Three new <i>Duplominona</i> species (Turbellaria, Monocelididae, Minoninae) from the Mediterranean

During several intensive collecting campaigns in 1982, 1983 and 1984 at the "Station de Recherches Sous-Marines et Océanographiques" (STARESO) at Calvi (Corsica) about 200 species of marine micro-Turbellaria have been observed. Most of the collecting sites are infralittoral, down to 40 m depth and more, the majority of them with sandy bottoms and some with algae. In general species diversity was high but population densities were low, only a few individuals of each species having been found.In the present paper, three new species of the genus Duplominona (Monocelididae, Minoninae) from infralittoral habitats are described: D. paucispina sp. n., D. corsicana sp. n. and D. longicirrus sp. n. From the Mediterranean and its adjacent seas, only two Minoninae are known: Duplominona istanbulensis (Ax, 1959) from the Black Sea and the Marmara Sea (Ax, 1959) and Minona trigonopora Ax, 1956 from the French Mediterranean salt marches at Canet ( Ax, 1956).The caryology of Duplominona paucispina sp. n. and Duplominona corsicana sp. n. has been studied and the results of these studies will be published elsewhere

Revisie van de Monocelididae Hofsten, 1907 (Platyhelminthes)

This study constitutes a revision of the Digonoporid Lithophora Proseriata which correspond to the Monocelididae sensu Karling 1966a. The revision is based on morphological and karyological investigations. Morphological research is performed on living animals as well as on whole mounts and sectioned material. For about 30 species the copulatory organs are reconstructed using serial sections. Karyological investigation consist of a and p karyology. Both morphological and karyological data are used for phylogenetic analysis and the new system proposed reflects the hypothesized genealogical relationships. Since the beginning of our studies, the total amount of species described for this group has increased from 81 to 133, 41 of which are described by us. In the systematic section of this study, the group is treated in a partly monographic way. The family Monocelididae sensu Karling 1966a is split into two families: the Monocelididae Hofsten, 1907 with five subfamilies, two of which are new and one is re-established, and the family Archimonocelididae Meixner, 1938 grad.n. with two subfamilies, one of which is new and the other is re-established. Three new genera are described. The genus Pistrix Marcus, 1951 is synonymized with Mesoda Marcus,1949. In addition to the 41 new species, 7 species are re-described and for 12 species additional data are given. Most of these species were up to now only known from the original description. Twelve species are transferred to other genera, one of them is a re-established species

Meccanismi di Evoluzione del Cariotipo nei Monocelididi (Turbellaria Proseriata)

Mechanisms of karyotype evolution in the Monocelididae (Turbellaria Proseriata). Within the Proseriata (Turbellaria: Seriata), the family Monocelididae displays several interesting patterns of chromosomal evolution. A basic set of n = 3 -made up or one large metacentric, one medium-sized metacentric and one small clearly heterobrachial chromosome -has been detected. It is widely distributed in species pertaining to both the subfamilies in which the Monocelididae are subdivided. From this basic set, other complements -either with n = 3 or n > 3 -would be originated.Several karyological mechanisms or common occurrence within the family (translocations, small chromosome rearrangements involving the centromere, genome growth) have been detected. As to the chromosome complements with n > 3 -occurring within the subfamily Monocelidinae -they can be interpreted as the result of a fission of one or both the metacentric chromosomes of the basic set. Karyometrical data are in good agreement with this suggestion. Centric fusion or polyploidy, well known for fresh- water Triclads, have been never found in the family

TRPV1: A Target for Next Generation Analgesics

Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) is a Ca2+ permeant non-selective cation channel expressed in a subpopulation of primary afferent neurons. TRPV1 is activated by physical and chemical stimuli. It is critical for the detection of nociceptive and thermal inflammatory pain as revealed by the deletion of the TRPV1 gene. TRPV1 is distributed in the peripheral and central terminals of the sensory neurons and plays a role in initiating action potentials at the nerve terminals and modulating neurotransmitter release at the first sensory synapse, respectively. Distribution of TRPV1 in the nerve terminals innervating blood vessels and in parts of the CNS that are not subjected to temperature range that is required to activate TRPV1 suggests a role beyond a noxious thermal sensor. Presently, TRPV1 is being considered as a target for analgesics through evaluation of different antagonists. Here, we will discuss the distribution and the functions of TRPV1, potential use of its agonists and antagonists as analgesics and highlight the functions that are not related to nociceptive transmission that might lead to adverse effects

Are Insider Sales Always Bad News? Evidence On Large Sales By Key Insiders

Investors often scrutinize stock trades by corporate insiders, hoping to infer the nature of any privileged information which may have motivated the trades. Conventional wisdom suggests that sales of stock by insiders reveal negative information; this interpretation is supported by empirical work such as the series of papers by Seyhun. However, this common interpretation fails to distinguish between sales by atomistic insiders and sales by controlling blockholders.&nbsp; In this paper, I present evidence which suggests that sales by controlling insiders should not be considered bad news. Using both a series of logit regressions and traditional event-study tests, I examine the relationship between a firm's performance and the willingness of its controlling shareholder to sell a significant proportion of his shares. I find that firm value is just as likely to rise on the news of large insider sales as it is to fall, so that large sales need not imply negative private information.&nbsp; One possible explanation for a positive response to a controlling blockholder's large sale is that such a sale makes the insider vulnerable to meaningful oversight by outside shareholders. Thus, a large sale may be a signal of the insider's willingness to expose himself to shareholder monitoring and discipline. However, regardless of the interpretation, the empirical evidence presented in the paper forces the conclusion that it is inappropriate to interpret all insider sales as bad news: insider sales occur in a variety of contexts, and creating buy/sell rules which ignore those contexts is simplistic and erroneous

Proper genomic profiling of (BRCA1-mutated) basal-like breast carcinomas requires prior removal of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes

BRCA1-mutated breast carcinomas may have distinct biological features, suggesting the involvement of specific oncogenic pathways in tumor development. The identification of genomic aberrations characteristic for BRCA1-mutated breast carcinomas could lead to a better understanding of BRCA1-associated oncogenic events and could prove valuable in clinical testing for BRCA1-involvement in patients. Methods: For this purpose, genomic and gene expression profiles of basal-like BRCA1-mutated breast tumors (n=27) were compared with basal-like familial BRCAX (non-. BRCA1/. 2/. CHEK2*1100delC) tumors (n=14) in a familial cohort of 120 breast carcinomas. Results: Genome wide copy number profiles of the BRCA1-mutated breast carcinomas in our data appeared heterogeneous. Gene expression analyses identifi