Genetic variability of the grey wolf Canis lupus in the Caucasus in comparison with Europe and the Middle East: distinct or intermediary population?

Despite continuous historical distribution of the grey wolf (Canis lupus) throughout Eurasia, the species displays considerable morphological differentiation that resulted in delimitation of a number of subspecies. However, these morphological discontinuities are not always consistent with patterns of genetic differentiation. Here we assess genetic distinctiveness of grey wolves from the Caucasus (a region at the border between Europe and West Asia) that have been classified as a distinct subspecies C. l. cubanensis. We analysed their genetic variability based on mtDNA control region, microsatellite loci and genome-wide SNP genotypes (obtained for a subset of the samples), and found similar or higher levels of genetic diversity at all these types of loci as compared with other Eurasian populations. Although we found no evidence for a recent genetic bottleneck, genome-wide linkage disequilibrium patterns suggest a long-term demographic decline in the Caucasian population – a trend consistent with other Eurasian populations. Caucasian wolves share mtDNA haplotypes with both Eastern European and West Asian wolves, suggesting past or ongoing gene flow. Microsatellite data also suggest gene flow between the Caucasus and Eastern Europe. We found evidence for moderate admixture between the Caucasian wolves and domestic dogs, at a level comparable with other Eurasian populations. Taken together, our results show that Caucasian wolves are not genetically isolated from other Eurasian populations, share with them the same demographic trends, and are affected by similar conservation problems

DRUG USERS-RISK FACTOR OF OSTEOPOROSIS

Osteoporosis is one of the main problems in the world health care. Typical for osteoporosis is the progressive decrease of the bone mass, destruction of the bone micro-architectonics wich leads to increase the bone fragility, and a high frequency of the bone fractures. Osteoporosis was considered as pathology associated with gender. Up to recent times there was accepted that frequency of osteoporosis (OP) was higher in females. Though, during last few years the numerous research works and the result of our own work indicate that osteoporosis is quite frequent in males. And 2014 - was declared year of " Man's Osteoporosis". One of three patients with the fracture of femoral bone is a male morality among males in higher that among females. High frequency of incidence of the risk factors among males is confirmed. Though, actually, there are no works about frequency of osteoporosis in the people, who consume the drugs illegally. Taking into consideration the high rate of spreading of the drugs all over the world and especially, in our, region we set the goal of studying of the bone metabolism among the drug consumers, regarding the term, narcotization, character of the drugs and their doses. There were examined 911 patients with narcotism, in the absitence period; among which 462 patients were heroin consumers and 449 buprenorphine consumers; age of the patients from 17 to 25. Average duration of the heroin narcotism- 4.5 years and of average period of buprenorphine narcotism- 1.5 years. Among the risk factors of osteoporosis. Among the studied patients there were revealed: hypogonadism (71-80%); low calcium diet (72%); mallabsorption syndrome (64%); low body mass (78%). All patients underwent measurements of bone tissue mineral density, by dual X-ray vertebras of limbar region, procimalsec-tion of he femoral bone, in the distal section of the forearm. In all cases there was studied the Ca-P balance, level of osteocalcine in the blood and activity of the alkali-phosphatase; level of general and free testosterone in the blood. The research result showed that the frequency of revealing of osteoporosis (T<-2.5), among the patients with heroin narcotism is 40-48% and frequency of revealing in the trabecular bines is higher, Frequency of low characteristics of the bone tissue, in case of buprenorphine narcotism is lower and varies between 30-35%. There was revealed reliable decrease of calcium and testosterone levels in the blood (p<0.05) and decrease of the free testosterone level in patients with heroin narcotism. There was revealed correlation between the duration of narcotisation and level of free testosterone in the patients with heroin narcotism (z =-0.58;p<0.001), on one hand and on the other correlation the mineral density of the bone tissue and the level of free testosterone (r=0.42;p<0.001). There is considered the issue of possible impact of the drugs on the bone metabolism process. It is recommended, for treatment of patients with narcotism, to include anti-osteoporosis preparation into complex therapy

Global phylogeographic and admixture patterns in Grey wolves and genetic legacy of an ancient Siberian Lineage

The evolutionary relationships between extinct and extant lineages provide important insight into species% response to environmental change. The grey wolf is among the few Holarctic large carnivores that survived the Late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions, responding to that period%s profound environmental changes with loss of distinct lineages and phylogeographic shifts, and undergoing domestication. We reconstructed global genome-wide phylogeographic patterns in modern wolves, including previously underrepresented Siberian wolves, and assessed their evolutionary relationships with a previously genotyped wolf from Taimyr, Siberia, dated at 35 Kya. The inferred phylogeographic structure was affected by admixture with dogs, coyotes and golden jackals, stressing the importance of accounting for this process in phylogeographic studies. The Taimyr lineage was distinct from modern Siberian wolves and constituted a sister lineage of modern Eurasian wolves and domestic dogs, with an ambiguous position relative to North American wolves. We detected gene flow from the Taimyr lineage to Arctic dog breeds, but population clustering methods indicated closer similarity of the Taimyr wolf to modern wolves than dogs, implying complex post-divergence relationships among these lineages. Our study shows that introgression from ecologically diverse con-specific and con-generic populations was common in wolves% evolutionary history, and could have facilitated their adaptation to environmental change

