Variation of annual apparent survival and detection rates with age,year and individual identity in male Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) from long-term mark-recapture data

Exploring age- and sex-specific survival rates provides insight regarding population behavior and life-history trait evolution. However, our understanding of how age-specific patterns of survival, including actuarial senescence, compare between the sexes remains inadequate. Using 36 years of mark-recapture data for 7,516 male Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) born in Erebus Bay, Antarctica, we estimated age-specific annual survival rates using a hierarchical model for mark-recapture data in a Bayesian framework. Our male survival estimates were moderate for pups and yearlings, highest for 2-year-olds, and gradually declined with age thereafter such that the oldest animals observed had the lowest rates of any age. Reports of senescence in other wildlife populations of species with similar longevity occurred at older ages than those presented here. When compared to recently published estimates for reproductive Weddell seal females, we found that peak survival rates were similar (males: 0.94, 95% CI = 0.92–0.96; females: 0.92, 95% CI = 0.93–0.95), but survival rates at older ages were lower in males. Age-specific male Weddell seal survival rates varied across years and individuals, with greater variation occurring across years. Similar studies on a broad range of species are needed to contextualize these results for a better understanding of the variation in senescence patterns between the sexes of the same species, but our study adds information for a marine mammal species to a research topic dominated by avian and ungulate species.     

Complementary and divergent functions of zebrafish Tango1 and Ctage5 in tissue development and homeostasis

Coat protein complex II (COPII) factors mediate cargo export from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), but bulky collagens and lipoproteins are too large for traditional COPII vesicles. Mammalian CTAGE5 and TANGO1 have been well characterized individually as specialized cargo receptors at the ER that function with COPII coats to facilitate trafficking of bulky cargoes. Here, we present a genetic interaction study in zebrafish of deletions in ctage5, tango1, or both to investigate their distinct and complementary potential functions. We found that Ctage5 and Tango1 have different roles related to organogenesis, collagen versus lipoprotein trafficking, stress-pathway activation, and survival. While disruption of both ctage5 and tango1 compounded phenotype severity, mutation of either factor alone revealed novel tissue-specific defects in the building of heart, muscle, lens, and intestine, in addition to previously described roles in the development of neural and cartilage tissues. Together, our results demonstrate that Ctage5 and Tango1 have overlapping functions, but also suggest divergent roles in tissue development and homeostasis.     

Mirror‐symmetric microtubule assembly and cell interactions drive lumen formation in the zebrafish neural rod

By analysing the cellular and subcellular events that occur in the centre of the developing zebrafish neural rod, we have uncovered a novel mechanism of cell polarisation during lumen formation. Cells from each side of the neural rod interdigitate across the tissue midline. This is necessary for localisation of apical junctional proteins to the region where cells intersect the tissue midline. Cells assemble a mirror‐symmetric microtubule cytoskeleton around the tissue midline, which is necessary for the trafficking of proteins required for normal lumen formation, such as partitioning defective 3 and Rab11a to this point. This occurs in advance and is independent of the midline cell division that has been shown to have a powerful role in lumen organisation. To our knowledge, this is the first example of the initiation of apical polarisation part way along the length of a cell, rather than at a cell extremity. Although the midline division is not necessary for apical polarisation, it confers a morphogenetic advantage by efficiently eliminating cellular processes that would otherwise bridge the developing lumen.     

Skeletal Lesions in Human Tuberculosis May Sometimes Heal: An Aid to Palaeopathological Diagnoses

In three to five percent of active cases of tuberculosis, skeletal lesions develop. Typically, these occur on the vertebrae and are destructive in nature. In this paper, we examined cases of skeletal tuberculosis from a skeletal collection (Galler Collection) with focus on the manifestation of bony changes due to tuberculosis in various body regions in association with antibiotic introduction. This skeletal collection was created in 1925–1977 by a pathologist at the University Hospital in Zürich, Ernst Galler. It includes the remains of 2426 individuals with documented clinical histories as well as autopsies. It contained 29 cases of skeletal tuberculosis lesions. We observed natural healing of vertebral lesions through several processes including fusion of vertebrae, bone deposition and fusion of posterior elements. In these cases, we observed a higher frequency and proportion of bone deposition and fusion of posterior vertebral elements where pharmacological agents were used. There were also four cases of artificial healing through surgically induced posterior spinal fusion. With the introduction of pharmaceutical treatments, the number of individuals with multiple tuberculous foci decreased from 80% to 25% when compared to individuals who did not receive any drug therapy. Investigation of comorbidities showed that pneumonia, pleuritis and being underweight were consistently present, even with pharmaceutical treatment. Our results have applications in palaeopathological diagnoses where healing and consequent bone deposition may complicate differential diagnoses.     

Review: Gastric cancer—Clinical aspects

Gastric cancer (GC) was responsible for over 1 000 000 new cases in 2018 and an estimated 783 000 deaths, making it still the fifth most frequently diagnosed cancer and the third leading cause of cancer deaths in both sexes worldwide. Divergent trends for GC incidence were observed in the USA. Incidence rates, particularly for non‐cardia GC, were stable or increasing among persons aged <50 years. In an analysis of data from a public hospital database in Hong Kong, treatment of Helicobacter pylori infection was associated with a lower risk of GC, particularly in older subjects who received treatment ≥10 years before. Based on the results of a 16‐year endoscopy‐based follow‐up eradication trial, patients with incomplete‐type intestinal metaplasia (IM) should receive endoscopic surveillance upon H. pylori eradication therapy. Updated guidelines on the endoscopic surveillance of preneoplastic conditions of the stomach (MAPS II) have been published. In the RAINFALL trial, the addition of ramucirumab to a backbone chemotherapy as a first‐line regimen failed to improve overall survival (OS) of patients with metastatic disease. Also, pembrolizumab did not prolong OS when compared to paclitaxel in the second‐line treatment of patients with advanced GC or esophagogastric junction (EGJ) cancer. Trifluridine/tipiracil improved OS by 2.1 months in the third or further treatment line of patients with advanced GC. In a systematic investigation conducted on Chinese patients with GC, CLDN18‐ARHGAP26/6 fusion was associated with signet‐ring cell content and was prognostic for a worse outcome and predictive for no benefit from oxaliplatin/fluoropyrimidine‐based chemotherapy. Organoid cultures represent an appealing model that may be applied for therapy response testing in the near future.     

Genome mining for lasso peptides: past,present, and future

Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology - Over the course of roughly a decade, the lasso peptide field has been transformed. Whereas new compounds were discovered infrequently via...     

To manage or not? Successful native tree seedling restoration despite a dense,invasive shrub,Berberis thunbergii

Plant Ecology - Invasive plant species suppress native trees through a variety of mechanisms. A non-native shrub, Berberis thunbergii, has been shown to depress native tree seedling densities in...