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

Para-infectious brain injury in COVID-19 persists at follow-up despite attenuated cytokine and autoantibody responses

To understand neurological complications of COVID-19 better both acutely and for recovery, we measured markers of brain injury, inflammatory mediators, and autoantibodies in 203 hospitalised participants; 111 with acute sera (1–11 days post-admission) and 92 convalescent sera (56 with COVID-19-associated neurological diagnoses). Here we show that compared to 60 uninfected controls, tTau, GFAP, NfL, and UCH-L1 are increased with COVID-19 infection at acute timepoints and NfL and GFAP are significantly higher in participants with neurological complications. Inflammatory mediators (IL-6, IL-12p40, HGF, M-CSF, CCL2, and IL-1RA) are associated with both altered consciousness and markers of brain injury. Autoantibodies are more common in COVID-19 than controls and some (including against MYL7, UCH-L1, and GRIN3B) are more frequent with altered consciousness. Additionally, convalescent participants with neurological complications show elevated GFAP and NfL, unrelated to attenuated systemic inflammatory mediators and to autoantibody responses. Overall, neurological complications of COVID-19 are associated with evidence of neuroglial injury in both acute and late disease and these correlate with dysregulated innate and adaptive immune responses acutely

WAGNER’S GRADING OF DIABETIC FOOT LESIONS - A TERTIARY CARE EXPERIENCE

PURPOSE OF STUDY: Diabetic foot is the most common complication of diabetes. Amputation which is the end result of diabetic foot disease is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Since it is crucial to identify those at an increased risk of diabetic foot complications, a detailed study of the natural history of diabetic foot, various clinical characteristics, according to Wagner grading of lesions, their outcome and management protocol followed in our hospital was undertaken in our hospital. AIM AND OBJECTIVE: Evaluation of diabetic foot lesions based on Wagner grading system, outcome and management protocol followed in our hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective study done on hundred diabetic foot patients in our own hospital over a period of one and half year. Data was obtained from a questionnaire developed to record the medical history, examination details, investigations reports, treatment details and final outcome at the end of stay. Infection was classified based on Meggitt-Wagner, classification/grading. RESULTS: Diabetic foot was very common in elderly age group (>55yrs) 54% and male dominant (87%). Majority of them had diabetes for more than five years (47%) and complications of diabetes were present on admission in 15% of them. Grade I(29%), Grade III (27%) & Grade IV (24%) lesions based on Wagner’s grading accounted for majority of diabetic foot lesions. Multiple toe disarticulation/ above knee / below knee amputation accounted for a quarter (23%) of surgical interventions in our hospital. The glycemic control in most of patients was very poor with RBS>200 mg/dl (70%) and glycosylated hemoglobin>7g% (74%) of them. A quarter of the patients stayed for at least a month in the hospital (25%). CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that diabetic foot in various forms accounts for significant morbidity in the surgical wards. Wagner’s grade I (29%) Grade III (27%), Grade IV (24%) constituted majority of lesions. Factors contributing mainly are poor glycemic control at the time of admission, presence of gangrene, complications of diabetes nephropathy, neuropathy and associated co morbidities ( peripheral vascular disease, hypertension, ischemic disease). A lot of scope for improvement is their in the approach to treatment of diabetic foot as most of the cases belong to Grade I (29%) where proper patient education can avoid dreadful complications and Grade III (27%), Grade IV (24%) if properly managed morbidity can be reduced considerably

Report on the Terrestrial Mollusks of the Sierra de la Madera (Oposura), Sonora, Mexico — The Caracoleros

Volume: 30Start Page: 315End Page: 32