Overexpression of dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase 1 protects from angiotensin II-induced cardiac hypertrophy and vascular remodeling

Cardiovascular complications are the leading cause of death, and elevated levels of asymmetric dimethyarginine (ADMA), an endogenous inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase, are implicated in their pathophysiology. We investigated the role of dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase 1 (DDAH1), an enzyme hydrolyzing ADMA, in prevention of cardiovascular remodeling during hypertension. We hypothesized that the animals overexpressing DDAH1 will be protected from angiotensin II (ANG II)-induced end organ damage. Angiotensin II (ANG II) was infused in two doses: 0.75 and 1.5 mg/kg/day in DDAH1 transgenic mice (DDAH1 TG) and wild-type (WT) littermates for 2 or 4 wk. Echocardiography was performed in the first and fourth weeks of the infusion, systolic blood pressure (SBP) was measured weekly, and cardiac hypertrophy and vascular remodeling was assessed by histology. Increase in SBP after 1 wk of ANG II infusion was not different between the groups, whereas TG mice had lower SBP at later time points. TG mice were protected from cardiovascular remodeling after 2 wk of ANG II infusion in the high dose and after 4 wk in the moderate dose. TG mice had higher left ventricular lumen-to-wall ratio, lower cardiomyocyte cross-sectional area, and less interstitial fibrosis compared with WT controls. In aorta, TG mice had less adventitial fibrosis, lower medial thickness with preserved elastin content, lower counts of inflammatory cells, lower levels of active matrix metalloproteinase-2, and showed better endothelium-dependent relaxation. We demonstrated that overexpression of DDAH1 protects from ANG II-induced cardiovascular remodeling and progression of hypertension by preserving endothelial function and limiting inflammation.NEW & NOTEWORTHY We showed that overexpression of dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase 1 (DDAH1) protects from angiotensin II-induced cardiovascular damage, progression of hypertension, and adverse vascular remodeling in vivo. This protective effect is associated with decreased levels of asymmetric dimethylarginine, preservation of endothelial function, inhibition of cardiovascular inflammation, and lower activity of matrix metalloproteinase-2. Our findings are highly clinically relevant, because they suggest that upregulation of DDAH1 might be a promising therapeutic approach against angiotensin II-induced end organ damage

A European concern? genetic structure and expansion of golden jackals (canis aureus) in Europe and the caucasus

In the first continent-wide study of the golden jackal (Canis aureus), we characterised its population genetic structure and attempted to identify the origin of European populations. This provided a unique insight into genetic characteristics of a native carnivore population with rapid large-scale expansion. We analysed 15 microsatellite markers and a 406 basepair fragment of the mitochondrial control region. Bayesian-based and principal components methods were applied to evaluate whether the geographical grouping of samples corresponded with genetic groups. Our analysis revealed low levels of genetic diversity, reflecting the unique history of the golden jackal among Europe’s native carnivores. The results suggest ongoing gene flow between south-eastern Europe and the Caucasus, with both contributing to the Baltic population, which appeared only recently. The population from the Peloponnese Peninsula in southern Greece forms a common genetic cluster with samples from south-eastern Europe (Î&quot;K approach in STRUCTURE, Principal Components Analysis [PCA]), although the results based on BAPS and the estimated likelihood in STRUCTURE indicate that Peloponnesian jackals may represent a distinct population. Moreover, analyses of population structure also suggest either genetic distinctiveness of the island population from Samos near the coast of Asia Minor (BAPS, most STRUCTURE, PCA), or possibly its connection with the Caucasus population (one analysis in STRUCTURE). We speculate from our results that ancient Mediterranean jackal populations have persisted to the present day, and have merged with jackals colonising from Asia. These data also suggest that new populations of the golden jackal may be founded by long-distance dispersal, and thus should not be treated as an invasive alien species, i.e. an organism that is “non-native to an ecosystem, and which may cause economic or environmental harm or adversely affect human healtha. These insights into the genetic structure and ancestry of Baltic jackals have important implications for management and conservation of jackals in Europe. The golden jackal is listed as an Annex V species in the EU Habitats Directive and as such, considering also the results presented here, should be legally protected in all EU member states. © 2015 Rutkowski et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited