Phylogeography and ethnogenesis of aboriginal Southeast Asians

Studying the genetic history of the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia can provide crucial clues to the peopling of Southeast Asia as a whole. We have analyzed mitochondrial DNA (mtDNAs) control-region and coding-region markers in 447 mtDNAs from the region, including 260 Orang Asli, representative of each of the traditional groupings, the Semang, the Senoi, and the Aboriginal Malays, allowing us to test hypotheses about their origins. All of the Orang Asli groups have undergone high levels of genetic drift, but phylogeographic traces nevertheless remain of the ancestry of their maternal lineages. The Semang have a deep ancestry within the Malay Peninsula, dating to the initial settlement from Africa >50,000 years ago. The Senoi appear to be a composite group, with approximately half of the maternal lineages tracing back to the ancestors of the Semang and about half to Indochina. This is in agreement with the suggestion that they represent the descendants of early Austroasiatic speaking agriculturalists, who brought both their language and their technology to the southern part of the peninsula approximately 4,000 years ago and coalesced with the indigenous population. The Aboriginal Malays are more diverse, and although they show some connections with island Southeast Asia, as expected, they also harbor haplogroups that are either novel or rare elsewhere. Contrary to expectations, complete mtDNA genome sequences from one of these, R9b, suggest an ancestry in Indochina around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum, followed by an early-Holocene dispersal through the Malay Peninsula into island Southeast Asia.     

Cytomegalovirus seropositivity is associated with glucose regulation in the oldest old. Results from the Leiden 85-plus Study

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection has been reported to contribute to the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes and post-transplantation diabetes. However, CMV infection has not been evaluated as a possible risk factor for type 2 diabetes. Our aim was to investigate potential associations between CMV seropositivity, CMV IgG antibody level and glucose regulation in the oldest old. RESULTS: CMV seropositive subjects were more likely to have type 2 diabetes (17.2% vs 7.9%, p = 0.016), had a higher level of HbA1c (p = 0.014) and higher non-fasting glucose (p = 0.024) in the oldest olds. These associations remained significant after adjustment for possible confounders. CMV IgG antibody level was not significantly associated with glucose regulation (all p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In the oldest old, CMV seropositivity is significantly associated with various indicators of glucose regulation. This finding suggests that CMV infection might be a risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes in the elderly.     

The mechanism of the hyperglycaemic action of synthetic peptides related to the C-terminal sequence of human growth hormone

Synthetic part sequences of human pituitary growth hormone (hGH 176–191 and hGH 177–191) corresponding to residues 176–191 or 177–191 of the hormone have been tested for their effects on glycogen and pyruvate metabolism in the rat, both in vivo and in vitro. When injected, the peptides caused transient increases in blood glucose and lactate, while decreasing the activity ratio of glycogen synthase in muscle, adipose tissue and liver and of pyruvate dehydrogenase in muscle and adipose tissue, but not in liver. These decreases were associated with the conversion of the enzymes from their active to their inactive forms, since the peptides did not affect the total amount of either the synthase or the dehydrogenase. The time course of the effect on the enzymes was similar to that for the effect on blood metabolites, and responses for synthase were produced over the range 0.07–7 nmols hGH 177–191/kg body weight. Phosphorylase activity was not affected by the peptides, nor was the capacity to dispose of injected L-lactate. Experiments with adipocytes and hepatocytes showed that the peptides also affected glycogen synthase and pyruvate dehydrogenase activities in vitro. The peptides had no effect on the overall rate of gluconeogenesis from lactate by hepatocytes. However, at times corresponding to those at which glycogen synthase was inactivated, the peptides caused increased incorporation of lactate into free glucose and decreased incorporation into glycogen. It was concluded that the peptides acted directly on their target tissues, and that the observed hyperlactataemia was the result of the inactivation of pyruvate dehydrogenase. The addition lactate increased the flux through the gluconeogenic pathway, and appeared as glucose because the peptide also inactivated glycogen synthase. Thus, the hyperglycaemia produced by hGH 177–199 and related peptides is explicable in terms of a modified Cori Cycle.     

Effects of varying the hostplant and environmental conditions on the feeding and reproduction of Aphis fabae

The reproduction of apterous virginoparae of A. fabae on field beans is primarily controlled by nutrition of both the larval and adult stages. The kind of hostplant and the lighting conditions under which it is grown affect the aphid's fecundity and reproductive rate. Plants grown under mercury fluorescent lamps provide the aphids with better or more nutrients of the right kind so that they reproduce better than aphids living on plants grown in daylight in glasshouses.Nutrition during larval life also affects the early reproductive rate and fecundity of the aphids. Aphids that grew quickly as larvae reproduced faster during early adult life than slow developers. Fast developers were heavier and larger but did not contain more embryos than slow developers as adults and probably received a more nutritious food supply during their larval lives.

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Zusammenfassung Die Fortpflanzung ungeflügelter Virginoparer von Aphis fabae auf Ackerbohnen wird primär durch die Ernährung der Larven und Erwachsenen gesteuert. Die Art der Wirtspflanze und die Beleuchtungsbedingungen, unter denen sie sich entwickeln, beeinflussen die Gesamt-Fruchtbarkeit und die Reproduktionsrate der Blattläuse. Pflanzen, die unter Quecksilber-Fluoreszenz-Lampen (Leuchtstoffröhren) aufwuchsen, bieten den Blattläusen offensichtlich bessere oder mehr Nahrungsstoffe der erforderlichen Art, so daß sie sich besser fortpflanzen als Läuse, die auf Pflanzen leben, die im Gewächshaus unter Tageslicht aufgezogen wurden.Auch die Ernährungsverhältnisse während des Larvallebens beeinflussen die anfängliche Reproduktionsrate und die Fruchtbarkeit der Blattläuse. Manche Blattläuse, die sich rascher als andere entwickeln, hatten im frühen Adultstadium eine höhere Reproduktionsrate als die Langsam-Entwickler. Schnell-Entwickler waren schwerer und größer als Langsam-Entwickler und erhielten während ihres Larvallebens wahrscheinlich eine nahrhaftere Kost.