Supplementary Material for: Efferent Axonal Projections of the Habenular Complex in the Fire-Bellied Toad Bombina orientalis

<p>The habenular complex and its associated axonal pathways are often thought of as phylogenetically conserved features of the brain among vertebrates despite the fact that detailed studies of this brain region are limited to a few species. Here, the gross morphology and axonal projection pattern of the habenular complex of an anuran amphibian, the fire-bellied toad <i>Bombina orientalis</i>, was studied to allow comparison with the situation in other vertebrates. Axonal pathways were traced using biocytin applications in dissected brain preparations. The results show that the rostral part of the left dorsal nucleus is enlarged in this species, while the rostral ventral nucleus and caudal parts do not show left-right size differences. Biocytin applications revealed widespread axonal projections of the habenular complex to the posterior tuberculum/dorsal hypothalamic region, ventral tegmentum, interpeduncular nucleus (IPN), and raphe median. Additionally, axons targeting the lateral hypothalamus originated from the ventral habenular nuclei. The results also suggest an asymmetrical pattern of projection to the IPN in the rostral part of the habenular complex, where the left habenula preferentially targeted the dorsal IPN while the right habenula preferentially targeted the ventral IPN. The caudal habenular nuclei showed no asymmetry of projections as both sides targeted the ventral IPN. Comparison of the habenular complex axonal connectivity across vertebrates argues against strong phylogenetic conservation of the axonal projection patterns of different habenular nuclei.</p

Erratum: Sensitivity to Biases of Case-Control Studies on Medical Procedures, Particularly Surgery and Blood Transfusion, and Risk of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Evidence of risk of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) associated with medical procedures, including surgery and blood transfusion, is limited by susceptibility to bias in epidemiological studies. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Sensitivity to bias was explored using a central-birth-cohort model using data from 18 case-control studies obtained after a review of 494 reports on medical procedures and risk of CJD, systematic for the period January 1, 1989 to December 31, 2011. <b><i>Results</i></b>: The validity of the findings in these studies may have been undermined by: recall; control selection; exposure assessment in life-time periods of different duration, out of time-at-risk of effect, or asymmetry in case/control data; and confounding by concomitant blood transfusion at the time of surgery. For sporadic CJD (sCJD), a history of surgery or blood transfusion was associated with risk in some, but not all, recent studies at a ≥10 year lag time, when controls were longitudinally sampled. Space-time aggregation of surgical events was not seen. Surgery at early clinical onset might be overrepresented among cases. Neither surgical history nor blood transfusion unlabelled for donor status, dental treatments or endoscopic examinations were linked to variant CJD (vCJD). <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> These results indicate the need for further research. Common challenges within these studies include access to and content of past medical/dental treatment records for diseases with long incubation periods

Supplementary Material for: Fourth Report on Chicken Genes and Chromosomes 2022

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