterier for avbøtende tiltak innen vannkraf

Gyrodactylus spp. diversity in native and introduced minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus) populations: no support for “the enemy release” hypothesis

Background: Translocation of native species and introduction of non-native species are potentially harmful to the existing biota by introducing e.g. diseases, parasites and organisms that may negatively affect the native species. The enemy release hypothesis states that parasite species will be lost from host populations when the host is introduced into new environments. Methods: We tested the enemy release hypothesis by comparing 14 native and 29 introduced minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus) populations in Norway with regard to the ectoparasitic Gyrodactylus species community and load (on caudal fin). Here, we used a nominal logistic regression on presence/absence of Gyrodactylus spp. and a generalized linear model on the summed number of Gyrodactylus spp. on infected populations, with individual minnow heterozygosity (based on 11 microsatellites) as a covariate. In addition, a sample-based rarefaction analysis was used to test if the Gyrodactylus-species specific load differed between native and introduced minnow populations. An analysis of molecular variance was performed to test for hierarchical population structure between the two groups and to test for signals of population bottlenecks the two-phase model in the Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used. To test for demographic population expansion events in the introduced minnow population, we used the kg-test under a stepwise mutation model. Results: The native and introduced minnow populations had similar species compositions of Gyrodactylus, lending no support to the enemy release hypothesis. The two minnow groups did not differ in the likelihood of being infected with Gyrodactylus spp. Considering only infected minnow populations it was evident that native populations had a significantly higher mean abundance of Gyrodactylus spp. than introduced populations. The results showed that homozygotic minnows had a higher Gyrodactylus spp. infection than more heterozygotic hosts. Using only infected individuals, the two minnow groups did not differ in their mean number of Gyrodactylus spp. However, a similar negative association between heterozygosity and abundance was observed in the native and introduced group. There was no evidence for demographic bottlenecks in the minnow populations, implying that introduced populations retained a high degree of genetic variation, indicating that the number of introduced minnows may have been large or that introductions have been happening repeatedly. This could partly explain the similar species composition of Gyrodactylus in the native and introduced minnow populations

Characterization of heat and mass transfer during deep-fat frying and its effect on cassava chip quality

Heat and mass transfer in thin slices of fresh cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) were studied. The frying process was described as two stages involving inner vaporization of mainly high available water, which can be transported inside the material, at temperature around the boiling point and inner vaporization of "bound" water at higher temperature depending on water desorption equilibrium. During the first stage, drying rate was controlled by the serial association of both diffusive and convective thermal resistances. During the second stage, temperature gradients decreased and the core temperature followed the corresponding boiling curve (water desorption curve against boiling temperature). Oil uptake depended on the thermal history of the product, characterized by its final water content. Apparent elasticity modulus and color changes were similar for a same final water content. Boiling curves and core temperature measurement are therefore proposed as a means of predicting the development of chip quality during frying