<Emphasis Type="Italic">CDKN2A</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">MC1R</Emphasis> variants found in Cypriot patients diagnosed with cutaneous melanoma

The prevalence of genetic variants associated to cutaneous melanoma (CM) has never been determined within Cypriot melanomas. This study evaluates the frequency of variants in cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 2A (CDKN2A) and melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) in 32 patients diagnosed with CM. Other characteristics and risk factors were also assessed. CDKN2A p.Ala148Thr was detected in three of 32 patients, while the control group revealed no variations within CDKN2A. MC1R screening in 32 patients revealed the following variations: p.Val60Leu in 11 patients, p.Arg142His in four patients, p.Thr314Thr in one patient, p.Arg160Trp in one patient, p.Val92Met/p.Thr314Thr in one patient and p.Val92Met/p.Arg142His/p.Thr314Thr in one patient. The control group revealed only p.Val60Leu (in 10 of 45 individuals), which is frequently found in general populations. Two unrelated patients carried CDKN2A p.Ala148Thr in combination with MC1R p.Arg142His, suggesting digenic inheritance that may provide evidence of different gene variants acting synergistically to contribute for CM development. This study confirms the presence of CDKN2A and MC1R variants among Cypriot melanomas and supports existing evidence of a role for these variants in susceptibility to melanoma.     

Estimating changes in mean population age using the death distributions of live‐captured medflies

1. A simple, low‐cost approach to estimating population ageing was introduced based on a modified version of the captive cohort method – a technique developed earlier (Carey et al., Aging Cell, 7 , 426–437, 2008) in which information on the remaining lifespans of live‐captured medflies of unknown age is used to estimate the overall population age structure. 2. To test this approach approximately 1200 medflies near Volos, Greece were live captured from daily sampling over a 3‐month field season. 3. This simplified method reported: (i) an extraordinary post‐capture longevity of wild medflies in early season (>200 days in longest lived); (ii) a decrease of 50–75 days in the mean longevity from early‐season to late‐season flies; (iii) seasonality of frailty as indicated by the shorter‐lived flies in late autumn; (iv) cessation of fly emergence in late season as indicated by the absence of long‐lived individuals (indicating newly emerged at capture) sampled in the autumn; and (v) increase in mean age from about 20 days in early season to approximately 60 days in late season. 4. The applications of this simplified captive cohort method are discussed, including its use in the analysis of insect vector populations, Drosophila ecology and ageing in the wild, demographic toxicology, and age bias in sampling.